WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff discussed the WarGames Match concept on an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast.
Bischoff said, “No, I liked it. It thematically was kind of cool. It had an edge, it was dangerous, it took the perceived danger of a cage match to another level, beyond. Because cage matches are so overused, right? It’s like, ‘Yeah, I give two s**ts if I see a cage match ever again in my life.’ Because most of the time there’s no reason for them. It’s just, ‘Oh, watch this. We wrestle this week, and we’re going to use a cage. And it may get bloody.’ WarGames had a format to it that made it interesting. There was the mechanics. When I say format, I mean the mechanics of how it worked.”
On what he thinks is the greatest gimmick match of all time:
“I think Royal Rumble, in my opinion, absolutely just the best format for a gimmick match ever. Because it served a purpose and it had drama. It had a story. It was built on anticipation, right? Reality, we’re going to let that one go, right? But it was structured enough — Let me take that back. There was enough structure and framework to it that made it feel more real. Because so much of what we see in professional wrestling is kind of semi-random and supposedly against the rules, but never is. But this had a really distinct format that allowed you to kind of get sucked into the moment. Therefore, check the reality box. It was inherently — there’s surprises right, left. That’s what it’s built on, and the action takes care of itself. So I mean fundamentally, from my perspective as a producer, it checked all the boxes.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
