Cody Rhodes has filed for a very interesting trademark, that being “The Match Beyond”, which is part of the original name for one of the best ideas his father Dusty Rhodes ever came up with: War Games.
WWE might own the trademark for the name of War Games, but you can’t trademark a concept for a match; just what it is known by. The two rings surrounded by a steel cage is a concept that WWE revived for thei NXT brand in 2017, but its origins date back to the 80’s with it being the speciality match of The Four Horsemen.
The match was thought up by the legendary Dusty Rhodes after he watched Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Rhodes himself would appear in many of the firsty WarGames matches, appearing in the first 6 matches of it’s type.
War Games As A Concept
NXT viewers are well aware with the concept of War Games, as there has been annual War Games events since 2017, with the next one set for November 23rd, 2019. They’ve been fantastic since WWE revived them.
The match isn’t that complex. You have two rings, a huge cage, and atleast two teams. Members enter the match after a set time period, and the match doesn’t begin until everyone has entered the match. At that point, you can win by pinfall or submission. It’s a no DQ match, weapons are encouraged, and often leads to pure mayhem. Classic war games matches used a cell with a top to it, but WWE did away with that for the revived version; adding the stipulation that escape means you forfeit the match for your team.
Inner Circle vs. The Elite
On AEW programming, the Chris Jericho lead Inner Circle has thrawted The Elite at every possible turn, and things are getting heated between both factions. Blood has been spilled, arms have been injured, and people have been thrown through stages. All of that came at the expense of The Elite. With an unknown PPV coming in early 2020 for AEW, it’s safe to say that will be the site of The Match Beyond as they will be calling it.
The teams will likely be Cody, Dustin Rhodes, & The Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevera (or Jake Hager) & Proud n’ Powerful (Santana & Ortiz). Dustin Rhodes will be the only one with experience in the match, having competed in the 1992, 1993 & 1994 matches for WCW, and was on the victorious team every time.
There was a rumored War Games match a few years back in WWE for Battleground 2013, which would have saw Cody Rhodes, Goldust, & The Big Show face The Shield in the iconic structure, but it didn’t pan out and instead we saw Cody & Dustin defeat Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins in a tag match on the card, with Big Show getting involved in the finish. The match received great reviews, but WWE missed out by not having The Shield in a WarGames match.
