WWE Survivor Series: WarGames 2025 Review

As William Regal once exclaimed, WARGAMES!!! For the 39th time in history, Survivor Series has come to town and is ready to lock San Diego California inside a of a WarGames spectacular. For the fourth time in a row, Survivor Series plays host to WarGames, and on tap are two colossal matches set inside these unforgiving confines. On the Women's WarGames front you've got a star-studded band of super-starlets featuring AJ Lee, Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, as they square off against the dastardly quintet of Becky Lynch, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Nia Jax and Lash Legend.

Meanwhile, in the Men's WarGames Match we've a squad of all-stars with Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, and The Usos Jimmy and Jey facing indomitable opposition in the form of Brock Lesnar, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul. Sandwiched between these match-ups are two outstanding championship bouts. One of these is Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer versus WWE Hall of Famer and one-half of the Bella Twins Nikki Bella. The other championship match sees new Intercontinental Champion and soon-to-be retired John Cena, who is attempting to turn back the very man he won the championship from-Dirty Dominik Mysterio in Mysterio's own backyard of San Diego California.

A four-match PLE sounds short, but this is a loaded and star-studded card. Did this year's Survivor Series: WarGames topple its predecessors with carnage and memorable moments aplenty, or did WarGames turn into BoreGames this time around?

AJ Lee, Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss Vs. Becky Lynch, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Nia Jax & Lash Legend

Women's WarGames Match

Stipulation	Women's WARGAMES Match
Length	41:10
Winners	AJ Lee, Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair And Alexa Bliss

Kicking off Survivor Series, the Women's WarGames Match gets proceedings off with an elongated and brutal affair that satiates the appetite of fans who want their WarGames upfront swiftly. Starting out with two veterans who recently competed against Each other in an advantage match on SmackDown, Charlotte Flair and Asuka came to blows first as representatives for their respective WarGames teams. The two start off with intense grappling and missed striking exchanges until Asuka executes a spin kick to Charlotte's mid-section, causing Asuka to momentarily celebrate it. Asuka follows up by knocking Charlotte's head into the turnbuckle and attempts to give her a face-full of steel cage, but Charlotte's having none of it. Charlotte and Asuka continue striking back and forth until Charlotte locks in a head-scissors and flips herself and Asuka over three times in order to establish dominance. Asuka regains herself and proceeds to battle back with more striking, and the two of battle back and forth until the next entrant arrives.

The buzzer sounds and the next competitor in is Iyo Sky, who is running to the ring brandishing a trash can lid. Iyo attempts to wallop the trash can lid into Asuka's face twice, but Asuka dodges and manages to grab the lid to stop Iyo's momentum as they jostle for control of it. Asuka attempts to whack Iyo with the trash can but Iyo avoids it and runs into the ropes an rebounds and ostentatiously somersaults and brings Asuka down with a trip and a dropkick to the mid-section-so much for the use of the trash can lid. Iyo has a jubilant celebration and approaches Asuka with the lid but Asuka hangs Iyo on the top rope. Asuka attacks Charlotte and proceeds to celebrate herself until Iyo lands on her with a botched springboard top rope attack. The trash can finally comes into play when Iyo uses it to crash into Asuka while she's leaning against the bottom turnbuckle in the corner. Iyo continues controlling Asuka and gives her a face-full of metal grate until the next entrant enters the fray.

The Man has come around! Becky enters wearing a red feathery coat looking a little bit like a lethal Santa Claus, and she's brought a kendo stick with her instead of one made of candy. She gets into the WarGames cage and goes right after Iyo Sky, whacking her around the ring with the kendo stick. After this temporary whooping, Becky tries to gain an allegiance with Charlotte with a pinky finger BFF gesture, but Charlotte denies it and they tussle. Becky grabs Iyo and Charlotte grabs Asuka and they perform insterio Exploder/Bexploder Suplexes, after which they returned to fighting each other. Asuka and Becky double-high five each other and continue punishing Iyo and Charlotte until the next WarGames participant turns up.

