Saturday Night's Main Event big takeaways: WWE goes all-in on Logan Paul

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6 days ago

Coming out of WrestleMania 41, it was difficult to imagine a compelling story Jey Uso could get involved in to build on the momentum from his World Heavyweight Championship win on the grand stage. The latest WWE Saturday Night's Main Event offered some clarity on where he's headed, gave insight into what's next for John Cena's quest to ruining wrestling, and provided space for Cody Rhodes' and Bronson Reed's big returns from the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida.
As we unpack all that went down, here are our five biggest takeaways from Saturday Night's Main Event.
John Cena said it perfectly backstage to Jey Uso — what better way to ruin wrestling than helping a YouTuber win the world title?
WWE has leaned incredibly hard into fans simply not liking Logan Paul, with merchandise and even an opportunity to smash a Paul doll with a steel chair at WrestleMania's WWE World. Now, the onscreen dynamic between Paul and Cena gives that very same YouTuber the proxied position of also ruining wrestling and it pairs him with arguably the biggest star of all time.
The promotion is all-in on Paul, lining up the Cena partnership against a refreshed and returning Cody Rhodes alongside Uso. The fan support for Uso has only grown since WrestleMania 41 and this feels like the perfect spot for his continued ascension.
It can't be said often enough how incredible R-Truth is. Always a bright spot in unexpected comedic bits, the veteran's long-running joke that John Cena was his childhood hero led to Truth coming out to Cena's music, full with a piece of paper over the first name and Ron written on it.
Ron Cena had the crowd in his hands and teased an unexpected win, which was entirely plausible with the title not on the line. Ultimately, he took a pin and quickly became an afterthought in Cena's last run. We weren't necessarily looking for this match on the champ's retirement tour, but I'm thrilled it happened.
The match did its job in continuing Cena's retirement tour with the ghosts of his past, first featuring Randy Orton and then Truth. Now, it appears Cena is ready to move on to the future of the business.
Before he was injured, Bronson Reed appeared to be one of WWE's fastest-rising stars. Compared to the likes of Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow, Reed is a big man with unique athleticism. Featured prominently in WarGames, his ankle injury came at the worst possible time, leading to him missing his goal of featuring at WrestleMania.
Saturday night, the big Aussie made his return in a statement moment, slamming CM Punk through the barricade and opening the door for Bronn Breakker to hit a spear and earn the pinfall victory over Punk and Sami Zayn. Seth Rollins now enlisting two guys with massive potential as his understudies is exactly the type of role Rollins should be playing these days. He's still at the top of his game, but elevating guys like Breakker and Reed feels like the necessary next steps before they're genuinely in the main event picture.
The feud between Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre has been brutal and the two former world champions have put on a couple of excellent matches, including their vicious steel cage match on Saturday night. Every time they step foot in the ring, it becomes a question of what they'll do next to top their last outing.
From a purely in-ring and wrestling standpoint, Priest and McIntyre have everything. But after seeing McIntyre take out vengeance against those who deserved it over the past few years, there just never has felt like there was enough to make this story compelling outside of both men being great in the ring. I'd love to see both sink their teeth into something different moving forward.
Chelsea Green is making the most of any opportunities she's been given in her second stint with WWE. Green has shown the ability to flex into just about any position she's been in, and she has everything it takes to do even more.
She can be a comedy act, has charisma, great in-ring ability, and is constantly innovating in ways that bring eyeballs to whatever she does. Green's abilities can occasionally be a curse, leading to a certain ceiling being established on what role talented individuals like herself play as others work their way up the roster. Hopefully after being surprisingly left off the WrestleMania card, she'll continue to be rewarded with even more opportunities in prime time. Her match Saturday with Zelina Vega, who's another talent hungry for more opportunities, was a great showcase for both women.