Dave Simon and Brother Ben Simon delivered an engaging preview of next week’s Saturday Night’s Main Event on the latest Wrestling Uncensored episode, analyzing the surprising World Championship match between CM Punk and Jey Uso while questioning whether WWE missed a golden opportunity with Bron Breakker. The brothers also delivered a brutally honest assessment of AEW WrestleDream 2025, praising the in-ring action while criticizing the promotion’s ongoing runtime problems.
The episode, which aired Friday night across YouTube, Rumble, Twitch, DLive, and Kick, featured the Simon Brothers’ trademark blend of passionate analysis and brotherly banter as they dissected the fallout from Seth Rollins’ injury and what it means for WWE’s championship picture heading into the historic NBC special.
The Unexpected Main Event: CM Punk vs. Jey Uso
With Seth Rollins sidelined due to injury, WWE pivoted to a new challenger for CM Punk’s World Championship opportunity. Jey Uso earned the right to face Punk after winning a battle royal on Monday Night Raw, dramatically eliminating his own brother Jimmy Uso in the process.
“CM Punk was the number one contender. He was gonna wrestle Seth Rollins at Saturday Night’s Main Event. I don’t think he was gonna win,” Dave noted, setting up his analysis of the unexpected title match.
The twist? Jey’s victory came at the expense of family unity, with Dave highlighting the storytelling implications: “Jey Uso wins the right to face him after winning a battle royal on Monday Night Raw where he eliminated his own brother Jimmy. Special blood is key.”
The Slow Burn Heel Turn
Dave spent considerable time analyzing Jey Uso’s character evolution, pointing to a deliberate heel turn that’s been building on Monday Night Raw.
“Jey Uso has been kind of doing this slow burn heel turn thing on Raw where he’s acting more tribal chief Roman Reigns and Jimmy Uso called him on it and Jimmy’s talking to Roman about it and Roman saying Jey needs to do his own thing and Jey’s kind of being mean to Jimmy and he’s getting upset,” Dave explained, laying out the complex family dynamics at play.
The friction extends beyond family, as Dave noted: “Jey is having problems with LA Knight who’s a babyface and Jimmy’s trying to you know, keep it cool between them, but there’s a lot of friction and it’s not working and Jey is just having a lot of beef with a lot of different people on Raw and a lot of them are babyfaces.”
A Vision of Jey Uso’s Future
Dave Simon proposed a bold booking scenario that would completely transform Jey Uso’s character and position him as a legitimate main event player.
“I think to make that transition fully, you go full heel. You do something dastardly to win the world title and you become the champion,” Dave suggested, before outlining how the remaining members of The Bloodline faction could factor into the finish.
The key to Dave’s vision? Paul Heyman.
“Paul Heyman has said some very nice things about Jey Uso when it didn’t really call for it. You know, throughout the months,” Dave observed, noting that “Heyman always is I respect you, Jey. I love you, Jey, you know, super I love you. He says all this nice stuff about Jey Uso when they encounter each other in promos.”
Dave’s pitch involves Jey winning the championship with assistance from Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Paul Heyman, taking over leadership of The Bloodline faction.
“Jey could lead the group. He could eventually wrestle Roman at Mania if that was a plan for Seth, which it really felt,” Dave reasoned, pointing to the long-term storytelling potential.
He continued building his case: “If he could do this full heel turn and join the group and become the leader of this group and go up against Roman. I think it would really surprise people, and it would allow people to take Jey more seriously.”
The historical precedent was not lost on Dave: “You go back into the bloodline, original bloodline, Roman was always saying Jey after me. It’s you. He always said it to Jey after me. You’re the tribal chief.”
Built-In Feuds Galore
If Jey Uso becomes champion as Dave envisions, the storytelling possibilities become endless.
“He’s got built-in feuds with CM Punk, with LA Knight, with his own brother Jimmy, with Roman Reigns, with Seth Rollins when he eventually comes back, and you could do this monster Jey Uso heel run,” Dave explained, mapping out months of potential programming.
The emotional impact of such a turn would be significant. “Six months ago, he was the hottest babyface in the company. I think that you eat shirt I think that’s quite an accomplishment the most popular guy with kids and everything you turn this guy full mean heel with Paul Heyman and people get upset. It’s true kids will be crying I think,” Dave said, acknowledging the risk and reward of such a dramatic character shift.
The Bron Breakker Question: Should WWE Pull the Trigger?
