{"id":199166,"date":"2026-11-02T15:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T21:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/?p=199166"},"modified":"2026-11-02T14:59:05","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T20:59:05","slug":"mcguires-monthlies-longing-for-a-wargames-that-deserves-to-be-a-wargames-the-curious-case-of-big-cass-ilja-dragunov-arrives-in-aew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2026\/11\/02\/mcguires-monthlies-longing-for-a-wargames-that-deserves-to-be-a-wargames-the-curious-case-of-big-cass-ilja-dragunov-arrives-in-aew\/","title":{"rendered":"McGuire&#8217;s Monthlies: Longing for a WarGames that deserves to be a WarGames, the curious case of Big Cass, Ilja Dragunov arrives in AEW"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"prowr-3698134496\" class=\"prowr-apple-podcast-button-link prowr-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Advertisements\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast\/id1365989370\" aria-label=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?fit=320%2C78&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?resize=300%2C73&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" width=\"320\" height=\"78\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p><b>By Colin McGuire<\/b>, ProWrestling.net Staffer<\/p>\n<p>The most antiquated thing you can do in pro wrestling media in 2026 is write about pro wrestling once a month. The landscape changes by the tweet (or \u2026 um \u2026 X post). Everyone and their best friend\u2019s best friend\u2019s aunt\u2019s nephew has a podcast ready to dissect the latest rumor, angle, program, television show, and passive-aggressive social media post that just happened 30 seconds from now. Offering something up at the beginning of each month is an exercise in idiocy, a lesson in pointlessness, and an assurance that your *thoughts* will quickly be forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>So, all right. Let\u2019s write about pro wrestling once a month.<\/p>\n<p><b>WARGAMES (ISH)!<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing coincidence that the babyfaces want to face the Callis Family in a Blood &amp; Guts match, and AEW just happens to have a Blood &amp; Guts match advertised for November 4!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leave it to Jason Powell in his live review for the October 21 edition of AEW\u2019s Dynamite to put things so succinctly as the teams came together for the company\u2019s Blood &amp; Guts match later this month. As it goes, the Don Callis Family (all 4,983 of them) will suit up against \u2026 well, a gaggle of babyfaces that includes the Young Bucks, Sting\u2019s kid, and yada yada, so on and so forth.<\/p>\n<p>I miss stakes in professional wrestling. And for the past few autumns, this has become the time of year that I am reminded of as much more than any other season. While this will mark the second year in a row that AEW is running its two-ring spectacular in November, WWE\u2019s version, beginning in the modern era in 2017 in NXT, has been running in November for the last nine years, save for two first-weekend-of-December events.<\/p>\n<p>And at the end of the day, the WarGames\/Blood &amp; Guts trope could have decided to take a year or three off, and I wouldn\u2019t have batted an eye. Quick: What was last year\u2019s men\u2019s Blood &amp; Guts match? More so, who won? Give up? The Conglomeration and Darby Allin beat the Death Riders. How about across the aisle and WWE\u2019s version in 2024? Does The Bloodline vs. The Bloodline ring a bell? Indeed, Roman Reigns teamed with the Usos, Sami Zayn, and CM Punk to beat Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Bronson Reed.<\/p>\n<p>Unforgettable, all of them.<\/p>\n<p>Except not. The Conglomeration vs. Death Riders program has seemingly been in motion for as long as both groups have been in existence, and the Blood &amp; Guts match last year didn\u2019t really put a period on it. Meanwhile, WWE\u2019s Decision Makers get in a room a couple of months before November, establish its biggest stars, and find a way to throw them inside two rings and a cage to moonlight as a WarGames facsimile. There hasn\u2019t been a single personal issue between eight to 10 wrestlers that I can find that justifies these matches anymore.<\/p><div id=\"prowr-3559803201\" class=\"prowr-content-4 prowr-entity-placement\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Advertisements\"><!-- Tag ID: prowrestling_incontent_2 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"prowrestling_incontent_2\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\", slotId: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Which, of course, speaks to the larger problem in 2026 pro wrestling: Nothing feels creative. Even Will Ospreay\/AEW\u2019s attempt to freshen things up with their Clockwork Carnage match last month felt \u2026 overly complicated? Change for change\u2019s sake? Uninspired? You could use any of those words, and I wouldn\u2019t argue with you. Plus, the similarities between that and NXT\u2019s Iron Survivor gimmick felt just a bit too on the nose for this viewer.<\/p>\n<p>Now, to WWE\u2019s credit, they\u2019ve been trying to heat up a program between the latest incarnation of the Bloodline and Royce Keys\u2019 946 faction, and it\u2019s kind of\/sort of worked. Hell. Jacob Fatu was run over by a car, for God\u2019s sake. The feud doesn\u2019t feel red hot, but it does feel a little more inspired than anything else that\u2019s been thrown together this time of year for the last bunch of autumns. Plus \u2013 and most importantly \u2013 946 still feels kind of fresh, which is an anomaly in pro wrestling anymore.<\/p>\n<p>But even with all of that in mind, would it really be too hard to keep something like the WarGames concept special? Some ideas can be bastardized in a fine-enough way \u2013 think Money In The Bank or anything with the words \u201ccasino\u201d or \u201cgauntlet\u201d in AEW \u2013 but I\u2019m old enough to remember when WarGames was such a violent, serious thing that you couldn\u2019t help but be intrigued whenever one of those matches was put together. I miss it.<\/p>\n<p>I miss the personal touches. I miss the hate. I miss the authenticity. I miss the commitment to the feud. I miss the drama.<\/p>\n<p>I miss all of it.