Another night of primetime wrestling is on deck with WWE hosting another Saturday Night’s Main Event.

After bringing it back in December, the vintage Saturday Night’s Main Event will be held again, this time in San Antonio, Texas, one week before the 2025 Royal Rumble. Four matches are scheduled to take place during the two-hour event, with three of them being title bouts.

Gunther will defend his World Heavyweight Championship, Sheamus again gets another shot at the title that has eluded him, and Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley will have the first title defense of her reign. Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens will meet again to set up their match next week, allowing Saturday night to be viewed as an appetizer for the road to WrestleMania 41, kicking off soon.

Here’s what to know for the upcoming edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event:

When is Saturday Night’s Main Event?

Saturday Night’s Main Event is Saturday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. ET.

How long will Saturday Night’s Main Event be?

It will be a two-hour event.

Where is Saturday Night’s Main Event?

The latest edition will take place at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.

How to watch Saturday Night’s Main Event: TV channel, streaming

There are two ways to watch the event on Saturday. It can be watched on NBC or can be streamed on Peacock.

Saturday Night’s Main Event match card

Matches not in order

World Heavyweight Championship match: Gunther (c) vs. Jey Uso
Women’s World Heavyweight Championship match: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Nia Jax
Intercontinental Championship match: Bron Breakker (c) vs. Sheamus
Braun Strowman vs. Jacob Fatu
Contract signing for ladder match for Undisputed WWE Championship at Royal Rumble: Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens with Shawn Michaels as moderator

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ASHBURN, Va. – Saquon Barkley has boxing in his blood, and the Philadelphia Eagles’ All-Pro running back has operated like a prizefighter during his record-setting 2024 season. 

Jab, jab, jab, cross, jab, jab … knockout upper-cut. Five-yard run, 4-yard run, 3-yard run, 10-yard run, 4-yard run, 5-yard run … 60-plus yards to the end zone. 

In that case, consider the Washington Commanders defense ready for a fight. 

“That’s the whole thing. You watch when they played the (Los Angeles) Rams, they brought him up some and then he knocks one – he does it against everybody,” Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. said. “And so, what we have to do is just make sure we’re disciplined upfront. We’re ready to flow at the second level.”

Barkley’s two long touchdown runs in the divisional round – 62 and 78 yards, respectively – accounted for 140 of his 205 rushing yards, meaning he had 65 yards on his other 24 attempts. 

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Discipline will be the most important thing in Washington’s effort to contain Barkley, who led the NFL with 2,005 rushing yards during the regular season (16 games). His six touchdowns (including the playoffs) of more than 60 yards are the most in a single season in NFL history. 

“He’s waiting for that one person to pop out of the gap,” Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “He’s waiting for that one person to be undisciplined. As soon as he sees it, he’s gone. So that’s going to be our challenge, is going to be disciplined the whole time, the whole game, understanding that he has the ability and the talent to break a run at any given point.” 

The way Barkley breaks the middle-field safety off, Whitt said, is one of his superpowers. A timid angle has no chance, while an overconfident one is susceptible to a cutback Barkley can manage with ease thanks to his natural athletic gifts. 

“You have to be able to get to his inside hip in a confident way and get him down,” Whitt said. “If not, you’re not going to make the tackle. So, it’s 11-man football to stop this man. And if you don’t do it, you’re going to see those explosive runs, which you’ve seen against everybody else.”

In the teams’ Week 16 meeting, Barkley burst for a 68-yard touchdown in the first quarter and ended the day with 150 rushing yards on 29 carries. A few weeks earlier, on “Thursday Night Football,” the Commanders bottled him up for 3½ quarters until he had two touchdowns of 23 and 39 yards, respectively, that took the game from a two-point contest to a comfortable Philadelphia lead. 

“It’s all about just gang-tackling him,” defensive tackle Daron Payne said. “Everybody coming in and just trying to square him up and get him down.” 

Barkley displayed some of that “home-run ability” during his first six seasons with the New York Giants, but with the Eagles’ superb offensive line clearing the way for him, along with the threat of Jalen Hurts’ running abilities, he’s had the best season of his career.  

“I think there’s a combination of vision and then the ability to start and stop, like, super quickly,” head coach Dan Quinn said. “He has this quickness of a smaller back and the size of a big back, if that makes sense, to say, like, that’s an unusual combination. But it’s not the size alone of this guy that is so powerful. It’s both.” 

The Commanders ranked 26th in defensive DVOA and last against run plays that went outside the numbers, according to ESPN. They were 30th in rushing yards allowed per game (137.5).

Quinn and Whitt became familiar with Barkley’s prowess while facing him over the pass three seasons while they coached for the Dallas Cowboys, another NFC East team. 

