On Dec. 14, 2024, Saturday Night’s Main Event made its triumphant return to television.
A popular program during the 1980s, this marked the first time the special appeared on television in over 16 years.
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The return of Saturday NIght’s Main Event marked multiple nostalgic moments, including the return of the “Winged Eagle” WWE Championship, referees wearing uniforms similar to the 80s, and multiple WWE legends involved with the broadcast.
While most fans responded positively to the event, one WCW icon wasn’t as happy with the way things turned out.
During his “Keepin’ It 100” podcast, Konnan revealed that he felt Saturday Night’s Main Event was simply “underwhelming” because of the lack of surprises.
“I was underwhelmed,” Konnan said (per Wrestling Inc.). “They didn’t do any promos, they didn’t do any run-ins, they didn’t do anything that would make you want to see, like if you were a new viewer and you hadn’t seen it in a while, anything that would make you want to see ‘Raw.’ Maybe they’re saving everything for Netflix, but I was very underwhelmed.”
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Konnan isn’t wrong in saying that the show was predictable. Pretty much every single match had an obvious outcome except for the bout between Chelsea Green and Michin for the Women’s United States Championship.
Still, predictable doesn’t mean bad.
It can be argued that every single title match for Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes since WrestleMania 40 has been predictable. However, almost every match has been a banger.
Rhodes has had fantastic matches with AJ Styles, Gunther, Kevin Owens, and more. While the outcome has always seemed obvious, the journey to that moment has always been entertaining.
Every match at Saturday Night’s Main Event was entertaining, and it seems like fans agreed.
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Overall, the show pulled in 1.59 million viewers on NBC and 700,000 on Peacock, totaling at 2.3 million viewers.
According to Nielsen data (per Variety) this outdrew the NBA Cup semifinal game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets on ABC, which had 1.89 million viewers on ABC.
Saturday Night’s Main Event is set to happen even more next year, and it will have plenty of opportunities to surprise fans then.
For this first special, the show simply had to prove it could bring in fans. And it certainly did that.
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