Hiya!

I know we’re already 3 years into the new WarGames match stipulation but I’m still not really used to Survivor Series changing so much. It’s not that I don’t like WarGames but there is a part of me which still yearns for the traditional 5-vs-5 elimination matches of Survivor Series pay-per-views of yore. Still, if the WWE can pull off a really good Survivor Series: WarGames show, then that twinge of longing won’t be so prominent. So, let’s go see if the WWE did do so this year.

The first match of the night was the Women’s WarGames match with the face team consisting of Bianca BelAir, Bayley, IYO SKY, Naomi and Rhea Ripley taking on the heels, featuring Nia Jax, Candice LeRae, Tiffany Straton, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan. I know one of the attractions of WarGames is how one team can get the temporary advantage over the other due to an immediate number advantage. There’s also the fact how the match doesn’t really officially start until all the participants have officially entered the match. The problem for this specific match is everything that happened prior to Rhea Ripley entering the cage felt like filler. There’s also the matter of the number of botches and clunky moments which happened throughout the match, which made the action come off as really haphazard.

Even so, as I mentioned earlier, things did get good once Rhea Ripley got in the ring as everything did seem to run more smoothly. There were a few cool moments but they were mostly storyline beats rather than the normal action-oriented ones. Things like Tiffany Staton hiding her Money in the Bank briefcase in the trash can she tossed into the cage, Raquel Rodriguez getting handcuffed to the top rope thanks to Rhea Ripley’s ingenuity and the heels holding down Rhea Ripley while Liv Morgan went to town on her rival with a baseball bat. I guess the dual moonsault by Tiffany Straton and IYO SKY (who put on a trash can) from the top of the cage was neat but, as they did it from opposite rings, it was kind of hard to get the entire picture for the full effect.

The finish came after Liv Morgan connected a codebreaker with a chair to Rhea. Morgan set the Eradicator on a table and climbed the top turnbuckle but Rhea recovered and climbed up after her. It looked like Morgan was going to get the better of her archrival with an avalanche version of her Ob-Liv-ion finisher but Ripley blocked it. Ripley transitioned over to hit Liv with her Riptide finisher from the top turnbuckle through the table to get the pinfall victory for her team.

This opening match was both bad and good. Everything prior to Rhea Ripley making it into the cage just felt rather blah but things really did get better once she and Liv Morgan got in and the WarGames match officially started. Still, I do wish we didn’t have to sit through the doldrum of around 30 minutes of clumsy action to get to the good stuff.

The 2nd match of the night was for the 2nd biggest prize on Smackdown, the United States Championship. This had LA Knight defending the belt against the returning Shinusuke Nakamura. No real highlights to speak about here but just good, solid overall in-ring work. LA Knight using more standard wrestling moves while Shinusuke Nakamura going all out with some really inventive strikes. Although rather plain on paper, the action was still good thanks to some really good selling and crowd interactions. Still, I did love that one instance with Knight busting out a torture rack into a side fallaway slam to Nakamura. That looked good enough to be a finisher, in my opinion.

The finish came after the Nakamura kicked out of a hopping elbow from the top rope by LA Knight. The Megastar set up for his BFT finisher but Shinusuke wisely rolled under the bottom rope and into the middle part where both rings were joined. The duo tried dueling suplexes but Nakamura got the upper hand with a rake to the eyes and transitioned into a reverse DDT to the steel plate in between the two rings. Nakamura then follows up with his Kinshasha finisher on a kneeling Knight to get the pinfall victory and become your NEW United States Champion!

Maybe this isn’t the slobber knocker you were expecting but this was just a solid match through and through. I can’t say it was all that memorable but I do like how they actually used the WarGames stipulation, as there were two rings connected with a metal plate, despite it not being a WarGames match. Still, I have no illusions I’ll remember anything from this besides the outcome of the match as nothing exceptional really did happen here.

The next match was for the 2nd biggest prize on RAW, the Intercontinental Championship. This had Bron Brekker defending the title in a Triple Threat against Sheamus and Ludwig Kaiser. The WWE has been doing an incredible job with their Triple Threat matches as of late as, despite being more than 2 competitors, every person gets to be involved instead of one of them hanging on the outside to take a breather. This is another one of those matches. I loved the physicality of both Bron Brekker and Sheamus here. Having Ludwin Kaiser do a sneaky thing here and there just added the right amount of spice to this match to keep things exciting.

The finish came after Sheamus was about to get the 3-count on Brekker after the latter hit a Brogue Kick but Kaiser dragged the referee to the outside, breaking the count. An irate Celtic Warrior went after Imperium’s Number 2 man only to eat a shillelagh to the ribs. Kaiser then started to wail blows on Sheamus with the shillelagh and, as Triple Threat matches don’t have DQs, this was perfectly legal. Sheamus did recover and hit Kaiser with a big knee for a 2 count. Kaiser hit a rolling senton and tried to follow up but Sheamus reversed it into a fireman’s carry but Kaiser got out of the hold by hitting Sheamus’ freshly injured ribs. Kaiser took out Sheamus with a rolling DDT but Bron Brekker hit a brutal spear to Kaiser as he celebrated. Brekker then hit another spear to Sheamus to get the 3-count and retain his Intercontinental Championship.

