WWE Survivor Series: WarGames isn't just about settling scores inside the steel cage—it's about launching WrestleMania season.
Paul Heyman made that clear during his appearance on ESPN's First Take this week, openly positioning Saturday's premium live event as a preview of what's to come in Las Vegas next April.
This is really an infomercial for WrestleMania," Heyman said. "Because, as you must know by now, there's such a huge publicity push out there that the individual tickets for WrestleMania Saturday and WrestleMania Sunday go on sale for Black Friday. So we are out there just showing the world, 'Hey, check out this spectacle. Check out what WWE is about.' This is our audition for the world to come to Vegas for WrestleMania.
Heyman hyped the Men's WarGames match as the "greatest assembly of talent on either side," and the lineups support that claim. Reigns, Punk, and Rhodes will all compete on the same side, teaming with The Usos against Brock Lesnar, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre, and Logan Paul.
WrestleMania 42 Main Event
The rare alignment of WWE's top three stars on the same team hasn't gone unnoticed. On Raw this week, Roman Reigns teased his intentions by stating he would go after either World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk or Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, though he did not specify which one he was targeting.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Reigns vs. Seth Rollins was the planned main event for WrestleMania 42. However, Rollins' shoulder injury has forced WWE to pivot their plans, and the new direction points toward Reigns challenging the current champion—either Cody Rhodes or CM Punk—at the Las Vegas event in April 2026.
For Heyman, the pressure to deliver is paramount.
We have to deliver the greatest WarGames of all time, and we're very cognizant of that fact," he said. "We have to top all the previous WarGames.
WWE Survivor Series: WarGames streams Saturday at 7 PM ET on the ESPN app in the United States and on Netflix internationally.
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