WWE Saturday Night's Main Event 12/13/2025: Where Do We Go From Here?

We are officially in a post-John Cena world, as Saturday Night's Main Event ended on the image of Cena leaving his iconic sneakers in the ring to formally signify his retirement. Now it's two days later, with "WWE Raw" coming up and the company fully transitioning into pre-taped holiday episode mode. What will the fallout from Cena's retirement show be? SNME also had potential implications for Tuesday's episode of "WWE NXT" and beyond, as "NXT" stars were given the opportunity to show out against main roster talent on Saturday's undercard, and even for other promotions.

Is WWE getting ready to strap a rocket to Sol Ruca? Is Leon Slater preparing to jump ship from TNA? How will the "Raw" audience respond to GUNTHER after he tapped out Cena himself in the main event? In other words, with Saturday Night's Main Event in the rearview mirror, where do we go from here?

NXT Champion Oba Femi showed out during his opening match against Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, throwing the main roster star around the ring like it was nothing and even busting him open on an upper cut on the outside. In true WWE fashion, however, with creative seemingly not wanting either champion to lose clean, Rhodes' current rival, Drew McIntyre, ran down to the ring from the crowd to cause the disqualification. Rhodes was ruled the winner, as "The Scottish Psychopath" got in the ring and beat him down.

It was a disappointing end to the champions' exhibition match, and a rather lackluster start to Saturday Night's Main Event, but WWE has the opportunity to make the best out of the booking decision moving forward. If the company wants to continue getting Femi exposure on the main roster, and especially ahead of "SmackDown" returning to its three-hour runtime at the beginning of 2026, "The Ruler" should want to get revenge on McIntyre. Femi stared down McIntyre in the ring, pushed him down, and eventually hit a big chokeslam on him to follow up Rhodes' Cody Cutter. The Undisputed WWE Champion may have raised Femi's hand in the ring after the McIntyre beatdown, but "The Ruler" still didn't look happy about it all.

Femi could easily continue the storyline with McIntyre and Rhodes. In a fantasy booking scenario, the NXT Champion could team with "The American Nightmare" against McIntyre and a partner from "NXT," possibly Femi's current rival who he beat at Deadline, Ricky Saints, in a tag team match on the first three-hour episode of the blue brand in the new year. Femi could also easily continue his storyline on "NXT" at the same time, especially if Saints is working alongside him on "SmackDown." A few appearances on the main roster to continue to gain exposure is only going to benefit him.

"The Ruler" is set to defend his title at New Year's Evil against the winner of the runners-up of the Iron Survivor Challenge, Myles Borne, Dion Lennox, Leon Slater, and Joe Hendry, who are set to clash in a four-way match on Tuesday, but it seems more likely that he would lose the gold in a triple threat involving both Saints and Je'Von Evans at a later date. No matter how you fantasy book it, however, Femi is a megastar destined for the main roster, and Rhodes is once again on a collision course against McIntyre for the pair to face off at yet another premium live event, either the next Saturday Night's Main Event on January 24, or at the Royal Rumble from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia the following week.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Sol Ruca took one of the biggest victories of her career when she overcame WWE Women's Grand Slam Champion Bayley at Saturday Night's Main Event. The contest might have just been an exhibition match, but its impact on their careers is tangible.

While people say that Ruca is ready for the main roster, I'd caution against it. Sure, we've had successful "NXT" call-ups without a reign with development territory's main title on the main roster prospect — Becky Lynch comes to mind first, and Lash Legend looks promising — but in today's times, a reign with "NXT's" main title might as well be a prerequisite to a successful main roster call-up. Once Kendal Grey falls to Jacy Jayne (because, despite all her talent, I gently doubt that Grey is over enough for a title win), I anticipate it'll be Jayne and Ruca for the NXT Women's Championship. It is not a matter of if she wins that title, but when. There's also the Zaria issue: while the two may have patched things up temporarily, there's no telling when that friendship will implode once more.

Saturday might have been a huge win for Ruca, but that night in D.C. was just another unsuccessful match for Bayley, who has felt directionless post-Lyra Valkyria feud, and in 2025 as a whole. Her last televised win was back in October over Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez (two women who are arguably finding more success and popularity than the former WWE Women's Champion), and who can forget her controversial WrestleMania 41 removal? 2025 has not been kind to Bayley. While some may look at her abysmal 2025 as proof of an imminent move to AEW, Bayley reportedly re-signed with WWE in late 2023 or early 2024. Sure, Bayley has the power to walk away from her contract, but given Bayley's loyalty, we can only hope that 2025 was just a stepping stone in the path to a wonderful 2026 for the Grand Slam champion. Stephanie Vaquer and Maxxine Dupri do need more challengers, and Bayley hasn't held either of their titles yet...

