For the millions (and millions) of dedicated viewers in the WWE Universe, the moments that happen before and after the match matter just as much—if not more—than what’s going on inside the squared circle. That said, there are matches that step up to the plate and deliver, either after months of build or after an impromptu confrontation. Matches that, for one reason or another, feel larger than life.
In 2026, WWE delivered on some of its biggest matches and moments, whether we’re talking Oba Femi’s long-awaited confrontation with Brock Lesnar or Roman Reigns’s desire to end CM Punk’s glorious reign as World Heavyweight Champion. We’ve seen new stars enter the fray while mighty modern villains find new ways to gain a win. These are the bouts that helped introduce WWE’s future while highlighting what makes WWE unlike anything out there. These are the best WWE matches of 2026, so far.
Liv Morgan vs. Sol Ruca
Event: Raw after WrestleMania
When: April 20, 2026
At WrestleMania 42, Liv Morgan did exactly what she said she would do and defeated Stephanie Vacquer for the Women’s World Championship. During Morgan’s celebration on the Raw after WrestleMania, Sol Ruca, who had been exciting crowds in NXT throughout 2025, interrupted Morgan’s celebration, not looking to squabble, but not backing down either. What resulted was a great look at the power of the episode of Raw after WrestleMania; there are moments when an emerging talent looks to seize an opportunity, putting on a show-stealing performance that put Sol on full display. Some criticize the ending, with a run-in costing Sol a chance at possibly defeating a world champion, but Sol also had unfinished business at the time, so it was to be expected.
The Vision vs. The Street Profits
Event: WWE Saturday Night's Main Event XLIV
When: May 23, 2026
The one problem with lists like this, which cover an always-active company like WWE, is that standout bouts, like Logan Paul and Austin Theory defeat the Street Profits in the main event of Saturday Night’s Main Event, can be featured with ease…but then have something more superb, like the Street Profits winning the World Tag Team Championship on the June 22, 2026 edition of Raw, not make the cut because the list is already set. It’s all timing, but when you realize that this win was because of the work Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford have been putting in, seeing them shine bright at the end of what may have felt like a regular SNME before gives hope to those who’ve always believed in that duo. And, go ahead and say it: it’s another bout that highlights why Logan Paul is in the exact right place as a WWE Superstar.
Gunther vs. Seth Rollins
Event: WWE WrestleMania 42 Saturday
When: April 18, 2026
The road to WrestleMania can be glorious and confusing, all at the same time. Earlier this year, many were betting on Gunther possibly retiring Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania, but when those plans didn’t come to fruition, and Seth Rollins was ready for Mania without a dance partner, an interesting bout started to take shape. Two former WWE World Heavyweight Champions, two main event-level WWE Superstars at the top of their divisions, and personal abilities. This one is all about intensity, with Gunther’s brutalist ‘90s wrestling ethos attempting to swat Seth’s fluid motions and high-impact strikes whenever he could, creating one of the best pure wrestling bouts on either night of WrestleMania 42.
Kendal Grey vs. Lola Vice
Event: WWE NXT
When: March 31, 2026
If you don’t learn anything from this collection of matches, remember the name Kendal Grey. Grey is a newer talent on the NXT roster, a 2018 USA National Team member who oozes nothing but pro wrestling talent. This bout, the main event of that episode of NXT, doubled as a No. 1 contender’s match for a shot at Jacy Jayne’s NXT Women’s Championship. Grey took on Lola Vice, who entered WWE after competing in Bellator. What we were given was one of Vice’s best matches ever, a bout that ended in a no-contest (boo) that showcased the best of Lola while highlighting exactly why Kendal Grey is one to watch (yay).
CM Punk vs. Finn Balor
Event: WWE Raw in Belfast
When: January 19, 2026
You gotta love an episode of Raw airing from Belfast featuring a babyface-leaning Finn Balor at home fighting CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship. One WWE tradition is losing in your hometown/state, so going into this bout, seasoned viewers should know what to look for: an actual banger. Punk was in the midst of a stellar World Heavyweight Championship run, regularly putting on command performances in the main events of many TV and PLE shows; this bout ended up being a prelude to running this match back in Chicago a month later. Surprisingly, the Belfast bout showed more grit and determination from both competitors, setting Balor up in particular for his decision to disassociate from Judgment Day. Part of him seeing this new path for himself was his ability to show out in main event scenarios like this, against Prime Punk, who won both bouts before…something we’ll discuss later.
Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match
Event: WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday
When: April 19, 2026
This match almost isn’t fair; any time Penta, Je’Von Evans, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, JD McDognah, or Rusev are in a match, something spectacular is bound to happen. Putting the six of them together in a match, with ladders and one mission: to grab the Intercontinental Championship? You have show-stealing potential on your hands, and these six delivered during a stacked night of action (again, more on that later). Penta’s viral motto literally translates to “zero fear,” so seeing him diving through the air—off of ladders and/or over the ropes—is always a welcome thing of death-defying beauty. The true MVP of this bout is Evans, though; one of several impact players from this recent crop of NXT stars, the Young OG hit a particularly phenomenal Cutter on Rusev during this bout. Evans rose to the occasion, diving for the Intercontinental Championship and coming up with a bonafide WrestleMania Moment.
