WWE Survivor Series War Games 2025: Biggest Winners & Losers

WWE Survivor Series: War Games was a slight affair, with just two War Games matches and two title matches. A brand new Intercontinental Champion was crowned, and The Vision seemingly gained a brand new, mysterious member.

We have already broken down what happened on the show, over on the outcomes page, and the team has already put together their loves and their hates from Saturday’s big show. All that is left is to weigh the participants, out and in of the ring, within the balance, and see who got here out a “winner” and who got here out a “loser.” I’ll attempt to avoid the literal definitions of those terms, as winners can appear like losers, losers can appear like winners, and I’m not above pointing at a random guy who wasn’t even within the ring and saying “Loser!”

There have been loads of winners, from Stephanie Vaquer to John Cena, and there have been loads of losers, just like the 46,000 individuals who packed the stands. Without further ado, here’s who looked good and who looked bad at WWE Survivor Series: War Games 2025.

Let’s get this out of the way in which at the highest: For those who paid live event ticket prices for 4 matches and a whole lot of commercials, then I’m sorry, but you bought “got,” as they are saying within the carnie business.

Now, I understand that folks can do what they need with their hard-earned money, and it is also very hard to have a “bad” night within the eternally mild and warm San Diego breeze, but I barely felt like I got enough for my $30 ESPN subscription. So I can only imagine how individuals who paid three digits, or possibly even a price with a comma, to take a seat within the stands and stare at a cage for 4 hours. I said this within the Loved and Hateds for “SmackDown,” there must be a middle ground between the 7-hour death marches that AEW puts on and the 4-hour infomercials for WrestleMania that WWE puts on. Where is the main North American promotion that may give me 6-8 solid matches at a comparatively quick clip? 

It wasn’t a foul Survivor Series, however it seems like the event could use a Day 2 like SummerSlam and WrestleMania get. War Games is a poor substitute for the Royal Rumble, however the show was structured as in the event that they were. It was maddening, and it made me feel for the fans in the gang.

WWE isn’t shy once they seem to essentially like a talent, and Stephanie Vaquer beat Nikki Bella. Bella has come back to WWE this yr, mostly to assist bolster champions like Becky Lynch and Vaquer, but after her loss to Lynch, it was looking like perhaps Vaquer can be sacrificed on the altar to salve the WWE Hall of Famer’s ego, but not so. Nikki Bella got here back to do business, and WWE sees big business in the previous CMLL star.

Vaquer made a whole lot of waves by signing with WWE so soon after showing out at AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door, but her status on “WWE NXT,” while distinguished, didn’t exactly appear to be the worldwide highlight that Saturday’s win over a women’s legend did. Liv Morgan also returned, so Vaquer’s days could also be numbered, but proving a reliable champion over the previous couple of months has clearly bolstered Vaquer’s stock in the corporate.

With the Royal Rumble and the Road to WrestleMania coming up, it would be interesting to see how WWE capitalizes on Vaquer’s momentum. She’s on the right track to affix Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan as one in all “Raw’s” top stars, not only of the ladies’s division, but any division.

I want everyone involved within the Men’s War Games match to take a great, long look within the mirror because Saturday’s match was an abomination. Dusty Rhodes is spinning in his grave. While the WWE version of War Games already has loads of alterations to the unique conceit, there have been established rules, like exiting the cage counts a forfeit, that were simply ignored and disregarded, making the match feel like a bunch of geeks wandering around, cosplaying a WWE match. Jey Uso ran his theme song back in the midst of the 40-minute embarrassment. 

I can recover from the addition of pinfalls. I can recover from the shortage of a roof. But WWE’s version of War Games has been sanded all the way down to such some extent that it is sort of unimaginable for any sort of catharsis, especially within the wake of AEW’s gruesome twist on the match. I understand that WWE is a child’s show, but there continues to be a level of coherence and professionalism that kid’s performers have that the boys who closed out Survivor Series simply didn’t. It jogged my memory of that Royal Rumble with Brock Lesnar and Shane McMahon, where it felt like all of the nonsense backstage was bleeding out into unspoken restrictions and silent animosities. I might be fascinated to read the book about all of the bull**** that went on to steer to the match, however the match itself was a dud that made everyone involved look bad.

John Cena’s final PLE match was, very similar to the last couple of months of his retirement tour, a masterclass in putting as many individuals over as possible. What could’ve been a straightforward win for Dominik Mysterio saw Cena share the ring with Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, each of whom performed modified versions of moves from Cena’s arsenal (the Code Red and the spinout powerbomb), and in addition served because the return of ladies’s star Liv Morgan.

I’m not saying he moved heaven and earth for these women, but should you had asked me what number of women Cena would’ve put over in his final PLE match, I might’ve guessed 0, possibly 1, what with WWE’s restrictions on intergender matches.

We’re about to go into Cena’s final match, which is able to likely be all about him and whoever wins the Last Time Is Now Tournament. This was Cena’s last likelihood to take as much of the “Raw” roster on his shoulders as possible and move along the storylines that might be running when he takes his final curtain. Cena’s fame is one in all professionalism, at the beginning, and the display on Saturday was one last likelihood for him to do something greater than himself.