WarGames match

WarGames is a specialized steel cage match in professional wrestling. The match usually involves two teams of four or more wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompasses two rings placed side by side. The cage may or may not have a roof, depending on which professional wrestling promotion the match is held in.
Created by Dusty Rhodes in 1987, the WarGames match was originally used in Jim Crockett Promotions of the National Wrestling Alliance, and later, held annually in World Championship Wrestling, usually at the Fall Brawl pay-per-view event. These original WarGames matches had a roof on the cage with no pinfalls as a win situation, although later WCW versions allowed pinfalls to win.
Since 2017, WWE, which purchased the assets of WCW in 2001, has held annual WarGames matches at WarGames branded events, first at NXT WarGames from 2017 to 2021 and currently at Survivor Series since 2022. WWE's WarGames matches do not have a roof on the cage and also allow pinfalls as a win situation.
Over the years, other promotions have held their own versions of WarGames matches under different names, notably All Elite Wrestling, which established its own version called Blood and Guts in 2021. AEW's version is based on the original JCP version with a roof on the cage and no pinfalls and it is held annually at the Blood & Guts event.

History

The WarGames match was created when Dusty Rhodes was inspired by a viewing of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. It was originally used as a specialty match for the Four Horsemen. The first WarGames match took place at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia during National Wrestling Alliance member Jim Crockett Promotions' Great American Bash '87 tour, where it was known as War Games: The Match Beyond. It would be held at three house shows later that year, once at the Miami Orange Bowl, once in Chicago at the UIC Pavilion, and the other at the NWA's debut at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. In 1988, JCP was sold to Turner Broadcasting and rebranded as World Championship Wrestling, although with WCW still under the NWA. That year, WarGames would be held during the Great American Bash Tour in 1988 at 11 house shows. The final War Games matches under the NWA/WCW banner were at The Great American Bash in 1989 and a house show rematch at The Omni in Atlanta. WCW, no longer under the NWA, then first used the match in 1991 at WrestleWar and at five house shows during the 1991 Great American Bash tour and in 1992 at WrestleWar, before it became a traditional Fall Brawl event from 1993 to 1998.
After the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW in 2001, it discontinued the concept until 2017, when the promotion revived the match to be held for their developmental brand NXT at an event titled NXT TakeOver: WarGames. This would become an annual NXT TakeOver event for WWE until 2021. That year, the TakeOver series was discontinued, but a WarGames event was still held for NXT in December. The following year, WWE rebranded its annual Survivor Series pay-per-view for the main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown, as Survivor Series: WarGames, marking WWE's first main roster event to feature the match.

Format

The WarGames match consists of two or three teams, with between three and six participants facing off with each other in staggered entry format.
The setup of the cage consists of two rings side by side with a ring-encompassing rectangular cage that covered both rings, but not the ringside area. Doors are placed at far corners of the cage, near where the opposing teams wait to enter, so the teams do not contact each other before they enter the match. Exceptions to this format were in the match held at Fall Brawl 1996, where tension between Team WCW and the New World Order led to the teams staying backstage and making their entrances from there, and again for both the men and women's matches held at Survivor Series 2025, where participants were held backstage and released in surprise order.
The match begins with one member of each team entering the cage. After five minutes, a member from one of the teams enters the cage, giving his team the temporary 2-on-1 handicap advantage. After the next two or three minutes, a member from the other team enters to even the odds. Entrants alternate between teams every two or three minutes, giving the team with the advantage the temporary advantage in terms of numbers, before giving the other team the advantage with the freshest man and even odds.
Teams continue to alternate during the remaining periods until all participants are in the ring. Once all participants enter the cage, what is referred to as "The Match Beyond" begins. Both teams wrestle each other in the cage until any participant either submits, surrenders, or is knocked unconscious. There originally were no pinfalls, no count-outs, and no disqualifications. However, later WCW versions, along with WWE and Major League Wrestling, allow pinfalls.
In WWE and Major League Wrestling's variations, the cage is roofless. In WWE's variation, however, if one member of a team escapes the cage, their whole team is disqualified. In a 2022 interview with The Ringer, Triple H explained the removal of the cage's roof. Triple H said:
On the October 31, 2019, episode of WWE NXT, the first-ever women's WarGames match was announced for that year's NXT TakeOver: WarGames event. Women Superstars Uncensored and Pro-Wrestling: EVE have previously held variations of the WarGames match, but this would be the first official match to follow the WarGames format.

