WWE Survivor Series 2025 Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights

WWE Survivor Series returned Saturday night, headlined by the men's and women's WarGames matches at Petco Park in San Diego.

Who emerged victorious from those marquee matchups, and did John Cena successfully defend his Intercontinental Championship against Dominik Mysterio in his final appearance at the annual premium live event?

Find out, along with live grades, highlights and reaction from the event, in this recap.

Lineup

Michael Marques/WWE via Getty Images

Announced ahead of Sunday's show were:

Men's WarGames match: CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and The Usos vs. Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre, Brock Lesnar, Bronson Reed, and Bron Breakker

Women's WarGames match: Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and AJ Lee vs. Asuka, Kairi Sane, Nia Jax, Lash Legend, and Becky Lynch

Intercontinental Championship: John Cena (c) vs. Dominik Mysterio

Women's World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Nikki Bella

Women's WarGames Match

WWE

Participants: Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley, AJ Lee, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss vs. Lash Legend, Nia Jax, Becky Lynch, Asuka, and Kairi Sane

Flair and Ripley silenced all doubters about their ability to coexist Saturday night when The Queen saved The Eradicator from Asuka's blinding mist and sparked a comeback for her team.

Flair, Ripley and their teammates survived a dominant performance from the heels, capitalized on the opening created by The Empress of Tomorrow and teed off on Lynch in the closing moments of the match.

With The Man reeling from a hard right from Bliss and a Riptide from Mami, Lee applied the Black Widow and forced a tapout for the victory.

Result

Ripley, Sky, Flair, Bliss, and Lee defeated Lynch, Legend, Jax, Asuka, and Sane

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

Flair honored seven-year-old fan Scarlett with new tribute gear. Jax drew from the San Diego Padres' vibrant City Connect color scheme, while Ripley's mask and gear nodded to the Terrifier horror-film series.

Legend entering last for the heels gave her a few spotlight moments that put her over as a dominant force of the future, despite her relative inexperience.

Sky's big spot never gets old and for the sake of the match as a whole, it set up Lynch to get her comeuppance in grand fashion, all while Lee again got the last laugh.

There were pacing issues early, but Ripley's arrival brought a greater sense of urgency and invoked the biggest reaction of the match to that point. From there on, it was golden, with the right stars getting the spotlight and the right team going over.

Intercontinental Championship: John Cena vs. Dominik Mysterio

Last Time In Action: John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Sheamus defeated Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh, and Finn Balor (Raw, November 17)

Cena will not enter his final match on December 13 with the Intercontinental Championship after losing it in an interference-heavy, sports-entertainment spectacle to Mysterio.

Dirty Dom did everything in his power to escape his hometown of San Diego with the belt, faking a shoulder injury, relying on interference from every member of The Judgment Day, removing his own boot, and attempting to use the championship.

Cena recovered from or evaded all of it.

Along the way, both the champ and challenger kicked out of each other's finishers. Then came a referee bump and the return of Liv Morgan, who rushed to the ring and proceeded to slap her beau, Mysterio. She then leapt into the arms of Cena, only for her demeanor to change.

She kicked Cena low, Mysterio delivered a frog splash, and the second-generation star became a two-time IC champion.

Result

Mysterio defeated Cena to win the title

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

Monster pop for Dirty Dom. That, coupled with all the media appearances he has made over the last week, reflects the idea WWE sees him as a star now and in the future.

Cena shared a special moment at the top of the aisle with cameraman Stu, whose son was running cable for his father. On a night when his match is as much about the guy he is sharing the ring with, it is no surprise The Unseen 17 took a moment to focus on someone outside of himself in his last PLE appearance.

Cena sold for Perez and Rodriguez, bumping for the Tejana Bomb and Pop Rox, before the official booted them from ringside.

This wasn't the emotional, red-hot match their original battle in Boston was, this was still a sports-entertainment-heavy bout that kept fans engaged and ended with the long-awaited return of Morgan.

Women's World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Nikki Bella

Last Time in Action: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Raquel Rodriguez (Raw, November 10); Nikki Bella and Vaquer lost to Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez (Raw, November 3)

La Primera overcame the challenge of her Hall of Fame opponent Saturday night in San Diego, fended off a bum knee and successfully retained her Women's World Championship.

Bella jumped Vaquer from the opening bell, beating her down and looking to get the upper hand early. The champion countered the veteran early, but an injured knee and a Bella Buster on the floor turned the tide in the heel's favor.

Vaquer fought from underneath, delivered two Devil's Kisses and added her corkscrew moonsault for the pinfall victory.

Result

Vaquer defeated Bella to retain her title

Grade

C

Top Moments and Takeaways

Bella appears far more comfortable now than she was when she was clearly shaken by Becky Lynch a few months back. For someone who is a crossover star and does not need pro wrestling, it is a testament to her that she has continued to work to regain her previous level of success.

The women were in an unenviable position, taking to the ring after the Cena-Mysterio match and a big return from Morgan, but they turned in a quality bout. Bella was as strong in the ring as she has been in her comeback, and Vaquer was her typical great self. The crowd was not into it initially, but it got there by the end.

Men's WarGames Match

Participants: Jimmy Uso, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and Jey Uso vs. Drew McIntyre, Bronson Reed, Brock Lesnar, Bron Breakker, and Logan Paul

For the first time since 2022, the heels won the Men's WarGames match at Survivor Series Saturday night.

Late in the hard-hitting, high-impact main event, Punk had momentum on his side after dropping Paul with GTS when a mystery assailant entered the cage. He rocked the world heavyweight champion with a short superkick, then added a Stomp, suggesting it was Seth Rollins.

However, The Visionary is fresh off of labrum surgery, as Wade Barrett reminded the audience on commentary.

Breakker fired up, delivered a spear to win the match for his team by pinning The Best in the World.

After the heels celebrated, Reigns helped Punk to his feet and expressed frustration with Rhodes, telling him it was the last time they would ever team as the show went off the air.

Result

Lesnar, Breakker, Reed, Paul, and McIntyre defeated Punk, Rhodes, The Usos, and Reigns

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

Breakker took a sickening Doomsday Device from Punk and Rhodes, landing directly on his head and neck.

WWE commentary had to cover for Lesnar leaving the squared circle and not suffering a loss by forfeit.

The match was action-packed and had the fans into it, but this ultimately felt like the latest chapter in a rivalry more than the feud-ending encounter it should be. Nothing feels resolved. We now have the mystery of who is under the mask and weeks of Rollins teases and hints of another Reigns-Rhodes match.

The creative team should consider doing away with WarGames for the foreseeable future if there is not going to be a worthy feud or story to build it around.

The match felt centered on two or three Superstars with nothing else for the rest of the participants to do outside of bumping around.

Overall Grade

Meg Oliphant/WWE via Getty Images

Survivor Series 2025 will be remembered for John Cena's final premium live event match, "that time Rhea Ripley dressed up like Art the Clown," Liv Morgan's return, and two namesake matches that did not live up to the building of the iconic gimmick bout.

The mystery assailant in the main event may pique interest, but there was not a lot here to intrigue fans or set them off on the road to WrestleMania in a way that created any anticipation for the biggest show of the year.

Grade: B-