WWE Saturday Night's Main Event 12/13/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s review of "WWE Saturday Night's Main Event," in this case the one where John Cena taps out to GUNTHER in the last match of his career! As you might expect, the Wrestling Inc. staff have some thoughts about that. We also got showcase matches featuring "NXT" talent, including Oba Femi taking a DQ loss to Cody Rhodes, Sol Ruca upsetting Bayley, and the WWE World Tag Team Champions standing tall over Je'Von Evans and TNA's Leon Slater. The WINC crew have thoughts about those too! We even have thoughts about Joe Hendry showing up to drop The Miz with R-Truth!

If you missed the show and just need to know what happened, be sure to check out our SNME results page. If you know what happened, and want to know our opinion — including our opinion on Cena losing and/or tapping out, which is understandably what most of us are focused on — here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 12/13/25 edition of "WWE Saturday Night's Main Event!"

We need to put Cody Rhodes back in the Witness Protection Program.

I used that joke when Cody Rhodes had that incredibly long, dragged out feud with Shinsuke Nakamura, but I'd argue it's even more relevant here. You would have thought that "Saturday Night's Main Event" would have been neutral ground. You would think that a program with "NXT's" heavy presence on the card would spotlight the Superstars of tomorrow. Unfortunately, "NXT" Champion Oba Femi had such a spotlight stolen from him when Drew McIntyre interrupted his match with WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes Saturday.

Rhodes and McIntyre have been at each other's throats for far too long. At this point, they shouldn't even be feuding. Both men have outgrown each other, and yet, like a cockroach, McIntyre continues to plague Rhodes' career. Like a ghost, Rhodes continues to haunt McIntyre. This feud was good in theory, but continues to be horrendous in practice. This storyline has refused to progress past the base parts of a feud — sheer violence with the shallowest application of the bruised ego as its rationale — and Rhodes and McIntyre, two of "WWE SmackDown's" best mic workers and storytellers, have been denied the opportunity to raise the bar (or the stakes, or any measure of quality or evolution) on a storyline that desperately needs dimension. We shouldn't have gotten to the point where McIntyre could interrupt Rhodes and Femi's match. McIntyre and Rhodes shouldn't even be seen with each other, at this point.

Main roster feud reservations aside, however, you must agree: an exhibition match, booked with the clear motive to catapult Femi into the eyes of the WWE Universe, must have been void of this ongoing Rhodes and McIntyre saga — regardless of your thoughts on the storyline, or the reality of its ongoing existence. You cannot put Femi on the "Saturday Night's Main Event" card, with the purpose of presenting him to the WWE Universe for the first time on the main roster, only to have his match soured by McIntyre. There is stealing thunder. There is stealing the spotlight. Then, there is whatever this is. Nobody will be talking about Femi's gruesome and brutish (positive) performance tonight. They will only be talking about McIntyre's assault on Rhodes. Even if Femi does get involved in this, it will not be of his own volition. If this is WWE's way of integrating Femi onto the main roster, then it will not be Femi's story, as it should be. He will only be a pawn in a storyline that refuses to die.

We need to put Rhodes in the Witness Protection Program. Lock up McIntyre while you're at it. Above all though, let "The Ruler" Femi rule.

It's really no secret that I'm a huge fan of "WWE NXT" and I was really excited for some of the developmental brand's top stars, as well as one of TNA's hottest young stars who is likely headed to the Performance Center as soon as he's able, to be on this show. Even though Je'Von Evans and TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater lost to AJ Styles and Dragon Lee, I still really enjoyed this match, and I loved the exposure it got the young stars.

While this match was slightly confusing, as WWE didn't initially advertise it as a WWE Tag Team Championship title match, then did post that it was for the gold on the official website, then went back on it once again, likely because John Cena said the matches would be "non-canon" in various interviews over the last week, it was still a fun one to watch. While I don't think Evans and Slater are going to get another tag team championship shot on the main roster anytime soon, due to losing clean and the fact Styles and Lee have a ton of teams gunning for them right now, the exposure they got in front of a huge crowd, both in-person and the likely massive amounts of fans tuning in to the show from home, was incredible for them.