WWE/NWA/WCW matches

#	Match	Event	Venue	Location	Date
1	Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes, and Paul Ellering vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1987	Omni Coliseum	Atlanta, Georgia	July 4, 1987
2	Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes, and Paul Ellering vs. The Four Horsemen, and The War Machine	The Great American Bash Tour 1987	Miami Orange Bowl	Miami, Florida	July 31, 1987
3	Road Warriors, Ron Garvin, Dusty Rhodes, and Nikita Koloff vs. The Four Horsemen	House show	UIC Pavilion	Chicago, Illinois	August 16, 1987
4	Ron Garvin, Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, and Rock 'n' Roll Express vs. Midnight Express, Big Bubba Rogers, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard	House show	Nassau Coliseum	Uniondale, New York	November 25, 1987
5	Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, and Paul Ellering vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Orange County Convention Center	Orlando, Florida	June 26, 1988
6	Dusty Rhodes, Sting, Lex Luger, Nikita Koloff, and Paul Ellering vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Charlotte Memorial Stadium	Charlotte, North Carolina	July 2, 1988
7	Nikita Koloff, Sting, Lex Luger, and Road Warriors vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Von Braun Civic Center	Huntsville, Alabama	July 12, 1988
8	Road Warriors, Sting, Lex Luger, and Steve Williams vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	UTC Arena	Chattanooga, Tennessee	July 14, 1988
9	Road Warriors, Sting, Lex Luger, and Nikita Koloff vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Richmond Coliseum	Richmond, Virginia	July 15, 1988
10	Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Lex Luger, Steve Williams, and Paul Ellering vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	World War Memorial Stadium	Greensboro, North Carolina	July 16, 1988
11	Dusty Rhodes, Sting, Lex Luger, and Nikita Koloff vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Cincinnati Gardens	Cincinnati, Ohio	July 21, 1988
12	Dusty Rhodes, Road Warriors, Lex Luger, and Nikita Koloff defeated The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Philadelphia Civic Center	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	July 23, 1988
13	The Fantastics vs. Jim Cornette and The Midnight Express in a Three on Two Handicap Bunkhouse Match	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Roanoke Civic Center	Roanoke, Virginia	July 24, 1988
14	Dusty Rhodes, Road Warriors, Sting, and Nikita Koloff vs. The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Ocean Center	Daytona Beach, Florida	July 28, 1988
15	Dusty Rhodes, Road Warriors, Lex Luger, and Paul Ellering defeated The Four Horsemen	The Great American Bash Tour 1988	Kaiser Convention Center	Oakland, California	August 6, 1988
16	Road Warriors, The Midnight Express, and Steve Williams vs. Fabulous Freebirds and Samoan SWAT Team	The Great American Bash 1989	Baltimore Arena	Baltimore, Maryland	July 23, 1989
17	Road Warriors, The Midnight Express, and Steve Williams vs. Fabulous Freebirds and Samoan SWAT Team	The Great American Bash Tour 1989	Omni Coliseum	Atlanta, Georgia	August 6, 1989
18	The Four Horsemen vs. Sting, Brian Pillman, and Steiner Brothers	WrestleWar '91	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum	Phoenix, Arizona	February 24, 1991
19	Sting, Lex Luger, The Yellow Dog, and El Gigante vs. Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, Kevin Sullivan, and One Man Gang	The Great American Bash Tour 1991	Brendan Byrne Arena	East Rutherford, New Jersey	July 3, 1991
20	Sting, Lex Luger, The Yellow Dog, and El Gigante vs. Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, Kevin Sullivan, and One Man Gang	The Great American Bash Tour 1991	Norfolk Scope	Norfolk, Virginia	July 6, 1991
21	Sting, Lex Luger, The Yellow Dog, and El Gigante vs. Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, Kevin Sullivan, and One Man Gang	The Great American Bash Tour 1991	Richmond Coliseum	Richmond, Virginia	July 7, 1991
22	Sting, Ron Simmons, Tom Zenk, and Robert Gibson vs. Nikita Koloff, One Man Gang, The Diamond Studd, and Richard Morton	Great American Bash Tour 1991	Greensboro Coliseum	Greensboro, North Carolina	August 10, 1991
