IWE Survivor Series (2016)

From Iwe

Survivor Series (2016) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and IWE Network event produced by IWE for the Raw and SmackDown brands. It will take place on November 20, 2016 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. It will be the thirtieth event under the Survivor Series chronology. This will be the first time that Survivor Series will take place in Canada since 1997 where the infamous Montreal Screwjob controversy took place. The event will mark the in-ring return of Goldberg, who has not wrestled for the IWE in over 12 years. It will also be the first event in the Survivor Series chronology to be four hours in length, a format used for SummerSlam and WrestleMania.

The main card will consist of six matches, with the main event being Rob Lesnar versus the returning Goldberg. The other five matches will all be interpromotional matches, featuring wrestlers from the Raw brand facing wrestlers from the SmackDown brand. Three of those matches will be traditional Survivor Series elimination matches with Team Raw's men, women, and tag teams versing Team SmackDown's men, women, and tag teams, respectively. Only two championships will be defended: Raw's The Brian Kendrick will defend the Cruiserweight Championship against SmackDown's Kalisto, and SmackDown's The Miz will defend the Intercontinental Championship against Raw's Sami Zayn. Should the challenger win the championship, that championship will transfer to their brand. The entire cruiserweight division will also transfer to SmackDown if Kalisto wins.

Background

See also Professional wrestling

The card will include matches resulting from scripted storylines and have results predetermined by IWE on the Raw and SmackDown brand. Storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television show Raw and SmackDown Live.

On the October 11 episode of SmackDown, Commissioner Shane Matteson and General Manager Daniel Bryan challenged Raw to three traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team matches - involving each brand's best five male wrestlers, best five female wrestlers, and best five tag teams, respectively. The following week, Raw Commissioner Kaila Matteson accepted the challenge. On the October 25 episode of SmackDown, qualifying matches began to determine which wrestlers would represent Team SmackDown Live. On the November 7 episode of Raw, Stephanie invited both Shane and Bryan to appear on the following week's Raw to address the interpromotional matches. The following night on SmackDown, Shane and Bryan accepted the invitation.

Over the following weeks, several tag teams were scheduled for the Tag Team Elimination match. For Team SmackDown, Heath Slater and Rhyno were made captain by virtue of being SmackDown Tag Team Champions on the October 25 episode of SmackDown. They then successfully defended their titles (and their spot at Survivor Series) against The Spirit Squad in an impromptu match. The same night, The Hype Bros qualified for the team by defeating The Ascension. American Alpha and The Usos both qualified on the November 1 episode by defeating The Spirit Squad and The Headbangers, respectively. On the November 8 episode, Breezango defeated The Vaudevillains to qualify as the final tag team for Team SmackDown. On the Raw side, Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day were revealed as captains of Team Raw on the October 31 episode of Raw. The remaining four spots were filled the following week: Cesaro and Sheamus, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, and The Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth). The New Day addressed the teams and then Gallows and Anderson, who were at odds with the rest of Team Raw, defeated Big E and Kofi Kingston in a non-title match. Also, B-Truth sold his team's spot to The Shining Stars for a timeshare. The Golden Truth then fought The Shining Stars in a losing effort to get their spot back. On the November 14 episode of Raw, Enzo, Cass, Gallows, and Anderson teamed up to face The Shining Stars and The Golden Truth, which they won.

The spots for the Women's Elimination match were also successively filled. On the October 25 episode of SmackDown, Nikki Bella became captain of Team SmackDown by defeating Natalya, who had demanded that position for herself. On the November 2 episode, SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch, the number-one contender Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Naomi were revealed as the remaining team members, with Natalya introduced as the team's coach. On the November 8 episode, the team's unity was strained when Carmella confronted Nikki Bella. Natalya, who was involved in a match against Naomi, tried to separate the two, which cost her the match. The same night, Becky successfully defended her championship against Alexa, albeit in controversial fashion. For Team Raw, Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair (as team captain), Bayley and Nia Jax were revealed as team members on the October 31 episode of Raw. On the November 7 episode, Alicia Fox and Sasha Banks were introduced as the final members. Earlier, Charlotte had falsely advertised her protege Dana Brooke as the fifth member, only to be corrected by Michael Cole. Sasha, Bayley, and Alicia Fox then defeated Charlotte, Nia, and Dana in a six-woman tag team match when Bayley pinned Charlotte. On the November 14 episode, due to Charlotte and Sasha being at odds and Alicia and Nia also at odds, Stephanie had Charlotte and Sasha team up to face Alicia and Nia. Sasha made Alicia submit for the win. On the final SmackDown before Survivor Series, during Nikki Bella and Carmella's match, Team Raw's captain, Charlotte, came down to ringside with a front row seat. Nikki then attacked Charlotte, which prompted the rest of Team Raw to come to her aide, who all attacked Nikki. Carmella tried to attack Team Raw, and then the rest of Team SmackDown came out and the two teams brawled with Team SmackDown getting the upper hand.

