WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event Review – 7.18.26

For the 45th time, WWE presents Saturday Night’s Main Event. This time we’re on Peacock in the United States and YouTube elsewhere. We even have a countdown show match tonight, so let’s cover that too. But first…

Lucha Libre AAA / Raw / NXT / Evolve / Main Event / Impact / SmackDown

Hey, while you’re here, check out the NXT 2.0 Rewind. I’m going back through the NXT 2.0 run and in just weeks, we’ve already covered the debuts of Bron Breakker, Trick Williams, and Lash Legend.

Then, Now, Forever, Together.

WWE U.S. Champion Trick Williams vs Laredo Kid

For those of you new to Laredo Kid, he’s a member of the AAA roster and is competing later tonight on Lucha Libra AAA. This is non-title. We check in with Michael Cole and Wade Barrett at the commentary table and have Lilian Garcia on the ring mic tonight. No Lil’ Yachty with Trick tonight, but quite a pop for the man with the fur-lined championship. Trick grabs Kid’s crown and tosses it into the crowd as commentary discusses the sudden reappearance of Baron Corbin, a man familiar with wearing a crown.

Laredo leaps into Trick with a missile dropkick and gives him a big slap in the corner. Our center ring sponsor tonight is KFC Popcorn Chicken for the record. Trick hits a spin kick on Kid and slaps him around as the fans chant for him to whoop that trick. Trick lifts Kid up for a vertical suplex, Laredo slides down and Trick lifts him all the way back up to land it. Laredo nails a running forearm and a superkick, stomping over Trick to go up top and hit a spinning moonsault for a two count. Laredo hoots a half crab and Trick kicks out of it. Trick faceplants Kid and boots him in the corner, stomping in beat to the fans chanting “whoop that trick.” Trick tries for a Book-End, Laredo rolls into a two count and knocks Trick to the outside. Laredo dives off the top of the ring post onto Williams. Back in, Laredo tries for a corkscrew moonsault and misses, Trick nails the Trick Shot and gets the pin.

Trick Williams pins Laredo Kid. No shock at the result, but the match was entertaining and was a good way to get the crowd going. Trick is the real deal.

And onto the main show!

THIS is New York City, the home of the 2026 NBA Champion New York Knicks and THIS is Madison Square Gardenhousen, the World’s Most Famous Arena. We are presented tonight by ARBY’S. WE HAVE THE MEATS.

Arrivals! Jalen Brunson! Literally every person on the card! Joe Tessitore and WWE Hall of Famer Stephanie McMahon welcome us into the arena, full of people and flashing blue and orange lighting and graphics. Joe and Steph are in the role of “Okerlund” tonight according to the graphic. Next, we head to ringside where we are greeted by Michael Cole and Wade Barrett. Lilian Garcia is our ring announcer tonight.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Paige & Brie Bella vs Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid with Jacy Jayne)

Pretty good ovations for all four, all four wrestling in their first SNME match tonight. Fatal Influence attacks Paige early. Paige and Brie hit a double bulldog from the corner on Henley for a two count. Reid works over Paige with a headlock. Brie gets the hot tag and tries for a Yes Lock, Henley reaching the bottom rope quickly to break it. She drops Brie face-first into the mat. Paige tags in again and clubs down Jacy, distracting on the apron, giving Fallon the chance to drop her on her neck. Fallon is busted open and gets tossed to the outside as Paige catches Reid with a kick. Jacy hops on the apron to distract Jessika Carr again, Fallon delivers a clothesline and Brie is down and not there to tag. Paige rolls up Lainey, Jacy pushes them over right in front of Carr and Carr counts the three. We have new tag team champions. Becky is right about Carr, wherever Becky might be nowadays.

Lainey Reid pins Paige, Fatal Influence defeats Bella & Paige to become new WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. This wasn’t great but the last few minutes were interesting. I don’t think there was much fire beyond Bella and Page winning the belts, but the tag division hasn’t been booked well in a while. Maybe this will start something new.

