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Survivor Series: WarGames (2024)
The 2024 Survivor Series: WarGames was a professional wrestling event produced by the American promotion WWE. It was the 38th annual Survivor Series and took place on Saturday, November 30, 2024, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was the third annual Survivor Series based around the WarGames match, a team-based steel cage match where the roofless cage surrounds two rings placed side by side. This was the first Survivor Series to take place in Vancouver and WWE's first PPV event held in the city and venue since Rock Bottom: In Your House in 1998. It was the third Survivor Series event held in Canada, after 1997 in Montreal and 2016 in Toronto. This was WWE's final main roster PPV event to air on the WWE Network in international markets and Binge in Australia, with future PPV and livestreaming events airing on Netflix from January 2025 onward. Five matches were contested at the event, including two WarGames matches. In the main event, which was a men's WarGames match and was the main match from SmackDown but had involvement from Raw wrestlers, Roman Reigns, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), Sami Zayn, and CM Punk defeated The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, and Tonga Loa) and Bronson Reed, while in the women's WarGames match, which was the opening bout and was the main match from Raw but had involvement from SmackDown wrestlers, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Naomi, Iyo Sky, and Bayley defeated The Judgment Day (Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez), Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton, and Candice LeRae. ProductionBackground Survivor Series is an annual professional wrestling event produced every November by the American promotion WWE since 1987, generally held the week of Thanksgiving. The second longest running pay-per-view (PPV) event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five".[2][3] From 1987 to 2021, the event was characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which were tag team elimination matches that typically featured teams of four or five wrestlers against each other.[4] In 2022, the event was rebranded as "Survivor Series: WarGames" and instead of Survivor Series matches, the annual event became based around the WarGames match, a type of steel cage match where two teams face each other in a roofless cage that surrounds two rings placed side by side and the teams typically feature four to five wrestlers each but is decided by one fall instead of eliminating all opponents. WWE's developmental brand NXT previously held an annual WarGames event from 2017 to 2021 before the match became a part of Survivor Series.[5] On August 1, 2024, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque announced that the 38th annual Survivor Series, and third annual as WarGames, would be held on Saturday, November 30, 2024, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was the third Survivor Series to take place in Canada, after 1997 and 2016, but the first to be held in Vancouver.[6] It was thus the first WWE PPV event in the city since Rock Bottom: In Your House in 1998, which was held at the same venue when it was still known as General Motors Place.[7] Broadcast outletsSurvivor Series: WarGames was broadcast live on traditional PPV worldwide and was also available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Binge in Australia, Abema in Japan, SonyLIV in India, and the WWE Network in most other international markets—including the Canadian version, distributed by venue sponsor Rogers Communications.[8][9] This was the final Survivor Series, and WWE's final main roster PPV event, to air on the WWE Network, as well as Binge, as its content will move to Netflix in international markets in January 2025.[10] StorylinesThe event included five matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[11][12] while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[13] From 2021 until 2023, Roman Reigns and his cousins The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) led The Bloodline stable, managed by Paul Heyman, holding both the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships, respectively, until their losses at WrestleMania 39 and XL, respectively. Also during this time, Sami Zayn joined as an honorary member until January 2023, with The Usos's younger brother Solo Sikoa also joining. After an internal strife, The Usos left the group and emerged victorious during the Bloodline Civil War tag team match at the 2023 Money in the Bank;[14] however, The Usos split up, with Jey moving to Raw and Jimmy remaining on SmackDown and rejoined The Bloodline, but despite being on different brands, this led to a match at WrestleMania XL where Jey defeated Jimmy. Reigns also lost the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to Cody Rhodes at the event.