All WWE 2K26 Showcase mode matches and rewards

The Showcase mode in WWE 2K26 introduces some amazing rewards that you can grind for, and it includes new superstars, managers, and more.

The Showcase mode has 21 different battles, featuring different stars and eras. Let’s look at what the contests look like, the featured superstars, and the rewards on offer.

All WWE 2K26 Showcase mode matches

The table has a list of all 21 matches, along with their respective promos and event dates (based on real life).

Featured Superstars	Promos	Date
CM Punk vs. JBL	SummerSlam	Aug. 17, 2008
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio	Armageddon	Dec. 14, 2008
CM Punk vs. Randy Orton	WrestleMania 27	Apr. 3, 2011
CM Punk vs. The Undertaker	WrestleMania 29	Apr. 7, 2013
CM Punk vs. John Cena	RAW	Feb. 25, 2013
CM Punk vs. The Rock	Elimination Chamber	Feb. 17, 2013
CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar	SummerSlam	Aug. 18, 2013
CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre	Bad Blood	Oct. 5, 2024
CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins	RAW	Jan. 6, 2025
CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns	WrestleMania 41	Apr. 19, 2025
Bret “Hit Man” Hart vs. Shawn Michaels	Survivor Series	Nov. 9, 1997
CM Punk vs. Cactus Jack	ECW Hardcore Heaven	Right Now
CM Punk vs “Stone Cold” Steve Austin	CM Punkvilion	Right Now
CM Punk vs Eddie Guerrero	WrestleMania XXX	Right Now
CM Punk vs. Triple H	WrestleMania XXX	Apr. 6, 2014
CM Punk vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton	WrestleMania XXX	Apr. 6, 2014
CM Punk vs. John Cena	RAW	Jul. 27, 2015
CM Punk vs. AJ Styles	WrestleMania 32	Apr. 3, 2016
CM Punk vs. Kurt Angle	WrestleMania 35	Apr. 7, 2019
CM Punk vs. The Fiend Bray Wyatt	WrestleMania 37	Apr. 11, 2021
CM Punk and AJ Lee vs. The Miz and Maryse	CM Punkvilion	Right Now

All WWE 2K26 Showcase mode rewards

Match	Match Rewards	Objective Rewards
Punk vs JBL	SummerSlam 2008 Arena	CM Punk SummerSlam ’08 (Superstar) JBL (Superstar)
Punk vs Mysterio	Armageddon 2008 Arena	CM Punk Armageddon ’08 (Superstar) Rey Mysterio ’08 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Orton	WrestleMania 27 Arena	CM Punk ’11 (Superstar) Randy Orton ’11 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Undertaker	WrestleMania 29 Arena Paul Heyman (WrestleMania 29 Attire)	CM Punk WM29 (Superstar) Undertaker ’13 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Cena	RAW 2013 Arena	CM Punk ’13 (Superstar) John Cena ’13 (Superstar)
Punk vs. The Rock	Elimination Chamber 2013 Arena	CM Punk Elimination Chamber ’13 (Superstar) The Rock ’13 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Brock Lesnar	SummerSlam 2013 Arena Paul Heyman (SummerSlam 2013 Attire)	CM Punk SummerSlam ’13 (Superstar) Brock Lesnar ’13 (Superstar)
Punk vs. McIntyre	Bad Blood 2024 Arena	CM Punk (Bad Blood 2024 Attire) Drew McIntyre (Superstar)
Punk vs. Rollins	RAW 2025 Debut Arena	CM Punk (RAW 2025 Debut Attire) Seth Rollins ’25 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Rollins vs. Reigns	Paul Heyman (WrestleMania 41 Attire)	CM Punk (WrestleMania 41 Attire) Seth Rollins WM41 (Superstar)
Hart vs Michaels	Survivor Series 1997 Arena WWE Championship ’88-’98 WWE European Championship	CM Hart (Superstar) Shawn Michaels ’97 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Jack	ECW Hardcore Heaven 1994 Arena	Cactus Jack (Superstar)
Punk vs. Steve Austin	N/A	“Stone Cold” Steve Austin (Superstar)
Punk vs. Guerrero	N/A	Eddie Guerrero (Superstar)
Punk vs. Triple H	Stephanie McMahon ’14 (Manager)	Triple H ’14 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Batista vs. Orton	WrestleMania 30 Arena	Randy Orton ’14 (Superstar) Batista (Superstar)
Punk vs. Cena	RAW 2015 Arena	John Cena ’15 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Styles	WrestleMania 32 Arena	AJ Styles ’16 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Angle	WrestleMania 35 Arena	Kurt Angle ’19 (Superstar)
Punk vs. Bray Wyatt	WrestleMania 37 Arena	The Fiend Bray Wyatt (Superstar)
Punk and Lee vs. Miz and Maryse	CM Punkvilion Arena CM Punk (MyFACTION Evo Card) AJ Lee (MyFACTION Evo Card)	The Miz ’17 (Superstar) Maryse (Superstar) Maryse (Alt. Attire)

