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Team Wahlberg beats Team Piven in a DreamBreaker at the Worlds celebrity showdown

Two players in the middle of a rally at an indoor pickleball tournament

By Pickleball Skill Levels · November 7, 2026 · 3 min read · Last updated November 7, 2026

Mark Wahlberg's team edged Jeremy Piven's team 15-13 in a DreamBreaker at Thursday's MUNICIPAL Celebrity Pickleball Showdown at the World Championships.

At a glance

Published · November 7, 2026

Read time · 3 min

The loudest match of Worlds week was not a pro match at all. Team Wahlberg defeated Team Piven in a DreamBreaker on Thursday evening at the MUNICIPAL Celebrity Pickleball Showdown presented by Corient, on Powerball Championship Court at the Opendoor Pickleball World Championships, as reported by DropThePickle. The line score tells the story of a match that swung back and forth all night: 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 4-11, 15-13.

A DreamBreaker is the tiebreaker format used when a team match is level — and 15-13 is about as close as one can finish. Neither side ran away with it: the two teams split the first four games, with big margins in both directions, before the decider came down to the last few rallies.

Who was on court

The celebrity lineup was built for a crowd. Celebrities on the court included Mark Wahlberg, Sean O'Malley, Jeremy Piven, Isabelle Harrison, John Isner, Richard Rawlings and Lauren Riihimaki, paired with pros Ben Johns, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, Jack Sock, Brooke Buckner, Roscoe Bellamy, Tyson McGuffin and Lacy Schneemann.

Per the pickleball.com recap cited in the report, Team Wahlberg was Wahlberg, O'Malley, Harrison, Johns, Bright, Schneemann and Sock. Team Piven was Piven, Rawlings, Riihimaki, Isner, McGuffin, Fahey, Buckner and Bellamy.

A ball dropping just over the net tape into the kitchen, close-up

Why shows like this matter

Celebrity showdowns do a job the pro draws cannot: they put the sport in front of people who came for the famous names and stay for the rallies. A former tennis pro like Isner, an MMA star like O'Malley and a headline name like Wahlberg sharing a court with Johns, Bright and Fahey is the kind of crossover night that fills seats around the main event — and Thursday's finish, decided by two points in a DreamBreaker, gave the crowd a real match instead of an exhibition stroll.

For everyday players, the format is worth stealing. Team nights with rotating partners and a deciding breaker are exactly how many local groups run their most popular sessions — our explainer on what open play is covers how those sessions usually work, and our guide to pickleball etiquette covers the unwritten rules that keep them fun. Want to know where your own game stands? Take the free skill check.

Source: DropThePickle, "Team Wahlberg beats Team Piven in a DreamBreaker at the MUNICIPAL Celebrity Showdown at Worlds" (Nov. 6, 2026), summarizing the pickleball.com recap. Line score and team rosters as reported there.

Now find out where YOU stand

Reading about levels is step one. The free skill check scores your six shots and names your level — and your weakest shot — in about two minutes.

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Pickleball words, in plain English

Players throw these words around like everyone knows them. Here is what each one actually means.

Kitchen
The 7-foot zone right at the net. You can stand in it, but you can't hit the ball out of the air while you're there.
Dink
A soft, gentle shot that just clears the net and lands in the kitchen. It forces the other side to hit up, not down.
Third-shot drop
Your team's first shot after the serve and return. Hit it soft so it drops into the kitchen — that lets you walk up to the net.
Reset
When a hard shot comes at you, you block it softly into the kitchen instead of swinging back. It slows the point down and saves you.
Drive
A hard, fast shot hit low over the net. The opposite of a dink.
Pop-up
A ball you hit too high by accident. It hangs in the air, and the other side gets to smash it. Most points at low levels end this way.
Speed up
To suddenly hit the ball hard and fast on purpose, to rush the other side before they're ready.
Volley
Hitting the ball out of the air before it bounces.