The WarGames concept has gone through many changes since its creation in 1987. It’s been held in many venues as part of a number of different shows across NWA and WCW, but since WWE adopted the concept and applied its version of the infamous match, it has called Fall its home.
Whether that meant it was headlining NXT shows, featured some combination of NXT’s best against Raw and Smackdown, or has become a staple of the WWE calendar, we’ve come to expect a certain degree of carnage every time WWE’s take on the classic match takes over the marquee.
Survivor Series 2025 features four matches, with two title matches between women’s champion Stephanie Vaquer defending her world championship against Nikki Bella, and Intercontinental champion John Cena defending his title against former champion Dominik Mysterio. The men’s and women’s WarGames matches anchor the show, likely bookending the PLE as they have in past years.
Men’s WarGames Match — Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Roman Reigns and the Usos vs. The Vision, Brock Lesnar, Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul
The men’s WarGames contest is full of intersecting storylines. Throughout most of the last few years the main event scene has orbited Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Roman Reigns and the Usos. Through circumstance WWE’s two world champions and the Bloodline find themselves on the same side. Conversely, in the absence of Seth Rollins, the heel team feels slightly cobbled together in its construction.
Although that element of the matchmaking feels disjointed, the men’s match converges the major men’s singles division stories from the last year into one match that essentially pits the world champions and the Bloodline — all whom have axes to grind with Paul Heyman — against a collection of his past and present proteges alongside Drew McIntyre. McIntyre has been feuding on and off with Rhodes this year, making his inclusion a logical choice.
With all of those names in play, who wins? Foremost I don’t think the Rhodes team needs this win for any particular reason, and I also would be surprised if Rhodes or Reigns eats a pin to close the match. Tying back to where it seems Raw is heading, I think we’re looking at a breakdown where the match can be compartmentalized into who’s feuding directly with who, and that comes down to Breakker and Punk in my view.
It truly feels like the world championship is set for Breakker to take, so I think it might be wise to truly fuel his momentum with a big win on a bigger stage to put Punk on his heels as the babyface champion. I can certainly see a scenario where Reigns is off fighting Reed or Lesnar, the Usos and Paul have taken themselves and others out, and by some route the final exchange involves champion and future challenger.
I just don’t see the faces winning this. I don’t think it serves any of them, and I don’t think it really sets anything up beyond the PLE. That’s an important consideration this close to Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, and I think Breakker is the answer to the question of how this match concludes.
Women’s WarGames — Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair and AJ Lee vs. Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Kabuki Warriors and Becky Lynch
The women’s match feels a little more organic in how the lineups came together over the last several weeks. At a minimum this match has the benefit of not having had an injury throw a wrench into Plan A.
Whereas the men’s match has most — if not all — of the participants paths crisscrossing, the women’s match feels more like the teams have come together to help them to fend off — or antagonize in the case of the heels — as a unit to meet a common goal.
Ripley and Sky have been at odds with Asuka and Kairi Sane since the Warriors’ turn on Sky. Similarly AJ Lee and Becky Lynch have been feuding since the former’s return to the company a few months ago and their hostilities haven’t wavered. The feud further escalated when Lee cost Lynch the IC title. Finally, Flair and Bliss were tag team champions earlier in the year before dropping the titles to the Kabuki Warriors.
Flair and Bliss have maintained some degree of friendship/alliance since losing the titles, mostly aided by their shared rivalry with Jax, Legend and the Warriors. That dynamic is what led to Ripley and Sky returning following the Warriors beating down the former to fend off the quartet and help the former champions. Finally, Lee was announced as the fifth member of the team, which then led to Lynch joining the villains during a brawl between the teams.
As far as how the match plays out, I think we’re looking at a scenario where the teams and tandems within the greater whole are going to cancel each other and this will come down to Lynch and Lee. I think the other eight and their stories over the course of the year are so interwoven through each of them that I could see a domino effect take place where when ________ is taken out by ________, their partner comes along to attack them. And it all topples down from there. It’s a tad unlikely it would play out exactly that way because there are so many intangible variables in these matches, but considering the match and its players, there’s a lot more value in pushing along a narrative centred around Lee and Lynch.
