On Saturday, November 1st, WWE returned to the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, UT, for its big event, “Saturday Night’s Main Event XLI.” The event was headlined by CM Punk battling Jey Uso for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. This title was made vacant when Seth Rollins sustained an unfortunate injury and was sidelined.
We also saw Cody Rhodes put his Undisputed WWE Championship on the line against Drew McIntyre, Tiffany Stratton put her WWE Women’s Championship on the line against the new and improved Jade Cargill, and Dominik Mysterio put his WWE Intercontinental Championship on the line against Penta and Rusev in a three-way match. So, what were the top three moments?
3. Jade Cargill Wins the WWE Women’s Championship
In one of the night’s biggest marquee matches, we saw Tiffany Stratton put her WWE Women’s Championship on the line against Jade Cargill. Cargill has always been a fierce competitor; however, a couple of weeks ago, we saw something snap, and this was a brand-new Cargill.
Cargill turned heel on Stratton and decimated her leading up to their match for the WWE Women’s Championship. This was a heel turn that fans have been clamoring for for a while. Well, it finally happened. Now, it was time to truly strap the rocket to Cargill, and that’s exactly what the WWE did.
In the end, Cargill essentially squashed Stratton to become the new WWE Women’s Champion. This was certainly a choice by WWE, but it wasn’t a good one. Stratton is still one of the best women on the WWE roster, even if her title reign fell short due to some lackluster booking decisions from the WWE.
2. Cody Rhodes Retains Against Drew McIntyre
In the opening match of the show, we saw Cody Rhodes put his undisputed WWE Championship on the line against the “Scottish Warrior,” Drew McIntyre. McIntyre has been on the best run of his career as of late, and he once again found himself in a match with Rhodes for the most coveted prize in the sport.
McIntyre attempted to get under Rhodes’s skin last night on Friday Night SmackDown, calling himself the “real American Dream.” This match was about as good as you think it would be and then some. McIntyre and Rhodes are truly two of the very top men in the WWE today, and that’s abundantly clear watching them in the ring.
In the end, Cody dropped McIntyre with a DDT on the Undisputed WWE Championship belt, which Drew introduced into the match when the ref was knocked out. Rhodes followed this up with a cross Rhodes to retain his title. More underhanded tactics from Rhodes, which very well may lead to a Rhodes heel turn, sooner rather than later.
1. CM Punk wins the World Heavyweight Championship
In the main event of the show, we saw CM Punk and Jey Uso do battle over the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. The former champion, Seth Rollins, was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship after a shoulder injury sustained in his match with Cody Rhodes back at Crown Jewel.
Rollins would go on to be turned on by his group, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, and his title was vacated. Punk and Uso became the two men to do battle for this coveted prize. Punk won the World Heavyweight Championship back at Summerslam from Gunther, before losing it five minutes later to Rollins, who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Would lightning strike twice?
This was a very fun match between Punk and Uso. Ultimately, after a very hard-fought match by both competitors, Punk landed back-to-back GTSs on Uso to put him away and win the title. Punk is officially the World Heavyweight Champion, and this time Rollins couldn’t spoil the party. Great main event to cap off a fun show.
