Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns just helped a wrestler win at MSG. The reason goes back to a championship.

Karl-Anthony Towns showed up at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night for WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, and he didn’t just sit in the front row and clap. He got involved.

Towns helped Danhausen beat JD McDonagh in a No Disqualification Match, and the crowd lost it. The Knicks center ran in from ringside, gave Danhausen the edge he needed, and walked out with a win over a member of The Judgment Day. It was the kind of cameo that makes you remember sports and entertainment are basically the same thing now.

But this wasn’t random. There’s a real story here.

The championship connection

A few days earlier, Towns met Danhausen at Fanatics Fest. Someone asked Towns if he knew who the wrestler was. Towns didn’t miss a beat. The man who got us a championship! he said.

That’s not just a funny quote. Danhausen actually has a claim to Knicks lore. During New York’s first round playoff series against Atlanta last season, the Knicks were down 2-1. Danhausen went on WWE programming and uncursed the team. The Knicks then ripped off 13 straight wins, swept through two rounds, and beat San Antonio in five games for the franchise’s first title since 1973.

Finals MVP Jalen Brunson admitted on Jimmy Fallon’s show that he was skeptical at first. But after the title? You have to believe it now, he said.

Danhausen didn’t stop with basketball either. He uncursed the Carolina Hurricanes, and they won the Stanley Cup. The guy is building a resume.

A hero’s welcome in the Garden

Madison Square Garden promoted Danhausen front and center for this event, which is not nothing. The building knew Knicks fans would treat him like a returning champ, and they did. The feud with McDonagh and The Judgment Day had been building for weeks, including Danhausen stealing Dominik Mysterio’s money and getting targeted in retaliation. Saturday’s win gave Danhausen his first victory inside MSG.

So now you have a Knicks center helping a wrestler who claims he broke a curse that led to a title. It’s weird and fun and very New York. And honestly, after decades of jokes and near misses, Knicks fans will take any bit of magic they can get. Even if it comes in face paint.