Every Men's WarGames Match in WWE, Ranked From Worst to Best
WarGames was created by Cody Rhodes's father, Dusty Rhodes, and first took place at The Great American Bash in 1987. WWE brought it back in NXT in 2017, and in 2022 it moved to the main roster as the centrepiece of Survivor Series. Since 2017 there have been nine men's WarGames matches in WWE: five in NXT and four at Survivor Series.
With The Bloodline and The 946 set for the tenth at Survivor Series: WarGames on November 28 in Houston, we went back through all nine and ranked them, from the one we enjoyed least to the one we think is the best.
How we ranked them
We judged each match on four things: the action, the story it told, the finish, and how well it used the WarGames format itself, with the staggered entries, the two rings and the roof. A long list of big moves was not enough. The best WarGames matches make the cage matter and leave the result feeling earned. For the four Survivor Series matches, our ratings come from our own retro reviews.
9. NXT WarGames 2021: Team 2.0 vs. Team Black & Gold
December 5, 2021, Orlando. Winners: Team 2.0 (Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Tony D'Angelo and Grayson Waller). Time: 38:11.
This was NXT's new generation, the brand had just been relaunched as NXT 2.0, against the old guard of Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, LA Knight and Tommaso Ciampa. LA Knight climbed the cage and took apart three men by himself, Waller came off the top of the cage with an elbow through a table, and Gargano and Ciampa hit their old DIY finisher, Meeting in the Middle, on Breakker. It ended with Bron Breakker spearing Ciampa through a table in the corner and pinning him after a military press powerslam.
Our take: the result was the right one. It was Breakker's coming-out night, and it is clear now how much it mattered. The problem was everything around it. The teams were thrown together in a few weeks, the padlock spot with the bolt cutters killed the pace in the middle, and the crowd at the Performance Center was never fully sure who to cheer. It was a good match with a weak build, which is why it sits last.
8. Survivor Series 2025: The Vision and Brock Lesnar vs. Team Punk
November 29, 2025, San Diego. Winners: Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre and Brock Lesnar. Time: 40:30.
The biggest names of any WarGames: CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns and The Usos against The Vision, Drew McIntyre and Brock Lesnar. Punk lifted Breakker on his shoulders for a Doomsday Device with Rhodes, Reed hit Tsunamis on three men, and Lesnar came in and threw everybody around. A masked man, later revealed as Austin Theory, came off the top of the cage to take out Punk, and Breakker speared the World Heavyweight Champion for the pin.
Our take: Lesnar was a great choice as the late entrant who wrecks everyone, and Breakker pinning Punk set up a real title story. But Lesnar and Reigns fighting outside the cage broke the one rule that makes WarGames special, nobody leaves, and the masked man finish took the win away from the winners. We gave it ★★★¾ in our 2025 retro review. Good, but not up to the standard of the matches above it.
7. NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2017: The first one
November 18, 2017, Houston. Winners: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish). Time: 36:37.
WWE's first WarGames was a three-team match: The Undisputed Era against SAnitY and The Authors of Pain with Roderick Strong. Killian Dain locked the cage with a chain and pretended to swallow the key, Alexander Wolfe hit a German suplex off the top rope through two tables, Dain did a coast-to-coast into a trash can, and Strong hit a superplex off the cage. Adam Cole won it with a Shining Wizard on Eric Young into a steel chair.
Our take: it was fun, it was wild, and it announced The Undisputed Era as the group that would run NXT for the next three years. But three teams in two rings is one team too many. With nine men, nobody could build a story, and a lot of the match was people waiting their turn to hit something. It deserves credit for starting the modern WarGames, and it was also in Houston, the same city as this year's match.
6. Survivor Series 2023: Randy Orton comes home
November 25, 2023, Rosemont. Winners: Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn and Randy Orton. Time: 34:50.
Randy Orton's spot on the team was the whole story. He had been gone for 18 months, the match started without him, and as his countdown ran out, Rhea Ripley walked out with Damian Priest's Money in the Bank briefcase and a referee. Orton's music hit at the final second. He hit rope-hung DDTs, threw an RKO on JD McDonagh as Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn threw him off the top of the cage, and Rhodes pinned Priest after a Cross Rhodes.
Our take: this is a lesson in how to book a return. The match was built around the empty spot and the cash-in tease made it even louder. Where it falls short is the rest of the match, which was a bit by the numbers, and McIntyre was barely used. We gave it ★★★★¼ in our 2023 retro review.
5. Survivor Series 2024: Roman Reigns and CM Punk learn to trust each other
November 30, 2024, Vancouver. Winners: Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Sami Zayn and CM Punk. Time: 41:55.
The OG Bloodline and CM Punk against Solo Sikoa's Bloodline and Bronson Reed. Solo Sikoa locked Reigns out and he climbed over the top to get in. Reigns accidentally speared Punk, then Punk pulled Reigns out of the way of a Tsunami and Reed went through the table instead. Jimmy Uso splashed Jacob Fatu through a table from the top of the cage, and every man on the winning team hit a finisher before Reigns speared Sikoa for the pin.
Our take: the best story inside any WarGames match apart from our No. 1. Everything was about Reigns and Punk, two men who did not like each other, having to rely on each other, and Fatu was outstanding. It was a little long and slow in the middle. We gave it ★★★★¼ in our 2024 retro review, the same as 2023, and we put it higher because the story carried all 42 minutes, not just one entrance.
4. NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2018: Ricochet's moonsault
November 17, 2018, Los Angeles. Winners: Pete Dunne, Ricochet and War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe). Time: 47:10.
The longest men's WarGames in WWE. Bobby Fish locked Pete Dunne inside the waiting cage and threw the key into the crowd, and when the referees tried to let him out, the key did not work and they needed bolt cutters. Late in the match, Cole and Ricochet climbed the cage and the others followed them up. Once everyone was down, Ricochet hit a moonsault onto the pile, and Dunne and Ricochet pinned Adam Cole together after the Bitter End and a springboard 450 splash.
Our take: this is the most fun of all nine. Ricochet was at his peak, War Raiders, now known as Erik and Ivar, were thrown around like they weighed nothing, and the cage spot near the end is one of the defining images of NXT. Forty-seven minutes is long, and the locked-in-a-cage idea stretched the build, but it never felt slow once everyone was in.
3. NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2020: Pat McAfee's swanton
December 6, 2020, Orlando. Winners: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong). Time: 45:00.
Pat McAfee was in only his second professional match, and he led a team of Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch against The Undisputed Era. McAfee brought in four tables with each Undisputed Era member's name on them and put Roderick Strong through his. He did a swanton from the top of the structure onto the other seven men. At the end, Lorcan took Cole's knee for McAfee, and O'Reilly won it with a diving knee onto a chair over Lorcan's face.
Our take: this one should not have worked. It was held in front of a small crowd during the pandemic, and its biggest star was a broadcaster. Instead, McAfee wrestled like he had been doing it for years, and the four Undisputed Era members, in their last WarGames together, were at their best. The only thing keeping it out of the top two is that it was more of a spectacle than a story.
2. NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2019: Kevin Owens returns, Ciampa flies
November 23, 2019, Rosemont. Winners: Team Ciampa (Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic and Kevin Owens). Time: 38:26.
Ciampa had a mystery fourth partner. When the last spot came, it was Kevin Owens, back in NXT for one night. Owens hit a Stunner on Cole for a near fall, a frog splash through a table on O'Reilly, Dijakovic chokeslammed Strong through a table and Lee hit a Spirit Bomb off the top rope on Fish. Ciampa won it with an Air Raid Crash on Cole from the top of the cage through two tables.
Our take: everything a WarGames match should be. The teams had a real reason to hate each other, the surprise partner was a genuine surprise, every man had a big moment, and the finish was a huge spot that also ended the story, with Ciampa getting his revenge on the group that had dominated NXT. It is the best of the NXT WarGames and, by a small margin, behind only one.
1. Survivor Series 2022: The Bloodline vs. The Brawling Brutes, Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens
November 26, 2022, Boston. Winners: The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa and Sami Zayn). Time: 38:30.
The first main roster WarGames was also the best. The whole match was about whether The Bloodline could trust Sami Zayn. Reigns sent Zayn in instead of Jimmy to test him, Zayn and Jey Uso argued over a table, and in the end Owens hit Reigns with a pop-up powerbomb and a Stunner. Zayn grabbed the referee's arm to stop the count, then hit his best friend Owens with a low blow and a Helluva Kick, and Jey pinned him. Afterwards, Jey, who had doubted Zayn for months, finally hugged him.
Our take: this was the peak of the Bloodline story, WWE's most talked-about storyline of that period, and the match told that story without a single wasted moment. The action was strong too, with McIntyre, Sheamus and The Brutes hitting hard all night. Every big spot meant something, and the finish changed the story for the next six months. We gave it ★★★★½ in our 2022 retro review.
All nine men's WarGames matches
| Rank | Year | Event | Winners | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022 | Survivor Series | The Bloodline | 38:30 |
| 2 | 2019 | NXT TakeOver | Team Ciampa | 38:26 |
| 3 | 2020 | NXT TakeOver | The Undisputed Era | 45:00 |
| 4 | 2018 | NXT TakeOver | Dunne, Ricochet and War Raiders | 47:10 |
| 5 | 2024 | Survivor Series | The OG Bloodline and CM Punk | 41:55 |
| 6 | 2023 | Survivor Series | Team Rhodes | 34:50 |
| 7 | 2017 | NXT TakeOver | The Undisputed Era | 36:37 |
| 8 | 2025 | Survivor Series | The Vision and Brock Lesnar | 40:30 |
| 9 | 2021 | NXT | Team 2.0 | 38:11 |
What the best WarGames matches have in common
Looking at all nine together, the pattern is clear. The matches at the top of our list all have one simple question at their centre: can Zayn be trusted, who is Ciampa's partner, can a broadcaster survive a cage with The Undisputed Era. The ones at the bottom have the big moves but no question, or they answer it with a shortcut, like the masked man in 2025.
The other thing they share is respect for the cage. Nobody leaves, and the danger comes from inside. When WWE lets people fight outside the structure, or takes too long getting people in, the match loses what makes it different from any other big tag match.
This year's match has a ready-made question of its own. The Bloodline and The 946 have been fighting since the summer, and Reigns challenged them to WarGames on the November 9 Raw. Read the full story in The Bloodline vs. The 946: the men's WarGames so far.
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