WWE’s road to SummerSlam passes through “The Empire State” tonight, as WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event is live at 8/7c from world-famous Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
‘WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.’ gets us started as always. Joe Tessitore welcomes us to the show as we see the usual show-opening Superstar arrivals, including Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and Gunther. The tweets from Roman Reigns and Jalen Brunson are shown.
Stephanie McMahon & Joe Tessitore Kick Things Off
We settle inside Madison Square Garden where Tessitore officially welcomes us to Countdown to Saturday Night’s Main Event. The camera pans the crowd and settles at the pre-show podium, where Tessitore is joined by WWE Hall of Fame legend Stephanie McMahon.
Trick Williams vs. Laredo Kid
After a quick check-in backstage from Cathy Kelley, we are sent down to ringside, where Michael Cole and Wade Barrett are welcomed on commentary. They send it up to the ring, where Laredo Kid is introduced and makes his way out.
From there, reigning WWE United States Champion Trick Williams’ theme hits and the MSG crowd erupts as the owner of “The Lemon Pepper Steppers” makes his way to the ring. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one.
We see Trick start off strong, but Kid actually gets in some offense of his own. He taunts the crowd, as he is treated like the heel in this one by the MSG fans in attendance. Things build to a big high spot off the top from Laredo that misses. Trick hits his Trick Shot for the win.
Winner: Trick Williams
Stephanie McMahon In The Ring With Oba Femi
Footage is shown of highlights from Fanatics Fest in NYC, as well as the Danhausen Uncursing Parade from NYC in the rain earlier today. We see Danhausen walking the streets of NYC with R-Truth and some umbrellas. Back live, Stephanie McMahon is in the ring and she introduces “The Ruler” Oba Femi.
With that said, Femi’s theme hits and he struts his way out and heads to the ring as the fans chant his name. Stephanie smiles and acknowledges the insane energy from the crowd for Femi. She brings up Femi vs. Brock Lesnar inside Hell In A Cell at SummerSlam.
She asks Femi if he has any trepidation heading into the most important and arguably the most dangerous match of his career. Femi says the score is 1-1. He says his last outing against Brock didn’t go in his favor. He claims to be miles ahead of Brock in the mental game, however. “I live in his head,” he says. Things wrap up there.
WWE Women’s Tag-Team Championships
Paige & Brie Bella (c) vs. Fatal Influence
The Countdown portion of the show wraps up and the cold open video airs to get the main show started. We return back inside MSG, where Stephanie McMahon and Joe Tessitore once again greet us from the podium. They then send it down to ringside where Cole and Barrett get us ready for opening action.
Fatal Influence’s theme hits and the women’s duo make their way to the ring accompanied by Jacy Jayne for scheduled women’s tag-team championship action. From there, the reigning and defending women’s tag-team champions, Scream Mode duo Paige and Brie Bella come out.
They all brawl at the bell. Lainey Reid and Paige end up in the middle of the ring, and Paige hits a Thesz Press. Tag to Bella, as they both work over Reid and hit a double Code Breaker. Henley gets the tag; she takes over and mocks Brie’s “Yes!” pose.
Henley gets bounced into the corner of the Champions, tag to Paige, and they hit a double bulldog, but Henley is out at two. Henley ends up grounding Paige with the dreaded chin-lock, but Paige escapes with a jawbreaker. Henley won’t let go however, and she gets Reid involved.
Paige avoids a double clothesline, and she tags in Brie. Bella takes care of Reid and hits a side Russian Leg Sweep to Henley. Here come the “Yes!” kicks, Bella says it’s Brie Mode and she delivers knees to both Lainey and Fallon. Bella to the top rope, missile dropkick connects, but Henley kicks out at two.
LeBelle Lock from Bella, but Henley quickly gets her foot on the bottom rope. Both ladies collide in the middle of the ring, Brie tags in Paige. Paige ends up on the apron, she hits Henley with knees, Jayne gets on the apron, but she gets knocked down.
This allows Henley the chance to tag in Reid, who hits Brie with a German. Her moonsault misses when Brie pulls Paige to safety. Reid and Paige trade in the ring, Lainey drops her knee pad, but Paige scores with her own knee strike. Jacy is again on the apron, allowing Henley to run through and hits a rolling neck-breaker. Jayne is on the apron again, as Paige rolls up Reid, but Jayne pushes Paige over and we get the finish. New champs.
Winners and NEW WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions: Fatal Influence
Backstage With Sami Zayn
Backstage, Cathey Kelley talks with Sami Zayn. She wants to know if Sami has something to say now after Gunther had some not so nice words about him. Sami says he will choose his words wisely, because he doesn’t want to say he is a victim. Zayn says that he had to bash his head against the glass ceiling for 13 years just to hold the World Title.
