Survivor Series XXXVII : WarGames - 11/25/2023

[Dolfan in NYC]

It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving, you're full of turkey leftovers.  Why not spend your Saturday night with these jive turkeys?

THE CARD~

MEN'S WARGAMES MATCH - Drew McIntyre and The Judgement Day (Balor / Mysterio / McDonagh / Priest) vs. Seth F. Rollins / Cody Rhodes / Main Event Jey Uso / Sami Zayn / Randy Orton

WOMEN'S WARGAMES MATCH - Damage CTRL (Asuka / Bayley / Sky / Saine) vs. Charlotte Flair / Shotzi / Bianca Bel Air / Becky Lynch

FOR THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP - GUNTHER (C) vs. The Miz

FOR THE WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Zoey Stark

Dragon Lee vs. Santos Escobar

 

 

[nofuture]

You know Cody's been wanting to do this forever:

 

[Eivion]

Digging the matches set up so far.

Curious if we get a women's War Games. Damage Ctrl. feels too small even with Kairi potentially added in.

Based on the build we have seen the past few weeks I assume we get at least one Raw vs. Smackdown match, maybe a traditional SS match.

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[odessasteps]

Rhea says "eyes up here." 

[Steventon]

£100 says Orton turns on Cody setting up a placeholder feud to tide him over until whatever he does for Wrestlemania

[odessasteps]

Legacy redux 

[Godfrey]

Vintage Orton

[Eivion]

Its more likely Orton turns on Jey which still screws up the babyfaces win and sets up Cody/Orton as placeholder feud.

[Johnny Sorrow]

As an old school 80's Philly heel fan, I love that Dominick turned heel and told his old man to go fuck himself cause he's got a hot goth girlfriend and a gang of cool punks to be part of. 

Totally worked out for him. He made the right choice. 

Edited November 25, 2023 by Johnny Sorrow

[Eivion]

Really looking forward to this tomorrow. Both War Games have decent stories to work with, and every match should at least be good. A strange part of me keeps wanting/hoping for Miz/Gunther to steal the show.

[Phantom Lord]

25 minutes ago, Eivion said:

Really looking forward to this tomorrow. Both War Games have decent stories to work with, and every match should at least be good. A strange part of me keeps wanting/hoping for Miz/Gunther to steal the show.

I sorta want to see Miz and Gunther get into a chop fest. I know Miz has it in him to do it.

[Godfrey]

Hell yeah, 5 match card. I'm stoked for Ripley/Starks and oddly interested in Miz/Gunther. I can't imagine Carlito being fun in 2023 but Escobar is awesome as a heel so maybe they can figure it out. WWE War Games matches are very hit and miss, I hope they don't bring in a ton of weapons that always bogs things down. Two War Games in one night is like two Royal Rumbles in one night, it's overkill and makes booking harder but this is how WWE does gender parity so you takes what you gets sometimes

[odessasteps]

There’s no way to way with gimmick PPVs like Wargames or Rumble or Hell in the Cell. You either have complaints about 2 on a show watering down the concept or complaints about the women not being treated equally. 

[tbarrie]

17 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

There’s no way to way with gimmick PPVs like Wargames or Rumble or Hell in the Cell. You either have complaints about 2 on a show watering down the concept or complaints about the women not being treated equally. 

I agree, but to repeat a frequent complaint: War Games and Hell in a Cell shouldn't be gimmick PPVs. They should pop up when a storyline calls for them. Then just make sure the men and women get about the same number in the long run and you're fine.

Edited November 25, 2023 by tbarrie

[odessasteps]

Definitely. But you just expect it with corporate branded wrestling. 

[Godfrey]

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

There’s no way to way with gimmick PPVs like Wargames or Rumble or Hell in the Cell. You either have complaints about 2 on a show watering down the concept or complaints about the women not being treated equally. 

They would never do this but if they traded off years it would make each Rumble match even more important

[Eivion]

I think two Rumbles in one night is fine as concept due to splintering of men and women and the general prize behind them. Its more stuff like War Games, HIAC, and Elimination Chamber that feel watered down due to being gimmicks that are supposed to have violent feuds behind them originally. This year for instance the men's match absolutely makes sense. On the other hand I have no idea why the women need the cage instead of just doing a traditional Survivor Series match. I'll enjoy the matches regardless and generally feel WWE does a solid-good job with all of them. It would just be nice for them to be booked more sensibly in terms of why.

 

I'm happy they kept the match number down to 5. Honestly they probably could have done one less with neither of the Santos matches really feeling like something that needed to be on a major show. Hopefully the fact that its here means they give it time to breathe and impress. Rhea/Starks should be a nice showcase for Zoey. Miz/Gunther should be good. Miz trying to prove himself is nothing new, but Gunther feels like the first real mountain for Miz to try to climb and impress in years. It also makes sense with both's record as IC champ. The women's WGs was mostly interesting for idea of when DC inevitably turns on Bayley, but they added something that feels more immediate with Charlotte and Becky's bad history. The men's WGs has plenty to work with given all the bad blood between each team and even within. I'm not really sure how that one works out.

[tbarrie]

10 minutes ago, Eivion said:

I think two Rumbles in one night is fine as concept due to splintering of men and women and the general prize behind them. Its more stuff like War Games, HIAC, and Elimination Chamber that feel watered down due to being gimmicks that are supposed to have violent feuds behind them originally.

I would lump the Elimination Chamber in with the Royal Rumble as making more sense as an annual event. I mean, how often do you have six people who all hate each other enough to merit a cage match? That would be a big web of hate.

[DreamBroken]

I would think no way Orton turns that soon after Drew just turned, especially coming back to a likely monster babyface pop after so much time away.

I thought the setup/build for the first 3 or so Chambers was really great. the original 2002 being one of my all time fav PPV hype videos to Saliva's "Always", 2003 being great, and 2005 having both the chaos of the world title scene plus not doing one in 2004 upped the special feel to it.  Also liked that at this point, all three were on different events so it wasn't just that time of year.

5 hours ago, Godfrey said:

I can't imagine Carlito being fun in 2023 but Escobar is awesome as a heel so maybe they can figure it out. WWE War Games matches are very hit and

I was interested to see it, but Carlito got pulled and replaced by Dragon Lee.

[Eivion]

1 hour ago, tbarrie said:

I would lump the Elimination Chamber in with the Royal Rumble as making more sense as an annual event. I mean, how often do you have six people who all hate each other enough to merit a cage match? That would be a big web of hate.

I prefer the original concept with multiple hatreds coming together every few years, but I also agree they found some bit of sense with a potential Wrestlemania reward.

Edited November 25, 2023 by Eivion

[odessasteps]

Two Rumbles is just a lot of battle Royale content in one show. 

[Gonzo]

Jesus J.D. McDonaugh must have balls of steel to agree to take that move in that spot.

[DJ Hero Morganti]

Ugh.  But what a pop i suppose.  The men's wargames match was full of fun spots.  Good story telling and generally good action.

[Ramo2653]

Whut!? I can't believe they kept Punk under wraps like that.