Cody Rhodes Returns and Hot Takes from WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Card
WWE returned to NBC for another two-hour live event spectacular, the latest in its Saturday Night's Main Event series.
The May 24 event was headlined by a undisputed WWE champion John Cena squaring off with R-Truth, world heavyweight champion Jey Uso defending against Logan Paul, and a blockbuster tag team match pitting CM Punk and Sami Zayn against Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker.
What were the biggest hot takes from the latest live event special?
Find out in this recap of the show.
Bronson Reed's Return, Alliance With Seth Rollins Is Logical, Perfect Use of Big Man
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"Big" Bronson Reed returned to WWE Saturday night in Tampa, steamrolling CM Punk, taking him out of the equation and leaving Sami Zayn to fall to Bron Breakker's super spear as The Badass and Seth "Freakin" Rollins earned a big victory to kick off the show.
It was the perfect use of Reed and a logical storyline progression, for more than one reason.
Reed suffered his injury at the 2024 Survivor Series when Punk moved Roman Reigns out of the way of a super Tsunami from the top of the War Games cage. He watched for months as WWE passed him by and despite the issues that existed between him and Rollins, there was a level of respect that formed between them.
Motivated by revenge on Punk, he saw an opportunity and took it. Rollins, in need of another force to carry out his vision for the future of WWE, did the same.
Now, The Visionary has surrounded himself by two unstoppable forces, enhancing the likelihood that he achieves his goal of winning the world title and seizing control of the Raw brand for the foreseeable future.
It also opens up another big bad for Punk to go through to get to Rollins. Ditto Roman Reigns, who will undoubtedly be back sometime around SummerSlam, looking to avenge the betrayal and beatdown from WrestleMania and the night after that put him out of action.
Of the possibilities, Reed making his unexpected return and aligning with Rollins, Breakker, and Heyman was a great creative choice and one that should net fans some fun match-ups, angles, and storyline developments moving forward.
Character Definition, Depth Hurting Zelina Vega's Championship Reign
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Zelina Vega defeated Chelsea Green to retain her Women's United States Championship in a match that was fast-paced and featured some solid in-ring action, but lacked the heat that it could have had if there was more of a vested interest in the champion.
Vega works hard, is a quality in-ring performer, and has waited a long time for her shot at a strong run as a champion. The shortcomings that currently exist with her on-screen persona are not of her doing but, rather, the direct result of a lack of creative effort put into her character.
Who is she? What motivates her? Why should fans care about her more than the more amusing Green?
Outside of positioning Vega as an underdog type, there has been less than zero energy put into explaining anything to the audience about why they should care or invest their interest in to the tenacious competitor.
Until that changes, Vega's run as champion will likely feature some quality matches and strong chemistry with several opponents, but ultimately fail to inspire the crowd to truly invest themselves in her journey with the gold.
R-Truth Brought First Heart and Soul to John Cena Heel Turn Storyline So Far
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Most of John Cena's heel run to this point has been defined by what can best be described as mostly forced promos and storyline beats. Part of that can be put on Cena, who appears to be playing a character rather than expressing his real thoughts and feelings. The rest can be blamed on creative, who did not appear to have much of a plan in place for what a Cena heel run would look like.
Enter R-Truth, who brought heart and soul to the story.
He watched his hero turn to the dark side, betraying everything he stood for and embracing selfishness. He saw his hero lash out against his fellow Superstars, win matches in underhanded fashion, and hoist a championship he did not earn the right way.
Truth became the first Superstar to fight with the only motivation being his desire to see his hero become the champion and man he was before.
It was a story that made sense within the context of 10 years of creative and the first instance in which it felt like there was more depth to a story than the basic "Cena's a bad guy now" thread.
More of this, less of the forced promos, and the Cena heel run could still conceivably reach its fullest potential.
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Cody Rhodes Return Sets Up Thrown-Together Money in the Bank Main Event
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QB1 is back in the lineup after Cody Rhodes returned to WWE Saturday night on NBC, rushing the squared circle to make the save for Jey Uso when the world champion found himself on the receiving end of a two-on-one beatdown from Logan Paul and undisputed WWE champion John Cena.
The American Nightmare immediately issued a challenge for a blockbuster, albeit thrown-together tag team main event.
WWE did an admirable job of bringing Cena and Uso together in short order to lay the groundwork for issues between them, with the former taunting the latter with the idea of a YouTuber like Paul taking the world title and further ruining pro wrestling.
Still, it was the first time those two had shared the screen since the Royal Rumble, when Uso eliminated Cena to win the Royal Rumble. To bring them together for a premium live event like that felt somewhat forced but with only two weeks to set up a match involving the top stars of Raw and SmackDown not involved in the namesake Money in the Bank ladder matches, what the creative team offered up at least made sense.
Rhodes has unfinished issues with Cena and history with Paul. Uso has issues with the social media megastar and kicked off his journey to the world title by eliminating Cena back at the Rumble. The different pieces are there, the match is happening, and we appear to be one step closer to the Rhodes-Cena rematch, presumably in time for SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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