This past Saturday, the WWE held its annual November event WWE Survivor Series Wargames, live from the Allstate Arena in Chicago IL. To say the event delivered, would be an understatement, as it became the best Survivor Series in the history of the company.
Aside from the most talked about moment that came in the closing moments of the event, the show overall was entertaining and keeps the streak of either entertaining or well-paced events the company has had since WrestleMania Hollywood. From the two Wargames matches, to the Lucha singles match, another fantastic IC title defense to Rhea’s dominance continuing. Here’s the quick rundown of results.
Women’s Wargames Match: Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Shotzi defeat Damage CTRL (Bayley, Asuka, Kairi Sane and Iyo Sky).
Intercontinental Championship Match: Gunther retains over The Miz.
Singles Match: Santos Escobar defeats Dragon Lee.
Women’s World Championship Match: Rhea Ripley retains over Zoey Stark.
Men’s Wargames Match: Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, and Randy Orton defeat The Judgment Day (Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, Finn Balor and JD McDonagh) and Drew McIntyre.
Here are my four biggest takeaways from Saturday night and what the future may look like for some of the superstars as we head into WrestleMania season and the next event major event which is Royal Rumble.
Rhea Ripley is not dropping the title anytime soon.
Now, that the four major events in WWE calendar have passed, Rhea should definitely cruise into WrestleMania season as one of the best-positioned champions in the company. I do believe that Rhea and Gunther both have the same issues currently as both have cleared out their challengers with Gunther possibly needing a brand-new challenge while Rhea has cleared out the competition on Monday Night RAW aside from Becky Lynch whom I do believe will be her final challenge at WrestleMania 40.
With the Royal Rumble on the horizon, I hope a new crop of challengers can come out from the event to keep Rhea occupied until WrestleMania and her battle with Becky. With the Royal Rumble comes surprise entrants hopefully we get a returning Liv Morgan at the event which could lead to a Rhea Ripley vs Liv Morgan matchup due to their history at the Elimination Chamber in Rhea’s homeland as she will be positioned as the main attraction for the event.
Gunther has officially surpassed the IC championship.
As mentioned earlier, Gunther has cleared out all the formidable challengers to his title on Monday Night RAW. From the likes of Chad Gable, Drew McIntyre, and now The Miz, the list of believable challengers is scarce. Now, does someone arise to dethrone the champion and end his historic reign as the longest Intercontinental champion in company history? Currently, looking at the roster on Monday Night RAW I do not see any legitimately threat to his reign. Some will say the right time was during his matches with Gable or even with McIntyre. Gunther will likely head into the Royal Rumble event as the champion still, hopefully after the Rumble, we get a few call ups from NXT who can position themselves into being a threat to end the historic reign some who come to mind and are believable threats will be Carmelo Hayes and Bron Breaker.
More likely, Breaker will be the one to debut at the Royal Rumble and who better to get the “rub” from Gunther than an up-and-coming star like Bron Breaker. All I know is that I hope it is someone who is deserving of the moment as whomever does pins or submit Gunther will be a made star in the midcard and lower main event scene. Here’s to hoping they don’t give that moment to Dominik Mysterio and especially JD McDonagh.
The Judgment Day need to drop the Tag Team titles and Priest needs to cash in.
The Judgment Day may be the best group currently in the WWE, however the stranglehold they have on the Undisputed Tag Team titles is hurting the division on both brands. This is not the fault of the Judgment Day but more so on the current state of the division. Outside of the Street Profits no teams are at the level of Finn Balor and Damian Priest. Hopefully in the coming weeks, they can push some of the current teams as the void that was left after The Usos, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, and even Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes leaving has hindered the division. It’s not by choice I believe they are champions because I just think the company has no faith in other teams to pull double duty on both shows.
Hopefully, the reformation of DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) can rise the ranks and reignite the spark from their NXT days. Other teams like Imperium, Creed Brothers, New Day and Viking Raiders are far from believable threats to the champions. One simple and refreshing take on the championships would be if the WWE pulled a fabulous Freebirds rule and have Damian Priest cash in and become champion and have JD McDonagh start defending the tag titles along with Finn Balor. It would be a fresh take on a classic rule from the early days in wrestling, while also giving us fresh matches that may have already happened while Priest and Balor were defending.
As much as some will disagree, CM Punk will be best for business.
As so eloquently titled on WWE social media, “Never Say Never” as the lightning rod that is CM Punk has returned to WWE. After a roller coaster of a ride to say, at AEW, wrestling’s biggest catalyst has returned to the place that put him on a global stage for him to become one of the best in the world for the 2010s. Many thought after the fallout from AEW that he would be an unthinkable hire for any wrestling company, like a return to AEW, to Impact, who is returning to the TNA moniker, to a return to the place he mentioned got him sick.
Now, he has returned, and during his promo on Monday Night RAW on 11/27, he stated that “I’m home”. With him home, what are the goals? From one of his promos almost ten years ago, he hated part-timers who would come into the company to get their WrestleMania run and paycheck, now, he is on the same trajectory as the ones he once hated. It’s near impossible to fathom he is not in any high-profile match at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, a city that is die hard wrestling country. Punk will have plenty of matches to have between now and that weekend in Philly.
Currently, all signs are pointing to him and Seth Rollins feuding as Seth has not been shy to say his dislike of Punk over the years. Some early reports have Punk also feuding with Roman Reigns in the near future. For someone who back in 2013 stated that it is unfair for part-timers to come in and take the spots others have deserved and earned over the months heading into WrestleMania season, he is definitely doing that to someone, whether it’s taking Cody Rhodes shot at finishing his story with Roman Reigns, to Jey Uso possibly having a championship run, to even playing a foil to Damian Priest cashing in on Seth Rollins.
Now, Punk can see why the company back then would do it with the likes of Batista, The Rock, and Brock Lesnar. Right now, the best thing for business will be for Punk to give the rub to the likes of Seth Rollins and Damian Priest, as well as letting Cody finish his story. Rollins vs Punk will likely be for the World Heavyweight title at Royal Rumble, which will be a great match; however, I personally hope the match ends in a DQ finish or with a Priest cash in, which will allow all men involved to stay strong.
As for the rumored feud with Reigns, both men do not need the WWE championship, hopefully, by the time this feud begins, Cody has already finished the story with Roman to give us a real belief that we will not know who wins between Roman and Punk. It is hard to believe Punk beating two of the company’s best champions. Or maybe Punk wants to be the first who has defeated each member of The Shield for their respective championships. He has beaten Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship. What would stop Punk from becoming the only wrestler possibly ever to beat each member of The Shield for a major championship?
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