Tag: Saturday Night’s Main Event

WOR: Hulk Hogan off WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, AEW booking issues

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Here were some of the things we covered:

  • Hulk Hogan being off WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event
  • AEW’s booking
  • Why AEW young stars might not be improving
  • AEW Grand Slam Austraila
  • WWE Royal Rumble ticket sales
  • NXT and AEW Dynamite ratings
  • The category B awards in the Observer Awards

Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube (video sub needed)

WOL: FUN FRIDAY! News and calls on AEW and WWE!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with FUN FRIDAY! Lots to talk about including all of the news heading into Saturday Night’s Main Event, then tons of calls and text messages on many different topics! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Fight Game: Can Jey Uso win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship?

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

John LaRocca and I are back to talk about the major topics in the world of wrestling on this week’s Fight Game Podcast.

We kicked off the show with our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before going through our Top Five topics which included:

  • The Omega Powers
  • What’s the end game for the Death Riders?
  • WWE’s main roster plan for Trick Williams
  • The Corey Graves situation
  • Saturday Night’s Main Event preview

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Hulk Hogan not appearing at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event this weekend

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Sources within WWE have confirmed that Hulk Hogan will not be appearing as scheduled for Saturday Night’s Main Event tomorrow night in San Antonio.

This was first reported by Chris Featherstone. Hogan had been the key person in all the commercials for the show.

Featherstone’s report of a family-related reason for Hogan missing the show is also accurate. This had nothing to do with his being booed in Los Angeles or at every arena where the Saturday Night’s Main Event commercial played, or Jesse Ventura or any other reason in that direction.

Frost Bank Center in San Antonio is hosting Saturday’s show, which will air live on NBC and Peacock starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event (January 25) —

  • World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defends against Jey Uso
  • Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley defends against Nia Jax
  • Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker defends against Sheamus
  • Braun Strowman vs. Jacob Fatu
  • Shawn Michaels will be the special enforcer for a Royal Rumble contract signing between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens

Jesse Ventura confirms he’ll be at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event this weekend

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Jesse Ventura is officially set to appear at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event this weekend.

After finalizing a Legends contract with WWE, Ventura had his first assignment back with the company at the return of Saturday Night’s Main Event in December 2024. He was part of the broadcast team for that show, and Ventura said it would be a regular role with him appearing at all four episodes per year.

The next episode is taking place from Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas this Saturday. There hadn’t been much advertising about Ventura appearing on the show, but he confirmed today that he will be there.

“So very excited for Saturday Night’s Main Event this weekend in San Antonio,” Ventura tweeted. “The Body returns to Texas this Saturday Night!”

Hulk Hogan is featured in WWE’s commercials for this Saturday Night’s Main Event episode. If he appears live, it will be his first time in front of a WWE crowd since being booed at Raw’s Netflix premiere in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Saturday Night’s Main Event is airing live on both NBC and Peacock starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time this Saturday (January 25). Here is the announced card:

  • World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defends against Jey Uso
  • Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley defends against Nia Jax
  • Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker defends against Sheamus
  • Braun Strowman vs. Jacob Fatu
  • Shawn Michaels will be the special enforcer for a Royal Rumble contract signing between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens

Women’s World title match added to WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Rhea Ripley and Nia Jax will meet this Saturday.

After Jax defeated Bayley on Raw, Ripley came out and the two brawled following the events of earlier in the night when Jax jumped Ripley as she was entering the arena. They were separated by security, but managed to escape and go at each other again, with Nia Jax clearing the announce table. They were separated again, but Ripley responded with a cannonball off the announce table that took out everyone. Ripley grabbed a microphone and said they’d meet at Saturday Night’s Main Event this weekend.

This follows the events of last week’s Raw where Jax and Ripley got into it with Ripley sending Jax to the floor thanks to Bayley’s help.

The updated WWE SNME lineup for Saturday, January 25 in San Antonio:

  • World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defends against Jey Uso
  • Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley defends against Nia Jax
  • WWE Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker defends against Sheamus
  • Jacob Fatu vs. Braun Strowman
  • Contract signing for Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens — Shawn Michaels special enforcer

Two new WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event dates advertised

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Though they have not been confirmed by WWE yet, a couple of new Saturday Night’s Main Event dates may have been revealed.

Peacock’s WWE schedule lists that there will be Saturday Night’s Main Event shows on May 24 and July 12. Those would be the third and fourth episodes to take place since Saturday Night’s Main Event returned in December 2024. The show is back as a quarterly special with episodes airing live on both NBC and Peacock.

Locations for these two events have not been announced.

If Saturday Night’s Main Event does take place on July 12, it would be happening on the same day as AEW All In 2025, which is being held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

The May 24 date is the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

Saturday Night’s Main Event is a classic WWE series that originated in the 1980s. It briefly returned in the 2000s and is now back for a third run. Long Island, New York was the location for December’s return episode.

Up next is an SNME episode from San Antonio on January 25. That’s happening just one week before Indianapolis hosts Royal Rumble 2025.

Wrestling Observer Radio: Lots of business news, the passing of Rey Misterio Sr.

