WWE Saturday Night's Main Event XLII 12/13/2025

WWE Saturday Night's Main Event XLII 12/13/2025

The last SNME is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/wwe-saturday-nights-main-event-xli.html

My thoughts on Cena's retirement: I watched most of Cena's career. I really liked him during his original rapper phase and thought he could be a big star. WWE thought so too and really watered him down and made him the most generic, cookie cutter face possible instead of the cool heel. It did work but I do felt like he mostly stopped improving by 2006 or so. His endless push was obnoxious at times and he was very overexposed. I felt like he knew how to work as a face but his in-ring work always left more to be desired. There's just no excuse for him having such weak looking offense including the worst stf ever.  WWE booked him horribly for the first part of his career as they put him against tweener heels who were more popular. I felt like that stuff furthered the "Cena Sucks" chants and hurt him. His heel run was a total disaster and them just dropping it instead of having him turn face during his big match with Cody was a mistake. You have to give it to him for his consistency, his hard work and him doing everything that was asked of him. You could not ask for more. I can't say Cena was one of my favorites though and I'd definitely rank him below other WWE top faces like Hulk, Austin, Rock, Bret, Undertaker and Macho Man. I'd put him above Roman, Backlund and probably above The Ultimate Warrior. I'd say the best match of Cena's career was his match vs Umaga.

We are in Washington, DC. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett are on commentary. 

We see some various tributes to Cena. 

We see Shawn Michaels talking to Johnny Gargano.

We see various wrestlers arrive like Trish Stratus, Kurt Angle and  Mark Henry. They then show celebs in the crowd.

We get a video on Cena. 

We see Sol, Bayley, AJ, Dragon Lee, Evans, Leon and Gunther arrive.

Joe Tessitore and Stephanie McMahon talk at a podium. Steph says it's electric and says they are here to pay tribute to a true legend. Steph talks about John. Steph asks the crowd, "Are you ready?".

Cody Rhodes vs Oba Femi

This is Oba's second main roster match, if you count his appearance on WWE Main Event in 2024. Oba is the current NXT champ.

They stare down and talk. They lock up and Oba shoves him. Cody side headlocks him and hammerlocks him. Cody side headlocks him. Cody goes for a drop down punch but Oba stops him and uranage backbreakers him. Oba hits shots in the corner. Cody hits forearms on Oba and Oba knees him in the gut. Oba throws Cody.

Cody goes up and over Oba and Oba blocks his powerslam attempt. Oba slams him. Oba bakcbreakers him. OBa lariats him from behind. Oba misses a corner spear. Cody flying forearms him then powerslams him. Cody hits a cody cutter for 2. Oba is sent out. Cody goes for a tope and is forearmed. Oba is pulled over the top and Cody topes him. 

Oba spinebusters him for 2. Cody drop down punches him then Oba lariats him over the top. Oba running euros Cody over a table and goes with him. Cody's ear gets busted open. Oba spinebusters him for 2.

Cody walks up the buckles and cody cutters him for 2. Drew McIntyre comes in and beats up Cody to cause a Cody DQ win.

Thoughts: It's a shame we didn't get a finish here. They had the idea right here with Oba overpowering Cody some. The finish was disappointing but it saved either guy from taking a loss. I wonder if Cody's ear getting hurt caused the finish to happen sooner than planned. It was a solid showing for Oba and with him getting good crowd reactions, there's no reason not to bring him up soon.

Drew keeps pounding on Cody and Oba pulls him off. Oba is upset. drew pokes him and is shoved. Cody hits a cody cutter on Drew. Oba chokeslams Drew. Cody throws Oba his title and raises his hand. Oba raises Cody's hand and they shake hands.

We get some video tributes to Cena. 

Bayley vs Sol Ruca

Bay hugs Trish Stratus and Eve Torres on her way to the ring. Bay has Lyra Valkyria with her. Sol has Zaria with her.

