WWE may have gone all-in on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, but not everyone backstage was thrilled with how far it went.
WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select says WWE’s day-to-day decision-makers were not “exactly enthusiastic” about the amount of Knicks integration throughout Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The company understood the atmosphere surrounding the show. The Knicks were coming off an NBA Championship win, the event was inside Madison Square Garden and the crowd was ready to celebrate anything connected to New York basketball.
Still, some people inside WWE felt the presentation went further than it needed to. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns were heavily featured throughout the broadcast, including involvement in on-screen angles. Brunson even got physically involved when Seth Rollins went after Roman Reigns, helping create the distraction that allowed Reigns to fight back.
The celebrity crossover worked with the live crowd, but the reaction behind the curtain was apparently much colder. One source also claimed that some of the people backstage simply are not that interested in sports, which may explain why the heavy NBA presence didn’t land with everyone making the show.
WWE clearly wanted Saturday Night’s Main Event to feel tied to New York and the Knicks’ championship celebration. The problem is that some of the people running the show apparently felt the basketball connection started taking over the wrestling.
Did WWE go too far with the New York Knicks involvement, or did it make the Madison Square Garden show feel bigger? Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
