Debate Builds Over Whether WWE Should Retire WarGames at Survivor Series

With WWE’s Survivor Series: WarGames event about a month away, questions are swirling about whether the show’s signature stipulation has run its course. This will mark the fifth consecutive year that WarGames — the five-on-five, two-ring, steel-cage brawl — has headlined Survivor Series, a run that began in 2022 when Triple H took over creative control of the main roster and imported the match from NXT, where it had been a TakeOver staple from 2017 through 2021.

That consistency is notable given how Triple H has handled other gimmick-driven events during his tenure. Hell in a Cell and TLC, once annual pay-per-views built entirely around their namesake stipulations, have been phased out in favor of occasional one-off matches — like CM Punk versus Drew McIntyre inside Hell in a Cell at Bad Blood in 2024. WarGames, by contrast, has stuck around every November, even as a narrative has to be constructed each year to justify a faction war breaking out right on schedule. This year’s expected matchup, reportedly pitting The 946 against The Bloodline, continues that pattern on the men’s side, while the women’s match is again expected to be built from a loosely connected group of competitors.

The case for scaling back WarGames centers on fatigue. Unlike the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, or Money in the Bank — stipulation shows that remain consistent draws — WarGames at Survivor Series has increasingly felt like a predictable beat on the calendar rather than a true spectacle. Part of the issue is structural: the match traditionally features a long entry sequence before the bout even formally starts, meaning a significant chunk of the show passes without real stakes.

There’s an alternative sitting right there in WWE’s own history. Before 2022, Survivor Series was built around traditional five-on-five elimination tag matches — a format that delivered unpredictability without needing two rings and a cage to feel important. Eliminations could swing momentum at any moment, setting up dramatic final confrontations or come-from-behind finishes.

For years, those elimination matches were framed around Raw versus SmackDown brand rivalries, a concept that hasn’t been meaningfully revisited in some time despite General Managers Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis frequently needling each other on-screen. Reviving that brand-war framing — potentially with real stakes like Royal Rumble entry spots or player-trade style stipulations — could give Survivor Series a hook it currently lacks. The practical hurdle is that Raw and SmackDown live on separate broadcast partners, and neither network is likely to embrace its show looking like the lesser brand, even symbolically.

There’s also the question of NXT’s involvement. The developmental brand was folded into Raw-vs-SmackDown festivities back in 2019, memorably producing a triple-threat main event where NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler defeated Raw’s Becky Lynch and SmackDown’s Bayley. Bringing NXT back into the mix now could open the door to dream matchups between NXT standouts and established main-roster champions.

None of this means WarGames is going away this November — all signs point to it remaining the centerpiece of this year’s Survivor Series. But as the match type approaches its fifth straight year in that slot, the conversation about whether WWE should pivot back to tradition in 2027 is only going to get louder.