While I will admit I didn't love how quick this match seemed to go, and I'll be interested to see how the runtime compared to the other non-Cena matches on the card, it was so exciting and fast-paced, I think it made up for that. The match also happened right before Cena's, so it didn't overstay its welcome and upset the fans. Slater and Evans wasted no time bringing the high-flying action and they took it to the champions right away. There was one scary incident when Styles fell off the rope before the Phenomenal Forearm, but thankfully he looks to be okay and the match rolled on with what little it had left after that.

I especially loved this for Slater, who has been vocal about his dream of wrestling Styles before "The Phenomenal One" retires. That doesn't look like it's going to happen in TNA, though I could be wrong, and I think this was a much better stage for his dream to come true. This was also great for Lee. While he's of course already a main roster star, he's not always used in the best way. Being tag team champions with Styles and getting this platform to show off his stuff tonight was major for him, too. Overall, I thought this was a really fun match tonight that fit well onto the SNME card.

Written by Daisy Ruth

To be clear, I have a lot of respect Bayley for putting over a "WWE NXT" star, particularly coming off her Lodestone seminar, that made it clear how much she cares about the future of the industry. But it's still a little bit hard to swallow, for three reasons. First, Bayley hasn't had a ton of wins lately despite her work remaining consistently excellent, and I thought she deserved one here. Second, I can't help but notice that neither Cody Rhodes nor AJ Styles & Dragon Lee were asked to put over "the future" by taking a loss.

Third ... Sol Ruca? Really? Not that I have anything against Sol Ruca, but she would not have been my choice for the ONLY "NXT" star to get a win at SNME. Sol is perfect fine, she's gonna be a big star someday, but could we not get the NXT Women's Champion in that spot? Sol hasn't even sniffed that title. If Jacy Jayne was off the table, Jordynne Grace or Kelani Jordan could have gotten a better match out of Bayley. Hell, even Tatum Paxley at least held the top belt recently. I guess what I'm saying is that, while Sol Ruca might be a top star someday, she isn't a top star YET, and I think Bayley just looked worse in the loss, rather than Sol looking better in the win.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

For some of my friends, "Saturday Night's Main Event" was their first introduction to professional wrestling. While we watched Je'Von Evans and Leon Slater soar against Dragon Lee and AJ Styles, Sol Ruca best Bayley for the biggest win in her career, and John Cena tap out to GUNTHER, one common thread continued to be brought up. Throughout the show, my friends consistently lauded the Washington D.C. crowd for their chants, their engagement, and their reactions to the in-ring action. I'm inclined to agree with them.

You hear wrestlers give credit to the fans constantly. Whether they're the WWE Universe, the AEW audience, or just a bunch of marks, the audience provides half the experience of live wrestling shows. People have made their careers made by cheers and boos alike, and many industry figures say that being met with apathetic silence from the fans is the worst thing that can happen to a wrestler's blossoming career. Most WWE crowds tend to be pretty engaged, but Washington D.C. stood out the most.

Of course, D.C. was extremely receptive to Cena's final match, but they were there for most of the night. They rallied behind Oba Femi during his entrance jaunt. They were there for Ruca's match against Bayley, and they came alive as bodies flew in Saturday's tag team match. "Saturday Night's Main Event" was a shorter card, yes, but they managed to keep their energy consistent throughout most of the show. That's commitment, D.C.

I'd go as far as to claim that, if the crowd hadn't been where they were at for Cena's final match, it would have been the most nothingburger retirement match to exist. With the cameraman certainly not doing any favors for kayfabe and Cena himself being a bit slow and noncommittal in his offense, that crowd singlehandedly saved the match. The rest of the DMV could hear every cheer, every boo, every "f*** you GUNTHER" and "you tapped out" chant this sold-out D.C. crowd had to offer. The crowd enhanced the aura, the ambience, of this match, and turned it from a middling wrestling match to the big fight feel that WWE advertised it to be.

