TJRWrestling WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event (November 1) Preview
It’s WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event featuring four huge title matches, including CM Punk and Jey Uso battling for the vacant World Heavyweight Title.
I usually don’t write preview columns for WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event specials, but there are some big matches for this show, and I have the time to do it, so here I am with some thoughts on four title matches coming up on Saturday night.
There is a change to SNME because the four previous Saturday Night’s Main Event specials over the last year were on NBC, which meant they were two-hour shows with commercials. After that year on NBC, SNME is now on Peacock in the US, which was the WWE PLE home before the ESPN move in September. Under the new deal, Peacock gets SNME specials (including John Cena’s final match next month) and NXT PLEs. For me in Canada, SNME specials air free on WWE’s YouTube channel, which is certainly fine with me. Moving off NBC will mean a smaller audience for these shows, but at least they can have fewer commercials, aside from the ones in between matches. I’m not sure if it will run 2 hours like they did on NBC, but it might run a bit longer. I’m not sure if a fifth match will be added or if they will keep four matches.
I am writing this before SmackDown and before Game 6 of the MLB World Series featuring my Toronto Blue Jays and the defending champion, the Los Angeles Dodgers. I hope the Blue Jays end the series tonight (Friday) in six games, but if not, then they will have Game 7 against SNME, which is not good for WWE because the audience for Game 7 will be massive.
You can watch Saturday Night’s Main Event when it streams LIVE on Saturday, November 1 at 7 p.m. et/4 p.m. pt on Peacock in the United States and on YouTube internationally.
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Intercontinental Championship: Dominik Mysterio vs. Penta vs. Rusev
This should be a fun match since Dirty Dom has been very entertaining as the Intercontinental Champion, while babyface Penta and heel Rusev have been coming after him. I have enjoyed the clever finishes that WWE has come up with for Dom’s matches. I expect something similar her,e where it will look like Rusev or Penta is about to win, but Dom will find a way to get the win. Perhaps it will be a classic “steal a pin” finish we often see in triple threat matches, though I hope for something a bit more creative.
The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer has mentioned that WWE is planning to have Dominik Mysterio defend the Intercontinental Title against John Cena at Survivor Series, and Cena would win the IC Title for the first time in his career. It would lead to Cena’s final match defending the IC Title at SNME in December against Gunther, who I assume would win. Cena has never held the IC Title before, so it would be a final title win for the man with the most World Title wins in WWE history. I don’t mind the idea. I also think Dominik could benefit from beating Cena, but I doubt it will happen. I’ll go with Dirty Dom here.
Winner: Dominik Mysterio
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WWE Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill
Jade Cargill turned heel on SmackDown last week after saving Tiffany Stratton from a two-on-one attack. The heel turn has been building since Jade lost at SummerSlam and complained that Stratton was lucky when she had her foot on the rope while Jade pinned her after hitting Jaded. I think Jade could be better as a heel because she has the look of a badass, and sometimes, seeing her as a face felt forced. I also think in terms of in-ring performance, she’ll likely be better as a heel.
Stratton is going into this match with a storyline knee injury, so that will likely come into play, with Jade weakening the knee and Stratton being unable to perform some of her signature moves. I think Cargill winning the WWE Women’s Title is very likely. It’s been a good 10-month run for Stratton as champion, but I wouldn’t say it was great. Long term, if Bianca Belair can return from the broken finger injury that has sidelined her since WrestleMania, I think WWE will want to run a Belair-Cargill feud, and perhaps that’s a WrestleMania match next year. This feels like the right time for a title change, and I think Stratton will be just fine without the title.
Winner AND NEW WWE Women’s Champion: Jade Cargill
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Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre
The feud keeps going even though Cody beat Drew clean at Wrestlepalooza over a month ago. Drew moved on to a feud with Jacob Fatu, but he’s out of action due to some injury to his teeth or mouth, which led to the return of this feud. I don’t know if they planned on doing a Cody-Drew-Jacob triple threat, but it was certainly a possibility.
I know there are plenty of people who want to see a title change here, and I’m certainly among them, but I’m not predicting it. If this feud continues all the way to Survivor Series, then perhaps they’ll have a gimmick match of some kind, and that’s when I would have McIntyre win the WWE Title. It also wouldn’t surprise me if WWE keeps the title on Cody Rhodes all the way until WrestleMania 42, and perhaps they do a Randy Orton heel turn on Cody, or at least set up a big Cody-Randy match for the WWE Title. I know they had a match in the King of the Ring tournament that Cody won, so you can build the story by saying Orton is jealous of Cody.
I think Drew McIntyre is the best all-around performer in WWE, and Cody Rhodes is right there with him. In my WWE Awards column last year, Drew was my pick for the top spot even though he only held the World Title for five minutes in 2024. I’d love to see Drew as the WWE Champion again, and I want to see him hold until WrestleMania next year. However, I feel like WWE isn’t going to pull the plug on Cody’s title reign, and it’s going to be another year where Cody walks into WrestleMania as a champion. I’m going with a Cody win here, but I’d love to be wrong, and if Drew gets another shot at Survivor Series, then I hope Drew wins it there. This should be a very entertaining match, as usual.
Winner: Cody Rhodes
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For the Vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk vs. Jey Uso
The World Heavyweight Championship was vacated after Seth Rollins suffered a shoulder injury following his Crown Jewel match with Cody Rhodes. Rollins has had surgery and will probably miss six months or so. I think if Rollins were healthy, then he would have beaten CM Punk, who earned this title shot by beating Jey Uso and LA Knight in a triple threat match.
I know some fans are frustrated by Jey Uso being in yet another World Heavyweight Title match since he’s been around the title a lot this year. Many people wanted LA Knight in this spot since he’s popular with the fans as well. Even if Knight were to lose this match, at least it would be a coveted spot for a guy who is genuinely loved by the fans. Yes, Jey has the popular entrance and a lot of the crowd behind him, but it feels like this could have been a spot for Knight.
The reason I think they went with Jey is that we might see Jimmy Uso show up after a ref bump, and Jey will consider cheating to win, but Jimmy will tell his brother not to do it, which will allow Punk to recover and get the win. I think it would be a surprise for Jey to be the champion. CM Punk as champion would be fresh, even though he’s 47. Punk hasn’t had a meaningful title reign in WWE in 12 years, so let’s see what he can do as a popular babyface champion. Long term, the obvious is to have Bron Breakker face Punk, which can continue as one of the main rivalries on Raw as the young guys try to take the title from the old guy. Simple enough, right? I think Punk should win this match and will win this match.
Winner AND NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion: CM Punk
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BONUS TOPICS FOR WWE SATURDAY NIGHT’S MAIN EVENT
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
CM Punk vs. Jey Uso just to see how it’s booked. I think Cody-Drew will be the best match.
The Match I Care About The Least
Jade Cargill vs. Tiffany Stratton.
Longest Match
CM Punk vs. Jey Uso around 20 minutes.
Shortest Match
Jade Cargill vs. Tiffany Stratton around 20 minutes.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
It’s a 7.5 out of 10. It’s a good card with all title matches, which will likely lead to at least one title change and a new World Champion, so at least it will be newsworthy in that regard.
I’ll be back with a review of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on TJRWrestling.net on Saturday. You can also tweet me on X/Twitter at @johnreport as well.
If you want to email me, send it to [email protected]. Thanks for reading.