Survivor Series WARGAMES 24 recap

After surviving War Games Team Rhea (Rhea Ripley, Bayley, Naomi, Bianca Belair and Iyo Sky) and The OG Bloodline (Roman Reigns, Jimmy and Jey Uso and Sami Zayn) alongside CM Punk emerge victorious. After a wonderful 3 month title reign LA Knight as United States champion has come to an end the newly reinvented Shinsuke Nakamura. Bron Breakker had one hell of a title defense with tow people who's rivalry doesn't seem over yet. Finn Balor just can't seem to put Damian Priest in his rear view mirror, interfering in his championship match as Priest looked to regain the World Heavyweight championship from Gunther. 

We come back to you guys this weekend (Dec 7th) for NXT Deadline, next weekend (Dec 14th) for Saturday Night Main Event, we have a skip and then on Dec 28th we have AEW World'd End. After all of that Wrestling Crossroads takes a month break as there are no pay per views in January this year. 

Transcript

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Wrestling has more than one royal family. Acknowledge me! And we want to stop! What is up, guys? Welcome back to Wrestling Crossroads. As always, I am one happy dude named McDoad Twisted alongside Brother Pyro. What's up, y'all? And we are recapping Survivor Series War Games. What did you think of it overall? Overall, I think it was, it was a decently paced show. Mm hmm. Uh, do I feel like there were some moments throughout the show that could have been better? Yes. Mm hmm. And we'll dive into that as we talk about the show. Yep. Alright, so starting off, I want to say I called this match card entirely. Yes you did. Yes you did. Yes. Let's go. First time in a while for WWE especially. It's been, it's been a little while. It's been a little bit, but again, you do it more consistently with the E than you do with uh, the E Dubs. Yep. Okay, uh, starting us off, we did open up with the Women's War Game match. We had Team Rhea versus Team Liv. Team Rhea consisting of Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Naomi, Bailey, and Io Skye. Team Liv consisting of Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Naya Jax, Candice LeRae, and Tiffany Stratton. I called the order of entry. Yes, you did. So starting us off was Bailey and, what was it, Candice? Yep. Yep. Um, overall, very beautiful match. Loved the storytelling as each person entered the ring. Um, once we got down to the last two participants, which you did call was Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan, you did see a little bit of scare from Liv Morgan, but it ended up all being just to tease because she went and grabbed her bat. Um, And then entered the ring where we ended up, you know, locking the cage and the match started, essentially. Um, Aside from, obviously, Io Sky in the trash can, and Tiffany Stratton doing Find me a more iconic duo in the WWE. I'll wait. I'll wait. Yeah, they know. And, uh, what was, what's the other one? Tiffany Stratton doing the, um She did the pretty moonsault off the cage. Yes, the prettiest moonsault off the top of the cage. Were there any other iconic moments that really stood out in this match to you? Because, I mean, I think the entire match was absolutely magical, I'd go back and watch it a million times over. Like, it was, it was great. Uh, it was just a great representation of the women. Yeah. So like, I don't, I definitely don't have Like a particular favorite? No, I don't, I don't have a particular favorite spot in this match, just cause it was so well done. But we all, we all know I'm forever gonna side with E. O. N. The trash can. And, and, and a damn trash can, cause we Um, there was a moment. The phone, she did it this year by climbing the cage with it on a strap. Yes. That was beautiful. Although she didn't get the chance to use it right away. I know she had to re redo it, but we got the lady for the aa, we still got the spot, and that's what we wanted. Um, there was a moment where we, Ripley did take off the protective face mask. I was like, oh girl, you both. And then to pick up the win. via a avalanche rip tied through a table. Rhea Ripley and her team defeat Liv Morgan and her team. There was the brief moment where Tiffany teased the cash. Yes. Er, not teased, but you could tell she wanted to and then Raquel was like, What are you doing? Like, like, completely stopped her. Yeah, and this was well before the, uh, the avalanche, Oh yeah, like, the War Games match itself had already started. It's the fact that she really was about to cash in on Liv. And Raquel peeped it and was like, Bruh. Wrong thing to be focusing on right now. Essentially. I feel like