WWE SATURDAY NIGHT’S MAIN EVENT
DECEMBER 14, 2024
NASSAU VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK
Watch: NBC/Peacock
Instant Reaction LIVE: FlagshipPatreon.com ($10 tier) after the show
MEET YOUR PREVIEWER:
Suit Williams: You can read Suit’s long-form previews and reviews of wrestling from around the world here at Voices of Wrestling. You can also find his weekly reviews of AEW Collision over at F4WOnline. Check out his brand-new wrestling blog Williams Watches Wrestling, where he’ll engage in watch projects and review requests like Williams Watches WrestleMania every Wednesday. This week, he’ll be reviewing WrestleMania 19, featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin’s farewell match and Shawn Michaels’ return to WrestleMania! Follow Suit on all social media platforms @SuitWilliams.
Saturday Night’s Main Event returns again! As part of WWE’s newest television deal with NBCUniversal, there will be four SNME’s per year on NBC proper, with WWE double-dipping this month and next month to kick off the road to WrestleMania. Since there are four of these a year, and they appear to be loading them up as much as they do their PPVs, I’ll tentatively agree to treat these like PPVs until otherwise noted.
SAMI ZAYN VS. DREW MCINTYRE
Drew McIntyre returned for the first time since Bad Blood, attacking both Sami Zayn and Main Event YEET Uso. They, uh, never really explained why. I mean, he doesn’t like them going back to the Bloodline stuff from several years ago. But this felt more like a random reminder than a callback. Zayn made the challenge on Raw, and we’re here. I figure this is a match to re-establish McIntyre as a top heel on Raw, so he’ll put Zayn away here. Prediction: Drew McIntyre
WWE WOMEN’S UNITED STATES TITLE TOURNAMENT FINAL MATCH
BAYLEY OR CHELSEA GREEN VS. MICHIN OR TIFFANY STRATTON
I was recently on the 100th episode of the Gentlemen’s Wrestling Podcast, where host Jesse Collings had his multitude of guests give him a hot take. My hot take was that the concept of midcard championships shouldn’t exist. It’s patently absurd that titles are rolled out for people who aren’t the actual best at their craft. It’s like an NFL team hanging a banner for making the playoffs as a Wild Card team. The Indianapolis Colts actually did that and were widely mocked for it. Clearly, a WWE official heard my take and decided to put the screws to me personally.
WWE is rolling out a pair of unnecessary titles, with Raw getting the Women’s Intercontinental Championship and Smackdown rolling out the Women’s United States Championship. Those names really roll off the tongue. The semi-finals in the US Title tournament will take place on the go-home Smackdown, and the winners will wrestle on SNME the next night. Looking at these names, I predict Bayley to win so that the title lineage can start with a meaningful name. Prediction: Bayley
WWE WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE MATCH
LIV MORGAN (C) VS. IYO SKY
Iyo Sky won a battle royal on the post-Crown Jewel Raw to get a future title match, and this is said title match.
The Liv Morgan experiment is over. The Rhea Ripley feud had its time, it’s gone way too long, and now we’re just sputtering out. She’s not a good promo, she’s not a good worker, and the stuff with Dom has run its course on top of the division. Put the belt on Iyo Sky, have Rhea beat Liv on the Netflix debut, and please move on with this Women’s Title. Prediction: Iyo Sky
WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE TRIPLE THREAT MATCH
GUNTHER (C) VS. FINN BALOR VS. DAMIAN PRIEST
After the events of Survivor Series, the World Title is on the line in a three-way match as Gunther defends the title against Finn Balor and Damian Priest. This was first announced as Gunther vs. Balor in a singles match before Priest was added to the match on Raw. I’m grateful because this was the final direction anyway. My worry is that Balor wins the title to set up a big Damian Priest arc for WrestleMania season, which does absolutely nothing for me. My hope is that Gunther puts both of these guys in the rearview and goes into WrestleMania season as the dominant champion he should be presented as. Prediction: Gunther
WWE TITLE MATCH
CODY RHODES (C) VS. KEVIN OWENS
The presumed main event is Cody Rhodes’s defense of the WWE Title against Kevin Owens. This has been Cody’s post-Summerslam direction, with Owens being granted a title match by Cody at Bash at Berlin. Owens lost, then had an odd heel turn in the parking lot after Bad Blood. The logic was that Owens was angry that his friend Cody teamed with Roman Reigns, but WWE treated a standard issue attack like it was some state secret and kept Owens off of TV so he couldn’t explain himself. It’s not that I dislike the angle, I just don’t understand why they went about it in this manner.
Owens has gone on to put attempted mediator Randy Orton on the shelf, blaming Rhodes for it as an extra dagger while also giving Orton a reason to turn on Rhodes once he comes back. Owens is breaking through Cody’s golden boy veneer and getting him on tilt.
This is a big return to network TV for WWE after THREE whole months. I can see WWE wanting to make a big deal of it and giving Owens a quick title run, especially with another SNME next month before the Royal Rumble. It would give some juice to a typically dead period on the WWE calendar and would give this feud a reason to stretch on. Normally, I would pick Rhodes as the chalk option, but I’m dying for something interesting to happen in American wrestling right now. I’ll pick Owens as the more interesting option to shock the world and win the WWE Title. Prediction: Kevin Owens