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Here were some of the things we covered:

  • The passing of Rey Misterio Sr.
  • WBD’s company change
  • AEW on MAX
  • Saturday Night’s Main Event TV ratings
  • Insane sports competition this weekend for AEW Collision
  • CM Punk & Roman Reigns
  • AEW in arena experience

Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube (video sub needed)

Wrestling Weekly: AEW Continental Classic thoughts & Saturday Night’s Main Event fallout

Posted on by Victor Sosa

Image: AEW

With the Gold and Blue league matches nearly complete in AEW’s Continental Classic, Les Thatcher and I discuss who has got the best shot to make the semifinals.

We also talk about all the fallout from last weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event fallout in WWE.

Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

Click here to listen (sub needed)

Fight Game: AEW Continental Classic hits its stretch run

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

John LaRocca and I are back to talk about the major topics in the world of wrestling on this week’s Fight Game Podcast.

Before we got into the show, we discussed the extension of The Fight Game Podcast brand by doing some special shows on the Fight Game Media YouTube channel in 2025. We’re always going to be here every week, but there’s so much current wrestling content that we’re going to need to double up some weeks and we’ll do it there. Subscribe to make sure you catch us there as well.

We kicked off the show with our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before going through our Top Five topics which included:

  • Our report card on WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event
  • The CM Punk and Seth Rollins storyline, and the Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn storyline
  • AEW TV on Max and thoughts on some of the big things that happened on AEW Dynamite
  • John’s thoughts on NXT
  • Our outlook for the rest of the AEW Continental Classic

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event return draws 1.59 million viewers on NBC

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

This past weekend, the return of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event averaged 1.59 million viewers on NBC. That’s obviously down from the 2.35 million viewers the show did the last time it aired on the network in 2008, although TV viewership as a whole has declined much more than that.

It should also be noted that this show was simulcast live on Peacock on Saturday night in addition to airing on NBC. The Peacock numbers are not included in the ratings. Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated reports that, if they were, the viewership would have been more than 2.3 million combined between NBC and Peacock.

SNME drew a 0.42 rating in the 18-49 demo on NBC. That’s in line, although down a little, from what SmackDown and Raw have been averaging of late on the USA Network, which is in much fewer homes. The last 10 weeks of Raw have averaged 1.521 million viewers and a 0.47 rating in 18-49 while SmackDown over the same time has averaged 1.459 million and a 0.43.

The show went head-to-head with AEW Collision, the NBA Cup semifinals, and college football’s Heisman Trophy Presentation.

SNME, a classic WWE series that originated in the 1980s, is now back as a quarterly special. The next episode is set for January 25, 2025.

WOL: Saturday Night’s Main Event returns, Chris Jericho’s GCW surprise

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

With Andrew Zarian out on vacation through the end of the year, the good ship WOL must keep afloat in a sea of wrestling news so I’m wearing the captain hat for the next three Sundays.

On the Sunday feel-good edition of Wrestling Observer Live, we have to talk about the successful return of WWE Saturday NIght’s Main Event on NBC. While the show didn’t have a ton of news, it was another giant marker in the sand for WWE as they march into another huge year ahead.

I love the AEW Continental Classic and look ahead to what matches are left to come and who I think the final four will end up being at Worlds End. I also talk about the online conjecture about Toni Storm’s return to AEW and wonder if it’s all a bit too muddled.

And how could I not bring up Chris Jericho’s surprise appearance in GCW Saturday? What does it mean for the relationship between AEW and GCW if anything?

All that, plus my theory on why Chael Sonnen is suddenly cornering and acting as a mouthpiece for Colby Covington in the UFC. (Strong hint: he’s trying to get to WWE.)

Click here to listen (no sub needed)

Pat McAfee makes surprise appearance at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Pat McAfee is back for one night.

The Raw commentator made his WWE return at Saturday Night’s Main Event joining Michael Cole on commentary to call the action. It was his first appearance since August, when he took time off to call College GameDay coverage for ESPN.

Prior to his absence, it was announced that McAfee would be returning for the premiere of Raw on Netflix, which is set for January 6. In a recent post on social media, McAfee reiterated he was excited to return to announcing next month when the college football season wraps up.

“Can’t wait to be talking into a microphone next to @MichaelCole again.. He’s the [greatest of all time] I’m excited to tell the worldwide audience on Netflix how great the WWE Superstars are…. and how big of scumbags some of ‘em are too. Let’s go,” he wrote.

McAfee is slated to return to commentary on Raw with Cole, who moved to SmackDown in the fall. It wasn’t made clear what would happen to the current Raw announce team, Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett.

Wrestling Observer Live: There’s Something About Toni (that has fried people’s brains)

Posted on by Jim Valley

It’s Wrestling Observer Live Saturday with me: Jim Valley.

Despite what the conventional wisdom might say, the Toni Storm story, including her wrestling “debut” on Rampage, makes perfect sense. Why? Because it’s not actually her debut. I lay it all out for you.

Plus, WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event thoughts, WWE SmackDown, AEW Rampage, AEW Collision, TNA Final Resolution, and much more.

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Fight Game: WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event is back

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Paul Fontaine subbed in for John LaRocca on this week’s Fight Game as we talked about the major topics in the world of wrestling.

This show was also live streamed on our YouTube channel which you can watch below or listen.

We kicked off the show with our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before going through our Top Five topics which included:

  • The AEW Continental Classic and prospective winners
  • WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event memories, and a preview of Saturday night’s show
  • AEW’s World Title picture
  • New Japan Pro Wrestling’s upcoming big shows

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)