On that point I think they are still building this feud and letting it stand on its own merits a part from CM Punk and Seth Rollins. I can see Lee getting a win to further Lynch’s mental breakdown and fury toward the WWE legend, all in the interest of building more toward a bigger set of matches to punctuate and eventually blow off the feud when the time is right. Much like the men’s match, pushing along your major narrative needs to be the objective. So where The Vision — and specifically Breakker — need to win for the men, I think Lee picks up the win for the women’s side for her team.
Women’s World Championship — Stephanie Vaquer vs. Nikki Bella
If I had to point toward a weak link in the card it’s unfortunately here. Where I’m very high on Vaquer I could never say the same for Bella’s work. This match mostly derives from Bella’s return in September where she and Vaquer formed an alliance. That partnership ended earlier this month with Bella proclaiming she didn’t return to be someone’s sidekick following her attack on Vaquer the week before. She later demanded a title match with the champion and here we are.
I expect that Vaquer will carry this match, which she can do as she’s a tremendous talent. I don’t feel like Bella is going to offer up much in terms of in-ring work, and I would be concerned for the direction of the division if Bella wins the championship. Adding Bella to Vaquer’s list of “scalps” does more for the division because it strengthens her stock as champion in defeating someone she should beat, and as a fresh face running the division you need that more than a returning figure who may not stick around relatively as long. Bella has less to offer the division beyond the perception of a little more starpower, and is in my view a downgrade as champion even if it were a short term reign. I think Vaquer needs to retain here as there’s more value in continuing to build her as opposed to propping up Bella. The only scenario that I could sensibly get behind that involves Bella winning would be if Vaquer absolutely blows her out in the potential rematch.
Intercontinental Championship — John Cena vs. Dominik Mysterio
As “the last time” comes to a close, this will be one of Cena’s final matches. This had been rumoured for some time to occur at Survivor Series, but no one once discussed an actual build and title change prior to the PLE.
Where I don’t see Bella helping Vaquer’s stock the same way as Cena is expanding Mysterio’s, this match had the same time to build and develop from the point Bella turned and it feels like it has stakes, build and a point beyond “hey I have an ego, and my ego is ego-ing and I want your belt for my ego.”
Mysterio’s loss earlier this months feels like a result of his own ego and arrogance getting the better of him. His match with Cena was a consequence of his rudeness, and his loss derives from his belief in his own hype and untouchability. The Cena loss was a reality check for him and gives this match reason for occurring whereas the women’s match kind of just “is.”
There’s a story here and the objective was clear a week after losing the championship. Dom’s demand for a title match from the newly minted Grand Slam Champion indicates his character is refocused on what he views is his. The same trajectory can very well become the case for Vaquer and Bella, but taken on its own merits Cena and Mysterio feels like it’s being done to further build on Mysterio’s foundation and reset his focus on the IC title so that it feels like “his” to us, and to him, it’s his property.
Previously I said some time ago that if this rumoured match goes through, Cena should not leave Survivor Series with the title. That hasn’t changed. While I can get behind how they built to the match and am fine with Cena winning it earlier this month if it means dropping it back to Mysterio in a decisive match, Cena leaving the show with the championship helps no one and serves no purpose. I think Mysterio winning convincingly needs to be the objective, highlighting that Dom is the future, and calling back to one of Cena’s promos opposite Roman Reigns.
He previously paraphrased an old saying that states although he may not be as good as he once was, he can be as good as he was once, and only needs to be that good again for three seconds. The same is true here. He is not as gifted as Mysterio, but he turned back the clock and beat him. I think this will be a competitive match with Mysterio going over because I think it does more for the company than Cena carrying it a little longer and into his final match.
Cena does not need this win, nor does he need to be carrying a title into his final match next month. I think there’s a valid argument to have Cena defend one last time in his last match and retire with or without it, win or lose. However, if he loses it’s the expected move. If he wins, he presumably forfeits the title and vacates it for a new champion. I think keeping the title in the mix makes his final outcome predictable in one of the two ways, whereas the finality of his last match is something we should just appreciate whether you’ve historically liked him or not on its own merits. Having a title involved muddles that.
