Welcome to another edition of UnWrest Focus. After focusing on several rivalries, Focus now turns its attention to "The Match Beyond." Over the next several weeks leading up to NXT Takeover War Games 2018, I will be watching each and every WarGames available on the WWE Network, including last year's NXT edition of the match.
War Games is a unique concept of a match. Two rings, a double sized cage. Two teams of 4-5 (usually). To start off, you have one man enter from one team. After a period of around 5 minutes, a coin toss takes place outside the ring. The winner of the coin toss sends the next member of their team in for a 2 minute interval. Then, a member of the opposite team enters the ring. It continues until all the team members on both sides have entered. From that point on, the referees will only stop the match when a team member "submits or surrenders."
Dusty Rhodes starts off the WWE Network Collection. He talks about wanting to create a creative out to answer the actions of The Four Horsemen against him. He had just seen Thunderdome, and he envisioned the two cages, two rings, and two teams of five. He got the idea for the many handicap moments in the match by watching hockey and the penalty boxes they had. He talks about the logistical and financial troubles with putting on a match like this. His solution to losing rows of seats: charge the fans more money. He believed that fans would pay more anyways wanting to see the match. (RIP Dream)
Here's the deal: WarGames #1 is incomplete as Tully and Dusty's first five minutes in the match are nowhere to be found on the network. So, instead of just doing one WarGames match for this review, I'm now doing TWO WAR GAMES for the first post. Besides, both matches happen during The Great American Bash 1987 Tour. So, why not lump them together? More value for your time here as we get this series of posts underway! (Internally, I'm thinking Tony Schiavone saying "The greatest post in the history of our sport!" Lol.)
War Games I
July 4, 1987
The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger, and JJ Dillon) vs. The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, and Paul Ellering)
Dusty and Tully are already in the ring when this match comes up on the network. Arn joins in and the fight is on. Dusty unloads with multiple elbows to both men. Tully gets Dusty down, and Arn joins in on punishing Dusty. They are working on Dream's leg. The crowd is going nuts for all of this. 15 seconds until the next man comes in.
The next entrant is Animal. And he goes crazy on Arn and Tully. He sends Tully FLYING from one ring to the next and clotheslines Anderson down. He literally deadlift catapults Tully into the cage multiple times. Dusty is still recovering as Arn gets more for his trouble. Animal is torturing Tully while Dusty fights off Arn. Now, Dusty joins Animal in decimating Tully. Arn jumps off the ropes to attack Animal, but Animal knocks him out with a clothesline! This crowd is loving this. Arn goes into the cage.
Here comes Flair. 3-2 for Horsemen. Looks like Dusty is bleeding. Animal is chopped by Flair, and Arn and Flair send Animal face first into the cage. Dusty's leg is between the two rings, and Tully is using that to attack a prone Dusty. Dusty runs back in ring to help fight off the attack on Animal, but the Horsemen knock him down. Arn and Flair double team Dusty in the corner.
Here comes Nikita Koloff to tie things up. Flair and Arn double team Koloff, but Koloff answers with a double clothesline. Tully gets sent into the cage. Flair meets the steel thanks to Animal. Animal press slams Flair. Nikita is working on Arn's leg. Dusty drops the elbow on the leg of Arn. Koloff completely goes bezerk on Tully. Flair runs away in fear after chops do no damage to Koloff. Flair gets launched into the cage afterwards.
Here comes Lex Luger for the Horsemen. Luger nails Koloff and powerslams him. 4-3 advantage. Double team to Nikita. Spike Piledriver by Arn and Tully to Koloff. Animal tries to fight off the Horesemen. Koloff is spiked again by The Horsemen. (This is INSANE to try to cover for this. Lol. Glad to do it folks. It ain't UnWrest for nothing.) The Horsemen take advantage. 15 seconds left. Hawk awaits.
And HAWK FLIES IN! A VICIOUS CLOTHESLINE TO LUGER! HE ABSOLUTELY LAUNCHES TULLY INTO A TURNBUCKLE! DAMN! Hawk unloads on ALL the Horsemen. The crowd is eating this all alive. Jim Ross: "Bodies are crashing! {...} This looks like a wreck on the Interstate!" flair has Rhodes in the Figure Four. 15 seconds.
