Champions from Raw and SmackDown will face off at next month’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
WWE has announced four non-title champion vs. champion matches for this year’s Survivor Series. They will feature the World champions, Women’s champions, Tag Team champions, and secondary men’s champions from Raw and SmackDown facing off against each other.
Unless there are title changes between now and the PPV, the champion vs. champion matches at Survivor Series will be:
WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks
Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn
Last year’s Survivor Series PPV had featured involvement from NXT in the champion vs. champion matches and the Survivor Series elimination matches.
Survivor Series is taking place on Sunday, November 22. WWE has announced that the show will celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Undertaker. There will also be men’s and women’s traditional five-on-five Survivor Series elimination matches pitting Raw against SmackDown.
With the show built around Raw vs. SmackDown matches, this year’s Survivor Series pay-per-view takes place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas tonight.
There will be two five-on-five elimination tag matches pitting Raw and SmackDown against each other. In the men’s match, Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor & Triple H will take on Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura & John Cena. On the women’s side, Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks & Bayley will face Becky Lynch, Carmella, Tamina, Naomi & Natalya.
The champions from each brand will also match up with their counterpart from the other show in non-title matches. Those are Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles, Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair, Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Usos, and The Miz vs. Baron Corbin.
In another Raw vs. SmackDown bout, The Shield will square off with The New Day in a six-man tag. On the pre-show, Enzo Amore defending his Cruiserweight title against Kalisto, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Breezango, and Matt Hardy vs. Elias are set.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show as well as NXT Takeover, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Our live coverage begins with the first pre-show match before the main card kicks off at 7 p.m. Eastern time.
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MATT HARDY VS. ELIAS
Basic match, not mcuh of a crowd in the building at this poimt, so not much crowd reaction. Matt did a side effect on the apron while Elias worked on his left shoulder most of the way. Elias threw his shoulder into the post and hit drift away for the pin.
ENZO AMORE VS. KALISTO FOR CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE
Not much to this. The crowd was still quiet except for the interview by Enzo. Kalisto did a few standard cool moves but the finish saw Enzo pull Kalisto into the side of the turnbuckle and hit exposed metal, and then Enzo used the Jawdunzo for the pin.
KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN VS. TYLER BREEZE & FANDANGO
Owens and Zayn did a heel interview with Owens talking about winning the IC and Universal titles in Houston but those were his moments, not the fans’ moments. Breeze & Fandango came out and complained about Owens & Zayn having smelly facial hair. Not much to this match either. Fandango made the hot tag, but missed a legdrop off the top rope and Owens pinned him with the pop up power bomb.
The New Day came for an interview. He said about Tuesday that it took Raw three weeks to steal our idea and not do it as well as we did. They were pushing themselves as “your boys” trying to get over as the faces. They said they’d be together while by the time WrestleMania comes The Shield will be turning on each other.
NEW DAY VS. THE SHIELD
Good match. Crowd liked it. The crowd didn’t really choose between the sides except at times Reigns was booed, but at times he wasn’t, such as when he hit the spear on Kingston right before the finish. The finish was a triple team power bomb with Reigns power bombing Kingston off the middle rope for the pin. There was a Shield power bomb teaser earlier but Big E saved. The New Day teased a double-team midnight hour as E had Rollins & Ambrose both up.and Kingston & Woods came off but Reigns saved with a spear.
Stephanie gave a pep talk to the Raw women. She wanted Asuka to break every bone in Lynch’s body. Stephanie in her heels looked huge next to the wreslters who looked much smaller except for Nia Jax.
RAW VS. SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S MATCH
This match ranged at times was really good (Banks vs. Natalya, Asuka vs. Natalya) to really bad (Fox vs. Naomi). It came down to Asuka vs. Natalya & Tamina. Tamina missed a splash off the top and Asuka beat her with a flying armbar submission. Asuka used a double chicken wing into the Asuka lock for the submission on Natalya for the win. The eliminations were Bayley pinning Becky Lynch with a schoolboy. Tamina pinned Bayley with a superkick by Carmella and Tamina did a splash off the top on bayley. Jax was counted out after Tamina superkicked her on the floor and did a cross body off the ring steps. Naomi pinned Fox although she was supposed to win by submission but the ref counted to three early. Banks beat Noami with the bank statement. Asuka kicked Carmella in the face for the pin. Natalya eliminated Banks with the sharpshooter, leaving Asuka vs. Tamina & Natalya..
Stephanie and Daniel Bryan argued over who was going to win with men’s match with Raw up 2-0. Stephanie said that when Shane is incapacitated, then Bryan can run Smackdown all by himself. They showed Bryan thinking about it.
THE MIZ VS. BARON CORBIN
Corbin was pretty much the babyface at the end given both Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas got inolved. Corbin blew a kiss at Maryse. Match was fine, with Corbin laying out Dallas with the End of Days . Miz kicked his knee and hit the DDT for a near fall. But Corbin came back and hit the End of Days to win the match clean.
