Obviously I am not surprised that Dominik Mysterio beat John Cena for the Intercontinental Title at WWE Survivor Series in San Diego this past Saturday. That was the conventional and traditional approach, to take a belt off someone rather than have them retire with it.
No question it was a big win for Dominik, even though it came in a very Dirty Dom way with no less than five people interfering on his behalf.
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WWE will always have the footage of Dominik standing over a defeated Cena, and that will mean something for a very long time. Having Dirty Dom, who WWE clearly have high expectations for and who could be headlining major events in the future, looming over the guy who is going to be presented as the greatest of all time in WWE history for the next few years is something they will use for a quite a while.
As for what losing to Dom means for Cena’s last match on Dec. 13 — and we will know if it’s against LA Knight or Gunther tomorrow — I do not think this result necessarily gives anything away.
Cena, who sold Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez’s finishers like a pro, is one of those old-school types who likes to give back on the way out. He will have no problem losing both of his final two matches.
In fact, I can see him insisting on it.
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But I can also see WWE management saying no, because he already put over Dom and Brock Lesnar in the past three months, and insisting it’s time for him to go out on top.
To be fair, it’s a great photo.
(WWE via Getty Images)
A lot of fans did not love the finish of the men’s WarGames match. They felt it was not a strong ending to what most people thought was a very good WarGames. Personally, the sight of a masked and hooded man storming the WarGames cage made me smile.
I will get to why in a moment, but first let’s go through what happened at Survivor Series.
The masked man teased attacking Bron Breakker before super-kicking and then Curb Stomping CM Punk. Punk had already been in the match longer than anyone else, and this set him up to be speared and pinned by Breakker.
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The fall, with the young Breakker pinning the older megastar Punk, was exactly the right way to end that match.
Of course the masked man was not Seth Rollins, or at least not Colby Lopez, who won’t be cleared for action for months.
WWE could reveal the masked man was in fact Austin Theory, as has been rumored, but they could also go with someone else, including the Seth Rollins character.
When Colby is healthy they could have him reveal that he was the masked man, even though someone else obviously portrayed the character for a night or two. They have options.
So why did I get such a kick out of it?
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Because it reminded me of something we did in TNA back in 2019, which was a whole lot sneakier.
I have never talked about this publicly, but when we were booking Slammiversary XVII in Dallas in 2019, Don Callis, my co-EVP with TNA at the time, looked at me and said: “We need Rhino to do a run-in. We need to set up what we’ll be doing for the rest of the summer.”
Now, Rhino was under contract with WWE. He was waiting out his contract. There was no non-compete period, and it was our intention to bring him in as soon as we were legally able. We already had big plans for Rhino, but those plans could not start at Slammiversary.
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So I said, “Don, you know Terry cannot do the show.”
And Don looked at me with that Callis smirk and said, “Yeah, but Rhino can. We just need someone who looks like him, moves like him, and can hit a Gore like him. Someone under a hoodie who can fool the fans for 20 seconds.”
“That is crazy,” I told him. “There is nobody who resembles Terry. The size of his legs alone — nobody else has legs like that.”
And Don said, “Scott … you have legs like that.”
“And you trained Terry,” he added. “So if anyone can do the Gore and walk like him, it is you.”
The entire booking team loved it. And now they are all looking at me.
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Eventually I said, “Alright, let me at least get in the ring and try it.”
So I watched Rhino’s matches on my phone, how he moves, how he gets in and out of the ring — and most importantly, how he hits the Gore.
Now, if you are imagining me hitting Gore after Gore for days, getting closer and closer to the real thing, the truth is I spent most of the time stretching. It had been a long time since my last match.
Eventually I thought, “OK, I’m doing a half-decent impression,” and against my better judgment, I told Don and the guys I would do it.
So at Slammiversary I shaved and oiled my legs like Terry does, wore black basketball shorts, a black hoodie, short boots, and a wig with a ponytail under a black wrestling hood.
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We also got Terry to tweet an image of Southfork Ranch, the famous house from the show “Dallas.”
That got fans freaking out that Rhino was going to be at Slam.
Still not sure anyone would buy it, I hit the ring. I crouched in the corner like Rhino does. I hit the Gore on Michael Elgin after the world title match and then did the taunt. Then I escaped through the crowd and went to the back.
When I took the mask off, even some talent — who would deny it if I named them — were shocked it was me and not Terry. Online it was reported like Rhino had been there and people started speculating that he had breached his WWE deal.
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I even heard WWE had internal discussions about it. “How could Terry be so unprofessional? Did he really think we would not know it was him? It was clearly him. Nobody else has legs like that.”
And then Shawn Daivari pipes up and says, “Hey, I think that was Scott D’Amore pretending to be Rhino.”
And Sonjay Dutt goes, “No way. I have known Scott for years and he is too crippled to move like that. That was Rhino.”
There was even talk about whether they should consider legal action against Terry.
Can you imagine me testifying under oath that I shaved and oiled my legs and hit a Gore?
