Hiya!

Isn’t it kind of sad how everyone’s talking about what happened at Survivor Series: Wargames but no one is actually talking about the matches which happened at Survivor Series: Wargames? Yep, everyone is all chatting about the return of CM Punk at the very end of the pay-per-view. and I understand that is indeed big news.

However, I do gotta talk about the 5 matches they had because Survivor Series: Wargames should be much more than CM Punk returning to the WWE after more than a decade away. So, let’s go check out the matches which happened during the show.

The first match of the night was the Women’s Wargames match. This had Bianca Belair’s team, consisting of herself, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Shotze taking on Damage CTRL, which had Bayley, IYO SKY, Asuka and Kairi Sane. I had a lot of high hopes for this match and, honestly, this just came off as really messy. Sure, there were some highlights to talk about, like Becky Lynch and Charlotte hugging and making up after several years, Charlotte Flair hitting a moonsault from the top of the cage, Dakota Kai handing out weapons from outside of the ring and, of course, that stupid, silly stunt which had IYO SKY put on a trash can over her head and drop down to splash on top of everyone. The problem for me was the pacing of it all. There were times when the heels had the huge advantage only for the faces to magically get the upper hand without much effort. It’s like I missed entire sequences when there should be a comeback.

The finish was kind of brilliant, with Bayley going above and beyond by saving everyone on her team from either a submission or a pinfall. It was all for naught at the end as, after Bayley ate a spear from Charlotte in order to save Sane from it, Shotzi hit a senton onto the supposed leader of Damage CTRL. Bayley then got hit with a Belair KOD and then Lynch’s Manhandle Slam from the 2nd rope through a table. No one was left to save Bayley, leading her to get pinned and Bianca Belair’s team winning the match.

This was a train wreck but not in the fun WWE way. Like I said, the face or heel team would suddenly start beating on the other team from out of nowhere. Some spots came off as clunky as they required too much setup. I normally like weapons being used in matches like Wargames but they didn’t feel as necessary here because of how clunky the spots became due to all the setup needed. This match was fun if you don’t really think about it too much, I guess?

The next match had The Miz trying to take the Intercontinental Championship from Gunther. Right off the bat, I wasn’t all that interested in this match because I never liked The Miz as a face. He’s just much better off as a heel but I guess they needed him to do something at Survivor Series that didn’t involve the Wargames stipulation. There was some smart in-ring storytelling, with The Miz trying to take out Gunther’s leg with moves such as a figure four around the ring post, but Gunther using his superior striking ability and power to just smack the offense out of The A-Lister when he started to get going.

The finish was actually smartly written, with The Miz taking off the corner pad of one of the turnbuckles and, when the official tried to re-secure it, The A-Lister did a Ric Flair and low blowed the Ring General and connected with a Skull Crushing Finale for a sweet 2-count. Gunther locked in a sleeperhold but The Miz ran into the exposed turnbuckle, smashing Gunther’s head into it, earning The Miz another near fall. A slugfest ensures with Gunther getting the advantage with a clothesline. Gunther then hit The Miz with a splash from the top rope and then locked in a Liontamer, of all things, to get the submission victory and retain his Intercontinental Championship.

This was better than it had any respect to be. I still can’t get behind a face Miz but the wrestling here was on point, with him still being incredibly wily and still using heel tactics to try to steal a win. Gunther did an admirably good job of making The Miz look like he could actually beat him for RAW’s workhorse title. I guess a lot of the drama was lost as no one really thought The Miz could beat Gunther… but for a split second here, maybe he could’ve.

The next match had Dragon Lee defending the honor of the lWo against the rebelling Santos Escobar. I’m glad the worked in the stupidity of Santos Escobar just leaving the brass knuckles on the ring apron, leading to Logan Paul using them and beating Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship at Crown Jewel. Still, why have Dragon Lee and not, I don’t know, Rey Mysterio? Anyway, this was an opportunity for Santos Escobar and the lWo to make me care and, sorry. It didn’t work. There were some impressive high-flying spots, like Dragon Lee’s suicide dive to the outside and Santos Escobar’s hurracurana from the top rope. The problem is I just don’t care about the feud and, because I don’t care about the result, I just didn’t care about the action, no matter how good it was.

The finish started as the two competitors duked it out in the middle of the ring with Dragon Lee hitting a sitout powerbomb for a 2-count. Escobar manages to reverse a spinning headscissors attempt into a Destroyer and then combos that into his Phantom Driver finisher for the pinfall victory. Yay, I guess.

If I were more into the feud, I guess I would’ve been more into the match. The action itself was actually above average if I were to be objective. Too bad I’m not. If there was a little more heat to the action, then I would say this was a top-notch match. It’s good but not great, in my opinion.

The second-to-the-last match for this year’s Survivor Series saw Rhea Ripley defending the RAW Women’s Championship against Zoey Starks. Look, I wanted to be more interested in this match but, like The Miz trying to take Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship, I just knew Zoey Starks didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to beat The Eradicator for the belt.

was the Men’s Wargames match. This had The Judgement Day’s team, formed by Finn Balor, Damien Priest, JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio and Drew McIntyre, taking on Cody Rhodes’ team of “Main Event” Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins and, supposedly, Randy Orton, who was late to the match and wasn’t even caged with the rest of his partners. Honestly, I can’t really say I was all that impressed with some of the “highlights” from this match, like Zoey Starks dropping down on Rhea Ripley from the top turnbuckle to the outside or that botched flip Zoey took when Ripley was tossing her from the top rope.

