WWE 2K26 Leak Reveals 4 New Match Types and CM Punk Showcase

Four new match types are reported to be on the way for WWE 2K26 after not making it into last year’s entry in the series, along with a showcase mode built around CM Punk. There have been a ton of different wrestling match types in WWE rings throughout the decades, and the modern games by Visual Concepts have put a focus on adding as many as possible.

WWE 2K25‘s new match types included Intergender Matches, Underground Matches, and the popular Bloodline Rules matches, in which three of each competitor’s friends or faction members would rush the ring to provide interference at different intervals. The previous year, WWE 2K24 introduced Special Guest Referee Matches, Casket Matches, Ambulance Matches, and three different types of Gauntlet Matches, keeping the series’ gameplay fresh as the years roll along.

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New Match Types Leaked for WWE 2K26

3 Stages of Hell Match
Dumpster Match
I Quit Match
Inferno Match

Now, a new report indicates that three match types that haven’t been seen in official WWE games for years will be coming in WWE 2K26. According to Insider Gaming, the I Quit Match, Inferno Match, and 3 Stages of Hell Match types will all make their grand returns later this year, and the next game in the franchise will also include the Dumpster Match. Both the I Quit Match, in which players must force their opponents to announce their submission into a microphone, and the Inferno Match, which requires them to burn their opponents with ever-growing flames around the ring, have been missing from 2K and Visual Concepts’ games since having last appeared in WWE 2K14. Meanwhile, the WWE 2K games have never technically featured the 3 Stages of Hell, a two-out-of-three falls premise in which each match follows different rules, but it was included in THQ and Yuke’s’ Smackdown vs. Raw series.

As for the remaining match type, not much information has been leaked about how it will play out in the game, but there’s a likely chance that fans of the 2K games will find a very similar format to some other matches introduced in WWE 2K24. In wrestling, a Dumpster Match is typically won by tossing an opponent into the big, titular garbage-collecting container and slamming the lid shut with them inside. That’s very similar to the way that wrestlers typically win an Ambulance Match or Casket Match in WWE, but with a different prop. Both of those match types play out in much the same way in WWE 2K games, with players weakening and stunning their opponents before tossing them inside the casket or ambulance, then going through a series of button-mashing tests to secure the victory.

CM Punk Showcase Coming in WWE 2K26

The leak also includes information that states current World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk will be featured in the series’ annual Showcase Mode, which should bring players highlights of some of his best matches across WWE and, potentially, ECW. CM Punk’s return in WWE 2K24 was easily one of the biggest highlights of its Season Pass, standing front and center in the ECW Punk Pack DLC that was released in May 2024. With five different versions of the Straight-Edge Superstar included in WWE 2K25 and an OVR rating of 92 on his base model, fans can likely expect even more character models and higher stats in this year’s entry.

The report also states that Intergender Matches will remain as part of the series heading into WWE 2K26, letting players take full advantage of both the women’s and men’s rosters. While it’s not coming from the same source, a video featuring Logan Paul indicates WWE 2K26 may put more focus on the Attitude Era. An older logo from the early 2000s was featured in that video, which could indicate more Attitude or Ruthless Aggression content coming soon to the game series. With its vast Legends roster, the WWE 2K series already features a hefty number of Attitude Era stars like The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The New Age Outlaws, and the potential for even more content from the beloved time period could indicate even more Legends coming soon.