<\/p>\n<p>And so, as we gear up for another round of Blood &amp; Guts\/WarGames matches, let\u2019s pour one out for a time when these things mattered, when they forced us fans to believe that something special and personal was happening right in front of our eyes. There are a lot of examples of the difference between a match needing a stipulation rather than a stipulation that needs a match in today\u2019s pro wrestling landscape; can we please lay off the unique equity that WarGames matches built and earned once upon a time? It\u2019s been bastardized enough.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe take 2027 off? Please?<\/p>\n<p><b>AND YOU CAN\u2019T TEACH THAT<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Nobody learns how to be seven-feet tall, but I\u2019ll be damned if anyone working on WWE\u2019s writing team can figure out how to book Big Cass.<\/p>\n<p>In case you missed it \u2013 and at this point, you truly may have missed it \u2013 Mr. Cass has been back in WWE since July. It\u2019s now November. And instead of using him as a monster heel that could dominate the mid-card and maybe even flirt with the upper portions of the food chain, we have him losing to \u2026 pretty much everyone half his size.<\/p><div id=\"prowr-2226036313\" class=\"prowr-content-5 prowr-entity-placement\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Advertisements\"><!-- Tag ID: prowrestling_incontent_3 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"prowrestling_incontent_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"prowrestling_incontent_3\", slotId: \"prowrestling_incontent_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Save for him being part of the winning team on last week\u2019s Raw (and even then, his partner Ethan Page scored the pinfall), Cass hasn\u2019t just not been booked to look strong; he\u2019s been booked to look like a non-starter. I don\u2019t get it. Say what you want about his AEW run as a whole, but I kind of liked the way Tony Khan used him as a menacing presence and someone who, in a weird way, was even kind of protected.<\/p>\n<p>That type of success did not follow Cass back to WWE, all pre-arrival vignettes be damned. Is it an Ezno Amore thing? For this viewer, it shouldn\u2019t be; Cass can live and thrive on his own as long as the creative forces are behind him in a meaningful way. I was excited when word got out that he\u2019d be heading back to TKO Land. This is a guy who turned his life around after some rough patches; he\u2019s easy to root for, and his AEW work exceeded my expectations.<\/p>\n<p>So \u2026 um \u2026 what\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n<p><b>THE MAESTRO IS HERE<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking of wrestlers hopping between WWE and AEW, Ilja Dragunov showed up on Dynamite (and, well, WrestleDream, of course) last month, and it reminded me of the crap shoot it truly is to bounce back and forth between the two major American companies. Remember when Andrade became All Elite, it didn\u2019t click, he went back to WWE, that didn\u2019t click, and now \u2026 it\u2019s clicking \u2026 but in AEW?<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s the exception; not the rule (see: those Big Cass thoughts). Think of Rusev\/Miro. Tommy End. Ricky Starks\/Saints. Even Tommaso Ciampa has been hit-or-miss for me during his current AEW stint. It\u2019s fascinating to watch these guys succeed, fail, or fade away altogether as a result of switching sides. If only one thing has been proven in the flip-flop diagram, it\u2019s that nothing is proven at all. Sometimes, it works, and sometimes, it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Dragunov, for his part, got off to a hot start with his match against Speedball Mike Bailey. Keep in mind, however, that he\u2019s not the first (and surely won\u2019t be the last) wrestler to come over and be unleashed in AEW after toiling away in mid-card WWE hell. Can he break through? Can he become the next Continental Digital National 24\/7 Champion of the World while being Elite? Shoot. Can he at least make sure a pair of pants doesn\u2019t kick out of one of his pin attempts?<\/p>\n<p>Only time has the answers.<\/p>\n<p><b>PREDICTIONS ARE LIKE WHAT AGAIN?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>We offered no predictions for October as we mourned the death of Pac in this tiny corner of the internet. That said, September turned out to be our best month yet as we finished it 9-4. That brought our overall record to 45-35. Let\u2019s see how November shapes up as we try to end the year strong.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; WWE\u2019s Crown Jewel will indeed move forward in Riyadh despite all the controversy surrounding a trip like that.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Speaking of Crown Jewel, let\u2019s go with Randy Orton, Breakker\/Theory, Chelsea Green, and Sami Zayn to get the wins.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; For AEW\u2019s Full Gear, I\u2019ll pick Hangman Page, Bandido, and Brody King to retain their trios titles. I also like Doyle and Davis to beat the Bucks for the tag titles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita will win NJPW\u2019s Super Junior Tag League.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; However the 946 ends up being represented in the men\u2019s WarGames match, they will stand tall over whatever team they face.<\/p>\n<div id=\"prowr-798188478\" class=\"prowr-after-content prowr-entity-placement\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Advertisements\"><a class=\"spreaker-player\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/show\/pwboom\" data-resource=\"show_id=3275525\" data-theme=\"light\" data-playlist=\"show\" data-width=\"100%\" data-height=\"340px\">Listen to \"Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast\" on Spreaker.<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Colin McGuire, ProWrestling.net Staffer&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":199167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3738,50,27],"tags":[2486,3359,2570,595,2825,1916,101],"class_list":["post-199166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colin-mcguire","category-mustreadarticles","category-viewpoints","tag-aew","tag-aew-blood-guts","tag-andrade","tag-big-cass","tag-ilja-dragunov","tag-wargames","tag-wwe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - 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