Tag: wwe saturday night’s main event

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event update: Tag title match, Jesse Ventura

Posted on by Ian Carey

Updates are available regarding this weekend’s lineup for Saturday Night’s Main Event.

On WWE Raw this week, it was announced that World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles & Dragon Lee will wrestle the team of Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater in Washington on Saturday. At the time, it was promoted as a non-title NXT vs. Main Roster match, but WWE.com is advertising the titles as being on the line.

WWE.com wrote:

“At Saturday Night’s Main Event, World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Dragon Lee will put their title on the line against two of the hottest prospects in NXT, the explosive Je’Von Evans and TNA X Division Champion Leon Slater.”

Also, a report from WrestleVotes on Wednesday is stating that Jesse “The Body” Ventura is set to return at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

“After not appearing at the last Saturday Night’s Main Event, Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura is set for Washington, D.C. this weekend as the big John Cena send-off show approaches,” WrestleVotes posted to X.

Saturday’s show at the Capital One Center in Washington, DC had 16,483 tickets distributed as of Friday’s edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WrestleTix posted that the number has gone up to 17,366 as of yesterday.

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event lineup | Saturday, December 13 | Washington, D.C.

  • John Cena vs. Gunther
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Oba Femi
  • Bayley vs. Sol Ruca
  • World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles & Dragon Lee defend against Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater

Lilian Garcia ‘excited’ and ‘nervous’ for role in John Cena’s last WWE match

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Lilian Garcia is hoping to make John Cena’s final ring introduction a special one for fans and Cena himself.

With Cena’s retirement match taking place on WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, Garcia is tasked with doing the introduction. She told TV Insider that she’s both excited and nervous for the opportunity. Her goal is to properly celebrate Cena as the greatest of all time.

“For sure,” Garcia responded when asked if she’s nervous for the moment. “It has been exciting. Am I nervous about this? Of course, you get nervous. I always say nerves are a good thing because it means you care. Nerves and excitement actually create the same energy. It’s about turning those nerves into excitement. I’m very excited. I’m going to do everything I can to put everything into that announcement. Just really solidify the fact that he is the ‘Greatest of All Time.’ He is an icon. I’ve been amazed at everything he has been able to accomplish and his legacy.”

Garcia said this is a full-circle moment for her since she remembers announcing Cena at a live event back in the day when he was “The Prototype.” Throughout his run, Garcia remembers Cena as someone who has been very focused on delivering what he has to do.

Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. is hosting Saturday Night’s Main Event this weekend (December 13). It will be Cena vs. Gunther at the show, with Gunther having earned the spot through winning WWE’s Last Time is now Tournament.

Garcia signed a new two-year contract with WWE a couple of months back. Along with her SNME role, Garcia has done ring announcing for WWE-AAA specials.

“I get to do Saturday Night’s Main Event and got to do Worlds Collide with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and do that in Spanish. It was new for me. I never announced in Spanish,” she told TV Insider. “Even when we did shows in Mexico, I’d host the show in Spanish. So you would hear me do all the in between and talk to the crowd. But when it came to me saying, ‘The following contest is scheduled for one fall…’ That was always done in English.

“Now this whole show is done in Spanish. I had to learn all these new wrestling terms in Spanish. It has been a new challenge. Watching the Mexican wrestlers, wow. And you never know what’s to come with WWE and what’s new and added. It’s so great to be part of the fold.”

SNME is streaming live on Peacock this Saturday with a start time of 8 p.m. Eastern.

CM Punk wins World Heavyweight title at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A new World Heavyweight Champion has been crowned.

CM Punk won his seventh world title on Saturday, defeating Jey Uso to win the title for a second time. The finish of the back-and-forth bouth had Punk hitting two GTS on Uso, covering him for the win. The final moments of the show saw Punk celebrate with his newly-won title as pyro went off.

After the show ended, Punk posted a picture of himself with new WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill, WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, and NXT Champion Ricky Starks. Notably, they all worked together during Punk’s brief time in AEW.

“Look at us,” the caption reads.

WWE’s socials also posted footage of Rhodes putting the title around Punk’s waist.

Punk won a number one contendership match to earn a title match against Seth Rollins that was set to take place on Saturday. However, following Crown Jewel, The Vision shockingly turned against Rollins, writing him off television to deal with a shoulder injury suffered at the PLE. A battle royal was held the following week to determine Punk’s opponent for SNME that was won by Uso.

