The final PLE of 2024 took place in Vancouver, Canada, at the Rogers Arena as Survivor Series: WARGAMES is highlighted by two namesake matches in the men’s and women’s divisions, with so much of the major storyline between Roman Reigns‘ reluctancy to seek backup against Solo taking shape a week out from the show. Adding CM Punk certainly raised the stakes of tonight, but the implications of favors owed and the potential addition of The Rock’s presence to the feud means that tonight is still just a chapter in a much bigger story.
Team Roman vs. Team Solo (Bloodline)—WarGames (Advantage: Team Solo)
Jey Uso was the final face-out as he was set to begin the match for Team Roman, and his entrance received one of the loudest pops, even though Punk literally rattled the heels’ cage on his way out of Gorilla.
Solo, as the team leader, directed his roster of soldiers strategically while the USOs, Jey, and Jimmy, represented Team Roman early in the match. Bronson Reed was a lost cog in the Punk angle, although he made an impact initially, it was Jacob Fatu whose offensive prowess was on immediate display out the gate. Jacob Fatu was ordered in by Solo in place of Tonga Loa, and in a ‘same but different’ moment for the faces, Roman stopped Punk from entering third and instead sent Sami Zayn in his place. That was the first confrontational moment from the pair, but the look on Roman’s face from the beginning was one of reluctance.
Then, when it was time to send out their fourth team member, Roman began to make his way out as CM Punk leaned back against the cage before storming past Roman. It was a bold move by Punk, who touted a red toolbox into the WarGames. Jacob Fatu made Punk pay right away as he showed the veteran a different monster of an athlete as Fatu no sold Punk’s offense before dropping Punk with the ‘Samoan Drop.’ Solo was the final entrant in the match, and The Bloodline had a commanding lead when he entered the cage. As the clock counted down Roman’s entrance into the match, Reed dropped a monstrous Tsunami on Zayn just after Fatu landed a monster pooooooop-up moonsault.
Just before the clock sounded the buzzard, Solo padlocked the cage from the inside, thus preventing Roman from entering the match. Roman circled the right side of the ring before deciding to scale up the cage. He managed to fight off several Bloodline members before getting past Reed, though Roman’s feet did not touch the mat until he had already individually taken down every member of Team Solo.
After scaling the cage to the inside, Roman stood atop the rope and dove to take out the entire heel team. Roman helped his team regroup, and it seemed like the match would reset, but Punk and Roman stood face to face with hostile looks toward one another. That is when Paul Heyman came out to drop some ‘wise’ words. He yelled, “WARGAMES!” and the bell rang to signify the final portion of the match.
The first significant spot was Roman ‘accidentally’ spearing Punk when attempting to lay out Solo. The heels took the lead, but Fatu appeared to injure his knee after attempting one of his patented pop-up moonsault. Still, the faces were in rough shape and Reed was setting Roman for a Tsunami through the table from the top of the cage. He dove off the top and Roman was actually saved by CM Punk mere inches from both of them being squashed. It was an amazing moment. Jimmy Uso left it all in the ring when he dove off the top of the cage and onto Fatu through a table.
In the match’s final moments, Roman and co. stood in front of Solo with his arms raised, suggesting an embrace with Solo and offering him the chance to undo everything he had caused since the night after Mania. Roman landed the spear on Solo after a few USO superkicks and a Punk GTA, and that was enough to keep the current Bloodline leader down for the count.
Team Roman took home the victory, but there was a moment at the end where he looked at his team, his former Bloodline brothers, hugging and celebrating with Punk. All five men would eventually embrace in a mutually celebrated gesture of throwing up the “Ones” while Punk held his hands in the ‘go to sleep’ position. Punk exited the cage and hugged Paul, and so did Roman.
Punk was the first backstage as the camera followed Roman, and the team united in victory. Still, what favor will the ‘Wiseman’ be expected to fulfill, and how long will the feeling of victory keep Punk and Reigns cordial towards each other? It was mentioned on the post-show that Punk told Paul, ‘I’ll come to you when I need my favor.’
