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NXT brought back the WarGames match for the first time since 2000 at NXT Takeover: WarGames. The match featured three teams - SAnitY, The Undisputed Era, and The Authors of Pain with Roderick Strong.
WarGames is the brainchild of the legendary Dusty Rhodes. After watching Mel Gibson in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, he was inspired to create the match and the original intention of the creation was to make it a specialty match for The Four Horsemen.
The original format consisted of two teams with four or five men on each side. Two men would start and then another would be added at a certain interval.
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The setup consisted of two rings side by side with an enclosed steel cage surrounding those rings. There are doors at opposite corners of the structure to keep the two teams apart and once all eight or ten men are in the ring, the only way to win is to make someone submit, surrender, or knock unconscious.
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This Saturday will be the 32nd WarGames match in its storied history. We take a look at five people you didn't know competed in WarGames, starting with someone who will be at ringside Saturday.
#5 Paul Ellering
If Dusty Rhodes was still with us today, he would have a big smile on his face that WarGames is back. And that smile would be even bigger knowing that someone who competed in the very first WarGames will be at ringside for Takeover.
The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia, was the scene of the first WarGames match. Paul Ellering competed alongside the tag team he managed for many years, The Road Warriors, with Dusty, and Nikita Koloff, against The Four Horsemen at The Great American Bash in 1987.
This Saturday, Ellering will accompany the current tag team he manages in The Authors of Pain. Akam and Rezar will team with Roderick Strong, and this team may have the advantage considering their leader fought inside this structure.
#4 Curt Hennig
After eight years with the WWE, Mr. Perfect went to WCW. Since the WWE trademarked Mr. Perfect, he just went by his real name Curt Hennig. He would originally join The Four Horsemen replacing Arn Anderson who retired, but turned on them and join the nWo.
The turn on the Horsemen occurred in the WarGames match at Fall Brawl in 1997. Hennig showed up at the arena with his arm in a sling, but it was all a ruse and he attacked the Horsemen making the WarGames match 5-on-3.
Hennig joined Kevin Nash, Buff Bagwell, Syxx (X-Pac), and Konnan as they destroyed Ric Flair, Steve McMichael, and Chris Benoit. The match is famous for Hennig repeatedly slamming Flair's head on the cage door.
#3 Dustin Rhodes
Before the WWE Universe knew the name of Goldust, the man behind the paint made a name for himself in WCW. Dustin Rhodes competed in his father's creation of WarGames a total of three times from 1992 to 1994.
This period was Dustin's second stint with WCW after a brief period with All Japan Pro Wrestling and the WWE. He made his original WCW debut in 1988 in a tag team with Kendall Windham known as The Texas Broncos.
He was a part of "Sting's Squadron" for his WarGames debut in 1992, where he teamed up with Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Nikita Koloff, and Barry Windham to defeat Paul E. Dangerously's (Heyman) Dangerous Alliance of Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, Rick Rude, and the next guy on this list...
#2 "Stunning" Steve Austin
Just like Dustin Rhodes, "Stunning" Steve Austin made a name for himself in WCW before reaching the heights of his career in WWE. Austin joined WCW in 1991 and would stay with them until 1995.
Austin was very close to a major push in WCW, but management would never pull the trigger. He did make his mark in WCW with Brian Pillman as the Hollywood Blondes and Paul Heyman's Dangerous Alliance.
Austin's only appearance in WarGames was at WrestleWar in 1992 in the previously mentioned match with the Dangerous Alliance against Sting's Squadron. In the match, Larry Zbyszko accidentally hit Bobby Eaton with a piece of the turnbuckle metal to enable Sting to make Eaton tap out with an armbar.
#1 Bret Hart
After the famous Montreal Screwjob, Bret Hart signed a multi-year deal with WCW. It was a shocking sight to see The Hitman wrestle for WCW after spending over 12 years with the WWE.
A few months into his WCW tenure, Hart helped Hulk Hogan defeat Randy Savage to recapture the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. This assistance would lead to Hart becoming an associate of the nWo.
In his only WarGames match, Hart joined Hollywood Hogan and Stevie Ray of the nWo Hollywood Alliance to take on the nWo Wolfpac team of Kevin Nash, Sting, and Lex Luger, as well as Team WCW which consisted of Diamond Dallas Page, Roddy Piper, and The Warrior.
This match took place at Fall Brawl in 1998 with Team WCW taking the victory. It was the only time in the history of WarGames that three teams of three squared off, until this Saturday at NXT Takeover: War Games.