My favorite unbiased journalist Cathy Kelley is with Sami Zayn backstage. Sami doesn’t want to call himself a victim BUT he had to smash his head against the glass ceiling for ten years and now he’s stuck in a tag team match trying to get to SummerSlam. His partner, Gunther, appears and tells Sami to stay out of his way. “Do not ruin SummerSlam for me.”

Celebrities! They love WWE! Terrence Crawford, professional boxer! N3ON, YouTuber! O’Shea Jackson, actor, rapper and songwriter! U.S. Champion Trick Williams! Celebrities, they love wrestling!

A Very Nice / Very Evil Production gives us a look at “The Cursefather,” the tale of Danhausen cursing and uncursing the Knicks, leading to their NBA Championship and his Knicks gift jersey being stolen by JD.

Jackie Redmond talks to Judgment Day who say that Danhausen is the curse.

No Disqualification Match: Danhausen vs JD McDonagh (with AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio and WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan)

There is a Blimphausen flying over the ring and Danhausen’s Cloning Machine is on the stage. I have a sneaky feeling that the stuffed cat from last night’s SmackDown is going to end up in there. Dom has the Knicks jersey and is wiping his shoes with it. Danhausen is in Knicks colors and the caged stuff cat is indeed riding on top of his Danhausenmobile as the blimp continues to soar around the ring. A good reception for Danhausen. Liv disappears before the match begins.

Danhausen tries to shoot a curse at JD, JD ducks out. Cole reminds us that JD is already cursed. Dom taunts Danhausen with the Knicks jersey, JD attacks from behind. JD chops away at Danhausen and stomps him to the outside, tossing him into the barricade. The fans chant for Danhausen as JD rams him into the announce table. Dom joins in, the fans very unhappy at the Judgment Day boys. JD suplexes Danhausen back in the ring and drops an elbow for a two count. Dom continues to wipe his feet with the jersey to the annoyance of the crowd. JD does pushups as it is all JD so far.

Danhausen punches JD in the balls and hits nine of the ten corner punches before JD ducks out and hits a brainbuster for a two count. Cole thinks Danhausen will need a Knicks-style comeback in this one. Dom hands the Knicks jersey to JD who wipes his ass with it and places it over Danhausen. JD tries for a moonsault, Danhausen rolls out of the way and the comeback is on as he puts on the jersey. JD slaps Danhausen, Danhausen punches back and hits an atomic drop and a big clothesline. Dom comes in and Danhausen suplexes him too. JD rolls up Danhausen, Danhausen kicks out. Dom attacks from behind again and it’s no DQ so it doesn’t matter. The JD boys stomp away at Danhausen, JD headbutting Danhausen with, as Cole says, “that bison-sized head of JD McDonagh.” JD rips the jersey off of Danhausen to massive boos.

JD and Dom search under the ring and pull out a table to reveal Three Minihausens, all three of which leap onto them. They fight two of them off and slam the third into the barricade as we see Danhausen on the stage with the stuffed cat, putting it into the cloning machine. Dom sets up the Slim Jim Table and tosses a Minihausen in the ring, the Judgment Day setting up the table. As they get ready to drive the Minihausen through the table, the cloning machine activates and out comes Kathausen, New York Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns. KAT chokeslams JD into the ring and then chokeslams Dom through the Slim Jim Table. KAT curses JD and Danhausen lands the Triple D, getting the pin.

Danhausen pins JD McDonagh. The match? Not particularly great and about four minutes longer than it needed to be. The end of match antics? Very good and I imagine more enjoyable to those who know about the Knicks. Very cool for Danhausen, having an arena chant for him while he has a blimp and one of the biggest recent basketball stars backing him up at Madison Square Garden.

Cathy catches up with a rough looking Lyra Valkyria. Lyra says that last time they were here, she and Bayley were going for the tag titles.

Here’s a look at the FanaticsFest stuff. I know it’s also annoying, but getting into the Fanatics group has been incredibly smart for WWE.

Celebrities! Michael Rubin, CEO of Fanatic is ringside. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man who took over my Spotify feed for a solid year, is here. Jeff Ross, Roastmaster, is here. A Philadelphia Eagle is here, but Peacock won’t let you rewind during a live broadcast so I miss who it might be. Celebrities! So into WWE!

