Road to Survivor Series - 2018

Summer Slam was here

The 32^nd annual Survivor Series is headed to you next month from the fighting city of Los Angeles, California.

It’s a big card, a dozen matches.  Here’s the rundown:

The Title Matches:

WWF Title: Shinsuke Nakamura v. Claudio Castagnoli

IC Title: Prince Devitt v. Mascara Dorada   

Tag Titles: Bullet Club (Black/Anderson/Gallows) v. Hooligans (Sheamus/McIntyre/Miz)

Women’s Title: Asuka v. Sasha Banks

The Former Champions:

American Dragon Bryan Danielson v. Samoa Joe

The Legendary Rey Mysterio (w/Sombra) v. Kalisto (w/Crews)

Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Bobby Roode (w/Strong)

Usos v. Revival 

The Rest:

Jeff Hardy v. Ali

Langston v. Braun Strowman

Shoot Nation (Gable/Lashley/Nemeth w/Benjamin) v. Underground (Murphy/Authors of Pain w/Aleister Black)

Ronda Rousey v. Charlotte Flair

Here’s how we get there:

WWF Title: Shinsuke Nakamura v. Claudio Castagnoli

-Nakamura was kicked out of the Bullet Club at the top of the calendar year, he then won the vacant WWF Title at the Rumble, unified that title with the IC by beating Lesnar at Mania, and kept it rolling by beating Joe at Summer Slam.  Claudio’s a former WWF Champion; he was given this title match prior to Summer Slam. Claudio’s been doing European vignettes so show how fabulous and European he is – he doesn’t speak any English (hasn’t in awhile) but has added the catchprase “You’re Welcome”.

Claudio returns to the ring on RAW the night after Summer Slam; he’s got an entourage, a couple of the extras who had appeared in his vignettes (I’m thinking one man, one woman) to do things like take off Claudio’s robe.  Claudio’s going to work a lot in the build – after each match hitting his catchphrase “You’re Welcome” as if he’s doing us a favor. Claudio remains aligned with Gargano, but since Mania Gargano has been busy with Ciampa, so he doesn’t play a role in this build.  Claudio rolls through all opponents – there’s not going to be a heat angle with he and Nakamura; they’ll do a nose to nose late in the build – but really it’s just about wanting to see these two super elite workers go at it, workrate is the selling point here.  Claudio is beloved fan favorite turned into “I’m better than you” heel; Nakamura was member of the invading heel stable the Bullet Club now turned into babyface World Champion.  We want to see them hook it up. 

The other thing Nakamura does in this build is continue his tagging with Kenta, which we saw prior to Summer Slam; they work Roode/Strong and GDI.  We establish a “at one time, they were in rival promotions, but now Kenta is largely here to support Nakamura, it’s Nakamura’s time now and Kenta is his friend, how they laugh about the old days of New Japan and NOAH going head to head – much like NJPW has won that battle, Nakamura has clearly outlasted Kenta and emerged at the top of the sport, but it’s fine, Kenta’s cool with that, it’s Nakamura’s time” sort of a vibe. 

IC Title: Prince Devitt v. Mascara Dorada   

Devitt formed the WWF chapter of the Bullet Club, bringing the NJPW talent to take over WWF.  Since the Rumble, he’s been feuding with the entire Dark Ride Wrestling roster; Devitt lost to Alexander at Mania, but then beat him at Summer Slam in the finals of a tournament to crown a new IC Champ.  Devitt, flanked by Anderson and Gallows, shows up on Dark Ride the week after Summer Slam to gloat.  The locker room empties to surround the ring – but Devitt blunts the onslaught by saying he’s going to put up the IC belt against someone from Dark Ride, he doesn’t care who, at Survivor Series.  That causes the Dark Ride wrestlers to start to look at each other sideways – maybe we shouldn’t be joining together to beat up Devitt (they did that previously) maybe I should be looking out for myself instead – maybe I want to get that IC title shot. 

It winds up with Dorada (who had been feuding with Ali) winning a four way over Tyler Bate/Keith Lee/Adam Cole to earn this shot.  Dorada will go over someone in a tuneup on RAW; Devitt will ominously hit the ring with Anderson and Gallows, and entering to stand with Dorada are his fellow masked wrestlers – Rey/Sombra/Kalisto.