But CM Punk and Cody Rhodes just say when and they’re in the title picture. He was told by Gunther that he wasn’t on his level, but here is Gunther himself. He tells Sami Zayn to stay out of his way and don’t ruin SummerSlam for him.
No Disqualification
Danhausen vs. JD McDonagh
A video package shows the issues between Danhausen and the Judgement Day. Apparently, they wanted Danhausen to curse Oba Femi, he refused, and he kept the human monies. Danhausen is now the CurseFather, because the video was done in the style of the Godfather.
Jackie Redmond gets a quick word with McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio, and Liv Morgan before they head out. JD says he is not curse, Danhausen is the curse. He will rid the WWE of this clown, he vows. The entrances for the match begin from there, as it’s time for our third bout of the show, and the second of the main card.
Danhausen gets the crowd to chant “You are cursed”, and JD hits the floor to talk to Dirty Dom. Mysterio gets up on the apron with the Knicks jersey that he used to clean his boots with, allowing McDonagh the chance to attack from behind. JD chokes out Danhausen as he hits the floor.
From there, McDonagh takes Danhausen from barricade to barricade and then chucks him into the ring post. JD slam’s the Very Nice’s man face first off, the announce desk. Mysterio is jealous, so he takes turns with McDonagh bouncing the face of Danhausen off the announce desk.
Back in the ring, and McDonagh hits a snap suplex. He hits an elbow drop for a two. Dom continues to wipe his shoes with the Knicks jersey, as McDonagh fires Danhausen into the corner. McDonagh does his Scott Steiner push-ups, but this allows Danhausen the chance to fight back into this.
Danhausen corners JD with mounted punches, but McDonagh sneaks out from underneath and hits a Brain Buster for a two. McDonagh motions to Dom, and he takes the Knicks jersey. He proceeds to wipe his arsehole with it and puts it on Danhausen.
McDonagh heads to the top, but he misses his moonsault. Danhausen gets up and puts the jersey on (yes, the same one that Dom was wiping his shoes with). The jersey acts like Hulk when he would Hulk up, as JD’s strikes have no effect. Danhausen hits clotheslines and an Atomic Drop to JD.
Now, Dom enters, but he eats an overhead suplex. McDonagh tries to sneak into a roll-up, but that’s just a two. Danhausen counters McDonagh and hits a vertical suplex for a two. Dom is in the ring again, as both JD and Dom stomp out Danhausen. Mysterio holds Danhausen for a headbutt and a second headbutt from McDonagh.
McDonagh rips off the Knicks jersey, Dom shoves JD, and they do the Dudley Boys GET THE TABLES spot. Danhausen rolls out of the ring and walks up the ramp. JD and Dom pull out a table, but one of the Minihausens appears! Three more appear, and for a minute they get the better of McDonagh and Mysterio.
Eventually, they get the better of the Minihausen gang, but it buys Danhausen himself a chance to put his cat in a cage into his cloning machine. McDonagh and Mysterio set up the Slim Jim table in the ring and look to put one of the Minis through it, but we hear the sound of the machine losing its mind.
The door is kicked down, and Karl-Anthony Towns walks out! Danhausen and KAT both enter the ring. McDonagh runs into a chokeslam from KAT. KAT chokeslams Mysterio through the table. Danhausen sizes up McDonagh, he hits the Triple D for the win.
Winner: Danhausen
Bayley vs. Lyra Valkyria
Backstage, Cathy Kelley is joined by a disheveled Lyra Valkyria, who says “You know what’s funny?” She says the last time she was in this building, she was competing for the Women’s tag team champions. Now, she doesn’t know if she can be the person that she used to be. Lyra says that she will get Bayley out of her head once and for all.
With that said, we get ready for this women’s singles showdown between former friends and tag-team partners turned rivals. Lyra charges Bayley at the bell, and we get a struggle between both ladies. Bayley charges Lyra to the corner and slaps her, causing Valkyria to tackle her to the mat.
Bayley counters, Lyra gets to her feet, and Bayley tackles her to the mat and lands wild punches. The fight ends up on the floor, where Bayley sets up Lyra on the apron and hits a straight right hand and a suplex to the floor. The ref backs off Bayley so he can check on Lyra, who may have nee busted open.
She is bleeding pretty good. Bayley shoves the ref, and Lyra attacks Bayley like a wild woman. Bayley ends up back in the ring with Lyra on the apron, and Lyra shoves her away and then rams Bayley’s face off the top rope. Lyra proceeds to slam Bayley’s head off the apron for a bit.
