7 New Directions For WWE After Saturday Night's Main Event (13 Dec)

“Tonight, professional wrestling destroyed sports entertainment”.

That one quote from lead WWE announcer Michael Cole was deliberate and final. The play-by-play man was putting a bow on the scene as a smiling John Cena watched his career end at the hands of a pro wrestling terminator. Gunther choked the life out of 'Super Cena' until he had no choice but to tap out, and Cole's words hammered home the significance.

It felt like WWE's way of saying the era and majesty of Vince McMahon-led Hulkamania of the 80s, 'Stone Cold' attitude of the 90s and Cena dominance of the 2000s-2010s was over. Is that strictly true? Well, yes in terms of John retiring, but no in terms of the company kissing goodbye to McMahon's sports entertainment formula forever.

Saturday was an emotional night. Fans in Washington were really only there for one match, but Cena's retirement bash shone a spotlight on rising NXT stars like Oba Femi, Je'Von Evans and Sol Ruca. Then, by the end, it was Gunther who looked like an animal capable of taking down any beast. Keep a close eye on that wording, because it's important!

Triple H laughed off the fact he was booed out of the building at SNME, but he'll know that things are changing around here. Cena's farewell is the end of an era, and it won't be the only retirement WWE is smacked in the face by over the next 12 months.

Here's where the booking on Raw, SmackDown and even NXT goes next before everyone ushers in a brand new year.

Testicle jokes, John Cena tributes and The Miz feeling overlooked.

Those were the 3 main takeaways from Saturday's segment involving Miz, R-Truth and Joe Hendry. It turns out that Miz's sleight of hand on SmackDown a while back (he switched a name Nick Aldis was holding whilst the GM was distracted) screwed Hendry out of a spot in the Cena tournament. Revenge was sweet for the Scot at SNME.

You know where this is heading: WWE view Miz as an ideal entry point for Hendry on either NXT or the main roster. Raw or SmackDown seems most likely, especially now the latter is going back to 3 hours from 2 January onwards. The writing team will need some undercard rivalries to help fill that chunk of time every single week.

In that sense, Miz vs. Hendry would be perfect. They’re a good fit for one another, and both can talk too. So, Miz won't be tasked with carrying the whole issue on the mic - Joe will be able to chime in himself, and that'll help establish him with fans who haven't caught the meme bug quite yet.

Throw R-Truth in and you've even got a possible ‘odd couple’ tag-team run for them (‘I Believe In The Truth’). Hendry would be off to a flyer. Besides, Miz already put Je’Von Evans over on SmackDown, so he’s always gonna be a team player in scenarios like this. There's nobody better to help ease Hendry in.

This a story WWE reportedly abandoned earlier in 2025, but it's coming back around for 2026.