Here comes JJ Dillon. He goes after Hawk, and Hawk no sells it. He gets decked by Hawk. Collision by Animal and Luger, sending Luger down. Flair's face is raked by Hawk into the steel cage, and he's SCREAMING in pain. Dusty and Koloff double team JJ. 15 seconds left, and there's mass carnage all the way around.
Here comes Paul Ellering. THE MATCH BEYOND IS ON. SUBMISSION OR SURRENDER! This is an all out war. Ten men fighting in 2 rings. JJ Dillon is busted open. Hawk and Flair are going at it. Menahwile Koloff completely knocks the hell out of Luger. This crowd is going nuts. Hawk and Animal have JJ isolated. Double Clothesline. Koloff rams Tully and Arn's head together. JJ's forehead is sent crashing into the cage. The Road Warriors get him up. DDOMSDAY DEVICE!!!!! JJ LANDS TERRIBLY! Flair has a spike to Dusty's head! The referee (Teddy Long) asks JJ if he gives! He gives! It's over! The match is over, but there's still some after-match action going on.
Winners: The Dream Team
Match Grade: A. I know this is an incomplete match, but with so much action going on, multiple storylines being addressed, a crowd that was invested throughout, and tons and tons of carnage, how can this not be anything but exemplary?
A few weeks later, we got the second War Games match.
7-31-87
War Games II
The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger, and The War Machine) vs. The Superpowers (Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, and Paul Ellering)
We're getting Round 2 with the same teams involved except for War Machine replacing JJ Dillon. And it's only 27 days after the first one. This is still The Great American Bash Tour.
Dusty will be starting for his team. It looks like Arn will start for The Horsemen.
Here we go. First 5 minutes. They finally get in the same ring. Tie up. Elbow by Rhodes. More strikes and attacks by Dusty. The crowd goes nuts. Arn gets slung right into the cage. Elbow to the head of Arn. He's bleeding. Arn again meets the steel. Anderson chops down Dusty, getting him on his back. Dusty rolls to the other ring to get a break. Rhodes counters a backdrop attempt into a DDT. This crowd is insane for this. Anderson rakes the eyes and starts punching at Dusty. Low blow by Dusty. Anderson's face is raked against the steel. Elbow by Dusty sends Anderson down. Suplex by Dusty. Figure Four by Dusty to Arn. ARN IS SCREAMING IN PAIN! Anderson: "OH GOD! OH GOD!" He gets to the ropes, but Dusty doesn't have to break the hold. Finally, Dusty lets go. The coin toss is going on outside while Dusty unloads with ELBOW AFTER ELBOW AFTER ELBOW onto Arn's bleeding head.
The coin toss. The Horsemen win. War Machine enters. 2 minute period begins. Dusty fights off The War Machine, but Arn comes in to the picture. They end up doubling up on Dusty. War Machine, a large masked man, is helping Arn assualt Dusty by raking his face against the cage. They work on Dusty's leg. Super Machine dives off the ropes and lands on Dusty's leg. Dusty is bleeding now too. Double team continues until Dusty starts hitting elbows on both men.
HERE COMES HAWK! HAWK UNLOADS ON WAR MACHINE WITH A DROPKICK! POWERSLAM AND FIST DROP TO ARN. BODYSLAM ON WAR MACHINE! Lariat by Dusty on Arn. Double team on War Machine. Neckbreaker now. Elbow drops by Dusty on War Machine and Arn.
Here comes Ric Flair! Flair chops Hawk. Arn and Flair double team Hawk, but Hawk springs out with a double clothesline! Flair hits a low blow on Hawk to slow him down. Hawk gets thrown into the cage. Dusty unloads on both Flair and War Machine! Both go down. Flair gets Rhodes back in the corner and attacks. Piledriver by Arn to Hawk. Hawk no-sells it. Dropkick to War Machine. Arn and War Machine double team him.
