WWE Saturday Night's Main Event 44 Results, Winners, Live Grades, Highlights From MSG

WWE returned to Peacock on July 18 with its latest Saturday Night's Main Event, headlined by a blockbuster tag team match and Danhausen's return to New York City for the first time since the team he uncursed, the New York Knicks, captured the NBA title for the first time in 53 years.

What went down, how did Jalen Brunson factor into the show, and how did each match and moment from the latest live event special grade out?

Find out with this recap of the show from the World's Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden.

Lineup

Frank Vitucci/WWE via Getty Images

Announced for Saturday's show were:

• Undisputed WWE champion CM Punk and Cody Rhodes vs. Sami Zayn and Gunther
• No Disqualification Match: Danhausen vs. JD McDonagh
• Women's Tag Team Championship Match: Paige and Brie Bella vs. Fatal Influence
• Bayley vs. Lyra Valkyria
• An appearance from New York Knicks star, and NBA champion, Jalen Brunson

Trick Williams vs. Laredo Kid

Rich Wade/WWE via Getty Images

Last Time in Action: Trick Williams fought Carmelo Hayes to a no-contest (SmackDown, July 10); Laredo Kid lost a Triple Threat Match to Rey Fenix, also featuring Lince Dorado (AAA, June 20)

United States champion Trick Williams got the party started inside the famed Madison Square Garden, battling AAA's Laredo Kid in a rare preshow match as part of the Saturday Night's Main Event Countdown.

A tone-setter for the night, designed to warm the audience up for the live broadcast, the match was a styles clash of sorts as Williams has little history of working lucha. Still, it was a nice opportunity for Kid to showcase himself in front of a hot New York crowd and for Williams to pop the audience right out of the gate.

Kid took to the air late, launching himself off the ring post and wiping Williams out at ringside. It was not enough to earn the win, though, as the United States champion recovered and flattened the luchador for the hard-fought win.

A nice exhibition match. Nothing more, nothing less.

Result

Williams defeated Kid

Grade

C+

Top Takeaways

• If New York is still the barometer for how over someone is in professional wrestling, it is safe to say that Williams has a bright future ahead of him in WWE.

Women's Tag Team Championship Match: Paige and Brie Bella vs. Fatal Influence

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Last Time in Action: Brie Bella and Paige defeated Bayley and Lyra Valkyria (Raw, June 22); Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley lost to Bella and Paige (SmackDown, June 19)

Fatal Influence realized their championship aspirations to kick off Saturday's show as Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley defeated Paige and Brie Bella in an action-packed start to the broadcast.

A surprisingly hard-hitting bout saw the champions forced to fight from underneath amid the challengers' quick tags and focused attack, but they were in a position to retain.

Late, Paige and Bella fired up but the numbers game proved costly as Jacy Jayne interfered, reversing Paige's rollup on Reid, who grabbed a handful of tights for added leverage and the victory.

A strong start to the show, the match was better than expected, thanks in large part to the challengers' work and the energy the babyfaces brought down the stretch. Not bad for two teams that were underutilized on the road to Saturday's show.

Hopefully, the switch in titles will allow for more exposure for the tag division and, potentially, a rematch between the two tandems.

Result

Fatal Influence defeated Bella and Paige to win the titles

Grade

B

Top Takeaways

• The challengers worked snug in this one, with Bella noticeably dropping an expletive after a shot from Henley and Reid straight stomping on Paige's face.
• Reid is infinitely better than anyone with her relative inexperience should be at this point in her young career.
• Henley was bleeding from her mouth after the match, a result of a hard shot from Bella in the closing seconds of the bout.

No Disqualification Match: Danhausen vs. JD McDonagh

Craig Melvin/WWE via Getty Images

Last Time in Action: Danhausen and Matt Cardona defeated Los Garzas (SmackDown, June 26); JD McDonagh lost to Chad Gable (Raw, June 29)

Danhausen and his ties to the NBA champion New York Knicks dominated headlines during Saturday's No Disqualification Match as Karl-Anthony Towns assisted the very nice, very evil Superstar in defeating JD McDonagh and overcoming interference from Dominik Mysterio.

It was not easy. Danhausen found himself on the defensive for most of the match. Even an assist from his Minihausens could not turn the tide in his favor. The arrival of Towns, though, drew an enormous pop from the fans in New York City and led to a finish that saw him chokeslam Mysterio through a table while Danhausen delivered the Triple D (Danhausen Death Drop) to McDonagh for the win.

A spectacle match, it had the fans in MSG red-hot throughout and rewarded that investment in a big way with an appearance from the championship-winning center/forward.

Result

Danhausen defeated JD McDonagh

Grade

C+ for the match, A+ on the fun meter

Top Takeways

• McDonagh is ridiculously good and generally does not get the praise and adulation someone of his talent has earned. He is ridiculously good and a consistent workhorse for the company.
• Towns delivered a better chokeslam than guys who get paid to deliver chokeslams. Dirty Dom took the spot like a champ, too, and the crowd ate it all up. A great sports cameo.

Bayley vs. Lyra Valkyria

Craig Melvin/WWE via Getty Images

Last Time in Action: Bayley and Lyra Valkyria lost to Brie Bella and Paige (Raw, June 22)

Lyra Valkyria overcame a broken, bloodied nose to score one of the biggest, most impressive victories of her career Saturday when she choked Bayley out.

