WWE are hoping to make Survivor Series one of the biggest events of the year, but with just over a week left to go until the event, they don’t seem to have followed through with that vision.
Whilst Survivor Series does boast the huge main event match between Brock Lesnar and Goldberg that has been billed as a match 12 years in the making, the event still doesn’t have the feel that one of the big four pay-per-views usually have.
It seems that as a way to combat this, WWE has added two matches to the card that could change the landscape of both SmackDown Live and Raw in the coming months. On Monday Night Raw it was announced that Sami Zayn would go one-on-one with Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship, with the title being able to switch shows if Zayn was the victor.
SmackDown the combated this the following night when they announced that Kalisto would take on Brian Kendrick with the Cruiserweight Championship on the line, and if Kalisto won the match then the Cruiserweight Championship and the entire Cruiserweight Division would make the switch over the SmackDown Live.
It seems that WWE is hoping to go forward with both plans and have the Intercontinental Championship move over to Raw and the Cruiserweight Division to SmackDown. This would then feed into the new 205 show that will air on Tuesday night’s following SmackDown.
Obviously, many fans are not happy that WWE hasn’t given the Cruiserweight Division as much of a chance as they could, given that Raw is three hours long and taking it over to SmackDown could mean that there would be much less time to showcase all of the talent involved.
There is also the argument of whether or not Raw would be able to work cohesively with two mid-card Championships, but it did work effectively before the brand split so there shouldn’t be much stopping it now, apart from the lack of superstars.
This would definitely spice up WWE in the coming months, and if it doesn’t work out then WWE can always set up a match at the Royal Rumble to switch them back. It’s a test that could turn into something really good for both shows so fans should attempt to get behind it if it does happen and see where WWE are actually taking it.
Survivor Series as a show is not an event that is going to have many shocks, it’s obvious that Brock Lesnar is going to defeat Goldberg and looking at the Survivor Series teams, it’s obvious that Raw will win the women’s and SmackDown will win the Tag Teams match. whilst it will probably be Raw that then picks up the win in the traditional five on five
Then it will probably be Raw that then picks up the win in the traditional five on five match to then earn bragging rights for their brand, which means that the only real shock of the night would be if these two championships changed hands.
WWE have only had a handful of events in the past where all Championships have been retained on the night, so it makes sense that if they are the only two defended then they should change hands. Obviously, AJ Styles, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Becky Lynch and Charlotte are all involved in elimination matches so unable to defend their Championships.
WWE has also begun announcing matches for the two final pay-per-view events of the year, TLC and Roadblock: End of the line which has also taken a lot of the shine from Survivor Series as an event.
Matches like Kevin Owens versus Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship and Seth Rollins versus Chris Jericho have already been announced for Roadblock on December 18th whilst AJ Styles defends his WWE Championship against Dean Ambrose in the main event of TLC which takes place on the first weekend of December.
The fact that WWE has begun making these announcements this early has meant that Survivor Series has been overshadowed somewhat, but if these latest reports are to be believed then it would definitely change the plans for both brands heading into both of these events and The Royal Rumble in 2017.
