WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event XLV Preview And Predictions

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event heads to Madison Square Garden this Saturday, July 18th, just two weeks before SummerSlam. The event aims to build crucial momentum for the upcoming PLE. The marquee match sees WWE Champion CM Punk and challenger Cody Rhodes team up against Gunther and Sami Zayn, testing their uneasy alliance. A unique stipulation adds Gunther and Zayn to the SummerSlam WWE Championship match if Punk and Rhodes lose, though predictions lean towards Punk and Rhodes winning. Also, Paige and Brie Bella defend their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against Fatal Influence, with a title change and Nikki Bella's potential return anticipated. Danhausen faces JD McDonagh, and Lyra Valkyria battles Bayley. Fans can catch the action live on Peacock in the US.

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event returns on Saturday for the third time in 2026, and this time, it’s heading to “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”

Just two weeks ahead of SummerSlam, WWE will head to Madison Square Garden looking to build some momentum as it heads into the two-night PLE. At the last SNME event in May, three championships were on the line, and yet, none of them changed hands.

At Saturday’s event in MSG, Paige and Brie Bella will defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship while CM Punk will team with his WWE title challenger Cody Rhodes in a blockbuster tag team match.

WWE is utilizing the classic “can they coexist?” dynamic between Rhodes and Punk, who are friendly on-screen but have suddenly become WWE title rivals.

This has been done hundreds of times in the past, with a pair of babyfaces trying to get along while feuding. In the vast majority of those scenarios, they, at some point, team up for a match only to have issues mid-bout and lose to their opponents. Their WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event match should be no different.

That seemed to be the direction WWE was going here. Then, this week the company announced that if Rhodes and Punk lose to Gunther and Zayn, then the latter two stars would be added to the WWE Championship match at SummerSlam to make it a Fatal 4-Way.

Givent that Gunther is apparently going to face Aldis at SummerSlam, that stipulation seems to have telegraphed the outcome of this marquee tag team match at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Ever since Paige stepped in as a WrestleMania replacement for Nikki Bella, it’s felt like Paige and her partner Brie are just keeping the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles warm for the next team.

At Saturday Night’s Main Event, Brie and Paige will face Fatal Influence’s Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid, who are the best possible options to dethrone them. Paige is really not the ideal tag team partner for Brie, who should be reunited with Nikki soon. Perhaps that happens in Madison Square Garden, where Nikki costing Paige the titles could set up two things: a reunion with Brie and a much-needed heel turn for the Bella Twins.

Fatal Influence should be champions anyway, so this scenario would be the best outcome for all parties.

Ever since Danhausen “un-cursed” the New York Knicks, he has endeared himself to New Yorkers and Knicks fans everywhere. He should be mega-over inside Madison Square Garden, where he will face Judgment Day’s JD McDonagh.

This is a no-brainer, too. Danhausen is one of the most popular performers in all of WWE, and it’s highly unlikely that he’s going to lose to a lower card star in NYC. This match is all about Danhausen getting rewarded with a major win in front of what will likely be a red hot crowd.

It won’t be a Match of the Year contender, but it will be a whole lot of fun.

WWE has invested a ton of time into this storyline with Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, and it initially looked like Bayley would be the one who turned heel.

Instead, Valkyria did, and Bayley remains stuck in somewhat of a lame duck role. As a relative newcomer to WWE’s main roster, Valkyria seems to be more of a priority than Bayley at the moment. Although Bayley remains popular, she’s no longer really booked as a top star.

This feud seems to be all about WWE establishing Valkyria’s new heel character, and that’s likely going to begin with a win at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.