This combines a couple of different threads.  Since Kevin Steen joined the promotion, an underlying thread has been his needling his masked stablemates (Pac/Generico) about their head covering.  That eventually bubbled up into Pac losing his mask (to Kalisto) which led to what could be called a psychotic break and Pac eventually leaving the territory.  Last year, Steen put together a tournament of all of the masked wrestlers – which precipitated Rey’s return to the WWF and eventuated in the big moment at Mania where Steen removed Generico’s mask despite losing the mask v mask match, in violation of all matters big and small. 

I mention that here because the relationship among the masked wrestlers has been in the air for over a year and has really tightened up post Mania with Mysterio taking over the position as locker room leader (think IRL Undertaker).  Even though they aren’t in a stable, with Dorada facing trouble, here come the other masked workers to stand with him.  The Sombra/Devitt staredown here is noteworthy as they were once babyface stablemates managed by Heyman.  Kalisto’s inclusion is noteworthy as he and Mysterio are set to face off at Survivor Series.  Mysterio takes the mic – tells Devitt what’s going to happen is he and Dorada are going to go 1:1 at Survivor Series – no Bullet Club, no run ins, just two great wrestlers for the strap.  Devitt makes some sort of “hey, maybe one day you and me are gonna go” type of tease – but eventually takes the deal; Dorada and Devitt go nose to nose and that’s the build.   

Tag Titles: Bullet Club (Black/Anderson/Gallows) v. Hooligans (Sheamus/McIntyre/Miz)

Man.  Okay – You know how Kurt Angle came back, right? Lost an IC match to Brock, reunited with Benjamin, teamed with Gable to go over Anderson and Gallows at Mania?  Post Mania, Angle announced his retirement match would be at next year’s Mania, that he would only be in tag matches going forward, and that he was starting a stable called Shoot Nation (Gable/Nemeth/Benjamin and a mystery member who was teased in vignettes).  Prior to Summer Slam, a match for the RAW the night following was made, 5x5, Shoot Nation v. Bullet Club.

So – it’s Styles/Black/Devitt/Anderson/Gallows against Angle/Gable/Nemeth/Benjamin and the man who is revealed to be the 5^th member of Shoot Nation – Bobby Lashley. 

It’s Lashley’s return to WWF; in his prior stretch he was the muscle for Hunter’s heel stable the 51% Solution, he went away and has his IRL career and here he returns.  Lashley’s going to get the fall on Styles after there’s some Bullet Club confusion.  Angle/AJ was the centerpiece of the match; it’s Kurt’s farewell tour and this is his saying goodbye to Styles. Postmatch, they shake hands. 

The night prior, at Summer Slam, Styles and Black won the tag belts, so when the Bullet Club enters for this match, Anderson and Gallows carry them, Black carries the briefcase he won at Mania, Devitt carries his IC belt – only AJ is emptyhanded. That’s going to be rectified the following Monday, when he receives the Triple Crown.

At Summer Slam, when Styles and Black beat the Revival for the tag titles, AJ became only the 13^th man in history to win the 3 traditional WWF title belts, which means he wins the Triple Crown.  This has always been positioned as the highest honor in the promotion – beyond angles or programs; it’s a feat of great reverence. 

The night following Summer Slam was scheduled to be the traditional Triple Crown ceremony where the prior winner hands the actual Triple Crown itself (like the Stanley Cup) to the new recipient.  However, AJ leaves the arena following the loss to Shoot Nation, and we’re told the ceremony is being bumped a week.

The following week is the ceremony – the full Bullet Club enters, including Lynch, who hasn’t wrestled since losing her belt at Mania.  And then Shoot Nation enters, because the prior winner of the Triple Crown was Nemeth.  He’s holding the trophy itself, engraved thereon are the names:

PEDRO MORALES

BRET HART

SHAWN MICHAELS

OWEN HART

STEVE AUSTIN

CACTUS JACK

EDDY GUERRERO

REY MYSTERIO

CHRIS BENOIT

CHRIS JERICHO

EDGE

NICK NEMETH

 AJ STYLES 

AJ shakes Nemeth’s hand – he and Angle hug.  AJ gives a speech that walks through his career, he talks about Jimmy Rave, he talks about Chris Daniels, he talks about Angle and Joe and Nakamura – and talks about the Bullet Club. AJ says he could not have gotten here without them. 

But the next place he has to go, he has to go alone (AJ is wearing a sportcoat over a Bullet Club t-shirt, he takes off the jacket, and takes off the t-shirt).  AJ says it’s time he goes out on his own; he’s leaving the Bullet Club – the tag titles belong to the Club, they can defend them.

