Add as a preferred source on Google WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event returns to Madison Square Garden this Saturday, July 18, marking the special’s first trip back to the arena in nearly two decades. Despite the historic weight of the building, the card WWE has put together so far is doing little to generate real excitement.
On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer broke down the lineup and said he believes it’s the weakest preliminary card in Saturday Night’s Main Event history. The comment came up while Meltzer was going through WWE’s upcoming slate of shows.
The night’s headline attraction pits Undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk and Cody Rhodes against Gunther and Sami Zayn. The matchup brings together four of the company’s biggest stars right now, but it’s really there to build toward SummerSlam, where Punk defends the title against Rhodes.
Meltzer’s issue is with everything else on the card.
Danhausen takes on JD McDonagh in a No Disqualification Match, while Paige and Brie Bella defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid of Fatal Influence. Bayley rounds out the lineup against Lyra Valkyria, stemming from the Irish star’s recent turn on Monday Night RAW.
Dave Meltzer believes that SNME this weekend has the worst SNME undercard of all time.
— Wrestle Features (@WrestleFeatures) July 14, 2026
(WOR) pic.twitter.com/v12SfEMZVD
None of those matches is a total throwaway on its own. Bayley and Lyra have had months to build their rivalry, and Danhausen and McDonagh have a stipulation attached that could make their match more interesting than it looks on paper. Still, for a show at Madison Square Garden, it has the feel of a typical weekly episode with one big match dropped into the main event slot.
WWE has confirmed one more addition to the card: a segment featuring Roman Reigns and New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson. The appearance should draw a big reaction from the hometown crowd, but it doesn’t change the fact that the rest of the card is light on meaningful matches.
Meltzer’s point carries extra weight given how much WWE itself has hyped Saturday Night’s Main Event’s return to New York City. The company has billed the show as its first in the city in nearly 20 years, setting expectations that the card, at least so far, hasn’t been able to match.