Saturday Night’s Main Event XLV took place on July 18, 2026, in New York City at Madison Square Garden.
WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event XLV Recap: Danhausen Gets Weird, New Champions Are Crowned and SummerSlam Takes Shape
WWE returned to Madison Square Garden on July 18 for Saturday Night’s Main Event XLV, and this was one of those shows that perfectly demonstrated what the modern version of SNME should be. WWE gave us a title change, some SummerSlam storyline development, a surprisingly violent grudge match, one of the strangest celebrity appearances you’ll ever see and a main event featuring four of the biggest names in the company.
Oh, and Danhausen cloned Karl-Anthony Towns. We’ll get to that.
A Note About PPV Dates | All photos courtesy WWE.com
Trick Williams Defeated Laredo Kid
This was on the pre-show… I didn’t watch it. I’m including it here merely for historical accuracy of this recap.
Fatal Influence Defeated Paige and Brie Bella For The WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
The first match of the main show produced its first major surprise. I don’t think there was anyone that saw this coming…
Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley of Fatal Influence pulled off the upset and captured the championships thanks to some assistance from Jacy Jayne.
The Paige and Brie championship run always felt like it had an expiration date attached to it. The nostalgia was fun (I guess), but WWE’s women’s tag division desperately needs younger teams that can actually build some momentum. Fatal Influence now has that opportunity. Whether WWE actually gives them enough television time to make the championships matter is another question entirely.
Danhausen Defeated JD McDonagh
I genuinely don’t know how to properly explain this match.
Danhausen faced JD McDonagh in a No Disqualification match because Judgment Day had stolen his special New York Knicks jersey.
That sentence alone should tell you what kind of wrestling match we were dealing with.
Dominik Mysterio naturally got involved. The Minihausens showed up. There was a table. There was a cloning machine.
Danhausen somehow produced Karl-Anthony Towns. Yes. That Karl-Anthony Towns.
The seven-foot Knicks star entered the ring, chokeslammed McDonagh and sent Dominik Mysterio through a table before Danhausen finished JD.
Was this great professional wrestling? Absolutely not.
Was I entertained? Absolutely.
This was completely ridiculous and was specifically designed for the New York crowd. It was a great way to finish the Danhausen / Knicks championship story.
Lyra Valkyria Defeated Bayley
Things became significantly more serious when Lyra Valkyria faced former friend Bayley. This was easily the most physical match of the night (which is saying something).
Bayley caught Lyra early and apparently busted her nose, leaving Valkyria bleeding heavily throughout much of the match. Instead of slowing things down, however, the injury seemed to make the entire thing feel more personal.
These two weren’t wrestling like former friends trying to prove who was better. They looked like they wanted to hurt each other.
Lyra eventually got a bulldog choke (her new finisher?) and forced the referee to stop the match.
After the match, she attacked Bayley again, choked her out and planted her onto the steel steps.
WWE is turning Lyra Valkyria into something completely different from the wrestler we’ve watched over the last couple of years.
CM Punk and Cody Rhodes Defeated Gunther and Sami Zayn
CM Punk and Cody Rhodes teamed against Gunther and Sami Zayn, with the stipulation that Gunther and Sami would be added to the Undisputed WWE Championship match at SummerSlam if they could win.
That would have turned Punk vs. Cody into a four-way. Thankfully, WWE resisted that temptation.
The match itself was excellent. There were callbacks to previous matches, finishers everywhere and enough accidental contact between Punk and Cody to remind everyone that these two are going to be opponents at SummerSlam.
Then things got weird. I won’t bother you with the details but suffice to say I think we’re headed toward Gunther vs. Nick Aldis. The only thing we REALLY don’t know is what happens next with Sami Zayn after a super short (and really enjoyable) run as Undisputed WWE Champion?
Roman Reigns, Jalen Brunson and a Very New York Ending
Technically, Punk and Cody winning was the main event. But WWE wasn’t finished.
Jalen Brunson made his way to the ring alongside World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns.
If you aren’t a basketball fan, you may not fully appreciate just how perfectly tailored this segment was for Madison Square Garden.
Roman introduced him as the “King of New York” and presented him with a customized World Heavyweight Championship.
Seth Rollins’ music hit, but instead of Rollins initially appearing, Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton came out with a chair.
That’s some outstanding trolling.
The show ended with Roman holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy while Brunson held his custom championship alongside him.
Saturday Night’s Main Event XLV – Final Thoughts
Saturday Night’s Main Event XLV wasn’t overloaded with championship matches or massive storyline conclusions. Instead, WWE used two hours to advance several stories heading toward SummerSlam while giving the Madison Square Garden crowd a show specifically designed for them.
- Fatal Influence winning the Women’s Tag Team Championships was a welcome surprise.
- Lyra Valkyria showed an entirely different side of herself.
- The main event delivered.
- And the Danhausen match was so completely absurd that I couldn’t help but enjoy every second of it.
WWE successfully added another layer of intrigue to Punk vs. Cody without unnecessarily turning the SummerSlam championship match into a Fatal Four-Way… thank God.
Sometimes wrestling should be serious. Sometimes wrestling should feature four of the best wrestlers in the world fighting over a spot in a SummerSlam championship match.
And sometimes wrestling should feature Danhausen using a cloning machine to summon a seven-foot NBA champion. Saturday Night’s Main Event XLV gave us all three.
