The match is being called the “final showdown between two generational titans.” The seventh and what is planned to be the last bout between the WWE legends John Cena and Brock Lesnar is scheduled to kick off the first-ever WWE Wrestlepalooza Saturday from 18,000-seat Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
And you know that Cena and Lesnar are indeed definitely “generational titans” because the author of that quote was Cena himself.
Join us right here at Heavy.com for live updates, results and reactions to the Wrestlepalooza card, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time, 4 p.m. Pacific.
Though it appears that the action got started a little early when The Usos ran into The Vision, their opponents later tonight, in the arena.
Wrestlepalooza, for those who are either only casual wrestling fans or true aficionados who just haven’t been paying attention, is the first premium live event, or PLE, in a new era for WWE — the ESPN era.
More specifically, this will be the ESPN Unlimited era, because that is the name of ESPN’s new, all-in-one subscription app that will be the exclusive home for most if not all WWE PLEs starting with Wrestlepalooza, and picking up the pace for real in 2026 with Wrestlemania, SummerSlam and other big, branded events.
But if you haven’t paid the initial $29.99 per month to subscribe to the Unlimited app, you can follow the Wrestlepalooza action as it happens by refreshing this page.
▶️ Stream Wrestlepalooza on the @espn App: t.co/jKAIj8nxxt
CM Punk and AJ Lee vs. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch
The penultimate bout of the night is about to get underway, as the “Power Couple” Seth Rollins and his wife Becky Lynch enter the ring in matching purple capes. The couple have wrestled as a mixed tag team three times before, and are undefeated.
CM Punk appears by himself to “Cult of Persosnality” by Living Color. His wife, AJ Lee then bounces out behind him. Punk and Lee are also unbeaten in two matches. But Lee has not fought since 2015.
Punk and Rollins will start, as under the “rules,” men can only fight men in a mixed tag-team match. But Lynch quickly tags. She strikes Punk with a few open hands to the midsection. Punk finally tags with Lee.
Now the two male combatants are battling on the concrete. Back in the ring, Lynch grabs Punk from behind as Rollins ponds away at him in the corner. The Lee does the dame to Rollins. An atomic drop and a chop by Punk, flooring Rollins.
Now Rollins bashing Punk on the broadcaster’s table. Back in the ring, Rollins lands a flying fist and Punk is taking a beating as both women look on from the apron.
Punk can’t quite reach lee for the tag as Rollins restrains him. Punk looks out of gas, crawling across the canvas. Rollins trues to lift Punk for a suplex, but Punk turns the tables and lands the duplex. But it does him little good as he still can’t crawl over to Lee for the tag.
Lee still has not entered the ring.
Finally the tag but the ref physically restrains Lee. Rollins attempts two use his wife as a weapon to drop on to Punk, but he rolls out of the way and she slams to the canvas.
Punk lifts Rollins as he dances around the ring, taunting. Rollins is spent. Now Punk at last tags and a fresh Lee enters the ring and ground-and-pounds Lynch.
A spinning head kick from Lee, who is dominant over her female counterpart. Lee repeatedly wimdmill-slapping Lynch. Rollins stops her, but Lee does the same to Rollins.
Lee now doing the dancing. Lee has Lynch in a black widow while Punk take scare of Hollins. They’re all in the ring. Lee gets the black widow on Rollins, but Lynch rescues him.
Punk and Lee are out cold, Lynch and Rollins attempt a double GTS. Punk breaks free and sends Rollins out off the ring.
Lynch slaps Punk who grabs her leg as the crowd eggs him on. Somehow Lynch takes him down. Gets Punk in a sharpshooter hold.
All four competitors barely moving outstretched on the canvas.
Another four-person melee at center-ring. Outside the ring, Lee is posing as if she hasn’t even broken a sweat. Punk and Lee clear the announcers’ tables. The fight is on the tables now. Lynch throws Lee across the tables into Punk and Rollins utterly destroying the announcers table.
Lynch taps out of the black widow. Lee and Punk win!
Punk gives Rollins and Lynch the choke sign. For the first time of the evening, the babyfaces come away victorious.
Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre
The undisputed WEE championship is next, the final match of the program and the main event.