“Every single time that I’ve coached against him, he’s been the emphasis,” said Quinn, adding that he’s a reason why Washington has harped on tackling and gap-discipline even as the season enters its final stages. “ … You have to be able to do it right over and over again and not get bored with just being in the right spot over and over again. 

“Tackling in games like this, it’s just a premium. That’s why we do work so hard at those things to make sure our fundamentals are staying. Like, if other teams are deteriorating at that, I want it just the opposite, that we’re tackling at a higher level today than we were months ago.” 

Neutralizing Barkley starts with winning upfront “because they can move people” in the gap scheme Eagles offensive line coach and run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland has mastered. That includes duos and double-teams. Add “two great receivers” (A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith) and “a really good tight end” (Dallas Goedert) and “a quarterback that can do it” in Hurts, “there’s issues all over there that we have to make sure we take care of,’ Whitt said.

Even with a knee injury that caused him to look beleaguered at the end of the Rams game, Hurts can do damage with his legs. Washington is also prepared for that. 

“If he’s going to run the ball and if the coordinator makes a decision for him to run the ball,” Whitt said, “we’re going to treat him like a running back and we’re going to hit him that way.” 

Barkley, however, is Priority A. 

“It starts with No. 26,” safety Jeremy Chinn said, referencing Barkley’s jersey number. “We have to be able to stop the run and stop him, primarily.” 

Facing an elite running back forces a defense to collectively look in the mirror and find out what it’s made of, linebacker Frankie Luvu said. 

“Going against the best is going to bring out the best in you, and he’s one of the best by far to ever play the position,” he said. “He’s balling out this year, so hat’s off to him, but every time we play him it’s going to be a dog fight. That’s the type of game we bring: run around and hit.”

The Commanders know that stopping Barkley doesn’t guarantee a trip to New Orleans. But as Ric Flair – a wrestler and not a boxer, to be fair – once said: to be the man, you gotta beat the man. 

It is hard to resist the temptation to say, ‘We told you so.’

For years, women athletes and their supporters begged for more opportunities and exposure, only to be dismissed by gatekeepers who said no one cared about women’s sports and they weren’t worth the investment. Now the amount of growth and interest is dizzying.

Unrivaled, a 3×3 basketball league with many of the game’s biggest stars and a star-studded list of financial backers, launched.
The NCAA elevated women’s wrestling to a championship sport.
Yet another professional volleyball league — the fourth, for those keeping track — announced it will begin play next year.
The PWHL drew 14,018 for a game in Denver, setting an attendance record for women’s professional hockey in the United States.
The Indiana Fever became the latest team to commit to giving its players their own facility, unveiling plans for a 180,000-square-foot, three-story complex.
Chelsea is reportedly breaking the bank for U.S. women’s national team defender Naomi Girma, agreeing to a record $1 million transfer fee with the San Diego Wave.

And that’s just within the last two weeks! There’s also the rising valuations of NWSL and WNBA teams; A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese all getting their own shoes; and media rights deals that are bringing women’s games to larger and broader audiences.

Don’t forget, too, the fast-developing media ecosystem of websites, content creators and podcasts devoted solely to women’s sports. That includes Good Game with Sarah Spain, a daily podcast that’s part of the iHeart juggernaut and is designed to provide what Spain calls the “connective tissue” of results, news and game analysis that has long been missing from coverage of women’s sports.

‘There’s a lot of frustration about what could have been earlier and what should have been. But I also tend not to waste my energy,’ Spain told USA TODAY Sports. ‘It’s not saying, I told you so, as much as, let’s learn from this and recognize, even now, the investment and time being given are not proportionate to the economic opportunity.’

It’s a given that the slowness to get on board cost women athletes. But what’s mind-boggling is the people who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, believe there was a market for women’s sports cost themselves money, too.

Millions of it.

Think about it. Not until last year did FIFA sell media rights to the women’s World Cup separately, previously throwing them in as a freebie with the men’s tournament. Which meant ABC and FOX were able to pull in record numbers of viewers during the U.S. women’s title runs without having to give FIFA a dime for the privilege.

The WNBA averaged 1.5 million-plus households on NBC in each of its first three seasons. But Mark Shapiro, then in charge of programming for ESPN, buried it on ESPN2 after the league’s media rights went to Disney.

‘I told (NBA Commissioner David Stern) the WNBA stinks, it doesn’t rate, and I didn’t want it. No one watches it. Men don’t watch it. Women don’t watch it! My goal was to get it off the air,’ Shapiro said in Those Guys Have All the Fun, a book about the network.

Predictably, the WNBA’s ratings — and any leverage the league and network had with advertisers and sponsors — plummeted.

