Survivor Series: Card Subject to Change
With Survivor Series on its way, the WWE made a couple last second decisions. One had to be made and the other…a little baffling. Courtesy of the WWE.
By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)
November 14, 2018
New Main Events for Survivor Series
A week ago I was pretty happy with the card for Survivor Series. A week ago we talked extensively about how terrible it was going to be to see Becky Lynch and AJ Styles lose at Survivor Series. A week ago we hoped for and pondered ways for Becky and AJ to find victories. A week ago…everything was different.
Sitting in my office on a Wednesday morning, I find myself troubled for two reasons. One I think was a result of a boneheaded accident. The other…I’m not quite sure what to think.
Becky Lynch’s broken face takes her off of programming during the hottest point of her career.
AJ Styles loses his WWE Championship to a heelish Daniel Bryan. Of course, changing the main event for Sunday, from AJ vs Brock to Daniel vs Brock.
First of all…who gives a shit if I’m troubled. Right?
But think about it. When was the last time we’ve seen something fall so off kilter, leading up to a WWE Pay-Per-View? Let alone, one of WWE’s self-proclaimed top-4 pay-per-views?
Things have gone wrong before, don’t get me wrong here…but when have we seen both main events change in one night?
Becky Lynch is Hurt…I Get It
There was no saving Becky Lynch’s face. I get it. Nia Jax took a swing hard enough to put down a rhino and now we are without the best wrestler in the business.
(Fun fact, I spelled rhino incorrectly the first time I wrote this. Can’t help having wrestling on the mind 24/7).
The WWE didn’t play with our emotions at all last night. They started the show, recapped RAW, and the ripped the band-aid clear off. About as hard and swift as a punch from Nia Jax! HAHA YEAH!
You know you love it.
Anyways. Charlotte took over and now the hottest feud and biggest match of the fall got cancelled. Its more disappointing than anything. I’ve heard rumblings of people thinking the WWE is too quick and too soft with their decision making, but I won’t fault them for it. The whole situation just sucks and we’re looking for someone to blame.
I won’t tell you that you’re wrong for being frustrated with the situation or that you’re wrong for thinking Nia swung too hard. Be frustrated. And I do wish Nia had pulled that punch a bit. (SIDE NOTE: Don’t you dare send mean tweets to Nia Jax! I’m sure she feels awful and it was an accident! You suck if you’re the kind of turd sandwich who would bully someone for a mistake.)
This is the definition of feeling like you can’t have nice things. We complain…to no end…about the WWE’s programming. And when we finally get something THAT WE’RE ALL EXCITED ABOUT…it gets taken away. Becky will be back and hopefully the WWE works in some way to get Becky and Ronda back into the ring together, but for now…I’m going to pout and make sad faces at you.
Don’t forget…none of this situation is the WWE’s fault and none of this could fixed (from Becky Lynch’s perspective). The choice to have Charlotte take over is pretty meh, predictable and not very exciting…but they were put into one hell of a pickle here.
Still, the WWE found a way to make their next big decision a perplexing one.
AJ Styles and What Could Have Been
I think we all love Daniel Bryan. I think we were all excited when Daniel made his return to the WWE. And I think we all hoped that Daniel Bryan was going to find his way back into the championship picture by next WrestleMania. I also think none of us were prepared to see Bryan win last night or even fight for the title, for that matter.
I had just written an article and spoke on our podcast about the potential for AJ Styles to become the longest reigning champion in the modern era. I was ready to congratulate the WWE for making this decision. Ready to thank the WWE for giving a guy like AJ Styles, one who made a name for himself in other countries, wrestling promotions, and of his own efforts and talent…the opportunity to become immortalized in the eyes of the WWE Universe.
And they wouldn’t have been geniuses had they made that decision. It would would have been the right decision. It would have been the best decision. It would have been one of the few times, in a long while, that a grand gesture was made for a true, hardcore fan’s favorite. It just would have been nice to feel recognized as an observer of pro wrestling and critic of its failures and successes. I see AJ Styles as one of the best wrestlers of all time and is the type of guy who should be known as the longest reigning…something…But it is not to be.
Daniel Bryan Gets a Title Shot
It was, honestly, a very confusing night.
Why would Paul Heyman bring up Daniel Bryan? Why would Daniel Bryan be upset that Heyman and Styles were discussing Bryan as one of the best in the business? Why would AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan decide to betray the respect they had for each other? Was Bryan supposed to beat AJ at Crown Jewel? Was AJ not supposed to break 365 days as champion?
None of us know the answer to any of those questions, but it does start to become more clear if we say ‘yes’ to those last two questions.
Daniel was supposed to become the champion. AJ Styles was not supposed to hold the title for a whole year. He definitely wasn’t supposed to become the longest reigning champion. Another side note here: The issues with this dumb relationship with Saudi Arabia is now bleeding into the quality of the show I spend so much time watching. Daniel refused to work that show and now the WWE had to go backwards. Back to the original plan of having Daniel Bryan take a tour into his own, personal, dream matches before he retires. Which as he’s mentioned on numerous occasions (regardless if its real or not) includes the Beast, Brock Lesnar.
But again…we don’t know if any of this is true.
Daniel Bryan and Charlotte Flair Takeover Main Event Roles
Becky’s removal from the main event was a decision that had to be made and Daniel Bryan wins the WWE Championship. But Daniel Bryan, taking over for AJ Styles, would be a decision (you’d think) didn’t need to be made. We know AJ Styles isn’t hurt, because he just fought last night. There aren’t issues with AJ Styles as a performer. We know that because AJ just held onto the WWE Championship for an entire year.
I did have the thought that maybe Daniel Bryan was slotted into this role because Becky was out. It’s hard to justify this being true, but I’ll give it a shot. The end of Survivor Series was supposed to be Becky vs Ronda. Why? Because AJ Styles was going to lose to Brock Lesnar again. So now we have a Ronda vs Charlotte match, that some thought would be our WrestleMania main event. But it has no juice. The two were supposed to put on a match fueled by emotion, not by circumstance.
So could you really end the night this way?
Maybe the answer was to give us a match that we wanted a few years ago. Giving Daniel Bryan an opportunity to take on Brock Lesnar.
The pin in this balloon is that this was also supposed to be a match fueled by emotion. Brock can’t wrestle and Daniel Bryan is too little.
What are we gonna get? Probably a night riddled with controversy. Run-ins. More ref-bumps. Suplexes. Arm bars. And…no Becky Lynch or AJ Styles.
And Styles isn’t going to go from WWE Champion for a year to being written completely off of the card. He’ll get some revenge.
And Charlotte isn’t going to be placed into this match against Rousey and get a clean victory.
Survivor Series will give us a ton to talk about and the WWE wheel will keep on spinning. We won’t get the great night we thought we were going to get, but it’ll be interesting.
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