The red, white, and blue ropes, bow ties and light blue referee shirts, the iconic Saturday Night’s Main Event theme song, steel barricades, and Jesse Ventura’s feather boas were all on display last night on SNME as WWE returned to NBC for the first time since 2008.
Over 15,000 fans turned up for the event, held at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island, New York, the same location of the first-ever Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC held on May 11, 1985.
Joe Tessitore opened the broadcast as a host running down the card, sporting a red bow tie as a tribute to Mean Gene Okerlund. He then brought out Jesse “The Body” Ventura for some added flair before the action was thrown to ringside, where Pat McAfee was introduced as the guest commentator for the night.
The two-hour night had five big matches which started with Drew McIntyre keeping his 100% record against Sami Zayn. Liv Morgan and Iyo Sky for the WWE Women’s World Heavyweight title was up next and despite Morgan being on the receiving end of a nasty knee to the face, she still won with the Oblivion. A triple threat for the WWE World Heavyweight title followed, with Gunther against Damian Priest and Finn Balor. It was a very good match which Gunther won. Chelsea Green then made history by becoming the inaugural WWE Women’s United States champion, defeating Michin in the tournament final with the Unprettier. The Long Island crowd was certainly behind Green and popped huge for the victory.
The main event had the extra color commentary of Jesse “The Body” Ventura, who informed Cole and McAfee that the snake skin on his jacket used to be Damian, the pet snake of Jake “The Snake” Roberts, who he said stole and turned it into a jacket! Yikes!
Cody Rhodes, who came out with the beautiful Winged Eagle WWE championship for one night only, then defeated his frenemy Kevin Owens to close the night and send everyone home happy after a Cross Rhodes on a steel chair in a match which also saw two referee bumps.
