Overview:
The WWE’s Survivor Series: War Games takes place tonight in San Diego, California. For nearly 40 years, the Survivor Series has been a tradition for wrestling fans that coincides with Thanksgiving and the holidays. It’s an event that has seen the debuts of many famous wrestlers and concepts, not to mention the setting of controversial incidents.
An Event that Has ‘Survived’
The 39th annual WWE Survivor Series takes place today at Petco Park in San Diego, California. Since 1987, the Survivor Series, now known as Survivor Series: War Games, has remained a staple of wrestling programming and a Thanksgiving tradition for wrestling fans.
What’s the Survivor Series?
For many years, the Survivor Series centered on tag-team elimination matches, where a team of wrestlers competes against another until only one team remains. Usually, the teams consisted of four to five different wrestlers.
However, since 2022, the Survivor Series has included men’s and women’s teams squaring off in a steel cage. These “War Games” matches actually began in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), a now-defunct wrestling organization whose story coincides greatly with the origins of the Survivor Series.
Rival Beginnings
From 1983 to 1986, JCP ran the wrestling event Starrcade on closed-circuit television on Thanksgiving Day. However, after seeing WWE’s successes in the pay-per-view (PPV) market, JCP decided to present its fifth annual Thanksgiving Day Starrcade in the same format.
Vince McMahon, who was the chairman of the WWE in 1987, decided his company needed a PPV event on Thanksgiving night to compete with Starrcade. His move proved successful, as the first-ever WWE Survivor Series significantly crippled the commercial success of the JCP’s 1987 Starrcade event by blocking its PPV distribution.
Thanksgiving Tradition
The Survivor Series held its inaugural event on Thanksgiving Day for the first few years before switching to Thanksgiving Eve. Eventually, it started airing on the weekend before Thanksgiving Day and is now held on the Saturday after.
Survivor Series Through the Years
The First Ever
The first-ever Survivor Series capitalized on the success of that year’s WrestleMania and its famed matches. The 1987 Survivor Series was main-evented by Hulk Hogan’s team taking on a squad led by Andre the Giant.
Star Debuts
The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) and the Undertaker are two of the most well-known names in the world of sports entertainment. The latter made his debut at the 1990 Survivor Series, while the 1996 edition introduced The Rock.
Montreal Screwjob
“The Montreal Screwjob” is a well-known incident that occurred during a match at the 1997 Survivor Series between Bret “the Hitman” Hart and Shawn Michaels. Before the match, McMahon secretly ordered the referee to make Shawn Michaels win by submission even though Hart did not tap out.
Wrestling Firsts
The Elimination Chamber, a type of professional wrestling match held within a large, circular steel structure, was first featured at the 2002 Survivor Series. Twenty years later, the War Games matches were added to the Survivor Series, with “War Games” being incorporated into the event’s name.
Monumental Returns
The Survivor Series has seen the return of wrestling legends after long absences from WWE, such as the Rock’s resurgence at the 2011 event and CM Punk’s in 2023.
2025 Survivor Series: War Games
In addition to other matches, including the last premium live event (PLE) match of John Cena’s career, tonight’s WWE 2025 Survivor Series: War Games features both a men’s and women’s War Games competition.
The Women’s War Games match features the following teams of wrestlers:
- AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch
- Charlotte Flair Asuka
- Alexa Bliss Kairi Sane
- Rhea Ripley Nia Jax
- IYO SKY Lash Legend
The following teams are participating in the Men’s War Games match:
- Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
- Roman Reigns Drew McIntyre
- CM Punk Bron Breakker
- Jimmy Uso Bronson Reed
- Jey Uso Logan Paul
The WWE 2025 Survivor Series: War Games starts at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and can be watched on the ESPN app in the United States or on Netflix in most other countries.
Sources:
https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/47058334/wwe-survivor-series-history-milestones-facts
https://www.enuffa.com/2014/10/the-history-of-wwe-survivor-series-part.html
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