While Dave laid out an ambitious vision for Jey Uso, he spent considerable time questioning why WWE didn’t seize the opportunity to elevate Bron Breakker to the championship when Seth Rollins went down with an injury.
“I think I would have just said, okay, let’s just go with Bron. Let’s try it. Let’s give him a run with the belt. It’s the world title. It’s not the A title. Let’s just see what happens. I would have done it,” Dave stated plainly.
Future of WWE or Missed Opportunity?
The frustration in Dave’s analysis was palpable as he discussed WWE’s messaging versus their actions regarding Bron Breakker.
“They chose not to, which is odd because they clearly believe that he is the future. They keep telling us that he’s the future,” Dave observed, with Ben chiming in: “Heyman every week the future of WrestleMania.”
Dave’s point centered on the element of surprise and fan expectations.
“What I’m proposing—him taking over The Vision is major. He becomes the world champion, and The Vision helps him. There’s this major turn at Saturday Night’s Main Event where he’s the new champion and he’s got this new backup,” Dave explained about his Jey Uso pitch, before pivoting to Bron Breakker.
“They could have easily made him the champion. They could have easily had him win that battle royal, go up against Punk, win the belt at Saturday Night’s Main Event, and then go on as champion. He faces Roman at Mania. We go, we push the Bron Breakker button, and we elevate him to the top of the card, right? They could have done that. They chose not to for the moment,” Dave said.
The Problem With Predictability
Dave’s core argument centered on the diminishing returns of telegraphed pushes.
“I think they’re gonna do it eventually. I think everybody believes they’re gonna do it eventually, and the problem with that is when everybody’s waiting for it, when it finally happens, you’re, yeah, okay. We knew that this was the moment. We get it. Cool,” Dave explained, highlighting how WWE’s transparency about Bron Breakker’s future undermines the impact of his eventual championship win.
He drew historical parallels to illustrate his point: “If Bron would have won, people would have been shocked, be okay, this is the new guy you got to pay attention to him, similar to you know when Randy Orton, you know, beat Chris Benoit. People are I don’t know if Randy’s gonna do it, you know and then you know, he shocked the world or when Brock Lesnar became champion for the first time. You know, you threw all the legends to get there. It would be something.”
When Will Breakker’s Moment Come?
Despite his arguments for pulling the trigger immediately, Dave acknowledged uncertainty about WWE’s plans.
“Maybe it’s Mania. Maybe it’s after Mania. Maybe he wins the Rumble, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know if those were the plans in the first place, then they don’t want to deviate,” Dave mused, trying to understand WWE’s thought process.
Ben offered a counterpoint rooted in creative continuity: “If those were the plans in the first place, then they don’t want to deviate.”
But Dave’s frustration remained: “I think I would have Seth goes down, you have the beat down. He’s done. I think I would have just said, okay, let’s just go with Bron. Let’s try it.”
AEW WrestleDream 2025: Great Wrestling, Terrible Runtime
The conversation shifted to AEW’s WrestleDream pay-per-view from the previous week, during which Dave delivered one of his most passionate critiques of AEW’s persistent runtime issues.
“AEW did a pay-per-view last week. Yeah, it was WrestleDream,” Dave began, immediately addressing the elephant in the room. “It was very long. It was a five out of five, four-and-a-half-hour show type of thing. It was very, very long. The pay-per-view lasted at least four and a half hours. Mox and Darby were the main event. It was cool.”
The Violence Controversy: Kids and Fish Tanks
One of the most talked-about moments from WrestleDream was Jon Moxley’s brutal tactics against Darby Allin, which sparked online debate over their appropriateness.
“Mox is putting Darby’s head in a fish tank with water in it, kind of trying to drown them. Yeah, I saw some people saying Oh, this is not good, kids are gonna try this at home,” Dave noted, before offering his characteristically blunt perspective.
“I think you know that when you have an I Quit match between Darby Allin and Jon Moxley, it’s gonna get extremely violent, and maybe you want to put the kids to bed. I think that’s kind of obvious. Well, yeah, this isn’t for children,” Dave argued, defending the creative choice.
He expanded on his reasoning: “This show was on this match that happened at midnight on a Saturday, kids aren’t up watching this. So don’t show it to the kids later because obviously it was super violent.”
Dave drew a comparison to his own childhood wrestling fandom: “I watch Macho Man have Jake the Snake bite him with a snake. Yeah, I never went out and got a snake. It was, hey, I’m gonna have a snake bite.”
AEW’s Identity Crisis
Dave delved into what makes AEW different from WWE, both positively and negatively.
