WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Review - May 23, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jade Cargill, Michin and B-Fab def. WWE Women's Champion Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss

It was smart to position this as the opener because it kicked off the night on a high note. Sure, it was your standard six-woman tag team match, but it felt like it had more energy than what you'd see on SmackDown and it also benefited from not having to deal with pacing issues because of commercials. Cargill challenging Ripley for the WWE Women's Championship at Clash in Italy was already official, but Cargill pinning Ripley for the victory here was the right call, nonetheless.

Sol Ruca def. Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch by Disqualification (Non-Title)

Doing a two-minute match with Lynch and Ruca was obviously disappointing, but I can't say I'm too shocked if the idea was always to use this to set up a rematch with the title on the line. What we got was good but too short. The badly-botched Sol Snatcher on Jessika Carr didn't help matters. On the bright side, Lynch vs. Ruca for the Women's Intercontinental Championship was quickly announced for Clash in Italy.

Intercontinental Champion Penta def. Ethan Page

Page has done excellent work since arriving on the main roster, but as soon as he said he would rename the title the Ethan Page Championship upon winning it, the finish was heavily telegraphed. Despite that, they had a really enjoyable outing and it being such a competitive contest made Page look credible in defeat. I'm sure the feud will continue, and I hope we still get that Fatal 4-Way for the title at some point with Rusev and Je'Von Evans.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Paige and Brie Bella def. The Irresistible Forces

I realize it was a low bar, but this was a definite improvement over the two teams' SmackDown encounter from a few weeks ago. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it, mind you, but my expectations were actually low. The key is that Paige and Brie retained the titles again, so they should be moving onto other challengers. I don't need them to hold the belts for much longer, but I don't think Irresistible Forces should've gotten the belts back.

World Tag Team Champions The Vision (Austin Theory and Logan Paul) def. The Street Profits

Although this didn't feel like a worthy main event on paper, I understand why it'd be put on last since it was technically the most important thing on the show. ​All four guys worked hard and had an entertaining match. I thought we might see the titles change hands thanks to assist from Seth Rollins, but Rollins never showed up. I assume that was intentional since Montez Ford previously told him he didn't want his help.

Overall Show

Doing a Saturday Night's Main Event the week before a premium live event is never ideal, and this wasn't the most stacked lineup on paper, but it ended up being a straightforward, thumbs-up show in my book. The execution of Lynch vs. Ruca was unfortunate, and the women's tag title match was decent at best, but the other three matches were strong enough to hold my attention and fill out the two hours nicely.

SEE MORE: Saturday Night's Main Event Reviews