WWE Saturday Night's Main Event (January 25th, 2025) Review

A special television show that harkens back to the nostalgic days of the 80s with a retro like feel despite the modern talent and style. It is not 100% treated like a major ppv, but it is often put above a normal episode f weekly television like Raw or Smackdown.

Now, I will be watching the YouTube feed of this show, so there might be times where I only see long, extended breaks and can't review the action going on.

We start the show with talent arriving and going over the matches of the show before we go into an incredibly well made video package that is very old school with 80s style music and graphics which I loved so much. An awesome look and what this show is all about.

We then get to see Jesse Ventura and Joe Tessitore standing at an old school poduim like they used to use, which looked so cool with the fans behind them looking just like it did for all the older shows. A great look once again.

Match 1: WWE Women's World Heavyweight Championship Match

Nia Jax (Challenger) vs Rhea Ripley (Champion)

Nia attacked Rhea during the ring announcements, which include a super cool and old school microphone that came down from the ceiling. Rhea quickly starts to fight back, showing a whole bunch of agility with a Tilt-A-Whirl DDT and a Senton off the apron. But they get back in the ring and Nia uses her power and strength advantage to get back in control.

We get a Avalanche Samoan Drop pretty quick into the match, the crowd very firmly behind Rhea while we go to commercial break.

We get back from commercial just in time to see Rhea backflip out of a Suplex, followed by a wild sequence with Rhea hitting a Code Red out of nowhere. A move she has never done before. Nia kicks out and then climbs to the second rope to hit a Diving Leg Drop.

Both women are pulling out moves that they have never done before, which is so awesome and wild to see. The crowd was super hot for it and were as loud as could be.

More exchanging moves ends in Nia hitting a big Samoa Joe like Uranage in the corner before going for The Annihilator, but Rhea sends her to the floor and hits a Diving Crossbody off the top rope to Nia on the floor. Again, just more stuff with the women doing new stuff and keeping the crowd as hot and loud as possible.

Nia finally hit The Annihilator, but instead of pinning she went for a second one. Rhea was barely able to get up, but then carried Nia on her shoulders to hit an Electric Chair Drop. Rhea was selling incredibly well, beat up badly and needing the fans to cheer her on to get back up.

They trade some strikes before Rhea is able to plant Nia with a Riptide and get the victory rather suddenly.

Result: Rhea Ripley defeated Nia Jax to retain

Star Rating: 4.25/5 Stars

We see some quick WWE legends in the crowd like Alundra Blayze with her iconic WWF Women's Championship as well as Texas home town boy Mark Henry.

Match 2: WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

Sheamus (Challenger) vs Bron Breakker (Champion)

Sheamus has accomplished literally everything in WWE, except for winning the IC Championship. His entire story for the past few years now has been wanting nothing but to win the one title that has alluded him. Meanwhile Bron is a very fast rising star who dominated NXT for a while before coming up to Monday Night Raw, winning the IC belt in record time.

The match starts off slow but hard hitting. The two badasses just hitting each other hard and using big power moves.

Bron gets the advantage with a big Suplex and goes for a Spear on the floor, but Sheamus catches him and throws him over the barricade and onto the time keeper's chair face first.

Back in the ring, Sheamus stays on top and goes for his signature 10 Beats of The Bodhran. Bron fights out and they go to ringside once again. Sheamus runs and jumps off the steel stairs for an attack, but Bron catches him in mid air with a big Spear before we go to a commercial break.

We come back from commercial with Bron clearly dominating. Sheamus finally starts to fight back, getting a few close pin attempts before he finally hits his 10 Beats, but goes on to hit 16 in total. Bron was looking beat up and the crowd was loving the match. Sheamus used the ropes to get into a unique position before hitting the High Cross, lifting Bron up over his head by his shoulders and just slamming him down on the back of his head and neck, but it isn't enough to win the match for Sheamus. Sheamus tries to stay on top, but Bron's power and explosively is just too much. He hits a big Gorilla Press Slam, but Sheamus kicked out. Sheamus went to the corner and hit a boot followed by skinning the cat to the top rope to show his own agility, but Bron runs up and hits a massive Frakensteiner off the top rope. Bron goes for a Spear, but Sheamus suddenly catches him with a Brogue Kick out of nowhere. Sheamus is too exhausted and beat up to pull Bron away from the ropes, letting Bron put his leg on the rope to break up the pin.

Sheamus goes for another Brogue Kick, but his ribs are too hurt. Bron hits a Shoulder Tackle, Sheamus hits a Knee, then goes for another Brogue Kick that Bron ducks and hits another big Spear in a incredibly well done and well paced finishing sequence.