“AEW is a wrestling company for connoisseurs of wrestling. Yeah, it’s not easy to get into. It’s not easy to be an AEW fan. You have to know about wrestling,” Dave explained. “To be an AEW fan, you have to really appreciate the art of professional wrestling. Yeah, the matches and the moves and the things that they do to enjoy AEW, you have to care about wrestling, and you have to have an understanding of wrestling history a little bit, and you know the wrestling business.”
He contrasted this with WWE’s approach: “You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to watch WWE. You can watch WWE and get to know and understand whatever.”
The Match-By-Match Breakdown
Dave walked through the WrestleDream card, highlighting both the strengths and fatal flaws of the show’s structure.
Opening Match Problems:
“They opened the show with FTR wrestling Jet Speed in a match that started on the pre-show,” Dave noted with evident frustration. “I could have seen it on Dynamite or Collision, you know, it didn’t need to be on pay-per-view. It could have stayed on the pre-show. It could have stayed on the pre-show, but it spilled over to the pay-per-view, which of course makes the pay-per-view longer.”
The next match didn’t fare better in Dave’s assessment: “Your real opening match was Jamie Hayter versus Thekla. That went 15 and a half minutes. I don’t, Jamie Hayter, but that match didn’t mean that match didn’t need to happen at all. At all.”
The Peak: Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express:
Dave’s tone shifted dramatically when discussing what he considered the show’s highlight.
“The next match was what I think was the match of the night. It was an incredible tag team match between the Jurassic Express and the Young Bucks. Unbelievable, just so good. Just a perfect tag team match,” Dave raved.
“Young Bucks showing why they are one of the best tag teams in the world, one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Just reminding us how great they are and the Jurassic Express, Jack Perry, and Luchasaurus working so well together, they should never be broken up,” he continued.
The storytelling resonated with Dave: “The Bucks abandoned Jack Perry, and now he wants revenge, and the Bucks are broke, and they need the $500,000 that they get when they win the match. The story was great, and the match. The moves were incredible, the match was perfect, and the pay-per-view peaked right there. Then there was a lot more after that.”
The Downhill Slide:
“Mercedes beat Mina Shirakawa. Then later on in this WrestleDream show, we had Brodido beating Okada and Takeshita. Match was pretty good but it was just kind of I don’t know a lot of moves and it just didn’t have the same 27 minutes. Yes, it was a long one, and I was gonna say a little too long, but it wasn’t, it was too long. It was much too long. They should have cut it by, you know, a good 10, 15 minutes,” Dave critiqued.
“It was too long, and it was a tag title match, and Brodido wound up winning, and it just didn’t have the same weight that the Young Bucks tag match had earlier, and it just felt more of the same, just not as good. So I don’t know it felt out of place.”
The Co-Main Event Letdown:
“Then you had Hangman against Samoa Joe, and the match was okay. You know, but it was the co-main event, and at that point, you’re wow, this show is long, and it’s Joe, and you don’t expect him to win. And then after Joe did a heel turn, he beat up Hangman, and The Opps joined him, and now Joe is evil. So I guess Joe and Hangman are still feuding, but you just, yeah, you don’t believe Joe’s gonna beat Hangman, especially at this stage, and it’s just all right,” Dave said, his exhaustion evident.
Sting’s Return Saves the Main Event:
Despite the fatigue, Dave acknowledged the main event’s memorable moment.
“And then we got to Darby and Mox finally, and it’s okay, this is gonna be cool. But by that time, you’ve been watching four hours of wrestling. It’s past midnight, and I was falling asleep, but I managed to stay up for most of the match. And then I kind of drifted off, and then I woke up, and I was the finish,” Dave admitted honestly.
The big surprise energized even the exhausted host: “Moxley had his whole crew PAC and all the goons helping him beat up Darby. So then the lights go out, and you’re like, ” What’s this and it was Sting. And then Sting came out and he’s hitting people with bats and stuff.”
Ben asked the critical question: “How did Sting look?”
“He looked cool. It was cool to see Sting, he’s retired, you don’t expect him, and then he comes out and he helps Darby, and it makes a lot of sense, and you’re, yeah, cool. This is good. I liked it. I thought it was good. He I mean he looked fine. He had white hair, but you know, he’s worried. He wore a T-shirt. He did the bat spot. He was fine,” Dave reported.
The finish saw “Darby got the Scorpion Death Lock, the Sharpshooter on Moxley, which forced Moxley to quit. So Moxley, that made him quit. Yes, he actually did quit.”
