The WarGames was a wholly unique match to NWA/WCW and was one of the most brutal matches the company ever put on. It consisted of two rings, side-by-side, surrounded by a steel cage with a roof. The only way to win this match was to make someone on the other team give up, and it was usually after a severe beating. In the start, it was Dusty Rhodes and the Four Horsemen on separate sides.
By the end, it was all about the nWo until WCW finally ended it in 2000 and then went out of business one year later. Now, NXT uses the gimmick match and has had some great matches with a slight altering of the rules. However, looking back at WarGames in WCW, there are some wrestlers that you might have forgotten took place in this dangerous match.
9 Big Bossman
One of the most remembered moments from early WarGames matches came in the first one in 1987 when The Four Horsemen lost after James J. Dillon was brutalized in the match. However, at the end of the month, a second WarGames match took place with the same teams, and this time around, Dillon was replaced by The War Machine.
For this rematch, The War Machine was a man in a mask, and it ended with Animal driving a spike into his eye. While never unmasked, this was Big Bubba Rogers, known later as Big Bossman.
8 The Rock N Roll Express
The Rock N Roll Express is made for matches like the WarGames. While they are the plucky babyface team that no one thinks about when it comes to violent matches, their ultimate 'never say die' attitudes made them masters of cage matches. Put them in a cage with a dastardly team, and the fans went wild. In 1987, the Rock N Roll Express took part in a WarGames match with Ronnie Garvin, Dusty Rhodes, and Barry Windham and won, beating the Midnight Express, Big Bubba, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.
7 Rikishi
Rikishi is a guy who many people forget wrestled in a Hell in a Cell match, even though, like Mick Foley, he was thrown off the cell in an amazing moment. He is also someone that most fans forget competed inside the WarGames match.
This happened in 1989 when he was part of the Samoa Swat Team with his cousin Samu. They teamed with the Freebirds and lost to the Road Warriors, Midnight Express, and Dr. Death Steve Williams.
6 Steve Austin
Before he made his way to WWE and became Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Attitude Era's biggest antihero worked in WCW as Stunning Steve Austin. He was managed by Col. Robert Parker and then later by Paul E. Dangerously. While he was part of the Dangerous Alliance, Austin competed in a WarGames match, teaming with Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, and Rick Rude to lose to Sting, Nikita Koloff, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, and Barry Windham.
5 Booker T
Booker T went on to become a multi-time world champion in both WCW and WWE, but before he achieved this level of greatness, he was one of the best tag team wrestlers on the planet. Harlem Heat won more WCW Tag Team Championships than anyone in the sport and are in the WWE Hall of Fame as a team.
In 1993, the brothers also stepped into the WarGames match. Harlem Heat teamed with Sid Vicious and Vader to battle Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes, and the infamous Shockmaster. In a humiliating moment, Booker T is the man who submitted to Shockmaster's bearhug.
4 Terry Funk
Terry Funk was a few years past his iconic I Quit match with Ric Flair but was still a year away from his move to ECW, where he would become a world champion again. Funk made a short return to WCW where he joined Col. Robert Parker's Studd Stable and ended up competing in a WarGames match with Arn Anderson, Meng, and Bunkhouse Buck, losing to the team of Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, and The Nasty Boys at Fall Brawl 1994.
3 Brutus Beefcake
Years after he was at his best in WWE as Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, he ended up getting a lot of opportunities thanks to his close friend Hulk Hogan. Beefcake went to WCW and played a ton of roles. One of these was a "monster" known as Zodiac, where he was part of the Dungeon of Doom. This put him in a WarGames match where he teamed with Kamala, The Shark, and Meng to lose to Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger, and Sting.
2 Buff Bagwell
The nWo was in several WarGames matches in the '90s, but one of the members that no one really talks about being in these is Buff Bagwell. That is because the year he was in was 1997 at Fall Brawl, and the match had a lot more going on than just seeing the nWo beating someone up. This was the match that Curt Hennig wanted to join the Four Horsemen and joined them for this match, only to betray them, slam the door in Flair's face and join the nWo.
1 Bret "The Hitman" Hart
Bret "Hitman" Hart was in one of the last WarGames matches and the one in WCW where there were three teams involved instead of just one. This was at Fall Brawl 1998 when the nWo was splintered into two factions, nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac.
Hart was part of nWo Hollywood with Hulk Hogan and Stevie Ray in this match. They fought Kevin Nash, Sting, and Lex Lugert in Wolfpac, and both teams lost to Team WCW, which was Diamond Dallas Page, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and The Warrior.