HERE COMES KOLOFF! Pliedriver to Koloff did not phase NIKITA! CLOTHESLINE TO ARN! Koloff goes after Flair. Multiple punches had no effect. CLOTHESLINE by Koloff. Flair gets his head smashed repeatedly against the cage. Dusty goes after Flair too and nails him with multiple punches in the corner. Arn suffers the same fate with Koloff, but...
HERE COMES TULLY. Tully puts Hawk's face into the cage. He goes after Dusty. Nikita gets thrown into the fence as well. Tully hits a knee drop on Dusty. Tully and War Machine double-team Dusty.
HERE COMES ANIMAL! Animal goes after everyone. Tully meets the steel! Animal repeats the deadlift catapults to Tully into the cage from the first WarGames. Blanchard is bleeding now. Flair unloads on Animal with chops, but they had no effect. Arn saves Flair though and throws Animal into the cage.
HERE COMES LUGER. The last man for The Horsemen. Shoulder Block by Animal to Luger! Blanchard is thrown over the ropes into the other ring by Animal! DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE BY THE ROAD WARRIORS TO LUGER! (There's no rhyme or reason to this match in terms of pacing.)
HERE COMES PAUL ELLERING. SURRENDER OR SUBMIT! THE MATCH BEYOND HAS BEGUN! Paul Ellering has a spiked wristband. He's using it on Flair. War Machine missed a dive at Animal, and he gets knocked right back down by Animal. Dusty knocks down Machine. Koloff now nails him. Animal has the spiked wristband. He's going after the eye of War Machine. HE"S RAKING IT IN HIS FACE. The bell rings.
Winners: Superpowers
Match Rating: B. The one thing I didn't like about this match was that there was no ebb and flow to the match. The whole point of having a man advantage is to build up drama to the other team getting a chance to even it up. That was absent here. And the War Machine was an extra ingredient that added absolutely nothing to the match other than to take the fall for The Horsemen. Still, I enjoyed the match as a fun cage match, but it's not likely going to be on my favorite War Games match list once this series is done.
_ _ _ _
Next time on UnWrest Focus, we will narrow this back down to one match a post with a look at the 1988 WarGames Match featuring The Horsemen vs. Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Paul Ellering, Lex Luger, and Dr. Death Steve Williams.
Until then, take care of yourselves and spread some awesomeness.
War Games is a unique concept of a match. Two rings, a double sized cage. Two teams of 4-5 (usually). To start off, you have one man enter from one team. After a period of around 5 minutes, a coin toss takes place outside the ring. The winner of the coin toss sends the next member of their team in for a 2 minute interval. Then, a member of the opposite team enters the ring. It continues until all the team members on both sides have entered. From that point on, the referees will only stop the match when a team member "submits or surrenders."
Dusty Rhodes starts off the WWE Network Collection. He talks about wanting to create a creative out to answer the actions of The Four Horsemen against him. He had just seen Thunderdome, and he envisioned the two cages, two rings, and two teams of five. He got the idea for the many handicap moments in the match by watching hockey and the penalty boxes they had. He talks about the logistical and financial troubles with putting on a match like this. His solution to losing rows of seats: charge the fans more money. He believed that fans would pay more anyways wanting to see the match. (RIP Dream)
Here's the deal: WarGames #1 is incomplete as Tully and Dusty's first five minutes in the match are nowhere to be found on the network. So, instead of just doing one WarGames match for this review, I'm now doing TWO WAR GAMES for the first post. Besides, both matches happen during The Great American Bash 1987 Tour. So, why not lump them together? More value for your time here as we get this series of posts underway! (Internally, I'm thinking Tony Schiavone saying "The greatest post in the history of our sport!" Lol.)
War Games I
July 4, 1987
The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger, and JJ Dillon) vs. The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, and Paul Ellering)
Dusty and Tully are already in the ring when this match comes up on the network. Arn joins in and the fight is on. Dusty unloads with multiple elbows to both men. Tully gets Dusty down, and Arn joins in on punishing Dusty. They are working on Dream's leg. The crowd is going nuts for all of this. 15 seconds until the next man comes in.
