The Thunderdome era in WWF begins the night after Summer Slam 2020 as the build begins to Survivor Series.
Here's half the card:
WWF Title: Tyler Black (w/ oGDI) v. Ricochet (w/ BWI)
IC: Hector Garza (w/Vega) v. AJ Styles
Tags: Street Profits v. New Day (Woods/Kingston, w/Langston)
Womens Title: No DQ: Sasha Banks v Asuka
Kevin Steen v. Sami Zayn
Matt Riddle v. Keith Lee (guest referee - Shawn Michaels)
1. WWF Title: Tyler Black (w/ oGDI) v. Ricochet (w/ BWI)
-Black's now year++ title reign continued at Summer Slam with his defense over McIntyre; oGDI (Danielson/Owens/Black) continued a tail of that program against Hooligans (Miz/Sheamus/McIntyre) post Summer Slam and then, when Ricochet was named the challenger for Survivor Series, moved on to match up with BWI (Alexander/Tozawa/Ricochet). Simultaneously, BWI is programmed against the Twisted Sun Gods, which will be discussed a little later. Further, the "who is the real GDI" talk heats up as the veteran group on the "main roster" begins verbally sniping at the Dark Ride group (Cole/O'Reilly/Fish).
Ricochet and Black don't make any physical contact in the build; Danielson takes a fall in a singles against Ricochet; Owens takes a fall in a singles against Alexander when Zayn makes his first appearance since Mania with a run in that aids the finish.
The underlying story here is really a generational divide; whether babyfaces or heels, what we're looking to do is tap into the idea that the group of guys who have won titles before, the made guys, like oGDI, they're standing in the way of the waves of guys who are coming up (like BWI or the Kliq). Think of that as an underlying tension as opposed to the primary driver of any specific program. It's connective tissue for those paying attention. oGDI's raison d'etre is they are the real ones, 3 WWF Champions aligned together and so they approach any upstarts from that condescending position.
It's Black - WWF Champ for a year and a half; it's Ricochet, who held the IC title for nearly a year - battling for the WWF Title.
2. IC: Hector Garza (w/Vega) v. AJ Styles
Zelina chose her rudos over her technico and Sombra is headed out the door. Twisted Sun Gods then feud, as discussed, with Blood Warriors International - but as BWI transitions away - who moves in are the Kings of Wrestling.
Just before the shutdown, Gargano beat Garza to take the Dark Ride title, Gargano and Claudio had just turned face and Gargano was gifted Hero's spot in KoW. Claudio beat Garza at Mania - and then later that night Garza won the IC (Gargano is still the Dark Ride Champ...however, Walter never relinquished his belt; he went back to Europe with it and of course, is still there given Covid - Walter begins to "defend" the title overseas and that launches Dark Ride: Global; the non US branch of DRW)
So - it makes sense that now that Sombra is out of the way, that Claudio will challenge Garza for the IC and that's the announced match, but with just a couple of weeks to go before the event - Claudio is announced as out of Survivor Series due to Covid precautions.
So - who will face Garza? Zelina cuts some type of "there's no one at our level" type of promo - and that leads to the return of Styles (his first appearance since Mania) he's pretty dismissive (but in a babyface way; something like "play time is over - the varsity is back" - which will get a pop, because he's the babyface and because it's Thunderdome and WWF gets whatever pops it wants - but if you think about it as part of the generational fight, it's really designed to be the same stuff that oGDI is saying).
That's it - it's the Triple Crown Winning Styles, gone since Mania, challenging for the IC belt.
3. Tags: Street Profits v. New Day (Woods/Kingston, w/Langston)
All babyface tag match; obvious generational component here - the Profits just went over Edge and Nitro in a babyface match to take the belts - and here come the former champs the New Day; it doesn't take much squinting to see the Profits sliding into a spot previously held by New Day - Kingston as real ring veteran is played up here, Kingston's title reigns with Killings; Kingston is ring general, veteran tag team specialist. Langston is not in the match, but he brings his own tag specialist bonafides as the muscleman from The Shield - so their combined years of tag wrestling is discussed here, either as evidence of greatness or evidence that they're past their time.
Sunrise. Sunset. Profits v. New Day for the tag titles.
4. Womens Title: No DQ: Sasha Banks v Asuka
Asuka has really been the ace of the women's division for years; she chased Lynch during Becky's long run, but Asuka was undefeated and presented as the top worker - as the Horsewomen fought the members of 4-Ground, it was Asuka who was still framed as the best worker.
But Banks, at that point a two time champion, really caught fire, essentially extingushing the other members of 4-Ground and then going over Asuka at Mania to win a record setting 3rd Women's Title.
The rematch here becomes no DQ when Asuka shoves Banks - that seems, of course, a minor happening, but Asuka has just worked straight matches, her technical proficiency being the focus of her character as opposed to real emotional fire.
But during a Heyman Hustle with both women, Banks cut a little too deeply in claiming that she was clearly the better wrestler - and Asuka shoved her to the canvas. That leads to escalation, with Banks attacking Asuka in a subsequent RAW and Asuka responding in a future episode. The anger between the two can't be contained by a traditional match - so the rematch is made a No DQ - we will see a brawl, some real physicality between these two women as they step into Thunderdome.
5. Thunderdome Street Fight: Kevin Steen v. Sami Zayn
For the first time in WWE - Steen and Zayn will square off.
We've been telling this story for years now; so I'll save the full recap - where we land here is Zayn's full of babyface fire when he makes his first post Mania appearance as part of the build to attack Steen. Zayn makes a full throated challenge in the build - he's waited years - years - for this match, 1 on 1 against Kevin Steen.
Steen, of course, still positions everything he's done to Zayn as righteous and that continues - Zayn's not tough enough, doesn't have enough dog - that's what Steen's going to bring out of him at Survivor Series - if Zayn wants to beat Steen, he's going to need to hurt him - to really hurt him - and Steen doesn't think he's got the insides to do it.
Why did Steen take Generico's mask? To push him to the next level - to get him over the hump where he could be WWF Champion. That's what continues here - if Zayn wants to be WWF Champ - like Black, like Danielson, like Steen - he has to be willing to kill or die for it - and if he wants to beat Steen, he'll need to do the same.
So - we get the street fight stip; Steen goes over some babyface (Mascara Dorada makes sense) really viciously on TV, just beats him about the head and neck; Kevin Steen is an animal. For Zayn, of course, he presents this as a fight he's waited years for - a year of his life as a referee - a year of his life gone from WWF - years under Steen's thumb when they were aligned - Zayn's a man ready to explode - and that explosion will come at Survivor Series.
6. Matt Riddle v. Keith Lee (guest referee - Shawn Michaels)
-Lee and Riddle are the Kliq; Michaels says he's been given two matches, one for the Rumble and one for Mania and they need to divide them up. The choice isn't to split them - the choice is to fight for them - that allows for clips of past Clique v. Clique fights; we can get interviews from whomever wants to give them, Hall, Nash, Waltman, Hunter, etc...taped pieces where they are watching clips of past Clique v. Clique fights; it's all water under the bridge, all good times now - but not so much back then.
There's a little tension here as we have real stakes - the stakes increase when Michaels says that the Rumble match will be against a former WWF Champion. Here's this new generation of the Clique, battling it out one on one - one will have a real chance to ascend to the top, fighting at the Rumble and then at Mania - and the other...the other just remains scratching and clawing with everyone else.
That's 6. 6 more matches on the card - we'll build them out next month.