Team Rhea vs. Team Liv—WarGames (Advantage: Team Rhea)
The match was amazing if you’re a spot-fest enthusiast, but it was highly entertaining, even if you’re not. Predictions of major heel turns and briefcase cash-ins, but, in the end, the match was terrifically orchestrated.
There was a moment when both Liv and Jax were down on the mat as Stratton grabbed the briefcase out of one of the many trash cans and once again contemplated cashing it in at a PLE, but she could not decide between the two before the WARGAMES of it all continued.
Iyo Sky, who really made an impact in this match, moonsaulted off the top of the cage with a trashcan on top of her—she also saved the champs from a ‘cash-in’ when she offered up some hand work with the fire extinguisher. Nearly all ten competitors had their moment, including an undervalued Candice LeRae. Yet, it was Rhea Ripley who finished the match strongly and remained a constant force at every step. In place of her black protective mask, she wore a horned mask that she later removed—scaring Liv enough to almost not enter as the last competitor.
Rhea eventually got ahold of Liv and dropped her from the top of the turnbuckle onto a table for the pinfall victory. On the post-show, commentators speculated whether a pinfall victory in WarGames makes Rhea the #1 contender for Liv’s title (again).
Gunther (c) vs. Damian Priest— Heavyweight Title
In a rematch of their first heavyweight title match from August’s Summer Slam, Damian Priest challenged Gunther in a role reversal—Gunther was the challenger, and Priest held the title. For this one, Priest attempted to call Gunther washed and claimed his recent reign was nowhere near his record-breaking IC title reign that ended at WrestleMania.
Gunther maintained the momentum heading into Summer Slam, but the champion seemed to buy into Priest’s claims that he had grown stale. The match was better than the first outing, and Priest seemed to raise his performance from the original title match. Gunther was the favorite coming into the match, but Priest worked in a way that made you start to believe he could recapture the title. Unfortunately, Finn Balor got involved and once again cost Priest the heavyweight title—look for that feud to continue and Gunther to move on to his next challenger.
Bron Breakker (c) vs. Sheamus vs. Ludvig Kaiser—Intercontinental Title
The #11 ranked on ESPN’s 30 Wrestlers Under 30 list, Bron Breakker, defended his IC title (reign deux) against the man CM Punk namedropped for potential matchups Ludwig Kaiser and Sheamus. Other than the continuity in the longstanding Sheamus-Kaiser feud, there is not a whole lot to gain for champion Breakker—unless he can pin the sure-fire future Hall of Famer in Sheamus.
Breakker manages to steal the show in some way or form, and tonight was no different as he leaped from the apron to land a clothesline on both opponents over the commentator’s table. The biggest pops of the night were exchanges between Breakker and Sheamus, and the crowd thought the legend had it after landing a ‘Razor’s Edge’ from the turnbuckle on Breakker.
The climax of the match had Sheamus and Breakker trading huge offensive spots, including a pop-up ‘hurricanrana’ from the top turnbuckle, and culminating in a near-fall for Sheamus that was broken up by Kaiser pulling the ref out of the ring. Breakker would retain the title after putting Kaiser out of commission with a spear and then landing another on Sheamus for good measure before pinning the legend.
LA Knight (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura—United States Title
After feuding with Andrade and Logan Paul for the strap, LA Knight was thrown suddenly into a feud with a returning Nakamura. We had not seen Nakamura wrestle on WWE TV since April of this year, but he came into Saturday’s match with the momentum of a TV win streak.
The match was well booked, and both men managed to showcase offense, though Knight took some of the biggest bumps of the match, including a side body drop on the steel border separating the two rings meant for the two WARGAMES matches. Knight caught fire early in his call-up tenure, and fans called for a genuine push. That culminated in the current US title reign.cHowever, Nakamura was able to pull off a narrow-upset victory for the first (and only?) title change of the night.
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