Renee Young pushed this as the first win for Smackdown. Corbin said to Miz my hand went up and your mouth went closed
Bayley helped a guy pick out a ring and he proposed to his girlfriend inside the WWE ring.
Charly Caruso interviewed Paul Heyman. He said AJ is phenomenal but he’s going to regret beating Jinder Mahal and winning the title because he’s stepping in he ring with Brock Lesnar.
SHEAMUS & CESARO VS. USOS
Very good match. The finish saw a double superkick on Cesaro, then on Sheamus, which they did call a superkick party, when Jimmy hit a tope on Cesaro while tagging Jey and Jey pinned Cesaro after a splash off the top rope. The Usos worked as the faces and mostly sold. The coolest spot was Jey giving Sheamus a Samoan drop while off the Doomsday device position.
They are pushing that it’s now tied 2-2 beween Raw and Smackdown.
Jason Jordan interview. He was booed of course. He feels terrible that he may never get the chance to compete with his dad. He said he’s 100 pecent healed and 100 percent behind his teammates, but he hopes HHH gets eliminated but that Raw wins.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR VS. ALEXA BLISS
Charlotte won with the figure eight after a big foot that didn’t hit just right. The match wasn’t smooth, The crowd was into it. Charlotte missed a moonsault and Bliss did twisted bliss but Charlotte got her knees up. They gave them a lot of time to build the match.
BROCK LESNAR VS. A.J. STYLES
This was different from everything on the show in the sense it felt like a fight rather than a performance. Lesnar threw him around and launched him into orbit with some of the throws. Styles did an awesome comeback including a phenomenal forearm over the top rope to the floor, another off the steps and another in the ring. He went for a second phenomenal forearm but Lesnar caught him in the F-5 for the pin. They aren’t letting anyone kick out of the F-5 till Mania. Lesnar was limping badly when it was over which was storyline from the calf crusher. The crowd went nuts when Styles did the calf crusher but Lesnar broke it by slamming his head over and over on the mat.
We actually have 70 minutes left right now and one match left,.
RAW VS. SMACKDOWN MEN’S MATCH
Raw won the match with HHH and Strowman as the final two. The match ended when Angle had the ankle lock on Shane, and held it for a long time. HHH then saved Shane by giving Angle a pedigree and put Shane on top. HHH then acted like he was siding with Shane, but then he turned on Shane and gave him a pedigree for the pin. Strowman grabbed HHH by the throat after the match and told him if he ever does that again, he’ll finish him. HHH tried pedigree on Strowman, but Strowman blocked it and laid him out with a powerlsam. Strowman gave HHH a second powerslam and left.. So the show ended with Strowman as the star. The match was a big disappointment. It started out real good but then got flat and the place was pretty much dead with confusion at the end. The eliminations were:
Strowman pinned Shinsuke Nakamura with a powerslam.
Strowman pinned Bobby Roode with a powerslam.
John Cena pinned Samoa Joe after the Attitude Adjustment.
Randy Orton pinned Finn Balor with the RKOI.
Strowman pinned Orton with a powerslam.
This left HHH & Strowman & Angle with Shane.
The only interference was Owens and Zayn coming out to attack Shane. Shane came back with chair shots to the back of both and Orton gave Owens an RKO.
With a two-hour pre-show taking place before the main card, the lineup for Survivor Series seemed to have a couple of spots open heading into tonight.
WWE has corrected that by adding two more matches to the pre-show, with Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn set to face Breezango and Matt Hardy taking on Elias. Enzo Amore will also defend his Cruiserweight Championship against Kalisto (in what is the pay-per-view’s only title match) before the main card kicks off.
Owens & Zayn didn’t miss any time on television after being sent home from WWE’s European tour as they returned to SmackDown and faced The New Day last Tuesday. That match didn’t have a finish due to the angle with Raw invading, which saw Owens & Zayn bail during the brawl as part of their storyline issues with SmackDown’s authority figures.
Neither Hardy nor Elias appeared on Raw’s go-home show for Survivor Series.
The Survivor Series pre-show will begin at 5 p.m. Eastern time tonight before the main card starts two hours later. Here’s the full lineup for the PPV:
Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles (Universal Champion vs. WWE Champion)
Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor & Triple H vs. Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura & John Cena in an elimination tag match
Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Becky Lynch, Naomi, Carmella, Tamina & Natalya in an elimination tag match
The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)
Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair (Raw Women’s Champion vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion)
Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Usos (Raw Tag Team Champions vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions)
The Miz vs. Baron Corbin (Intercontinental Champion vs. United States Champion)
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore defending against Kalisto (pre-show match)
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Breezango (pre-show match)
A spot was left open on the team when Charlotte Flair defeated Natalya to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship on Tuesday. When running down the card for the pay-per-view on SmackDown, WWE didn’t reveal who would be taking Charlotte’s place on the team — though Dave Meltzer reported it would be Natalya in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Shane McMahon made the storyline announcement on Twitter: “Individual competition drives every #SDLive Superstar. Even in defeat, @NatbyNature proved herself to be a fierce competitor and will be an asset to Team Smackdown’s 5 on 5 #SurvivorSeries Team. Let’s go to work, Nattie.”
