5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Survivor Series: WarGames 2024 (Results & Review)

1. Punk And Roman Barely Can Get Along

The big story heading into the men’s WarGames match should have been Roman Reigns and the OG Bloodline trying to put down the new version of the Bloodline and recapture their place at the top of SmackDown and in the Samoan dynasty.

Instead, the story revolved around Reigns and CM Punk, and whether the giant egos of the two former world champions would clash. It truly was a rare instance where the WWE trope of “can they co-exist?” actually worked perfectly.

Reigns and Punk spent their time in the shark cage building tension through nonverbal communication: Roman giving him the side-eye; the Tribal Chief stopping Punk from entering the match in favor of Sami Zayn; Punk and Reigns looking mistrustingly at one another; and finally Punk charging past Roman to enter the match.

During the match, Reigns advertently speared Punk, which gave rise to the fear that everything was going to break down, only for Punk to save Roman later, pulling him off a table to spare him from a Tsunami off the top of the cage. From then on, it was Mega Powers 2.0, with Punk and Reigns teaming up to topple the new Bloodline. The two shook hands afterward, acknowledging each other, but that likely is as far as their alliance will go… for now.

Punk told Paul Heyman later that he would be calling in a favor for being the fifth man at some point, which raises a lot of intrigue for what and when that will be. That in itself could be a tremendous story beat when it drops.