Cody Rhodes and Real Winners and Losers of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Match Card

Saturday Night's Main Event was the last major WWE event of 2024, and the company went out with a bang.

Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn opened the show with a barn burner of a match, reminding everyone how dangerous The Scottish Warrior can be.

Liv Morgan retained over Iyo Sky before turning her attention back to Rhea Ripley as the next woman up for the Women's World Championship.

Gunther overwhelmed both Damian Priest and Finn Bálor to show the world why he still holds the World Heavyweight Championship.

History was made as Chelsea Green captured the Women's United States Championship.

Cody Rhodes finally got the chance to walk into a WWE event with the Winged Eagle WWE Championship around his waist and walk out with it after defeating a game Kevin Owens.

The following are the real winners and losers from Saturday Night's Main Event.

WWE transported back over 3 decades to present an old-school vibe for the return of Saturday Night's Main Event.

Jesse "The Body" Ventura was running down the action for the first time in many years.

The entrance ramp with a narrow path for the talent echoed past to an era where fans were packed into the arenas to see "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Tito Santana, Jimmy Hart, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Koko B. Ware were in attendance for the festivities.

This was a celebration of an era that WWE has largely moved beyond, reminding fans of how far WWE has come to get to one of its hottest eras to date.

Drew McIntyre returned to WWE with a clear statement to make, and he delivered it emphatically by defeating Sami Zayn clean in the opener of Saturday Night's Main Event.

As The Scottish Warrior likely works his way up the ranks of the "original" Bloodline, he could not afford to lose at this stage.

While Zayn is also a priority for WWE, he has always been a resilient performer. He can take losses and stay consistently relevant.

Hopefully though, Zayn will eventually get his much deserved world title reign.

Since McIntyre is one of the top heels in the business, he could very well become a world champion in 2025. Both Cody Rhodes and Gunther can believably lose to McIntyre.

That is not as clear if he loses in this big match moment. He has moved beyond CM Punk and needs to make up for the time he lost dealing with The Best in the World.

Iyo Sky was already stepping into Saturday Night's Main Event as an obvious filler challenger, but there was some hope that she might pull off a major upset.

It did not happen. In fact, for the first time in a while, Liv Morgan defended her Women's World Championship clean.

While it was nice to see Morgan compete at a high level and avoid relying on the assistance of Raquel Rodriguez and "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, this booking makes Sky look even worse.

The Genius of the Sky was WWE women's champion earlier in 2024, but she has struggled to keep main event relevancy despite delivering some of the best women's matches of the year.

At least if Morgan cheated, Sky could have an excuse for an eventual rematch. Instead, the stories has moved past her after one lost match.

Sky will likely return to tag team action with Kairi Sane, hoping to capture the gold from Bianca Belair and Naomi in the near-future.

Morgan has moved right back to Rhea Ripley in a feud that never ends that has struggled to evolve. It is hard to imagine anyone but Mami dethroning Morgan at this point.

Gunther lost some steam after his loss to Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel. Damian Priest had his number in the run-up to Survivor Series: WarGames.

He needed to win in dominant fashion. He did just that against Priest and Finn Bálor. While it was a competitive contest, it was never truly in question if The King General would win.

He kept himself near the action throughout and ended it dominantly, wiping out The Punishment outside before planted The Prince with a powerbomb in the ring.

While more work needs to be done to return to Gunther's most dominant form, he is back on the right track.

This should officially put both Priest and Bálor behind him. The stage has been set for a fresh challenge. CM Punk and Seth "Freakin" Rollins come to mind.

The first-ever women's United States champion is Chelsea Green, a moniker that can never be taken away from her.

After a rough 2024 for Green where she was largely made into a laughing stock, she ends the year with her first WWE singles gold.

This was a long time coming for a woman that was always a perfect fit in WWE but was hurt by bad circumstances.

Michin would have also been deserving of the title after her own long road to championship glory, and she certainly showed why she should be considered as a mainstay in the Women's United States Championship scene.

These two have started to build the foundation of the first true midcard division for the women.

Cody Rhodes has made clear throughout 2024 that his ultimate goal is to live out the dream his father never got to accomplish.

He did it again at Saturday Night's Main Event. He wore the famed Winged Eagle WWE Championship to the ring and on his way out.

He got to main event this classic WWE event and further solidify his role as the company's top man while Jesse "The Body" Ventura hated on him throughout.

Kevin Owens mocked him, his father Dusty Rhodes and his former friend Randy Orton. He brutalized the champion with precision.

However, none of it stopped could take The American Nightmare off his game. He overcame the toughest test to his world title reign to date.

The only issue for Rhodes is that KO got a little lucky down the stretch and even used a steel chair to put away his rival, so this feud may not be over.