Revisiting the Worst Match in the History of Saturday Night's Main Event
Saturday Night’s Main Event has been back since December 2024, and so far it has lived up to expectations. Saturday Night’s Main Event XXXIX will take place tonight on NBC, and fans will see many high-profile matches. However, the same cannot be said when WWE brought back Saturday Night’s Main Event from 2006 to 2008 after a 14-year hiatus from the WWF days. What started as a supershow that had matches such as John Cena and Triple H vs. Randy Orton, Kurt Angle, and Rey Mysterio turned into a laughing stock that saw Doink the Clown in the main event. However, one match that left fans more upset than any was the marketed super fight between Evander Holyfield and Matt Hardy.
Evander Holyfield is one of the greatest and most legendary boxers of all time. He decided to make his WWE debut in 2007, doing so at Saturday Night’s Main Event XXXV at Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, many of the fans who paid to see the icon step inside the Garden were let down. His worked ‘boxing’ match against Matt Hardy lasted just under three minutes and was called off after an interference. Yes, a match that was supposed to resemble boxing had an interference in it. Each round in this fight was two minutes long, different from the standard three in professional boxing.
Holyfield was accompanied by WWE United States Champion MVP for this bout, as MVP and Matt Hardy were supposed to face off in this boxing fight, though there was no elaboration as to why. Once the bell rang, it only took Holyfield 16 seconds and three body punches to knock the future Hall of Famer down. Hardy was able to continue the fight after a two-count, which technically should have been a six-count by the referee, while at the same time, MVP was illegally giving Holyfield advice in the corner.
After many quick left jabs and body hooks, the former Tag Team Champion was knocked once again at the one-minute mark. This knockdown was met with an eight-count, though any fight in the history of professional boxing would have been stopped at that moment. Fortunately for Hardy, this was the WWE. Unsurprisingly, uppercuts and hooks by Evander Holyfield saw the former ECW Champion knocked down again with 25 seconds left in the bout. The referee had to have bet on Hardy going to a decision because he was allowed to continue after a third knockdown. Round One then came to an end, as Holyfield went back to MVP in his corner, and Hardy went back to nobody. MVP then began to give Holyfield legitimate boxing advice, the same Holyfield who holds the record for most world title reigns in heavyweight history.
Twenty seconds went by in the second round with no punches thrown, because Evander Holyfield felt bad for Matt Hardy who was wobbling in his corner. Then MVP jumped inside the ring mid-bout, arguably the most illegal act in boxing. He began arguing with Holyfield as he was refusing to fight Hardy, which resulted in the four-time world heavyweight boxing champion knocking out the United States Champion cold inside the ring. This then led to the referee stopping the bout, ending the fight via no-contest at two minutes and 44 seconds.
This might just be the most confusing match in the history of the WWE, and there has not been a scripted boxing match in the company ever since. Tonight there is no boxing match on the card for Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIX. Jey Uso will look to successfully defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Logan Paul, Seth Rollins, and Bron Breakker will team up against CM Punk and Sami Zayn, and John Cena will wrestle for the last time in Tampa. The return of Saturday Night’s Main Event has been great, and hopefully, it will stay that way for years to come.