Alexa Bliss charges towards the WarGames cage and she gets inside of it and wastes no time taking the fight to Asuka. Alexa delivers an STO-like trip to Asuka and as Asuka picks up the trash can lid, Alexa dropkicks it into her face. She then marches to Becky and slaps her silly and knees her in the face to conclude this onslaught. Alexa checks on Charlotte before Charlotte picks Alexa up and launches her into Becky with a dropkick. Alexa deliver dragon screws to Becky and Asuka, and then works alongside Charlotte to deliver a double Natural Selection. The two of them hammer Becky and Asuka in the corner with top-rope punches until Asuka and Becky reverse them by forcing them face-first into the top-turnbuckles. Iyo re-enters the picture and strikes Asuka and Becky with shotei uppercuts, and along with Charlotte and Asuka, beats down Becky and Asuka until the next entrant arrives.

Next up is Asuka's Kabuki Warrior tag-team partner and slave, Kairi Sane! Sane has decided to bring a green chain to the WarGames party. She enters the ring, wraps the chain around her fist and clobbers Charlotte and Alexa with it. Kairi uses Charlotte as a ramp and gets punches Alexa with the chain. Kairi kicks Charlotte in the face then proceeds to hang Charlotte with a reverse head-scissors of the ropes, then heads to the top rope and dive-punches Charlotte with the chain before merrily dancing with the chain. Next, Kairi smashes Iyo with the trash can lid as Iyo jumps off the turnbuckle after dealing with Asuka in the corner. Asuka lands a mean missile dropkick before Kairi, Becky and Asuka showboat around the ring. Together, Becky, Asuka and Kairi wrap the green chain around Iyo, Charlotte and Alexa, bounding them like they were hostages in Peter Pan, and as Becky holds the chain, Kairi and Asuka dropkick the chain-stricken trip in the center of the ring. The heel trio continue their malice until the next entrant arrives.

Now AJ Lee has arrived to light it up inside the WarGames battlefield as the camera shifts to a lovely of the sun off in the distance along with the statuesque towers and inside Petco Park Stadium - talking of lighting it up! AJ runs towards the ring, but Becky does her best to keep the cage door closed to keep AJ outside. Instead of fruitlessly waiting to get inside the cage door, AJ climbs the cage and descends down whilst The Kabuki Warriors try to grab at her legs. AJ proceeds to dive onto Asuka and Kairi when she gets space and while AJ is all smiles about her entry, Becky is shocked stiff. Becky tries to escape AJ but AJ catches her and begins to punish her, ramming her into the cage and ensuring she feels AJ's wrath for all the bullying Becky Lynch has done over the months to her fellow female superstars. This attack is halted by Kairi who rolls under the ring and punches her in the back before deciding to do a jubilant jig around her. AJ recovers and blasts Kairi with a back elbow and follows up with a dropkick. Asuka and AJ Lee stare each other down until Becky attacks AJ from behind, and together Becky, Asuka and Kairi triple-team AJ. Alexa, Charlotte and Iyo save AJ and neutralize the heels' menacing beatdown.

Next up is Nia Jax, who looks like she's found a super-sized version of something Tiffany Stratton would wear. Nia enters and beats on Charlotte and Alexa, asserting her dominance and her game-changing aura in the match. Iyo tries her fare with a wheelbarrow attack, but shrugs her off and decks her with a right hand. AJ tries to get her licks in but Nia collides into her sending AJ down. Iyo tries to climb the cage but Nia powerbombs her in the center of the canvas. The heels take advantage of Nia's demolition and suffocate the faces with punishing offence around the ring en route to the next WarGames competitor to make her entrance.

THIS IS MY BRUTALITY!!! Yeah! Rhea Ripley is here to eat up the demons inside the cage! Carrying a trash bag full of kendo sticks, a trash can and wearing a Terrifier film franchise-inspired mask-it's time for Rhea to go to work. Before she could get into the ring, she fires a kick at Kairi and chucks a trash can at Nia Jax. Rhea goes to work clubbing the kendo stick into the torsos of Asuka and Kairi. From here, she overwhelms Becky with offense and takes out the other heels with a range of moves, then checks on Iyo. Rhea and Iyo decide to double-team Kairi as Rhea binds her legs and hoists her up while a trash can is placed over her head, and Iyo sprints from one side of the ring to the other and delivers a mean dropkick into the trash can and into Kairi, whose face is sandwiched inside of the trash can's interior. Rhea and Iyo get all huggy and celebratory unti Nia pushes Iyo and Rhea down, and proceeds to mock Iyo signature taunt. Meanwhile Alexa is perched on the top rope with a scowl on her face, and flies into the air to connect with a tornado DDT to Nia. All nine women are down as we await the final component of the Women's WarGames match-up.

