Survivor Series: WarGames (2023): Randy Orton Comes Back, CM Punk Comes Home, and Chicago Gets Everything

The women's WarGames understands that the emotional question is not whether people will jump off the cage. It is whether Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair can work together long enough to survive Damage CTRL. The match keeps returning to that tension while allowing Bayley to play the opposite role as the person constantly saving her teammates.

IYO SKY's trash-can dive from the top is the spectacular image, but the match is full of smaller choices that matter more structurally. Bayley intercepts attacks meant for her partners, Charlotte and Becky gradually stop fighting each other, and Asuka's mist becomes one more weapon rather than the only trick available. The staggered entries give each new arrival a purpose.

The closing sequence pays off both teams. Bayley takes Charlotte's spear for Kairi Sane, then absorbs signature offense from the babyface side before Lynch finishes her with a Manhandle Slam through a table. Bayley loses the match while behaving like the most loyal member of Damage CTRL.

That irony becomes the reason the match lasts beyond the spectacle. It is an excellent WarGames match with enough chaos for the stipulation and enough character work to remember who caused it.

The Miz approaches Gunther like a veteran who knows a fair fight is a bad idea. He attacks the legs, uses the ringpost figure-four and keeps forcing the champion to solve smaller problems instead of simply trading strikes. That strategy gives an obvious title defense enough shape to become interesting.

Gunther eventually turns the match back toward strength, but Miz keeps finding openings through timing rather than sudden power. The Skull-Crushing Finale produces the best near fall, and Miz's willingness to work underneath makes the crowd buy into a challenger it never truly expects to win. The match becomes a useful contrast between resourcefulness and inevitability.

Gunther survives, crushes Miz with the top-rope splash to the back and forces the submission with a Boston crab variation. The champion wins decisively without making Miz's challenge feel pointless. A very good title defense and the strongest singles match on the show.

Escobar and Dragon Lee have the ingredients for something faster and more elaborate than the match they actually receive. The opening exchanges are crisp, Lee's movement gives the crowd an easy entry point and Escobar's recent heel turn provides a clear personality contrast. Then the match ends before those pieces have time to expand.

Escobar works the leg and uses the post to give the bout some structure, while Lee answers with the sit-out powerbomb and several sharp strikes. The action is clean enough that eight minutes feels like a teaser rather than a complete statement. That may be useful for television; it is less satisfying on a major event.

Escobar finishes with the Canadian Destroyer and Phantom Driver for a decisive pin. The result strengthens his heel turn and Lee looks credible in defeat. The match does its job and leaves obvious unused potential.

Zoey Stark gives Ripley enough athletic pressure to keep the match moving, but the result is almost never in doubt. Stark opens quickly, attacks from the air and strings together offense that looks good in isolation. The crowd reacts to Ripley like the larger star and waits for the champion to take control.

Ripley does exactly that with the headbutts, power offense and deliberate slowing of the pace. Stark's German suplex and running kick create the best late near fall, but the match never reaches the point where the audience thinks the title might actually change hands. That is the central limitation.

Ripley blocks the Z-360, lands the headbutt and finishes with Riptide. The defense is clean, competent and useful. It is also the most replaceable match on a night built around two cage spectacles and two major returns.

The men's WarGames begins with a missing person. Randy Orton has been announced, has not appeared all night and is supposed to enter last for the babyface team. That uncertainty hangs over every countdown while Rollins, Jey, Sami and Cody try to survive the WarGames advantage held by the opposing side.

The action is deliberately broader than the women's match. Priest brings a riot baton, Sami tears a pipe from the cage, McIntyre and Priest hit synchronized chokeslams, and the heels drive Rollins through a table with the Razor's Edge. The crowd keeps watching the clock as much as the wrestling.

The best fake-out comes when Rhea Ripley appears with Priest's Money in the Bank contract and a referee. Before the cash-in can happen, Orton's music hits. The building erupts, the returning veteran enters and the match immediately becomes a celebration of his presence.

There is still one unresolved issue: Jey Uso helped put Orton out of action as part of The Bloodline. Orton pauses, stares him down and chooses the team over revenge when Priest attacks. That small decision gives the return more story than a sequence of RKOs alone would provide.

The finish delivers the required spectacle. Sami and Rollins send JD McDonagh from the top of the cage into an Orton RKO, Cody hits Priest with Cross Rhodes and pins him. The final minutes are less competitive than triumphant, but on this night triumph is exactly what Chicago wants.

As a WarGames match, it is excellent. As the stage for Orton's return and the setup for the shock that follows after the broadcast appears finished, it becomes one of WWE's defining event finales of 2023.