WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

WWE might not technically have any more premium live events for the rest of the year, but this weekend's Saturday Night's Main Event special on NBC and Peacock may as well be one. Like most PLEs under the Paul Levesque creative regime, it has a five-match card, and there are four titles on the line, including the brand-new WWE Women's United States Championship! Additionally, Liv Morgan defends the Women's World Championship against IYO SKY, GUNTHER defends the World Heavyweight Championship in a triple threat match against former Judgment Day stablemates Finn Balor and Damian Priest, and Cody Rhodes clashes with Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Championship in one of WWE's most critically acclaimed current storylines.

Maybe it's the unsettled space SNME occupies between TV episode and PLE that has the Wrestling Inc. staff a little shook, or maybe WWE has just gotten better at putting on unpredictable cards — either way, there are a lot of results here we're unsure about, with a majority of our collective predictions (three out of the five matches) only coming in at 71% agreement. It doesn't help that we don't actually know who the two women's US title competitors are at this point, meaning our choice for that match could be out of the running as early as Friday's "WWE SmackDown." These days though, it might not matter much; after coming out of "WWE NXT" Deadline a miserable 2-3 (though to be fair, who saw Oba Femi coming?) our collective picks for the year are at 138-32-7, with a hit rate that is now officially below 80%.

And yet, somehow, the WINC crew remain undaunted! Tough recent record or no, difficult card to pick or no, we are back with our official predictions! After all, a new year and a fresh slate are nearly upon us, and hey — how can WWE surprise us if we don't tell everyone how we see things going, even if we end up wrong? With that very mature, zen, not at all bitter self-awareness at the forefront of our minds, let's get to the picks!

Drew McIntyre made his shocking return to "WWE Raw" last week after going on hiatus since losing to CM Punk inside Hell In A Cell at Bad Blood. He targeted both Sami Zayn and Jey Uso for teaming with both Punk and Reigns at Survivor Series, two stars who have screwed McIntyre out of winning a world title in the past. Despite Zayn looking to get revenge on McIntyre for claymoring him after his match with Seth Rollins as well as attacking Jey Uso backstage, almost all of us here at WINC believe "The Scottish Warrior" will come out victorious this Saturday.

It's highly unlikely that WWE would have McIntyre suffer a loss in his first match after being defeated by Punk at Bad Blood, especially if the company has any plans of reinserting McIntyre back into the world title picture. In addition, it's possible that Jey Uso will be looking to enter battle with McIntyre following his match with Zayn, and having "The Scottish Warrior" lose before fighting the former Intercontinental Champion would not be ideal.

An argument could be made that Jey Uso could make a surprise appearance at Saturday Night's Main Event in order to help Zayn get the win over McIntyre. This would also help protect "The Scottish Warrior" from looking weak in defeat due to the match not having a clean finish because of Jey Uso. That being said, McIntyre has lost several high profile matches due to outside interference this year and having his bout against Zayn finish in similar fashion could seem redundant. WWE will be looking to present McIntyre as an intimidating force heading into WrestleMania season and is why 90% believe that he will come out victorious this weekend.

Written By Julien D'Alessandro

America might typically run on red, white, and blue, but the majority of Wrestling Inc. staff are seeing green, specifically Chelsea Green, as the inaugural WWE Women's United States Champion.

Heading into Saturday Night's Main Event, four women remain in the hunt for the title of WWE's first-ever Women's United States Champion. On one side of the tournament bracket stands a WWE Grand Slam Champion in the form of Bayley and two-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Chelsea Green. Meanwhile, Miss Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton and Michin, who recently vowed to end her opponents if necessary, occupy the other semi-final slot. Both semi-finals matchups will take place on Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown," with the winners advancing to the tournament finals at WWE SNME.

According to 71% of us here at WINC, a heel Green will defeat babyface Bayley on "SmackDown," before presumably facing off with the other remaining babyface, Michin, in the finals. Michin famously defeated (and soiled) Green in a Dumpster match back in October, with the latter's stench seemingly lingering for days afterwards. At WWE Saturday Night's Main Event, however, Green has a chance for retribution by collecting the fresh smell of victory and the payoff that many feel she deserves for her efforts this year.