But first the former Undertaker, now American Badass, enters on a motorcycle to the tune of the Kid Rock track.
He’s there to tell Stephanie McMahon that she is going to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2026.
And with that, on to the Drew McIntyre rung walk. The Scotsman enters to the sound of bagpipes, drums and heavy metal guitar.
The American Nightmare, Rhodes is on his way to the ring now, wearing the WWE championship belt.
Here who go, for Rhodes first title defense.
McIntyre making a point of fighting “clean,” now gets Rhodes in a headlock, looking for a tap-out. Rhodes escapes. They trade “punches” and McIntyre lands an elbow.
Slow moving match here. A flying drop kick by Rhodes breaks the monotony. Then two suicide dives by Rhodes backfire as McIntyre throws him over the smashed announcers table.
McIntyre dominating now. It’s become a one-sided beating. Until Rhodes rams his opponent’s shoulder into the post.
McIntyre slams Rhodes’ head into the steel ring steps. The tide is not yet turning. This match is almost as one-sided as Cena vs. Lesnar. Until Rhodes catches McIntyre in a superplex off the top rope. But Rhodes seems to be more hurt than McIntyre.
Rhodes finally turning things around, taking McIntyre out with a slam. And a kick to the face. McIntyre appears to bite Rhodes then slams Rhodes backwards to the mat. A cover, but Rhodes kicks out.
Rhodes gets McIntyre in a figure-four leg lock. McIntyre resists tapping out, and gets a foot free to kick Rhodes in the jaw. McIntyre rips the pad off the turnbuckle. McIntyre pins Rhodes, but the ref is out of the ring, allowing Rhodes to survive.
The match has gone 10 minutes over the allotted tome slot.
McIntyre misses a kick into the announcer’s table and injured his knee. But he manages to floor Rhodes who recovers and as McIntyre’s knee collapses, attacks and pins the Scotsman.
Rhodes retains the championship!
That’s it for the first Wrestlepalooza. Thanks for goings for our live coverage of this historic card. Not all of the matches delivered the goods, and the program ran overtime. But on the whole, there was enough action to keep the crowd engaged.
John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
With about 15 minutes to go before the official start of Wrestlepalooza 2025, the ESPN audience gets a brief, sentimental retrospective of Cena’s career and retirement announcement. Then we see Brock Lesnar coming on to promise that that he will **** up Cena’s “staged retirement.”
Of course Lesnar has defeated the self-proclaimed “last real champion” four times in their six matches, so his promise to “kick John Cena’s a** right into retirement” is not exactly just empty words.
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Almost there now. Husband and wife signing duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, known as The War and Treaty, deliver a moving version of “God Bless America” to open the proceedings.
Niw Paul “Tripel H” Levesque, WWE chief creative officer, stands in the center of the ring to “welcome” the ESON audience, followed by a blast of indoor fireworks. Lesnar and Cena should be up next.
But actually, it’s Pat McAffee.
Now Lesnar appears and makes his way to the ring. McAffe describes Lesnar’s body as “sculpted to be the most athletic ever created.”
Cena appears, surrounded by about two dozen children all wearing bright yellow “Last Time is Now” t-shirts, as is Cena — who leaps into the ring. Cena steps out to stand at ringside watching Cena work the crowd.
The crowd breaks into alternate chants of “Let’s go Cena!” and “Cena sucks!” as ring announcer Alicia Taylor does her thing. But she is interrupted by a surprise appearance by Paul Heyman, founder of ECW which staged the original Wrestlepalooza events 30 years ago. Heyman introduces Lesnar.
No hesitation by Lesnar who pounds away at Cena, then catches him with a clothesline and slings him into a turnbuckle twice.
Then an old-school body slam and a suplex. It’s all Lesnar so far.
Lesnar appears to be about twice Cena’s size. Cena got Lesnar up on his shoulders but Lesnar escaped and landed another clothesline.
Cena finally flats Cena with a shoulder table then four successive AA bodyslams. After kicking out of a pinball, Lesnar responds with two straight F5s.
Then a third. And a fourth. Though Lesnar is moving slowly, maybe getting a bit of rest himself. But a fifth F5 and a sixth finishes off Cena.
A pin and three count and Cena is done. Lesnar wins!