Lash Legend swaggers her way to the ring and right into the cage to officially start the Match Beyond. The Bouji Bully aptly bullies her opposition by throwing Iyo into the cage, then takes out AJ Lee before hurling her into the cage. Lash uses Alexa's body to take out Charlotte, then ragdolls Alexa and throws her aside. She chokeslams Charlotte and thwarts and aerial attack from Iyo, and while she admires her work, Rhea Ripley crawls into the ring and gives her a creepy wave with her fingers like Jim Carrey does in YES man while his face is contorted with cello tape. Power versus power ensues as Rhea and Lash strike each other blow-for-blow in the center of the ring. Counters are made before lash catches Rhea with a back elbow. Rhea retaliates with a kick from a downed position, but Lash delivers a powerbomb followed up by a pump kick for a two-count. Rhea recovers momentarily and tries for Riptide but Nia denies her.

Nia crashes Rhea against the cage and hits her with a kendo stick, then Charlotte and Alexa try to battle against Lash and Jax, but they both end up on the receiving end of powerbombs against the cage and then down onto the canvas. They try for a pin but AJ breaks things up. AJ tries to take the fight to Lash but Becky halts her with a Manhandle Slam. Becky tries to cover her but Iyo moonsaults onto her and cover her until Lash pulls her off. Lash and Nia pick Iyo up over their heads and throw her onto her teammates in the other ring. Nia and Lash celebrate as Asuka and Kairi set Iyo up for the Kabuki Special, which they connect with but Rhea bowls into them to prevent the three-count.

Rhea finds herself in a 5-on-1 situation, which she valiantly tries to fight out of but gets overwhelmed. Charlotte then pushes Rhea out of harms way as Asuka misses her mist and accidentally catches Lash with it. As the heels tend to Lash, Rhea and Charlotte attack them and execute a double suplex to Nia. Alexa lands Twisted Bliss on Nia, and afterwards Iyo is handed the trash can on top of the WarGames cage, and she proceeds to perform a Swanton with the trash can on her head, which wipes out all the heels except Becky. Becky looks frozen in terror as she's now alone to face the scorn of her opponents. Alexa grabs hold of her but before Alexa could land her Sister Abigail, Becky runs off to towards the other end of the ring and tries to escape the cage to cause a forfeit, but Charlotte drags her down, is nailed by Alexa, given a Riptide by Rhea and wrapped into a Black Window which forces Becky to have no choice but to tap out.

The action in this Women's WarGames match was impressive from an athletic standpoint, and there were a smattering of great spots that made a great impact. The main issue with this bout was that there was too much taunting and not enough storytelling. Rhea and Charlotte didn't behave like they were at odds at all, and we didn't see the heel team turn on Becky, especially after all the slights she's been giving them over the past few weeks. It would be easy to think this WarGames Match was passable given the harsh assessments here, but the action was still very solid and there wasn't too much to pan from a wrestling standpoint. It's a good WARGAMES match, nothing more and nothing less.

• Rating: 7/10

Dirty Dominik Mysterio Vs. John Cena

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

Stipulation	Singles Match For The Intercontinental Championship
Length	16:40
Winner	Dirty Dominik Mysterio

For John Cena's final PLE appearance he takes on San Diego's own Dirty Dominik Mysterio, who looks to recapture the Intercontinental Championship. Michael Cole threw an interesting historical fact our way before the match got underway, stating that the Intercontinental Championship hasn't changed hands at Survivor Series since 2001 - this is where Edge defeated Test in a Winner Takes All Match to become a double champion, as he also held the WCW United States Championship. In addition, Edge gained immunity from getting fired supposing The Alliance defeated Team WWF/WWE in the 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match later that evening.