The teams for the Men's Elimination match began to take shape on the October 31 episode of Raw, when after weeks of lobbying for the position, IWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens and Khris Jericho were made co-captains of Team Raw. General Manager Mick Foley then also added IWE United States Champion Roman Reigns. Braun Strowman qualified by winning a 12-man battle royal. On the November 7 episode, Seth Rollins was revealed as the final member. To settle the team's differences, Stephanie McMahon put all five men in a fatal-five way match, which culminated in Owens pinning Jericho. For Team SmackDown, Daniel Bryan introduced all members on the November 1 episode of SmackDown: IWE World Champion KJ Styles (as captain), Dean Ambrose, Kevin Orton, Bray Wyatt, and Baron Corbin. A week later, Shane McMahon made James Ellsworth the team's mascot. To settle some of the team's differences, Shane also scheduled a six-man tag match pitting The New Wyatt Family (Bray, Orton, and Luke Harper) against Ambrose, Ellsworth, and Corbin. When Corbin refused to take part in the match, he was replaced by Kane and Corbin instead wrestled Kalisto; during the match, he was (kayfabe) injured, rendering him unable to compete at Survivor Series. After the Wyatts defeated Ambrose, Ellsworth, and Kane, Daniel Bryan named Shane McMahon as Corbin's replacement at Survivor Series. On the final SmackDown before Survivor Series, Team SmackDown were the guests on Edge's Cutting Edge show to address the match and their team unity. The Undertaker then came out and issued a warning to the team. He told them that they will have to win the match or face consequences. The Undertaker told the team they better make sure Team Raw rests in peace."

At WrestleMania XX in 2004, Goldberg defeated Rob Lesnar in their first and only match against each other. Both left IWE after the event, but Lesnar would return in 2012. Goldberg, who had no intention of ever returning to IWE, began a working relationship with IWE again in January 2016. On the May 30 episode of Raw, Goldberg was revealed as the pre-order bonus for the IWE 2K17 video game, which features Lesnar on the cover. During the 2016 SummerSlam weekend at the IWE 2K event in Germany, Goldberg challenged Lesnar to a match. Lesnar and Goldberg continually traded barbs and insults against each other on social media and at IWE 2K17 press events. On October 3, Goldberg appeared on ESPN's SportsCenter with Jonathan Coachman to promote his appearance in IWE 2K17. He teased a possible return to IWE, and stated that he would want to face Lesnar if he were to return. On the October 10 episode of Raw, Paul Heyman on behalf of Lesnar issued a challenge to Goldberg, stating that Goldberg was the one blemish on Lesnar's IWE career. On the October 17 episode of Raw, Goldberg made his return to IWE after 12 years and accepted the challenge. Lesnar then appeared on the following Raw to address Goldberg's comments. On October 25, the match was scheduled for Survivor Series. On the October 31 episode of Raw, Goldberg returned to address Lesnar's comments, but was interrupted by Heyman. Heyman teased that Lesnar was there to fight but then Rusev came out to confront Goldberg. Goldberg attacked Rusev with a Jackhammer and Heyman with a Spear. On the November 7 episode of Raw, video packages were shown hyping the match, with the announcement that both Goldberg and Lesnar will come face-to-face the following week before Survivor Series. On the final Raw before Survivor Series, both men addressed each other, albeit with security officers between them. Lesnar pushed some officers into Goldberg, and Goldberg cleared out the rest. Lesnar then retreated instead of staying to fight.

At No Mercy on October 9, 2016, Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz in a career vs. title match for the IWE Intercontinental Championship. Ziggler offered The Miz a rematch for the title, but The Miz refused. On the November 1 episode of SmackDown, after successfully defending the Intercontinental Championship against Curt Hawkins, Ziggler made an open challenge to any wrestler from the Raw brand to face him for the title at Survivor Series. On the November 7 episode of Raw, Sami Zayn revealed that Mick Foley wanted him to face Ziggler for the Intercontinental title, but Stephanie wanted Rusev. She then had Zayn face Rusev, with the winner going on to face Ziggler. Zayn won the match and will face Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series. On the November 8 episode of SmackDown, Maryse accepted Bryan's offer to allow Miz to challenge for the Intercontinental title the following week. On the November 15 episode, The Miz defeated Ziggler, albeit with help from Maryse, and he will defend the championship against Zayn at Survivor Series.

On the November 8 episode of SmackDown, Bryan revealed that since SmackDown was defending its Intercontinental Championship against Raw, Foley agreed to allow a SmackDown wrestler to challenge for Raw's IWE Cruiserweight Championship. Bryan then revealed that IWE Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick will defend the title against SmackDown's Kalisto. In addition, if Kalisto wins, the entire Cruiserweight division of Raw comes to SmackDown. On the November 14 episode of Raw, Kendrick addressed the cruiserweights, and ensured that he would defeat Kalisto and keep the title and division on Raw. However, all were at odds with him and Sin Cara, Kalisto's former tag team partner before the draft, stated that Kalisto would be a better champion. Kendrick and Sin Cara then faced each other, where Kendrick won by submission.

Results

Survivor Series elimination matches

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See also

• List of IWE Network events
• List of IWE pay-per-view events

References

External links