Previously winning the title at SummerSlam after a hard-fought match against Gunther, Punk’s first title reign ended in minutes after Rollins cashed in and pinned Punk to win the title.

Jade Cargill wins Women’s Championship at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tiffy Time ran out on Saturday.

Jade Cargill is the new Women’s Champion, defeating Tiffany Stratton at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Cargill dominated the match, targeting Stratton’s injured leg. After hitting two powerbombs, the new champion finished off Straton with Jaded, pinning her for the title.

Stratton had held the title for most of the year, cashing in her Money in the Bank contract on Nia Jax back on the January 3 edition of SmackDown. She had just surpassed the 300 day mark as champion.

On last week’s SmackDown, Cargill made the save for Stratton after she was jumped by Giulia and Kiana James. Once they were dispatched, however, Cargill turned against Stratton by laying her out with a clothesline. She continued her attack, stomping on Stratton’s knee on the stairs in the process. In an interview that took place after, Cargill said she was tired of being patient and was ready to take what was hers, the WWE Women’s Championship.

Prior to Saturday’s match, Nick Aldis asked Stratton if she was sure she wanted to continue with the match. Despite the injury, Stratton insisted on wrestling.

New stipulation added to WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event title match

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A new stipulation has been added for Saturday’s WWE Championship match.

During SmackDown, Drew McIntyre assured Nick Aldis that everything was fine ahead of the Saturday Night’s Main Event contract signing in the main event. However, when the time came to sign, McIntyre refused. He stated that it was lopsided against him, pointing out in their last match that Rhodes was able to walk away with the title after a disqualification. Rhodes said if he wanted the rules changed so he could lose the title via DQ or count out, that was fine. Aldis warned Rhodes against doing this, but Rhodes insisted, wanting the title match to move forward.

After the two traded some more words, Rhodes finished his promo by saying nice guys finished last until he showed up. McIntyre refused to let Rhodes have the last word, bringing up Rhodes’ daughters. That caused Rhodes to go on the attack, aiming to strike McIntyre with the WWE title. McIntyre dodged and exited the ring as Aldis warned Rhodes doing something like that would cost him the title tomorrow. The distraction left an opening long enough for McItnyre to re-enter the ring and lay out Rhodes with the claymore. After a powerbomb through the table, McIntyre told Rhodes he’d be leaving with the title tomorrow.

Several weeks ago, McIntyre was set to wrestle Jacob Fatu in a number one contender’s match when Fatu was seen reeling from a backstage attack. McIntyre denied that he had anything to do with it. Rhodes came out and told McIntyre if he wanted a title match, he would give one to him. The two brawled for a while before the match officially began. However, it soon ended  when Rhodes used the WWE title to attack McIntyre, causing a disqualification.

Saturday Night’s Main Event (November 1)

  • WWE World Heavyweight title: CM Punk vs. Jey Uso
  • WWE Championship, title can change hands by DQ or count out: Cody Rhodes defends against Drew McIntyre
  • WWE Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton defends against Jade Cargill
  • Three-way for WWE Intercontinental title: Dominik Mysterio defends against Penta and Rusev

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event World title match official

Posted on by Ethan Renner

A new World Heavyweight Champion will be crowned at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on November 1.

Jey Uso won a number one contender’s battle royal on Monday’s WWE Raw to advance to the title match at SNME on Saturday, November 1. Uso will take on CM Punk, who won the number one contendership on last week’s Raw, for the vacant World Heavyweight title.

Raw GM Adam Pearce announced on Monday’s show that Seth Rollins would be out of action due to a shoulder injury and had been stripped of the World title. With Punk already in line for a title shot, he then announced a battle royal for Raw to determine Punk’s opponent.

Jey, brother Jimmy Uso, LA Knight, and Dominik Mysterio were the final four competitors in the battle royal on Raw, with Jey dumping both his brother and Knight out of the ring for a double elimination. Jey then avoided a 619 attempt from Mysterio to win the match. A staredown with Punk closed Raw.

Salt Lake City will host the next episode of SNME on November 1, the second of two consecutive nights in the city, as Delta Center will also host the Halloween SmackDown the day before.

Our full report from Monday’s Raw which also featured a World Tag Team title change is available here.

Update on WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, Survivor Series creative plans

Posted on by Joseph Currier

In the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer provided an update on some of WWE’s creative plans going forward.

