When it was announced that Showcase Mode in WWE 2K26 would focus on the career of CM Punk, many fans immediately wondered if his legendary WWE Championship match against John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011 would be included. Unfortunately, it isn’t.
The match is widely considered to be one of the most important moments of the modern WWE era. Punk entered the bout white hot following his explosive “Pipe Bomb” promo, challenging Cena for the WWE Championship in his hometown of Chicago. On top of that, Punk’s WWE contract was coming up on its expiration, suggesting that he could leave the company with its most coveted prize.
However, despite its importance to Punk’s career, the match is noticeably absent from the Showcase lineup in WWE 2K26. While 2K and WWE have not officially explained the omission, there are some fairly clear reasons why recreating the bout may have been difficult.
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It Comes Down To Licensing… And Controversy
To properly portray Punk’s lauded match against Cena at Money in the Bank 2011, you have to cover a lot of things. For one, you have to include the “Pipe Bomb” promo, as it provided the hook for the match itself. In the promo, Punk took aim at several high-ranking WWE officials, including Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis. Both McMahon and Laurinaitis would get involved in the match at Money in the Bank, with McMahon going as far as to try to get Money in the Bank winner Alberto Del Rio to cash in his briefcase after the match.
So, here’s the problem — McMahon, Laurinaitis, and Del Rio are no longer with WWE. This means that, to include them, they would have to negotiate a licensing agreement independently to put them in the game. Making a video game is expensive as it is when accounting only for development and marketing, so it’s unlikely that 2K and WWE would go out of their way to license the images and likenesses of anyone they don’t already have access to, outside of a big get.
But licensing and legalities aren’t the only things holding the powers that be back from getting these three into WWE 2K26. Beyond the practicalities, all three have been accused of some rather heinous things outside of wrestling.
Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis were both given the axe by WWE in 2022 following troubling accusations from a former WWE employee. Del Rio — also known as Alberto El Patrón outside of WWE circles — has faced similar accusations and was even exiled from Mexican promotion AAA after WWE purchased it in 2025. Taking that into consideration, it’s quite obvious why nobody in either WWE or 2K’s camp would want them included in their video game.
Unfortunately, for WWE 2K26 players, this means that recreating Punk’s iconic matchup against Cena at Money in the Bank 2011 is virtually impossible, barring some major revisionism that would likely dilute (if not outright ruin) the match itself. And, quite frankly, it sucks, as it is the match that essentially made Punk in WWE and helped propel him into the company’s upper echelon of stars. But, it is what it is.
Published: Mar 10, 2026 02:01 pm