The Fundamental Problem: Length Over Quality
Dave’s frustration with AEW’s approach reached a boiling point as he articulated the core issue plaguing the promotion.
“I don’t know, man, AEW didn’t do themselves any favors by having this show just run so long, and you just overload us with good stuff. You just go. All right, I can, but there’s a limit. Yeah, you know what I mean? You can’t see that you want a piece of candy, but you don’t want to eat candy all day for four hours straight. You know what I mean? Yeah, and at that point you’re kind of a headache,” Dave said, using a perfect analogy.
“And I’m just so tired of AEW doing this. Yeah, God, they have such a good product if they could just edit. It’s a movie. Yes, it’s a movie, and I learned in film school that keeping things tight is better. Less is more. If you think you can cut here or there, you should. Yes. Sometimes the director’s cut makes the movie suck. Yes. Long is bad. Cutting is good,” Dave explained, drawing on his background in filmmaking.
Even Dave Meltzer Agrees
Dave pointed to an unlikely ally in his critique.
“I saw even Dave Meltzer, who’s the biggest AEW super cheerleader. The show was too long. It was good, but it was too long. I’m, yeah, I know it’s about time you say it, hell. Can you tell Tony Khan? Can you tell him, hey, man, your shows are too long. They’ve always been too long. You need to make them in three hours. You need to chill out,” Dave said, highlighting the universal nature of the complaint.
The Quality vs. Quantity Debate
Despite all the criticism, Dave acknowledged AEW’s in-ring superiority.
“They have great wrestling. Yeah, they have great wrestlers. They do have the best wrestling in the world today —the best matches. I’m not saying that the best wrestlers are because talent is everywhere, but the best wrestling matches are happening in AEW, and that’s not to take anything away from any wrestler in WWE. They have their limitations and what they’re allowed to do and told what to do. In AEW you have more of a blank canvas where you can do whatever you want and create your art how you want it,” Dave acknowledged.
But the problem remains: “But the problem is, despite the fact that their quality is so high, because the quantity of it is so high as well, people go, I can’t, I can’t deal with it.“
The Personal Cost: Content Creators Giving Up
Dave revealed how AEW’s runtime issues are affecting coverage in the wrestling media.
“Content being created, and I’m not, I’m sure I’m not the only one, but people that create content and create conversations around wrestling and get people talking about your product and thinking about your product are now just so tired with it that we’re just, I don’t even want to bother,” Dave explained.
“It’s much easier for people to watch a three-hour wrestling show and then go and talk about it for an hour, and then have it be a four-hour experience that you can then digest. If I watch a six-hour pay-per-view, I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to. I don’t want to do anything after that. I don’t even want to watch the six-hour pay-per-view, it’s way too much, they overload it to the point where nobody wants to watch, nobody wants to talk about it. People are just ignoring it,” he said.
Ben’s Breaking Point
Brother Ben’s experience perfectly illustrated the audience fatigue Dave was describing.
Dave noted, “You, as an example, and you’re not the only one, because you were watching every AEW pay-per-view for several years. Yeah, I was even watching Dynamite, and then they run an eight-hour show, and you’re fuck this.”
“We know you’ve been watching for three and a half hours, but don’t worry, a trios match is coming up. Yeah, with a bunch of guys who don’t matter,” Dave said sarcastically, capturing the audience’s exhaustion.
The Stubborn Refusal to Change
Dave’s final assessment was damning in its simplicity.
“I felt it for a bit, even though it seems plainly obvious to everybody who watches wrestling that their shows are too long. They don’t care. They don’t get it. They don’t change. It’s just more of the same, and I think it is hurting the brand significantly,” Dave concluded.
The Simon Brothers’ AEW critique was both passionate and constructive—recognizing the promotion’s in-ring excellence while calling out its most glaring weakness with the hope (however faint) that someone in power might finally listen.
Saturday Night’s Main Event: What Actually Happens?
While Dave proposed elaborate scenarios involving heel turns and faction leadership changes, both brothers ultimately seemed skeptical that WWE would make such bold moves at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
“I think they could do something major with him, but I think they’re going to do something minor,” Dave admitted, tempering expectations for revolutionary booking.
The episode provided wrestling fans with a fascinating look at the creative possibilities WWE has available while also highlighting the company’s tendency toward caution when making major booking decisions. Whether Jey Uso shocks the world or CM Punk continues his championship pursuit as expected, the Simon Brothers have given fans plenty to think about heading into next week’s NBC special.
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