It began in WCW, when Dusty Rhodes was inspired by Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. It became a staple, yearly event in their fall booking line-up. WWE picked up the rights to it when they acquired WCW in 2001, but it never again saw the light of day until 2017, when they brought it back for their NXT developmental brand, where they proved the concept could still pop fans and excite the crowd. It worked so well for them, it graduated to WWE's main brand, where it has become a signature part of their Survivor Series premium live event.
It is where two teams would reach the culmination of their rivalries, feuds, and hatreds in a match so intense, it couldn't be constrained by one ring. A match so brutal that it had to be restrained inside of a steel cage. Where the only way to win is by pinfall or submission, there is no escape.
I speak, of course, of the Match Beyond. I speak, of course, of War Games.
Below the break, I do a little fantasy booking for the 2025 Men's War Games match.
Some Background
As I write this (22 September 2025), we are just about 48 hours removed from Wrestlepalooza 2025.
The Raw World Heavyweight Championship is currently held by Seth "Freakin'" Rollins, flamboyant and cunning mastermind who proudly declares himself "a visionary, a revolutionary," and is the leader of a faction known as The Vision, ostensibly his "vision of the future of this company" so he can shepherd younger talent and prepare them to carry the brand. In reality, it's really to protect him as the world champion, as he has his two enforcers-- Bron Breakker and "Big" Bronson Reed-- demolish anyone who might pose a threat to him. Breakker is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Steiner, a former football player with a fearsome combination of explosive power, raw speed, and volatile temper, called the "unpredictable badass." Reed is a 350-pound mass of heavyweight muscle, a monster that has defeated bigger men, crushing them with his top-rope diving splash known as the Tsunami, a move which has sent victims to the hospital. Also aligned with the Vision is Hall of Famer Paul Heyman, serving as their manager, after having betrayed previous client Roman Reigns and best friend CM Punk at Wrestlemania 41. Heyman, previously called an "advocate" and "wiseman," is hailed by Rollins as his "Oracle" to help him shape the future. Lastly, there's Rollins' wife, current Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch, a fiery Irish ass-kicker who calls herself "The Man," and won't hesitate to remind everyone that she's the greatest women's wrestler of all time, "and it's not just me that says it, other people are saying it too."
Rollins has a number of people gunning for his title, whom he's happy to sic the Vision against. First, there's "Main Event" Jey Uso, a former tag specialist with his twin brother, who broke into singles competition and whose charisma catapulted him to the world title scene, capturing the World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania 41 before losing it back to Gunther in the summer. Jey's drive to reclaim the championship has had him sliding into some old behaviors, being unfavorably compared to his cousin Roman Reigns at his worst. Fighting the Vision alongside Jey has been his brother Jimmy Uso (aka "Big Jim"), who took a little longer to break away from Reigns' shadow himself, but his loyalty to his family is unquestionable. Jimmy doesn't have his brother's natural connection with the fans, but their in-ring chemistry made them one of the greatest tag-teams in WWE history.
Meanwhile, the brash LA Knight has been thirsting for championship gold on Raw as well. Knight knows no boundaries with his words and pulls no punches with his fists. He has eyes on Rollins' title, but he's not shy of reminding people that his previous attempts at claiming world championship gold have failed due to outside interference or other people getting in the way. Knight and Jey Uso have recently developed a mutual animosity, with circumstances consistently getting the two of them to near-blows and then actual blows, often with Jimmy Uso having to play peacemaker between the two.
But Rollins' most prominent rival has to be CM Punk, a veteran legend who made his return to wrestling after more than a decade's absence, and whose return to WWE immediately put him in Rollins' crosshairs. During Punk's initial (and ill-fated) return to wrestling in AEW, Rollins was quick to call him a "cancer" and had few kind words to say about him. Punk has made reclaiming championship gold his priority since coming to WWE ("I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to make money!") but Rollins has made it his mission to see to it that Punk never gets his hands on the world title. Just now, at Wrestlepalooza, however, Rollins was dealt a defeat by Punk, as the two men teamed with their respective wives: Rollins' wife Becky Lynch, and Punk's wife, AJ Lee, making her own return to wrestling after a decade's absence.
