Returning concepts to replace WWE Survivor Series: WarGames

WWE

WWE Survivor Series: WarGames takes place on November 28, marking the fifth time the PLE has seen the steel cage match stipulation.

Brought to the main roster event in 2022, the WarGames match had made its debut in WWE at NXT TakeOver in November 2017.

With the match seeing two rival teams tear it up in the steel cage, this year is likely to see a major point in the feud between The Bloodline and The 946, although that is yet to be confirmed.

Five years in at Survivor Series, there is an opportunity to rejuvenate the PLE or replace WarGames completely:

Rivalries settled in a steel cage

Since NXT TakeOver: WarGames in November 2019, the titular match has seen the men’s and women’s roster represented.

It was a pattern that continued onto the main roster, with Survivor Series: WarGames following the same high-stakes payoffs to feuds that had brewed over time, or developed in the run-up to the PLE itself.

Last year’s event saw Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair & AJ Lee team up in victory over Nia Jax, Lash Legend, The Kabuki Warriors & Becky Lynch, while The Vision, Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre & Brock Lesnar dominated CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, The Usos & Roman Reigns.

Brand supremacy

While bringing an end to a feud in a Survivor Series: WarGames match may make sense from a creative perspective, that doesn’t always have to be the case.

NXT WarGames in December 2021 saw Team 2.0 go head-to-head against Team Black & Gold, with Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Tony D’Angelo & Grayson Waller defeating Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne & LA Knight).

Brand supremacy is something that hasn’t been seen on the main roster in quite some time, with no sign that WWE Bragging Rights is going to make a return.

Last year’s Survivor Series: WarGames saw the WWE Intercontinental Championship and Women’s World Championship both defended, leaving plenty of opportunity to add another title match to the card, while also utilizing ten stars per cage match, vying to claim their brand as the top one.

Brand supremacy was a feature of Survivor Series in past years, with 2019 seeing NXT added to the mix for a three-way elimination match.

The opportunity to bring together stars of Raw, SmackDown and NXT should be a tantalizing one, opening up potential rivalries for the future in a similar way to what can happen coming out of the Royal Rumble.

Make the PLE Survivor Series again

Since 2022, WarGames has been the focus of Survivor Series, with two matches per PLE. This differed from past iterations of Survivor Series, which originally used that particular match concept in all four matches of the card back in 1987.

Running Survivor Series matches at the event of the same name would give a sense of its own nostalgia, modernised for the current audience, in the same way that WarGames as a concept has.

Indeed, there could be the opportunity to run WarGames elsewhere in the PLE calendar, either as a featured match or as an event in its own right.

Survivor Series isn’t a forgotten concept

In late 2025, MFT went head to head with Team Sami in a five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match, ahead of that year’s PLE.

MFT (Solo Sikoa, JC Mateo, Talla & Tama Tonga, and Tonga Loa) would be victorious over Sami Zayn, Rey Fenix, Shinsuke Nakamura, and the Motor City Machine Guns on the November 28 episode of SmackDown.

Prior to that, the match type had shown up in NXT as a four-on-four match for both the men’s and women’s roster at NXT vs. TNA Showdown, although both were described as “Survivor Series style”.

Bringing it back as the sole focus of Survivor Series isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, despite the love for WarGames as a concept which is strong enough to stand on its own.

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