Like many WWE fans, I have wondered where a lot of their competitors have gone. Some performers haven’t been seen for weeks. Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, for example, won the RAW tag team titles and then promptly disappeared. EC3 was on the verge of stardom while he was in NXT. He got called up to the main roster and his momentum came to a screeching halt. The last time we saw him, he was gamely chasing R-Truth through the bowels of an arena trying to gain the 24/7 title. Where did these people go?
They’re on Hulu. Welcome to WWE’s Main Event.
Main Event serves one major purpose. It is designed to get people to watch RAW and SmackDown Live. A good chunk of air time is devoted to what happened last week on those shows. But when those highlight clips aren’t playing, viewers get to see something they may not be used to.
Wrestling.
There may be more wrestling on Main Event than you’ll see in Hulu’s truncated version of RAW. Throw in the actual Main Event matches, and you’ve got the kind of wrestling show you used to see on Saturday morning. It almost makes watching the two main roster shows and This Week in WWE redundant. Main Event gives you practically everything you need to know about main WWE storylines without all the blubber and bullshit we get in a three-hour-long RAW.
Did you know that EC3 was involved in a feud with Cedric Alexander? Neither did I, until I watched Main Event. That’s why he seems so angry in background segments on RAW. Alexander is in his head! According to the announce team, EC3 is in therapy about it! Granted, that’s not much of an explanation for EC3’s behavior on RAW. But, it’s better than what we get from Michael Cole about the guy, which is nothing.
In the most recent (as of this writing) episode of the weekly Main Event, EC3 and Alexander put on one hell of a match. The high-flying Alexander kicked EC3 in the back of the neck so hard, it sounded like a leather belt snapping. Was the in-ring audio sweetened? Probably. Were crowd noises added during post-production? Most definitely. But the match itself was brutal, well-paced, and fun to watch.
It helps that the matches on Main Event are dark matches, recorded on Monday nights before RAW goes live to a dwindling number of households. These bouts are supposed to get the crowd riled up and in the mood for the big show. Essentially, Main Event is a glorified opening act.
But that’s what makes Main Event a hidden treasure. Not only is it a better recap of RAW than official RAW recaps, but the original matches are outstanding. You remember Gallows and Anderson, right? The Good Brothers have the Magic Killer, one of the best double finishing moves in the business. But they rarely make it onto RAW anymore. Many fans consider Gallows and Anderson among The Disappeared.
Nope! They’re on Main Event against Ryder and Hawkins! That particular match wasn’t terrific, but it sure wasn’t awful. Did you know Ryder and Hawkins are using the phrase, “Never defeated,” as a catchphrase now? Of course not. You haven’t seen them. You haven’t seen Hawkins wrestling better than he has in years. He’s got one of the best Michinoku Drivers in the company.
Main Event isn’t perfect, especially if you watch main roster product religiously. But if you’re a member of the Universe who can’t stand the bloated carcass of RAW anymore, give Main Event a shot. Five hours of programming whittled down to 45 minutes has great appeal for many members of the WWE Universe. It’s the best of RAW and SmackDown Live combined with performers you haven’t seen in a hot minute. In that sense, Main Event is the ultimate WWE show.
New episodes of WWE’s Main Event are on Hulu in the United States every Wednesday at 9 PM EST.