they're giving Tiffany a direction of, I don't know what I'm necessarily supposed to do with this briefcase. And you know what, like, okay, considering how young she is. Due to the, like, lack of this opportunity in NXT and, you know, her only having, like, a very small stint in NXT. I can't, I, I, I'm not mad that this is how they're playing into it. First time winning the Bank Holder, really not much of a, not, not your typical, like, oh, it was a WWE thing when I grew up. Yeah. So, like, for her to not necessarily know what to do, or, you know. Or to listen to others, yeah. Yeah, or like let others get in the red about it, like. It's understandable. Okay. Um, you were great for this match. They gave it an A. An A? Okay. An A. I mean, that's understandable. I think it was an absolutely beautiful match. And then ending the match, they all climbed on top of the cage. And they celebrated that way. So, uh, next match, please. Next match, United States title on the line. A returning Shinsuke Nakamura versus L. A. Knight. Yeah. Thank you. Uh, match was lackluster. Like there's a lot of moments when it dragged. I do enjoy the story that they kind of told of, you know, Nakamura really wanting to Show that he can be that guy after reinventing himself yet again yet again I I will say I was reading something and I don't know how true this is But I did figure out why his momentum was kind of stop and go in the vince regime. Okay Apparently vince was punishing him for a botch That happened with in a match on a on smackdown live with john cena I don't even remember him fighting. Yeah, apparently he had a he had a match with Cena in like 2017 on Smackdown live and Cena landed the wrong way and If you if anybody can actually find the link and send it to us, we'd appreciate it But the way Cena landed was not how it was supposed to be executed and whatnot You So, Vince not being happy that, you know, the face of his company. Who was already out the door at that time. Was already more out the door than he was in, pretty much, you know. Landed in a bad way, whatever. Okay. Still think it's stupid, but alright. It's Vince. Okay, take us through. Uh, but like, not really much to tell about this match. No. Uh, again, it was really slow. It wasn't really memorable. Uh, but picking up the win, your new United States Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura. I don't know how I'm going to feel necessarily about this title room. I mean, LA Knight did a fantastic job with, Holding that for only 121 days, did it say? 121, yeah. Or no, I thought it was 160. It was 120. 120? Yeah, he's only, he held it, he won it at the beginning of August. Okay, so yeah. So yeah, it'd be about 120 days. 120 days, and had 8 title defenses. That's beautiful. Oh yeah, no, like, he did a really good job, I'm hoping they book it. the right way with Shinsuke because they kind of need to give him some kind of credibility because they've done nothing to help his career. Yeah, especially at this point. Once, you know, he was called up, it was just kind of downhill from there. And again, that's the Vince. Um, your grade for this one. Let's see. Okay. All right, next match up triple threat. I see title match Seamus versus Bron Breaker versus Ludwig Kaiser. Um, in this match, you really got to see the issues and the personal beef between Ludwig and Seamus come to light where a lot of the times they were focused on attacking each other more than attacking Bron. Bron, not really being too favorable of being the odd man out in his own title match, really did kind of draw the focus back to himself. Yeah, like, yo, I'm champion, like, how y'all not gonna pay attention to me? Yeah, how y'all, how y'all gonna only care about each other? And, uh, like, I'm standing right here. So, um, you got to see Ludwig really take it to Seamus on the outside. There was Uh, times where I forget which man, but one of the men went through the table, the shillelagh was used. You had some of Seamus's ribs. Yep. You had them, um, going through the steel steps. A lot of them were hitting the ring posts on the outside. There was a moment where Ludwig threw Seamus over the barricade into the crowd. And we ended up with a beautiful meme because of it. Dude, really? The, It's that new AJ Styles Undertaker meme, I swear to God. It is, it is the new version of it. It's going to be everywhere, just give it a look. It is replacing the Undertaker Boneyard match, AJ Styles. Yes. If you've ever seen that match and you didn't watch this, then you know exactly what we're talking about. Here's AJ, here's Taker, hi, hi. Yes. Ah, no, that moment, that moment