One cannot ignore that Rollins' ascension to the world title came at the expense of Roman Reigns. Roman had a tumultuous climb through WWE, being obviously pushed by the company leadership to an extent that it was visible to the fans, who turned on him. Fans had obviously wanted "anyone but you," for years, despite Roman's victories. It culminated with an overdue heel turn in 2020, and this led to the most dominant title reign in recent history, going on for a historic 1,316-day run, notably assisted by his Bloodline faction-- the Usos and Solo Sikoa-- and his "wiseman" Paul Heyman. After losing the title at Wrestlemania 40, Roman took some time off, and his return has mostly been tied up with feuding with Solo Sikoa-- who had tried to usurp his position as "Tribal Chief"-- before turning his attention to Punk and Rollins. Roman was betrayed by Heyman when his allegiance shifted to Rollins, and he's been looking for revenge on the Vision until they took him out at Clash in Paris back in August.
Over on the Smackdown brand, we have the current WWE Undisputed Champion, "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes, who reclaimed the title this summer from John Cena. Rhodes made himself an undeniable main event talent by betting on himself, walking away from the big WWE money and rebuilding himself on the independent scene, and then helping found AEW, before he returned to WWE and has been a consistent high-level performer. Rhodes, described as "the quarterback" of WWE, is presented as a hero who will never back down from a fight, painted as the successor of Cena as the "face of the company."
But Rhodes' spot at the top of the mountain has made him an enemy of Drew McIntyre, a fearsome "Scottish Psychopath," who has been consistently stymied from reclaiming world championship gold. McIntyre first captured the WWE Championship in 2020 after toppling Brock Lesnar, but to a lot of people, his victory fell flat because it notoriously happened in an empty arena, during the height of the pandemic. Even McIntyre has admitted to feeling like the victory didn't mean as much. He's been gunning for the title ever since, but throughout his feud with Roman Reigns, there was constant interference from his Bloodline. He also made enemies with CM Punk after his return, antagonizing a sidelined-by-injury Punk throughout his climb to claim the WWE Championship from Rollins at Wrestlemania 40, only to lose it just over five minutes later when Punk attacked him, setting up McIntyre to lose the title to a Money in the Bank cash-in from Damien Priest. This led to a bitter blood feud between Punk and McIntyre-- which saw Punk travel halfway around the world to Scotland specifically to screw McIntyre out of the title again-- before the two ended up on separate brands. Now McIntyre's turned his sights to Rhodes, accusing him of being "protected" by the company. He once again came up short in his title aspirations at Wrestlepalooza, this time after seeming interference by the referee-- who pleaded with him not to kick Rhodes' head through the announce table-- led to McIntyre injuring his leg, preventing him from being able to land his Claymore Kick finisher, and setting up Rhodes to retain his title.
Add to this already volatile mix of characters the recent return of "The Beast" Brock Lesnar. A dominant brute of a man, Lesnar had set records for his world title reign (under the management of his "advocate" Paul Heyman) prior to Roman's ascension as the "Tribal Chief," but regardless of whether he holds the title or not, Lesnar is consistently portrayed as a walking weapon of mass destruction, very rarely losing a match cleanly, a terrifying monster whose mere arrival sends shockwaves through the arena. Lesnar returned earlier this year to hand John Cena one more ass-whupping before Cena's retirement, and was quickly established as an uncontrollable beast that would attack anyone he felt like (including officials and even commentators), but there was an interesting interaction between Lesnar and Paul Heyman the night before Wrestlepalooza, when Heyman wanted to "talk business" with him. This may just have been to set up Heyman stepping in as Lesnar's personal ring announcer for his match with Cena at Wrestlepalooza, but one can never be sure where the schemes of Paul Heyman are concerned...