Sportswear companies, retailers and manufacturers are passing up on as much as $4 billion a year because of the dearth of women’s sports merch, according to an analysis by Klarna and the Sports Innovation Lab last year.

If the goal is to make money, which it is, ignoring women’s sports was bad business.

“Years ago, people didn’t understand the value of women’s sports. Convincing people of this value and convincing people of the opportunity of the female economy … has been the biggest challenge,” said Unrivaled commissioner Micky Lawler, who went to the new league after a long career with the WTA.

“There was a Harvard study … that said the female (economic) opportunity is larger than India and China combined,” Lawler added. “I think that’s what we’re seeing (now) in sports.”

Shapiro, now the president and chief operating officer of Endeavor, the sports and entertainment company, said his opposition to the WNBA was solely ratings-based. He’d been tasked with increasing viewership at ESPN, and wanted no part of anything that could drag them down further.

“The overall quality of play wasn’t ready for the ESPN audience. The sponsor support wasn’t there. If they’d been on ESPN the way David Stern wanted, people would have left and never come back,” Shapiro told USA TODAY Sports.

“It wasn’t that I was not a believer in women’s sports,” Shapiro added. “I knew it would come, but it would be in time. And, candidly, I was on a short leash.”

But the reasons given for not promoting or airing or bankrolling women’s sports are often two sides of the same coin. They don’t get good ratings, but you’re putting them in terrible windows and giving them no promotion. They don’t make money, but they’re making due with facilities they don’t own and there’s little to no merch. They don’t draw fans, but they’re playing in remote suburbs or sub-par venues.

Women’s sports have also been held to the ridiculous standard of being expected to be comparable to their male counterparts now despite the guys having had a half-century or longer head start.

“It’s frustrating because we want this to happen instantaneously, but it takes years and decades for people to change their points of view,” said David Berri, a sports economist at Southern Utah University and co-author of Slaying the Trolls. Why the Trolls are Very, Very Wrong About Women and Sports.

‘People in the moment can’t see it,’ Berri said. ‘They have their prejudices and their biases and they can’t get over it.”

Now that the market for women’s sports is undeniable, everyone wants in like a game of ‘follow the leader,’ Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell said. Unrivaled is backed by multiple big-name sponsors, most of whom aren’t what you would consider ‘women’s brands.’ It also has a TV deal, with Warner Bros. Discovery, that puts games on TNT and TruTV, and ratings for the two opening night games averaged about 312,000 viewers, respectable for a new product.

Each of the three new professional volleyball leagues has a TV deal. Nike president and CEO Elliott Hill said on an earnings call last month that the sportswear giant had ‘launched a women’s basketball program, which I didn’t think we’d ever do.’

‘If women’s sports was a stock, I’d be all in. Times 10,’ Shapiro, the former ESPN programming executive, said.

All of which is great. But imagine how much more money these folks could have made if only they hadn’t let fear, ignorance, misogyny or a lack of vision get in the way.

‘If you’re reading this, you might already be part of the choir. But if you are someone in a position of power or responsibility, or know someone who is, this is not an, `I told you so’ moment. This is a, ‘Not too late’ moment,’ Spain said.

‘Ask yourself if you are maximizing your economic opportunities. Ask yourself if you’re looking in enough spaces to find the best products and stories,’ she added. ‘There are a number of places that will give you the black-and-white you need to take into meetings to advocate for better coverage, better investment, better storytelling.

‘Use it.’

Or find yourself passed by, just as women’s sports were for far too long.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

Jerry Jones’ search for Mike McCarthy’s replacement didn’t take the Dallas Cowboys owner very far.

The Cowboys are hiring offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer as their new head coach, the team announced Friday.

“Brian Schottenheimer is known as a career assistant,” Jones told ESPN. “He ain’t no assistant anymore. He is now known as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.”

Schottenheimer is scheduled to be introduced as head coach at a news conference at noon ET on Monday.

Schottenheimer, 51, interviewed with the team on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. The Cowboys formally met with only three other candidates – former New York Jets coach Robert Saleh, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and Seattle Seahawks assistant head coach Leslie Frazier – in what was the smallest group of interviewees for any of the seven vacancies in this cycle.

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Colorado coach and former Cowboys great Deion Sanders spoke with Jones regarding the vacancy, but talks never advanced beyond that initial stage.

Schottenheimer served as offensive coordinator for the team for the last two years after McCarthy parted ways with Moore and took over play-calling duties. The Cowboys ranked first in scoring in 2023 at 29.9 points per game, but the unit finished just 21st this season after quarterback Dak Prescott was lost for the remainder of the season to a partial tendon avulsion of his right hamstring suffered in November.

McCarthy and the Cowboys parted ways following a 7-10 season, with Jones saying the search to find a replacement would begin ‘immediately.’