was great. And then afterwards proceeded to hold him there and do Ten Beats of the Byron. And then Ron decided he was going to try and get involved and still ended up And he received some ten beats. He received his ten beats too. Yes, yes he did. And Javis had been trying for so long to be able to do that. Um, we get back into the ring. Everybody's going back and forth. There are a lot of pinfalls, a lot of close calls with this match. It was absolutely beautiful in my eyes. I don't see, you know, yet I was reading something about this and it had said Seamus can't put on a bad match. No. Okay. Bron Breaker has done fantastic. I was gonna say also has yet to put on a bad match really. Yeah. But, I'm reading, you know, I'm paraphrasing what I had read. Has yet to put on a bad match and has, and has done phenomenal getting on to the main roster. Oh, I think he's one of, he's, he's really one of the few that have transitioned well and one of the first ones in a while that have transitioned super, super well. Yeah, I mean the last one you really gotta look at and think was Gunther. I mean, immediately into the title picture, just kind of like Braun was, and held that for then with Braun, it wasn't immediate. No. He had, he, you know, dipped his toes in the water for a bit, but then still got the title shot about as early as Gunza did. But like, honestly, before that, me and NXT call up, that really went this smoothly. I mean, I probably could, but it is kind of late and I can't think right now. So yeah, we'll get back to that. Ask me that the next time we come on air for NXT. So, on Saturday for NXT that night? Yeah, ask me again then. But, um, another thing that was in this post, it says that this being Ludovic's first, uh, pay per view match since entering the Royal Rumble match of 2024. That's, and that's, that's a little, the show No showcase. This man. He does showcase this man does an amazing job in the ring. Like, I wouldn't mind seeing him, you know, also, hold on, hold at some point. Not right now, but like Gunther Ludwig, Ludwig doing. And I've been singing Ludwig's praises forever. You were even doing it when he was still tagging with Giovanni Vinci. As he was just putting them as a tag team. Oh, he was what made that team work. Uh, you're great for this match, sir. I who did I give this? A B Okay. Uh, picking up the win, ultimately, very saddening to me, was, uh, That's, that's why I gave it the B Like, part of me understands you don't want to cool off your champion. Mm hmm. You worked so hard for him to get to this point. But you know the pop, you know the reaction that you would have gotten from your fan. E everybody was, had it been Shamus, like, could we been chanting for Shamus all night holding for Shamus to hold this icy title for a few years. Now the, we need, this is the one title that is keeping him from being a grand Slam champion. Let's just get it done and over with. He is openly admitted. He doesn't have a lot of gas left in the tank. Yeah, no, it, it's, it's coming to the end. Don't make him be like, Cena and walk out the door without giving him the chance. See, and that is why, what I want to see going into 2025 mm seeing a farewell tour. Give it to him. Give him that one accolade. Of Of the Grand Slam Champion. Yeah. He is a Triple Crown Champion. He needs to make him a Grand Slam Champion. Nobody wants to see him be at number 17. No. We fan A lot more A lot of the fans really care more about that Grand Slam title. Than him being at 17 because how has he been around for two decades and y'all Have not given him that one title. I mean Seamus is kind of on that same route now at this point. Seamus has been around for a decade as well. Mm hmm. All right, uh, take us into our next match sir. A World Heavyweight title match. Mm hmm. Two heavy hitters with a lot of pride on the line Mm hmm And a shout out, glory for both of them. Priest wanting to rightfully reclaim what was his, what he shouldn't have lost in the first place. Gunther wanting to prove that he was the right man, he is the right man to hold that world heavyweight title. Uh, again, a lot of heavy hitting, a lot of physicality. Not too much memorable about this match. ACHOO! Sorry. Bless you. Oh. Uh, it did drag you, I, and Flash off at it. Like, like, uh, match was kind of uh Yeah, there were parts where it really did drag down because you could tell both men were getting really, like, burnt out. Spent. They were spent. There was a lot of action outside of the ring, too. Yes, there was. Yes, there was. I'm, I'm, I'm happy that the referee really didn't let them just kind of be further go at it