[15] In the months after Reigns' defeat, Sikoa assumed leadership of The Bloodline while forcibly exiling Jimmy and Heyman, and excommunicating Reigns, subsequently adding Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu. Reigns returned at SummerSlam, beginning a rivalry with Sikoa, while Jimmy returned at Bad Blood, which led to a reunion of Reigns and The Usos. At Crown Jewel, Reigns and The Usos lost to Sikoa, Fatu, and Tonga after interference from Loa, with Sikoa pinning Reigns. Following the match, Sikoa's Bloodline outnumbered Reigns and The Usos until Raw's Zayn came out to save them, however, Zayn accidentally performed a Helluva Kick on Reigns intended for Sikoa.[16] On the following Raw, Zayn was confronted by The Usos, with Jimmy claiming Zayn attacked Reigns on purpose. Jey then urged Zayn to appear on that week's SmackDown to make amends with Reigns.[17] On SmackDown, Zayn told Reigns that the kick was an accident and stated it felt good to team with Reigns and The Usos again, however, he would only reunite with them against Sikoa's Bloodline if Reigns apologized to Jey for his past mistreatment of him, but Reigns refused. Later that night, Reigns confronted Sikoa and his Bloodline with Sikoa challenging Reigns and a team of his choosing to a WarGames match at Survivor Series: WarGames. Sikoa then introduced Zayn as the fifth member of his team, however, Zayn attacked Sikoa with Reigns acknowledging Zayn, officially reuniting the original iteration of The Bloodline (Reigns, The Usos, and Zayn). It was then announced that they would face the new Bloodline in a WarGames match at the event with a fifth member of each team to be determined.[18] On the November 15 episode of SmackDown, Sikoa's Bloodline recruited Bronson Reed from Raw,[19][20] while the following week, Heyman returned and revealed his old client, CM Punk from Raw, as the original Bloodline's fifth member.[21] On the November 29 episode of SmackDown, Punk explained that he joined Reigns's team to get revenge for what Sikoa's Bloodline did to Heyman and that Heyman owed him a favor for agreeing to the match. Later that night, Fatu defeated Jey to earn the WarGames advantage.[22] At SummerSlam, Gunther defeated Damian Priest to win the World Heavyweight Championship.[23] Three months later on the November 4 episode of Raw, Priest won a fatal four-way match to earn a rematch for the title,[17] which was confirmed for Survivor Series: WarGames.[24] At Bad Blood, Liv Morgan defended Raw's Women's World Championship against Rhea Ripley, which Ripley won by disqualification after being attacked by the returning Raquel Rodriguez—Morgan retained since championships do not change hands by disqualification or countout unless stipulated. Rodriguez subsequently became a member of The Judgment Day alongside Morgan.[25] On the October 29 episode of NXT, Ripley was brutally attacked by Morgan and Rodriguez in the WWE Performance Center parking lot, suffering an orbital bone injury, taking her out of action indefinitely.[26] At Crown Jewel on November 2, Morgan defeated SmackDown's WWE Women's Champion Nia Jax to win the inaugural WWE Women's Crown Jewel Championship after interference from Rodriguez and "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio.[16] On the following episode of Raw, Morgan, Rodriguez, and Mysterio celebrated her victory before being interrupted by WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill and a brawl ensued between the two teams. Later that night, a battle royal took place to determine Morgan's next challenger, during which Morgan and Rodriguez eliminated Belair and Cargill despite not being involved in the match, which was ultimately won by Iyo Sky.[17] Belair and Cargill then defeated Morgan and Rodriguez on the next episode to retain their titles.[24] On that Friday's SmackDown, Morgan and Rodriguez attacked Belair and Cargill backstage during Jax's title defense against Naomi, which she ultimately won after interference from her allies, Tiffany Stratton and Candice LeRae.[19] On the following episode of Raw, the team of Belair, Cargill, Naomi, and Sky confronted the team of Morgan, Rodriguez, Jax, Stratton, and LeRae before Ripley made a surprise return as the fifth member of Belair's team. Ripley declared WarGames and the two teams brawled with a WarGames match subsequently being scheduled for Survivor Series: WarGames.[27] During the November 22 episode of SmackDown, Cargill was attacked backstage by an unknown assailant, taking her out of action indefinitely.[21] Three days later on Raw, Belair defeated Jax after interference from Bayley to earn the WarGames advantage. Bayley was subsequently added to Belair's team as Cargill's replacement.[28] On the November 18 episode of Raw, Bron Breakker defended the Intercontinental Championship against Sheamus. During the match, Imperium's Ludwig Kaiser, who had been embroiled in a rivalry with Sheamus over the past few months, attacked Breakker, causing a disqualification win for Breakker to retain the title.[27] The following week, Breakker faced Kaiser in a non-title match, which ended in a disqualification win for Kaiser after Sheamus attacked him. A brawl subsequently ensued between all three men. Raw General Manager Adam Pearce then scheduled Breakker to defend the title against both Sheamus and Kaiser in a triple threat match at Survivor Series: WarGames.[28] After LA Knight's successful defense of the United States Championship on the November 15 episode of SmackDown, he was brutally attacked by a returning Shinsuke Nakamura,[19] who would attack Knight once again the following week after another successful title defense.[21] During the November 25 episode of Raw, it was announced that Knight would defend the title against Nakamura at Survivor Series: WarGames.[28] Event
