The 5 on 5 Elimination Match
Filed by: The Counsel
Court is in session
The 5 on 5 Elimination match was a staple of the Survivor Series event for decades. It was the match that made Survivor Series unique. Then it was replaced by the WarGames match in 2022, much to the delight of the WWE fanbase. And look, the people were not wrong. WarGames was a welcome addition. But the Counsel is here today to argue that replacing one does not have to mean erasing the other. It is time to bring back the classic elimination match, and I have two arguments to make that case.
The booking was the problem. And bringing the match back adds value.
The Booking
The 5 on 5 Elimination match has an unfair and frankly unjust reputation for being boring. But I want to ask a question before we accept that as fact. Is that the match's fault? Or is it the fault of the booking surrounding it?
Look no further than Survivor Series 2021 as Exhibit A for what happens when the booking lets the match down. The entire night was built around brand supremacy, every match on the card a RAW vs Smackdown affair. The 5 on 5 Elimination match was regulated to a single purpose: if your team wins, your brand gets one point. One point. In a brand supremacy scorecard that nobody asked for. On top of that, the teams were filled with heels and faces who would never voluntarily share a locker room, let alone a corner. There wasn't even an effort to build an all heel team against an all face team. Pretty lazy booking for a match that deserved better.
Now let's look at the other end of the spectrum. Survivor Series 2014 may be the single best example of what this match is truly capable of. The stakes could not have been higher. If Team Authority lost, Stephanie and Triple H would be stripped of their power. If Team Cena lost, every member except Cena would be fired. That twist was genius. Nobody actually believed WWE was going to fire John Cena. But when you looked at the rest of his team, a little voice in the back of your head said "Vince might actually do it. He might fire everyone just to give Cena this chapter." It blurred the lines in a way that only the best wrestling booking can.
Then we get to the match itself. Twists and turns galore. Big Show turns heel on Cena, getting him eliminated and leaving Dolph Ziggler completely alone against Seth Rollins, Kane, and Luke Harper. All hope is lost. Then Ziggler eliminates Kane. Then he catches Harper with a sneaky rollup, eliminating him too. I watched this live in 2014 on the WWE Network for $9.99, and I genuinely remember thinking "oh well that's nice, at least they didn't bury him completely on his way to getting murdered by Rollins." Then Sting makes his WWE debut, pulls a lifeless Ziggler on top of Rollins, and the place loses its mind. If you haven't seen it, the full match is on WWE's YouTube. Apologies for the spoilers.
The Authority storyline started in the summer of 2013. This match took place in the fall of 2014. That is over a year of build up paying off in one night. I am not asking every 5 on 5 to carry that kind of history. But we need something more than "oh that PPV is next month, we should probably start building it." Especially under Triple H's creative direction, there is no reason seeds cannot be planted months in advance. The tools are there. Use them.
Value Added
WarGames was a welcome addition in 2022. But we are now heading into our fourth consecutive year of it. Is this not exactly what damaged the Hell In A Cell match's reputation for so long? Overexposure turned a special stipulation into a calendar obligation. WarGames is not receiving that criticism yet, but it will. With both a men's and women's WarGames match per PLE, fatigue is only a matter of time.
The Counsel is not suggesting that the 5 on 5 replace WarGames. The suggestion is to use both, letting each match highlight the other's strengths and hide its weaknesses.
WWE is rumored to be expanding more PLEs to two night events. WrestleMania and SummerSlam have already made that transition, and Survivor Series feels like a natural next candidate. A two night Survivor Series card creates the perfect home for both matches to coexist. Let WarGames be the car crash spectacle it was built to be. Let the 5 on 5 Elimination match fill a completely different role on the card.
And here is where it gets interesting. WWE tends to have a dominant top faction running roughshod over the roster each year, from The Judgment Day to The Bloodline. As long as that continues, the WarGames storyline will always have a natural home. That frees the 5 on 5 match to live in a different space entirely, one where midcard acts get to shine in a way WarGames simply cannot accommodate. WarGames is brutal by nature. It is almost impossible for midcard talent to feel at home in that environment without it feeling forced.
But a 5 on 5 Elimination match headlined by Chelsea Green leading The Secret Service? That is must see television. That is exactly the type of team this match was built to showcase back in the late 80s. Maybe one team is made up of NXT stars, giving the developmental brand a platform ahead of their own PLE the following weekend. The options are there. The match format supports all of it.
Closing Statement
The charge before the court today is simple: the 5 on 5 Elimination match had its day and WarGames is its worthy successor. The Counsel respectfully disagrees. The evidence suggests the match was failed by its booking, not by its format. The evidence suggests there is room on the card for both. The evidence suggests that Chelsea Green deserves a Survivor Series moment.
That last point alone may be enough to decide this case.
The jury is yours.
Filed by: The Counsel | The Verdict Club