for a while. Uh, but due to the help of Finn Ballor,'cause while the referee is distracted, mm-Hmm. Ballor comes out, hits a kule, gra off the steps onto, uh, a priest who had been knocked and knocked outside on the, knocked outside, picking up the wind via submission. Gunther retaining his world heavyweight title. Uh, saw this on raw. Mm-Hmm. Because we're recording on truth. Like let, yeah. We are, we, we started watching that aftermath. Mm-Hmm. Um, and this is the only thing I'm really gonna touch on when it comes to the aftermath,'cause that is all. Yep. Cool. Uh, Ballard looked at Gunther and was like, I want a world title match. I think you owe me one. This is now twice that I've helped you help you win that title. The initial time at SummerSlam. And then again, I helped you retain this title tonight. That is now twice that that title is around your waist. Because of me. And I do feel Valor has a point, but fall in line because Dominic Mysterio is up next. Yep. Yep. And I think, you know, obviously we're recording on a Tuesday cause, you know, when we talk about the aftermath, we talk about the fact that, you know, he got in his face, and you mentioned Dominic, that they ended up having a match, cause Gunther was like, I'm just gonna give it to him. Not necessarily a title match, but It wasn't a title match, but my thing is this. But I feel like he should have won over him. Oh my god, Adam, god, the you would have created nuclear heat. For him going up. Actually, you know what? I think the fans would have cheered because it was a really odd night. They were cheering for Dom. And they were booing Seth. Did y'all have like, uh, was it a full moon then? Because I swear to God. But like, that's my thing. I think Dom really should have gone over. Mm hmm. I think it would have made sense for the story and then, you know. They're kind of teasing the Judgment Day breakup. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think it's gonna be But like, that's the thing that I think it's gonna be Finn that's excommunicated because the way Liv's speaking with him too even now. Yes, but like, my thing is that's something Dom can like, would have over him, in his face, you know. Another like, oh yeah, look, I did this and you couldn't. Exactly. I have a chance at this. I have a chance to win this. Let's see if I can do it. Because this has been the only man, um, that has been battling priest, that has picked up a w that has picked up a W But you think it's only because of you. So, uh, your grade for this match. C. C, okay. Is that more or less because of the interference and then the wrong person went over as you feel? And, uh, not necessarily because I think the wrong person went over. Is it because of the interference? Uh, the interference, I think, didn't need to happen. I think you still could have put Priest out, er, Gunther over clean. Mm hmm. And again, the fact that it did drag. Yeah. Okay. Alright, main event, Men's War Games match. Bloodline Civil War continues. We have On the OG bloodline side, Roman reins Jimmy and J USOs, the honorary us Sammy Zane teaming alongside CM Punk. Whereas on the Bloodline 2.0, we have Solo Koa Tanga, Lola Tonga and Jacob Fox. Two. I love you solo teaming alongside Big Bronson Reed. I love that when they did this, that when they did the introductions, of course they did it like, you know, football players, and you had him from, I love you, Solo University. I added the University. All he said was, I love you so I mean, still, you kinda knew what they were going with. No, no. My favorite one was uh, TamaTonga from Shhhhhhh. University with a doctorate in Ya da da da da da da da da da Ok. So starting off the match was TamaTonga. Let's talk the entrances first. Because So, as the teams are making their entrances, uh, Bloodline 2. 0 kind of all comes out together. Even with Bronson Reed. OG Bloodline comes out making their own individual things. And, um, the moment where Punk muffs Big Bronson Reed, I've been reading, so. Apparently that was completely improvised it's CM Punk. Of course it is And it's funny cuz I looked at you as it had because we're laughing about it I'm like why Punk always gotta start some shit Yep, your your exact reaction was cuz he's Punk. Yep, of course It's what he does. Yep, it is And then the memes that came after that of oh now trips is gonna fear for his life Oh no, Bronson Reed, you better get a restraining order. He gonna touch you again. You better stay home, my name crushes, man. We'll get into that. Starts to scale the cage. And just climb from, like, all the way up. Pillar to pillar, in the cage, as if he's on, what