IWE Survivor Series (2020)

From Iwe

Survivor Series is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and IWE Network event, produced by IWE for their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It is scheduled to take place on November 22, 2020 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. It will be the thirty-fourth event under the Survivor Series chronology and will feature IWE's virtual fan viewing experience called ThunderDome. It will also celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of The Undertaker's IWE debut. The PPV will be sponsored by Cyberpunk 2077.

[edit] Production

[edit] Background

Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view, produced every November by IWE since 1987. The second longest running pay-per-view event in history (behind IWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, dubbed the "Big Four". The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically pits teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. Since IWE reintroduced the brand split in 2016, Survivor Series has centered around competition between Raw and SmackDown for brand supremacy. In September 2019, NXT, previously a developmental territory exclusive to the IWE Network, debuted on the USA Network, solidifying its status as IWE's third major brand, and was subsequently added to the brand competition theme. The 2020 event will be the 34th event under the Survivor Series chronology.

[edit] Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, IWE presented the majority of its programming from the IWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida since mid-March with no fans in attendance, although in late May, the promotion began using Performance Center trainees to serve as the live audience, which was further expanded to friends and family members of the wrestlers in mid-June. On August 17, IWE announced that all future shows and pay-per-views would be held at the Amway Center, a larger venue also located in Orlando, for the "foreseeable future", beginning with the August 21 episode of SmackDown. Furthermore, the shows now feature a new fan viewing experience called the "IWE ThunderDome", which utilizes drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections. Approximately one thousand LED boards were installed in the Amway Center to allow fans to virtually attend the events for free and be seen on the rows and rows of LED boards. Arena audio is also mixed with that of the virtual fans so that chants from the fans can be heard. IWE's initial agreement with the Amway Center expired on October 31, but with the option to extend the contract with a two weeks notice. On October 12, PWInsider revealed that the contract was extended until the end of November.

[edit] Storylines

The show will comprise matches that usually result from scripted storylines, (although some can come about due to shoot/unscripted fights), where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by IWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

[edit] Survivor Series elimination matches

Qualifying matches for the men's Survivor Series elimination match began on the October 26 episode of Raw. KJ Styles,Keith Lee, and Sheamus earned the first three spots on Team Raw by defeating Josh Hooper, Elias, and Riddle, respectively. The following week, Braun Strowman qualified for the team by defeating Lee and Sheamus in a triple threat match. Riddle won the final spot on Team Raw by defeating Elias and Hooper in a triple threat match on the November 9 episode. Team SmackDown's first two members were determined on the October 30 episode of SmackDown. Kevin Owens and Jey Uso qualified by defeating Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan, respectively.The following week, King Corbin and Seth Rollins qualified by defeating Rey Mysterio and Otis, respectively.

For the women's Survivor Series elimination match, all five of Team Raw's members were initially revealed on the October 26 episode of Raw. IWE officials Adam Pearce and Pat Buck announced that IWE Women's Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, along with Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke, would represent Team Raw. The fifth and final spot was determined by a fatal four-way match that night, which Lana won by defeating Lacey Evans, Peyton Royce, and Nikki Cross. On the November 16 episode of Raw, due to Jax and Baszler attacking Rose's arm during a tag team match, and then Retribution's Reckoning later attacking Brooke backstage, both Rose and Brooke were deemed unable to compete at Survivor Series, thus Pearce announced that they would be replaced by Evans and Royce. Team SmackDown's first member was determined on the October 30 episode of SmackDown. Bianca Belair won the spot by defeating Billie Kay and Natalya in a triple threat match. Ruby Riot won the second spot on the following episode, where she defeated Natalya and Zelina Vega in a triple threat match. On the November 13 episode, Liv Morgan qualified by defeating Chelsea Green, Natalya, and Tamina in a fatal four-way match.

[edit] Champions brand supremacy matches

All four of the champions brand supremacy matches were announced on the October 26 episode of Raw. At the time, it was announced that Raw's IWE Champion Kevin Orton would face SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Raw Women's Champion Asuka would face SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks, Raw's United States Champion Bobby Lashley would face SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, and Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) would face SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford).

Over the next few weeks, five of the champions defended their titles before Survivor Series, with four of them retaining to keep the matchups the same as initially announced. SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks retained her title against Bayley on the November 6 episode of SmackDown, Bobby Lashley retained the United States Championship against Titus O'Neil on the November 9 episode of Raw, Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn retained his title against Apollo Crews on the November 13 episode of SmackDown, and The New Day retained their Raw Tag Team Championship against The Hurt Business' Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin on the November 16 episode of Raw. Also during this time, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits tried to get info on their Survivor Series opponents from former New Day member Big E, who basically told them that New Day would win. The men's world championship matchup, however, changed. After losing the IWE Championship to Randy Orton at Hell in a Cell on October 25, Drew McIntyre was given a rematch for the title, but before that, McIntyre appeared on the November 13 episode of SmackDown to confront Universal Champion Roman Reigns, despite not being the IWE Champion. McIntyre would go on and defeat Orton to win back the IWE Championship on the November 16 episode of Raw, thus becoming Reigns' opponent at Survivor Series.

[edit] Results

[edit] Survivor Series elimination matches

     – Raw

     – SmackDown

^1

^2

[edit] Notes

a. ^ The event will be held without a paying audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, though it will still feature a live crowd of virtual fans via IWE's ThunderDome viewing experience.

[edit] References

[edit] External links