Elsewhere, 19% of our staff believe Miss Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton will raise her stock even more with the Women's United States Championship, while 10% think WWE will award the title to Bayley, who many consider to be a locker room leader.

Written by Ella Jay

The odds are not in the champion's favor in any triple threat match, but the Wrestling Inc. Staff is pretty confident that GUNTHER will be able to overcome the odds and escape Saturday Night's Main Event with his World Heavyweight Championship.

In-fighting will likely be GUNTHER's saving grace, as his opponents Finn Balor and Damian Priest are likely more interested in hurting each other than winning the title. 86% of the Wrestling Inc. staff believe that GUNTHER will be able to take advantage of the former Judgment Day brethren's animosity and slip away with the title. Interestingly, the other 14% all voted for Finn Balor, likely believing that Balor's scheming, first to oust Priest from Judgment Day, will finally pay off at Saturday Night's Main Event. Not a soul amongst us appears to believe in Damian Priest, despite him spending a summer with the world title.

GUNTHER however has the age advantage on his 40-plus-year-old competition. Balor and Priest feel like their feud is just getting warmed up, but it doesn't appear to need the title, at least in the minds of over 3/4ths of the staff.

Written by Ross Berman

The WWE Women's World Championship match between Liv Morgan and IYO SKY has been six weeks in the making. During this time, however, Morgan has been more so focused on Women's WarGames and her long-time rival Rhea Ripley, rather than SKY, her more imminent threat. And even when WWE officially pivoted to the Morgan-SKY build post-WarGames, Ripley remained within Morgan's vicinity.

Firstly, on the December 2 episode of "WWE Raw," Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez defeated SKY and Kairi Sane in tag team competition, then looked to follow it up with a post-match attack. On cue, Ripley rushed down to make the save, only for Rodriguez to shove her face-first into the side of the commentary table.

This week, Morgan legally inserted herself into Ripley's Anything Goes Match against Rodriguez, notably hitting "The Eradicator" with an Oblivion. In an effort to rebalance the odds, SKY too rushed down and rocked Morgan with a dropkick as well as a suicide dive to the outside. This paved the way for Ripley to send Rodriguez crashing through a table with a Riptide for the win. Afterward, Ripley and SKY stared off while each holding a side of the WWE Women's World Championship, making it clear that the former is still keen on regaining the title currently possessed by Morgan.

Given Ripley's continued involvement in Morgan's circle, many believe she will be the one to eventually dethrone Morgan. As such, 71% of Wrestling Inc. staff believe Morgan will beat SKY and retain the WWE Women's World Championship at Saturday Night's Main Event. Moreover, Morgan has an army, specifically the Judgment Day, that is often inclined to help her no matter what the cost or means.

Written by Ella Jay

In a rematch from WWE Bash in Berlin, Saturday's main event will see Cody Rhodes defend his Undisputed WWE Championship against Kevin Owens. It's been heavily suggested that Rhodes will be carrying a revival of the classic Winged Eagle title belt design, and with that in mind, most of our staff believes Rhodes will retain against Owens.

Rhodes is WWE's golden boy, seemingly destined for a main event slot at WWE WrestleMania 41 since he defeated Roman Reigns for the world title in April. Fun fact: Rhodes hasn't taken any kind of loss since July. Even more fun fact: Rhodes has lost just one singles match over the last year and a half, against Drew McIntyre in February. It's safe to say that Rhodes has momentum on his side.

Ever since he first came back to WWE, Rhodes has been teasing the return of the Winged Eagle. Paul "Triple H" Levesque booking Rhodes to lose on the night that belt is brought back would be a shocking move — one that we don't think is in his wheelhouse.

Putting all of that aside for a moment, there is still some hope for Owens, and a not-insignificant number of our team is rooting for the underdog. It's already been announced that the rosters for "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown" will shift when "Raw" hits Netflix next month, and it's very plausible that the streaming giant could want Rhodes on their show. While there are plenty of ways WWE could go about that, one move is to have Rhodes drop the title to Owens in a surprise upset.

Do we think it's going to happen? Absolutely not. But we can't say we wouldn't be pleased by the sudden shake-up.

Written by Nick Miller