Kind of anti-climactic, considering it was actually hyped ahead of the Universal title picture in WWE.com’s preview, but then, we all knew the matches were happening as soon as SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan challenged Raw to traditional Survivor Series bouts at next month’s joint-brand pay-per-view (PPV) in Toronto.
Looks like @StephMcMahon needs @FightOwensFight and @IAmJericho on the same page looking ahead to #SurvivorSeries... #RAW pic.twitter.com/EF9NbeqRc2
— WWE (@WWE) October 18, 2016
After Chris Jericho was pinned following a Seth Rollins’ Pedigree for the third week in a row, Y2J and Universal champ Kevin Owens’ friendship was showing some serious cracks backstage. When their argument reached a fever pitch after Jericho almost called KO a “stupid idiot”, Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon told them to shut it down.
Her reason? Because she needs her “captains” on the same page for Survivor Series.
Some chatter from Michael Cole, the above Tweet and a story on the website, and it’s official.
The red brand has another PPV to focus on, Oct. 30’s Hell in a Cell, before Survivor Series, and they’re already building another major angle for Nov. 20 in Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar, so it makes sense to acknowledge the men’s, women’s and tag 5-on-5 elimination matches without devoting much attention to them. There will be time to announce teams and promote those bouts in November.
At least we know they’re definitely happening!