Bayley vs Lyra Valkyria

They’ve changed Lyra’s music and the fans want to woo with it and can’t. Sad. Damn you, Def Rebel. I almost think they should’ve given a few more weeks to build this up. Bayley smacks Lyra with a punch and Lyra might have a broken nose. Bayley suplexes Lyra onto the ringside mat and Lyra is busted open, bleeding all over the place. They brawl around and into the ring. Bayley tosses Lyra back to the floor and the referee holds her back as the medical crew check on Lyra and ease up the bleeding a bit.

Lyra stands on Bayley’s head in the corner and Bayley starts unloading with punches again. Bayley backdrops Lyra and the nose starts dripping again. Bayley tries to roll Lyra up and gets her into a Boston crab instead. The crowd isn’t feeling this. Lyra rolls onto her back and kicks out. Lyra sets Bayley up and drops a leg from the top rope across the back of her head for a two count. Bayley catches Lyra with a sunset flip bomb and tries for the Rose Plant. Bayley hooks a Crossface and they roll out, Lyra elbowing Bayley into the throat. Bayley tries for a Bayley to Belly, Lyra swings it into her own submission. Bayley passes out and that’s a win for the Bird Lady.

Lyra Valkyria defeats Bayley by submission. This was rough. Of course, the nose injury at the beginning threw it all off and losing a lot of blood will make things hard on you. They were never really able to get things back on track.

Post-match, Lyra shoves Bayley into the ring post and hooks the submission on again. The ref breaks it and Lyra tears apart the ring steps, grabbing Bayley and hitting a Night Wing on top of the steps. Bah gawd, she’s broken in half. Lyra leaves to booing. I do think Lyra’s going to get all of this over and the accidental busted nose will probably help with that.

Zuffa boxers! They love WWE! Johnny Fisher! Efe Ajagba!

We meet (meat?) the winners of the Arby’s Seat Upgrade, The Roman Family. Not Roman’s family. Wait, how does one get a “Hot Girls Eat Arby’s” jacket? Asking for myself. The Arby’s hate is overrated.

Cathy is with Cody and Punk, who argue about who goes out first and if they can co-exist. CAN THEY CO-EXIST.

Undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk & Cody Rhodes vs Gunther & Sami Zayn

If Gunther and Sami win, they are added to the Undisputed WWE Championship match at SummerSlam. Cody sits Punk-style in the ring during Punk’s entrance. Punk grabs Sami mid-entrance and we’re all brawling, continuing what was happening on SmackDown last night .The fans chant for Punk as we note both Cody and Punk are wearing Knicks-inspired gear tonight. The 2K team are salivating at all of the orange and blue Personas of wrestlers they can charge people for in 2K27. Gunther tags in and chops away at Punk, chopping him right outside of the ring. Sami tags in and Gunther heads out to backdrop Punk spine-first onto the barricade and almost onto Lilian. See, Alicia moves when she sees stuff coming HER way. Lilian is just going to let them fall on her.

Back in, Sami punches the downed Punk and yells that Punk stole his title. Now Punk has a cut on his nose because the men can bleed too. Punk shoves Sami and hits a crossbody as Cole reminds us to stay tuned for Roman and Jalen. Cody and Gunther tag in and they trade blows, Cody getting that Cody Cutter and throwing his weight belt into the crowd. Cody dives onto Sami on the outside and then back into Gunther’s arms on the inside. Cody hits a second Cody Cutter on Big Gunther and Gunther kicks out again. Sami tags in and rolls up Cody, following it with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a two count. Sami slows it down to taunt the crowd and tries for a Helluva Kick, Cody rolling out of the way and getting the hot tag to Punk. Punk flies onto Sami with a clothesline and the corner knee and bulldog. Punk hits his top-rope elbow for a two and then hooks the Anaconda Vice. Gunther tries to break it, Cody intercepts and hooks a figure-four on Gunther. Gunther pokes Punk in the eye and that breaks Sami out, who then elbows Cody to break the figure-four.

