10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About War Games
WWE aren't the first to revive Dusty's creation...
November is gearing up to be a dream month for those longing to see NWA nostalgia in WWE. StarrCade will take place under the McMahon banner for the first time (as a house show) on November 25, and now WWE.com has confirmed that the almighty WarGames will make a return at NXT TakeOver exactly one week prior.
This three-team, nine-man match is a twist on the traditional WarGames format, but WWE aren't the first to tweak the original rules. On that note, they're not actually the first promotion to revive the bout's concept either, though it is true that wrestling fans will view any WWE presentation as bigger than anything happening elsewhere.
Created by Dusty Rhodes to sell his feud with The Four Horsemen in 1987, WarGames is well-remembered as one of if not the best ever NWA/WCW gimmick match.
There's a lot of history there, but WWE almost made some of their own by bringing it back long before NXT even existed...
10. It Was Originally A House Show Gimmick
Fans watching at home on television didn't see their first WarGames match until the 1988 Great American Bash pay-per-view. The first from the 1987 Bash had aired on closed-circuit television, but most of the early cage match brawls took place on house show cards, and all but a handful involved The Four Horsemen.
As aforementioned, Dusty Rhodes had concocted the WarGames idea in '87 to further his feud with Ric Flair and the rest of the Horsemen that Summer. The heels didn't win any of the matches held on non-televised events across the States, though, probably because seeing Dusty and pals come out on top was such a crowd-pleaser to end the show with.
Said to be wild, bloody affairs, this first batch of WarGames matches must have been a treat for anyone in attendance. By contrast, the WWF was putting on child-friendly cards in 1987, so it would have been exciting to watch a team led by Rhodes locked inside a double-ring cage with the Horsemen.