The War Games match it’s making it’s WWE main roster debut at Survivor Series 2022. This year marks many historic moments in wrestling, most notably the retirement of Vince McMahon from his position as chairman in the WWE.
In his wake steps forward Triple H – the former WWE Champion who has taken over the mantle of the top dog in WWE and is in the process of bringing through his own style in WWE.
This included bringing back match types Vince McMahon would not dream of. Not only is he bringing through the Fight Pit match from NXT, he is making War Games a featured match at this years Survivor Series. The match made it’s NXT debut in 2017 but finally has the chance to be shown on the big stage for the first time since WCW closed in 2001.
However, 2022 is 20 year after The Game first proposed to bring The Match Beyond to WWE. In his book Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps Chris Jericho revealed that Triple H wanted to bring The Match Beyond to the company and tried to convince Vince McMahon to book the match for Survivor Series 2002.
However, Vince isntead shot down the idea, not wanting to take any ideas from the recently-purchased WCW and instead opted to use original ideas for the new match type. This lead to the creation of the Elimination Chamber match, which has so far been a huge success in WWE over the years.
“For Survivor Series 2002, Vince wanted something big to sell the show. HHH had been petitioning to do WarGames, a match involving two rings and ten wrestlers inside a giant cage. Vince wasn’t keen on using the WarGames name or concept, because it was a WCW invention. That’s when the Elimination Chamber was born.“
The first Elimination Chamber match was at Survivor Series 2002 event in New York City, on November 17, 2002. The match was contested for the World Heavyweight Championship, which was held by the aforementioned Triple H going into the match.
The Elimination Chamber is contested between 6 men (7 men only once), with the wrestlers in the first ever match being;
- Triple H (World Heavyweight Champion)
- Shawn Michaels
- Chris Jericho
- Rob Van Dam
- Booker T
- Kane
The match was a huge event. It was won the Shawn Michaels, who was locked in a fierce rivalry with Triple H following his comeback to wrestling earlier that year. He won his final world title in the match, last pinning his former DX partner to win the match and the championship.
A War Games match in it’s place would not have given HBK his moment and World Heavyweight Championship victory. If Vince McMahon did relent to Triple H’s desires, the match would likely have been Team Triple H vs Team Shawn Michaels. This would have put on a brilliant match between two heated rivals, but would have left the show without a World Heavyweight Championship match on the card.
Triple H now has his wish for War Games in WWE. Sadly, he is not able to compete in the match due to being forced to retire this year because of heart issues. However, he will take pride putting on the match made famous by two men he admired greatly in wrestling – Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes.
Did you know Dusty Rhodes created War Games? Click the link to find out and let us know what you think of the match stipulation in the comment section below
Hamish is a writer and podcaster and wrestling fan who is a key part of the Atletifo team.
After playing countless hours of WrestleMania X8 on the Gamecube, he discovered Rey Mysterio getting his head crushed by The Great Khali, and thus a love for professional wrestling was born.
He is also a Media Graduate, as well as writing for multiple sites about Premier League football and the culture of Wales – his home country.
