Courtesy of WWE
WWE SURVIVOR SERIES:
WAR GAMES REVIEW
- Rob Williams, Editor In Chief
Expectations were high heading into a sold out Survivor Series: War Games PLE emanating from Chicago, Illinois. Not only did WWE bring their A game, but Chi-town brought it as well.
As reported, the Women's War Games Match started the night and did not disappoint. In fact, in my mind, this was your match of the evening. All of these women showed up, and showed out. Bianca Belair entered the ring swinging. Not with fists, but with her patented pony tail whip which we haven't seen utilized in some time. It was great to see this War Games mode of Belair who can seemingly do it all. "EST" chants rang out as Bianca showed out with a deadlift of Kairi Sane and a nice double suplex. Move of the night went to Sky's patented dive off the top of the cage inside of a trash can spot which never disappoints. Moment of the night however went to the hug between Becky and Charlotte. Becky even got somewhat emotional discussing in it the post show press conference. You love to see it. Not to be outdone in the moves department, Charlotte delivered an incredible moonsault off the top of the cage. Zero fear or hesitation. Other incredible maneuvers included the tandem offense from Sky and Sane (Pop Up Elbow?) , Belair using a fire extinguisher on Asuka ala The Mist, Shotzi going above and beyond while leaving caution to the wind. Lynch sealed the deal with a Man Handle Slam through a table. A Match of the Year contender in my book, no question. Hell of a match.
Fun "Ruffle Shuffle" segment featuring The Alpha Academy and Pretty Deadly, but more importantly the BIG RETURN we all were waiting for... R-Truth!! Welcome back!!
It's almost a thankless job to follow this match, but Gunther and Miz went out there and did their thing. Miz pulled out all the stops as predicted, busting out a springboard attack and even a picture perfect tilt-a-whirl headscissors exectuted to perfection. Miz had a plan tricking gunther, working his legs, and even using some cheap tricks to hit a Skull Crushing Finale, which unfortunately wasn't enough to put Gunther away. Solid match, and great showing by both competitors. Ultimately the hard hitting Gunther would defeat Miz via submission with a Boston Crab variation.
Between matches a brief tease of a no-show from Orton backstage.
Next up Dragon Lee and Santos put on a mini-clinic in the squared circle. I wish this one had gone a bit longer, but Chicago was fully behind Dragon Lee, chanting his name throughout. Dragon Lee is the TRUTH. Lee is going to be the Rey Mysterio of tomorrow, and he certainly has the moveset and charisma to do just that. Santos took a few shortcuts even trying to rip off Lee's mask at one point, a major sign of disrespect in lucha libre. Ultimately, Santos gets the win here.
On the pod, we successfully predicted that they were going to give Zoey Stark a look here and deservedly so. In her matchup against Rhea Ripley for the Women's World Championship, Zoey pulled out all the stops. Stark utilized her innovative and high flying maneuvers to get the best of Mami in a few exchanges. She even was able to avoid a few Riptide attempts. Nevertheless, Mami who got some of the loudest chants in Chicago is still on top. I'll be interested to see who's on deck, and who may be able to dethrone her one day.
The men's War Games match was also something special, but a little shorter than expected. Particularly Jey Uso showed out with his "YEET" punches channeling The Rock with his own twist. I'm cool with it because that's his family, and maybe even a teaser of sorts. The real story here was the fashionably late arrival of Randy Orton who did NOT MISS A BEAT. Clotheslines, Powerslams, DDTs off the ropes and of course another move of the night contender with an RKO out of nowhere to an opponent thrown from the top of the cage. Literally perfect execution from the Viper. I will also say, McIntyre is the real deal. Seeing him in person, he looks like a million bucks and his in ring work is crisp. Other notable spots include the four man beatdown on Dom Mysterio, and Sami Zayn getting the table which fans clamored for all night. Pretty one sided win here for the stacked babyface team in a solid War Games outing.
As the team celebrated the win, the familiar "Cult of Personality" would hit and none other than CM Punk himself would make his return to WWE. I have mixed feelings about this move, but Triple H seemed very confident during his post event media scrum. Only time will tell how this will go moving forward.
Regardless, this PLE was an absolute Home Run. Much like the Black and Gold NXT TakeOvers of old, a solid 5 match card that delivered, a few surprises, and then some. Very excited to see what's next as we approach the off ramp to the road to Wrestlemania.