The post All WWE 2K26 Showcase mode matches and rewards appeared first on Destructoid.

Marathon is finally out. The game, which saw huge activity during its free-to-play server slam, replicated its previous success by opening to over 86,000 players, this time at a $40 price tag. Of course, this is being described as a “flop” by some, because we simply cannot have nice things in 2026.

Negative narratives around basically anything nowadays tend to form rather quickly, often propagated by people (and of course bots) who never actually experienced the thing they’re hating. It seems that nowadays, following the “Fall of Concord” back in 2024, games have to blow it out of the park every single time lest they be considered complete failures.

Highguard was a recent example, and even if that game doesn’t really scream quality at the top of its lungs, it certainly didn’t deserve the hate train coming its way, boarded almost exclusively by those without any hours clocked in the title.

And now Marathon is on the chopping block.

During its development, Marathon was marred by problems and hitches. It had several directors swapped out, had a few playtests that weren’t so well-received by those who participated in them, and so on. It crossed out every prerequisite for “development hell,” indicating the actual release would be a terrible experience for Bungie and perhaps the final nail in its coffin.

But that turned out not to be true, even during the server slam. It had over 130,000 concurrent players at that point and has over 86,000 now that the game costs $40 U.S. dollars. Nothing about Marathon tells us that it’s a flop or a failure or even underperforming for that matter.

And those are just the Steam numbers, which I imagine represent about half of its total player base, if not less.

The hate train keeps chugging along, however, no matter what.

While browsing X, I spotted one user arguing that, since Marathon is performing worse than Destiny and the recently released Slay the Spire 2 (which costs about 50 percent less than Marathon), it must be considered a “complete flop of a game” and, of course, as “Concord 3.0″ (the other one being Highguard).

“Marathon is dead on arrival,” another user wrote. Dexerto, a video game outlet, also compared Slay the Spire 2‘s performance to Marathon, saying the former “beats out” Bungie’s shooter, as if the two were ever comparable, both in price and genre.

The narrative is forming and slowly being propagated by so many people and even news outlets, who use superficial arguments to frame a game as a failure despite the fact that it had probably earned over three and a half million USD if we go by Steam’s concurrent numbers alone, which are in fact much larger, especially when consoles are taken into account.

And what’s worse, it’s people who either didn’t play the game or haven’t even seen what it has to offer. Those who did say it’s a good title, with it having 81 percent positive reviews on Steam at the time of writing, which improved as the launch day progressed, and are set to grow as time goes by.

Compare that to Highguard‘s 45 percent and its myriad of regions that have it at mostly negative or even worse. Highguard was also a free game that ended up flopping, whereas Marathon is already raking in a lot of cash that should see it sustained for the foreseeable future.

Online arguments and narratives have become so toxic and tiresome, to the point where I’m almost willing to give up on trying to reason with people and to pragmatically view every single game on a case-by-case basis. Why do we have to go out of our way to frame things negatively before they’re even out or without trying them for ourselves, at least for a little while?

I have every hope that Marathon will succeed and grow into a great game, because as I noted in one of my recent features, its art direction deserves all the praise it can get, as that’d prove to developers that giving a damn about looks (not just in terms of graphics) is crucial for a successful title.

The post Marathon opens to great numbers on Steam—but a hateful narrative is already forming because this is the internet in 2026 appeared first on Destructoid.