WWE Saturday Night's Main Event 2 Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event on January 25.

This is the second of the current wave of SNME shows, and WWE has loaded the card up with some big matches ahead of next week's Royal Rumble.

Here is a look at the lineup from Saturday's event:

• Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens sign their Royal Rumble contract
• Gunther vs. Jey Uso (World Heavyweight Championship)
• Bron Breakker vs. Sheamus (Intercontinental Championship)
• Rhea Ripley vs. Nia Jax (Women's World Championship)
• Braun Strowman vs. Jacob Fatu

Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's Saturday Night's Main Event.

The first match on the card saw Ripley take on Jax in a Women's World Championship match. The challenger delivered a headbutt during the official introductions to get an early advantage, but Ripley fired back with a dropkick as soon as the bell rang.

Jax hit a huge Samoan drop from the middle rope for a two-count right before the show cut to a break. They were not wasting any time pulling out the big moves in an effort to win.

With two powerhouses like this, it was no surprise that this was a hard-hitting and physical affair. Both competitors even used some moves we don't see from them very often.

Jax came close a handful of times, but The Eradicator kept finding ways to kick out at two. Ripley even took some bigger risks than usual trying to take down the Irresistible Force.

In the end, the champion retained with a Riptide to close a fun encounter. Both women came away from this looking great.

Result: Ripley defeated Jax

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• WWE is really trying to rely hard on nostalgia for the presentation of this show. 
• Jesse Ventura was criticizing Governor Abbott for how he has handled the cold weather in the area. 
• The Samoan drop from the middle turnbuckle looked great. 

The IC title was on the line when Breakker defended the belt against Sheamus in the second match of the night.

The Irishman was looking to win the only title that has eluded him in his WWE career while the son of Rick Steiner was hoping to prove it was still his time in the spotlight.

The champ had the upper hand at first, but being thrown into the timekeeper's area in the most painful way possible turned the tide in Sheamus's favor.

We returned from a break to see Sheamus back on defense and taking a gutbuster. The Celtic Warrior nailed him with a huge knee to the face once he was back to his feet.

Breakker lined up for a Spear but ran into a Brogue Kick. He had to put his foot on the rope to break the count because he was unable to kick out.

Once he regained his footing, Breakker nailed the Spear for the pin and the win. This bout was just as good as their previous encounters. Sheamus is a reliable veteran and Breakker is a star in the rise. They worked together to make this feel slightly unpredictable, which is always a good thing.

Result: Breakker defeated Sheamus

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Ventura sounded like he was having fun on commentary. 
• Breakker running the ropes is one of the scariest things he does. He moves so fast and hits his opponents with momentum. 
• The way Sheamus threw Breakker over the barricade was nuts. 
• Breakker's Frankensteiner was fantastic. 

Shawn Michaels oversaw the contract signing between Owens and Rhodes for the title match at the Royal Rumble next weekend. Rhodes signed, but KO wanted to get something off his chest first. He took offense to Rhodes saying he always took the easy way out.

Both men hung their belts on the holder that will hang above the ring during their ladder match at the Rumble. Owens attacked Rhodes and tried to hit Michaels with a piledriver, but Rhodes hit him with a superkick and then HBK hit Sweet Chin Music to send him out fo the ring.

The next match was Fatu vs. Strowman, which WWE hyped with a special video package showing their respective stats.

Strowman took control early and sent Fatu out of the ring, but The Samoan Werewolf did the same to him a moment later followed by a suicide dive.

As expected, this was a classic case of big meaty men slapping meat. Strowman and Fatu are known for being hard-hitting powerhouses and they delivered on those reputations with a match that took both men all around the ring.

Fatu snapped and ended up throwing the ref out of the ring so he could continue hitting running hip strikes on Strowman. The ref called the match off, so we will likely get a rematch down the line.

The way this ended was obviously nobody's ideal outcome, but the match leading up to that point was solid. Their next encounter will likely see them up the ante even further with their destruction.

Strowman was a bloody mess after Fatu hit several moonsaults as officials tried their best to break up the fight.

Result: Strowman won by DQ

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Owens is so good at going off on rants and looking angry. 
• Fatu doing a suicide dive is a wild sight. 
• The way Fatu was sent over the table looked nuts. 
• Michael Cole used the phrase "Lupin-like assault." He was probably pretty proud of that line. 

The main event of Saturday Night's Main Event saw Gunther defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Jey.

Jey tried to test himself by going chop for chop with The Ring General, and it almost looked like he might win until Gunther whipped him into the corner as hard as possible.

The world champion began to assert his dominance as the show cut to a break. Jey began making a comeback when we returned, but he was still showing signs of the beating he had taken. He did an excellent job selling the brutality of Gunther's offense.

The crowd was on its feet when it looked like Uso might clinch the victory, but two spears and a Superfly Splash couldn't put the champion away. Gunther turned a third spear into a pair of powerbomb to get the win and retain the title.

This was an entertaining match and even with a predictable ending, they had the crowd thinking we might see an upset at points. Both men delivered in this one.

Result: Gunther defeated Uso

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• It's weird how WWE sometimes uses 8K cameras for some shots but not during the actual matches. 
• Gunther being a champion for more than 80% of his time in WWE is one of the most impressive runs anyone has ever had. 
• It's hard to tell because of his tattoos, but there is no way Jey's chest wasn't red when this was over. 

The second of the new episodes of Saturday Night's Main Event didn't feel like quite as big of a deal heading into the show due to being overshadowed by the Royal Rumble, but it ended up being a great show from top to bottom.

All four matches and the contract signing were entertaining in their own way. Ripley and Jax opened the show with a brutal encounter, and Gunther and Uso closed the show with a similarly hard-fought battle.

However, Sheamus and Breakker stole the show with their match. They did not hold a single thing back and delivered the best performance of the night.

One thing this show did is remind us that two hours seems to be the magic number for a wrestling show. The pace felt good and the action kept us invested. It never overstayed its welcome.

Grade: A-