Survivor Series: War Games happened just last night, November 29th, on this holiday weekend live from Petco Park in San Diego, California! There were apparently 46,016 fans in attendance, setting a new attendance record for the stadium (something WWE absolutely LOVES to point out at every venue they ever put a big show on at). I could tell just from Cena’s entrance alone though (because he walked all the way to the left, and all the way to the right of the entryway) that there were some really bad seating arrangements because of how they laid out the floor area. If you were in some of the back rows on the floor in that place there is no way you were saying jack garbage throughout the show, especially through those giant War Games cage contraptions. I actually like War Games matches though, I know there’s a pretty big mixed reaction to them, but I’m a pretty big fan of the concept with the 2 rings and there’s usually some pretty stacked and fun team-ups in them, this year being no different. I certainly think they should be kept to once a year, much like the Elimination Chamber, but I’m glad it has its place in the world of WWE. There were only 4 matches on the night because the War Games just take so long to get through and that is known coming into it. Anyways, let’s get into it.
Women’s War Games match: Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley, & AJ Lee, vs Asuka, Kairi Sane, Nia Jax, Lash Legend, & Becky Lynch
The show started off with the Women’s War Games match, which felt like a bit of a surprise at the time, but looking back now it was certainly the right call to give the War Games matches as much time to breathe between them as possible. The match started with Charlotte and Asuka and something that I immediately noticed was there was no more cages at the top of the ramp holding all the contestants inside, instead everyone made an individual entrance into the match. I didn’t mind that; it allowed everyone to get an individual pop and moment within the match and allowed for people to more easily come to the ring wielding weapons, (something that should’ve been utilized a lot more in this show in my opinion). Charlotte’s team has “the advantage” so Iyo hit the ring next wielding a trash can lid and the rest of the field poured in in 3–5-minute increments after that. The face team felt like they had a bit of an advantage the entire match, no matter how much momentum The Kabuki Warriors and company gained or how much they beat down on their opponents. AJ Lee and Rhea Ripley being the final entrants for their team was just too much to come back from for the heels, both from a dominance and overall stardom standpoint, no matter how overpowering Nia and Lash are. Rhea came down in attire aspired by Art the Clown while wielding a black trash bag of weapons and the rest of Iyo’s trash can, which she utilized by putting over herself and doing a back flip off the top of the cage onto all of her opponents (in classic Iyo fashion). Charlotte saving Rhea from Asuka’s mist set up their team to win as big-mouth Becky (her current character is hilarious) was left all alone in the field of her enemies. She tried to escape over the top of the cage before being pulled back and given a hard right by Alexa, a Riptide from Rhea, and the Black Widow by AJ Lee before tapping out.
Intercontinental Championship match: John Cena (c) vs Dominik Mysterio
This was what I initially expected to lead off the show, but now it makes total sense why things went down the way that they did. John Cena’s last ever PLE wrestling, his last appearance on ESPN, and his 2nd to last match of all time. He won the Intercontinental belt in shocking fashion against Dom in his hometown of Boston just shy of 3 weeks ago, giving him the status of a Grand Slam Champion and one last thank you on his way out the door. Dom arrived to the ring shadowed by Raquel and Roxanne, a bit of a surprise as to who but no surprise that he was being shadowed. This made it pretty much known that there would be shenanigans in this contest though, and shenanigans there were in plentiful form. Dom faked a shoulder injury (very believably I might add) early on in the match after going for a hurricarana on Cena on the outside of the ring. As referees and officials checked on Dom ringside, Raquel laid Cena out with a Tejana Bomb before Roxanne connected with Pop Rox as well. As a stunned and dazed Cena attempted to regain composure, Dom reentered the fold and hit a 619 and Frog Splash in an attempt to win, but the referee wouldn’t go along with it because he was pissed Dom was faking an injury. Things continued in classic fashion for a bit after that, with Cena regaining the momentum over Dom for much of it before he accidentally shoulder blocked the referee down while going for the 5 Knuckle Shuffle on Dom. Cena then locked in the STF onto Dom before Finn & JD rushed into the ring in an attempt to attack him. Cena took a bit of a beating before fighting them off and hitting a DOUBLE Attitude Adjustment onto both men and eliminating them from the equation. He hit another on AA on Dom after ducking a belt shot and called for another referee but was met by the return of Liv Morgan instead. Liv surprisingly slapped Dom and leaped into Cena’s arms, before flipping a switch and proceeding to hit Cena with a low blow, allowing Dom to connect with another 619 and Frog Splash as Liv drug the referee back in the ring for the 1-2-3. This one was full of shenanigans, ruses, and theatrics but it’s Dirty Dom so what do you really expect? It felt like there was a bunch of Judgment Day people who probably grew up big John Cena fans and wanted to get a chance to work with him before he left for good, so they all got to have a little moment with him throughout this match. It was fun and it served its purpose as Dom got the belt back.
