Road to Survivor Series 2023 Part 2

Part 1

A reminder:

WWF Title: Cody Rhodes v Prince Devitt (if Devitt loses, he can never challenge for WWF Title again)

IC Title: Tyler Black v. Drew McIntyre (w/Dunne/Bate)

Women's Title: Asuka v. Iyo Sky (special guest referee: Kairi Sane)

Women's Tag Title: Fight Forever (Flair/Lynch) v. Belair/Bayley

Falls Count Anywhere: Randy Orton v. Damian Priest

Survivor Series (Number One Contender Tournament)

JD McDonagh v. Dragon Lee

Jey Uso v. Dominic Mysterio

Semi Final:  

Sami Zayn (w/Steen/Gargano/Ciampa) v. Santos Escobar (w/Twisted Sun Gods)

Walter (w/Heyman) v. The Miz

Semi Final:

Finals:

In part 1, everything but the tournament was set up.  The tournament wasn't initially part of the build, but instead got structured after the return of the Number One Contender Battle Royal.

From very early on in the Mania era, every other year (sometimes every year) there would be a battle royal either before Summer Slam or the Survivor Series to determine the number one contender for the WWF Title.  

That returned this year.  The number one contender for both the mens and womens titles would be claimed not for Survivor Series, as those matches were set coming out of Summer Slam, but instead for the Rumble.

Women's Winner: Jordynne Grace

Mens Winner:       None

One of the bigger moments for TNA in its history, they send Grace to WWE, she wins the battle royal (Stratton is the last elimination) and she will be taking on the Womens Champ in January at the Rumble.  Couple of notes - Ripley no longer being part of the Horsewomen, but also still being a heel is emphasized - her inability to get past Lynch/Flair an important story point in the match.  Also - Belair and Bayley work together in this match and that leads to the creation of their team that gets the tag title shot as discussed in part 1.

The men's match final 3 is Lesnar/Walter/Reigns -- Lesnar had been MIA since he and Walter lost the tag belts at Summer Slam, once Lesnar/Walter/Reigns become the last 3 men standing, Lesnar gestures to Walter they should work together to eliminate Reigns - Lesnar, however, will attempt to eliminate Walter - he'll be unsuccessful and then Walter turns around and eliminates Lesnar - Brock then goes nuts - destroying the ring, just a full tantrum, he rips the ropes down, that sort of thing - it has to be enough destruction that it makes sense that Walter and Reigns don't continue and finish the match (there's also a spot where Orton RKOs Dom and throws him out)

The decision is made to include the tournament, a Survivor Series, if you will, to the PPV, winner becomes the number one contender to the mens title.

The matches:

McDonagh d. Dunne

Dragon Lee d Rey

Jey d Riddle

Dom d. Reed

McDonagh gets a win for the babyface side in that feud; Dragon Lee gets the rub from the veteran Mysterio - this is Riddle's last match, we'll backfill the Knight/Riddle split in the build to the Rumble since that's when Knight is working next, Dom and Reed don't wrestle - instead, Orton RKOs Reed in the back, Dom takes the walkover win - and postmatch, Orton RKOs Dom one more time.

Zayn d Steen

Escobar d Ciampa

Walter d. Ricochet

Miz d. Reigns

Ciampa and Gargano are understandably concerned about the Zayn/Steen matchup, is this going to rip apart their tentatively regained relationship the four are trying to establish?  It doesn't - Zayn goes, over, he and Steen hug and it seems to further solidify the trust Gargano/Ciampa have for them.

Escobar gets a win for the heels in that feud; Walter wins the workrate match - Miz wins when Reigns doesnt show up for the match.  

And so the card is set up - add in the rematch between Steiner and Dragunov for the Dark Ride Title in one of the dark matches and, you know, whatever fun Chicago might have in store for us, who can say, really, and you've got the big, big event coming up in November, Survivor Series 2023!  It's gonna be a happening!

Road to Survivor Series 2023-Part 1

Summer Slam

Survivor Series 2023 is coming November from Chicago.  Here's the card.