Result: Bron Breakker defeated Sheamus to retain

Star Rating: 4/5 Stars

We go onto a major segment next, with San Antonio's own Shawn Michaels coming out to moderate a contract signing for the very intense feud that might be the top story in the entire WWE right now between WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and "WWE Champion" Kevin Owens.

Owens snapped at the last Saturday Night's Main Event in December, where Cody wore the WWE Championship that was used in the 90s. Owens hit Cody with a Piledriver after the show and then walked off with the old title belt, going on to claim that he is a World Champion. Cody came back and now the two are going into the Royal Rumble event on February 1st in a ladder match to see who the true Undisputed Champion is.

Kevin comes out to a whole lot of boos, avoiding being touched by the fans in the narrow rampway. Meanwhile Cody comes out and high fives as many fans as he can with a big smile on his face, then climbs a ladder at ringside to pose with his theme song with an incredible angle and shot from the production aspect, showing Kevin staring daggers into Cody at the same time.

The crowd continues to be very loud and firmly behind Cody. Shawn Michaels tries to get the contract signing with over quickly, saying that they are here to do business.

Cody signs it right away while Kevin hesitates, grabbing the microphone and cutting a promo.

Kevin tears into Cody, talking about how Cody is truly the one who takes the easy way out and not Kevin. How Cody left WWE when things got tough. How Cody couldn't last in the same career as Kevin.

Cody cuts him off and gets intense, wanting this to be over. Cody says he is done worrying about Kevin and is focused solely on Wrestlemania, looking past Kevin and not seeing him as a threat.

Kevin acts like he's going to sign it again, but Kevin grabs the mic again and says that he is the "true rightful champion" and he will shut up all the people who didn't agree with him.

Kevin is going to steal all of the pyro and grandship that Cody gets, wanting to take everything away from Cody because he feels that he is the one who deserves it. Showing he is full of jealousy and obsession with Cody.

Shawn Michaels even pipes in, saying "you just sound jealous" which sends Kevin even further off the deep end.

Kevin starts to tell Shawn that he quit when things got tough, even referencing the infamous "lost my smile" promo from Shawn Michaels.

A referee gets into the ring and hangs up both championship belts on a carabiner to hang them above the ring until the Royal Rumble in a week.

Shawn tries to shake hands with Kevin, but he refuses. While Shawn shakes hands with Cody, Kevin attacks Cody and tries to hit Shawn with a Piledriver.

Cody saves Shawn, which lets Shawn hit Kevin with a Sweet Chin Music to make the crowd come absolutely unglued.

Before our next match, we see a bunch of celebs and legends in the crowd like Gabriel Iglesias, Dory Funk Jr, and Jim Duggan. Always love to see the legends and celebs in the crowd. Really helps build WWE as something truly massive and influential in the mainstream.

Match 3: Singles Match

Braun Strowman vs Jacob Fatu

2 massive monsters of men about to fight it out in what is sure to be a wild, chaotic brawl. Jacob is the heater of the new Bloodline run by Solo Sikoa, looking like a absolute beast and a megastar. Meanwhile Braun has been the big monster of WWE for a decade at this point, even if he hasn't been as successful as perhaps he should. He suffered a near career ending injury, but returned and had a very destructive feud with Bronson Reed on Raw before getting injured again, returning to help fight off the new Bloodline and having staredowns with Fatu, but they haven't touched yet.

We get Tama Tonga and Jacob cutting a promo backstage as they make their way down to the ring. Jacob has such intensity and seriously just should be the next face of the company. He has absolutely everything, including charisma for days. Weeks even.

The commentary does a great job of going over Jacob's past. His stints in jail as a teenager, the reason he came into wrestling, and just making him sound like a truly dangerous man who wants to hurt everyone.

Braun overpowers Jacob in the start, being the much larger and stronger man, the first time that Jacob has really shown any time of being bested.

Jacob uses cheap shots and the ropes to get the advantage, showing his street smarts and intelligence in combat. Jacob then hits a Tope Suicida before we go into a commercial break.

We come back from commercial break to see Jacob has been dominating the break, but this is then interrupted by a big Sidewalk Slam from Braun.

Braun starts to lay into Jacob with big strikes and attacks, getting the advantage back on his side.

I really love how they decided to go about this match. I sort of look at it like Penta's debut on Raw almost 2 weeks ago. Jacob is doing a lot of selling to make his opponent look good, but it also making himself look dominant and badass.

Braun does his signature thing of running around the ring to charge into Jacob, which honestly just made me worried and sad for Braun. After his injury, he has been unable to run at the same speed and moves much slower and less graceful. I get that really that move is his character, but I honestly want him to stop. It looks painful to see him run.

Braun his 1 that sends Jacob into the barricade, a 2nd one to send him over the announce table, and then goes for a 3rd but is caught and hit with a Samoan Drop onto the table that doesn't break. Jacob takes Braun and throws him into the ring, ready to keep the fight going.

