WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event at MSG: Jalen Brunson & Karl-Anthony Towns Headline WWES Mid-Summer NY Return

Written by Tyler Yasembousky

Pre-Show: WWE United States Title Match: Trick Williams © beat Laredo kid 

This felt random for a pre-show match, but it was nice to see some AAA talent on the show. Trick went over and rightfully so. I would have rather seen Trick defend the United States title though over half the matches we got on the main show. 

Main Card:

The show started with Stephanie McMahon and Oba Femi.  Oba came out and basically repeated the same promo he had on Monday Brock won’t escape from him… like, yeah dude that’s the point of a HELL IN A CELL. 

WWE Women’s Tag Title Match: Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid) def. Paige & Brie Bella to become the new Women’s Tag Team Champion (7:13)

AND NEW, and thank goodness. I need Paige to get back into a singles competition. As for the match itself, it was mediocre. But that’s not a surprise. The finish wasn’t great either but Lainey was fantastic as usual. She’s the best wrestler in the faction in my opinion. To be fair I’ve never been high on Jacey Jane though. 

No DQ Match: Danhausen def. JD McDonagh with an assist from Karl-Anthony Towns (11:35).

I expected a way bigger pop for Danhausen — you know because he lifted the curse from the Knicks. He had a good reaction but it wasn’t the roof-blown-off-the building like I expected. The match itself was entertaining enough. It wasn’t anything to write home about, because Danhausen isn’t going to give you a 5-star match. Now JD can go as he’s very talented, but he was given a job and did it. Karl-Anthony Towns came out to even the odds for Danhausen, to a huge pop as well. He did a nasty choke slam on Dom through a table as well. 

Lyra Valkyria def. Bayley via submission/referee stoppage (10:32).

This might be Bayley’s last match in the WWE. They even did an injury angle after the match with her getting laid out through the steps as Bayley’s contract is apparently set to expire in 2–3 months. So if she really is leaving, this could be the write-off angle for her.  That said, it’s all just speculation; nothing has been confirmed yet. It has been rumored she was one of the stars who got asked to take a pay cut and re-work her contract. She refused and both sides are moving on from each other. 

CM Punk & Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther & Sami Zayn – Cody Rhodes & CM Punk def. Gunther & Sami Zayn (14:08).

Nick Aldis prevents Gunther from pinning Cody by pulling the ref. Aldis then smacks Gunther with the title, leading to the eventual pin.

This was a good match involving all guys who make sense to be beefing with each other. With that said, we didn’t need a four-way match even though it would be great. I’d much rather the Gunther vs. Nick Aldis match at Summerslam. Nick is incredible, he’s a former TNA and NWA world champion. He deserves to have a match in the WWE. 

Sami, I would imagine, will get involved in the Punk / Cody match. I think he will accidentally cost Cody the match, because I don’t think they want Cody to lose clean to punk and there’s no way he can win that match. 

Main Event Segment: Roman Reigns and Jalen Brunson

The main event segment was Roman Reigns and Jalen Brunson getting attacked by Tyrese Haliburton and Seth Rollins. 

Jalen had a really dope entrance and the place exploded for him. I will say WWE not really having baby faces or heels matter anymore is really agitating for me personally. But I’m old-school that way. I know most of the Internet doesn’t even care anymore. 

My overall thoughts – some mediocre wrestling, good main event, and a good last segment for what it was in Madison Square Garden.  Not a bad show but not a must-see in any capacity. 

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event at MSG is now streaming on Peacock.