The battle lines have been drawn for the 2017 Survivor Series. Raw vs. Smackdown is the theme this year, in all but 2 matches. But no one saw the ending of Raw coming. And that's the beauty of it all.
Raw GM Kurt Angle, hale & hearty after TLC, opened and announced the following for Survivor Series:
Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. Jimmy & Jey Uso.
Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya.
The Miz vs. Baron Corbin (IC title vs. US title).
A Team Raw (captained by Alicia Fox) vs. Team Smackdown women's elimination tag.
Paul Heyman would later confirm that Universal champion Brock Lesnar will face Jinder Mahal, which should end Mahal's winning streak.
At the end of the night, Smackdown commish Shane McMahon, showing no ill effects from Hell in a Cell two weeks earlier, led an attack by Team Blue, decimating friends and old enemies alike. Expect a little bit of reciprocation tonight on Smackdown.
And, aside from a cameo on her brother's show last month, Raw commissioner Stephanie McMahon has been largely in absentia the last 6 1/2, nearly 7 months from the flagship. You'd think she'd be all over this, and, for all we know, maybe she will over the next month. Like, all that's needed now is getting "Family Feud" host Steve Harvey to serve as MC for the Survivor Series.
I looked at some of the video footage of the Smackdown beatdown of Raw from last night. Whose idea was it to have Rusev wear that hat? From side angles, he could be mistaken for a long lost brother of Jay & Mark Briscoe!
Now, if this becomes an annual thing, then they can finally justify the revival of the brand extension from last year. Like, they needed something to get people's attention after TLC to get the ball rolling, and, oh, are people talking, or what?
With all the talk about how WWE forced Daniel Bryan to retire, maybe this gives him an opening to finally get back in the ring, and go 1-on-1 with Angle, whom he has never faced. Vince McMahon would be nuts not to let that happen. What am I saying? He IS nuts. Charlotte Flair has said she wants to be in the ring with Stephanie? How about having the Princess suit up to face the Queen, and see if she's still got one more show-stealing match in her? You can bank on the WWE's Four Horsewomen (Flair, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Sasha Banks) being on opposite sides in the elimination tag, with Bayley & Sasha joined by Fox and likely Asuka for starters. Oh, that would rule.
Strap in, kidz. This is going to be fun.
