WWE this week is completely focused on Survivor Series weekend, which also features NXT TakeOver: War Games. Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live continue to build towards their brand war, figuring out who will represent each brand. Meanwhile, NXT features perhaps the biggest match of the week with SAnitY defending the NXT Tag Team Championships against the Authors of Pain.
Monday Night Raw (10.30.17)
A lot of speculation and intrigue heading into Monday Night Raw this week revolves around Survivor Series. Last week, SmackDown Live invaded the flagship show, assaulting almost the entire Raw locker room. Because of this, General Manager Kurt Angle never revealed what is planned for the big dual-branded event.
Also last week, Alicia Fox picked up a surprise Triple Threat Match victory over Sasha Banks and Bayley (two former Raw Women’s Champions) to become the captain of Raw’s female Survivor Series team. The rest of the team is still unknown but with Emma now no longer a part of WWE, the choices are fairly slim.
The men’s Survivor Series team has not been announced at all either. So far, we know that Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, and Brock Lesnar will not be a part of the team because of their respective Champion vs. Champion matches. This leaves a ton of room for Raw to pick from its high caliber roster.
Lastly, Raw has seen the unexpected return of Kane. After returning two weeks ago, he destroyed Braun Strowman at TLC and defeated Finn Balor the following night on Raw. It seems like there will be a Strowman/Kane match down the line, but for now, it seems like the Big Red Machine is on a path of destruction.
SmackDown Live (10.31.17)
Heading into SmackDown Live this week, there are already three matches announced. After defeating Sunil Singh in under a minute last week, AJ Styles now will take on Samir Singh (Sunil’s brother) while WWE Champion Jinder Mahal continues to hide from and confrontation with the Phenomenal One. Also, a grudge match between Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler will take place to determine who the competitor is in a 2 out of 3 Falls match.
The last previously announced match for the night revolves around SmackDown’s male Survivor Series team. Last week, Randy Orton defeated Sami Zayn to become the team captain, while the second member of the team is decided this week. Orton’s tag team partner of the past few weeks, Shinsuke Nakamura, will face Zayn’s “best friend,” Kevin Owens.
Last week, important developments were made in the stories for the United States Championship and the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. Two weeks ago, Baron Corbin lost to Sin Cara by count-out and last week, he lost by purposely getting himself disqualified. With two wins over the current champion, it only makes sense for Sin Cara to get a title opportunity in the near future.
In tag team action, Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin picked up a huge win over The New Day. Gable and Benjamin are the #1 Contenders for the Usos’ SmackDown Tag Team Championships and winning here greatly increased their momentum.
205 Live (10.31.17)
There is only one thing for sure on 205 Live this week and that is that The Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher are coming for Rich Swann. Outside of that, expect a little more of Drew Gulak’s Powerpoint presentation and the fallout from Kalisto picking up a disqualification victory over Enzo Amore.
WWE NXT (11.1.17)
This week on NXT, we are back to championship action. For the first time since NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, the Authors of Pain compete and it is their rematch for the NXT Tag Team Championships against SAnitY. It is important to note that the members of SAnitY that aren’t competing will not be allowed at ringside this time, unlike when the dysfunctional group won the titles.
According to WWE.com, Andrade “Cien” Almas is officially challenging Drew McIntyre for the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: War Games. Before they both clash in a few weeks, this will be their first face-to-face in the middle of the ring.
