WWE Survivor Series 2022 takes place tonight (Sat., Nov. 26) from TD Garden Arena in Boston, Massachusetts. The show begins at 8:00 pm ET on pay-per-view (PPV), Peacock, and the WWE Network.
Triple H is fixing another Vince McMahon mistake
WWE’s annual Survivor Series event has been dulled down to a soulless battle over brand supremacy for the last several years, with WWE commentators blatantly lying about how it’s the one night a year where Raw and SmackDown superstars go head-to-head.
Thankfully that nonsense is gone now that Vince McMahon is no longer running WWE. Triple H has instead turned this year’s Survivor Series into the long-awaited main roster debut of the WarGames match. Many WWE fans have been hoping to see this gimmick on WWE pay-per-view ever since WCW folded more than 20 years ago, but for whatever reason McMahon was never interested in booking it.
There are two WarGames matches on tonight’s card, one for the men and one for the women. Each match is contested between two teams of five members, and is fought in two wrestling rings surrounded by a cage. The rules are as follows:
• Two teams will be contained in separate cages with one member of each team starting the match.
• After five minutes, a member from the advantaged team will be released to enter the match.
• After a three-minute period, alternating members from each team will enter the match until all competitors are inside the cage.
• Once all competitors have entered, WarGames officially begins.
• The only way to win the match is by pinfall or submission.
One other rule from the NXT iteration of the match will likely carry over as well; if any member of a team chooses to escape the match by climbing out of the roofless structure, their entire squad is disqualified.
Unlike the traditional Survivor Series tag team matches (which are completely absent from this year’s card), WarGames is not an elimination match. All it takes is one wrestler to be pinned or submitted for the match to end.
The full lineup for Survivor Series
These five matches are currently advertised for Survivor Series:
WarGames: Sheamus, Butch, Drew McIntyre, Ridge Holland, Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns, The Usos, Sami Zayn, Solo Sikoa
Kevin Owens and Drew McIntyre both would have ended Roman Reigns’ run as Universal champion by now if it wasn’t for the endless interference from the rest of The Bloodline. That’s why Drew and KO didn’t hesitate to join up with The Brawling Brutes to try to end The Bloodline’s dominance in this WarGames match. The Brutes have the most recent beef with Roman’s family after the heels broke Sheamus’ arm last month.
The big focus here is on the relationship between longtime best friends Owens and Zayn, who are on opposite sides of this war. Kevin has warned Sami that The Bloodline has no loyalty towards him and will chew him up and spit him out once he is no longer useful to them. Owens advised Sami to strike them down first before they turn on him. Jey Uso overheard the conversation unbeknownst to Sami, who then lied to Jey about it.
The finish of this match could very well come down to whether Sami follows Owens’ advice, or if Jey will pre-emptively undermine Sami for proving he can’t be trusted.
One added wrinkle is that the babyface team won the WarGames advantage for this match. Will The Bloodline try to solve that problem by taking out one of the babyfaces earlier in the night?
WarGames: Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Asuka, Mia Yim, Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley, IYO SKY, Rhea Ripley, Nikki Cross, Dakota Kai
This WarGames match is the culmination of the feud between Belair and Damage CTRL that began on July 30 at SummerSlam.
Becky Lynch was an early casualty of that feud and was immediately put on the injured list, but she just made her surprise return to WWE last night on SmackDown.
Bayley did pin Bianca in a team match at Clash at the Castle in September, but Belair has successfully defended the Raw women’s championship against her multiple times since then. Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss and Asuka have traded the WWE women’s tag team titles back and forth with IYO SKY and Dakota Kai.
This one looks like an uphill battle for Bayley’s group given the way Bianca has already dominated them without Becky Lynch by her side. The EST working together with The Man sounds like it will be too much for Damage CTRL to deal with.
Then again, Bayley’s team did win the War Games advantage for this bout, and all it takes is one betrayal among the ranks for the match to quickly end. Alexa Bliss may very well decide to turn her back on Bianca if she is sick of playing second fiddle and wants the next shot at Belair’s championship gold.
Mia Yim and Rhea Ripley are also part of this war, carrying over their issues from the ongoing feud between The Judgment Day and The O.C.
Finally there is Nikki Cross, who is no longer a delusional superhero wannabe. She is temporarily fighting alongside Damage CTRL for this war, but she is completely unhinged and could very well go off on anyone in the ring at any point.
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Austin Theory for the United States championship
Seth Rollins essentially stole the US championship from Lashley after Brock Lesnar ambushed Bob last month. Austin Theory then tried to steal the title from Seth using his Money in the Bank contract, but he failed when Lashley got involved and kicked both of their asses.
Theory was derided as a moron for flushing his MITB contract down the toilet, and he’s become more intense and motivated in the aftermath of that humiliation. Lashley only cares about hurting people until he gets his title back, and he’s very good at doing just that. Seth is gaining momentum as a babyface and will do whatever it takes to keep the title here.
There’s a decent case to be made that any of these three men can walk away as the winner of this match.
AJ Styles vs. Finn Balor
AJ Styles surprised The Judgment Day when he brought Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson back to WWE and took the fight to Finn Balor’s gang. It hasn’t worked out very well for The O.C., though, because Rhea Ripley is always there to screw them over.
The dynamic recently changed when Mia Yim returned to WWE and joined Styles’ club. She is there to neutralize Ripley. Yim and Ripley are both involved in the women’s WarGames match so it’s not safe to assume they’ll even be ringside for this fight.
Styles and Balor are the de facto leaders of their respective factions, so the outcome of this fight could determine which group goes on to dominate Monday nights from here.
Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Shotzi for the SmackDown women’s championship
This filler match feels like it’s only here because Rousey is a star who needs something to do on pay-per-view. Shotzi has been rushed into this spot due to the lack of depth on the SmackDown women’s roster.
She got here by pinning Lacey Evans to win a six-pack challenge. Meanwhile, Rousey has aligned with Shayna Baszler and viciously broke the arm of Raquel Rodriguez, who was sticking up for her friend Shotzi.
Shotzi says it’s personal now and she is going to shock the world when she beats Rousey for the title. She might need to run over Rousey with her tank for that to come to fruition.
Summary
It has been a long time coming, but WarGames has finally made it to WWE, and Survivor Series is a great fit for this concept. The two WarGames matches are the big attractions here, and as long as they deliver, this event will be a clear success. The rest of the card doesn’t even really matter all that much.
What will you be looking for at Survivor Series?