They lock up. Bay side headlocks her and waistlocks her. Bay side headlock takeovers her. Bay tries an arm throw but Sol cartwheels out. Bay yanks on the arm. Sol handstand walks over her then backflips into a reverse headscissors.

Bay yanks the arm. Sol flips out of a hiptoss and facebusters her. Sol is stunnered over the 2nd rope. Bay tries to slide under the bottom buckle but is caught. Sol PK's her from the apron. Sol misses an asai moonsault and Bay running forearms her down outside.

Sol rolls her up for 2. Sol superkicks her. Bay is sent out and Sol flying space tiger's her outside. Sol misses a springboard splash and Bay lariats her. Bay sunset flips her into the buckles for 2. 

Bay chinlocks her. Bay knees her in the head. Bay misses a knee in the corner. Sol superkicks her in the gut and hits back elbows. Sol release german's Bay and kips up. Sol cartwheel's on the top rope and ddt's her for 2.

Sol springboards and is caught with a belly to belly for 2. Sol is put in tree of woe. Bay step up elbow drops her as she hangs for 2. Sol backslides her. Sol cartwheels out of a roseplant and running knees her. Bay hits a roseplant for 2 when Sol gets her feet on the ropes.

Bay backdrops her. Sol gets her knees up on a top rope elbow drop. Sol then hits a sol snatcher. They each try pin attempts and Sol gets the pin.

Thoughts: It was a good match and went a lot better than I expected. Sol busted out all of her cool moves and Bay didn't botch. This was exactly what it needed to be and put over Sol well. This couldn't have gone much better than it did and was a major success. 

We get more tributes to Cena.

Michelle McCool, Mark Henry, Eve Torres, Trish Stratus, Rob Van Dam, Sami Zayn and Kurt Angle are in the front row.  

We cut to Steph and Joe. Steph talks about Sol beating Bayley. Steph says we are all waiting for Cena's final match. Steph says, "we can see you for the last time tonight". 

AJ Styles and Dragon Lee vs Je'Von Evans and Leon Slater

Evans and Leon hit superkicks to start. Evans suicide dives out. Leon leg lariats Lee. Leon corkscrew dives over the post onto Lee. Leon top rope crossbodies Lee. Evans top rope frogsplashes Lee for 2. Leon corner flying lariats Lee for 2. 

Lee boots Leon out of the corner. Evans is pulled over the top. Lee wraparound sitout powerbombs Leon. AJ hits strikes on Evans then lariats him. AJ sliding forearms him. AJ flying corner lariats him then ushigoroshi's him. AJ sitout drops Leon on his chest. Evans stops AJ's springboard. Evans misses an asai moonsault and AJ spears him into the rails.

Lee flying headscissors Leon off the apron. AJ catches him and goes for a styles clash but it is stopped. Lee goes into the post. Evans double jump os cutters AJ. Leon swanton 450's AJ for 2. Evans high kicks Lee. Lee pumping knees him. Evans superkicks him then Lee hidden blade's him. Lee tope con hilos Evans outside.

Leon sunset flips AJ. AJ goes for a styles clash. AJ forearms him from the apron. AJ slips on a springboard and Leon gets a 2 count for it. Leon misses a top rope move. AJ hits a styles clash and wins.

Thoughts: It a shorter high flying match as expected. It was a bit rushed but everyone hit their big dives here and it worked out well. They made the best of the time that they could but I left this wanting a bit more.

The four pose together after and do Cena's salute.

We get more tributes to Cena.

We go back to Joe and Steph. Stpeh says she's getting emotional and doesn't want the match to happen. Steph says Gunther is gonna bring it. She goes to say it'll be awesome and The Miz appears in the ring.

The Miz says what would have been awesome is if they didn't pretend he didn't didn't exist. He says he's been a main character in the career of Cena. He says he beat Cena in the main event of Mania and demands respect.

R-Truth comes out. Truth says he saw what Miz did. He said Miz took someone's opportunity in the tournament and shows a ball from the lottery roller. The ball has Joe Hendry's name in it. Miz says his name and Joe Hendry appears.