Anger shows on Black’s face – but Devitt holds him back. Devitt wishes AJ good luck, says he hopes he gets exactly what he deserves – and extends his hand.  The two men, shake, AJ exits the ring.

So – we’ve been building to this since the end of the Danielson match at Mania, then moving through to AJ’s not being part of the AA beatdown in the build to Summer Slam. AJ’s gonna leave for awhile; he’s not working Survivor Series – but its announced that he and Lesnar (Lesnar resigns with the promotion) will meet at the Rumble, and the winner of that match will go to Mania to wrestle for the WWF Title. 

This time for AJ is about face turning vignettes, how he had grown apart from the idea of the Bullet Club, how he could see his values deviating from there’s – how he didn’t want to be the guy with the gang behind him, he wants to be the Best Wrestler in the World, standing on his own feet. 

In the build to Summer Slam, and even back in the Mania build, we saw Black team with Anderson and Gallows multiple times, so that’s the trio that establishes itself as defending the tag belts. 

They’ll be defending against Sheamus/McIntyre and Mizanin, who won that right when Mizanin beat Reigns at Summer Slam. Since McIntyre returned to the promotion at Mania, it would have been reasonable to wonder when he’s going to turn on Mike.  But – he doesn’t – and after Summer Slam the long quest to find a name for the Mizanin/Sheamus team comes to an end when McIntyre and Sheamus present him with a Hooligans hockey jersey. On the back – “The Miz” – McIntyre said that Danielson stole your name, we’re taking it back. 

Hooligans challenging Bullet Club for the belts at Survivor Series. 

Women’s Title: Asuka v. Sasha Banks

Asuka is doing the undefeated gimmick, she’s got all the IRL Goldberg trappings.  She took the belt from Becky at Mania; she was scheduled to work Natty at Summer Slam, but the Anvil died and the match was canceled. 

Natty again is named number one contender  - but she’s going to wind up injured at the hands of Rousey, we’ll talk about that when we get to the Rousey match.  They hold a 10 woman battle royal to name a new number one contender (no Charlotte, she’s busy, no B ecky, she still isn’t wrestling or talking or doing anything but making those super rare appearances in street clothes with the Bullet Club) Sasha and Bayley are the final two entrants, Sasha wins and she gets the shot. 

American Dragon Bryan Danielson v. Samoa Joe

Danielson and Joe both lost high profile Summer Slam matches and they are immediately named to face each other at Survivor Series.  There will be a lot of talking head taped pieces here (Gabe gets to come back to do ROH history) setting the two of them up as the pillars of the 21^st century gravitational shift in US independent wrestling that would lead to the creation of GDI and the dominance that ROH alumni have had in WWF for the last decade+. 

But this is a crossroads – Joe approaches it angrily, it was Danielson who screwed him out of his title when he was the Commissioner,  who knows if he’ll ever get a shot again now that he lost to Nakamura, if someone’s career is ending at Survivor Series, it’s not going to be Joe’s.

Danielson is more pensive – he’s lost to AJ twice and now to Brock since returning from injury, he’s searching for answers a little bit; he’s always prided himself on  adaptability – he could brawl when he needed to brawl, grapple when he needed to grapple – he could fight big men as well as small men; he now clearly sees it’s time to adapt again, he’s just not quite sure yet into what. 

Joe has a few squash matches in the build – he’s all fury; Danielson doesn’t wrestle at all,he does taped vignettes – quiet and contemplative. Both men understand the moment – see where their careers are and who the man is who will be standing across the ring. It’s a match never before seen in a WWF ring – a match years in the making – it is Danielson vs. Joe at Survivor Series.   

The Legendary Rey Mysterio (w/Sombra) v. Kalisto (w/Crews)

Sombra beats Steen at Summer Slam and Steen leaves; Mysterio having successfully run him out of town.  Rey turns his energies toward coaching the masked wrestlers; Rey says his time at the top has ended, and he’s really just here now to give back.  The time Rey spends with Kalisto rubs Crews in the wrong way, as he wants his partner to be more focused on going after the tag titles.  Rey hasn’t wrestled yet since returning full time to the promotion – he had the one off with Generico at the Rumble, but this marks his full WWF return. 

Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Bobby Roode (w/Strong)

Lesnar’s Summer Slam match with Danielson was positioned as maybe the last wrestling match of his career before heading back to UFC – but in this stretch it’s announced that he’s signed a new deal and has that Styles match at the Rumble as part of the contract.  There’s no Lesnar at all in the build; there is Heyman, who calls this a tune up match.  That draws the ire of Roode (we’ve already discussed how he and Strong are programmed against Nakamura and Kenta, with GDI also in that mix) who displays his pride, talks about his credentials, says maybe he’ll be the one to go to the Rumble and take on AJ to see who goes to Mania. 

Usos v. Revival

The Usos dropped the tag belts to the Revival at Mania, who dropped them to the Bullet Club at Summer Slam.  This is positioned as a pure workrate match – the Usos call out the Revival, say they’re sorry about Arn – the Revival says they’re sorry about Roman (Roman’s shoot cancer isn’t ever discussed on the broadcast, so they’re doing some inside talk here) the four men agree that they’re the two best tag teams in the world, belts or no belts, and why don’t they go to the Survivor Series and steal the whole damn show. 

Jeff Hardy v. Ali

Like a lower key Mysterio, Jeff is also super interested in working with some of the young guys; Jeff beat Harper at Summer Slam, and now he issues an open challenge to any of the younger wrestlers who wants to take him on.  Ali answers – they have a TV match where Jeff goes over but it’s designed to give Ali some shine “look how close he came to beating Jeff Hardy” that sort of a thing – and they decide to do it again at Mania (maybe Jeff beats him twice on TV in a soooo close fashion, that probably is okay)

Langston v. Braun Strowman

Gods Of Carnage has spent most of the calendar year seemingly intent on destroying the New Day; the New Day got some revenge at Summer Slam, intentionally picking up a DQ by assaulting GoC with light tubes. GoC interrupts the first New Day TV match after Summer Slam with a full weapons based attack – that brawl gets out of control and WWF officials determine that at Survivor Series Langston will meet Strowman with the other members of both squads barred from ringside – and if they violate that bar they will receive a 3 month suspension, which would knock them out of the Rumble.

Shoot Nation (Gable/Lashley/Nemeth w/Benjamin) v. Underground (Murphy/Authors of Pain w/Aleister Black)

For those of you unaware; Kurt Angle once helmed a WWF stable in which his “enforcer” was Steve Regal; Regal, in addition to his duties as Fight Night analyst, also runs WWFU, the developmental arm of the WWF, known colloquially as Underground.  As Angle puts together Shoot Nation, he and Regal have friendly banter about how the next class to “graduate” to the main roster could use some time at the Shoot Nation learning tree (Lorcan and Gulak are also part of this group, with Murphy, Aleister Black and AoP. They work in multiple configurations in the build (including one training session at Full Sail where Regal gets in the ring and he and Angle square off –it’s the Kurt Angle farewell tour, don’t you know) at Survivor Series – we’ll see Gable/Lashley/Nemeth taking on Murphy and the AoP – Angle will be joining Regal at the announce desk to call this one. 

Ronda Rousey v. Charlotte Flair

Rousey had what was planned to be a one off shootfight (worked) at Mania, but in the build, made some comments that seemed to minimize the accomplishments of the women’s roster, who took exception.  That led to a very, very brief shootfight (worked) between Rousey and Paige, ending the latter’s career.  Paige’s former 4-Ground stablemate, Charlotte, took up the cause; she faced Rousey at Summer Slam.  Charlotte took it very seriously, leaving the promotion for heavy MMA training, Rousey did not take it seriously, spending the summer shooting on television and film sets.  Rousey still beat her up pretty good, winning on a referee stoppage, but Charlotte got more than would have been expected (1) the fight went more than one round (2) Charlotte didn’t submit (3) Charlotte caught Ronda with a shoot punch to the face that ideally leaves some sort of mark, a broken nose, a busted lip – some sort of evidence that Rousey got punched full in the face. 

The night after Summer Slam, Charlotte comes to the ring, looking like someone who got her ass kicked the night before “You should have seen the other guy” she says – and then “Wait – you can” and then the video wall shows the clip of Charlotte connecting with the punch and then whatever physical evidence there was of that postfight. 

Charlotte says what we learned last night is Ronda Rousey is a better MMA fighter than Charlotte Flair. 

But how about we step into my world?  How about at Survivor Series, we find out that Charlotte Flair is a better wrestler than Ronda Rousey?  Charlotte says the show’s in LA – she can come right off her movie set and step right into the ring.  How about Ronda Rousey wrestles a match?

