Hawks' Trae Young Appears on WWE SmackDown at MSG, Trolls Knicks Fans

AP Photo/John Bazemore

Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young made a surprise appearance at WWE Super SmackDown in New York's Madison Square Garden on Friday.

Sami Zayn, who was sporting a New York Knicks jersey, announced that Young would be in his corner during a 10-man tag team match.

That didn't go over well with the MSG faithful, who assuredly remembered Young and the Hawks beating the Knicks in five games during the first round of the 2021 Eastern Conference playoffs.

Young dominated that series, averaging 29.2 points per game and dropping the game-winner in Game 1 to silence the MSG crowd. He shushed the crowd afterward, perhaps cementing himself as the next great MSG villain:

On Friday, Young played the heel as he appeared ringside to help his new friend, but he wasn't there long after pulling Rey Mysterio's neck on the middle rope to help Zayn's team.

The referee caught Young and escorted him from ringside.

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Eventually, the five-man team of Big E, Rey and Dominik Mysterio, Rick Boogs and Shinsuke Nakamura beat Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Apollo Crews and Otis Dozovic. Big E earned the pin after hitting the Big Ending on Zayn.

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