WWE Excited By Saturday Night's Main Event NBA Crossover (WWE News)
Despite it splitting fan opinion, WWE was incredibly "excited" after Saturday Night's Main Event.
With the latest Saturday Night's Main Event now in the books, WWE is said to be incredibly "excited" with how things played out on SNME, particularly where it pertains to the involvement of the New York Knicks.
Going into SNME, the main attraction for most fans was the big tag match pitting CM Punk and Cody Rhodes against Gunther and Sami Zayn, with the stipulation that Gunther and Sami would be added to the Punk vs. Rhodes WWE Championship match at SummerSlam should they pick up the win. Of course, that didn't happen, with Nick Aldis playing in hand in costing the Ring General, setting up a match between those two at the Biggest Party of the Summer.
Elsewhere, Fatal Influence's Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid defeated Paige and Brie Bella to become the new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, Lyra Valkyria choked out her former partner Bayley for the win, and Danhausen had an assist from the NY Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns to score a victory over JD McDonagh. However, while many presumed Punk & Rhodes vs. Gunther & Zayn would be the Saturday Night's Main Event, err, main event, that spot went to Towns' Knicks teammate Jalen Brunson, who shared a segment with Roman Reigns to close out the show.
To say that closing segment went long is quite the understatement, with WWE milking the moment for all that they could, especially with Brunson being in the Knicks' home arena of Madison Square Garden. Brunson and Reigns would have the crowd acknowledge them, the King of New York would be presented with a custom World Heavyweight Championship, Seth Rollins and the Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton would make an appearance, and the segment would end with the OTC holding high the Larry O'Brien Trophy - all with plentiful drawn-out sequences and a whole host of pyro going off at various times.
While that final segment clearly went down well with the New York Knicks fans in attendance, and may have resonated strongly with some watching at home, this was a total slog for other fans. If you're not a fan of the Knicks or even a fan of basketball, this was all just a massively overindulgent showing from WWE; a dull, performative self-pleasure session that dragged and dragged... and dragged.
That said, WWE was extremely happy with how that closing segment played out. Per the Wrestling Observer's Bryan Alvarez, such celebrity interaction and the chance to grab a spotlight on ESPN is seen by WWE as "the highlight of their world".
"I can't even explain how excited they were in WWE about the last 10 minutes of the show. It's actually kind of embarrassing. They were so excited by that final segment. They're all about getting on ESPN, the celebrities are here, AEW could never get celebrities like this. That… pic.twitter.com/YCwU33rISP— Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) July 19, 2026