And I had proof — my leg hair hasn’t grown back to this day!
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Eventually Daivari convinced enough people it was not Terry.
But if you look online, you will still see reports that Rhino, still under contract to WWE, hit the ring at Slammiversary XVII. (It’s even on Rhino’s Wikipedia!)
There was a rumor that WWE was going to hint at the main events of WrestleMania 42 at Survivor Series. If that’s true, it seems like we’re heading toward Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns and Punk vs. Breakker.
But Punk vs. Breakker was announced for the first “Raw” of 2026.
Meanwhile, reaction to the fourth Rhodes vs. Reigns WrestleMania main event in four years — one in 2023 and two in 2024 — was mixed, to say the least.
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I doubt the main events for April 18 and April 19 are set in stone now.
But this is the time of the year when bookers pick a direction and start driving, while giving themselves permission to take detours when needed.
Round 4 in 2026?
(WWE via Getty Images)
Yes, I am one of those who thinks WarGames should only be used when there is a storyline reason: An all-out uncontrollable gang war that WWE cannot control other than to lock both factions in a two-ring cage and let them tear each other apart.
Bron Breakker cut a great promo on “Raw.”
One small thing he did was not care about facing the hard camera. He paced around like he was getting something off his chest. He made the camera follow him, which conveys power through the screen.
Did you hear the pops for the babyface WarGames team doing the Hart Foundation’s Hart Attack and the Legion of Doom’s Doomsday Device finishers?
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At first I thought the San Diego crowd must have had a lot of fans in their 40s reacting to iconic ’90s tag-team finishers. But a friend who was at Petco Park told me even kids popped for those moves.
That could’ve been because fans have seen clips of those moves on YouTube, etc., but I think it’s that to a 2025 audience, genuine tag-team finishers are a fresh innovation.
I grew up in an era where The Fantastics, Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Midnight Express and later the Hart Foundation and Midnight Rockers were full-time tag-teams. They had finishers that required both men and it was odd to see any of them wrestle a singles match — and whenever they did, commentators would play up that being a tag-team wrestler was almost a different sport.
Those times are gone, but it makes you wonder. After all these years of tag divisions being filled with singles wrestlers teaming up, would bringing back more genuine teams look fresh in 2026?
The women’s WarGames spot where Iyo Sky put a trashcan over herself and did a Swanton Dive off the top of the cage is the other Survivor Series spot that’s generating heated discussion.
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I’ve said many times that Sky is one of the best performers in the business, male or female. But the spot itself does not make logical sense for someone to blind themselves in a fight, or to jump 12 or 15 feet and rely 100% on their opponents not moving.
But this is wrestling in 2025, and fans want big spots. Big matches almost require big moments.
And there were plenty of other aspects of the women’s match that made perfect logical sense if that is what you are looking for.
Likewise I had no problem with Jey Uso calling for a yeet rollover in the men’s WarGames match. Some fans criticized it with the usual grumbles: “No real fighter would showboat in the middle of the match.”
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Actually, real fighters do. Even great ones.
Anderson Silva’s record-breaking UFC title reign ended exactly because he was showboating.
The story here was that Jey and the babyfaces felt so in control of WarGames that they could indulge in a little showboating.
And then Brock Lesnar’s music hit, and reality came crashing down on them.
Going from “it’s a party” to “the big villain is murdering everyone” is the biggest emotional swing you can make. WWE booked Brock to storm into that cage and destroy everyone.
Jey — and by extension Jimmy Uso, CM Punk and Cody Rhodes — should have been preparing for Lesnar. They did not. That led to the fans thinking, “We need Roman Reigns out here right now,” and then came the massive pop for Roman and a great fight between him and Lesnar.
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I will never tell fans what they should or should not like, but I thought it was very effective booking.
One thing is for sure. No matter what fans online say, the people in the arenas always go crazy for Jey’s act. It will be a tough decision for any booking team to deliberately remove a guaranteed high point of the show.
I also liked how Brock took more of a beating in WarGames than he has in a while.
No-selling Brock is scary, but a Brock who can be hurt, damaged and beaten up for a while, but who still keeps coming, is even more frightening.
Think of the T-1000 in the “Terminator” movies. He kept getting blown up, melted and shot to pieces — and every time he gets back up.
TNA Wrestling announced its new TV deal with AMC this week.
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I get asked about TNA a lot, privately and online, and my answer will always be a variation of this: It does not feel right for me to weigh in on the day-to-day running of the company.
But I also want to be clear: I will always have a lot of love in my heart for those three initials, TNA, and I am happy for the people there.
To everyone at TNA today (people I know and people who are new) and to all the people who contributed to the rebirth of TNA over the years: TNA Wrestling — we are f***ing back!
The D’Amore Drop is a weekly guest column on Uncrowned written by Scott D’Amore, the Canadian professional wrestling promoter, executive producer, trainer and former wrestler best known for his long-standing role with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, where he served as head of creative. D’Amore is the current owner of leading Canadian promotion Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.
