Saturday Night’s Main Event XL: Oh That’s A Bad Sign
Saturday Night’s Main Event XL
Date: July 12, 2025
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett
We’re back with the biggest WWE event of the weekend, which should make for a rather strong card. That’s in theory at least, as there is one major match to get around as Gunther defends the Raw World Title against Goldberg. This is expected to be Goldberg’s retirement match, but stranger things have happened. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Jesse Ventura and Joe Tessitore preview the show, with Ventura sounding perfectly fine.
Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre
Jelly Roll and Logan Paul are the respective seconds. They start fast and the brawl goes to the floor with McIntyre dropping him back first onto the announcers’ table. We take an early break and come back with Orton hammering away in the corner. McIntyre gets in the Glasgow Kiss but charges into a powerslam.
They head outside where Orton drops him back first onto the announcers’ table to even the score. Back up and McIntyre hits a quick Claymore but Orton gets his foot on the rope. Paul and Roll get into it on the floor, with Paul getting knocked down, with the distraction allowing the RKO to give Orton the pin at 8:12.
Rating: B-. Basically a Raw main event here which was designed to set up the big celebrity match at Summerslam. That’s fine enough as these two know each other fairly well, but there is only so much you can get out of about five minutes of on-screen time. It wasn’t bad, but the match was secondary to the angle taking place.
Post match Paul decks Orton with the big right hand, which is enough for Roll to get in and throw Paul into the corner. McIntyre Claymores Roll and the GM’s come out to yell at him.
Post break the GM’s continue to yell at McIntyre and Paul, who want them to “make it make sense”.
Various women are here, including Jade Cargill, who gets jumped by Naomi. The brawl is on, with Cargill throwing her over the announcers’ table. Nick Aldis comes out to say that he thought this would happen, so he has a special referee for tomorrow night: the returning Bianca Belair (and the place goes nuts).
Doug Dellinger and Diamond Dallas Page are here.
Commentary talks about Goldberg’s injury issues.
Video on Goldberg.
US Title: Jimmy Uso vs. Solo Sikoa
Sikoa, with his usual goons, is defending and says Uso isn’t coming back. Uso slugs away to start and knocks Sikoa outside for the suicide dive. Sikoa starts yelling at various people, which apparently works well enough for him to catch Uso in Spinning Solo. Talla Tonga gets in a clothesline on the floor and we take a break. We come back with Uso German suplexing him onto the apron and then knocking Sikoa into the corner.
The Superfly Splash gets two but Sikoa is back up with another Spinning Solo. Uso superkicks him down and goes up top but Sikoa rolls outside. That’s fine with Uso, who corkscrew dives onto all of the villains. Back in and Talla gets in a cheap shot, allowing Sikoa to roll Uso up (with Tala pushing) to retain at 10:49.
Rating: C+. The interference was pretty much guaranteed and it was a question of which of the MFT’s was going to help Sikoa win. Uso isn’t exactly the biggest star in the world but he has a personal connection to Sikoa, which makes him a slightly better challenger. The match was good enough, even if there was rather limited drama.
Post match the beatdown is on but Jacob Fatu runs in for the save. Fatu and Tala have a big staredown with Tala getting in a big boot, only to be low bridged to the floor. Fatu hits a dive onto them and does his gyrating.
Video on Goldberg’s time in WWE.
Randy Orton apologizes to Jelly Roll for what happened but Roll says he’s a grown man. Orton thinks they can handle this at Summerslam.
Seth Rollins vs. LA Knight
Paul Heyman is here with Rollins. They slug it out to start with Knight not being able to hit a Falcon Arrow. Knight sends him outside for a dropkick through the ropes and it’s time for Rollins to go into the announcers’ table over and over. We take a break and come back with Knight hammering away but getting kicked in the ribs.
Knight knocks him back down and hits the top rope jumping elbow for two. Knight’s running knee in the corner connects but Rollins knocks him down. A sunset bomb doesn’t work for Knight as Rollins slips down to plant him. Rollins’ springboard Swanton connects but Rollins tweaks his knee on a moonsault. We pause to look at it and Knight hits a BFT for the clean win at 11:43.
Rating: C+. Uh oh. That’s a really bad sign as there is pretty much no reason for Rollins, the top heel in the company, to lose like this. There is always the chance that this is there to set up a cash in for later on tonight, but otherwise one would think they just stop the match and declare Knight the winner. What we got was fine, but dang that is a scary possibility for Rollins.
Evolution rundown.
Video on Goldberg vs. Gunther.
Raw World Title: Goldberg vs. Gunther
Gunther is defending and this is Goldberg’s retirement match. After the Big Match Intros, Goldberg shoulders him down and no sells some chops. A running clothesline drops Gunther again as they’re definitely going slowly to start. Gunther knocks him down and goes up, only to get slammed down. The threat of the spear sends Gunther bailing to the floor with Goldberg following. The spear goes through the barricade by mistake and Goldberg is in trouble as we take a break.
We come back with Gunther working on the leg but Goldberg gets up for the chop off. A spinebuster puts Gunther down and Goldberg hammers away in the corner. Goldberg manages a backdrop but the spear hits the referee by mistake. Gunther gets in a shot and takes off the knee brace before going after Goldberg’s son. Security cuts that off, allowing Goldberg to hit the spear back inside. The Jackhammer connects and another referee runs out but Goldberg’s knee means it’s a delayed near fall. Gunther gets the sleeper and Goldberg is out at 14:30.
Rating: C. It wasn’t exactly great but there was a possibility of this being a disaster and it wound up being a passable power match. Gunther retaining is the best thing that could come out of the whole ordeal, along with Goldberg not managing to damage anyone too badly. It’s not something I’ll ever want to see again, but at least it wasn’t a disaster.
Post break Goldberg’s friends and family are in the ring with him. Goldberg apologizes for losing in Atlanta, thanks everyone for helping him…and we are out of time mid-speech. The one time in 28 years that he had too much to say!
No Rollins or any mention of him after the injury, which isn’t a good sign.
Overall Rating: C. It was ok enough, but this was a big downgrade from some of the recent editions. The opener was designed to set up something else, the US Title match was little more than a Smackdown main event, Knight vs. Rollins could be very bad and the main event….well it could have been worse. The show wasn’t awful, but it’s really not worth going out of your way to see, which isn’t the best way to make me want to see more of this series.
Results
Randy Orton b. Drew McIntyre – RKO
Solo Sikoa b. Jimmy Uso – Assisted rollup
LA Knight b. Seth Rollins – BFT
Gunther b. Goldberg – Sleeper
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Can’t believe you done this over all in first lol
I opted for All In over SNME and GAB. I think the WWE shows were the better pick if you wanted to actually get a review finished though. I spent like 6 hours on All In and I’m still not done.
I’m currently on my third session of watching it. The wife is stunned that any show could go on this long and I don’t blame her.
The timing for Seth’s injury is very bad, a lot of the main stories are involving him and he’s also Mr. Money in the Bank, I hope the injury is not that severe.