Preliminary matchesThe first match was the Women's WarGames match in which the team of Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Iyo Sky, Naomi, and Bayley faced the team of The Judgment Day (Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez), Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton, and Candice LeRae, with Ripley's team having the WarGames advantage. Jax and Bayley started the match. Naomi entered first followed by LeRae, Belair, Stratton, Sky, Rodriguez, Ripley, and finally Morgan. Jax hit a Samoan Drop on Bayley for a nearfall. Sky, with a trash can on her head, hit a Moonsault from the top of the right side of the cage while Stratton simultaneously performed a Swanton from the top of the left side of the cage. Belair and Naomi hit a Powerbomb on Jax through a table. Morgan hit the Oblivion on Bayley onto a chair for a nearfall. Morgan used a steel chair and hit a Codebreaker on Ripley. Morgan placed Ripley on a table and went to the ropes, but Ripley recovered and hit Morgan with a Riptide from the top rope through a table to win the match.[1] In the second match, LA Knight defended SmackDown's United States Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. Knight performed a Diving Elbow Drop on Nakamura for a nearfall. Knight attempted the Blunt Force Trauma, but Nakamura rolled out to the diamond plate between the two rings where Knight hit a reverse DDT. Nakamura gouged Knight's eyes and hit Knight with a Kinshasa to win the title for the third time.[1] Next, Bron Breakker defended Raw's Intercontinental Championship against Sheamus and Ludwig Kaiser in a triple threat match. Throughout the match, Kaiser attacked Sheamus with a shillelagh, injuring Sheamus's ribs. Sheamus hit the High Cross on Breakker for a nearfall. Sheamus attempted a Brogue Kick, but could not connect due to his injured ribs. In the end, Breakker performed a Spear on Kaiser, driving him from the ring. Breakker then performed another Spear on Sheamus to retain the title.[1] In the penultimate match, Gunther defended Raw's World Heavyweight Championship against Damian Priest. Throughout the match, Gunther targeted Priest's injured shoulder. Priest locked Gunther in a triangle choke but Gunther was able to shift his weight into a pin attempt for a nearfall. Priest attempted to perform both the Razor's Edge and the South of Heaven Chokeslam, but was unable to do so as a result of the injured arm. Gunther locked Priest in a Kimura Lock but Priest was able to make it to the ropes to break the hold. In the end, Priest's former Judgment Day stablemate Finn Bálor appeared and hit a Coup de Grâce to Priest off the steel steps. Gunther then performed a Big Boot on Bálor before positioning Priest back in the ring, where he ultimately locked Priest in a modified Sleeper with Priest passing out, thus Gunther retained the title.[1] Main eventThe main event was the Men's WarGames match in which the team of Roman Reigns, The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso), Sami Zayn, and CM Punk faced the team of The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu) and Bronson Reed, with The Bloodline having the WarGames advantage. Jey and Tama started the match. Reed entered first followed by Jimmy and Fatu. As Punk tried to enter the match, Reigns blocked him and sent Zayn to the ring instead. Loa entered next and when Reigns tried to enter, Punk pushed Reigns out of the way and entered the match himself. Punk performed a Bulldog to Fatu on a toolbox but Fatu jumped right up and hit a Samoan Drop on Punk. Sikoa entered next as he and his team knocked down Reigns’ team. Sikoa subsequently locked the cage in an attempt to prevent Reigns from entering. Reigns scaled the cage to enter the match to fight off his opponents. A brawl then ensued between both teams. As Reigns and Punk began to argue. Paul Heyman came out and pleaded with them to work together or they would lose. As Punk attempted a Go To Sleep on Loa, Reigns attempted a Spear on Sikoa but he moved and Reigns accidentally speared Punk. Sikoa hit a Samoan Spike on Reigns for a nearfall. Reed attempted a Tsunami to put Reigns through a table but Punk pulled Reigns out of the way as Reed crashed through the table. Reigns extended his hand and helped Punk back to his feet. Jimmy hit a Uso Splash off the top of the cage driving Fatu through a table. The team surrounded Sikoa where The Usos performed a Double Superkick on him followed by a Helluva Kick by Zayn. Punk hit Sikoa with the Go to Sleep and then Reigns hit Sikoa with a Spear and pinned him to win the match. Afterwards, Reigns and Punk shook hands. As they exited the cage, Punk embraced Heyman and told him that when he wanted the favor, he would come asking for it.[1] Results
See alsoReferences
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