WarGames match

The WarGames match was a gimmick match used originally in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and later held annually in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), usually at their Fall Brawl pay-per-view event in September. The match usually involved two teams of four or five wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompassed two rings, but other variations were made.

History

WarGames was created by Dusty Rhodes when he saw the film Beyond Thunderdome and remembered the steel cages were part of his career. It was originally used as a specialty match for the Four Horsemen. The first WarGames match took place at The Omni in Atlanta during the NWA's Great American Bash '87 tour, where it was known as War Games: The Match Beyond. It would be held at two house shows later that year, once in Chicago at the UIC Pavilion and the other at the NWA's debut at The Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. The next year, it would be held during the Great American Bash Tour in 1988 at 11 house shows (one was released on the WWE Horsemen DVD). The final War Games matches under the NWA banner were at The Great American Bash in 1989 and a house show rematch at The Omni in Atlanta. WCW used it originally in 1991 at WrestleWar and at five house shows during the 1991 Great American Bash Tour and in 1992 at WrestleWar, before it became a traditional Fall Brawl event from 1993 to 1998. The earlier WarGames, generally from 1987 to 1992, are regarded as some of the best matches in NWA and WCW history.