WWE Survivor Series: WarGames 2023 Retro Review: Every Match Rated and Revisited
WWE Survivor Series: WarGames 2023 took place on Saturday, November 25, 2023, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, just outside Chicago. The announced crowd was 17,138. It was the second Survivor Series built around WarGames, it streamed on Peacock in the United States and on the WWE Network in most other countries, and Michael Cole and Corey Graves called it.
Most people remember this show for its last two minutes. CM Punk walked out to "Cult of Personality" as the show went off the air, nearly ten years after he left WWE. But there was a full show before that: two WarGames matches, Randy Orton's first match in 18 months, and three singles matches. Here is how it holds up, match by match.
The build
- Men's WarGames: Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso and Sami Zayn had been fighting The Judgment Day (Damian Priest, Finn Bálor, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh) since the summer. Drew McIntyre joined The Judgment Day's side and won them the advantage by beating Jey on Raw. Rhodes's fifth man was Randy Orton, out since May 2022 with a back injury. The question was whether he would turn up at all.
- Women's WarGames: Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair and Shotzi against Damage CTRL (Bayley, IYO SKY, Asuka and Kairi Sane, with Dakota Kai). Asuka had turned on her partners to join the group. Belair's team picked Raw's Becky Lynch as its fourth member, and a fan vote gave them the advantage.
- Intercontinental Championship: Gunther against The Miz. Gunther said he did not respect Miz as a wrestler, Imperium wrecked Miz TV, and Miz won a four-way match to earn the shot. It was Miz's first run as a fan favorite since 2020.
- Santos Escobar vs. Dragon Lee: Escobar had turned on Rey Mysterio and the LWO. He was meant to face Carlito, but Carlito was hurt in a brawl the night before, and Dragon Lee took his place.
- Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley against Zoey Stark, who had won a battle royal for the shot.
Match by match
Women's WarGames: Team Belair vs. Damage CTRL
Lynch and Bayley started. Lynch went for the Dis-Arm-Her early, and Dakota Kai, who was not in the match, poked her through the cage with a kendo stick to break it up. From there it was a classic WarGames build: one entrant at a time, then weapons. Shotzi threw a trash can in, Belair used her braid as a whip, and Belair hit Asuka with a fire extinguisher.
The two big spots were from the top of the cage. IYO SKY put a trash can on her own head and jumped onto everyone, and Charlotte Flair answered with a moonsault from the top of the cage onto the whole pile. Near the end, Flair went for a spear on Sane, and Bayley pushed her partner out of the way and took it herself. Belair, Flair and Shotzi each hit a finisher on Bayley, and Lynch finished her with a Manhandle Slam from the second rope through a table at 33:35.
What worked: this is one of the better women's WarGames matches. It had a clear structure, every one of the eight women got something to do, and the two cage dives were real moments. Bayley taking the spear for Sane was a good touch, since her place in her own group was slipping at the time, and it led straight into the finish.
What didn't: it is long, and the middle has the usual WarGames waiting while the next woman comes in. Damage CTRL losing also took some of the threat away from a group that was supposed to be running SmackDown.
Our rating: ★★★★
Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. The Miz
Miz wrestled the smartest version of this match he could. He kept away from Gunther's chops, kicked at his body, countered a powerbomb and hit the Skull-Crushing Finale for a near fall that the crowd bit on. Gunther kept coming, hit a splash from the top rope onto Miz's back, and then put on a Boston crab with his knee in Miz's back. Miz tapped at 12:20.
What worked: the story was simple and it was clear. Miz, who had always talked about what the Intercontinental title meant, finally got to fight for it as the good guy, and Gunther beat him in the way his character would. Miz looked better here than people expected.
What didn't: nobody believed the title was changing hands. Gunther had held it for well over a year, and the match never got past that.
Our rating: ★★★½
Santos Escobar vs. Dragon Lee
This was the late change. Escobar was quick out of the gate, trapped Lee's leg between the ring post and stomped on it, and worked the leg after that. Lee fought back with his speed, but Escobar hit a hurricanrana and then the Phantom Driver and pinned him at 7:40.
What worked: in under eight minutes, both men got their stuff in, and Escobar's clean win was the right result for someone who had just turned on Rey Mysterio.
What didn't: it was short and it came in between bigger matches. Lee had been brought in as a replacement and lost, which did not do him much good.
Our rating: ★★★¼
Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Zoey Stark
They fought before the bell, and Stark got a dropkick in early. Ripley took over with her kicks and power, Stark tried the Z-360, and Ripley stopped it with a headbutt and finished her with a Riptide at 9:15.
What worked: Ripley was at her peak as a character, and the crowd was with her the whole way. Stark worked hard in the biggest match she had had in WWE up to that point.
What didn't: Stark never felt like a threat to win, and the match was mostly Ripley in control. It was a fine TV match on a premium show.