Anyway, things start out in this contest with a headlock takeover by Cena, initiating temporary control of Dirty Dom in the early goings. However, Roxanne Perez trips Cena as he is ran into the ropes by the miscreant Mysterio. Dirty Dom then takes advantage by stomping away at Cena in the corner, and Raquel Rodriguez decides to get on the apron for her very own cheap shots. Dirty Dom delivers three amigos and mocks Cena with a You Can't See Me gesture to the crowd, but gets a predictable two-count. Dirty Dom stomps Cena in the corner, but Cena rallies back, though Dirty Dom slips out of the ring and Roxanne and Raquel distract Cena, allowing Dirty Dom to attack Cena from behind. Dirty Dom beats Cena around ringside, but as he goes for a barricade hurricarana, it goes haywire and Dirty Dom looks injured on the outside.

As Dom is being attended to, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez get in the ring and hit their finishers and Dirty Dom wakes up from his fake injury to hit his Frog Splash, but the referee refuses to make the count and rejects Perez and Rodriguez from ringside. Cena gets his momentum going by hitting his vintage side slam and 5 Knuckle Shuffle. Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment but Dirty Dom slips out and pins Cena for the two, then finds himself in an STF, grabs the bottom rope to cause a break. Dirty Dom loosens his boot, hits his 619 and another Frog Splash and achieves a near fall. As Dirty Dom stands around in disappointment, he runs into another Attitude Adjustment for another near fall.

Dirty Dom and Cena trade blows in the center of the ring until Cena hits a shoulder block, but runs into the ref on his second shoulder block. Cena goes for another STF but Dirty Dom gets to the ropes again. Finn Balor and JD McDonagh show up to attack Cena and they miss their respective attacks, and Cena gives them a Double Attitude Adjustment. Dirty Dom grabs the Intercontinental Championship and goes to hit Cena, but Cena ducks and hits another AA. Liv Morgan then makes her shocking return and slaps the taste right out of Dirty Dom's mouth and hugs Cena, right before kicking Cena in the balls! Dirty Dom capitalizes on the moment and lands the Frog Splash again and regains the Intercontinental Championship.

A solid championship match featuring Dirty Dom's dirty tactics, Judgment Day chicanery and interference, and a fast-paced flow that kept it all taut and enjoyable to watch. Liv Morgan's return was cool to see, but what's going to happen between her and Roxanne Perez, seeing as Perez was seemingly her replacement while she was injured. This was a cool match overall but besides Liv's return, nothing was particularly awe-inspiring about it.

• Rating: 7/10

Nikki Bella Vs. Stephanie Vaquer For The Women's World Championship

Women's World Championship Match

Stipulation	Singles Match For The Women's World Championship
Length	12:20
Winner	Stephanie Vaquer

Nikki Bella is looking to stay relevant by winning the Women's World Championship, and she wastes no time by blasting Stephanie Vaquer from behind. Vaquer turns the tables by beating Nikki's head against the turnbuckle, throwing her around and delivering headbutts and foot face washes in the corner. The fight spills outside and Vaquer sends Nikki into the announce and then proceeds to injure her knee, where Nikki begins taking advantage and returns Vaquer to the ring.

Nikki delivers a snap-suplex for a one-count then pummels Vaquer with ground punches. Nikki locks in a chin-based submission hold before slamming her into the canvas. Vaquer attempts to battle back but Nikki smashes Vaquer's head into her knee and delivers a face buster. Nikki looks for the Rack Attack but Vaquer hangs Nikki up with rope-assisted arm bar. Nikki takes momentary advantage, but Vaquer regains advantage by attempting The Devil's Kiss, though Nikki rolls out of the ring. Vaquer hits fierce striking combos on Nikki and starts gaining momentum. Vaquer hits her devastating dragon screw and SVB but gets a two-count. Vaquer delivers a clothesline in the corner, then a meteora, and tries to go for her top rope corkscrew maneuver but Nikki regains the advantage. The two for fight on the apron and engage in a power struggle until Vaquer driver her knee into Nikki's chest. Vaquer takes Nikki to the announcer's table and delivers a Devil's Kiss on it.