The ref tries to hand her the towel, but Bayley whips Lyra into the corner so hard that she hits the apron and hits the floor. The ref again tries to back off Bayley, but she eventually takes out Lyra with a Tope Suicida. Back in the ring, and Bayley gets a two on the pin. Lyra changes levels with a hip toss, a Snapmare, and a knee drop to the mouth of Bayley.
Lyra catches a charging Bayley with a boot and then stands on her head in the corner. Bayley is back on the attack with right hands and a back body drop. Bayley counters Lyra in the corner with a Sunset Flip for a two. Bayley cinches in the Boston Crab, but Lyra rolls to her back and grabs Bayley by the hair and kicks her across the ring.
Bayley to the top, but Lyra cuts her off. Lyra with a neck breaker to Bayley over the top turnbuckle. Cole says that Lyra is talking to “himself”, but she heads to the top rope and hits a leg drop to the prone head of Bayley for a two. Lyra stalks Bayley before picking her up.
This leads to more hands bring traded, Bayley cuts off a spin kick from Lyra and plants her with a back suplex. Sunset Bomb by Bayley, she looks for the Rose Plant, but Lyra avoids it. She can’t avoid the Cross-Face, however, as she wrenches back on Lyra’s face. Bayley kicks off the ropes to keep the hold, but Lyra escapes and she drops Bayley on the top rope throat first.
Bayley shoves the ref away as Lyra stalks her. Bayley keeps telling Lyra to come on. Belly-to-Bayley, but Lyra counters it with a Bulldog Choke! Bayley doesn’t tap, but she does pass out. After the match, Lyra kicks Bayley out of the ring. She is going to walk away, but she changes her mind.
She picks up Bayley into the ring post and applies the Bulldog Choke on the floor. Lyra screams “Why not me?! Why?!?” She isn’t done. as she separates the ring steps and grabs Bayley. Lyra picks up Bayley and hits her with the Night Wing on top of the steps.
Winner: Lyra Valkyria
Backstage With CM Punk & Cody Rhodes
Backstage, Cathy Kelley talks to Cody Rhodes and CM Punk. Rhodes says he has been waiting for this Dream Match with CM Punk and he will win number four, but tonight they are best friends. Punk says that he considers Cody his best friend, he will watch his back tonight, but at SummerSlam, Cody will be on his back. They bicker over who will go out first, and Punk says the Champions always goes out last.
CM Punk & Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther & Sami Zayn
It’s main event time!
The ring entrances for this main event tag-team tilt begins. CM Punk goes for Sami Zayn as he makes his entrance, while Cody Rhodes and Gunther square off. Charles Robinson rings the bell anyway to get things officially off-and-running in this one.
Order is restored, and Punk tags in Rhodes, who hits a top rope double axe to Zayn. Rhodes lays into Sami for a bit, and he reluctantly tags in Punk. Zayn ends up charging Punk to his corner, where Sami and Gunther beat up on Punk. Gunther chops Punk right out of the ring, where Gunther chops the skin off of his chest and drops Punk into the Timekeeper’s area.
Gunther is raging, but Rhodes is smart enough to roll Punk back into the ring, so they don’t lose by count out. Now that’s a buddy. Zayn mounts Punk and screams that you stole this from me. Zayn beats Punk to the corner and takes off his shirt. This did not get the Jeff Hardy reaction.
Zayn sits Punk on the top rope, but Punk kicks him away and hits a missile dropkick. Both men tag out, and Rhodes greets Gunther with punches and the scoop spinning slam. Disaster Kick to Gunther, here is Sami, who eats the Dusty jabs and the Bionic Elbow. Rhodes hits the cutter on Zayn, and he throws his weight belt into the crowd.
Now we see Rhodes with a tope suicida to Zayn on the floor. Gunther is waiting for Rhodes when he comes back in, but Cody scores with a Cody CUTTER from the top rope. Cody looking for Cross-Rhodes, but Gunther tags in Sami. Zayn avoids the Cross Rhodes and counters with the Blue Thunder Bomb for a close two-count.
After that, Zayn sizes up Rhodes for a Helluva Kick, but Cody moves, and Zayn gets his leg stuck on the top turnbuckle. Rhodes tags in Punk, who comes off the top with a lariat to Zayn. Swinging neck breaker, running knee strike and the Bulldog in succession from Punk.