is it, Super Mario? Yeah, if y'all ever played the Mario level where you're in Bowser's castle, and your only way to get along is through this chain link fence, that's what that looked like. And I could not have been happier. I don't think, uh, personally I think it was stupid, but of course it's It was great! And then to start it off, for the OG Bloodline, we had Mr. Yeet himself, Jey Uso, the main event. Oh my god, that was great. As we get people more and more into the match, you can start to see In the, uh, in the OG bloodline tension starting to raise, there's a moment where, um, you know, they pan over because it's time to let somebody out. Uh, Punk goes to step out and Roman throws his arm in front of him and tells Sammy to go. That really didn't sit well with Punk, considering the next time it panned over to them when Roman was getting ready to go and go very slowly. Punk stepped out and was like, The memes that have come You're too slow there. The memes that have come out of that moment. I still love them sitting in there, both leaning down to opposite sides, looking like divas. Somebody said No. Somebody said punk looked like he farted in Egypt, hoping Roman didn't smell it. Roman. And then, and then Roman smells it and Roman smells it. Um, so the last to come out, you had called it Roman ray and solo taco, obviously. Uh, match. I found at least half of that order. Right? You did. I managed you, you and Flash were kind of back and forth with it for a while. I was so mad. I was like, oh, it's gonna be this. Nope. Solo, why you gotta mess it up? Yep. Um, so Roman Reigns gets ready to make his entrance. We're at like the last minute before he gets out of the cage. And Solo Sokoa, coming in right before him, brings his own lock and chain. And locks Roman out of the cage. Um, cage, Roman gets out, you know, I was trying to pull on the door, trying to see if they got bolt cutters. Nothing's really working. So Roman kind of looks at it and goes, you know what? I'm still, I'm going to scale the cage. Starts going up to the cage and in, we didn't hear the bell ring right away because they needed the bolt cutters to Get a ref inside the the match. Yeah, because I mean you're like wait, why hasn't the match started? What what's going on? The match ain't started yet. There was a little bit of an issue between Roman and Punk Early on when they were all in together and we had a Mr. Heyman come down and be like look It's war games. Shut the fuck up help each other for just a moment. Yeah, we need him Y'all need each other. This doesn't work without both of you. I'm the same page Like this Yeah, I need y'all to just be right here for one time. My guy. Get your head out of your ass. Essentially. My, my, my guy. Um, Big picture. There was a lot of beautiful moments once everybody was in. You got to see, you know, really what this means for, for everybody on the OG Bloodline side. You really got to see them beautifully united in this. Um, there is a moment where Bronson Reed goes, has Roman Reigns down, he's, you know, kind of lifeless for a moment on the table, and Bronson Reed goes up to, is he at the top of the cage? Oh, you're at the top of the cage. Yeah, top of the cage. I couldn't remember if it was top of the cage or top rope, for whatever reason. Goes to the top of the cage, as he's getting ready top rope, look, let me get bigger. As he's getting ready to do a tsunami splash off the top of the cage, Punk grabs Roman out of the way. This would actually cause Bronson Reed to go home with a shattered ankle, unfortunately. So he is out. The timeline for his injury is unknown at the moment. Well, yeah, it's a shattered freaking ankle. So, uh, we're Speedy recovery! Hopes and prayers out to him that he does have a speedy recovery. I do know what he posts. Post, post the show he posted on his Instagram. Injuries are temporary, moments are forever. Yes, I love that. Um, on the opposite side, we did get to see Jimmy Uso taking out, is it Jacob? Jacob Fatou. Um, and ended up breaking his toe coming off the top of the cage. He'll be back a lot sooner than bro. Yes. Um, so that did take out jacob for a while and then we also took out We took out jacob before that though, too, because he went for the uh moonsault. I think it was his moonsault He missed tweaked his knee or whatever. Yes There is a possibility that there could be an underlying injury there as well that i've heard. So that's three injuries one match and like Commentators were saying it all night. You don't win more games. You survive. Yes. Uh, ending the match. All of Bloodline 2. 