A steel cage for two rings: WWE’s structural shift in wrestling
In short: In 2023, a long-standing tradition was traded for architectural chaos. The Survivor Series event pivoted from its classic elimination matches to the WarGames match—a roofless steel cage surrounding two side-by-side rings. It wasn't just a change of scenery; it was a structural evolution of professional wrestling.
The 2023 Survivor Series: WarGames, held on November 25 at Chicago's Allstate Arena, marked a significant departure from the event's 1987 origins. While the 'Big Four' (now 'Big Five') events typically featured team elimination matches with four or five members, this iteration was one of only four in history to omit that tradition. Instead, it leaned into the WarGames concept: a high-intensity cage match where teams enter in a staggered format every few minutes until all participants are inside.
The mechanics of the WarGames match create a unique tactical environment. The first team to secure a pinfall or submission wins; however, any team that manages to escape the cage is declared the winner by forfeit. This creates a constant tension between offensive aggression and defensive retreat. At the 2023 event, this format was used for both the men's and women's main matches, featuring high-profile returns like Randy Orton (out since May 2022) and R-Truth (out since November 2022).
Beyond the physical structure, the 2023 event served as a historical bookend for WWE's distribution. It was the final premium live event to be officially distributed on DVD and Blu-ray before the company shuttered its home video division at year's end. The event reached a digital landmark by debuting on Abema within Japan and Binge across Australia as the initial Survivor Series to use these services, mirroring a broader trend of moving towards international streaming sites.
The narrative weight of these matches was built through months of scripted storylines across Raw and SmackDown. For example, the women's WarGames match was born from a fallout between Bianca Belair and Damage CTRL, involving complex dynamics like Iyo Sky’s Money in the Bank cash-in and Kairi Sane’s return. These stories were designed to justify the massive scale of the two-ring cage structure.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Survivor Series: WarGames (2023)
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