Women’s World Championship match: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs Nikki Bella
I appreciate Nikki Bella being around, I even liked this matchup and the fact that they turned her heel and put her in contention for a World Title on a major PLE. It added more purpose and interest to her character and her return to full time in-ring competition undoubtably, but that being said I don’t feel like I believed for a moment that she was going to take the belt off Stephanie here. They just put the belt on Stephanie, and it feels like they’re invested in her quite a bit, hell they just had her win the Crown Jewel championship in the champ vs champ match last month as well. Nikki is looking more and more comfortable in the ring every match though and this may have been her overall best performance since her return. She jumped the champ early and in classic heel fashion fought dirty, targeting her bum knee along the way. Steph was able to fight off Nikki somewhat in the early portions, but the lingering injury to her knee and an eventual Rack Attack 2.0 followed by Bella Buster on the outside of the ring stunned her pretty good. She was able to fight back on the announce table, delivering a Devil’s Kiss to Bella on top of the announce table before rolling her back in the ring and doing it once more, before connecting with her corkscrew moonsault onto a stunned Nikki for the win.
Men’s War Games match: CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, & Roman Reigns vs Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre, & Brock Lesnar
This match started with CM Punk and Bron Breakker respectively (with Punk rocking some Halloween III: Season of the Witch inspired trunks). Breakker’s team has “the advantage” this match so Drew hit the ring shortly thereafter and Punk began taking a bit of a beatdown (which he did for a lot of this match). I’ve put quotations up around the advantage thing because that’s what they call it because you get one of your teammates in the ring before the other team does, but all that means is the other team is going to have the last entering and freshest participant in the match once the bell rings technically. I don’t know, all I’m saying is I think there’s an advantage to both sides, not a clear-cut advantage to being one or the other. There was a bit more weaponry and overall violence to this War Games contest. Punk and Cody hit a nasty looking Doomsday Device to Bron Breakker early and he landed directly on the back of his head but recovered and was fortunately alright. Punk got busted open a bit earlier into the match as well. Both teams had members pour in periodically, with Lesnar and Reigns being the final entrants of their respective teams. Lesnar awaited Roman at the door of the cage and the 2 of them reignited their classic rivalry with a bit of a scrap on the outside of the ring before Lesnar put Reigns through the announce table with an F5 and tossed him back into the ring starting the match. Lesnar looked to end things early, but Punk and Rhodes came to the rescue, knocking Lesnar down with a GTS and Cross Rhodes. Chaos continued, Logan Paul was handed brass knucks by Heyman at one point in the match and laid out Rhodes and Jimmy Uso before being speared by Roman. Roman then took the knucks and lined up Bronson and Drew for brass knucks loaded Superman Punches before driving Lesnar through a table with a Spear as he had Jey set up on his shoulders for the F5. Punk looked to be closing in on victory after a GTS to Paul and lining up for one on Breakker, but a random masked and hooded individual came in and laid Punk out before hitting a very Seth Rollins looking Stomp onto him and climbing back over the top of the cage. Bron capitalized on the moment and drilled a dazed Punk with a Spear for the win. The heels celebrated together on the outside of the ring as Roman reluctantly helped Punk back to his feet and stared down Cody before telling him “This is the last time we’ll ever team together.” The run-in was just a bit confusing and left me scratching my head. I would’ve much rather the heels just picked up a clean win here and not left us with more confusion following this war, but alas now all I can hope for is that the payoff to it all is worth it in the end I suppose. The match in itself was insanely star studded and quite a bit of fun though.
My match ratings: 1-10 scale (.25 applicable)
Women’s War Games match: Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley, & AJ Lee defeat Asuka, Kairi Sane, Nia Jax, Lash Legend, & Becky Lynch- 7.25/10
Intercontinental Championship match: Dominik Mysterio defeats John Cena (c)- 8/10
Women’s World Championship match: Stephanie Vaquer (c) defeats Nikki Bella- 6.75/10
Men’s War Games Match: Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre, & Brock Lesnar defeat CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, & Roman Reigns- 8.5/10
That’ll be it for this one though folks! Make sure to follow the page on social media or come back to elisupdatez.com to check out all the rest of my content and stay up to date on all my latest posts over WWE, NFL, horror films, and newly released movies! Thank you and have a great week, be kind to one another!
