Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the death of Sweet Daddy Siki, the bizarre WWE Survivor Series late buys, Tokyo Dome lineups for this weekend, AEW Dynamite and NXT recaps, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps: Start: Dave & Bryan’s New Year’s Eve, Amazura event hall shooting 2:51: Sweet Daddy Siki passes away 11:33: Survivor Series giant late buy numbers, early AEW Worlds End numbers 17:00: Title changes and other notes in Japan, Tokyo Dome lineups, six year anniversary of AEW reveal 35:41: AEW Dynamite Fight for the Fallen recap 59:00: WWE NXT recap
FILTHY FOUR DAILY with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including the go-home Smackdown for War Games, the WWE Speed tournament with Andrade and Pete Dunne in the finals, War Games notes and more! THIS SHOW IS FREE, and if you love it, you can get 84 SHOWS PER MONTH plus 15,000 ARCHIVED SHOWS for HALF OFF right now! Use promo code F4W50 at wrestlingobserver.com and don’t miss out!
If you’re here, you’re ready for the Sunday edition of Wrestling Observer Live, available via audio or YouTube below.
As you probably know, WWE Survivor Series is in the books as are the two WarGames matches. I break down the entire show including the next chapter in The Bloodline saga, the Punk vs. Reigns dynamic, both cage matches, and our new United States Champion.
One point: while the women’s WarGames match might not have been the best, IYO SKY continues to be the best modern-day performer in these matches right now.
Plus, I talk updates on Kenny Omega, the latest AEW Continental Classic standings, and more!
Shinsuke Nakamura is now a three-time WWE United States Champion.
At Survivor Series: WarGames on Saturday, Nakamura pinned LA Knight to win the United States Championship. The title change comes just a couple of weeks after a repackaged Nakamura made his return to WWE programming, targeting Knight in the process. We’ve seen a more sinister version of the Nakamura character since then with changes to his look and entrance.
Nakamura raked Knight’s eyes near the end of the match and delivered a reverse DDT onto the steel connecting the two rings for WarGames. A Kinshasa then got the victory for Nakamura.
Knight had been U.S. Champion since dethroning Logan Paul at SummerSlam this August. The commentary team tonight pushed that Knight did not look right in the match because he was affected by Nakamura’s mind games.
Before this, Nakamura’s most recent title reign was a run with the Intercontinental Championship in 2021-2022. It’s been nearly six years since he last held the U.S. title.
Though he spent several months away from WWE television this year, the 44-year-old Nakamura still worked house shows during that period. He returned to TV on the November 15 episode of SmackDown.
WarGames allowed Rhea Ripley to get some revenge on her arch rival Liv Morgan.
After delivering Riptide off the top rope through a table, Ripley pinned Morgan to win the women’s WarGames match at Survivor Series on Saturday night. Ripley was part of the babyface team with Bianca Belair, Naomi, IYO SKY & Bayley, defeating Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton & Candice LeRae.
Though SKY is already the number one contender to Morgan’s Women’s World Championship, this victory should put Ripley in line for a title shot as well. Ripley was forced to vacate the belt this April due to injury. Since becoming champion, Morgan has largely been able to stay one step ahead of Ripley in WWE storylines.
Ripley entered the WarGames cage wearing a special protective face mask after being attacked with baseball bats by Morgan and Rodriguez last month — but she soon removed it as a way to make a statement and prove that she is healed. Rodriguez was neutralized during the match when Ripley handcuffed her to the turnbuckle.
A highlight of WarGames saw SKY and Stratton hit simultaneous dives from the top of the cage, with SKY again recreating her classic WarGames spot by putting a trash can over her body before jumping.
There was a moment where Stratton was about to cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase while both Jax and Morgan were down, but Rodriguez put a stop to that before Stratton cashed in. Stratton did not reveal whether she was going to go after Morgan’s Women’s World Championship or betray Jax and cash in for the WWE Women’s Championship.
Another weekend full of wrestling means another packed Wrestling Observer Live.
WWE Survivor Series in Vancouver goes down in a couple hours. Expect a very hot crowd for The Bloodline vs. Bloodline 2.0 in the WarGames match. The whole show features many possibilities up and down the card including in the women’s WarGames bout.
Plus, I talk about Friday’s TNA Turning Point and today’s AEW Collision at an earlier time followed by a lucha libre edition of Rampage.
Finally, I talk to the producer of the WWF Raw, Royal Rumble, and other video games in Mark Flitman whose book “It’s Not All Fun and Games” is available on Amazon.
Dave Meltzer and I are back with a free Friday episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about on FUN FRIDAY! including Survivor Series, the Continental Classic, Jade Cargill, why AEW needs a brand split, your texts and phone calls and more! PLUS IT’S FREE FOR BLACK FRIDAY! Get THREE FREE DAYS on Apple Podcasts at f4wonline.com/apple, or use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY to get half off a subscription to wrestlingobserver.com! Sign up now!
With the first matches for the show now announced, WWE has revealed the official poster for Survivor Series: WarGames 2024.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque shared the poster on social media today, spotlighting the Bloodline civil war that will headline Survivor Series. In the men’s WarGames match, Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Sami Zayn, and a partner to be announced will face off against Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and their fifth partner.
The two teams searched for a fifth member on Raw last night with Seth Rollins turning both sides down.
This is the third straight year that WarGames has been the theme of Survivor Series. Created by Dusty Rhodes in 1987 for Jim Crockett Promotions, Levesque previously utilized the match in NXT and then brought it to the main roster after gaining control of creative.