Meltzer reports that, as of now, Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship is scheduled to headline WWE’s next Saturday Night’s Main Event special. The show is being held in Salt Lake City, Utah on November 1, with Meltzer noting that Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship and a singles match between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu are also currently planned:

  • Currently three matches are scheduled, with Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk as the headliner for the world title. The other matches listed are Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill for the women’s title. I think after all the recent booking that Cargill has to win here, because there’s no point to this match otherwise. Stratton has beaten her and it’s a tough match-up because thus far neither has made the other look as good as they’ve looked with other opponents. Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu is listed as a match where the winner would get a shot at Cody Rhodes for the world title.

WWE’s November PLE is Survivor Series: WarGames from San Diego on November 29. Meltzer writes that Cody Rhodes defending the WWE Championship against the McIntyre vs. Fatu winner from SNME (likely to be McIntyre) is scheduled for the show. Also currently listed is John Cena challenging Dominik Mysterio for the Intercontinental title.

When it comes to the two WarGames matches, here is the latest word on the plans:

  • The War Games plans as of one week ago was a men’s match with Punk & Roman Reigns & Jacob Fatu & Jey Uso along with a fifth man, not yet decided but Jimmy Uso and LA Knight are the two candidates, against a heel team of Rollins & Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed & Brock Lesnar & Austin Theory.
  • The women’s War Games match at this point is listed to be AJ Lee & Rhea Ripley & Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss & Iyo Sky vs. Becky Lynch & Asuka & Kairi Sane & Nia Jax & Lash Legend.

Theory, out of action with an injury, has not competed since July. Him being included in WarGames could mean that WWE intends for him to join The Vision with Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Paul Heyman.

John Cena’s WWE retirement match location reportedly revealed

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE looks to be heading to the nation’s capital for John Cena’s retirement match.

WrestleVotes reports that Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. will be the location for Cena’s last match, which is taking place on WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13. That news has not been officially announced by WWE yet.

The report comes after it was revealed this morning that Boston will not be the location for Cena’s last match. Cena’s final WWE appearance in Boston will instead happen at TD Garden on the November 10 episode of Raw. The following week, Cena will be at Madison Square Garden one last time for his New York City farewell.

Capital One Arena is the home of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals. It’s been a regular venue for WWE, along with hosting the first-ever episode of AEW Dynamite in 2019.

The December 13 episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event will stream live on Peacock. It’s not known who Cena will be facing at the show.

After defeating Logan Paul at Clash in Paris, Cena is set to appear on SmackDown tonight ahead of his upcoming matchup against Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza.

Cena has eight appearances left on his retirement tour:

  • Friday, September 5: WWE SmackDown (Rosemont, Illinois)
  • Monday, September 15: WWE Raw (Springfield, Massachusetts)
  • Saturday, September 20: WWE Wrestlepalooza (Indianapolis, Indiana)
  • Saturday, October 11: WWE Crown Jewel: Perth (Perth, Australia)
  • Monday: November 10: WWE Raw (Boston, Massachusetts)
  • Monday, November 17: WWE Raw (New York City, New York)
  • Saturday, November 29: WWE Survivor Series (San Diego, California)
  • Saturday, December 13:  WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event (reportedly Washington, D.C.)

Anticipated location reported for next WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Josh Nason

The first WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event of the Peacock-exclusive era reportedly has a location.

WrestleVotes Radio reported Thursday that Salt Lake City, Utah’s Delta Center is the planned spot for the Saturday, November 1st SNME. Additionally, the outlet reported that a Halloween-themed edition of SmackDown will emanate from the same venue the night before.

This is the latest development in a 24-hour block that has seen the relationship between WWE and Peacock change rapidly:

  • Announced on Wednesday, WWE PLEs will no longer air on Peacock following this month’s Clash in Paris as they will move to ESPN beginning in September — a change-up from the previously announced April 2026 launch.
  • All SNME quarterly specials will air exclusively on Peacock and will no longer be simulcast on NBC. This year will see five overall specials with the addition of November 1st and the previously planned Saturday, December 13th event.
  • The WWE archive will remain on Peacock through the end of 2025 with NXT PLEs remaining on the service through March 2026.
  • SmackDown replays will remain on Peacock for 30 days after its initial airdate on USA Network.

Date set for John Cena’s WWE retirement match

Posted on by Joseph Currier

John Cena’s in-ring career officially has less than four months remaining.

