As wrestling fans we’ve all grown
to gain a fondness for the War Games steel cage match. It’s still a match that
is asked to be brought back in today’s wrestling, even though it is but I’ll
get there. Before I look into the good and bad of the match here’s a little
history of the match.
Dusty Rhodes created the idea of
this match back in 1987. The concept is not all that straight forward. There
are 2 teams, usually of 4 men, 1 man from each starts the match. After 5
minutes a new man, usually from the heel team, joins the match and they rotate
every 2 minutes until everyone is in. When that happens the infamous “match
beyond begins” during which the match can only end by submit or surrender. The
match debuted at the Great American Bash 1987 and 2 would be held in that month
during the Great American Bash tour. This would see the Road Warriors, Nikita
Koloff, Dusty Rhodes & Paul Ellering beat the 4 Horsemen with JJ (in the
first match) and War Machine (in the last). The matches went over so well that
2 more would be held over the rest of the year and in 1988, during one tour
from June 26th till August 6th a total of 11 War Games
matches where held usually seeing the 4 Horsemen lose to babyfaces such as Lex
Luger, Sting, Road Warriors, Dusty and more. I can only assume that the company
sensed some overkill as in 1989 they went back to 2 matches but that changed
again. In 1990 no War Games was held but in 1991 at Wrestlewar Dave Meltzer
gave the match between the Horsemen against Brian Pillman, Sting & the
Steiners a 5 star rating. This would be followed with 5 more matches being held
that year during the summer.
After that WCW would begin to
hold the match just once a year. The 1992 match between Sting’s Squadron and
the Dangerous Alliance would gain another 5 star rating. The match was officially
moved to Fall Brawl in 1993 and not many were worth mentioning, they were
however a great addition to the NWO/WCW feud in 1996 & 1997. While the
match was always something of a draw for the company they would gain the need
to change the match in 1998, making it 3 teams (WCW, NWO & Wolfpac) of 3
and deciding that the match could end whenever by pinfall. Oh and only 1 person
would win and they would win a WCW title match. It was a wreck and one of the
worst matches ever but it’s a must watch because of how bad it is. Diamond
Dallas Page won by pinning Stevie Ray. I would like to say this was the last
WCW War Games but in 2000 they held another on Nitro, the match was held in the
Triple cage that WCW had in 2000 and was in a movie you know, it saw Team Russo
against Team WCW (I guess) but much like the last one it couldn’t be simple
especially since Russo was booking it. The WCW title, which Kevin Nash held,
was hung at the top and the match ended when one person left the bottom cage
with the belt. After doing an entire match with Nash teasing that he’d turn on
Team Russo he ultimately stayed and retained the title. Again it was awful but
worth watching because of it. That would be the official death of the War Games
on the big stage.
Of course the match wouldn’t die
out and many independent companies would pick up the concept, which some
changes. Combat Zone Wrestling would put add the concept to their annual Cage
of Death match. Number 5, 6, 7, 9 and 11 would all be held under War Games
rules however all but 7 added an elimination theme where touching the fall or
being beaten would eliminate them. The Cage of Death would be held in another
company, Ring of Honor held the match to end the ROH vs. CZW feud but this
wouldn’t be ROH’s only War Games type match. They would hold Steel Cage Warfare
in 2005 and in 2008, while the 2005 one was a highlight in ROH’s history the
2008 one was very forgettable. Another company which picked up the match as an
annual event would be NWA Wildside, I don’t know much about the company but I
do know they held War Games every year.
Some companies would put on the
match as a one off. The short lived Major League Wrestling also held a match
with the Extreme Horsemen vs. The Funkin’ Army. Another one off was IWA
Mid-South holding a 3 Team War Games seeing Team IWA vs. Team Fannin vs. Team
NWA for control of the company, having 5 men on each team this would have to be
the biggest War Games ever held. XPW and ECW would also hold war games matches
during their histories.
While you may have missed those
matches that I mentioned another “Main stream” company has picked up the
concept. TNA wrestling have held the War Games style match on a regular basis
first doing it during the weekly PPV era. But it would become more noticeable when
TNA created the Lockdown PPV and the Lethal Lockdown was born, the match was
pretty much the exact same except when the final entrant came in a roof would
lower with weapons attached and it could end with pinfall. Every year at
Lockdown a Lethal Lockdown match would occur with mixed reviews coming out of
them.
So there’s the history of the
match. Now let’s look into the match itself. Usually you can expect to see
blood during the match, when you go back and watch these matches you can see
that they are some of the bloodiest in the history of the business. That really
adds to the effect of the match and showcases how brutal it is and it’s portrayed
that way. But what really adds to the match is the constant excitement you feel
while watching, seeing who comes into the match next and some of the dangerous
spots really adds to the match. I think what helps in its appeal is that we don’t
see it, it’s a rarity for this match to happen. Even looking around the indies
as well as the main stream companies at best you’ll see it 3 times in a year so
it gives off that special feeling when it comes. However there is a problem and
that mainly being that the match won’t end until everyone is in, now while some
companies have changed that with the elimination rule the bulk of the time you’ll
see the original match concept occur. And the reason it’s a problem is that the
general feeling of “I don’t know when this could end” which is a great addition
when watching a match isn’t there, we know that we have to sit through 20-30
minutes until we can possibly see it end.
So have we attached a special
meaning to something that doesn’t deserve it. In my view no. The War Games
match has given us a lot of great matches and has become iconic over the years.
The match would still work and does still work in today’s wrestling world. We’re
attached it as we relate the match to some of our best and worst memories as
fans. So that’s my point of view and to reward you for reading like with my
last blog with a match added on. I’m going to attach a 5 star match with Sting’s
Squadron vs. the Dangerous Alliance.
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