Survivor Series has an earlier-than-usual start time with the main card airing live on Peacock/WWE Network starting at 6 p.m. Eastern on November 30. Bad Blood also started at that time last month, but that was due to the UFC having a pay-per-view that night. There is no UFC event on the day of Survivor Series.
AEW has a three-hour programming block on November 30 with Collision and Rampage. That begins at 4 p.m. Eastern and will face competition from the Survivor Series pre-show and start of the main card.
Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada will be the venue for Survivor Series.
WWE Survivor Series: WarGames 2024 (Saturday, November 30) —
Men’s WarGames match: Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Sami Zayn, and a partner vs. Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and a partner
World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defends against Damian Priest
Roman Reigns is officially advertised for WWE Survivor Series: WarGames 2024.
Survivor Series takes place from Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Saturday, November 30. Today, a ticket pre-sale for the PLE began. WWE now has a graphic up advertising Reigns for the show. Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Solo Sikoa, and Kevin Owens are also featured.
WarGames is returning as the theme of Survivor Series for the third straight year. While no match announcements have been made for this year’s event yet, it’s been heavily speculated that the men’s WarGames match will be a Bloodline civil war with Reigns and Sikoa leading their own teams.
During the period that Reigns took time off from WWE programming between WrestleMania and SummerSlam, Sikoa named himself the new Tribal Chief and reshaped The Bloodline by bringing in Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu.
Reigns made his return by confronting Sikoa at SummerSlam, but he’s been off TV again for the past four weeks. There was an angle on the August 16 episode of SmackDown where Reigns was put through the announce table by Sikoa’s Bloodline.
This Friday night, SmackDown returns to USA Network for the first time since 2019. Rhodes defending his Undisputed WWE Championship against Sikoa in a steel cage match will kick off the episode.
WWE is bringing Survivor Series: WarGames to western Canada this November.
The company announced today that Survivor Series 2024 will be held at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The date for the PLE is Saturday, November 30. WWE is partnering with the Destination Vancouver tourist board to bring Survivor Series to the city.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque posted a video today saying that he just got off the phone with Destination Vancouver, and the deal for Vancouver to host Survivor Series was now official.
Los Angeles had been a rumored location for Survivor Series after it was reported last month that WWE was having significant discussions about the show taking place from Intuit Dome in Inglewood. If that came to fruition, it would have been the first WWE event to be held at the new venue.
This is the first time Vancouver has ever hosted Survivor Series and the third time the event has been held in Canada. It took place from Montreal in 1997 and Toronto in 2016.
WarGames has now been the theme of Survivor Series for three straight years. The PLE will air live on Peacock/WWE Network on November 30. It’s the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend in the United States.
Here’s a look at the updated WWE main roster PLE schedule through Survivor Series:
SummerSlam: Saturday, August 3 at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio
Bash in Berlin: Saturday, August 31 at Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany
Bad Blood: Saturday, October 5 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia
Crown Jewel: Saturday, November 2 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Survivor Series: WarGames: Saturday, November 30 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
WWE could be bringing Survivor Series to the Los Angeles area this November.
The location for Survivor Series 2024 has yet to be announced, but WrestleVotes reports that WWE has had “significant discussions” regarding the show being held at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. It’s a new arena that is opening next month and will be the home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.
WrestleVotes writes that the date for the show would be Saturday, November 30, which is the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
“Source: WWE has had significant discussions about bringing the 2024 Survivor Series to Los Angeles at the brand new Intuit Dome on Saturday, November 30th,” WrestleVotes tweeted on Friday. “The Intuit Dome, located across from SoFi Stadium, will officially open on August 15th with a Bruno Mars concert.”
The Intuit Dome will have a capacity of nearly 18,000 seats.
Since Paul “Triple H” Levesque took control of creative, WarGames has been the theme of Survivor Series.
There are four WWE main roster PLEs set to take place before Survivor Series. The dates and locations for those events are listed below:
SummerSlam: Saturday, August 3 at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio
Bash in Berlin: Saturday, August 31 at Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany
Bad Blood: Saturday, October 5 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia
Crown Jewel: Saturday, November 2 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Survivor Series 2023 was a record-breaking success for WWE.
The event took place from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois on Saturday night and featured two WarGames matches. The show ended with CM Punk making his surprise return to WWE after nearly a decade away.
On Tuesday, WWE issued a press release announcing that this was the highest viewership, largest gate, and best merchandise sales in the history of Survivor Series.
“Viewership for Survivor Series was up 44 percent versus the previous record set in 2022. With 17,138 in attendance, the event broke the previous Survivor Series gate record set in Brooklyn in 2021,” WWE wrote.
“In partnership with Fanatics, Survivor Series broke the premium live event’s all-time merchandise record. Sponsorship revenue was up 24 percent versus 2022.”
WWE also stated that Punk’s return was the most social post in company history, generating more than 71 million views across all of WWE’s social media platforms.
This was the second straight year that WarGames was the theme of Survivor Series. The men’s WarGames match saw Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn & the returning Randy Orton defeat Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh & Drew McIntyre.
In the women’s WarGames match, Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi & Becky Lynch defeated Bayley, IYO SKY, Kairi Sane & Asuka.
FILTHY FOUR DAILY with Bryan Alvarez and a madman named Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including Smackdown, AEW Rampage, the Smackdown Survivor Series matches, and, yes, a new SPONSORSHIP SNACKDOWN. A FUN SHOW as always so check it out~!