It was already known that Cena would be retiring from the ring this December. A date for his retirement match has now been set, with it scheduled to take place on a December 13 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event. There is no location or opponent confirmed yet, but the expectation has been that TD Garden in Boston will host the show with Massachusetts being Cena’s home state.

There had been rumors that WWE was considering moving the December SNME special to December 27 so it would air opposite AEW’s World Ends pay-per-view, but that will not be the case.

The announcement of the December 13 date was made in conjunction with the news that Saturday Night’s Main Event will now be streaming exclusively on Peacock going forward as part of a multi-year deal between WWE and NBCUniversal. SNME, a classic WWE series that dates back to the 1980s, made its return as a quarterly special in December 2024 and had been airing on both Peacock and NBC prior to today’s announcement that the NBC simulcast is going away.

WWE and Peacock have also confirmed a Saturday Night’s Main Event special for November 1.

With his retirement tour in its final months, Cena has a match against Logan Paul scheduled for Clash in Paris on August 31. It’s then expected that Cena vs. Brock Lesnar will happen at WWE Wrestlepalooza on September 20.

Clash in Paris will be the final WWE PLE to air on Peacock, with WWE’s new partnership with ESPN kicking off with the Wrestlepalooza event. Peacock will still have SNME, NXT PLEs, and the WWE content library (the library is scheduled to leave Peacock at the end of 2025 as things stand):

  • Saturday Night’s Main Event will stream in primetime exclusively on Peacock four times each year, featuring WWE’s top Superstars, rivalries, championship matches, and more.
  • Peacock will exclusively stream two nights of Saturday Night’s Main Events this year, with the first taking place on November 1. Additionally, Saturday Night’s Main Event on Dec. 13 will feature John Cena in his retirement match.
  • The WWE Network library will remain available on Peacock through the end of 2025, and NXT Premium Live Events will be available on Peacock until March 2026.
  • Throughout the term of the partnership, the SmackDown library will remain on Peacock on a 30-day delay and USA Network will continue as the live exclusive home of SmackDown on Friday nights.

July 21, 2025 Observer Newsletter: AEW All In & WWE SNME weekend recaps, Goldberg speaks out on final match

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: AEW

The new Wrestling Observer Newsletter has arrived.

Dave Meltzer recaps all the shows from the second busiest U.S. wrestling weekend of the year including AEW All In, WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, WWE Evolution, ROH Supercard of Honor, and NXT Great American Bash.

He also looks at Goldberg’s comments to Ariel Helwani this week after his final match, airing some grievances that polarized social media and promising there is more to come in under two weeks time.

All that and more awaits, so click here to read because it’s your friend.

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event ratings down for Goldberg’s retirement match

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Headlined by Goldberg’s retirement match, WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event averaged 1.425 million viewers on NBC this past weekend.

That’s down 27 percent from the prior special in May and is the lowest viewership total of the four SNME shows that have taken place since the series was relaunched in December 2024. The May episode did include John Cena, CM Punk, and Logan Paul all competing on the card.

Goldberg was the featured attraction here with SNME being held in his adopted hometown of Atlanta. In his final match, the 58-year-old Goldberg ultimately came up short in his mission to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Gunther. The episode drew a 0.33 rating in the 18-49 demo on NBC, a drop of 39 percent from the May special. However, SNME was the highest-rated show in the demo out of all network programming that aired on Saturday night.

None of these numbers include data from the Peacock broadcast of SNME, where the show is streamed live in addition to airing on NBC.

There was some wrestling competition for SNME on Saturday as AEW’s All In pay-per-view was still going on when SNME began.

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event ratings (NBC broadcast only) —

DateViewership18-49 demo rating
December 14, 20241.59 million0.42
January 25, 20251.49 million0.33
May 24, 20251.97 million0.54
July 12, 20251.43 million0.33

Triple H says Seth Rollins’ injury status is inconclusive but ‘doesn’t look good’

Posted on by Bryan Rose

An update on Seth Rollins’ injury situation.

During the Evolution post-show press conference on Saturday, Triple H gave an update on Seth Rollins’ injury, saying he’ll get an MRI tomorrow in Birmingham, Alabama.

“A little bit inconclusive. Doesn’t look good. He will be at Birmingham tomorrow. He came here tonight, he was not going to miss his wife’s performance tonight…we’ll get an MRI and hope for the best, see where we can go with that.”   

