The goodbye tour of John Cena’s WWE career hits another milestone Saturday with his final premium live event (PLE) appearance at Survivor Series: WarGames at Petco Park in San Diego (7 p.m. ET on ESPN Unlimited). The second-longest-running WWE event behind WrestleMania (41 straight years) will make its 39th annual appearance in a city the promotion hasn’t been to for a PLE since One Night Stand in 2008.
Survivor Series has been known as a launching pad for many iconic careers, including the 1990 WWE debut of The Undertaker, who would go on to become the most successful Survivor Series wrestler ever with 13 wins. Superstars such as The Rock (1996), Kurt Angle (1999), The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose) (2012) and Sting (2014) also made their PLE debuts at Survivor Series. Even the Elimination Chamber match format debuted at the Survivor Series in 2002.
His last win was in 2018 as part of Team Raw, which defeated Team SmackDown in an elimination match.
Women’s WarGames match
NXT TakeOver: WarGames in 2019. Ripley and Sky were on opposing teams, with Team Ripley securing the victory.
Sky has taken part in all seven women’s WarGames matches, making her the only woman to do so.
Ripley, Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax each have four Survivor Series victories. Whoever gets another win will tie Mickie James and Bianca Belair for most in the women’s division.
Becky Lynch is looking for her fourth Survivor Series win in a row. Her last two have been in WarGames matches (2022, 2023).
Intercontinental Championship: John Cena vs. Dominik Mysterio
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Paul Heyman: Expect John Cena’s greatest Survivor Series performance ever
Paul Heyman joins “First Take” and describes what to expect from John Cena at WWE’s Survivor Series: WarGames.
The Intercontinental Championship hasn’t changed hands at Survivor Series since 2001, when Edge defeated Test to unify the United States and Intercontinental championships. Since then, the Intercontinental title has been successfully defended at the event six times, including last year.
This will be Cena’s first Survivor Series match in eight years. He last appeared at the event in 2017 as part of Team SmackDown in a traditional five-on-five elimination match.
Mysterio is looking for his fifth straight PLE win. His most recent PLE win was against AJ Styles at SummerSlam in August. Cena’s most recent PLE win also came against Styles, at Crown Jewel in October.
Women’s World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Nikki Bella
This will be Vaquer’s first Survivor Series match. Bella has performed at two and won both times, although it’s been 11 years since she appeared at Survivor Series. She defeated AJ Lee in 2014 to win the Divas championship.
Bella will be looking for her first PLE victory in over seven years. Her most recent occurred at Super Show-Down in 2018 when she, her sister Brie and Ronda Rousey defeated the Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan).