Setting Up War Games
Again, as I write this, we're about two months away from Survivor Series 2025, so anything could happen in the lead-up to it. I'm not going to spend too much time booking all of the lead-up to War Games, as that would bog things down too much.
The main crux of it comes down to people stepping up to try to take down Rollins and the Vision, and Raw GM Adam Pearce getting fed up with the constant interference and attacks, and announcing the War Games match, five on five, with Seth Rollins captaining his squad, and CM Punk captaining the other.
Rollins already has Breakker & Reed to fill in some of his slots, and Punk quickly recruits the Usos to counter them, and then says to help lead his team to victory, he got himself a "star quarterback" to do the job: Cody Rhodes. In response to that, Rollins brings in Drew McIntyre, who has all manner of ideas about what to do to Cody once he has him inside the cage. Punk then goes to LA Knight to be their fifth man, but Knight takes a lot of convincing. Punk's interference cost him a title shot against Rollins, and he's got beef with Jey Uso. In the end, he agrees to do it only so he can get his hands on Rollins and anybody else that looks at him funny.
Rollins, however, is cagey about who their fifth man might be. The Vision are in agreement that their fifth man is their ace in the hole, their trump card, their secret weapon. They don't tell anyone who it might be, hinting perhaps that it might be some other heel on either brand, maybe even a new NXT call up. Finally, after the inevitable "team advantage" match-- the winner of which secures the advantage for their team, so a member of their squad enters the cage first, does Paul Heyman finally reveal the fifth man: Brock Lesnar. Cue the reaction from Punk's squad, and from Drew McIntyre, who has reason to be wary of-- it was Drew, after all, that eliminated him from the 2020 Royal Rumble, and then defeated him to claim the WWE Championship that same year.
The Match Beyond
Thus, the 2025 Men's War Games Match is set: Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre & Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Cody Rhodes & LA Knight
You have the potential for conflict within both squads. LA Knight has beef with Jey Uso and CM Punk. There's maybe tension between Jimmy & Jey Uso over Jey's increasingly Roman-esque behavior toward getting back on top of the main event scene. And over on the Vision squad, McIntyre and Lesnar are constantly staring daggers at each other, with Heyman and Rollins doing their best to keep them from going after one another.
I'm not set on what the "batting order" would be for either squad, but I feel like the Vision sends in Brock Lesnar first. In response, Punk's squad sends in Cody, their "quarterback" to face him. It's not an unreasonable idea; Cody defeated Lesnar in 2023, which had been Lesnar's last match until his return before Wrestlepalooza. Cody had seemingly earned Lesnar's respect with that win, but it's quickly established that Lesnar doesn't care about that once the bell rings; if you're in the ring with him, then you are a target.
Cody weathers the storm against Lesnar, seemingly starting to get the upper hand, until the Vision sends in their next guy: Bron Breakker. The unpredictable badass sprints down to the cage and immediately spears Cody in half. He has his way with Cody for a minute or two while Lesnar recovers from Cody's offense, and then we get some more tension. Breakker, who has been established as having little respect for veterans, gets a little mouthy with Lesnar, but this just turns into a game of one-upmanship between the two with Cody as the ragdoll. The next person to enter is Jey Uso, who helps rescue Cody from the beat-down, and the two men-- former tag champions together, mind you-- manage to just start getting the upper hand again, even hitting one of their opponents with the "1-D" finisher before Rollins sends in Reed to help out.
Now the Vision gets to set the pace more to their liking. Lesnar suplexing around Cody and Jey, Breakker running them over with his high-speed offense, and Reed crushing them with his weight. Multiple Tsunamis from Reed are in play here, seeming to make it their goal to drain the life out of Punk's squad before the final entrant makes it in, so their victory ends up a formality. However, the next entrant is Jimmy Uso, who introduces weapons into the match. He starts by blasting them all with a fire extinguisher, then throws chairs and kendo sticks into the ring, going to town to clear some space for Jey and Cody to get back up.