Back in the ring the two slap each other before Vaquer delivers another Devil's Kiss-this time on the canvas. Vaquer delivers a Corkscrew Splash and gets the three-count to retain her title.

The good news for Nikki is that this was a better match than the one she had with Becky Lynch. However, it was a rather bland affair. Yeah it was cool to see Vaquer's Devil's Kiss on the announcer's table, but there's not much to right home about with this one. Both of them got their offence in, but neither of them looked particularly sharp. If you thought this one wasn't worthy of a place on the Survivor Series: WarGames card, then you may've been right.

• Rating: 4/10

Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso Vs. Brock Lesnar, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul

Men's WarGames Match

Stipulation	Men's WarGames Match
Length	40:30
Winners	Brock Lesnar, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul

It's clobbering time! The World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk is the man to commence the WarGames Match, and his adversary to start with is The Vision's unpredictable badass Bron Breakker. They both start by staring each other down until they engage and Bron shows off his power by throwing Punk and woofing in his face. Both of them try to shoulder barge each other but neither went down and thus caused a stalemate. They stared intensely at each other again until Bron picks Punk up and delivers a mad scoop slam. Bron barges his shoulder into Punk's gut, but Punk recovers and delivers a dropkick to reclaim momentum. Punk takes advantage for a bit, but Bron picks up Punk in a military presses and intended to use the cage, but Punk drops out of the painful situation. Punk knots up Bron's legs with kicks and goes for an axe handle slam from the top turnbuckle. Bron recovers and delivers a couple of impressive overhead tosses, yet Punk comes back with a clothesline from the turnbuckle. Time for the next entrant!

Sword metal slinging? Could only mean one man-it's DREW MCINTYRE! Drew looking psychotic approaches the ring and stares down his old nemesis Punk. Drew and Punk throw dirty boxing-like fists at each other. Drew charges Punk into the corner and tries to take the upper hand, but Punk reverses and tries to mount offense but looked tired, however Drew goes back on the attack and Bron joins him in beating Punk down. Punk tries to fight both of them in back and forth style between beating on Drew, then Bron-but ends up meeting Drew's boot courtesy of a Claymore Kick. Bron and Drew ram Punk into the cage and overwhelm him until help comes around due to the next WarGames participant.

Next out is Cody Rhodes and much like Becky in the Women's Match earlier in the night, Drew tries to stop Cody from entering the cage. Cody climbs the cage and once on top of it, he dives onto Drew with a cross-body and beats on him as retaliation for Drew's attack weeks prior. Bron tries to give Cody a back suplex but Cody back-roles out of it and hits Bron with a Cody Cutter. Punk approaches Cody from behind and Cody accidentally blasts Punk with his elbow. A busted open Punk is in shock at what just happened, but pushes Cody aside to attempt an attack on Drew, but Drew strikes him down first. Cody and Punk regain composure and double-team Drew and Bron, Drew with an atomic drop/ clothesline combo, and a Doomsday Device to Bron (with Bron landing hard on his noggin). Punk and Cody continue double-teaming Drew until the next superstar arrives.

It's getting humble up in here! Logan Paul comes out, picks up a couple of steel chairs, enters the cage and Alley-Oops Cody. After this, Logan performs a diving clothelines over the two rings onto Punk and Paul celebrates with Bron and play buddy buddy for a second. Drew holds Cody and Logan beats on him until Cody fights out, sends Drew into the steel and lands a chair shot into Bron's mid-section before chasing Logan, who is climbing the cage. Cody and Logan trade blows on the cage, then Bron throws a chair at Cody. When Cody gets down Bron doles out chair shots to Cody's gut as Drew dropkicks Punk Claymore-style on the ground. Logan and Drew deliver a double vertical suplex to Punk and show off with their muscles and kip-ups. Bron sends another chair shot to the gut of Cody just before another competitor enters the scene.