24	Sting's Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance	WrestleWar '92	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum	Jacksonville, Florida	May 17, 1992
25	Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes, and The Shockmaster vs. Sid Vicious, Vader, and Harlem Heat	Fall Brawl '93	Astro Arena	Houston, Texas	September 19, 1993
26	Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, and The Nasty Boys vs. Terry Funk, Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck, and Robert Parker	Fall Brawl '94	Roanoke Civic Center	Roanoke, Virginia	September 18, 1994
27	The Hulkamaniacs vs. The Dungeon of Doom	Fall Brawl '95	Asheville Civic Center	Asheville, North Carolina	September 17, 1995
28	The nWo vs. Lex Luger, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Sting	Fall Brawl '96	Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	September 15, 1996
29	The nWo vs. The Four Horsemen	Fall Brawl '97	Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	September 14, 1997
30	Team WCW vs. nWo Hollywood vs. nWo Wolfpac	Fall Brawl 1998	Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	September 13, 1998
31	Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, and Vince Russo vs. Booker T, Goldberg, KroniK, and Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship	WCW Monday Nitro	Reunion Arena	Dallas, Texas	September 4, 2000
32	The Undisputed Era vs. Sanity vs. Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong	NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2017	Toyota Center	Houston, Texas	November 18, 2017
33	Pete Dunne, Ricochet, and War Raiders vs. The Undisputed Era	NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2018	Staples Center	Los Angeles, California	November 17, 2018
34	Team Ripley vs. Team Baszler	NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019	Allstate Arena	Rosemont, Illinois	November 23, 2019
35	Team Ciampa vs. The Undisputed Era	NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019	Allstate Arena	Rosemont, Illinois	November 23, 2019
36	Team Candice vs. Team Shotzi	NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2020	WWE Performance Center	Orlando, Florida	December 6, 2020
37	The Undisputed Era vs. Team McAfee	NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2020	WWE Performance Center	Orlando, Florida	December 6, 2020
38	Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray, Raquel González, and Cora Jade vs. Toxic Attraction and Dakota Kai	NXT WarGames	WWE Performance Center	Orlando, Florida	December 5, 2021
39	Team 2.0 vs. Team Black & Gold	NXT WarGames	WWE Performance Center	Orlando, Florida	December 5, 2021
40	Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Mia Yim, and Becky Lynch vs. Damage CTRL, Nikki Cross, and Rhea Ripley	Survivor Series: WarGames 2022	TD Garden	Boston, Massachusetts	November 26, 2022
41	The Bloodline vs. The Brawling Brutes, Drew McIntyre, and Kevin Owens	Survivor Series: WarGames 2022	TD Garden	Boston, Massachusetts	November 26, 2022
42	Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi, and Becky Lynch vs. Damage CTRL	Survivor Series: WarGames 2023	Allstate Arena	Rosemont, Illinois	November 25, 2023
43	Cody Rhodes, Seth "Freakin" Rollins, Jey Uso, Randy Orton, and Sami Zayn vs. The Judgment Day and Drew McIntyre	Survivor Series: WarGames 2023	Allstate Arena	Rosemont, Illinois	November 25, 2023
44	Bianca Belair, Bayley, Naomi, Rhea Ripley, and Iyo Sky vs. The Judgment Day, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton, and Candice LeRae	Survivor Series: WarGames 2024	Rogers Arena	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada	November 30, 2024
45	Roman Reigns, The Usos, Sami Zayn, and CM Punk vs. The Bloodline and Bronson Reed	Survivor Series: WarGames 2024	Rogers Arena	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada	November 30, 2024
46	Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, and AJ Lee vs. Nia Jax, Lash Legend, The Kabuki Warriors, and Becky Lynch	Survivor Series: WarGames 2025	Petco Park	San Diego, California	November 29, 2025
47	The Vision, Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre, and Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, The Usos, and Roman Reigns	Survivor Series: WarGames 2025	Petco Park	San Diego, California	November 29, 2025