The following week, a taped response from Rousey – she’s hot. She says against the advice of her management, she’s going to accept the challenge.  But Flair needs to be careful what she wishes for – if she wants to see Ronda Rousey, pro wrestler – she’s going to see Ronda Rousey, pro wrestler. 

That brings us to Natty – she’s going to appear on RAW to cut emotional promo in her first appearance post Anvil’s death – as previously referenced, she’s set to take on Asuka for the title at Survivor Series, but here she challenges Rousey to wrestle her first match against her.  This is what her dad would have wanted to see – Natty go up against an elite athlete like Rousey. 

We hear reports for a couple of weeks about negotiations between the Rousey camp and WWF, but then the match is set – Ronda Rousey’s first professional wrestling match  - it’s set for a WWF Network special, Rousey v. Neidhart, and then will be shown on free TV the following week.  One of the reasons to do this is to get Rousey doing house shows, she and Natty can go out together and work wrestling matches, both allowing for Rousey to draw some houses and learn how to be a professional wrestler by working with Neidhart.  House shows aren’t canon, in terms of storyline, this match is a one off. 

This is really designed for Rousey to shine in a fairly short match “look at that suplex – can you believe it” she’s going to sell very little, she’s Brock, essentially – she’s a wrestler but she whips your ass; the match should not feel like any other women’s match you ever see, it’s wrestling – so the Octagon is gone, Rousey no longer has her MMA trainers with her – but she isn’t Alexa Bliss, she’s Brock Lesnar. 

Nattie came to the ring wearing her father’s Hart Foundation hockey jersey number (each Hart Foundation member, once they won a title, got their own number, Dynamite is #1, Nattie is #11; it’s a decades long tradition) she removes the jersey prior to match, places it at ringside.  Postmatch, after the decisive Rousey victory, Rousey grabs it like a towel to wipe the sweat off her face. 

Which is a pretty good heel move.  Rousey laughs her way up the ramp.

That special has an undercard match with Charlotte.  The first WWF intergender match of the modern era. 

You may recall that there was a physical confrontation between Bray and Charlotte during the briefcase match at Mania in which Charlotte got the better of Bray.  As you’d assume, this has been a real irritant to Wyatt subsequent, driving him to distraction.  Bray’s going to put Roode over in this build (Charlotte is a member of the Horsemen, with Joe/Roode/Strong) but during the match Charlotte comes to ringside to confront Bray, who has been cutting promos on her.  Charlotte gets right in his face in a way that probably pops the crowd, just given how singularly unusual it is. 

And so – they announce a match.  Man vs. Woman, Bray Wyatt taking on Charlotte Flair.  This will obviously cause a ton of talk (a lot of it negative) should this match take place, what if Bray hurts her – what about Survivor Series, etc…Roode and Strong are totally opposed to the match; there’s very little contact these days between Joe and the rest of the Horsemen, but he makes an appearance to have a discussion with Flair (he says she’s grown, she can do what she wants) also opposed is Luke Harper, he says he can’t walk this road with Bray.  That’s a pretty good Network special, I think, Rousey’s first wrestling match and the first modern WWF intergender match.

Charlotte goes over – she pins the former IC Champ right in the middle of the ring – which hopefully gives her some steam headed to Survivor Series (it’s the last we see of the Bray Wyatt character, as one can understand, this is a tough loss to emotionally recover from, who knows what fiendish consequences there might be as a result of something so scarring).  They do some type of split screen interview with Renee at the end of the build. 

That’s the show – add the stuff going on with Dark Ride that hasn’t already been referenced (Blood Warriors International in a program with the Clique and British Strong Style, the next wave of women, Moon, Shirai, Sane) heat up and there’s your build to Survivor Series.

It’s Survivor Series 32 – coming at you next month – only on the WWF Network.

WWF Title: Shinsuke Nakamura v. Claudio Castagnoli

IC Title: Prince Devitt v. Mascara Dorada   

Tag Titles: Bullet Club (Black/Anderson/Gallows) v. Hooligans (Sheamus/McIntyre/Miz)

Women’s Title: Asuka v. Sasha Banks

American Dragon Bryan Danielson v. Samoa Joe

The Legendary Rey Mysterio (w/Sombra) v. Kalisto (w/Crews)

Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Bobby Roode (w/Strong)

Usos v. Revival 

Jeff Hardy v. Ali

Langston v. Braun Strowman

Shoot Nation (Gable/Lashley/Nemeth w/Benjamin) v. Underground (Murphy/Authors of Pain w/Aleister Black)

Ronda Rousey v. Charlotte Flair