Why WWE needs to bring back the Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series match

During its main roster debut in November 2022, members of the WWE Universe at the present time are highly entertained by WarGames matches . This was first done by the company during its time in NXT, where four people (5 on the main roster) are being formed into one group, then will later clash with each other inside a huge cage consisting of two rings connected to each other. When every contestant has been entered, a team must win by either pinfall or submission. I must say that I’ve been tweeting for years now about wrestling matches. I wanted to recommend several NXT matches as an introduction to non-wrestling fans whom I know, and some of these matches were contested in a WarGames type of match. With the Survivor Series event fast approaching, stakes are high for the factions that will be participating. The rest is history, and what matters now is if the Traditional Survivor Series match has been forgotten already in these times, and maybe it is time to bring it back?

Why WarGames?

This year we are getting another WarGames in the Survivor Series, as advertised during the Crown Jewel PLE in Saudi Arabia. Sure enough, there will be one for the men’s division and one for the women’s division. The best thing that we have in these match-ups is that the storylines are involved in building these feuds. Last year, we had the top-notch storytelling of The Bloodline with Sami Zayn in their corner, whose role at that time was to either make or break Roman’s trust. I admit that before and during their match with Kevin Owen’s team, I was in doubt that their execution of cohesive storytelling would fail, but they did not. It was an all-out war and full of chaos from start to finish, by not letting the audience down and making themselves fools, which was a typical Vince McMahon booking style for ages. It also had major angle points where the audience’s point of view might be put into doubt or question, which was outstanding. After almost 20 years, the WarGames match was brought back via the NXT Takeover brand as part of the Survivor Series weekend. Honestly, adding this NXT Takeover special once a year during that point adds to the hype of Survivor Series PLE, and sometimes it was just better than the Survivor Series itself. I just wanted to see more of the Undisputed Era being held as the “kings” of WarGames since, most of the time, when the match was still part of NXT, they were almost always involved. This came to an exception when the brand was revamped in 2021 and most of the members are not working for WWE anymore.

What went wrong the elimination tag match?

When it comes to knowing about the “vintage WWE”, as commonly said by Michael Cole on commentary, look no further than the 5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match. This match was introduced at the 1987 inaugural Survivor Series event, where the likes of Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan participated in that match, which became the main event. For the following years, it became a staple in WWE for them to produce this event by having a team captain or an authoritative figure set up a group, especially on weekly TV episodes of either Raw or SmackDown. This changed in 2016, when WWE revived the brand extension. This would make the idea of having a complete separation between the respective rosters of both red and blue brands more appealing. I think this was good for the sake of injecting fresh ideas and storytelling by clashing with everyone, but as time went by, it was already a cliché to watch members of each brand’s rosters who have internal feuds and are being teamed up for the sake of brand supremacy. Yet, this has been done all over again until 2021, when it was the last time that Vince McMahon was fully in charge of WWE’s creative direction.

Traditional over Modern

Reviving the WarGames match is a great honor and tribute to the late WWE Hall of Famer and pro wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes, who created the concept of this match. To make things clear, I don’t have anything against WWE going forward with WarGames at Survivor Series PLE this year, but as a guy who wanted to preserve some history, I just hope that the traditional Survivor Series match will make its return in that same PLE where it ushered its fame to long-time WWE fans. Although it has come to mind that one of Triple H’s plans is to remove PLEs named from gimmick matches, which have been implemented effectively in the Hell in a Cell event, I still think that preserving the rich history of the elimination tag team match is still great for the new generation of fans to be reminded of why Survivor Series is Survivor Series. On one hand, this will not mean that the WarGames match will be completely eliminated in WWE; creative writers might inject this scenario where this type of match will be the last resort to end feuds among stables involved, just like Hell in a Cell for individuals or tag teams. On the other hand, WWE can do this instead with the Traditional Survivor Series, with WarGames being exclusive only to the NXT brand.

Conclusion

With the Survivor Series being part of WWE’s “big four,” it is expected that overall entertainment, breath-taking action, and unexpected surprises will take place in one night. During the announcement of a WarGames match by WWE in their long-running Survivor Series PLE, I was in awe that one of my favorite types of matches in NXT is being brought to the main roster for the mainstream audience to finally witness how great it is. I thought it would just happen for one time, and it might be brought back in NXT, but it’s also nice to see this match on the main roster. However, WWE’s original Survivor Series tag team match is something that the company has taken care of for over three decades. This might add a burden to creative writers, but I think it will be worth watching as we get to this point, which is basically how this business works in the first place. Triple H must explore the whereabouts of bringing back the elimination tag match at Survivor Series since he participated several times in the past and also to preserve the rich history of WWE. Lastly, the cohesiveness of storylines will play a major part in building feuds effectively, which will add flavor to every match.