Natalya will join Becky Lynch, Naomi, Carmella & Tamina as they take on Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks & Bayley in an elimination tag match at tomorrow’s PPV.
The Survivor Series card will mostly feature Raw vs. SmackDown matches, including the champions from each brand facing their counterpart from the other show in non-title bouts. Here’s the updated lineup for the PPV:
Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles (Universal Champion vs. WWE Champion)
Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor & Triple H vs. Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura & John Cena in an elimination tag match
Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Becky Lynch, Naomi, Carmella, Tamina & Natalya in an elimination tag match
The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)
Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair (Raw Women’s Champion vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion)
Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Usos (Raw Tag Team Champions vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions)
The Miz vs. Baron Corbin (Intercontinental Champion vs. United States Champion)
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore defending against Kalisto (pre-show match)
The card for Survivor Series saw another change — and Ric Flair made his first appearance on WWE television since his health scare — on tonight’s episode of SmackDown.
In her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte Flair defeated Natalya to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship heading into Survivor Series. Charlotte will now face Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss in a non-title match on Sunday’s pay-per-view.
Charlotte did an interview after winning the championship, talking about how she’s wanted the title since coming to SmackDown, her match against Bliss on Sunday, and the health issues her father went through. Though there was a tease that Ric Flair wouldn’t be there for the post-match angle, he came out and celebrated with Charlotte on the stage.
WWE has yet to announce who will be replacing Charlotte in the Raw vs. SmackDown women’s elimination tag match at Survivor Series.
While Charlotte’s win changed the women’s champion vs. champion match, The Miz vs. Baron Corbin will go on as planned after Corbin retained his United States title against Sin Cara tonight.
Though Paige had been rumored for it, Bayley ended up being added as the final member for Raw’s Survivor Series women’s team.
Bayley defeated Mickie James and Dana Brooke in a triple threat match on Raw tonight to get the spot. She pinned James after hitting the Bayley-to-Belly, with Brooke having been laid out by a kick from Asuka after getting into it with her on the outside during the match.
WWE has now finished announcing the participants for both Survivor Series elimination tag matches. The women’s match will be Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Carmella & Tamina. And Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor & Triple H will face Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura & John Cena.
Before that, Natalya will defend her Women’s Championship against Charlotte on SmackDown in a match that could possibly have implications for Sunday’s pay-per-view. Sin Cara will also challenge for Baron Corbin’s United States title prior to the PPV.
Another big Raw vs. SmackDown match has been confirmed for Survivor Series.
WWE officially announced that The Shield would be facing The New Day in a six-man tag match at Sunday’s pay-per-view. That was set up when New Day’s distraction caused Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose to lose their tag titles to Cesaro & Sheamus last week, with Roman Reigns returning on Raw tonight as The Shield issued a challenge for Survivor Series.
After Reigns, Rollins & Ambrose defeated The Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus on Raw tonight, Sunday will be the second time all three members of The Shield have teamed together since their reunion. Last month’s TLC PPV was supposed to feature their first match back together until Reigns was forced to miss the show due to a viral infection.
The Toyota Center in Houston, Texas will host Survivor Series on Sunday. Here’s what the card for the show looks like as of now:
Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles
Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor & Triple H vs. Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura & John Cena in an elimination tag match
Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Carmella & Tamina in an elimination tag match
The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)
Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya
The Miz vs. Baron Corbin
Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Usos
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore defending against Kalisto (pre-show)
The card for Survivor Series took another turn as Triple H returned to WWE television on tonight’s episode of Raw.
Triple H was announced as replacing Jason Jordan on Raw’s Survivor Series men’s team, with that coming after Jordan was involved in an injury angle where he hurt his knee earlier in the night. Jordan defeated Bray Wyatt before being laid out by him in a post-match attack.
Jordan, Kurt Angle’s storyline son, was pleading with Angle about not being replaced when Stephanie McMahon came out and urged him to make the announcement. Triple H then made his way to the ring and gave Jordan a Pedigree. Heading into Survivor Series, Stephanie has been threatening to fire Angle if Raw doesn’t beat SmackDown at the pay-per-view.
The men’s five-on-five elimination tag match for Sunday’s PPV is now Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor & Triple H vs. Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura & John Cena.