The Cowboys’ hire leaves the New Orleans Saints as the only team remaining with a head coaching vacancy.

Who is Brian Schottenheimer?

The son of the late Marty Schottenheimer, a longtime NFL coach, Brian Schottenheimer has held the position of offensive coordinator for three other NFL teams – the New York Jets (2006-11), St. Louis Rams (2012-14) and Seattle Seahawks (2018-20). He coached under his father in stops with the Kansas City Chiefs (1998), Washington (2001) and San Diego Chargers (2002-05).

Prior to being hired by the Cowboys, he was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ passing game coordinator under Urban Meyer.

Prior to this week, Schottenheimer had not interviewed for a head coaching position with an NFL team since 2013, when he met with the Jaguars.

This story was updated with new information.

The Pittsburgh Pirates offered a king’s ransom for rookie pitcher Paul Skenes’ 1/1 debut patch card, but the Los Angeles preteen who pulled the incredibly rare trading card is saying no deal.

The 11-year-old collector and his family declined the Pirates’ offer to exchange Skenes’ debut card for two season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park for the next 30 years, an exclusive meet-and-greet with Skenes, two autographed Skenes jerseys and more, Topps announced Friday.

‘The collector has decided to forego the Pirates offer, and is sending the card to auction,’ Topps wrote on X. The Pirates responded, ‘Well…we’re bummed that we won’t be seeing you behind home plate for 30 seasons. But we’d still love to bring you to Pittsburgh for a special day at PNC Park this season.’

The card features a patch worn on the sleeve of Skenes’ jersey from his major league debut and an autograph from the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year. It will hit the auction block in March. Fanatics Collect said its proceeds from the auction ‘will be directly donated to LA Fire Relief funds.’

Pirates offer Paul Skenes meet-and-greet to young fan

The unidentified 11-year-old collector may have passed up the Pirates’ offer for the card, but the ball club is not taking everything off the table. Pirates owner Bob Nutting said he would still love to host a meet-and-greet with Skenes, the team and the young fan, despite the fan declining to exchange the rare trading card.

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‘We had a lot of fun with the idea of a bounty, but we couldn’t be happier for this young baseball fan and his family,’ Nutting said in a statement. ‘Reading his story on how he pulled the card on Christmas morning, what a magical moment. That family bond is what baseball is all about. I would love to host him and his family and follow through with a meet-and-greet with Paul and his teammates, either here in Pittsburgh or when we travel to L.A.’ 

‘A dream come true’

Topps shared diary entries from the 11-year-old collector, who documented how he came into possession of the Skenes 1/1 debut patch card on Christmas morning. The collector called the pull ‘a dream come true.’

‘It was November 13, 2024 and Topps had released (the) 2024 Chrome Update. It was $200, which was a lot, but considering the players and rookies, it was fair. I started begging my mom for it for Christmas. … Since they are awesome they got the box. They told me when I got home from school and I was so excited. Fast forward to Christmas… First I woke up at like 4:00 a.m. and woke my brother (whoops). We waited till 6:30 a.m. and we woke up our parents. The first present we opened was the hobby box. … I opened two more packs and on the second pack I got the Paul Skenes redemption card. … Me, my brother and my Dad were like OMG! (My mom was very excited, but she never collected cards so she didn’t know what it means.) Then my brain pooped and I started bouncing all over the place.’

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The San Francisco 49ers officially named Robert Saleh the team’s new defensive coordinator Friday night.

Saleh, 45, previously served as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator from 2017-2020 before leaving to become the head coach of the New York Jets. He was fired by the Jets in October just five games into his fourth season, finishing his tenure with a 20-36 record. Though the Jets struggled under Saleh, particularly on offense, the coach’s defensive acumen appears to remain top-notch.

The Jets were a top-five defense in yards against the past three seasons (fourth in 2022, third in 2023, third in 2024). Saleh also oversaw two top-five units in his first go-around with the 49ers (second in 2019 when San Francisco won the NFC, fifth in 2020).

Though San Francisco has generally remained stout on defense since Saleh’s departure after the 2020 season, the defensive coordinator position has become something of a revolving door for Kyle Shanahan.

DeMeco Ryans excelled after taking the reins from Saleh — so much so that he left to become head coach of the Houston Texans after two seasons. Steve Wilks took over in 2023 and the 49ers reached the Super Bowl, but Wilks was fired after the season.

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Nick Sorensen took over as DC but was ousted after the 49ers’ disappointing 2024 season. The 49ers finished eighth in yards against for the second consecutive year, but plummeted from third in points against to 29th — their worst showing in that department since they finished last in the league in 2016’s 2-14 debacle.