World War 3 was an annualprofessional wrestlingpay-per-viewevent produced byWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW). The pay-per-view's title was also the name of its signature match, athree-ring, sixty-man battle royal. The event took place every November from 1995 until 1998. Like theRoyal Rumble, the World War 3 match was held at the event that shared its name. The first two World War 3 events were held at theNorfolk Scope and the last two were held atthe Palace of Auburn Hills. In 1999, it was replaced byMayhem.

WWE owns the rights toWorld War 3 since the sale of WCW and its trademarks in 2001. In February 2021, all WCW pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network.

The rules for a World War 3 match were similar to the rules for a traditional battle royal match:

• All sixty men were randomly assigned a specific ring before the match began.
• The match began with all sixty men, in three rings, when the bell rings. Each ring was assigned a number. From left to right on the TV screen ring #1 was on the left, ring #2 was the center ring and ring #3 was on the right.
  • Originally, to be eliminated from the match, a wrestler had to be thrown over the top rope and have both feet touch the floor. This rule was amended in 1997 to allow for eliminations if a person leaves the ring in any way. In 1998, the rule was amended again to allow the counting of pinfalls and submissions for eliminations.
• When 10 men remained in ring #1 or ring #3 they moved to ring #2 and the match continued.
  • This rule was amended in 1997 so that the competitors had to move to the central ring once forty men had been eliminated.
• The last man standing in the ring was declared the winner.

The inaugural World War 3 match was contested for theWCW World Heavyweight Championship, which had been stripped fromThe Giant due to the outcome of his match withHulk Hogan atHalloween Havoc in October 1995. In subsequent years the winner of the match became the #1 contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. Initially the winner got to pick which pay-per-view he would face the champion at, but this changed for the 1997 and 1998 matches to a set pay-per-view.

  – Championship victory

  – Championship match loss

On the July 1, 2022 episode ofAEW Rampage,All Elite Wrestling held its first Royal Rampage match, which would include a battle royal involving more than one ring, in this case two rings, and 20 competitors, with the winner becoming number one contender for theAEW World Heavyweight Championship.^[1]

• WCW World War 3
• Recurring events established in 1995
• Recurring events disestablished in 1998

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2025
• Short description is different from Wikidata