The finish came after Rhea kicked out of a belly-to-back suplex and running knee from Zoey Starks. Zoey went for the Z360 finisher but it’s blocked. A strikefest ensues with Ripley getting the upperhand with a headbutt. The Enforcer of The Judgement Day connects with her Riptide slam finisher to get the pinfall victory and retain her RAW Women’s Championship.

As I said earlier, there’s nothing much to talk about here. I guess it was a good showing for Zoey Starks but, frankly speaking, she didn’t stand a chance. The live crowd was hot for it but I wasn’t. It’s pretty much the epitome of a forgettable match as, while it was exciting while it was happening, there’s nothing about it which makes it stand out of all the other and much better matches Rhea Ripley has had.

The final match of the night was the Men’s Wargames bout. This had The Judgement Day, featuring Finn Balor, Damien Priest, JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio and Drew McIntyre, taking on Cody Rhodes’ team of himself, “Main Event” Jey Uso, Sami Zayn and Seth “Freakin'” Rollins and an absent for the time being Randy Orton. I have some issues with the overall flow of the match. For one thing, they kept on introducing weapons, which is fine in theory, but these weapons only make a single appearance and then they’re soon forgotten. I mean, Priest went into the Wargames cage with a baton and he just used it once! Same thing happened with Cody Rhodes pulling out the bullrope and Seth Rollins used the cowbell once to ring Balor’s bell once and that was it? Lame!

While I do love the progression of the match, with the heels generally dominating much more than the faces due to the advantage they had, this Wargames just didn’t have anything I could write home about when it came to actual action. There were some neat visual spots, like every face ganging up on Dominik before he could finish hitting the Three Amigos suplexes and the heels performing their top rope finishers on the faces. After that, I can’t really think of anything of note.

What did make the match fun was the finish. As the time came when Randy Orton was supposed to make his entrance, our came Rhea Ripley with Priest’s Money in the Bank briefcase and attempted to cash it in on Rollins, who was downed after getting nailed with a Razor’s Edge through a table. Just when the cash-in was supposed to be a done deal, Orton’s music hit and out sauntered the Viper to clean house.

The finish came after all the faces channeled Randy Orton and hit each of the members of The Judgement Day with the Viper’s draping DDT signature move. It looked like Jey Uso and Orton were going to brawl as it was the Bloodline who put Orton on the shelf in the first place. However, Jey Uso saved the returning Superstar by superkicking Priest, who tried to blindside him. Orton then hit an RKO on Dirty Dom while Rollins hit a Curb Stomp to Priest on the steel plate in the middle of the rings. Cody hit a Cody Cutter on Balor to take him out and Zayn hit McIntyre with a Helluva Kick and Main Event Jey Uso put the exclamation point with a Samoan Splash.

This did leave JD McDonagh all by his lonesome and he tried to climb the cage to escape. Zayn and Rollins stopped him. This led to the spot of the night, with Zayn and Rollins tossing McDonagh off the top of the cage and into a waiting Randy Orton who nailed the Irishman with an RKO while he plummeted. Granted, it looked more like JD crashed into the mat but adding the RKO just looked sweet. Cody then hit a very unnecessary Cross Rhodes on McDonagh to get the pinfall victory for his team.

While I can’t really remember many highlights from this match, I will say the in-ring storytelling of the heels using the Wargames advantage was entertaining enough to keep me watching. The finish was also a blast to see, with Orton not only preventing Priest from cashing in Money in the Bank, but also hitting that beautiful RKO on McDonagh. I wish there was a more conscientious effort to make the weapon work more worthwhile or, at least, reuse some of them. Still, this was fun and entertaining throughout.

Now, while Survivor Series: Wargames should be officially over as all the matches have been concluded, the WWE had one more surprise for the live Chicago crowd as, while the faces were celebrating in the ring, static interrupted the victory and In Living Color’s Cult of Personality started blaring, signaling the return of CM Punk to do… nothing, really. He just stood there and basked in the cheers of the hometown crowd. Yay?

I’ve already talked about my thoughts on CM Punk returning to the WWE fold so I’m not really going to get into deep analysis here. Rather, I’d just like to talk about my reaction and my reaction was pretty hyped at that moment. It was a fantastic and shocking reveal and, in a time when so many wrestling insiders spoiling stuff and how predictable the WWE can be, this was a pleasant feeling and a dope way to close the show.

Overall, this year’s Survivor Series: Wargames comes off as greater than the sum of the individual parts. While I can’t say there was anything really exceptional this year, I did have a warm and fuzzy feeling when all was said and done. I do hope they refine the Wargames concept with better in-ring storytelling, like using the Chekov’s Gun concept with some of the spots in the future. Still, this was a fine WWE pay-per-view event when all is said and done.

Byee!

What did you think of this year’s WWE Survivor Series: Wargames? Let me know in the comments section below!