0 is obviously taken out. Um, I think it was Jimmy Uso. No, it was Sammy Zane who got the Usos up on one side of the cage. Or one side of the ring, got them up into the other ring, got Roman up, got Punk up. Roman got Punk up at that time. Yep. They helped each other all up and then they surrounded Solo. That was hilarious. And Solo thought that at that moment he was gonna hit, um, a Samoan spike. Solo started begging for his life. On one of his brothers. Super kick. Another super kick, double super kick now into the corner for Hall Luva Kick. Now coming to punk for a GTS and then once finished a spear by Roman Reigns. 1, 2, 3 winners of war games. The OG bloodline. And the happiness of pictures that we got. Oh my god, dude. That, that, that, that moment on the uh, on the entrance wrap at the end. Was Chef's freaking kiss. This whole story has been Chef's freaking kiss. I was watching on TikTok right after. And it was like, see, so now what I see happening, especially with the move to, uh, Netflix, Bloodline isn't gonna necessarily be together, but they're still gonna all be loosely aligned. Yes. Everybody's still focusing on their own thing, whatever. But, like, when WWE needs them or when something happens that, like, it would call for them to team again, it makes sense to, whoop, alright, have that, the Bloodline in the back pocket. Yeah, essentially. I wanna know. Where we go from here? Where we go from here. I also want to know. Yes? Punk's favor from Hayman. Yes. Punk did say at the very end You are consistently speculating it's a main event spot or a title match. Yes. I, I, I totally think it is. Because you, in all retrospect, Hayman doesn't promise small favors, and Punk doesn't cash in on small favors. You're cm punk you have already said it and he reiterated it again on monday. I want gold And I don't know like that Okay, yeah, so again going into the aftermath that is Punk kicks off the show. He's talking about how uh He was feeling really beat up after uh, hell in a cell like how he didn't know how much time he had left Whatever he's then like, well Here's the he's like only difference between you know Possible career ending hell in a cell match and though, you know two nights ago possible career ending hell or war games match is Absolutely. I actually feel better this time around like the fact that he said that like Had me in good spirits because it's like he's like I don't feel as beat up definitely, uh Definitely, you know, he was like he's talking about how he was able to put his personal issues aside with Roman team with him for that night help him out how he's putting a lot of personal beef and whatever aside because He's got a mission He's got a he's got a timeline for himself He has his mission, you know a to b like this is where he's trying to be. Yeah, and that is champion Yeah, rollins comes out he interrupts punk is like Clearly you weren't listening. I just said, personal beef aside. I'm done. I'm done with personal beef. I have a mission. I was really willing to feud with you cause you had something that I want. Now you ain't got nothing. You mean nothing to me. And Rollins is like, you were on my mind you know, for five months and Punk's like, you're never on my mind. I ain't got nothing to care about for you. Like I said, you had something he wants, Rollins, you ain't got nothing he wants. He's ready to move on from you. Rollins said no. I'm very excited to see where that feud takes us. Yes. So, I'm definitely ready for that feud. Um, your grade for the WarGames match? A A okay. Great match, right people went over, perfect cinema. Yep. Even though, weren't you the ones that called 2. 0? I was the only one that called 2. 0. I, and I looked at you at the end of that match and I was like, I was never more happy to be wrong. Mm hmm. So shut up. No, I was just double checking because I remembered one of us went 2. 0. I just, I was literally, I was the odd man out. Hey, that's perfectly fine. Usually it's Tesari and we still talk crap about it when he, when it comes up to him being the one that was wrong. So, anywho. Um, so that does conclude Survivor Series War Games. As Brother Pyro stated earlier, we will see you guys again and we will be back for Deadline on Saturday. Anything else to say before we get off? Uh, we hope you enjoyed the holiday. If you celebrate, we hope you enjoyed your weekend. And enjoy the show. Go back. Watch Raw. Continue to follow for the aftermath. We love all of you. See you next weekend. And the weekend after that. And then we have a week of a break and then we're back again. And then we're done for a month. So, with that, we love you. We will see you later. Laters.