WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Review: 24/01

Linus O'Howell
3 days ago
3 min read

Cody Rhodes VS Jacob Fatu

The first Saturday Night’s Main Event of 2026 was meant to start with Cody Rhodes and Jacob Fatu going at it after recent issues between the two of them! Now, whilst they did plenty of fighting, the match itself never took place as these two were already fighting before the match even began! Cody and Jacob completely destroyed themselves around the arena, as well as many security guards, which saw brawls through both the staircases and the concourse area! Nick Aldis eventually showed up to try and stop things, but even the SmackDown General Manager had no luck, before of all people, it was Drew McIntyre who stopped the war by wiping out both men! Not only did Drew send Fatu flying through a table, but he did the same to Rhodes (after a low blow) in what looked like a hard-hitting fall for The American Nightmare! Personally, I think WWE Management should be thanking McIntyre for his actions, given the fact that no one else could stop the Rhodes-Fatu brawl!

Grade: B

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: RHIYO VS The Judgment Day

Thankfully, we were finally able to get some proper in-ring action in our next match as The Judgment Day’s Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez looked to dethrone RHIYO of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships! This was a pretty good match; I enjoyed it, and that’s honestly no surprise! All four of these women are not only insanely talented, but they all have their own claim to being the best Female Wrestler in the World (and those claims are valid)! It’s still a bit strange that all of this talent is in the Tag Team Division when there aren’t too many names in the World Title scene, but that’s just the way it is right now! Both teams came close to scoring the win before Raquel Rodriguez created a ref bump, allowing her to drop Iyo Sky on the outside with a strong-looking Powerbomb! However, this is when Stephanie Vaquer ran down to make the save, notably without a protective boot on, as La Primera dealt with Rodriguez, before Rhea Ripley nailed Liv Morgan with a Riptide to score a successful retention for her and Iyo! This was strong!

Grade: B

AJ Styles VS Shinsuke Nakamura

In Montreal, Quebec, Canada, AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura went one-on-one for one final time! AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura were my two absolute favourite wrestlers when I first got into wrestling in 2016, but their WrestleMania 34 match (and subsequent feud) was an absolute mess! Thankfully, these two got to have a proper match this time around that delivered a far more memorable (for the right reasons) bout! This got over 21 minutes, and it was so good because of it! Everything about this was great, from the entrances to the attire, and it felt like the good kind of nostalgia! The strikers were heavy and stiff, the submission game was strong, and this felt like a pretty fitting final match stateside in the career of AJ Styles! Eventually, AJ was able to get the win with a Phenomenal Forearm/Styles Clash combo, and the show of respect between Styles and Nakamura post-match was very reminiscent of their clash in Japan over 10 years ago!

Grade: B+

Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way: Damian Priest VS Randy Orton VS Trick Williams VS Sami Zayn

And in the Main Event of the first Saturday Night’s Main Event of 2026, Damian Priest, Randy Orton, Sami Zayn, and Trick Williams clashed for the right to face Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble next week! I felt like this match was firmly about making Trick Williams look as strong as possible, and in that sense, it very much succeeded! The crowd were behind Sami and Randy, whilst Damian Priest did a great job of taking all the big punishment whilst still looking like a strong force! I felt like the winner was pretty obvious given the story that’s been told (plus where these events are being held), but I did think they did a good job of trying to get Trick to steal one! Eventually, a Helluva Kick from Zayn to Priest was enough for Sami to get the win, and I have to say, McIntyre-Zayn in Saudi Arabia could be quite brilliant!