The first Saturday Night’s Main Event of 2026 was live from the Bell Centre in Montreal as WWE’s tour outside the States continues onto next week’s Royal Rumble from Saudi Arabia. Tonight’s show features a fatal four-way that holds #1 contender ramifications for the winner, and the match will determine Drew McIntyre’s opponent for his Rumble title defense.
With the show streaming on Peacock, it is a unique situation seeing programs meant to be paid off on another streaming platform (ESPN) at the end of the month.
RANDY ORTON VS SAMI ZAYN VS TRICK WILLIAMS VS DAMIEN PRIEST– #1 Contender
Sami Zayn was treated like prime Bret Hart in Canada as the show opened up with him hobnobbing with our neighbors to the north as he entered the building tonight. Last night on SmackDown, all four men were involved in the ‘go-home angle,’ and it was clear that Randy Orton was ready after being the one left standing when the show faded to black.
Orton hit Zayn with an RKO to close the show on Friday, and tonight it was Zayn that picked up the victory ‘out of nowhere’ and with his back against the wall. Zayn was sold as the ultimate underdog, and that is why it was big news when he declared this be the year he wins the WWE world title. In fact, Zayn was being positioned last year following WrestleMania for a potential title run—an opportunity was famously given to him by Paul Heyman, a shot Zayn never took and might have regretted.
Trick Williams played spoiler for most of the show, and his beef with Zayn added to the pressure. After hitting a ‘Helluva Kick’ on Priest, Zayn was able to survive a near fall while managing to escape from an Orton RKO—the move that put him down on Friday.
Zayn picking up the win places him in position to face Drew at next week’s Rumble, but he will have to go beyond his ‘underdog’ nature if he hopes to dethrone WWE’s best worker over the last couple of years.
CODY RHODES VS JACOB FATU
When the match was booked between Cody Rhodes and Jacob Fatu, many believed it signaled the ‘push’ of the former Bloodline muscle in a singles role. Rhodes beef with Fatu began when the ‘Samoan Werewolf’ returned from injury, only to cost Cody his world title run following a second reign of 159 days. McIntyre was the original target for Fatu, but Cody caught some strays, and those incidental shots would end up costing the champ and leading to Drew’s second title run.
After an emotion-filled pre-recorded segment with Cody on SmackDown, the program was set to deliver either Fatu’s biggest win or Cody’s rebound. We did not get a match, and, in its place, we received a schmoz of epic proportions. Jacob attacked Cody before his entrance was complete and, in the process, knocked down the ref and unleashed mayhem.
WWE officials ran down to attend to the referee while Cody and Jacob battled on, and they eventually took it all over the arena after it became clear that no match would take place. Ref bumps are a tradition in wrestling, and fans have been conditioned to see one ref go down and another come out to take his place, though replacement officials might be relegated to ESPN shows.
Fans in attendance were accepting the booking because they basically got a stake-less ‘Falls Count Anywhere’ without the ‘fall.’ However, fans on social media were not nearly as forgiving about the match not happening, though, looking at the bigger picture, this booking is clearly part of a long-term play.
Drew McIntyre popped out at the end of this segment, and just as Cody and Jacob were battling on a railing just above a row of tables. After tossing Jacob through one, the champion McIntyre then hit Cody with a powerbomb through a couple more tables. Will this angle keep Cody out of next week’s Rumble? It is difficult to say for sure, but it is safe to assume that ESPN expects stars for their first major PLE on the platform.
RHEO(c) VS JUDGMENT DAY (Liv and Perez)—WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
The tag division has seen an increase in focus and booking since the beginning of 2026 and even before, and the division is crowded with more challengers vying for the titles at the same time as ever in the belts history. Rhea and Iyo Sky successfully retained the titles tonight, and the match met the high standards set across the promotion.
The winners already have #1 contenders waiting for them, but this segment actually put over the feud between Raquel Rodriguez and world champion Stephanie Vaquer. Raquel interfered in the match after being separated from Liv and Roxanne in recent weeks as she focuses on her singles run for the title.
Interestingly, after the match, Liv was furiously staring at Roxxane, and we could see ‘heads roll’ on Monday’s RAW this week.
AJ STYLES VS NAKAMURA
The match was booked to further sell the idea that AJ Styles could be gone from the company in a week’s time. After AJ was defeated by Gunther despite the uber-heel tapping in the match, the desperation to settle the score with the man who defeated John Cena in his final show forced Styles to accept Gunther’s retirement terms.
Nakamura challenged AJ in the case that Styles falls short next Saturday at the Rumble, and this was one of the ‘Phenomenal One’s’ greatest feuds as the two competed at WrestleMania 34. Like that infamous Mania match, AJ Styles was able to pull out the victory as these guys rolled the clock back to put on one hell of a show.
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