CM Punk, Real Winners and Losers of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Match Card

WWE held another edition of Saturday Night's Main Event in Salt Lake City, Utah, and this one was definitely a bigger occasion than some of the previous SNME episodes.

Not only were we guaranteed a new men's world champion by the end of the night, but three other titles were on the line, too.

Here is a look at the full card from Saturday's show:

• CM Punk vs. Jey Uso (Vacant Men's World Championship)
• Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill (Women's WWE Championship)
• Dominik Mysterio vs. Penta vs. Rusev (Men's Intercontinental Championship)
• Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre (Men's WWE Championship)

Let's take a look at who the real winners and losers were from this week's edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.

Winner: Cody Rhodes

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The night kicked off with the men's WWE title match between Rhodes and McIntyre, but this was not a standard singles match. Rhodes agreed to a stipulation stating that if he was counted out or disqualified, he would lose the belt.

The Scottish Psychopath has been the biggest thorn in Rhodes's side for a while now, and their feud finally reached a boiling point with this bout.

McIntyre tried to get under The American Nightmare's skin by having Lilian Garcia introduce the Scot as The Real American Dream. Throughout the match, he kept trying to get Rhodes to do something to get himself DQed.

The champ resisted all temptations to cheat, but things looked dire when his knee buckled during an attempt to climb the ropes. However, he recovered and managed to win clean to retain his title.

This was a good back-and-forth match to add another successful defense to Rhodes' record. McIntyre losing another big match is not ideal, but he is popular enough with the crowd to maintain his position.

Now, Rhodes has to worry about Brock Lesnar coming after him next.

Winner: Jade Cargill, Loser: Tiffany Stratton

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Cargill freshened up her character by recently turning heel on Stratton, so she came into their title match with a renewed drive and motivation to win.

Tiffy has been a very successful champion. She has bested some of the top stars in WWE over the past 10 months since winning the belt on January 3.

Not only did The Storm win the belt to become the new champion, but she did it in around five minutes, ending Stratton's reign in dominant fashion.

This is great for Cargill. After a bit of a start-and-stop run due to an injury and inconsistent booking, it finally feels like she is being portrayed at the level of star power she had when she first arrived and WWE rolled out the red carpet, literally and figuratively.

While this is great for Jade, it's not good for Tiffy. She came into the match a little beat up, so that will be WWE's storyline excuse for why she lost so fast, but after such a good run with wins over multiple former champions, it felt like a lackluster finish for her.

We also need to point out that having the women's match be the shortest match on the card by a big margin is never ideal.

Losers: Penta and Rusev

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The penultimate match was the triple threat featuring Dirty Dom defending his IC title against Penta and Rusev, two men who have been chasing the gold for a while now.

At first, Rusev and Penta took turns beating up Dom, but they eventually turned their first toward each other when they kept throwing each other off Dom so they could get in some shots.

Dom tried to use the old Eddie Guerrero trick with a steel chair, but he forgot there were no disqualifications, so all he really did was give Rusev a weapon he could legally use against him.

This was a high-energy match with some good spots and sequences. This was harder to predict than the other matches on the card, since all three men were reasonable choices to win.

Rusev thought he had won when the bell rang while he had Penta in the Accolade, but it was just a ruse by Dom to get him to release the hold so he wouldn't win.

Dirty Dom ended up being victorious in the end, which was possibly the least interesting outcome WWE could have booked here.

The midcard title scene on Raw has needed a refresh for some time, and this was the perfect opportunity to book a change and breathe new life into the championship. Now, Rusev and Penta have to figure out something else to focus on because it's unlikely they will get another shot anytime soon.

Winner: CM Punk, Loser: Jey Uso

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The main event of Saturday Night's Main Event was the match between Punk and Uso for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship.

The title was vacated after Seth Rollins suffered an injury, so we were promised a new champion before the night was out. There was one title change earlier in the show with Cargill winning, so we ended the night with two new titleholders.

Both men managed to survive each other's finishers more than once, proving how much they wanted this win. This was a good, competitive fight that displayed why these guys were put in this position.

The crowd was cheering both men, so either outcome would have satisfied most people.

While Uso winning could have been considered a more interesting option, Punk getting back the title he lost to Rollins, thanks to his Money in the Bank contract, was the more obvious decision.

The Straight Edge Superstar will likely close out 2025 at the top of the men's division on Raw and likely carry the belt into WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas.

But what does this mean for Jey? Does he keep chasing the belt? Will he and Jimmy pursue tag gold again? Will he pick a different title to go after? His future seems unclear right now, but it shouldn't be long before we know his plans.

Some Final Thoughts

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On paper, this was a big night for WWE. Four major title matches, one of which was guaranteed to end with a new champion, would be a good lineup on any night.

Unfortunately, WWE didn't use the opportunity to do anything surprising. Sure, we got a new women's WWE champion with Cargill and a new men's world champion in the main event with Punk, but even those have asterisks.

Cargill won in decisive fashion, which is great for her, but it made the match the shortest of the night at just over five minutes, and it ended Stratton's 10-month reign with her weakest performance as the champion.

WWE had a chance to do something interesting in the IC title bout by crowning a new champion, but Dirty Dom used the same tricks he has been using for months to retain his belt. It may keep his push alive, but it took the wind out of Rusev and Penta's proverbial sails.

The action was good and almost everyone brought their best to their matches, but sometimes that's not enough to make a show memorable. There was fun to be had with this show, but how it positioned certain people for the future left a lot to be desired.