They manage to turn things back for their squad, but it's still a near thing, as there's absolutely nothing stopping the Vision or Lesnar from using the weapons as well. Especially not once Drew McIntyre enters next. He beelines for Cody, immediately connecting with the Claymore, and then takes his time taking him apart. "The company can't save you from me now!" So it goes, but Drew wants to do a lot of it himself, and there's more tension as this clashes with Reed and Breakker, and even moreso with Lesnar.
By the time the next entrant is due to come out, there's more tension as Punk and Knight argue over who should enter next. In the end, Punk tries to pull rank and enter the fray, but Knight ignores him and marches down the ring himself. Punk is left frustrated as he waits in the cage on the stage, while Knight immediately enters hostile territory. If it hadn't been for the argument, Knight might have gotten in the ring fast enough before the Vision and Lesnar could prepare for them. As it is, he finds himself surrounded, but he goes down swinging, refusing to quit and lay down as they work him over.
The final entrant for the Vision's squad is, of course, Seth Rollins himself, who strolls out of the cage cackling, making a point to go over and taunt Punk through the bars. When Punk lunges for him, Rollins responds by kicking him in the balls, and then Becky Lynch comes out with a chain and padlock, helping Rollins lock the cage shut. He throws the key away and then struts down to the ring, where he directs traffic, trying to make sure that there is no one ready to fight back. The match itself can't actually start until Punk gets in the ring, so the Vision and Lesnar are free to do as they wilt with a 5-on-4 advantage.
The timer goes off for Punk's entry, but the cage is still chained shut. He rattles the bars, screaming his frustration at Rollins, and it's not helped with Lynch's taunting him on the stage. At least, until Punk's wife AJ Lee comes out to chase off Lynch. This still leaves Punk locked in the cage, but that's when Roman Reigns comes out with a set of bolt cutters. He and Punk stare each other down through the bars for a minute before he uses the bolt cutters to free Punk from the cage, then tells him, "Go down there and beat his ass!" Punk just springs down, grabbing a weapon on the way, and enters the War Games cage.
Now the match is underway, Punk is able to fend off the heel squad long enough for his squad to get back up, though it's still not without tensions. Knight and Jey nearly hit one another more than a few times, Punk is also getting in people's face over it all, and everyone's really hurt after the beat-down from the heels. Though even the heels aren't faring their best, with Drew and Lesnar not getting along with each other or anyone else.
In the end, however, they manage to put it together. Reed is stopped from performing a Super Tsunami off the top of the cage, intercepted by the face squad and hurled off the top and through some tables. Breakker is taken out when he tries to go for his spear but ends up colliding with a chair wedged in the turnbuckles. Drew finally gets fed up with Rollins and kicks his face in with the Claymore, then just sitting down in the corner and watching as the face squad gang up on Lesnar. Double superkick from the Usos sends him staggering into Punk, who lifts him up for the GTS. Lesnar staggers from that right into Knight's BFT, and Lesnar still gets back up in time to eat the Cody Cutter before everyone dogpiles on top of him for the pinfall.
Aftermath
After War Games is done, the squads do go their separate ways. LA Knight and Jey Uso still haven't settled their beef, and to be honest, their rivalry is giving me some major Rock/Austin vibes. Punk got a surprise assist from Roman, but the OTC makes it clear that he and Punk are not friends, this was for their mutual benefit-- he wants Rollins stopped, he wants "his" title back, and if getting to Rollins means working with Punk, then so be it.
Rollins and the Vision start crashing out from the loss, from the "betrayal" of Drew McIntyre, who meanwhile gets smug. Drew will waste no time telling Punk and Cody how "you only won because of me," and trying to cash in that by angling for another title shot. This might just put him in the crosshairs of the Vision to interfere in his match, of course.
But there you have it, what I think is an interesting way to set up and book this year's Men's War Games match. If you liked it, hit me up in the comments or on social media and let me know what you think.
No comments:
Post a Comment