Jacob started to brutalize Braun, hitting Hip Attack after Hip Attack after Hip Attack in the corner. Braun looked completely out of it and the referee kept warning Jacob, finally stopping him to try and save Braun.

Jacob grabbed the referee and threw him out of the ring, hitting more over and over again.

Result: Braun Strowman defeated Jacob Fatu by disqualification

Star Rating: 3.25/5 Stars

I am fine Jacob's first loss being a dq considering that he cares about hurting people more than winning. It fits his character, so it's okay in my mind.

Jacob grabs a steel chair and lays out security (including a NASTY chair throw at one guy) while more people keep trying to stop Jacob. Braun is bleeding from his mouth and nose while Jacob is forced back into the opposite corner, but Jacob continues to try and get a hold of Braun. He keeps shoving security and even hit a Springboard Moonsault onto Braun to massive applause. The crowd absolutely LOVES Jacob.

Jacob hits a 2nd Moonsault to even more applause.

We have security, referee, paramedics, producers, and even Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis trying to stop Jacob. Tama Tonga comes out and is the only person who is able to make Jacob leave the ring, but Jacob marches back down in order to hit a 3rd Moonsault.

We see The Brainbusters Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard in the crowd, getting a great reaction.

We then get a run down of the Royal Rumble card next week.

The Royal Rumble matches for the men's and women, as well as the ladder match for the WWE Championship between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens, as well as the most recent addition being the WWE Tag Team Championships being defended by DIY against the Motor City Machine Guns in a 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match

Main Event: WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match

Jey Uso (Challenger) vs Gunther (Champion)

We go straight from the video package to Jey making his way out for the biggest match of his career, the crowd incredibly loud and behind him and going wild as he makes his way through the crowd. The biggest, most popular guy in WWE.

The story of the match is that Jey has long been relegated to a tag team competitor or lost in the shuffle as part of The Bloodline, but since leaving has become a total megastar. Super popular and loved, but still unable to truly win a big major title on his own. He won the IC title for 2 weeks, but lost it due to family interference. Now, he goes up against the dominant Ring General Gunther.

Gunther held the short lived NXT UK Championship for 870 days, the WWE IC Championship for 666 days (the new record), and has been World Heavyweight Champion for 175 Days and counting. If I remember correctly, Gunther has been a champion for around 80% of his time in WWE, and has only lost 4 singles matches since joining WWE back in 2019.

Gunther starts the match right away with a Boot and just lays into Jey, sending him over the ropes with a Chop to the chest.

During the break, Gunther is dominating.

Just as we come back from break, Jey goes for a Superkick, but Gunther lays him out with a Lariat. Gunther continues to lay into Jey, clearly not taking his opponent all that seriously. Just disrespecting him for being nowhere near his level.

Jey tries to go for a Samoan Drop, but Gunther slips down and hits a massive Chop. Jey gets some strikes in and finally hits a Samoan Drop and is able to catch his breath for a few moments.

Jey gets the crowd behind him and goes for a Hip Attack in the corner, but Gunther blasts him with a Dropkick and then a stiff Powerbomb, but Jey was able to kick out.

We get another commercial break and come back to Jey fighting back, finally getting some momentum. Gunther hits a German Suplex but Jey is able to hit the first Superkick of the match.

Jey keeps going and hits a big Hip Attack with the crowd going nuts. This match especially, but really the entire night, has had the crowd incredibly hot and invested. A great thing to see.

Jey climbs to the top rope for a Uso Splash, but Gunther got up and hit more Chops. Gunther went for a Superplex, but Jey slipped down and hit a big Sit Out Powerbomb for another great near fall.

Gunther went for a Powerbomb, but Jey reversed with a Hurricanrana and a massive Spear.

The crowd went NUTS and thought it was over, but Gunther kicked out.

Jey hit another Superkick, followed by another Spear. Jey didn't cover, he climbed the corner and hit a Uso Splash while the crowd went even louder and wilder.

Gunther somehow kicked out, and the crowd sounded like they were going to blow the roof off the place in shock. A seriously great near fall that lead to every single person in the crowd chanting "Yeet!"

Jey went for another Spear, but Gunther caught him and hit a pair of Powerbombs to win out of nowhere.

Result: Gunther defeated Jey Uso to retain

Star Rating: 4/5 Stars

The show ends as commentary mentions that Jey Uso's time will come at some point, but tonight was not his night.

This show overall was much better than I initially anticipated. It had an absolutely HOT crowd that was super into everything and really helped to elevate the entire show and every match. A super great show that was great at being the bridge between a PPV and weekly tv. Truly something special and something that I hope they continue with doing for the next few years.

Overall Rating: 8/10