Review for WWE Survivor Series WarGames 2022

Wargames is one of the classic match types in wrestling, dating back to the pre-Turner WCW, this was a match which everyone looked forward to.

Created by the booking genius Dusty Rhodes the rules were simple, two teams will enter a two ring/caged structure one at a time until all members were in and then the first one to get a submission/knockout or later a pinfall would win for their team. If I am brutally honest, I was never a fan of the match as the fact that nothing mattered until all members were in the ring meant that you could literally skip the first twenty minutes and come back when everyone was in. This was rectified with the Elimination Chamber, but people still love the match and after some success in NXT it was time for WWE to try it out.

Due to having two WarGames matches there are only three other matches on the show and so this PPV will really depend on whether you enjoy that match. However, AJ Styles against Finn Balor is a fantastic match as you would expect from them, although I will admit it is immediately forgettable and doesn’t have many memorable moments. The Triple Threat for the US Title between Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley and Austin Theory was much better and everyone in the ring got enough offense in to really show a chance of winning. I do love Seth Rollins and he has almost taken on that Chris Jericho role where he can be anywhere on the card and not lose any of his appeal and quality.

Shame the same can’t be said about the Smackdown Women’s Championship match between Ronda Rousey and Shotski. This match just felt like filler and did nothing for either performer. It is a shame as I love the Shotski character, but they were both lost in this match up.

Both of the WarGames Match were great to some extent. As I say, I’m not a huge fan of the match type and so I watched both on autopilot for the first twenty minutes or so. The women’s match saw Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Asuka and Mia Yim against Bayley, Iyo Sky, Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley and Nikki Cross. It had a great amount of action and both teams worked really well. It was just a shame that the rules were not updated to include an elimination element to keep in line with the whole ‘survivor series’ concept as it was still hard to keep track on what was going on. My biggest issue with this match is that if Bayley keeps losing it will soon be a point where all chance of her winning will be lost.

For the men’s WarGames Match we have Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Sheamus, Ridge Holland and Butch against Roman Reigns, The Uso's, Solo Sikoa and Sami Zayn. Zayn and the Usos were really the highlight of this match and I love this new ‘Uicey’ persona that Zayn has. I think The Bloodline could have taken a loss here and it not affected them, but it was still a good ending and result.

Despite being a Bluray release, the only extra is the post event Press Conference. This is fine and for those who like this kind of thing it is interesting, but this could easily have been cut to some choice ten minute featurette and allowed some matches from before or after the event.

Survivor Series WarGames is a great PPV that I may never watch again. Apart from the Women’s Title match everything else was great/perfect and it seems a shame that I say this, but the WarGames style match just doesn’t work for me. If this is now what the traditional Survivor Series PPV will be replaced with it will be a shame. That being said, if this is a match type you like then this will be the PPV for you.