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The build toward Survivor Series continues in Milwaukee.
The Headliners
After an exciting moment to close Raw on Monday, WWE Creative has their work cut out for them.
Commissioner Shane McMahon, appearing for the first time since being stretchered out of Hell in a Cell, played gracious when red brand General Manager Kurt Angle invited him onto the show. But when Angle went to unveil his five man team for the next pay-per-view (PPV), Shane borrowed the name of a Steven Seagal franchise to bring out the troops.
The New Day, Becky Lynch and many others raided the backstage area, laying out whoever got in their way.
Now we wait for Raw to respond.
It’s the first thing teased in WWE.com’s preview for the Oct. 24 SmackDown, but as great a moment as Angle’s charge into enemy territory might be, it’s probably one of the last interesting things about this story Vince McMahon’s decided to tell.
Why did this group of wrestlers decide to set aside their issues with each other - and in some cases, with Shane - to attack Raw*? What’s in it for them, beyond “supremacy” over a brand they could be shaken up or drafted to in a couple months? Was there a kayfabe reason why some stars weren’t present? What will SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan have to say about his boss’ attack?
How do you spend the next month building to a show with only one half of most of the matches that will be on said show?
* These Twitter promos were a good start
The Title Scene
This may not be super-relevant for the next four episodes, but...
Paul Heyman accepted his challenge to Brock Lesnar - and called WWE champion Jinder Mahal a “consolation prize”. The Maharajah’s upcoming match with The Anomaly may be non-title, but AJ Styles is back from his undercover mission to the red brand, and he still has designs on getting the belt from Mahal. Tonight, he’ll go through Sunil Singh as part of his quest for a shot at Jinder.
It looks like the Survivor Series champ vs. champ matches will be non-title (adding to the issue question of stakes), something the holder of the United States championship, Baron Corbin, is familiar with. Sin Cara defeated The Lone Wolf via countour in a match where the belt wasn’t on the line last week. Now, Corbin wants a rematch.
Tag champs The Usos are headed into a bout against their red brand counterparts Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, while much of the rest of the division walked into battle side-by-side last night to actually attack Rollins and Ambrose (among others). Some of that brotherhood gets placed on hold tonight when a big eight-man tag will be used to remind us of two different feuds taking place... Jimmy and Jey against #1 contenders Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, and Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods’ budding rivalry against Rusev and Aiden English.
Natalya won’t be fighting with her blue brand sisters at Survivor Series, but even while they’re distracted figuring out their five person team, she’ll need to be worrying about her Women’s title - at least when it comes to Ms. Money in the Bank, Carmella.
Other stuff to keep an eye on:
- Tyler Breeze and Fandango are riffing on Quentin Tarrantino movies non-linearally, just like a QT joint. A week after “Pulp Fashion”, we’re getting “Fashion Dogs”. Will the Fashion Police find their missing briefcase? Will they accept The Ascension’s offer of friendship? Crank up your favorite sounds of the 70s and find out.
- It’s not clear when Kevin Owens will be back, but WWE is still talking up Shane’s return tonight as being to address KO and Sami Zayn’s actions at Hell in a Cell. Zayn was noticeably absent from last night’s don’t-call-it-an-invasion, and he hit Twitter to explain that that was in fact due to his issues with McMahon.
- After trading wins, will Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode let bygones be bygones and focus on Team Red?
Four weeks until Survivor Series!
What will you be looking for on SmackDown Live tonight?
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly indicated The Usos had taken part in the attack on Raw on Oct. 23.