The next entrant is Animal. And he goes crazy on Arn and Tully. He sends Tully FLYING from one ring to the next and clotheslines Anderson down. He literally deadlift catapults Tully into the cage multiple times. Dusty is still recovering as Arn gets more for his trouble. Animal is torturing Tully while Dusty fights off Arn. Now, Dusty joins Animal in decimating Tully. Arn jumps off the ropes to attack Animal, but Animal knocks him out with a clothesline! This crowd is loving this. Arn goes into the cage.
Here comes Flair. 3-2 for Horsemen. Looks like Dusty is bleeding. Animal is chopped by Flair, and Arn and Flair send Animal face first into the cage. Dusty's leg is between the two rings, and Tully is using that to attack a prone Dusty. Dusty runs back in ring to help fight off the attack on Animal, but the Horsemen knock him down. Arn and Flair double team Dusty in the corner.
Here comes Nikita Koloff to tie things up. Flair and Arn double team Koloff, but Koloff answers with a double clothesline. Tully gets sent into the cage. Flair meets the steel thanks to Animal. Animal press slams Flair. Nikita is working on Arn's leg. Dusty drops the elbow on the leg of Arn. Koloff completely goes bezerk on Tully. Flair runs away in fear after chops do no damage to Koloff. Flair gets launched into the cage afterwards.
Here comes Lex Luger for the Horsemen. Luger nails Koloff and powerslams him. 4-3 advantage. Double team to Nikita. Spike Piledriver by Arn and Tully to Koloff. Animal tries to fight off the Horesemen. Koloff is spiked again by The Horsemen. (This is INSANE to try to cover for this. Lol. Glad to do it folks. It ain't UnWrest for nothing.) The Horsemen take advantage. 15 seconds left. Hawk awaits.
And HAWK FLIES IN! A VICIOUS CLOTHESLINE TO LUGER! HE ABSOLUTELY LAUNCHES TULLY INTO A TURNBUCKLE! DAMN! Hawk unloads on ALL the Horsemen. The crowd is eating this all alive. Jim Ross: "Bodies are crashing! {...} This looks like a wreck on the Interstate!" flair has Rhodes in the Figure Four. 15 seconds.
Here comes JJ Dillon. He goes after Hawk, and Hawk no sells it. He gets decked by Hawk. Collision by Animal and Luger, sending Luger down. Flair's face is raked by Hawk into the steel cage, and he's SCREAMING in pain. Dusty and Koloff double team JJ. 15 seconds left, and there's mass carnage all the way around.
Here comes Paul Ellering. THE MATCH BEYOND IS ON. SUBMISSION OR SURRENDER! This is an all out war. Ten men fighting in 2 rings. JJ Dillon is busted open. Hawk and Flair are going at it. Menahwile Koloff completely knocks the hell out of Luger. This crowd is going nuts. Hawk and Animal have JJ isolated. Double Clothesline. Koloff rams Tully and Arn's head together. JJ's forehead is sent crashing into the cage. The Road Warriors get him up. DDOMSDAY DEVICE!!!!! JJ LANDS TERRIBLY! Flair has a spike to Dusty's head! The referee (Teddy Long) asks JJ if he gives! He gives! It's over! The match is over, but there's still some after-match action going on.
Winners: The Dream Team
Match Grade: A. I know this is an incomplete match, but with so much action going on, multiple storylines being addressed, a crowd that was invested throughout, and tons and tons of carnage, how can this not be anything but exemplary?
A few weeks later, we got the second War Games match.
7-31-87
War Games II
The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger, and The War Machine) vs. The Superpowers (Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, and Paul Ellering)
We're getting Round 2 with the same teams involved except for War Machine replacing JJ Dillon. And it's only 27 days after the first one. This is still The Great American Bash Tour.
Dusty will be starting for his team. It looks like Arn will start for The Horsemen.