Cena remains motionless on the canvas while Lesnar struts around the outside of the ring. Then he delivers an F5 to the ref.
And another to the defenseless Cena. Cena finally gets to his feet and walks out of the ring.
You really have to wonder what all of that was about. Not sure where the Cena retirement tour goes from here, if it goes at all. A more competitive exhibition would have been more entertaining, and planted better storylines for the future, but it seems WWE or perhaps Cena himself wasn’t interested in doing that.
And why should he be. Cena’s movies have taken in more than a billion dollars at the box office altogether. Doe she really need to be dropped on his face a half-dozen times to prove a point?
Oh well… onward to the next bout.
The Usos vs. Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker
Special guest ref L.A. Knight heads to the ring before the wrestlers appear. He’s wearing green jeans and a vest. Not exactly regulation referee gear.
The Usos enter next down a staircase through the crowd. Jimmy grabs a microphone and implores the crowd to pull out their cell phones.
After a good five minutes of the Usos strutting around the ring, here come Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker, with much less fanfare and ceremony. Bronson Reed stares down guest ref Knight.
More entertaining action to start this match than the last one.
Out comes the steel chair as Jimmy Use clobbers Bronson Reed. Jimmy Uso leaps over the top rope and takes out north of the “Brons.”
Jimmy Uso is down, appearing to hit his head on the concrete, then Breakker takes him down with leaping shoulder tackle. Now Knight simply allows Reed to apply the steel chair to Jimmy Uso’s back. Use is nearly motionless on the canvas as referee Knight allows pretty much any tactic to be used.
Why isn’t Ley Uso coming to his brother’s aid, but bringing the steel chair in to the ring backfires on Reed as Jimmy drives him into it, buying himself some time to recover.
The tag is made! Jey Uso enters the ring and instantly dominates The Vision. Brekker is hurt and Jey Uso goes for the pin. But Breakker kicks out. Now the Usos bring a table into the ring.
Usos getting into a groove with a double super kick on Breakker, but Reed breaks up the pinball and the match goes on. Jay Uso going up top with a flying leap off the ropes but again, Breakker kicks out at the two count. The Usos are complaining of a slow count by the guest ref.
Jey Uso almost slams Knight with a hair but pulls up at the last second. This match is pretty entertaining. Jey Uso is bleeding — and Reed comes off the top rope to land on Jimmy Uso and end the match with a three count. The Vision wins.
It’s starting to be clear why Cena-Lesnar opened the show. Better to get the dud out of the way first. The tag team bout may hav dragged on a bit too long, but definitely did not lack for action, complete with chairs, tables, multiple rope-leaps and so on. More of that, please.
Iyo Sky vs. Stephanie Vaquer
Vaquer, wearing devil horns, walks to the ring. A smiling, twirling Iyo Sky is next.
Sky outs Vaquerin a waist-lock, but Vaquer spins out and puts Sky in a hammer lock. Mainly sticking to traditional grappling moves and hold in the early stages. The two combatants shook hands before the match, signaling that this would be more straightforward test if skills than a free for all, like the previous match.
Sky body slams Vaquer then drops her knees into her opponent’s chest. Now Vaquer takes advantage of an arm injury too Sky to get a two-count, but that’s all.
Both women are down on the canvas, after some intense exchanges. When they get up, Sky has the upper hand. A flying drop kick kicks Vaquer to the concrete, then Sky lands on her with a suicide dive. Than a comeback by Vaquer as she leaps of the ropes onto the concrete, dazing Sky.
Sky knocks Vaquer into semi-consciousness with a knee to the head. Back and forth action reds to another lick to the head by Sky. An apparent knee injury to Sky gives Vaquer an opportunity, as she catches Sky in her trademark “Devil’s Kiss,” pounding her head to the canvas between her legs.
Sky pulls her boots down to expose her knees for more impact. But she misses a moonsault, and slams her exposed knees. Vaquer takes advantage with a spiral leap from the top rope and that does it for Sky.
Vaquer pulls the upset and wins the previously vacant Women’s World Championship.
The women bow to each other and embrace after a match well-fought.
Scroll up for our coverage of the final matches of the event.
Wrestlepalooza 2025: Instant Reaction, Live Blow-by-Blow Results