NBA Superstar Jalen Brunson Helps LA Knight Win MITB Qualifier On WWE SmackDown
New York City was lit up in blue for Friday night's edition of "WWE SmackDown," which emanated from the historic Madison Square Garden. In addition to being the site of some of wrestling history's most memorable moments, the Garden is also home court for the NBA's New York Knicks, whose star player, Jalen Brunson, was in attendance. In fact, Brunson ended up jumping the ringside barricade during the men's Money in the Bank match qualifier, ultimately leading to an LA Knight victory.
Knight took on Legado del Fantasma's Santos Escobar and United States Champion Logan Paul, who antagonistically brought Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton with him to ringside — but not without a tense glare between Haliburton and Brunson, who have very recent history. The Knicks and the Pacers clashed in this year's NBA Playoffs, meeting in the Eastern Conference Semifinals; the Knicks were favored to win the best-of-seven series and in fact won the first two games, but the Pacers ended up moving on to the Conference Finals after beating the Knicks in a win-or-go-home Game 7 in the Garden.
The tension between Brunson and Haliburton added to the pre-existing explosiveness of Knight vs. Paul vs. Escobar. At one point, Paul motioned for Haliburton to retrieve his brass knuckles, but before Haliburton could deliver Paul's signature weapon, Brunson jumped the barricade to stare down his Indiana-based opposition. Haliburton was distracted just long enough to allow a previously downed Escobar to recover, and the match ended shortly after, when Knight reversed a roll-up to pin Paul and advance to the men's Money in the Bank ladder match.
Haliburton and Brunson brandished steel during and after the match
After the match, Paul and Haliburton surrounded the newly qualified Knight with malice in their gazes, but Brunson appeared beside Knight again, steel chair in hand. Paul ultimately pulled himself and Haliburton out of the situation, and the segment ended with Brunson raising Knight's hand for all of Madison Square Garden to celebrate.
Knight was one of three to qualify for their respective Money in the Bank ladder matches Friday, with Tiffany Stratton and Naomi similarly booking their tickets to Toronto. This will be Knight's second consecutive appearance in the men's MITB match; he joins Jey Uso, Carmelo Hayes, Chad Gable, and Andrade, with the final participant to be determined on Monday's "WWE Raw." No matter who wins the last triple threat, the sixth member of the match will definitely be a hard-hitting European striker, as the Russian Ilja Dragunov takes on the Irish Sheamus and the Scottish Drew McIntyre, who has vowed to regain world title gold after hospitalizing his nemesis, CM Punk, on last Friday's "SmackDown."