WWE Saturday Night's Main Event 5/24/2025: Where Do We Go From Here?

The third episode of WWE's revamped "Saturday's Main Event" came to a wild and chaotic conclusion this past weekend, when the World Heavyweight Championship match between Jey Uso and Logan Paul was interrupted first by WWE Champion John Cena and then by former champion Cody Rhodes. While we know the immediate fallout from these events — a tag team match at Money in the Bank — much remains to be extrapolated about this group of wrestlers going forward, especially with Rhodes making his first appearance since losing to Cena at WrestleMania.

As much or more, meanwhile, can be speculated on regarding the burgeoning powerhouse faction led by Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman, though the question of who the next man in the group would be following the addition of Bron Breakker has seemingly been answered. And while Cena's match with R-Truth feeds into his rekindled feud with Rhodes and we simply expect Zelina Vega to eventually find a new women's United States title challenger after once again defeating Chelsea Green, we are interested in the way forward in the wake of the steel cage match between Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest, especially with McIntyre reportedly taking some time off. "WWE Saturday Night's Main Event" is behind us — where do we go from here?

"Saturday Night's Main Event" started off with a bang, including a dramatic return by "Big" Bronson Reed to help out Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker in their match against CM Punk and Sami Zayn. Reed took out Punk on the outside and sent him through the barricade, allowing for Breakker to hit the spear to a distracted Zayn and get the victory. Reed further proved his allegiance to Rollins by nailing Punk with a Tsunami in the middle of the ring following the match. The big man's return left fans with more questions than answers, however, as he has a relatively recent history with Rollins.

"The Visionary" was a victim of multiple Tsunamis by Reed, before Reed was put on the shelf due to a broken foot sustained at Survivor Series: WarGames where he teamed with the new Bloodline. The attack by Reed onto Rollins back in August was so intense that WWE even released a clip of each Tsunami that Rollins took. The pair weren't initially in a feud, however, and Reed was only taking out his frustrations on Rollins who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Rollins was off television for a few weeks and returned to cost Reed his Last Monster Standing match against Braun Strowman, and the pair finally faced off on "WWE Raw" in November, and Reed emerged victorious.

It would be more surprising if Rollins didn't address adding Reed to the stable on "Raw" on Monday. The pair's feud wrapped up nicely before Reed's injury, despite Rollins taking the loss. It seems that he's likely to tell fans that he experienced the sheer power of Reed, to the point he saw past their differences and deemed him a good fit to be the fourth man in their stable, which also includes Paul Heyman. Even if Rollins doesn't 100% trust Reed yet, he still has Breakker entirely on his side as a means of protection, just in case.

As for their "SNME" opponents, it doesn't seem like Punk is done with Rollins by any means after he was taken out by Reed. It was reported in prior weeks that Punk wouldn't be taking on Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena at Money in the Bank, despite their history there, so continuing his program with Rollins' faction makes sense. Zayn could either stick with Punk and help him in more tag team matches against Rollins' faction, or he could simply tell Punk "sorry" and move on into another storyline. It seems like "The Second City Saint" will need backup, however, and Zayn isn't doing much either, so it makes sense to keep them together for awhile longer.

Money in the Bank already has a big tag team match set with Cena and Logan Paul taking on a newly-returned Cody Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso, so it will be interesting to see if WWE adds another tag match featuring Punk and Zayn and Reed and Rollins to the premium live event.

Written by Daisy Ruth

The ending of Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest's "Saturday Night's Main Event" Steel Cage match was cloaked in ambivalence. After a hard-fought match, Priest picked up the victory not by pinfall or submission, but by walking out of the cage after administering one final head nod to the prone McIntyre. The supposed "ending" of McIntyre and Priest's feud has left us all with question marks over our heads, and the cases for and against a renewed feud are both defensible. Just where do we go from here?

Priest's body language in the finish to their Steel Cage Match sells the story well: Priest considers himself done with his McIntyre problem. The former Señor Money in the Bank gave McIntyre one final, definitive glance over his shoulder, as if he was genuinely bidding an old rival goodbye, before he exited the cage for the victory. While the match wasn't won via pinfall, this motion is otherwise so definitive, that there is just no way that WWE can revisit this feud after such a succinct and conclusive goodbye. This match was also posited as McIntyre and Priest's feud-ending collision, and while WWE is not going to be 100% transparent with their advertising 100% of the time (the card is always subject to change), this would be, narratively, a logical place to stop.

On the other side of things, however, it is definitely odd that Priest and McIntyre's match did not end with a pinfall. The lack of pinfall leaves the match lingering in the air — sure, Priest managed to walk out of the match to score the victory, but the lack of a resolute "one, two, three" leaves so much to be desired. It is also odd that Priest used a Con-Chair-To to end the contest instead of his own finisher. While the new move — popularized by Priest's old Judgement Day mentor, Edge (now AEW's Cope) — may not directly imply a feud continuation on its own, it is another loose end that they will have to clean up. There is no way that McIntyre returns from a Con-Chair-To, just to forgive Priest and move on like nothing happened. There's also the fact that, aside from Elimination Chamber and the few off-matches on weekly shows, this is only Priest and McIntyre's second encounter during this feud. If we can learn anything from the Scot's feud with CM Punk, it's that WWE likes to establish trilogies.

While Priest and McIntyre could legitimately call off their feud here, let's assume that WWE is building up to a feud revival once McIntyre returns from his scheduled time off. This would have to be a SummerSlam spectacle. There is no way that the two have their final collision at any less grander of a stage — not after their WrestleMania Sin City match, and definitely not after the Steel Cage match at Saturday Night's Main Event. Just what further lengths the men could go in order to elevate their already nasty feud, however, remains to be seen.

Written by Angeline Phu

"Saturday Night's Main Event" saw John Cena quickly dispatch R-Truth with enough energy to get involved in the World Heavyweight Championship match between Jey Uso and Logan Paul. Having confronted Uso earlier in the night, telling the champion he would be watching his match closely – especially since a YouTuber like Paul winning the title seemed to be something that could ruin wrestling – Cena emerged to try and cost him the match. He pulled the referee out of the ring before he could make the final count after an Uso Splash, proceeding to attack the champion in the ring while the challenger watched on shocked at the proceeding. 

However, that's when Cody Rhodes emerged to make his return for the first time since losing the WWE Championship to Cena at WrestleMania 41; Rhodes cleared the ring of Cena as Paul rushed back into the ring, receiving a spear from Uso followed by the winning splash. After the bell had rung and as Cena looked back toward the ring with the scowl of a villain foiled, Rhodes made the challenge for Money in the Bank on June 7: the former Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions against the team of Cena and Paul. Looking a bit further beyond that match, WWE heads to Saudi Arabia for Night of Champions on June 28, which could potentially stage rematches between Paul and Uso or Cena and Rhodes in singles action. That said, with a two-night SummerSlam on the approach at the beginning of August, there is always a chance that the Cena-Rhodes match specifically gets delayed until then.

Uso has unresolved business with Seth Rollins, and Bron Breakker by proxy, after Sami Zayn and CM Punk ensured Rollins' a technical disqualification victory in his title challenge during "WWE Raw" on May 5. Rollins is vying to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match on Monday, so there is a chance for him to re-enter the equation sooner rather than later.

Written by Max Everett