WWF Title: Cody Rhodes v Prince Devitt (if Devitt loses, he can never challenge for WWF Title again)

IC Title: Tyler Black v. Drew McIntyre (w/Dunne/Bate)

Women's Title: Asuka v. Iyo Sky (special guest referee: Kairi Sane)

Women's Tag Title: Fight Forever (Flair/Lynch) v. Belair/Bayley

Falls Count Anywhere: Randy Orton v. Damian Priest

Survivor Series (Number One Contender Tournament)

JD McDonagh v. Dragon Lee

Jey Uso v. Dominic Mysterio

Semi Final:  

Sami Zayn (w/Steen/Gargano/Ciampa) v. Santos Escobar (w/Twisted Sun Gods)

Walter (w/Heyman) v. The Miz

Semi Final:

Finals:

1. Black/Nakamura each won the Triple Crown at Summer Slam, leading to a dual ceremony on RAW the following night. It turned into a Bullet Club celebration, with everyone wearing Bullet Club t shirts (fans, ringside personnel, everyone).  Anderson/Gallows.  AJ.  Cody.  Maybe the TNA guys, at least on tape.  And Becky (with the kid).  A real Bullet Club love fest - except, no Prince Devitt.

The emotional climax is the return of Langston, not seen on TV since breaking his neck - he enters to the Shield music, he and Black never got a reconciliation after the breakup, and they hug here, and the eyes mist.

Devitt's not being there is noted as the build moves, his bitterness over Cody having "stolen his life" growing. Devitt grows angry at anyone who wants to try to calm him down - but the anger grows.

Devitt winds up in angry confrontations with Styles/Nakamura/McDonagh - and finally Cody puts a stop to it, gives Devitt his rematch; the stip - if Devitt loses, he can never challenge for the title again.

It's the same stip that Cody was held to in AEW, and that becomes an explicit part of the story, it was that stip that was one of the key reasons he left AEW - it drove him mad - and Cody warns Devitt that this is not a stip he can live with, it will gnaw away at him.  

2. As Roman's group blew up, McIntyre formed his own stable with Dunne/Bate, he now goes after Black.  McIntyre's essential argument is Black's got nothing else to prove - for what feels like years he has been chasing the IC to get that Triple Crown - he finally has it, he has Becky, he has a young child, he has money in the bank - there's nothing left, he's full, he's satiated.  And McIntyre's starving.  

3. Another match between Asuka and Iyo - they feuded over all last year, culminating in a 2 of 3 falls Iyo win at Mania.  Now, Asuka holds the title and between them is Sane.  Sane makes clear that she worked with Asuka in Japan with a deal in place (1) Sane would help her beat Rousey, (2) Asuka would give Iyo the title shot.

That's enough to pacify Iyo, who was heated that Sane had aligned with Asuka; Asuka pushes back on the promise to give the shot to Iyo, but eventually Sane brokers a deal - that Sane will be the special guest referee.  Sane says she doesn't care who wins the title - what she wants is for one of them to be Womens champ and then Sane will team with the loser and go get the womens tag belts.  

4. Belair beat Flair at Summer Slam to earn the tag title shot with a partner of her choice; now, in this build, Bayley shows her irritation at the general aura around the Flair/Lynch title reign, they are last women standing of from Four Ground (Banks/Paige) who revolutionized the women's division.  

Bayley takes offense - they didn't do it on their own, Bayley was there every step - sure, they were kicking her ass for most of those steps, but she was there - and when Paige was done and they needed a partner to step up and take on the Horsewomen - it was Bayley who stepped up - and mostly, she got her ass kicked.  But she was there - and she is tired of hearing over and over about how the two legends now stand alone.

There's a battle royal I'll talk about in part 2 that further brings Bayley and Belair together to fully set up this match.

5. Orton returned at Summer Slam after a year lost to injury at the hands of Defiance to RKO Dom.

That's gonna be the build - Orton isn't around, except when suddenly he is to RKO Dom - here's Orton via satellite to challenge Priest at Survivor Series, except he's not - because there he is in the ring RKO'ing Dom.  There's cell phone footage of Dom at the club acting like an asshole - and then there's Orton RKO'ing him.  That kind of thing.  There are two more of those, and one for Reed, that we'll cover in part 2.  

Obviously, there's no tag title match - the plan was a rematch, Styles/Nakamura v Lesnar/Walter - but that gets blown up at another battle royal, and we'll discuss that in Part 2  when setting up the tournament to crown a number one contender for the WWF Title.