Just over one month after claiming the NBA championship in San Antonio, the New York Knicks and their fans finally got an opportunity to celebrate ending a 53-year title drought in grand fashion back inside Madison Square Garden. The Knicks’ two biggest stars, NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, not only attended but participated in the latest edition of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, which emanated from MSG for the first time since 2007.
Brunson main evented the show with Roman Reigns, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and one of his favorite wrestlers. (Brunson does a Reigns-inspired handshake with a Knicks trainer before every game.) After an extended introduction crowning Brunson the “King of New York,” the starting point guard was acknowledged by Reigns and gifted a unique version of the championship belt with a blue-and-orange stripe.
Knicks fans went wild cheering and chanting for Brunson, not knowing what was going to come next.
When it appeared the segment had ended, and the show was about to go off the air, the entrance music of Reigns’ forthcoming title challenger at SummerSlam, Seth Rollins, rocked the arena. Except it was not Rollins who appeared underneath the TitanTron but Indiana Pacers star and Knicks rival Tyrese Haliburton, who rekindled his feud with Brunson around a WWE ring for the second time.
Haliburton’s presence served as a distraction for Rollins to attack Reigns, but Brunson ultimately stood in the way of his friend, giving Reigns an opening to hit a Superman punch and spear on Rollins with the champions standing tall.
Earlier in the night, Knicks good-luck charm and WWE superstar Danhausen, who famously “uncursed” New York immediately before the team won 15 of its last 16 games of the season, leading to their NBA title, received in-ring assistance from Karl-Anthony Towns.
With Danhausen outnumbered against JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio, who stole and ruined a Knicks jersey gifted to Danhausen during the NBA Finals run, Towns appeared to save the team’s unofficial postseason mascot. But not only that, Towns got physically involved, delivering impressive chokeslams to both McDonagh and Mysterio, creating an opportunity for Danhausen to win the no-disqualifiation match before celebrating and holding up five fingers, denoting “Knicks in 5” at the end of the segment.
While Brunson has yet to get physically involved in either of his WWE appearances, he was dealing with a surgically repaired hand/wrist injury on both occasions. Stepping over the top rope with ease and delivering chokeslams that reminded of The Undertaker, Towns may have a future around the squared circle should he want it after his NBA career comes to an end.