Although WWE Main Event has traditionally been viewed as unimportant in the mind of WWE fans, the sports entertainment giant has experimented with the weekly program over the past few months by incorporating a number of NXT Superstars into the show.
Cameron Grimes and Duke Hudson were the latest examples of this experiment during the October 20th broadcast of the show. Grimes defeated Akira Tozawa, while Hudson lost to Cedric Alexander in the evening’s main event. It’s unknown if there will be future appearances for either man on Main Event or indeed the official WWE main roster.
Grimes, known as Trevor Lee on the independent circuit, was one of the hottest acts at the time of his signing. With vast experience from PWG, IMPACT, and elsewhere, ‘The Carolina Caveman’ has settled into NXT since his February 2019 WWE signing, holding both the NXT North American and Million Dollar Championships.
As for Duke Hudson, the former Elliot Sexton came into WWE as a popular performer from South Australia, making a handful of appearances under his birth name Brendan Vink on Monday Night Raw throughout the early pandemic era. Later competing as Duke Hudson, he was forced to shave his head after losing to Grimes last December at NXT WarGames 2021.
WWE Main Event: The NXT Experiment
The ‘NXT experiment’ with WWE Main Event has been ongoing all year, beginning as far back as January when Pete Dunne, two months before his call-up as Butch, wrestled on the show. The likes of LA Knight and Tommaso Ciampa followed suit prior to joining the SmackDown and Raw rosters, respectively.
Of those still in NXT, the likes of Carmelo Hayes, Von Wagner, Josh Briggs, Brooks Jensen, and Fallon Henley have also competed on the program. There’s no current word of a main roster debut for any of those talents, nor for Cameron Grimes and Duke Hudson.