Jimmy Uso is here! He makes his way to the ring, slams the cage door into Bron's shoulder, and he brings a table to the party. Jimmy dishes out superkicks, a Samoan Drop to Logan, and he whirls through the air by delivering a Whisper In The Wind from the top turnbuckle onto Bron and Logan. Jimmy gets a bit excited when Drew side-swipes him with a Claymore. Drew sends Cody into the cage face-first, Bron performs his super-fast clothesline to Jimmy by running the ropes, and Bron moves to the other ring and delivers a Frankensteiner to Cody. The heels are in control as another component gets added to the mix.

It's time for the AUSZILLA! The Tribal Thief Bronson Reed takes to the cage and straight up to the top turnbuckle for a Tsumami to Punk, then to Jimmy and then Cody. Bronson continues the assault his opponents with splashes into the cage on Cody and Punk. Jimmy also gets a splash from Bronson in the corner. The heels take over and brutalize the faces even more. Jimmy does fight back by Superkicking Bronson, Bron and Drew, but is intercepted by Bronson. Bron delivers double knees to the gut of Jimmy before the next entrant appears.

It's YEET time up in here! Main Event Jey Uso has entered the WarGames match! Jey is a house of fire as he bamboozles the heels with superkicks, charges into the corners with running hip attacks on Bron and Bronson, and teams with Jimmy for Double Superkicks all round and they deliver a 1D to Logan. Jey decides to run a YEET back with the fans, signaling that the faces have taken back control.

However, the party is snuffed out by the arrival of The Beast Brock Lesnar! Brock comes in and delivers suplexes aplenty cos it's SUPLEX CITY up in here! Brock then continues on his destructive warpath by delivering F5s as well until the faces have been decimated. Brock wallops the faces with a steel chair until the final WarGames participant is buzzed in.

Brock quickly stands outside the cage door to herald the arrival of the Original Tribal Chief Roman Reigns! Brock and Roman stare each other down at the entrance way, and Roman charges towards Brock and slams a couple of Superman Punches right into Brock's chops, and follows up with a third as Brock waywardly scrambles towards the announcer's desk. As Roman loads up a fourth Superman Punch, Brock catches him and sends Reigns into the announcer's table with an F5.

Brock tosses Roman into the ring as the WarGames match begins! Brock F5s Roman immediately and tries to pin him but Cody breaks it up. Brock gets caught by a GTS from Punk and a Cross Rhodes by Cody, but as they pile on Brock for the cover, Logan lands on them with a Frog Splash. Logan calls Paul Heyman and asks him for the golden brass knuckles, and he absolutely knocks out Cody and Jimmy with them. Logan sets up Roman for the same fate, but gets a huge Spear for his troubles. Roman puts on the golden brass knucks and sleeps Bronson with a brass knuckle-empowered Superman Punch and sends Drew packing as he flies into a brass knuckle Superman Punch too. Bron's mad face is then seen and as the two start battling, Reigns hits him with a Spear.

Brock is Speared through a table by Roman while trying to set-up Jey with an F5 through a table. After this, we see Cody and Drew still warring with each other, Bron Spears Jey and Cody, and he tries to Spear Punk through the cage but eats the cage himself. Punk tries to GTS Bron, but Logan saves him and Logan ends up eating a GTS but Bron breaks up the fall. A strange disguised figure enters the cage to Superkick a knelt Punk in the chin, then Curb Stomping him like Seth Rollins would, and climbs up and over the cage to leave without revealing their identity. Bron delivers another huge Spear to a groggy Punk for the pin and the win for his team.

The chaos and carnage of the Men's WarGames match makes up for several issues. Outside of Cody accidentally striking Punk, there's no storyline drama, which is disappointing considering last year's Men's WarGames Match was all about the story. The heel team winning wasn't a surprise due to how formidable the team assembled was, but a bit more unpredictability could've helped this match to become even better. The match itself was very satisfying and it was great to see bloodshed from Cody and Punk. The Jey YEET party before the dangerous business of Brock Lesnar was a great touch, and while Brock coming in and destroying everyone was expected, it's odd how he became secondary during the match's climax. Overall it was a satisfying match and was the best match of the night, though you can't help but think it could've been a bit better.

• Rating: 8/10

Overall Show Rating

I give Survivor Series: WARGAMES a 6/10. What was your favourite match? Let us know in the comments!