Survivor Series General Discussion

[Jack-Hammer]

It was announced at Crown Jewel that Raw, SmackDown and NXT would be participating in this year's Survivor Series PPV. No other details were given, so we're left to speculate for the time being as to how fun this might be or how much of a trainwreck it might be.

If their intention is to involve NXT in all the matches, then expect a card comprised almost entirely of triple threat matches, especially if WWE goes the rout of doing champion vs. champion matches again. Personally, I just have a bad feeling about this, a feeling that WWE is ultimately going to use NXT as something of a sacrificial lamb in order to bolster Raw and SmackDown with the result being that NXT really does come off looking like the minor leagues. Think about it...Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Adam Cole. You know what's going to happen: WWE has Adam Cole in the match so that neither Lesnar or Wyatt takes a loss while Cole ultimately winds up being made to look like some sort of scrub.

Personally, I think they should keep this simple and have a big Survivor Series match with Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown vs. Team NXT and ultimately have team NXT come out the winners. Simply have NXT involved in what one, single match, make the brand look good, elevate the brand by giving it the win in that setting rather than one of the bigger two and leave it at that. Of course, that in and of itself presents a problem as WarGames will be held the night before and you know that most of the members who'd comprise Team NXT would be in the WarGames match itself; considering the brutal nature of the match and the brutality in which it's hyped, I think it'd hurt the match a bit to just have men who'd been half to death in a double ringed steel cage match just 24 hours before compete in a match as if it was nothing.

I just hope Vince doesn't fuck over NXT.

[Y 2 Jake]

I'd keep NXT out of it but I also wouldn't do the Smackdown vs. Raw thing either. It's too soon after the Draft and I like to think that superstars might have a bit more of an allegiance towards their brand.

That said, I want to see Lesnar vs. The Fiend.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I'd be shocked if Vince makes NXT look bad. Chances are the entire point of NXT's inclusion is to shine a spotlight on the brand and convince fans to watch it each week. Vince isn't going to sit back and let AEW get higher ratings, and he definitely wouldn't intentionally damage the brand competing against it.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Don't like the inclusion of NXT, but HHH won't make his developmental brand look weak.

[Y 2 Jake]

Last year at Survivor Series Vince squashed Smackdown.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Here are 3 dominant matches with NXT involved. Obviously replace bray with seth.

https://i.redd.it/ym1xbtyrxwv31.jpg

[Y 2 Jake]

It's an annual tradition to change the WWE champion a week or so before the show now.

[Stone Cold Tea]

NXT should be made to look inferior because it is. You don't see NXT wrestlers on PPV cards and they dont get a spot on the Wrestlemania card. They all strive to make it to Raw or Smackdown.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

NXT should be made to look inferior because it is. You don't see NXT wrestlers on PPV cards and they dont get a spot on the Wrestlemania card. They all strive to make it to Raw or Smackdown.

Maybe I'm overthinking things, but while this show should be a great night of wrestling, it could be much more.

NXT is the third brand and behind Raw and SD in importance and popularity, but it's still going head-to-head with AEW. This show will be many WWE fans first exposure to NXT, so Vince has an opportunity to convince those fans to watch NXT each week. If WWE's "c-show" beats Dynamite in the ratings, AEW looks awful and has zero chance of ever competing with Raw and SD.

However it's also a little risky. If the third brand looks better than Raw and SD, it hurts those shows to a certain extent. They have to find a balance.

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE is definitely going for the threeway dance formula for Survivor Series as two of the three matches officially announced for the show are triple threat as the three brand's Women's and Tag Team Champions will face off against each other.

WWE is abandoning the champ vs. champ format on this year's show as it pertains to the World Championships, which is a good thing as Vince isn't having Brock lose again anytime soon, the Fiend certainly doesn't need a loss right now and Adam Cole shouldn't be used as a sacrificial lamb to protect the other two. With that being said, Brock Lesnar defends the WWE title against Rey Mysterio.

It's anybody's guess what they'll do with Bray Wyatt for the show.

As of right now, the show will probably look something like this when it's all said and done:

Men's Survivor Series Match - Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown vs. Team NXT
Wpmen's Survivor Series Match - Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown vs. Team NXT
Champion vs. Champion vs. Champion - AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong
Champion vs. Champion vs. Champion - Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Bayley
Champion vs. Champion vs. Champion - The Viking Raiders vs. The Undisputed Era vs. The Revival

The inclusion of NXT in this year's show also has the unfortunate effect of NXT also being dragged along in a program that ignores continuity. You have guys who're gonna be at each other's throats in NXT the night before, given that TakeOver: WarGames takes place the night before and, miraculously, these people are going to put aside their grudges for one night to work together in an effort to show which brand is the best despite the fact that none of this brand competition stuff exists the rest of the entire year in WWE.

