The Rundown Slam: WWE Survivor Series War Games 2024

12/01/2024 11:58:22 AM

Photo credits: WWE

We have a new champion, a rehashed finish, another banger after banger, and the babyfaces won the two massive barbaric prison-like affairs despite budding turmoil looming somewhere.

I mean... man, the main event was the real deal. Even with Bronson Reed and CM Punk being the sudden allies on their respective squads, this is how the Bloodline Civil war should be done. How the producers weaved the program between fellow Paul Heyman guys with earth-sized egos, Punk and Roman Reigns, into the clash of the clans? I'll never know, except they were beautifully done, considering the crisscross route among them, the Samoan family saga, and how Rollins' absence (although logically speaking, that's the right call) still became a factor.

Other than the Men's War Games match, the triple threat between Sheamus, Ludwig Kaiser, and intercontinental champion Bron Breakker delivered big time. These three can run it again for another big show soon with those mind-blowing moves and the progression of their storylines. While Bron's IC title run needs to go long and wild, I can only wonder when can the Celtic Warrior get the missing piece of the puzzle aside from the coming Mania in Vegas? Looks like Ludwig would eventually win his own crack there first, especially that the contest alone was so far, the only highlight reel from his badly needed singles run.

Meanwhile, the refurbished Sith Lord-looking Shinsuke Nakamura wins his third United States Championship after defeating LA Knight. I have to say we just witnessed two massive changes on his entrance music in the last 24 hours – at least, on the TV broadcast timing – and that was strangely good. It definitely helped the repackaging of the King of Strong Style look good along with those artistic promos which they drove away from the typical Anime stuff. Let's hope this run would do better than his previous feud with Cody Rhodes.

Now, on the flip side, we may have seen a seed of Gunther getting the eventual babyface character when he thwarted a distraction from Finn Balor – WHO AGAIN – cost Damian Priest his second shot at the World Heavyweight Championship (with the other one happening this past Summer Slam).  However, while we deem the reinsertion ridiculous, this bout showed how The Ring General regained his composure as The Champ from his most vulnerable self.

Save the usual Iyo Sky's garbage can leap which has become the annual highlight reel (like how Kofi used to save himself from getting eliminated in the Royal Rumble match), but the women's war games match just felt mid. Maybe it was the right decision to put them on the opener, just like every single year – if not settling them under the traditional 5-on-5 elimination tag team match. Of course, there's another item under the #BiancaWinsLOL item. 

And while the women's war games did only little wonder to kick off the 3 ½ hour event, more questions would be needed to answer come the following RAW and SmackDown episodes – specifically on two things: (1) who among Bayley or Bianca Belair actually assaulted Jade Cargill?; and (2) When is actually Tiffy Time gonna happen, like will Stratton really dare to double-cross her friend, the WWE Women's Champion Nia Jax, or she pulls off a heist over the Women's World Champion, Liv Morgan? Those definitely remain to be seen, because the only takeaway from this was that Rhea Bloody Ripley, had her final comeuppance against Morgan in a feud of the year candidate (or so I thought).

WWE Survivor Series 2024 did not have any surprise comebacks unlike its predecessor last year, but they showed stories of perseverance, resiliency and shrugging off turmoil among both allies and adversaries. The only problem I have the most is that they're not all bangers to the point I've lost interest and thinking the opener as a drag. Nonetheless, I'm just glad the men's triple threat IC title match and men's war games stood out the most.

The Verdict: 7.7/10

Author: slickmaster | © 2024 The SlickMaster's Files