WWE Saturday Night's Main Event 11/1/2025: Draws & Duds

This weekend, WWE's revived Saturday Night's Main Event makes its way to Salt Lake City, Utah, for a card that (so far) is entirely comprised on championship matches. Three of those are world titles, with Cody Rhodes defending against Drew McIntyre, Tiffany Stratton defending against Jade Cargill after the latter's heel turn, and CM Punk battling Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight Championship that was vacated after Seth Rollins suffered an injury. Dominik Mysterio's triple threat defense of the men's Intercontinental title rounds out the card, which may or may not see a fifth match added this week on or before "SmackDown."

Of course, no wrestling event is perfect — going into the show, some of the matches will be viewed as must-see, while others could have fans planning bathroom breaks or fast food runs. And as has become our custom, per the personal hype levels of the WINC staff, one contest in particular has us ready to ride or die for SNME, while another has us somewhat less whelmed. It's time to find out the biggest draw and the biggest dud as we look ahead to the 11/1/25 edition of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event!

Let's be real about this — there isn't much heat to the announced SNME card so far. Punk vs. Jey is babyface vs. babyface; the two men have made a show of respecting each other and the actual heels aren't in the match (at least not officially). Dominik Mysterio has heat just for being Dominik Mysterio, but his triple threat men's IC title defense mostly just feels like a way to prevent either Rusev or Penta from losing another one-on-one title match. And while there's something interesting stuff going on with Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, I don't think anyone expects Drew to walk away with the gold.

Fortunately, SNME got the heat it needed this past Friday when Jade Cargill turned heel on Tiffany Stratton and got booked in a WWE women's title match. All of a sudden, SNME has a one-on-one babyface vs. heel contest where the face has a legitimate grievance, but the heel is a legitimate threat to take the championship. That last part really shouldn't be understated — WWE has run four SNME shows since bringing the concept back at the end of last year, and thus far the event has yet to feature a challenger dethroning a champion (there have been 11 total title matches, one of which featured the crowning of an inaugural champion, and the other 10 of which have all seen the reigning champion successfully defend). The promise of a potential title change is by far the most interesting thing this weekend's SNME has going for it, especially with the Cargill heel turn so recent and the Cargill/Stratton rivalry so much fresher as a result than it had been previously.

Of course, there's a chance Stratton becomes the 11^th champion to retain the title she held going into SNME, but given the newfound buzz around Cargill (who reportedly was supposed to win the championship earlier in the year) combined with the fact that Stratton's title reign will be entering its 11^th month and there's really nobody on "SmackDown" left for her to beat, I feel fairly confident that the storm is about to finally arrive. Even if it doesn't, the expectation that it will is more than enough to sell this show.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

The WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match on Saturday is guaranteed to crown a new champion, barring any interference from The Vision or Jimmy Uso or a less-hurt-than-reported Seth Rollins (It's happened before!), and I honestly couldn't care less. I know that it is not the fault of the people involved that Seth Rollins is hurt, and so this audible had to be called, but it doesn't change the fact that Saturday feels like table setting, despite the massive stakes for the contest.

Do I think Jey Uso and CM Punk can have a perfectly cromulent World Heavyweight title match? Yes, I do. Do I think that either of them could be the face of the "Raw" brand without really changing anything about the current product? You bet. Do I care? Absolutely not. I just wish it didn't feel like The Vision and Seth Rollins were hanging around in the background of all of this.

Since SummerSlam, "WWE Raw" seems to be laser-focused on two things: CM Punk getting the World Heavyweight title back, and Bron Breakker being crowned "The Next Big Thing" by either beating Rollins or Punk for the title. Jey Uso is also...you know...there...Yeet, and so on and so forth, I guess. Jimmy Uso is haunting the edges of Jey Uso's story. The Vision is haunting the edges of CM Punk's story. There's no part of this title match that feels like it's about the title. It feels like this title match is the opening chapter of whatever the road to WrestleMania has in store, and don't forget the massive Saudi Arabian Royal Rumble that is also on the horizon. 

There have been plenty of nights where having a WWE title and a World Heavyweight title have felt like a "Wow, two cakes" situation. Everyone loves to have two cakes, but Saturday Night's Main Event's WHC contest feels more like inedible fondant decorations on top of SNME's yellowcake.

Written by Ross Berman