Written by Angeline Phu

"WWE NXT" star Je'Von Evans and TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater had an impressive showing in a fast-paced, high-flying match against WWE World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Dragon Lee, but they couldn't get the job done in the exhibition match. Despite the impressive bout, a match Slater had been vocal about being a dream for him against Styles, it doesn't look like the young stars are destined for another title shot anytime soon, however, as the entirety of the "WWE Raw" tag team division is now gunning for the gold.

Styles and Lee just successfully defended their titles against the War Raiders on "Raw" on Monday, and after the match, they faced off with other tag teams on the roster who now want a shot at them. From The Usos, to the New Day alongside Grayson Waller, to the War Raiders who aren't finished in their quest to become champions, to Judgment Day's Finn Balor and JD McDonagh, the former champions, likely wanting a piece of the action, Styles and Lee have their work cut out for them to hang on to the gold in the new year. However,  Styles has said he plans to retire in 2026, so his tag team with Lee may not be long for this world for Styles' retirement tour to get under way.

Meanwhile, in "NXT," Evans, who won the Men's Iron Survivor match this year, only to lose his shot at Oba Femi and the NXT Championship, is still going strong down in developmental, like he has something to prove before he heads up to the main roster. His loss was thanks to interference by former champion Ricky Saints, however, so it looks like "The Young OG" will remain in contention for the developmental brand's top title going forward. 

Slater, of course, remains with TNA as its X-Division Champion, but it looks he'll be headed to the WWE Performance Center full-time sooner rather than later. His TNA contract is reportedly set to expire in the fall of 2026, according to Fightful Select, but WWE has made it known, in the case of Joe Hendry, it can and will buy out top star's contracts of its partner promotion. Slater has slowly become a staple on "NXT" programming for weeks now, and even competed in the Iron Survivor match alongside Evans at Deadline. Now, he's set for yet another match to determine the number one contender for the top gold in "NXT" on Tuesday when he takes on the other runners-up from Deadline to determine who faces Femi at New Year's Evil.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Gunther did it. He retired John Cena by making "Mr. Never Give Up" do exactly that, smiling knowingly as he tapped out for the first time in decades to ride off into the sunset. That's it for Cena now; he gets to go back to his movie career and never has to think about the impact of a bump outside of fond memories.

On the other hand, Gunther has an entirely new cross to bear. That of being the most hated man in all of sports-entertainment right now – maybe aside from Paul Levesque, that is – and the man hand-picked to dropkick Cena out of the door. That's a lot for any one man to carry, and it's probably going to be a whole lot heavier for the fact that we're now heading into the much-availed Road to WrestleMania. So where on Earth does he go from here? 

The easy answer would be one that glimmers, mayhaps like the World Heavyweight Championship held by CM Punk. The issue on that front is Paul Heyman has already made it abundantly clear that Bron Breakker intends to take that title in the new year. Breakker is one of the only men in the company who can say they have beaten Gunther clean in the middle of the ring. But they are also both bad guys of the highest order on Monday nights, and realistically both are at a stage where it would make little-to-no sense to turn one of them babyface. So it stands to reason that they will be kept separate at least for the immediate future, and thus a question starts to form: if not the World Heavyweight Champion, then, as the New Day once Owl-oquently put it, "WHO?"

If one was to believe the reports floating around the Royal Rumble in 2024, then Brock Lesnar was penciled in to face "The Ring General" at WrestleMania 40. That didn't happen on account of Lesnar's naming – yes, he was named, though not a defendant – in Janel Grant's still-ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit filed that same weekend. But WWE has since brought Lesnar back to decimate Cena, like Gunther, and make his WarGames debut. And now the whispers are that Lesnar is potentially looking to wrap things up in 2026, there could be a chance of revisiting that dashed plan for this year's WrestleMania. 

As my colleague pointed out during SNME's Winners & Losers column, things tend to roll in threes; Gunther has just this year retired both Goldberg and Cena, both of which being infamous rivals of Lesnar's in the past. Is it too far beyond the realms of possibility to see him try to make Lesnar his three-peat?

Written by Max Everett