WarGames match
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The WarGames match was a gimmick match used originally in the old National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and later held annually in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), usually at their Fall Brawl Pay-per-view event in September.
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[edit] History
WarGames was created by Dusty Rhodes, and was originally used as a specialty match for the Four Horsemen. The first two WarGames took place during the NWA's Great American Bash '87 tour. It would be held at the Great American Bash again in 1989. WCW used it originally in 1991 and 1992 at Wrestle War, before it became a traditional Fall Brawl event from 1993 to 1998. The earlier WarGames, generally from 1987 to 1992, are regarded as some of the best matches in NWA and WCW history.
[edit] Format
The WarGames match consisted of two teams of either four or five men each facing off with each other in staggered entry format.
The setup of the cage consisted of two rings side by side with a giant ring-encompassing cage that covered both rings, but not the ringside area. Doors were placed at far corners of the rectangular cage so the two teams didn't come into contact before they were supposed to.
The match began with one member of each team entering the cage. After five minutes, a member from one of the teams (determined by coin toss) would enter the cage, giving his team the temporary handicap advantage. After two minutes, a member from the other team would enter to even the odds. Entrants alternated between teams every two minutes, giving the coin toss-winning team the temporary advantage in the numbers game before giving the other team the advantage with the freshest man and even odds.
Once all eight or ten men (depending on team size) had entered the cage, what was referred to as "the match beyond" began. Both teams would brawl in the cage for as long as it took until a member of either team submitted, surrendered, or was knocked unconscious. There was no pinfall and no disqualification, which often led to brutal and bloody confrontations.
[edit] Match history
1 The real Sting only made a brief appearance in the match, entering and cleaning house on the nWo before departing (due to distrust on the part of his teammates) and not returning, giving the nWo a 4 on 3 advantage for the end of the match.
[edit] WCW WarGames Variations
[edit] 1998
In 1998, WCW decided to try something different and converted WarGames into a 3-team, 9-man competition (with the same cage and entry format, but allowing for pinfalls) for the #1 Contendership to the WCW World Heavyweight Title.
- Team WCW consisted of: "Diamond" Dallas Page, Roddy Piper, The Warrior
- Team Hollywood consisted of: Hulk Hogan, Stevie Ray, Bret Hart
- Team Wolfpac consisted of: Kevin Nash, Sting, Lex Luger
Hogan entered the cage early, by force, so he and Stevie Ray could take out all the other participants, including their teammate Bret Hart. When Hogan went to pin Kevin Nash, smoke engulfed the ring and it appeared that The Warrior had magically entered the cage. Hogan and Stevie Ray beat him down, but more smoke appeared, and when it cleared away The Warrior was gone leaving Hogan holding his coat. The real Warrior then ran out from the back to enter the match. Hogan would eventually force his way out of the cage door, with Warrior following suit by climbing up the cage wall and kicking it in.
The British Bulldog suffered a near career ending back injury earlier that night after he fell on the trap door WCW used for this stunt.
Page won the match by scoring the Diamond Cutter on Stevie Ray for the pinfall victory. He went on to Halloween Havoc to face Bill Goldberg for the title, only to lose after being hit with a spear and Jackhammer.
[edit] 2000
After no WarGames match was held in 1999, Vince Russo brought back WarGames in a new format he called "WarGames 2000", with the tagline "Russo's Revenge". It was held on the September 4th episode of WCW Nitro in 2000.
The match consisted of two teams vying for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the three-tiered cage first seen in the climax of the WCW produced film Ready to Rumble. To win, a wrestler would have to climb a ladder in the first level cage (a cage similar to WWE's "Hell in a Cell" cage) to reach the second cage (a normal size steel cage filled with weapons), then exit and climb atop a third, smaller cage to retrieve the title belt. The match could only end when a wrestler exited the bottom cage with the title belt in their possession.
The match pitted Sting, Booker T, Goldberg, and KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark) against WCW World Champion Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, and The Harris Brothers (Don and Ron Harris).
Booker T retrieved the belt from the top, but Russo interfered on behalf of his team, helping the Harris Brothers handcuff the opposing teams members to the cage walls. Goldberg broke free of the handcuffs and attempted to leave the cage with the belt, but was cut off by Bret Hart, who slammed the first-level cage door in his face. Nash then retrieved the title belt and walked out the cage door, retaining the title.
[edit] Spin-off matches
[edit] Extreme Championship Wrestling
Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion capitalized on the popularity of the WarGames match by holding a version of their own dubbed the "Ultimate Jeopardy Match".
[edit] Keystone Championship Wrestling
Keystone Championship Wrestling (KCW) has its own version of WarGames which it holds once a year at its anniversary show. One major difference in the KCW match is that the cage has no roof and to win one member of a team must climb out after everyone has entered the match.
[edit] Xtreme Pro Wrestling
Rob Black's Xtreme Pro Wrestling promotion also capitalized on the popularity of the WarGames match by holding one of their own, called "Genocide," with the same rules. However, the XPW version of the cage had a cover over only one of the rings, permitting wrestlers to (hypothetically) brawl atop the cage and do table spots off the top of the cage; the cage, however, was extremely poorly constructed, and started to fall apart during the match, preventing most of the promised action.
[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment
In the past several years, World Wrestling Entertainment has held a match called the Elimination Chamber. When it was announced by RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff, he claimed that it was partially inspired by War Games. A new version of this match, dubbed the Extreme Elimination Chamber, was introduced at ECW December to Dismember 2006; the primary difference between the two is that the Extreme Elimination Chamber features weapons.
[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) has also capitalized on the popularity of the WarGames match (albeit much later, after WCW and the other mimics folded) with their own version of the WarGames match. It was said to be less than sufficient in bringing back the spirit of the match, as it only involved one ring and permitted a pinfall for victory. This match was billed as "Wednesday, Bloody Wednesday", a play on Sunday, Bloody Sunday.
TNA has continued to capitalize on the popularity of WarGames style matches with their own match, entitled Lethal Lockdown and held at TNA's annual Lockdown pay per view in April. Similar in format to their version of the WarGames match, it involves a single ring (now their six-sided ring) encompassed by their Six Sides of Steel cage, permits the usage of weapons, and has victory attainable through pinfall.
[edit] Ring of Honor
In December of 2005, Ring of Honor held the first Steel Cage Warfare match. It was used to settle the year long feud between Generation Next and their former leader Alex Shelley, who was now with The Embassy. The match consisted of only one ring but followed the War Games match in that two wrestlers from each team started the match, and after five minutes another wrestler would enter, then ever two minutes after another wrestler would enter. The main difference, however, is that the match was an elemination match.
In July 2006, Ring of Honor held another War Games styles match to settle their feud with Combat Zone Wrestling. ROH challenged them to a Steel Cage Warfare match, but CZW said they would only compete if it was their Cage of Death match. The matched ended up being a combination of the two, with the match being contested a Cage of Death but held under War Games rules.
[edit] Major League Wrestling
On September 19, 2003 at the War Games TV Taping held at the Fort Lauderdale, FL War Memorial Auditorium, the Funkin' Army (Terry Funk, The Sandman, Steve Williams, Sabu, and Bill Alfonso) defeated the Extreme Horsmen (Steve Corino, Simon Diamond, CW Anderson, PJ Walker, and Barry Whindham) when Funk made Corino submit following a fireball to Corino's face the match was shown on Florida's Sunshine Network
