WWE star to captain Team USA at Survivor Series 2026: Three names that could be named leader for traditional five vs. five elimination tag match

For the first time since 2021, WWE Survivor Series will see a traditional five vs. five elimination tag team match take place when this year’s event takes place in Houston on November 28.

As confirmed by Rey Mysterio on What’s Your Story? with Steph McMahon, the match will see Team USA take on Team Mexico, but only Mysterio himself has been confirmed as the leader of Team Mexico at the time of writing.

Looking at the WWE roster, we can identify a few names that could very well take up the position of team captain; leading their squad into battle in three weeks time.

Here are three WWE stars that could potentially be named captain of Team USA at Survivor Series 2026:

Cody Rhodes

When thinking of Team USA, it’s impossible not to immediately think of THE “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes.

Rhodes is about as USA as it gets, and thusly would make for a perfect choice to lead his team at Survivor Series. The only thing that may prevent him from doing so is if he finds himself back in contention to challenge Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Title at the event.

CM Punk

Another star whose preferred plans would likely involve an Undisputed WWE Title challenge is CM Punk. However, with Punk losing to Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred match on the November 4 SmackDown, it’s difficult to imagine he would be above “The Prizefighter” in the pecking order for that opportunity.

If WWE want to keep Punk in a high profile spot for Survivor Series, but not have him involved in the WWE Title picture, they could have him lead Team USA at Survivor Series.

LA Knight

WWE fans haven’t seen LA Knight in almost a month, with his last appearance being a subdued backstage interview on the October 11 Raw; one night after failing to dethrone Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank.

Fans speculated that Knight’s dejection about losing to Reigns, and seeing his friend Solo Sikoa rejoin The Bloodline, would lead to Knight perhaps joining The 946’s team for WarGames, or at least some kind of revenge plot/heel turn. So far that has not happened, and with The 946’s recruitment of Cruz Montana, any chance of an outsider teaming with them at WarGames has now gone out the window.

Knight’s next steps really need to be relevant to what has happened to him over the past few years; the setbacks he’s faced and his failure to win “the big one.” If it’s anything else, his chances of returning to world title contention won’t be looking all that bright.

Captaining Team USA would be a mediocre substitute for actual interesting character development, but in WWE’s eyes it would at least get one of their most popular stars back on TV and involved in Survivor Series.

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