This Day in Wrestling History started like every event starts as an idea somewhere, and WarGames came to fruition on July 4, 1987 at the NWA’s Great American Bash Tour ’87 where it was called War Games: The Match Beyond.
The event appeared in Atlanta, Georgia as part of Jim Crockett Promotions and it was the brain child of the legendary Dusty Rhodes.
Rhodes was inspired in large part by Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and it involved a double ring in a single cage that was the signature match of the Four Horsemen.
How it’s done
It involved two teams with each team consisting of four, five, or more participants per team that enter at intervals.
Each match starts with one member from each team starting things off and their remaining teammates then enter in an alternating fashion after a five minute wait.
The first team to send in someone was determined by a coin toss, and it left one team perpetually down by one until the sides were balanced with the next entrant every two minutes.
By special rule, the match can’t be won until all the members of each team enter the cage. This has been suspended at times, but had mostly remained a steadfast rule.
Originally, the outcome was determined by submission or surrender or if a participant was deemed unable to continue due to injuries suffered. Accidents happen, after all.
The very nature of the match makes it extremely brutal. It’s become a regular show in the WWE on their NXT brand in 2017 for their NXT Takeover WarGames special. Before then, the last time it was shown was in 2000.
The inaugural match
In 1987 the NWA had access to some of the best wrestlers in the world, and they put on a show to kick off this annual match.
The two teams were The Super Powers, consisting of the Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes, and Paul Ellering.
They faced the Four Horsemen that included Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard, and JJ Dillon.
In what was as brutal a match as there has ever been, the Super Powers prevailed and a new standard was set in professional wrestling.
As time goes on, it’s easy to forget where some idea originated or what they meant, and it’s this purpose that makes This Day in Wrestling History so much fun to do. We never know what we’ll find next.
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