WWE announces official WarGames match rules for NXT TakeOver

It feels like WWE just gave use a free and fresh ice cream cone but it’s a flavor we don’t like and made with ingredients we’re possibly allergic to. The WWE is bringing back WCW’s old WarGames match for NXT TakeOver: Houston but the rules are nothing like WCW’s old WarGames matches.

Um thanks?

The main event of what is now being dubbed NXT TakeOver: WarGames, will feature the teams of SAnitY, The Undisputed ERA and The Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong. The trios triple threat match was made official last night on NXT.

So how will a three by three WarGames match work at the Saturday, November 18th WWE Network special? The WWE is glad you asked and has a full bullet point list of match rules for you to digest.

• The three-member teams of SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain), Undisputed ERA (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly), and The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) & Roderick Strong will wage war inside a massive steel cage that surrounds TWO rings.
• All three teams will be contained inside separate shark cages by the entrance way, with a member from each team (as chosen by his respective squad) starting the match.
• After five minutes, the remaining members from one team will be released from their shark cage and allowed to enter the match.
• When another three-minute period elapses, the remaining members from a second team are released from their shark cage and enter the match.
• Following another three-minute period, the final team’s members are released from their shark cage and enter the match.
• Once all three teams have entered the WarGames Match, a victory can be attained via pinfall or submission.

Two rings? Yes! Shark cages? why? Team timed releases? No, really why?

Thanks to the magic of Wikipedia compare NXT’s WarGames format to the classic NWA/WCW set-up.

• The WarGames match consisted of two teams of either four, five, or more men each facing off with each other in staggered entry format.
• The setup of the cage consisted of two rings side by side with a giant ring-encompassing rectangular cage that covered both rings, but not the ringside area. Doors were placed at far corners of the rectangular cage so the two teams didn't come into contact before they were supposed to.
• The match began with one member of each team entering the cage. After five minutes, a member from one of the teams (usually determined by a coin toss, but has also been determined by a match or by a contest such as an arm wrestling match, a live fan poll, etc.; this is almost always the "heel" team in order to provide heat) would enter the cage, giving his team the temporary 2-on-1 handicap advantage. After two minutes, a member from the other team would enter to even the odds and giving 2-on-2 tag team advantage for the next 2 minutes. Entrants alternated between teams every two minutes, giving the coin toss-winning team the temporary advantage in the numbers game before giving the other team the advantage with the freshest man and even odds.
• Teams continue to alternate during the 2 minutes periods until all eight or ten men are in the ring.
• Once all eight, ten, or more men (depending on team size) had entered the cage, what was referred to as "The Match Beyond" began. Both teams would brawl each other in the cage for as long as it took until any member of either team submitted, surrendered, or was knocked out unconscious. There was no pinfalls, no count-outs, and no disqualifications, which often led to brutal, bloody, and violent confrontations.

Shady backstage coin tosses! Five man teams! No pinfalls! Only submissions, knock outs and surrenders!

Look the last WarGames match ever, featuring the likes of The Warrior, Stevie Ray and Lex Luger, was nothing to write home about at Fall Brawl 1998. The NXT version of WarGames may be awesome on it’s own merits and if pro wrestling fans had no previous NWA/WCW references points to lean on that may help the November 18th main event even further.

Are you still hyped for the return of WarGames? Or do you wish the WWE made their rules a lot closer to the NWA/WCW days, when WarGames was often a match-of-the-year contender?