Roman Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu
Event: WWE Backlash
When: May 9, 2026
Before we eventually get into how (spoilers!) Roman Reigns brought the World Heavyweight Championship back to the Bloodline, we have to take a look at what he’s been doing since once again holding a world championship. As he is the Head of the Table, the OTC, Roman feels that his family should fall in line, respecting his spot in the family and working to further empower the Anoa’i, well, bloodline. Jacob Fatu, a Tasmanian Devil-esque whirlwind of raw power and energy, had other plans, with Roman’s nephew’s eye on the prize around Roman’s shoulder. Their beef went on for weeks, often coming to blows that would shock fans at the violence they’d enact on each other. That left nothing but Roman and Jacob to lock horns in the main event of Backlash. With Roman feeling like 2021 Bloodline Roman, it made sense that this match—which he won without the use of the Usos—saw Roman digging into that bag, playing intensely and dirty to secure the win. The shocking part is what happened after the bout, when Jacob locked the Tongan Death Grip around the throat of the Tribal Chief, a horrifying end to a bombastic bout.
Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi
Event: WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday
When: April 19, 2026
Aside from the main event of this evening (again, more on that later, promise), Brock Lesnar, one of the most intense beasts ever to set foot in a WWE ring, met Oba Femi, who many consider to be his replacement, in a Battle of the Giants. Their beef stemmed from the 2026 Royal Rumble, with Oba and Brock sizing each other up before properly being able to duke it out. Over the subsequent weeks, the writing was on the wall: if Oba Femi is on the main roster, the people wanted to see Oba and Brock fight. Their interactions leading into Mania kept the pot on boil; Lesnar’s dominance is the stuff of legend, but Femi felt like the only man capable of putting a stop to Lesnar’s reign of terror, which he did, live on ESPN. Oba Femi took some strong offense from Lesnar but ultimately shrugged it off, defeating Lesnar in Vegas in such a dominant fashion that Lesnar removed and left his gloves and boots in the ring, normally a sign of ending one’s career. This was a false flag, though, with Lesnar ultimately attacking Femi, setting up a bout in Italy that Lesnar eventually won. That isn’t to say that the moment isn’t one of 2026’s biggest, but one has to wonder: what would have happened if Lesnar actually did retire after this show-stealing bout?
CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns
Event: WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday
When: April 19, 2026
Recently, Paul Heyman has been talking about his approach to booking, which at times may involve understanding where you want things to be heading into the following year’s Mania, so you can then work backward to hit your big matches and moments. That mindset could have been a part of this Mania main event between Punk and Reigns, who’d been at odds since Punk made his return to WWE in 2023. With Roman as the Tribal Chief, putting the company on his back and riding into this new TKO era, it was only a matter of time before Punk and Roman would be doing battle one-on-one. Do remember that it was Punk who initially stole Heyman from Reigns, leading into WrestleMania 41 (before Rollins pulled the ultimate switch move); they’d been having knock-down, drag-out battles for over a year before Roman Reigns won the 2026 Royal Rumble and set the course for taking Punk’s title in Vegas. The build was as intense as it needed to be, and when the bell rang, Punk and Reigns showcased exactly why the WWE Universe was locked into their storyline. These are the two biggest WWE Superstars walking the Earth. Punk losing wasn’t a shock; as stated earlier, he’d been on a fierce run as World Heavyweight Champion, taking on all comers and making folks remember why he’s where he is.
Look, there is a lot of WWE programming out there, with matches on all of the time. It’s always great to sit back and take in a proper wrestling epic, one that brings back the proper main event feeling. The epics that make us remember why we still give a shit.
El Grande Americano vs. “Original” El Grande Americano
Event: Noches de los Grandes
When: May 30, 2026
There’s only one match that stands heads above everything else in WWE, and that’s the lucha de apuesta between El Grande Americano and the “Original” El Grande Americano, which surprisingly became one of the hottest storylines in Mexico.
Originally, El Grande Americano was said to be teaching Chad Gable (who had lost several matches to lucha libre stars on Raw) the art of lucha libre. Pretty quickly, there was no sign of Gable at all, but only this El Grande Americano figure, wrestling in a full mask and gaining traction amongst the WWE Universe. At one point, it was said there had been an injury to the original El Grande Americano, and another El Grande Americano emerged, sometimes with two or three Americanos as henchmen. After acquiring AAA in 2025, more WWE Superstars regularly make their way to wrestle on AAA’s weekly TV program, with this El Grande Americano not only being one of them, but making a real impact on the AAA audience. As he fully embraced Mexican culture, this El Grande Americano became a bigger fan favorite than the Original El Grande Americano ever was.
As these things usually go, the original El Grande Americano made his return and decided to take out his frustrations on this newer El Grande Americano, attacking him at every chance he got, seemingly for getting over in a way that he never could. After a number of vicious confrontations, AAA made it clear: only one Grande Americano could remain, and a Mask vs. Mask match was set.
Retelling that backstory is key; the crowd in the building that night was electric, seething with rage at the Original, cheering and praying for their El Grande Americano to be victorious. After a hard-fought bout, which featured callbacks from every character involved in the months-long program, El Grande Americano defeated the Original, who, after the bout, was revealed to be none other than Chad Gable himself! With his family in tow, Gable got his flowers from the crowd, who hated him an hour before, but appreciated him after his kind words and the performance they put on.
The bout was so epic that, the following Monday after Raw, WWE streamed an encore of the entire match on Netflix. El Grande Americano may not be able to leave Mexico.
