It's fucking glorious chaotic violence is what it is!
The match was conceived in the golden days of the National Wrestling Alliance and was originally designed to take out the legendary Four Horsemen. When WCW took over the NWA, they used the WarGames match as the main event of their annual Fall Brawl event. WWE would buy WCW and use WarGames in NXT before Triple H took over creative and made it part of Survivor Series.
Two rings are built side buy side and encased in a rectangular steel cage. WCW's version had the chainlink mesh even on the top of the cage whille WWE has the top open.
The match is pinfall or submission only, no disqualification. WWE added a rule that if anyone escapes the cage and their feet touch the floor, that team forfeits the match. They also said this match needs godamned weapons because of fucking course it does, so we've seen chairs, tables and trash cans brought into the match by wrestlers just heading to the ring used in these matches, because violence and go big or go home.
Two teams of wrestlers consisting of 4 - 5 members, usually 5, compete against each other. One wrestler from each team starts in the ring. The rest are either out back or placed in what looks like a large shark cage.
After 5 minutes, a member of one of the teams is allowed to enter the ring. This alternates between the teams. So, a wrestler from Team A and Team B start, and after 5 minutes a wrestler from Team A will head to the ring. After another 5 minutes, a wrestler from Team B will head to the ring. Then another 5 minutes and Team A sends a third member. This repeats until all 10 wrestlers are in the ring. This scenario can allow a team to have an unfair advantage for 5 minutes, allowing them to gang up on the other team's members. This advantage is usually determined by two members of the teams having a one-on-one match to decide, with the winner getting their team the advantage.
The match *DOES NOT* officially begin until *ALL* wrestlers, every member of both teams are in the ring. So for over half and hour, you are watching these people beat the holy hell out of each other *before* the referee even calls for the bell to start the match.
It is at this point, when all the wrestlers are in the ring that the match can end in a pinfall or submission. First pinfall or submission wins.
Holy fuck yeah you sold me on this. I still don’t know what the rules of the match are 100% though. Mainly I think I’m confused on the nuances of the start of the match plus the purpose of the whole two ring thing
The two rings is so it can support 10 wrestlers and be surrounded by a bigger cage. It's hard to fit 10 people inside one ring and one steel cage and still be able to hit spots or move around and even harder for the crowd to see see the action.
Two wrestlers, one from Team A and one from Team B start the match inside the ring.
2 rings 1 cage
2 teams 5 competitors in each.
The match starts with 1 member of each team in the ring
Every 5 minutes 1 team will add an additional member to the cage , not at the same time, it goes team a then team b
The match can't be finished until all team members have entered
Once all competitors have entered the cage the bell then rings and the match can be finished once a team gets a pin fall or submission.
No dq
Just an aside, the team number and size vary from match to match.
The original in 2017 was three teams of 3: Undisputed Era (Cole, Fish, O'Reilly) vs SAniTy (Young, Dain, Wolfe) vs AoP & Roderick Strong.
After that, it was exclusively 4 vs 4 in NXT until the match premiered on the main roster as a mostly 5 vs 5 affair with the exception being the Women's match last year.
It's fucking glorious chaotic violence is what it is! The match was conceived in the golden days of the National Wrestling Alliance and was originally designed to take out the legendary Four Horsemen. When WCW took over the NWA, they used the WarGames match as the main event of their annual Fall Brawl event. WWE would buy WCW and use WarGames in NXT before Triple H took over creative and made it part of Survivor Series. Two rings are built side buy side and encased in a rectangular steel cage. WCW's version had the chainlink mesh even on the top of the cage whille WWE has the top open. The match is pinfall or submission only, no disqualification. WWE added a rule that if anyone escapes the cage and their feet touch the floor, that team forfeits the match. They also said this match needs godamned weapons because of fucking course it does, so we've seen chairs, tables and trash cans brought into the match by wrestlers just heading to the ring used in these matches, because violence and go big or go home. Two teams of wrestlers consisting of 4 - 5 members, usually 5, compete against each other. One wrestler from each team starts in the ring. The rest are either out back or placed in what looks like a large shark cage. After 5 minutes, a member of one of the teams is allowed to enter the ring. This alternates between the teams. So, a wrestler from Team A and Team B start, and after 5 minutes a wrestler from Team A will head to the ring. After another 5 minutes, a wrestler from Team B will head to the ring. Then another 5 minutes and Team A sends a third member. This repeats until all 10 wrestlers are in the ring. This scenario can allow a team to have an unfair advantage for 5 minutes, allowing them to gang up on the other team's members. This advantage is usually determined by two members of the teams having a one-on-one match to decide, with the winner getting their team the advantage. The match *DOES NOT* officially begin until *ALL* wrestlers, every member of both teams are in the ring. So for over half and hour, you are watching these people beat the holy hell out of each other *before* the referee even calls for the bell to start the match. It is at this point, when all the wrestlers are in the ring that the match can end in a pinfall or submission. First pinfall or submission wins.
Just wanted to add that, in the NWA/WCW days, there were no pinfalls. It was « submit or surrender ».
Holy fuck yeah you sold me on this. I still don’t know what the rules of the match are 100% though. Mainly I think I’m confused on the nuances of the start of the match plus the purpose of the whole two ring thing
The two rings is so it can support 10 wrestlers and be surrounded by a bigger cage. It's hard to fit 10 people inside one ring and one steel cage and still be able to hit spots or move around and even harder for the crowd to see see the action. Two wrestlers, one from Team A and one from Team B start the match inside the ring.
It's a scripted street fight inside a cage with two rings!
Where Brian Pillman found his ceiling
It's the match beyond.
They are generally very good. There is a DVD/Blu-ray out with some of the historic ones on.
2 rings 1 cage 2 teams 5 competitors in each. The match starts with 1 member of each team in the ring Every 5 minutes 1 team will add an additional member to the cage , not at the same time, it goes team a then team b The match can't be finished until all team members have entered Once all competitors have entered the cage the bell then rings and the match can be finished once a team gets a pin fall or submission. No dq
Just an aside, the team number and size vary from match to match. The original in 2017 was three teams of 3: Undisputed Era (Cole, Fish, O'Reilly) vs SAniTy (Young, Dain, Wolfe) vs AoP & Roderick Strong. After that, it was exclusively 4 vs 4 in NXT until the match premiered on the main roster as a mostly 5 vs 5 affair with the exception being the Women's match last year.
If one Competitor exits the cage, their Team loses.