Gunther, Fatal Influence, Real Winners and Losers of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event Match Card

Saturday Night's Main Event returned to Madison Square Garden in New York City for a July 18 show that set the stage for SummerSlam.

With help from Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid took the Women's Tag Team Championships from Paige and Brie Bella. Thanks to the New York Knicks' Karl Anthony Towns, Danhausen defeated JD McDonagh.

Lyra Valkyria overwhelmed Bayley and choked her out to win. Nick Aldis cost Gunther and made sure the SummerSlam main event is CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes.

Check out all the real winners and losers from SNME to follow.

Winner: Fatal Influence

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Fatal Influence

Fatal Influence arrived on SmackDown with surprising heat, quickly engaging an audience that may not have all seen their work in NXT.

However, that heat has dwindled due to frequent losses for Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid, resetting all three women as newcomers on SmackDown.

The last chance to get Fatal Influence moving was to move the Women's Tag Team Championships, and it actually happened. Reid and Henley capture the gold in Madison Square Garden.

It was certainly time based on how this match played out.

Since WrestleMania 42, Paige and Brie have not found their team synergy, looking outmatched by the 27-year-old Reid and 31-year-old Henley despite the decade of experience the veterans have on the challengers.

Even when hitting signature offense, the champions looked ineffective, looking far closer to washed than top title holders.

Fatal Influence not only needed this but have the talent to run this tag team division well past SummerSlam.

However, this could be a set up for the return of Nikki Bella followed by a quick title change back, which would be a waste of Fatal Influence's potential as top SmackDown heels.

Loser: Judgment Day

Danhausen has been a consistent winner since his arrival in WWE. Even his weaker segments often lead to bigger payoffs that have made The Cursefather more popular.

Judgment Day was never expected to beat Danhausen, but this was another clear sign that the group has passed its expiration date.

JD McDonagh never felt like a genuine threat to Danhausen despite playing the active worker role in this contest, and he and Dominik Mysterio were completely overwhelmed by NBA star Karl Anthony-Towns at the end.

While The Cursefather is certain to be featured heavily in WWE going forward, Judgment Day hardly looks relevant outside of Liv Morgan's disappointing Women's World Championship reign.

Dirty Dom still has major potential long term, but that may only be seen once he and Liv break away from the Judgment Day name.

Winner: Lyra Valkyria

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Lyra Valkyria

The most relevant and personal match of the night was between Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, and this match was especially important to introduce fans to a new heel version of Valkyria.

While it may take longer to get used to this new version of The Valkyrie, this was a great match from all involved, selling a more physical style than typically seen in WWE.

Valkyria's early bloodied nose put a spotlight on the physicality of both women in this match, making the most of a rushed build.

In the end, The Valkyrie not only won by referee stoppage with a new Bulldog Choke but also laid out Bayley after the match with a Nightwing on the steps.

It was a clear statement match to highlight Valkyria as the next big heel threat on Raw going forward.

She will likely face Bayley again in a stipulation match at SummerSlam, and winning that will be crucial as well. However, for now, the stage is set for Valkyria to run to singles gold.

Losers: Sami Zayn and Gunther

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Gunther and Cody Rhodes as well as Sami Zayn and CM Punk brawling.

While it was hardly a surprise that the main event tag team match was good, the result was also not a surprise itself.

The money match for SummerSlam, even with the current limited build, is CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes. A Fatal 4-Way would have been great, just like the SNME tag match, but it is not an obvious main event.

Sami Zayn and Gunther were in the title picture outside of Big Four season but have been pushed out of the way for the "big stars".

The Career Killer will face Nick Aldis following his actions to cost Gunther the title opportunity.

Zayn is in a far less certain role though, and at this point, it looks more likely that he will miss SummerSlam entirely with the hope he can face the winner of the WWE Championship match.

Loser: Anyone Trying to Keep Saturday Night's Main Event Relevant

This was a bad show heavily reliant on multiple appearances from New York Knicks players to sell the relevance of the show.

If WWE had not added a SummerSlam-relevant stipulation to the tag team match, nothing about this show would have obvious influence on the premium live event just two weeks away.

The execution of this show came off as a weekly episode of SmackDown rather than a genuine PLE, and even then most SmackDowns have more story momentum.

The first hour of wrestling was lackluster. Bayley vs. Lyra Valkyria and the main event picked up the pace, but neither came off as necessary to happen in MSG.

Why were Roman Reigns and Oba Femi only availableto deliver half-hearted promos? Why wasn't the tag team match instead CM Punk's first WWE Championship defense, allowing to be the promised fighting champion?

Most importantly, what was the point of the final segment? The final 20 minutes of the night were focused on hyping Jalen Brunson, an athlete unlikely to have any relevance to WWE after this show.

Roman Reigns got to pose with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy after sending Seth Rollins packing like he was a cartoon villain, and WWE got to celebrate the Knicks' Finals victory a month late.

WWE has struggled to deliver SNME since its return, but this was by far the worst edition to date and likely to spell the end of the event sooner than later.