SALT LAKE CITY -- The WWE celebrated the fifth installment of Saturday Night’s Main Event since it was brought back nearly a year ago, and it was undoubtedly the most stacked match card of the bunch.
Fans piled into the Delta Center to watch the nationally televised event, featuring four matches, all of which having titles on the line. Two new champions were crowned on a successful night for the WWE that helped set the foundation for the future.
World Heavyweight Champion Crowned
In the evening’s main event, Jey Uso took on CM Punk for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, after Seth Rollins had to relinquish it due to injury.
Jey Uso as of late has been a trending topic as of late, as members of the WWE Universe have been against him and the continued push he’s received. On the contrary, fans in the actual arenas still seem to be riding the “YEET” train and supporting Jey still.
Nonetheless, the two went to battle, in a match that surprisingly remained clean throughout.
Despite some botches and mishaps, Punk and Uso were able to turn it up in the end and deliver a fine match. With Uso’s spear through the barricade, or the two kicking out of the other’s finisher multiple times, there were many intense moments and near falls.
However, similarly to how he beat Gunther, Punk hit Jey Uso with a final duo of GTS’s and pinned him in the center of the ring. Just like that, CM Punk is back at the top of the mountain, and is now a seven time WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Before Rollins’ injury, I imagine the WWE wanted Punk to eventually dethrone him, but after being forced to pivot, having Punk win the title was the next best thing. A crowd favorite, Punk will do the company and the title justice with whatever feud’s he is given going forward.
As for Jey Uso, perhaps a heel turn is in the works for the biggest WWE babyface in years? We’ll see, but I have a feeling that some of Uso’s best character work is still before us.
Heel Cargill Shines
Jade Cargill and Tiffany Stratton had an ongoing feud on Smackdown for the Women’s Championship. The feud had always fallen flat with decent title matches at SummerSlam and Smackdown, but it was missing something.
As we found out on the October 24th episode of SmackDown, what this feud needed was a heel Jade Cargill. She returned from injury and brutally attacked Stratton, calling her shot for the title.
This brings us to Saturday night’s match, where WWE showed us exactly why they felt the need to change Cargill’s character. Stratton was coming into the match injured, so Cargill knew exactly what she needed to do.
She proceeded to then attack the injured knee, and essentially squash Stratton, dominating her for the entirety of the match, winning the WWE Women’s Championship. After 302 days as champion in her first ever run, Stratton’s reign came to an end.
I sort of wish the WWE gave Jade this edge and intensity earlier on in the feud, maybe even dating back to their first match at SummerSlam. However, this was better late than never, and now SmackDown has a top heel and a new dominant champion. Cargill ahs always had the look, now she has the gold to match. A long title reign is looming for her.
A Pair of Title Defenses
The other two matches on the night included the WWE Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, and the Intercontinental Championship match between Dominik Mysterio, Penta and Rusev.
Mysterio has been in a back and forth feud with Penta and Rusev, which has seen him repeatedly use dirty tactics to win, such as hitting his opponents with part of the ring bell.
In this bout, Rusev locked the accolade in on Penta, and the bell rang, signaling that Rusev was the new IC Champion, until he wasn’t.
It was actually “Dirty Dom’ ringing the bell as a way to cause confusion and stop Rusev from winning. Dom was then able to capitalize on his genius, and pin Rusev to win after Penta nailed him with the ring bell.
Dom’s title reign continues after one of his best feuds to date, and Rusev and Penta will seemingly have their own feud now.
The opening match on the evening saw Cody Rhodes once again defeat Drew McIntyre, in a match where Cody would have lost had he been counted out or disqualified in any way.
He ended up using the championship belt to help him win, after the referee was knocked out with it. This is not the first time Rhodes has used heelish tactics to win, something that has been part of his character since he finished the job against John Cena at SummerSlam.
Rhodes reign continues, but where will it go next? Will the WWE Universe get their wish and see Randy Orton turn on Cody? Will the Cody vs Drew feud continue even longer, with Drew eventually dethroning Cody? Only time will tell.
Cena’s Final Opponent
One of the biggest things to come from this SNME, was the announcement of the ‘Last Time is Now Tournament”.
Cena announced this 16-man tournament will be held at Raw and Smackdown events starting next Monday night on Raw, that will decide who his last opponent will be.
Cena mentioned names of old foes like Sheamus and The Miz, as well as wrestlers he hasn’t faced like LA Knight and Bronson Reed, while also hinting at superstars not signed to the WWE being involved.
Regardless of who it is, this tournament and final match from cena on December 13th are going to be remembered forever, as that will be the last action for the GOAT of the WWE.
Until then, let’s continue to enjoy his presence and career.