Column
By Zack Heydorn · July 19, 2026
Sometimes the pro wrestlers have to show up to the pro wrestling shows and deliver.
WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event inside of Madison Square Garden this weekend wasn’t a show that was loaded with intriguing material. Yes, Jalen Brunson appeared with Roman Reigns and the main event of SummerSlam team up together, but by design, this was a B-level show.
Which means? It was on the wrestlers to make the show a memorable one and they did.
The matches across the board were entertaining. None of them were Will Ospreay classics or anything like that, but they did the job in hooking the audience in and making them invest. Crowd reactions all night were loud and in line with how WWE was presenting it’s storylines.
Here are my Brass Ring Ratings for the event and here’s how they work … I call it like I see it and grade accordingly. Period.
On the higher end of low expectations. Bella and Paige were slow compared to their opponents, but that reality helped the story of the match, which was Bella and Paige as veterans against the young upstarts. Fallon Henley was really good. She bumped and sold like a heel needs to and had my attention for nearly the entire time. She’s not set to be a featured star anytime soon, but this was a bit of a coming out party for her. Fatal Influence is being positioned as a top heel faction in the women’s division on SmackDown. Putting the tag titles on them makes all the sense in the world.
Exactly what everyone thought it would be and exactly what it should have been. Shenanigans was the name of the game. Danhausen tried to curse his opponent early in the match, but couldn’t get it done due to Judgment Day interference. Finally, Karl-Anthony Towns — New York Knick champion — comes out to even the odds, the curse hits, and Danhausen wins. There was nothing to this from an in-ring perspective, but it was the exact type of madness filled match that made sense. As expected, JD McDonagh was a perfect heel for this spot and shined up all the babyface work.
This wasn’t the match of the night, but it was my favorite. Both of these women beat the tar out of the other. It was clear Bayley and Valkyria designed this to be a stiff fight and it came across as exactly that. Valkyria’s busted nose helped the ambiance of violence. Valkyria is clicking much better as a heel. She can lean into being extra vicious and seems more comfortable in this spot. The post-match attack tells me that another match between them is in the cards sooner than later.
All action and the match of the night. The crowd was into this from the second the bell rang. Punk and Zayn really got into a stiff exchange of punches as the action started and that set the tone for everything that was to come after. Nick Aldis screwed Gunther out of the win, so that’s clearly a SummerSlam match. The crowd seemed to enjoy that finish, but from a psychology angle it was off. Why are the babyfaces cheating to win? Backwards booking. Everyone caught Punk flinging his title belt into Cody’s face as they celebrated right? Accident? This was a spot built into the mix to add tension to the SummerSlam title match between them and it worked in that regard. Especially after the backstage altercation that happened after the match.
Bravo, Roman Reigns. Reigns carried this entire segment. Brunson didn’t say anything, but he didn’t really need to. The audience loved the fact that he was out there. Seth Rollins interfering with Tyrese Haliburton at his side was the Sportscenter moment that this entire thing was setup to be.
What did you think of this edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event? Let us know in the comments!
Subscribe to the Brass Ring Media Newsletter HERE.
Follow Zack Heydorn on Bluesky @zackheydorn.bsky.social.