WWE Sunday Night’s Main Event September 2026: Success & Failure?

WWE took over the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on September 2, 2026 for the first ever Sunday Night’s Main Event, offering up a card that featured plenty of big names competing. The likes of Oba Femi, Bron Breakker, Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton were all in action… but was the show a success or a failure?

There were certainly positives and negatives across the night, whether that be surprise returns, the choices of winners, certain booking decisions from WWE, or brand new champions, all of which can be used to determine whether Sunday Night’s Main Event was an overall hit or miss.

7

Failure: Musical Performance

• Sunday Night’s Main Event began with a musical performance.
• Quavo performed for WWE’s fans.
• This performance was worked into Lil Yachty’s entrance.

On one hand, Quavo’s performance at Sunday Night’s Main Event didn’t outstay its welcome, being incorporated into the entrance for Lil Yachty ahead of his match against Baron Corbin, however, according to a report by WrestleVotes on Fightful Select, WWE was using this performance as a precursor for what could become the norm moving forwards, which is undoubtedly a failure.

There is less and less wrestling on WWE’s PLEs as time presses on, so to take even more time away from in-ring action for musical performances is never a good thing.

6

Failure: Baron Corbin Is An Idiot

• Corbin faced Lil Yachty at Sunday Night’s Main Event.
• Yachty needed to survive five minutes to earn Trick Williams a title match.
• Corbin pointlessly prolonged the match, making him look weak.

Lil Yachty looked to earn Trick Williams a United States Title match by surviving five minutes against Baron Corbin, and despite some flurries from the music star, he was in control throughout. With over a minute to spare, Corbin hit two End Of Days… but didn’t go for the pinfall.

For some reason, Corbin went to get a table to put Yachty through even more punishment… allowing Yachty the time to recover and escape, ultimately surviving the time limit. Corbin could have ended things with a minute to spare and avoided defending his title, but he was presented like the biggest idiot imaginable in the way he handled himself during the matchup.

5

Failure: Trick Williams Wins The United States Title

• Trick Williams beat Baron Corbin for the US Title.
• This was a weak match at Sunday Night’s Main Event.
• Corbin’s reign was ultimately pointless.

Trick Williams was having a good reign as United States Champion before his loss to Baron Corbin at SummerSlam 2026 in a result that left fans scratching their heads. Corbin has had a couple of decent defenses, but all it led to was dropping the title straight back to Williams at Sunday Night’s Main Event. In truth, this whole feud has helped no one.

Corbin has not been presented as anything particularly special or interesting, Williams is no more or less over than he was previously, and when looking back at the weak content of this feud, WWE should have either had Williams lose the gold to someone else or else had a new name beat Corbin for the prize.

4

Success: Oba Femi & Bron Breakker Have Electric Chemistry

• Femi & Breakker are both the future of WWE.
• They had their first ever match at Sunday Night’s Main Event.
• Femi vs. Breakker delivered from an in-ring perspective.

There was a lot of expectation attached to the meeting between Oba Femi and Bron Breakker at Sunday Night’s Main Event given that it had been billed as determining the “future” of WWE. From an in-ring perspective, it delivered the goods.

Breakker & Femi had clear chemistry, both put in strong character-driven performances, and they controlled the crowd perfectly. The pacing of the match was flawless, and while the disqualification ending left a sour taste, this was a very good sign of things to come.

3

Success: Bronson Reed Is Back And Better Than Ever

• Reed has been injured for six months.
• He returned at WWE Sunday Night’s Main Event.
• Reed is in the best shape of his WWE career.

Oba Femi vs. Bron Breakker came to an end when Bronson Reed returned for the first time in months to attack Femi with a steel chair, before dishing out a relentless spree of Tsunami’s to cause damage to the rising star. Running a DQ finish wasn’t ideal, but doing so with the return of Reed was the best way to go about it.

Not only that, but Reed was in unbelievable shape. He’s made his name by competing with a lot of mass, following the trend of bigger wrestlers over the years such as Earthquake, Tokozuna, and others (which isn’t a bad thing by any means), but to see him lean, muscular, and moving better than ever is undoubtedly a good thing. This could open the door to good things in the future of Reed in WWE.

2

Success: Tatum Paxley & Charlotte Flair May Soon Feud

• Tatum Paxley’s main roster run has been great so far.
• She inadvertently collided with Charlotte Flair to end this match.
• Jade Cargill, Michin & B-Fab stood tall at Sunday Night’s Main Event.

In a decent six-woman tag team match, Jade Cargill, Michin & B-Fab picked up an impressive win over Charlotte Flair, Tatum Paxley & Alexa Bliss. However, the headline was that Paxley and Flair inadvertently collided in the final moments, costing them the contest.

With the way commentary hyped this up, problems will continue to arise between Paxley & Flair in the coming weeks, perhaps leading to a massive feud between the pair that could elevate Paxley to the next level. She has shown tremendous potential recently, and Sunday Night’s Main Event suggests that good things are to come for the rising star.

1

Failure: Cody Rhodes Hesitates Against Randy Orton

• Rhodes & Orton had a solid main event match.
• Rhodes fell for Orton’s tricks and failed to hit a punt.
• WWE booking Rhodes to look stupid again was a complete misfire.

In the main event of WrestleMania 41, Cody Rhodes showed hesitation against John Cena which led to his defeat in an awful match. One year later, Rhodes was relentless and cold-blooded as he beat down Randy Orton at WrestleMania 42, retaining the WWE Title in the process. For some reason, despite their bad blood rising ever since, Rhodes hesitated at Sunday Night’s Main Event and fell for Orton’s tricks of pretending to beg for mercy, leaving him exposed to a cheap shot and a loss.

Rhodes’ character development has been a complete mess, and his showing of hesitation makes zero sense given what took place at WrestleMania. This only served to weaken Rhodes and made him look foolish, ruining what was developing into a solid bout.