Here we go. First 5 minutes. They finally get in the same ring. Tie up. Elbow by Rhodes. More strikes and attacks by Dusty. The crowd goes nuts. Arn gets slung right into the cage. Elbow to the head of Arn. He's bleeding. Arn again meets the steel. Anderson chops down Dusty, getting him on his back. Dusty rolls to the other ring to get a break. Rhodes counters a backdrop attempt into a DDT. This crowd is insane for this. Anderson rakes the eyes and starts punching at Dusty. Low blow by Dusty. Anderson's face is raked against the steel. Elbow by Dusty sends Anderson down. Suplex by Dusty. Figure Four by Dusty to Arn. ARN IS SCREAMING IN PAIN! Anderson: "OH GOD! OH GOD!" He gets to the ropes, but Dusty doesn't have to break the hold. Finally, Dusty lets go. The coin toss is going on outside while Dusty unloads with ELBOW AFTER ELBOW AFTER ELBOW onto Arn's bleeding head.
The coin toss. The Horsemen win. War Machine enters. 2 minute period begins. Dusty fights off The War Machine, but Arn comes in to the picture. They end up doubling up on Dusty. War Machine, a large masked man, is helping Arn assualt Dusty by raking his face against the cage. They work on Dusty's leg. Super Machine dives off the ropes and lands on Dusty's leg. Dusty is bleeding now too. Double team continues until Dusty starts hitting elbows on both men.
HERE COMES HAWK! HAWK UNLOADS ON WAR MACHINE WITH A DROPKICK! POWERSLAM AND FIST DROP TO ARN. BODYSLAM ON WAR MACHINE! Lariat by Dusty on Arn. Double team on War Machine. Neckbreaker now. Elbow drops by Dusty on War Machine and Arn.
Here comes Ric Flair! Flair chops Hawk. Arn and Flair double team Hawk, but Hawk springs out with a double clothesline! Flair hits a low blow on Hawk to slow him down. Hawk gets thrown into the cage. Dusty unloads on both Flair and War Machine! Both go down. Flair gets Rhodes back in the corner and attacks. Piledriver by Arn to Hawk. Hawk no-sells it. Dropkick to War Machine. Arn and War Machine double team him.
HERE COMES KOLOFF! Pliedriver to Koloff did not phase NIKITA! CLOTHESLINE TO ARN! Koloff goes after Flair. Multiple punches had no effect. CLOTHESLINE by Koloff. Flair gets his head smashed repeatedly against the cage. Dusty goes after Flair too and nails him with multiple punches in the corner. Arn suffers the same fate with Koloff, but...
HERE COMES TULLY. Tully puts Hawk's face into the cage. He goes after Dusty. Nikita gets thrown into the fence as well. Tully hits a knee drop on Dusty. Tully and War Machine double-team Dusty.
HERE COMES ANIMAL! Animal goes after everyone. Tully meets the steel! Animal repeats the deadlift catapults to Tully into the cage from the first WarGames. Blanchard is bleeding now. Flair unloads on Animal with chops, but they had no effect. Arn saves Flair though and throws Animal into the cage.
HERE COMES LUGER. The last man for The Horsemen. Shoulder Block by Animal to Luger! Blanchard is thrown over the ropes into the other ring by Animal! DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE BY THE ROAD WARRIORS TO LUGER! (There's no rhyme or reason to this match in terms of pacing.)
HERE COMES PAUL ELLERING. SURRENDER OR SUBMIT! THE MATCH BEYOND HAS BEGUN! Paul Ellering has a spiked wristband. He's using it on Flair. War Machine missed a dive at Animal, and he gets knocked right back down by Animal. Dusty knocks down Machine. Koloff now nails him. Animal has the spiked wristband. He's going after the eye of War Machine. HE"S RAKING IT IN HIS FACE. The bell rings.
Winners: Superpowers
Match Rating: B. The one thing I didn't like about this match was that there was no ebb and flow to the match. The whole point of having a man advantage is to build up drama to the other team getting a chance to even it up. That was absent here. And the War Machine was an extra ingredient that added absolutely nothing to the match other than to take the fall for The Horsemen. Still, I enjoyed the match as a fun cage match, but it's not likely going to be on my favorite War Games match list once this series is done.
_ _ _ _
Next time on UnWrest Focus, we will narrow this back down to one match a post with a look at the 1988 WarGames Match featuring The Horsemen vs. Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Paul Ellering, Lex Luger, and Dr. Death Steve Williams.
Until then, take care of yourselves and spread some awesomeness.
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