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WWE Survivor Series: WarGames will emanate from Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Survivor Series will feature the Wargames match. In a Wargames match, there are two rings surrounded by a cage. There will be two teams. Each team will choose a member to go in first and they will wrestle one-on-one for a specified time period. Once time expires one new wrestler is added to the match. This repeats until all wrestlers have entered the match and then the match officially begins.
Roman Reigns & Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso & Sami Zayn & CM Punk vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa & Bronson Reed, Wargames match
Story in a nutshell: Roman Reigns leads his reconstituted Bloodline (plus CM Punk) against Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline (plus Bronson Reed) in a bid to reclaim his spot as tribal chief.
Solo Sikoa has been trying to get Roman Reigns to acknowledge him as the Tribal Chief of the Bloodline. Reigns has continued to resist but he was on the wrong side of the numbers advantage that Solo Sikoa has with his Bloodline. Jimmy Uso came to Reigns’s aid. Jimmy reached out to his brother, Jey Uso, who begrudgingly agreed to assist Reigns. Sami Zayn rejoined Reigns’s side to help his friend Jey. It was decided that things would be settled in a Wargames match, but each team needed to recruit a fifth member.
Sami Zayn reached out to Reigns’s former Shield faction-mate-turned-rival, Seth Rollins. Rollins wanted nothing to do with Reigns. Solo’s Bloodline took the advantage over Reigns when they recruited Bronson Reed who had been feuding with Rollins. Since Reigns had burned all of his bridges, they couldn’t find a fifth member. Paul Heyman made his return after being taken out by Solo and brought his friend CM Punk with him, revealing Punk as the fifth member.
Prediction and analysis: Lots of moving parts to this. Punk and Reigns are begrudging partners (they hate one another) so I expect drama there. I’m expecting Rollins to get involved in some way shape or form. Rollins hates Reigns, Punk, and Reed. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t do something that throws off the match. I also think the Rock is due to make his presence felt after his cameo a few PLEs ago. I think Reigns’s group wins but when it is time for Solo to pass on the ula fala (symbolizing the Tribal Chief of the Bloodline) to Reigns, he’ll pass it on to the “true” Tribal Chief, the Rock.
Rhea Ripley & Bianca Belair & Naomi & Iyo Sky & Bayley vs. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez & Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton & Candice LeRae, Wargames match
Story in a nutshell: As the women’s division devolves into chaos, Rhea Ripley returned from injury to declare all issues will be resolved in a WarGames match.
Rhea Ripley, who has been feuding with the Women’s World Champion, Liv Morgan, had her orbital bone broken by Liv and her tag team partner, Raquel Rodriguez. This freed up Liv and Raquel to go after the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship in the hands of Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. While this is going on, Iyo Sky won a battle royale match on Raw to be Liv’s next challenger. Over on SmackDown, Naomi, who is allied with Belair and Cargill, faced Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s Championship. Tiffany Stratton is Jax’s (reluctant?) ally and Money in the Bank contract holder.
In a bid to come between Stratton and Jax and make herself more important, Candice LeRae picked a fight with Bayley. After several run ins by these groups, they faced each other in the ring when Rhea Ripley made her return and declared the wargames match would be happening. However, later Jade Cargill was taken out and badly injured. Bayley offered her help. While Naomi backed Bayley, Belair still held a grudge against Bayley from a previous feud. Bayley helped Belair win a match against Jax to determine who would have the advantage in the WarGames match which earned her a spot on the team.
Prediction and analysis: While everyone on team Ripley blames Team Liv for taking out Cargill, the call is coming from inside the house. Most likely, Bayley is the culprit, but a case can be made for Naomi (jealous of Belair and Cargill’s relationship) or Belair (jealous of Jade Cargill). I think Ripley wins to gain another shot at Liv’s title.
Check out this special WWE Survivor Series PLE Preview episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
Gunther (c) vs. Damian Priest, World Heavyweight Championship match
Story in a nutshell: In a reverse of their previous feud, it is Damian Priest who has gotten into the head of the World Heavyweight Champion, Gunther who is doubting himself after losing to Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel.
The World Heavyweight Champion Gunther was defeated by Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel. This loss seemed to have rocked Gunther’s confidence. Damian Priest won a fatal four-way match to become the number one contender. Priest has seized upon Gunther’s self-doubt and has been getting the better of Gunther in their promo (and physical) exchanges.
Prediction and analysis: I expect Gunther to be on his heels early on in the match but ultimately get himself together and take out Priest. However, if they want to extend the story of Gunther loss of confidence, Priest can win and Priest has a ready opponent in Balor.
Bron Breaker (c) vs. Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser, WWE Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat match
Story in a nutshell: Ludwig Kaiser and Sheamus interfered in each other’s challenges for Bron Breaker’s WWE Intercontinental Championship leading to a triple threat match. Gunther encouraged Ludwig Kaiser to go make an impact on Raw, so Kaiser decided to take out Sheamus as Sheamus faced Bron Breaker for Breaker’s WWE International Championship. Kaiser then faced Bron Breaker and Sheamus interfered. Fed up, Breaker went after both men and REALLY fed up, GM Adam Pearce made this match.
Prediction and analysis: Breaker retains.
L.A. Knight vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, WWE United States Championship match
Story in a nutshell: After L.A. Knight successfully defended the WWE United States Championship against Humberto Carillo, Shinsuke Nakamura returned from hiatus and kicked Knight in the face.
As above, plus in after Shinsuke Nakamura won a “tune-up” match, L.A. Knight tried to attack him but got a face full of mist.
Prediction and analysis: I like the idea of Shinsuke winning here. Knight hasn’t really done much as champion, being little more than a MacGuffin in his previous feud. I think Knight chasing would be more interesting than keeping him a champ.
Stay right here and keep the flow going. We think you’ll like to read this next…
RECOMMENDED NEXT: WWE YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEW: Is it worth your time to watch this behind-the-scene footage of CM Punk’s return at Survivor Series last year?
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: WWE Smackdown results (11/29): Barnett’s review of Roman Reigns and CM Punk, Jey Uso vs. Jacob Fatu in a WarGames advantage match, the final push for WWE Survivor Series WarGames
(You can always reach PWTorch editor Wade Keller at kellerwade@gmail.com. You can also send live event results and news tips to pwtorch@gmail.com. Also, we’re always looking for volunteer contributors to help us round out of coverage of the pro wrestling scene.)
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