WarGames: Why modern wrestling destroyed a classic match

So we’re officially in WarGames season again, as AEW just held its version of the match on Wednesday, and WWE will have its version in a few weeks. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, these matches aren’t giving me the same sense of amazement that the WCW/NWA versions did back in the day.

I looked into this a little bit and realized that there are a few different reasons why I’m not into these matches anymore, starting with the first one.

1. The setup

When I’m talking about the setup, I’m referring to how the match is announced and the reasoning behind using it. When you look at those early WarGames matches, from the beginning in the late 1980s up until 1997, the match wasn’t just used as a throwaway attraction because it was that time of the year. It was meant to be the culmination of a long-running feud. They used WarGames as a way to end the feud, which made the match more enjoyable because you knew the babyfaces would get their revenge on the heels. That’s normally what happened, as outside of 1997, when the NWO defeated the Horsemen, the babyfaces always won.

Nowadays, it feels like there’s no real reason for a WarGames match to happen outside of it simply being that time of the year. Just look at this year’s crop of matches. Both Blood and Guts matches might have been violent and everything, but what was the point of the matches outside of being held because it was that time of the year? Everybody involved in those matches will continue feuding afterward, so the matches really meant nothing beyond being violent matches for the sake of being violent.

The same goes for the WWE version. Does having The Bloodline face Royce Keys’ group in a WarGames match end the feud between the two factions? No, as I’m sure they will continue that feud past Survivor Series. The same goes for the women’s match, which seemed to be set up for Charlotte, Alexa, Tatum, Bayley, and probably one or two other people to face Fatal Influence, Jade, Michin, and B-Fab.

I would love for both companies to use the match only when they have a feud that needs to be settled with that type of stipulation, rather than using it simply because it’s that time of the year.

2. The use of weapons

This has been one of my biggest problems with modern WarGames matches. I don’t understand why you need to bring in weapons when you already have the ultimate weapon at your disposal: the steel cage.

Again, go back and look at those classic WarGames matches, especially the early ones involving Dusty and the Horsemen. They found ways to make the matches look incredibly violent just by using the steel cage as a weapon. Guys were bleeding, and some even got injured because of the cage. That’s why we still remember those matches as great ones.

Nowadays, they have to use a lot of shortcuts to create the same amount of violence. AEW’s versions go overboard with weapons and blood just to generate shock value. Heck, you can almost always guarantee that in the men’s match, somebody will take a bump on the roof or get thrown off the roof of the cage for no reason. It never makes sense and looks cheesy.

The WWE version isn’t much better. Because of the company’s no-blood rule, it’s just guys beating the heck out of each other while trying to be as safe as possible, which makes the match look horrible. Most of the time, the biggest culprits are the women’s matches, as you normally have a group of women who don’t really know how to make the match look violent without using weapons as crutches. Heck, you’re almost guaranteed to see Iyo Sky do that damn garbage bin spot every year, which is becoming a joke the more she does it.

Again, if this match is supposed to be about beating your opponents senseless and making it believable, why do wrestlers these days seem unable to do that without beating each other with weapons and going through tables? It’s sad, and it takes away from the rawness that the match used to have.

3. The pacing

My biggest problem with modern WarGames matches has always been the pacing. Back in the day, when they finally got to the WarGames portion of the match, that’s where the action really picked up. It normally wouldn’t take long before we got to the finish, which made sense because those guys had been beating each other senseless for half an hour. They didn’t have much strength left to continue taking that type of beating.

These days, by the time we get to the WarGames portion, it’s like the first 25 to 30 minutes never happened. We’re starting back at square one and have to continue watching them beat each other up for another 15 to 20 minutes, if not longer. Again, that makes no sense considering how much of a beating they already took. WWE is the biggest culprit of this, as they tend to overbook these WarGames matches just for the sake of it, which makes them awful and boring to watch.

So again, stop trying to reinvent the wheel and go back to what made WarGames so special. The match itself was separated into two parts. The first act was always a way to set up the final five minutes, which served as the climax. That’s where all the drama was, and it had to be as quick as possible so that the ending would have a major impact on the audience.

Conclusion

Modern wrestling really needs to go back to what made the WarGames concept so impactful in the first place and stop using it as a placeholder match simply because it’s that time of the year or because they need a ratings boost.

Also, stop making the matches look fake. Go back to making them believable by actually stopping the use of shortcuts to create violence and pacing the matches better instead of having a 30-minute final act.

If they learn lessons from the past, I think they can make this type of match mean something again. For now, though, it’s just another throwaway gimmick match that they use once a year because it’s that time of the year, and that makes the match less special.