Miz complains and gets mad. Miz pushes Truth and says he's sick of him. Joe blocks Miz's punch and hits his own. Joe fallaway slams Miz then kips up. Joe and Truth do Joe's turnaround pose. They then hit Miz with five knuckle shuffles. Joe hits Miz with a standing ovation. Truth then counts the pin for Joe on Miz. Joe and Truth then do Joe's hand wave.

Thoughts: It was a fun little segment here that got Joe, Miz and Truth on the show so it worked.

We cut to Joe Tessitore and Steph. Steph does Hendry's arm wise. They say, "Thank you, Cena". 

We get another Cena video with various stars doing tributes to him. We see clips from some of his old matches with various current stars. A bunch of wrestlers hold up signs for him.

John Cena's Retirement Match - John Cena vs Gunther

Cena grabs the cameraman's camera and films him. Cena hugs the wrestlers in the front row. Elijah, Kevin Owens, Haku and Booker T show up.

Cena and Gun lock up. Gun euros him over and stomps him. Gun chops him down a few times. Gun slams him then throws him hard int othe corner, knocking him down. Cena hits punches and hits flying shoulders. Cena blue thunders him. Cena hits a five knuckle shuffle.

Cena goes for the AA and takes a german. Gun running lariats him. Cena goes for the STFU. Gunther dropkicks him then hits a big powerbomb. Gun lariats him down five times in a row. Cena hits flying shoulderblocks. Cena does a blue thunder and five knuckle shuffle. Cena hits an AA for 2.

Gun chops him from behind then puts him in a sleeper. Cena then puts Gun in a grounded sleeper. They go out and Cena is sent into the steps. Gun stands on steps near the commentary table. Cena AA's him through the commentary table.

They go back in and Cena gets a 2 count on him. Cena hits a top rope diving legdrop on the back of Gun's neck. Cena goes for the five knuckle shuffle. Gun facekicks, germans and powerbombs him for 2. They go up top and Cena hits a 2nd rope AA.

They trade shots. Gun blocks an AA and powerbombs him. Gun hits a top rope splash for 2. Gun sleepers Cena then gets on his back with it. Cena rams him into the corner and breaks it but Gun puts it back on. Cena hits another AA For 2. Gun grounded sleepers him again. 

Cena fights out and is hit with an elbow flurry. Gun grounded sleepers him again. Cena then taps out and loses.

Thoughts: They did what they were supposed to do here though Cena got little out of his AA's. I was fine with this but it wasn't great. Cena winning would have helped this a bit more. Retirement matches are always a bit weird because the person retiring should win but them losing can help put their opponent over. I didn't love Gunther being Cena's final opponent. It makes sense but Gunther's not really enough of personality for the role. I think he peaked with his IC Title run and at some point, I think his booking will be like Kane or Big Show's booking - they can be in main events but don't win them. 

We get "bullsh!t" chants after. The crowd then chants, "Thank You, Cena". Triple H, Shawn Michaels, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes and others come out. The crowd chants, "You f*cked up". Punk and Cody get in the ring with Cena. Punk says he loves him and they give Cena their titles. Cena raises the titles as everyone in the back comes out and claps for him. 

Cena hugs Triple H and the crowd boos. Triple H points to the tron and we get a Cena video. 

Cena bows and the crowd claps for him. Cena takes off his shoes, wristbands and armband. He leaves them in the ring and walks up the aisle. Cena gets near the entrance and looks at the crowd. He then bows. He thanks everyone, does his salute and leaves.

Overall thoughts: It was more of a Japanese style show than a WWE show with the way Cena's retirement was handled. We've never really had anything like this in WWE but I think we will see this type of show again. The show was good as a whole. The opener was weak as we had a DQ finish to an okay match. Bayley/Sol worked out great and helped both girls. The tag match was fun but a little short. Cena's retirement was alright but I don't know if Gunther winning was the right call. I'd give this a 6 out of 10 total. They gave us enough and mostly delivered. It was memorable and it was a nice send off for Cena.