Punk to the top again, he takes his time listening to the fans and he hits the Macho Man Elbow for a two. Punk applies the Anaconda Vice to Zayn. Gunther tries to save the match, but Cody manages to get the mat and applies the Figure-Four. Gunther rolls over and gouges the eyes of Punk, freeing Zayn, the legal man.
Zayn hits a corner Exploder to Punk. Zayn again looking Helluva Kick to Punk, but Rhodes is in from behind and he hits the Cross Rhodes. Gunther smashes Rhodes with a Lariat, but Punk counters Gunther with the GTS. Things are picking up in The Garden, and the crowd is loving every minute of it.
All four men are down as the crowd is finally alive with THIS IS AWESOME chants. Punk and Zayn crawl to the corners, Sami tags in Gunther, but Rhodes isn’t there for Punk! Sleeper from Gunther, Punk runs into Rhodes on the apron, and Gunther reapplies the Sleeper.
Punk has Gunther up for the GTS, but Gunther elbows his way free. Rhodes does get the tag, and hits Gunther with the Cross Rhodes. The cover, but Zayn shoves Punk into both Robinson and the pile. Zayn talks smack to Punk and lays in some hands. He goes over to Rhodes and does the same thing.
Punk picks up Zayn and hits the GTS! Rhodes and Punk bounce Gunther around for a bit. Punk holds Gunther for a Disaster Kick, but he ends up kicking Punk instead. Gunther lays out Cody and heads to the floor and grabs Punk’s title. Gunther clocks Rhodes in the head with the title and throws it out of the ring.
Gunther with a Powerbomb to Rhodes and here comes another ref to make the count. Nick Aldis pulls the ref out of the ring, and he clocks Gunther in the face. Punk with the GTS to Gunther, Punk pulls Rhodes into the pin and they get the win. There will be no additions to the SummerSlam main event.
Winners: CM Punk & Cody Rhodes
Roman Reigns & Jalen Brunson Close The Show
It’s main event (segment) time!
After a quick check-in again with Stephanie McMahon and Joe Tessitore at the podium, we head to a commercial break. The show returns to some SummerSlam promotion and then another look at various celebrities in MSG for tonight’s show.
A New York sports video package airs ending with kudos for Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks. We then see a blimp saying “WWE congratulates the New York Knicks” lowering into the ring. From there, 2026 NBA Champion Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks is introduced.
He’s shown in the locker room and gets up to head toward the ring. Brunson has a brace on his left wrist after surgery following the NBA Finals. Brunson walks by several pictures of WWE highlights at Madison Square Garden. Highlights from Brunson’s run with the New York Knicks that led to the NBA Finals are also shown.
Brunson walks amidst the Madison Square Garden crew and fans and embraces Karl-Anthony Towns. World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns greets him. The World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and 2026 NBA Champion Jalen Brunson make their entrance together.
After an extended entrance, a massive “Jalen Brunson” chant picks up. The entire crowd in Madison Square Garden is on its feet. Reigns says this is something you don’t see every day. Some might be wondering what they’re doing out here right now. This is rare air he says.
He continues and says this is where greatness acknowledges greatness. It’s no secret. This city is the home of WWE. Reigns won’t lie. Every time he comes here, they make The Tribal Chief feel at home. An “OTC” chant picks up. Reigns says 53 years was way too long. Basketball is a team sport.
It took everyone on the roster, but there’s only one Tribal Chief and one Captain: The Finals MVP, NBA Champion, and the King of New York! An “MVP” chant fires up. Reigns says in the WWE, every champion… he’s interrupted by a Jalen Brunson chant. Reigns says every champion in WWE needs a title, so the Tribal Chief made some moves.
A WWE Championship with New York Knicks-themed colors is handed to Reigns, who then gives it to Brunson. A “You deserve it” chant picks up. Reigns says not only does Brunson deserve it, but he’s also earned it. Now, it’s complete and time. Reigns says, “Madison Square Garden… New York City… acknowledge us!”
The crowd roars. Reigns and Brunson hold up their titles. Before anything else can happen, however, we hear the familiar sounds of Seth Rollins’ entrance theme. Out comes “The Visionary” and the SummerSlam title challenger of Roman Reigns.
Tyrese Halliburton comes out with a chair. Seth comes from the crowd and attacks Roman from behind with a forearm and then he kicks Roman. Tyrese gives Seth the chair and he hits a thrust kick. Seth sets for Black Out on the chair.
However, Jalen stands in the way. Seth takes off his jacket and he has some words for Jalen. Jalen tells Seth this is “his house mother f***er.” Roman with a Superman punch and a big spear from another loud roar from the MSG crowd. Reigns and Brunson pose with the title and Larry O’Brien trophy as fireworks go off to end the show.