A competitive match that was likely hurt ever so slightly by Valkyria's injury, suffered early on after a hard right hand to the face. It picked up nicely and showcased the celebrated in-ring talents of both women.

Bayley had the match won and was clearly dominant at one point, until an attempted rollup ended with the heel shifting her body and hanging The Role Model up throat-first on the top rope. The new choke hold resulted in a referee stoppage, while a post-match beatdown from Valkyria ended with a Nightwing on the steel ring steps.

This was a great introduction to the wilder, more unhinged version of Valkyria that will define her heel role. If anything, the blood pouring from her nose and her relentless commitment to the fight helped the overall presentation of the character.

Bayley, as always, is great. She elevated this match in what was, hopefully, only the end of chapter one in this story.

Result

Valkyria defeated Bayley via referee stoppage

Grade

B

Top Takeaways

• For the most part, if you are a heel in the women's division, the choices are apparently only mean girl, crazed menace, or a mixture of both. That is where the creative effort ends.
• Bayley obliterated Valkyria's face early on, causing her to bleed profusely from the nose as physicality remained a key component of the women's division's offerings tonight.

CM Punk and Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther and Sami Zayn

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Last Time in Action: CM Punk defeated Sami Zayn (Raw, July 6); Cody Rhodes defeated Gunther via DQ (SmackDown, July 17)

Chants of "this is awesome" rained down from the stands as CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, and Gunther lay in the center of the ring, their bodies racked with pain well into a blockbuster, high-stakes main event.

The four combatants cut a frenetic pace throughout the bout, maximizing their minutes and keeping fans guessing as to which team would emerge victoriously and what it would mean for the SummerSlam main event.

Gunther capitalized on a late referee bump to Charles Robinson, blasting Rhodes with the Undisputed WWE Championship. Before another referee could count the fall, Nick Aldis pulled him to the floor, preventing The Ring General from scoring the win.

Punk delivered Go To Sleep, Rhodes pinned Gunther, and earned the win. As a result, the advertised main event between the Best in the World and the American Nightmare is preserved.

On the other hand, Aldis' interference almost ensures that he is stepping back into the ring for a match with Gunther.

If anything, the question is what this outcome means for Zayn, who appears to be the odd man out of a significant role at the summertime spectacular.

Still, this was a fantastic match, featuring four of the best in the company letting it all hang out. The overbooked nature of the finish made sense within the context of the story being told.

Punk accidentally striking Rhodes with the belt strap as he left further intensifies the already simmering tension between them.

Result

Rhodes and Punk defeated Gunther and Zayn

Grade

A

Top Takeaways

• Rhodes was on fire here, as if he was motivated by the mystique and magic of Madison Square Garden. He was the fiery babyface that made the audience fall in love with him in the first place.
• Punk ended up suffering from a bloodied nose, another indication of the physicality on display during this Peacock special.
• WWE needs to find something of substance for Zayn to do. He has been one of the MVPs of the company this year. Leaving him off the card for lack of anything else to do with him would be an indictment on the creative team.

Roman Reigns Acknowledges Jalen Brunson

Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Fanatics

Last Time in Action: Knicks in five (NBA Finals, June 13)

Roman Reigns and Jalen Brunson celebrated the latter's NBA title victory, complete with a custom world heavyweight title made of blue leather and custom nameplates.

Seth "Freakin" Rollins had other plans, though, using Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton as a distraction, allowing him to attack Reigns from behind. Before he could deliver a devastating stomp onto a steel chair, Brunson stepped in front of The Architect, cutting him off.

The OTC recovered, delivered a Superman Punch, then flattened The Visionary with a spear to send him packing.

Reigns stood tall with Brunson, the Larry O'Brien Trophy high overhead to cap off a very photogenic, mainstream media-friendly angle. With that said, it managed to hype up the Raw brand's SummerSlam main event, giving it real value on a show that will have its fair share of viral moments.

Grade

A

Top Takeaways

• Brunson is not the showy type and looked to be quite nervous more than once. Still, he handled business and executed when he had to.
• Rollins feels like the heel entering SummerSlam, which is an interesting change considering The Bloodline has been presented as the clear villains, even if audiences still cheer for them.

MVP/Overall Grade

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MVP: Danhausen

Before there was ever a high-stakes tag team match announced for Saturday's show, it was promoted and advertised around Danhausen and his return to New York for the first time since he uncursed the Knicks and became a mascot of sorts on their run to the NBA title.

It was his face on the poster, and he was at the center of a parade that took him from Fanatics Fest to the arena for tonight's show. He was everywhere, and a disappointing performance in arguably his biggest moment yet would have been devastating to him.

Instead, he rose to the occasion, worked hard in an entertaining match with JD McDonagh, and had his mainstream media moment as he stood tall with Karl-Anthony Towns to close out his portion of the broadcast.

It was a huge moment for the face-painted Superstar that should continue propelling him toward continued success.

Overall Grade: A

This was a fun show.

It started with a big title change in a better-than-expected match, featured hilarity and hijinx from Danhausen and Co., saw the evolution of Lyra Valkyria's character, added a fantastic tag team match that set up CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes and Nick Aldis vs. Gunther for SummerSlam, and concluded with the biggest star in the company standing side-by-side with the reigning NBA champion, Jalen Brunson.

The show knew what it needed to accomplish, did it, and used the platform to promote both SummerSlam and the brand as a whole. This has to be considered a monumental success for the company, which was already at the forefront of Fanatics Fest this weekend in the media capital of the world.