This was just a beautifully put together match. The action never really got boring and everyone involved filled in their role perfectly. Bron Brekker looked like an unstoppable monster while Sheamus took a massive beating, making you root for him. Kaiser played the pure heel role beautifully as well. For now, this has match of the night written all over it.

The next match was for RAW’s biggest prize, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, with GUNTHER defending the belt against Damien Priest. While I do like the story of Priest accidentally injuring his shoulder while he was executing a tackle, I don’t like the fact that the move connected. If it missed and Priest’s shoulder hit the turnbuckle or something, fine. If the shoulder tackle connects, then it should hurt the opponent, not the one doing the move. This did become the primary focus of the match, as GUNTHER would target the injured arm while Priest’s offense would get hampered as he couldn’t fully utilize some of his moves. Even so, there were some good spots here, like Priest performing a triangle choke unexpectedly.

The finish was pretty stupid, in my opinion. Both men were on the top turnbuckle but GUNTER tumbled to the inside while Priest took a rough fall to the outside. While the referee checked on the Ring General, Damien Priest’s former ally in The Judgement Day, Finn Balor, rushed in and hit his Coup De Grace finisher from top of the steel steps to a fallen Priest. GUNTHER did deliver a big boot to take out Finn Balor before rolling Priest into the ring. The Ring General hit a powerbomb and then locked in a sleeper hold on Priest. Priest could not get up so GUNTHER gets to keep his WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

While the match itself was fine, the ending really messed it up for me because we already saw Finn Balor interfere in Damien Priest’s match in SummerSlam! So, this is basically a repeat of an earlier pay-per-view but without the surprise turn.

The final match of the night was the Men’s WarGames match. This had the OG Bloodline team, consisting Sami Zayn, Jimmy and Jey Uso, Roman Reigns and, surprisingly, CM Punk. They went up against the New Bloodline team of Bronson Reed, Jakob Fatu, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and their leader, Solo Sikoa. The preamble to the actual start of their War Games match was pretty good. There was some buildup and some good storytelling with the order of the entrants, how CM Punk and Roman Reigns couldn’t get along and the action was, at the very least, entertaining. It did feel a little bit long and I don’t get the logic of Solo Sikoa trying to padlock the cage so that Roman Reigns can’t get it. I mean, if he doesn’t get in, the match would never officially start! So, what was the point? Beat up the members in there? Okay, fine. You still can’t win the match since the official isn’t in yet, idiot!

Once the bell did ring, the action was, well, nice and organized. Oh, it still come of a chaotic but there was a clear order to all the chaos, with some members from both teams getting laid out so the ones standing could do their thing and tell their stories. Heck, they even bunched up the downed fighters in one of the rings while the ones still up were in the other, so it was still easy to follow! Like I said, nice and organized! I do love the big spots, like Bronson Reed attempting his tsunami splash to a prone Roman Reigns on a table only for Punk to save Reigns and Jimmy Uso hitting a big splash of his own through a table that had Fatu on it.

Despite this being a match between the OG Bloodline and the New Bloodline, they still devoted some time to Roman Reigns and CM Punk’s potential rivalry. From the start, it was an uneasy alliance so they added moments to really test how strong their team up would last. Both of them would wind up saving each other at one point or another, which, once again, is good in-ring storytelling.

The finish saw the OG Bloodline team surrounding Solo Sikoa after the rest of the New Bloodline was taken out. The OTC offered to forgive Solo but Solo refused. This led to the New Tribal Chief getting beat up by the faces with their finishers, with Reigns delivering the final blow with a spear to win their War Games match. After the match, Roman Reigns and CM Punk shook each other’s hand out of respect. However, CM Punk did tell Paul Heyman that, because of this, he will be asking for a favor in the future. The plot thickens…

This was a good and really satisfying War Games. While it did feel a little long before the official start, all of that was forgiven once the bell rang and the match actually got underway. The controlled chaos was highly appreciated and I do like how it does set up things for the future while the OG Bloodline and the New Bloodline storyline should be winding down.

I liked this year’s Survivor Series: WarGames. Does it make me forget about the “traditional” Survivor Series stipulation? Well, not really. I do think there’s room for both but, if I had to pick one or the other, based on this show alone, I say keep the WarGames format… but the Women’s WarGames should work more on setting up their controlled chaos better.

Byee!

What did you think of this year’s Survivor Series: WarGames? Do you think the WWE should have the original team stipulation of yore in one form or another in the future? Let me know in the comments section below!