Roman Reigns defeats CM Punk to win World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42

Roman Reigns beat CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 42, closing WWE’s biggest annual showcase with a finish built around star power, championship stakes and next-day conversation. The two-night event at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas ran across Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, 2026, and was streamed live on the ESPN App in the United States and on Netflix internationally.

Reigns entered the match after winning the 2026 Royal Rumble, and the bout marked his 11th WrestleMania main event, the most of any performer in company history. WWE and ESPN framed the Reigns-Punk match as the culmination of months of feuding, and the main event gave the company a marquee ending for a card designed to keep viewers engaged across 13 matches and eight championship bouts.

Night 2 began with a different kind of signal about WWE’s direction. Oba Femi defeated Brock Lesnar in Femi’s WrestleMania debut, a high-profile placement that immediately elevated Femi while also raising fresh questions about Lesnar’s future after he left his gloves and boots in the ring. That image became one of the most talked-about details from the night because it suggested an exit, or at least a pause, from one of WWE’s most recognizable names.

The title changes kept coming. Trick Williams defeated Sami Zayn to win the United States Title, and Rhea Ripley beat Jade Cargill to claim the WWE Women’s Championship. Those results helped WWE turn the second night into a reshuffling of the championship picture rather than a single main-event payoff, giving the company multiple clips, talking points and replayable moments to push across its media platforms.

WWE announced nearly 10 months earlier that Las Vegas would host WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium, and the city again functioned as a showcase for the company’s biggest live-entertainment property. With streaming distribution on ESPN’s app in the U.S. and Netflix abroad, the event’s booking choices carried business value beyond the arena, with Reigns, Punk, Lesnar, Femi and Ripley anchoring a night built to dominate the conversation after the bell.