Rollins was injured during the closing moments of his match at Saturday Night’s Main Event against LA Knight. As he springboarded off the middle rope, his knee buckled and fell to the floor. The match briefly stopped as Rollins talked to the referee and Paul Heyman at ringside. The match then went right to the finish, as Rollins was laid out by Knight with the BFT for the win.

Bryan Alvarez later reported that the last 40 minutes of Saturday’s show had to be “changed on the fly” as a result of Rollins’ injury, and something that was supposed to happen later didn’t take place. The main event had Gunther defeat Goldberg in what was the latter’s final match to retain the World Heavyweight title.

WWE publishes Goldberg’s full retirement speech from Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Ian Carey

Bill Goldberg’s full post-match address to the live crowd in Atlanta at Saturday Night’s Main Event has been published.

Parts of his speech aired on Peacock before the show went off the air on Saturday night. The full 10-minute speech is now available on YouTube.

Goldberg said to the live crowd:

“Every time I step in this ring, it’s with every one of you with me. All these kids, it’s the reason why I did what I did. I grew up wanting to be a professional football player. I was lucky enough to play at the University of Georgia. Go Dogs! I was lucky enough to play for the Atlanta Falcons. And I was lucky enough to beat Hogan in front of 45,000 of y’all. I’ve never thought about this moment because I never thought it would come. But I couldn’t have done it without you. Each and every one of you.”

He also offered the following advice:

“Treat everybody with respect. Treat everybody the way you want to be treated. Black, green, purple, Christian, Jewish, I don’t give a damn. You treat every single human being with respect. And if I did anything in my career, I honored that. And I try to pass that down. And every single human being in this ring is of the same character. Because if I let them stay in the ring with me, that’s who they are.”

“And this goes out to my father-in-law who passed away last week. This goes out to all the flood victims 30 miles from our house in Texas, North Carolina, everywhere where people have been negatively affected. And the one thing that I’ve learned is that you’re never too good to lend a helping hand.”

“And again, treat everybody with respect. This can be a really crappy world if you let it. But if you stand up and you put your damn foot down and you lead by example, then it’s going to be one hell of a ride. And I want every one of you to take that ride with me.”

He finished his speech by literally saying the words “mic drop.”

Following Goldberg’s speech, Cody Rhodes came out to the ring and led the crowd in a final round of Goldberg chants.

Assuming the 58-year-old stays retired, his career spanned nearly three decades, from 1997 to 2025. He began training at the WCW Power Plant after being encouraged by Lex Luger and Sting, who had met Goldberg while he was training at a gym they owned. He began wrestling dark matches for WCW in the summer of 1997 and debuted on television in September of that year.

Goldberg was voted “Rookie of the Year” by readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 1998. He was a three-time world champion in WWE, a one-time world champion in WCW, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2018.

The full segment is available below:

Goldberg loses in final match at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Josh Nason

The in-ring career for Goldberg came to an end on WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.

The 58-year-old failed in his attempt to unseat reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion Gunther in the evening’s featured match, passing out while in a sleeper.

The action then quickly went to commercial and when it came back with less than a minute left to go, Goldberg was in the ring with his family and friends. He said a few words, but the broadcast simply ended.

**********

Goldberg, sporting a massive left knee brace, dominated early with power moves. Gunther went to work on the knee, but Goldberg caught him going to the top rope, tossing him off with a slam. Goldberg set up for a spear but Gunther went to the outside where the brawl continued.

Goldberg made a mistake, going for a spear but running through the barricade instead. Gunther then went to work on the knee for several minutes. Goldberg regained the advantage and went for a spear, but Gunther moved and referee Charles Robinson got hit instead.

Gunther then removed the knee brace and hit Goldberg with it. He then walked over to Goldberg’s son Gage at ringside and pushed him before Gage was removed by security after he jumped the barricade. Gunther got back in the ring and was speared, followed by a jackhammer. As a new official came out, Goldberg got the pin attempt but it was too late due to his injured knee.

Gunther then got him in the sleeper and after Goldberg nearly fought his way out, he passed out.

**********

Goldberg did his traditional locker room to the ring entrance, flanked by former WCW director of security Doug Dillinger, Ernest “The Cat” Miller, Josh Barnett, Chuck Zito, and his son Gabe. Longtime WWE and former WCW referee Charles Robinson was the official.

It was the first match for the 58-year-old since February 2022’s Elimination Chamber when he lost to then-WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. It was Gunther’s first defense of the title he won from Jey Uso on a June edition of WWE Raw.