Though he hasn’t wrestled on TV since WrestleMania, Triple H has been in action fairly regularly at house shows recently. He filled in at a show in Santiago, Chile last month before wrestling at several stops on WWE’s European tour.
Though he was originally scheduled to referee a match at the show, John Cena will instead be wrestling at Survivor Series.
It was announced today that Cena had been added as the final member of SmackDown’s men’s division team for their elimination tag match against Raw. Cena will team with Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, and Shinsuke Nakamura.
Shane made the announcement about Cena joining the team on Twitter: “Further proving #SDLive is the superior brand, I’m happy to announce @JohnCena will be the 5th member of Team Smackdown at #SurvivorSeries.”
Raw’s team for the match is currently scheduled to be Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, and Jason Jordan.
Cena hasn’t appeared on WWE television since losing to Roman Reigns at Raw’s No Mercy pay-per-view in September. Reigns will return on next week’s episode of Raw, possibly setting up his direction for Survivor Series.
In storyline, Cena is currently a “free agent” and can wrestle for both Raw and SmackDown. He was at one point planned to be the special guest referee for the Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal non-title champion vs. champion match at Survivor Series until plans were changed and it was decided that AJ Styles would win the WWE Championship from Mahal before the PPV.
The special guest referee for the Universal Champion vs. WWE Champion match at this month’s Survivor Series pay-per-view appears to be set.
Our Dave Meltzer notes that the decision has been made for John Cena to referee the non-title match between Brock Lesnar and Jinder Mahal at the PPV. Meltzer previously reported in the October 30th edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Cena had been talked about as an option to referee Lesnar vs. Mahal, with The Rock and Steve Austin also being considered if they were open to doing it and if their schedules allowed it.
Cena hasn’t been on WWE television since losing to Roman Reigns at Raw’s No Mercy show in September. That Cena is a “free agent” in storyline would seem likely to play into him refereeing the match.
Before Survivor Series takes place on November 19th, Mahal will defend his WWE Championship against AJ Styles on next Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown in Manchester, England.
WWE continued to round out SmackDown’s team for Survivor Series on tonight’s episode.
Shane McMahon opened the show and announced himself as the brand’s men’s division team captain, with the storyline pitting him directly against a familiar rival in Kurt Angle. Angle was announced as Raw’s team captain on Monday night.
Two more members joined SmackDown’s team later in the night as Bobby Roode (who defeated Dolph Ziggler in a two-out-of-three falls match) and Shinsuke Nakamura (who beat Kevin Owens with some help from Randy Orton as he overcame Sami Zayn’s interference) won their qualifying matches.
Earlier in the show, Owens and Zayn met backstage and furthered their issues with Shane by lamenting that he gives himself and his friends all of the opportunities
Shane, Orton, Roode, and Nakamura have now been officially confirmed as being part of the team, with a qualifying match between AJ Styles and Rusev to decide their final member next week. Angle and Braun Strowman have been announced for the Raw side for the traditional five-on-five elimination tag match between the brands.
If all goes according to plan, Styles will be confirmed as SmackDown’s last team member and Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, and Finn Balor will join Angle and Strowman.
Dave Meltzer reported in today’s daily update that current plans call for Raw’s top champion to face SmackDown’s top champion in a non-title match at November’s dual-branded Survivor Series pay-per-view.
The match would be Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal, with neither the Universal nor WWE Championship on the line. What the card for Survivor Series looks like should be finalized in the coming weeks as both brands will begin building to the show.
Lesnar headlined last year’s Survivor Series as well. That’s where he lost to Goldberg in just over a minute, with their feud continuing all the way to WrestleMania. The rest of the card last year was built around Raw vs. SmackDown matches.
As noted earlier today, it appears that Mahal may still be champion when WWE tours India in December as he’s scheduled to defend his title against Kevin Owens at those two shows.
Survivor Series will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on November 19th. The arena will also host NXT TakeOver: War Games the night before that and both Raw and SmackDown in the days after the PPV.
Despite much of the focus being on this Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view, WWE is already making plans for next year’s event.
The Houston Chronicle reported on Wednesday night that Survivor Series 2017 is set to take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. Like this year’s show, WWE is planning a marathon weekend around the “big four” PPV but will instead run four straight nights in the building in 2017.
Kicking off the weekend will be an NXT TakeOver special, which is set for Saturday, November 18th. Survivor Series, Raw, and SmackDown will then take place on successive nights. Tickets for Survivor Series go on sale at 11 a.m. ET on December 9th, and WWE will also have travel packages for the event going on sale at 12 p.m. ET on December 6th.
With next year’s Royal Rumble already announced for San Antonio, this news means that WWE will be bringing two of their biggest weekends of the year to Texas in 2017.
Following this year’s event headlined by Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar, the Chronicle notes that next year will be the 30th anniversary of Survivor Series after the show originally debuted in 1987.
