Although WWE Survivor Series is the second-longest-running show in company history, the 2025 iteration of the event was not one that will go down in history for all the right reasons.
With 2 WarGames matches and 2 championship matches on a 3-hour and 13-minute card, there was a lot of filler leading up to and even during the main event, which left many feeling short-changed due to the baffling finish and anticlimactic match given the build ahead of time. A victim of the annual tradition and with key elements missing, Survivor Series was tough to get through.
WWE Survivor Series: A Title Change, A Mystery, And A Lot Of Questions
With more than 40,000 fans in attendance in San Diego, Survivor Series 2025 set a new attendance record, as this was the first time in nearly 40 years that the show was held inside a stadium. With footage of the set being constructed being posted online in the days leading up to it, WWE themselves had some fun by using the likes of Edge, Steve Austin and Jinder Mahal’s music and graphics to try and hype up the speculation for a huge surprise. Spoiler alert, the ending did not fulfil that promise.
Kicking off the night was the Women’s Wargames match, which was missing a key element right from the off, the shark cages. Over the past few years, the cameras have frequently cut back to those yet to enter the match to advance the story of WarGames. This was especially notable in 2024, when Roman Reigns stopping CM Punk from entering the match gaining hundreds of millions of views online. However, for 2025, the entry for the match was more like a Royal Rumble as opposed to WarGames, with each entrant getting their own entrance, and some not exactly having the urgency to get in the match and help their team.
Charlotte Flair and Asuka started off the match to renew their rivalry, which continued until IYO SKY joined in with a trash can lid in hand, foreshadowing a spot later in the match. The staggered entry continued until all 10 women were in the match, but there was no signs of dissension on either side. Heading into the show, Flair made it clear she didn’t know if she could trust Ripley, and Lynch often put down her team while making it all about herself. The match officially began when Lash legend entered. The former NXT star had a good showing, but at times looked lost in all the melee. Legend was also accidentally misted by Asuka, which one again didn’t receive a payoff. With everyone taken out, Lynch became the target and got her comeuppance, submitting to AJ Lee’s Black Widow hold to lose the match for her team. While it could be followed up that the arrogant Lynch lost the match, this should have been factored more into the story itself. But that being said, it’s unlikely most of this will be revisited on Monday. Additionally, SKY’s trashcan spot felt very forced, especially as Wade Barrett said on commentary, “We are going viral” right before SKY leaped off the cage, and sadly missed most of the competitors below.
Next up was John Cena’s final PLE match as he put the Intercontinental Championship on the line against Dominik Mysterio. Although Mysterio was the hometown competitor, the San Diego fans still favoured Cena throughout, even when an injury spot occurred on the outside. In a similar move that caused Penta an injury, Mysterio attempted to hit a Hurricanrana onto Cena, but landed hard on the mat. However, unlike the Penta angle, this was set up so that Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez could each hit their finishers to allow Mysterio to steal the win, which did not happen at that point. Following a referee bump, the rest of The Judgment Day got involved and were fought off by Cena, until a returning Liv Morgan surprised the fans. After first slapping Mysterio, Morgan went on to deliver a low blow to Cena, allowing Mysterio to pick up a big win over the 17-time World Champion to win his title back. While this was overbooked, it did make sense that Mysterio was going to use everything at his disposal to ensure victory. And unlike WarGames, the return of Morgan will set up a lot of storylines given the downfall of The Judgment Day in her absence.
Unfortunately, put in the deathspot as they had to follow the Cena match and were on right before the main event, Stephanie Vaquer and Nikki Bella fought over the Women’s World Championship, with commentary putting over Bella’s recent heel turn and change in attitude as the way that she could pull off the shock upset. The match itself was ok, but felt more like a Raw main event, with not much to really comment on, as opposed to a major PLE match, but with 10 stars tied up in WarGames, Vaquer was short on challengers.
Then it was time for the main event, the Men’s WarGames match, which suffered from similar problems that the Women’s WarGames match did. While there was apparently some animosity between CM Punk, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns heading into the match, you couldn’t tell once they all got involved. This match needed the shark cages badly to highlight some tension, as the story was the babyfaces not being able to get on the same page. There was one moment where Rhodes delivered a blind elbow to Punk, but this was soon forgotten about. And then there’s Jey Uso…
While many understand that going to a live show is an experience and Yeeting has become popular in the venue, was it really the best choice to stop midway through the violent encounter to have some crowd participation? This was marketed as a serious match, but quickly devolved into comedy at the worst time. Lesnar made a premature entrance to cut off the Yeeting and destroyed everyone, including Roman Reigns when he entered the match last. When the match officially began, there were some big moves and a table break spot, but there wasn’t that killer moment that left fans with something to talk about. Instead, the ending came when a masked attacker scaled the cage, delivered some Seth Rollins-inspired moves, then made their exit, allowing Bron Breakker to spear CM Punk and win. As the babyfaces celebrated, Reigns reluctantly joined Punk and Rhodes in defeat, and told Rhodes they would never team again, bringing the show to a flat end.
WWE Survivor Series 2025 Review: Final Thoughts
Prior to watching the show for this review, there was a feeling that WWE were ready to put on something special for Survivor Series 2025. With interest in the product down, ticket prices up and the company set to hit a historical down period that won’t pick up until the Royal Rumble rolls around, a killer show was needed here to keep the fans interested heading into the holidays. Instead, both WarGames felt more watered down than ever before. Along with the wait time before the match starts, which some still find to be a point of contention, all storyline beats heading into the show were non-existent, and this won’t even be discussed in 7 days’ time.
In a sentence that will feel baffling to one section of the wrestling fanbase, it was John Cena who saved a WWE show in 2025 from being one of the worst of the year.
Featured image: WWE
