How a WarGames match works

WarGames is a team match fought inside one long steel cage that covers two rings placed side by side. It was created by Dusty Rhodes in 1987, and WWE now stages it every year at Survivor Series. The short version: wrestlers enter one at a time on a timer, one team gets a temporary numbers advantage, and the match can only be won once every entrant is inside. The history below follows the Wikipedia summary of the match.

The cage

The cage covers both rings but not the ringside floor. Doors sit at opposite far corners, near where each team waits, so the sides cannot brawl before they enter. The original Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW cage had a roof. WWE's cage does not.

The entry order

1. One member of each team starts in the cage.
2. After five minutes, a second member of one team enters, giving that side a two on one advantage.
3. Two or three minutes later, a member of the other team enters to even it up.
4. Entries keep alternating on the clock, so the advantage team is always briefly up a body.

Which team gets the advantage has been decided in different ways: a coin toss, preliminary matches in the weeks before, or a series of singles matches. Traditionally the villains end up with it, which builds sympathy for the other side.

The Match Beyond

Once every wrestler is inside, the phase known as the Match Beyond begins. In the original rules there were no pinfalls, no count outs and no disqualifications: a team won only when an opponent submitted, surrendered or could not continue. Later WCW versions, and WWE's version today, allow a pinfall to end it.

WWE adds one more rule: if a wrestler escapes the cage, their whole team is disqualified. That is why you will see wrestlers climbing the walls but rarely going over.

A short history

The first WarGames match took place in 1987 at The Omni in Atlanta during the Great American Bash tour, billed as War Games: The Match Beyond. WCW kept it going through the 1990s, mostly at Fall Brawl. After WWE bought WCW's assets in 2001 the match disappeared until 2017, when NXT revived it at TakeOver: WarGames. In 2022 WWE moved it to the main roster and rebranded its November event as Survivor Series: WarGames.

AEW runs its own version, Blood and Guts, which keeps the roof and the no pinfall rule from the original. We explained it in how an AEW Blood and Guts match works.

What to watch for

Count the entries. The team with the advantage has its best window just before the last entrant arrives, and the final entrant of the disadvantaged team often decides the night. Also watch for weapons: with no disqualifications, whatever comes into the cage stays in play.