Zayn gets his Helluva Kick, Cody gets Cross Rhodes, Gunther falls into GTS and we’re all down on the mat except for Charles Robinson as the fans chant “this is awesome.” Gunther is up and tries for a sleeper on Punk and knocks Punk into Cody, Punk falling back into the sleeper. Punk powers back to his knees and lifts Gunther to his shoulders, Gunther elbows back into a sleeper but Punk sneaks a tag. Cody hits Cross Rhodes and Sami comes in for the save, instead tossing Punk on top of Robinson. Punk connects with a GTS and Sami falls out of the ring. Punk and Cody beat Gunther back and forth with chops and punches. Punk holds Gunther for Cody and wouldn’t you know it, Gunther ducks and Cody hits Punk. Gunther heads out to get the Undisputed WWE Title and nails Cody, then powerbombing Cody and calling for a ref. Another ref runs down for the count and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis pulls the ref out of the ring, grabbing the title and nailing Gunther in the face. Gunther stumbles into a GTS and puts Cody on top of Gunther as Aldis tosses Charles back in, Charles counting the three.

Cody Rhodes pins Gunther, Punk & Rhodes defeat Gunther & Zayn. This was the match of the show by a huge margin but a good match on its own. It never had a slow moment and advanced Cody/Punk, Aldis/Gunther and Zayn/conspiracies. Watch this one.

Joe Tess and Steph are back in the Okerlund position and cover tonight’s festivities as well as the SummerSlam card.

CELEBRITIES! James Harrison! Cade Cunningham! Dion Dawkins! Oba Femi! Celebrities REALLY love Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Eli Manning narrates a video package about sports and Madison Square Garden and New York and so on and so forth.

The WWE Blimp, now with a congratulatory message for the Knicks, covers right above the ring as the Knicks PA announcer introduces NBA Champion and NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, who starts at his locker and walks through all the Knicks signage and sends us to a NBA-approved Brunson highlight package. Then he passes by the WWE wing of photos in the back, nodding at Danhausen’s picture. He gives KAT a hand backstage and walks through a crowd before finally getting to the entrance, greeting WWE World Champion Roman Reigns and entering with him to Roman’s theme.

When they finally make it to the ring six hours later, the fans chant “OTC” and “MVP.” After the fans chant for Jalen, OTC1 says you don’t see this every day. Roman calls this rare air and where greatness acknowledges greatness. Roman says this city is the home of WWE and while NBA is a team sport, there’s only one captain and that is the King of New York, Jalen Brunson. The fans chant “MVP” again and Jalen can’t help but smile. Roman says every champ in WWE needs a title so he made some moves, grabbing a blue version of his title with Jalen sideplates to present to Jalen as the fans chant “you deserve it.” Roman asks MSG to acknowledge them and we think we are closing with Roman and Jalen holding their gold in the air..

BURN IT DOWN. Here’s Tyrese Haliburton, coming out laughing in a Seth Rollins shirt and with a chair. Seth Rollins appears from behind and starts pounding away on Roman, asking for the chair. Seth yells at Jalen to get out and superkicks Roman. Seth throws down the chair and puts Roman’s head on it, yelling that this is the end. Seth goes for the stomp, Jalen steps right in front of him and shakes his head no. The fans chant “MVP” again as Seth yells at Jalen. Roman leaps in with a Superman Punch and a spear and now the WWE and NBA champions hold their gold in the air. The Larry O’Brien Trophy is put in the ring and Roman puts the title around Jalen’s waist and we end with Roman raising the trophy and Jalen raising the WWE World Championship (and the Arby’s logo in the corner).

This didn’t do a lot for me because I’m not a basketball person, but I recognize how big it is for the current champs coming off such a big win and being so involved with several parts of the show. It was cool.

Overall, a mixed bag. The main event was good and the Roman/Jalen moment was cool. Danhausen-JD wasn’t a technical masterpiece by any means, but the end was a lot of fun and really fun to see happen for Danhausen. Lyra-Bayley was a miss, probably partially due to injury, and the women’s tag wasn’t very good but will hopefully lead to some needed changes in the division.