Our rating: ★★¾
Men's WarGames: Team Rhodes vs. The Judgment Day and Drew McIntyre
Orton was not there at the start, and his team went into the cage short. Rollins and Bálor started, McDonagh came in to turn things for The Judgment Day, and Jey evened it up. Priest then pushed McIntyre aside and went in himself with a riot baton. Zayn pulled a pipe off the cage and brought a table in. Priest and McIntyre hit double chokeslams, and Priest put Rollins through the table with a Razor's Edge.
Then came the countdown for Orton's spot. As the clock ran out, Rhea Ripley walked out with Priest's Money in the Bank briefcase and a referee, teasing a cash-in. Orton's music hit at the last second. He and his team hit rope-hung DDTs on The Judgment Day and McIntyre at the same time. Orton lined up an RKO on Priest, then turned and stared at Jey, the man whose team had injured him in 2022. Jey superkicked Priest when he charged in, and Orton went back to work. Zayn and Rollins carried McDonagh to the top of the cage and threw him down into an RKO, and Rhodes pinned Priest with the Cross Rhodes at 34:50.
What worked: this is how a comeback should be booked. Orton did not appear for most of the match, the whole show was asking where he was, and the Ripley cash-in tease made his entrance even louder. The RKO on McDonagh as he was thrown off the cage is the image people remember from this match. The match also told its own story, with Priest taking control of his team from McIntyre.
What didn't: Orton came in late and did his greatest hits, not much more. With five big names on each side, a few of them, McIntyre in particular, were mostly there.
Our rating: ★★★★¼
Beyond the matches
- CM Punk's return: as the show went off the air, Punk walked out in Chicago for the first time in WWE since 2014. The reaction was huge, and it won the Slammy for OMG Moment of the Year. Triple H said after the show that most people, wrestlers included, did not know.
- The Ruffles segment: Alpha Academy, Chelsea Green, Piper Niven and Pretty Deadly argued on a couch about chips, and R-Truth turned up for the first time since his injury in November 2022. It was silly, but the crowd enjoyed seeing Truth.
- The crowd: Chicago was hot for both WarGames matches and then lost its mind for Punk.
The verdict: does it hold up today?
Yes. Both WarGames matches are good, the men's one is very good, and Orton's return still works when you watch it back. The middle of the show is lighter, with Ripley vs. Stark the weakest match. And then there is the ending, which changed the next two years of WWE.
- Best match: Men's WarGames
- Worst match: Rhea Ripley vs. Zoey Stark
- Overall: 4 out of 5
Full results and our ratings
| Match | Result | Time | Our rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's WarGames | Team Belair (Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi and Becky Lynch) def. Damage CTRL (Bayley, IYO SKY, Asuka and Kairi Sane) | 33:35 | ★★★★ |
| Intercontinental Championship | Gunther (c) def. The Miz by submission | 12:20 | ★★★½ |
| Singles match | Santos Escobar def. Dragon Lee | 7:40 | ★★★¼ |
| Women's World Championship | Rhea Ripley (c) def. Zoey Stark | 9:15 | ★★¾ |
| Men's WarGames | Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn and Randy Orton def. The Judgment Day (Damian Priest, Finn Bálor, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh) and Drew McIntyre | 34:50 | ★★★★¼ |
What happened next
- Punk signed with Raw in December and entered the 2024 Royal Rumble.
- On Raw two nights later, Jey admitted that he and Jimmy were behind Orton's injury and apologized, and Orton accepted as long as Jey stayed out of The Bloodline. Orton then signed with SmackDown and went after Roman Reigns, and he was in the four-way for Reigns's title at the 2024 Royal Rumble.
- Gunther beat Miz again in December, with the rule that Miz could not challenge again while Gunther was champion.
- Rhodes went on to win the 2024 Royal Rumble and beat Reigns at WrestleMania XL. Read our WrestleMania XL retro review.
More retro reviews
Other Survivor Series: WarGames shows we have revisited, rated out of 5:
- Survivor Series: WarGames 2022: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Sami Zayn and The Bloodline's biggest cage fight
- Survivor Series: WarGames 2024: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), Reigns and CM Punk on the same side in Vancouver
- Survivor Series: WarGames 2025: ★★★ (3 out of 5), the first stadium Survivor Series and John Cena's last PLE match
And a few more of our retro reviews:
- WrestleMania XL: ★★★★½ (4.5 out of 5), two nights in Philadelphia, The Rock and the end of the Bloodline story
- WrestleMania 39: ★★★★½ (4.5 out of 5), two nights in Hollywood and Reigns vs. Rhodes, part one
- SummerSlam 2025: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), the first two-night SummerSlam and John Cena's last one
- Crown Jewel 2025: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Cena vs. AJ Styles in Perth
- WrestleMania 41: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), Cena's farewell year and a Heyman story in Las Vegas
- WrestlePalooza 2025: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), the first WWE show on ESPN, with Lesnar vs. Cena
See them all on our Retro Reviews page, and read our Survivor Series: WarGames 2026 guide.