[Jack-Hammer]

Here are 3 dominant matches with NXT involved. Obviously replace bray with seth.

https://i.redd.it/ym1xbtyrxwv31.jpg

The women's match is confirmed, the mid-card champion's match will probably take place and the main event championship triple threat won't be taking place. I'm thankful for that because I didn't feel like watching another love letter from Vince to Brock Lesnar as you can just feel Lesnar wasn't gonna lose, Bray Wyatt can't afford to lose a match at this crucial juncture in his career and I certainly didn't want to see Adam Cole offered up as the sacrificial lamb just so these two could be protected. Lesnar could lose this match and lose absolutely no momentum while a loss would be disastrous for Wyatt and Cole getting tossed around by these two monsters while coming off as mostly ineffective against them before being the one to take the pin would make him as NXT Champion look minor league.

I have no clue what they're going to do with Wyatt as I expect Cole will be on Team NXT in the big men's Survivor Series tag match and Lesnar is defending the WWE Championship against Rey Mysterio.

[Y 2 Jake]

How about leaving The Fiend off the card. A new episode of Firefly Funhouse would be sufficient.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I'm fine with leaving the Fiend off the card. His character shouldn't care about the brand warfare.

[Y 2 Jake]

Nakamura is losing that IC title in the next week or so. That way they can get a face into that mid card champ match.

[Storm Trooper]

Nakamura is losing that IC title in the next week or so. That way they can get a face into that mid card champ match.
Or they take the belt off Styles? Have Cole cost him the title (put it on Kevin Owens) as retribution for AJ assaulting the UE on NXT. Then have AJ wrestle Cole at the show, where AJ beats Cole thanks to Balor, setting up Cole/Balor on NXT going forward.

[Y 2 Jake]

Maybe. I just see Nakamura as the more expendable in this match.

[Storm Trooper]

Maybe. I just see Nakamura as the more expendable in this match.
Don't get me wrong he is. And he can very easily lose to Ali or Miz.

[Jack-Hammer]

According to the latest rumors, Nakamura will be entering into a feud with Braun Strowman rather than Daniel Bryan. WWE is advertising Nakamura vs. Strowman at house shows throughout November and December, so Strowman's first singles title might be the Intercontinental Championship. It's been a very long time since WWE has had monster super heavyweight as a strong IC champion. To my knowledge, only Umaga and Big Show have been the only 300+ pound champs in the last 16 or so years.

I'd rather see Nakamura remain champ through Survivor Series as, frankly, I'd rather see a potentially great match featuring himself along with AJ Styles and Roderick Strong than see the match featuring Strowman ragdolling Styles and Strong all over the place while Vince jacks himself backstage.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Take a shot

[Y 2 Jake]

Hard to imagine a great match involving Styles or Nakamura in 2019.

[Jack-Hammer]

There are some mistakes that I hope WWE doesn't make during Survivor Series.

Most of them aren't in any order from most to least important, but I do think this might be the most important:

Don't Shut NXT Out - Last year, WWE gave Raw a clean sweep of Survivor Series last year. Now, they've done a good job building the NXT invasion storyline and establishing people like Adam Cole, Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley as threats. Having NXT shut out during the event by losing every match on the show sends the message that NXT is indeed the "minor leagues" and all but undoes all the good work WWE's done with them in this crossover build to Survivor Series over the course of the past month.

Don't Squash Mysterio - We know how much Vince McMahon wants to portray Lesnar as a badass. Lesnar's a badass, it's long been established and you probably couldn't establish him more of a badass unless you went back in time, brought back a 25 year old Andre the Giant and had Lesnar go over him in a match. Another WWE Championship match measured in seconds, especially as Mysterio is someone WWE wants to keep happy as he has the option of leaving after the firsth 18 months of his current contract are up. So having Mysterio look ineffectual, completely ineffectual against the man who's bitched him and beaten the hell out of his son probably won't sit well if WWE wants to keep Mysterio out of the hands of AEW.

Don't Make Seth Rollins The Focus Of The Men's Survivor Series Match - Seth Rollins is set. I mean, he's a certified, legit main eventer who can be placed into the main event title scene at any given moment now. He has the credibility, he has the ability. So, since it looks like he's going to be out of the title picture for a good long while, use the men's traditional Survivor Series tag team match to highlight other guys like Ricochet, Drew McIntyre, Mustafa Ali, Chad Gable, a few guys from the NXT team, etc.. In his four World Championship reigns in WWE thus far, Seth held the titles a total of 398 days so he's firmly set.

Don't Make The Women's Survivor Series Match All About Charlotte and Sasha - Pretty self explanatory really. Charlotte Flair is basically the John Cena of WWE's women's division, there's nothing else in all of WWE for her to do that isn't really below her standing, including the women's tag titles. Sasha doesn't have the steam she once had but part of that's due to injury, part of it's due to attitude problems but she's still one of the truly major forces for the women's division. As with the men's Survivor Series match, use this to highlight some of the other talent and don't just make it the Charlotte and Sasha Show.

[mooseman]

If there is legit fire to the Punk/Rollins smoke and a chance for Lesnar vs Riddle then the last 2 guys left should Rollins and Riddle. Punk's music hits causes a distraction and Riddle beats Rollins. Then Punk comes in and nails a GTS.

[smarkmouth]

Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish will have to Weekend At Bernie's Adam Cole if there's going to be an NXT Title defense.