If you thought the crowd was nuts during Cena's match, you should have heard them when Paul "Triple H" Levesque led a gaggle of WWE personnel out to the ring post-match. I could hear their boos from California, and honestly? Levesque completely deserves it. A lot of WWE's recent creative snafus can be traced back to him, and if anyone was going to let him know that he is a hated man, I'm glad it was D.C..

Shoutout Washington D.C.. You made an otherwise mid show worth sticking around for.

Written by Angeline Phu

While I'm not sure WWE ever outright confirmed there would be "surprises" on Saturday Night's Main Event leading in to Cena's final match, I guess I just assumed there would be more, and more exciting ones compared to what we got tonight. The "surprise" of the night came after The Miz decided to get into the ring and rant about not being featured on the show in favor of "WWE NXT" talent, despite him being a big rival in Cena's career.

It was, of course, R-Truth to come out and interrupt Miz's ramblings, and he revealed the name that Miz jumped in front of when he replaced the lottery ball for the "Last Time is Now" tournament in Nick Aldis' office on a previous episode of "WWE SmackDown." There were jokes about balls, and when Truth revealed the name, it was former TNA Champion-turned-"NXT" star Joe Hendry's music to hit. While I really love Hendry, and I know he was asking to have a match against Cena on the retirement tour, I just don't think tonight's show needed any of this.

Either you do a few surprises, or don't do any, especially when your only surprise happens literally right after all three of the exhibitions matches. Stephanie McMahon, on hosting duties alongside Joe Tessitore, was interrupted, in storyline, by Miz's ramblings when she was trying to introduce a video package for Cena. The big reason why this didn't work is its placement on the card. Miz should have come out and started all this in between matches, and it probably would have been best between Sol Ruca and Bayley and the tag team match. At this point, the crowd in the arena, and everyone watching from home, were ready to see Cena and GUNTHER, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who groaned when I heard Miz's voice.

While this really wasn't terrible, outside of the opening match disqualification, it was my least favorite thing that happened tonight. While I don't necessarily mind The Miz, and I definitely believe in Joe Hendry, this missed the mark, and I don't know if I'd even qualify it as a "surprise" on such a huge show.

Written by Daisy Ruth

There are few times when a crowd is vehemently against something for all the right reasons, but I would argue that was exactly what happened in the aftermath of John Cena's retirement match. 

Gunther had made much ado about not only being the one to retire Cena, but doing it by making him go against his long-touted mantra of "Never Give Up." And even with Cena being at the most fallible stage of his career, it certainly seemed like a tall ask to do that. Even still, do that he did and it came after a match that had seemingly hit all of the landmarks of a "Super Cena" win. 

Cena adjusted Gunther's attitude more than a few times, including one from the top rope and another through the announcer's desk, as well as shuffling his knuckles more than enough times to pop the already-electric crowd. But each and every time he did that, Gunther had a much simpler and stiffer answer in return, reciprocating AAs with powerbombs two-fold, feeling the STF and his own sleeper hold but fighting out of the move and punishing Cena for even trying it. 

Cena legitimately could not find a way, even as he rolled back the years for a top-rope leg drop, layered finisher upon finisher against Gunther. And that was illustrated after he delivered his final AA, Gunther immediately cinching in the sleeper hold that broke the hearts of thousands. For the briefest of moments, it looked as though Cena could escape, but every motion was fruitless and the truth was he was dying a slow death in the middle of the ring. 

This was his last match, his final attempt at going out as the Cena he was. But no longer is he that Cena, and Gunther truly was that guy. He accepted that, a knowing smile that communicated, "S***, he's actually got me," before doing the one thing no one expected him to do. 

This year was hardly perfect, it was hardly the way any one person would have said they wanted it to be. But it was the last year in John Cena's WWE career and the history behind that cannot be denied. Cena's legacy was cemented long before he even announced his retirement tour last year. And for Gunther to go down as the man to send Cena off with a submission defeat, that not only cements him as the monster a la Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30, but it also creates the opportunity for a new hero to emerge against the villain.

John Cena gave back to the business on his way out, and it was the right thing to do. Even if you don't like it.

Written by Max Everett