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The last time a Survivor Series pay-per-view carried major consequences was in 2014 when Team Cena faced Team Authority in the main event. If Team Authority won, every member of Team Cena, except John Cena, would be fired. If Team Cena won, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon would be out of power.
Since then, two elimination matches took place in 2015 but both were made up largely of tag teams and weren’t featured matches on the card, while the only thing riding on the 2016 elimination match was a threat from The Undertaker that Team SmackDown would face major consequences if they lost to Team Raw.
In the end, Team Cena won their match in 2014, meaning nobody was fired, and Team SmackDown Live was victorious in 2016, so we’ll never know what “The Deadman” had in store for members of the blue brand if they had lost.
The 2017 Survivor Series event is just around the corner and, as things stand, six matches have been announced, and all six of them have a Raw vs. SmackDown Live theme.
However, none of the scheduled matches include stipulations, which makes it difficult for fans to care about who wins on the night. With that in mind, we’ve come up with five ideas to make the upcoming PPV a little more interesting.
#1 Brock vs. Jinder: WrestleMania implications
Brock Lesnar and Jinder Mahal will go head-to-head in the main event of Survivor Series to determine whether Raw or SmackDown Live has the supreme champion in WWE.
But, honestly, does it matter? Whatever happens, the titles will always be treated as equals on their respective rosters, and the same can be said for the interbrand matches including the other championships on Raw and SmackDown.
To make the main event more interesting, maybe if Brock wins, the Universal Championship match will go on last at WrestleMania 34, and if Jinder wins, the WWE Championship match will go on last.
Of course, the winner would have to keep hold of their title for the next five months to headline the event, but it would make the Survivor Series match – and any future title defences between now and WrestleMania – that extra bit important.
#2 Men’s 5-on-5: Royal Rumble entry
It still hasn’t been properly explained why the likes of Rusev and Dolph Ziggler were doing Shane McMahon’s dirty work for him during the #UnderSiege segment on Raw.
Why, all of a sudden, do they obey orders from the SmackDown Commissioner? Or do they just love Team Blue so much that they took the first chance they got to beat up members of the Raw roster?
Because, honestly, WWE could spend the next three weeks explaining why people like Matt Hardy, Chad Gable or Bobby Roode want to prove why they’re on the better show and even the most die-hard fan would struggle to care or believe them.
Instead, there needs to be a reason why the men from each roster want their show to win, so perhaps the stipulation for the 5-on-5 match could be that every member of the winning team is guaranteed a place in the 2018 Royal Rumble, while the losers will not be able to compete in the match.
#3 Women’s 5-on-5: Title opportunities
Moving on to the 5-on-5 elimination match between the women, maybe the surviving members of the winning team can be guaranteed future title opportunities.
For example, if Team SmackDown wins and Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair are the only women remaining, they could go on to face Natalya in a Triple Threat match for the title at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view in December.
Admittedly, given the amount of No.1 contender matches we see on a weekly basis in both women’s divisions, this isn’t the most exciting of stipulations, but it would just add an incentive and make fans more interested if something was actually at stake.
#4 Interbrand matches: NXT call-ups
Assuming no titles change hands between now and Survivor Series, the scheduled interbrand Champion vs. Champion matches taking place are as follows: Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal, The Miz vs. Baron Corbin, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose vs. The Usos, and Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya.
Apart from Brock vs. Jinder, which we’ve already suggested a stipulation for, the other three encounters have absolutely nothing riding on them, which won’t excite fans who are more interested in the storyline aspect of WWE than high-quality one-off matches.
To make these three matches actually mean something, how about the winner is allowed to call up a Superstar from NXT? For example, The Usos could choose Andrade “Cien” Almas, Alexa could align herself with Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, or The Miz could add someone to his Miztourage.
#5 Overall brand loser: You’re fired!
With every match covered with a stipulation, that just leaves the General Managers and Commissioners. What happens to Kurt Angle if Team Raw loses overall on the night? What happens to Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan if Team SmackDown loses?
Well, you guessed it, they’re fired. Or if that’s a little bit extreme, maybe they could be demoted to another role within management, allowing Triple H and Stephanie McMahon to take over either Raw or SmackDown as The Authority once again.
HHH laced up his boots to replace AJ Styles and Kevin Owens on the recent South America tour and is currently booked to appear on five shows when WWE visits the United Kingdom in November, so don’t be surprised if we see “The Game” back on our screens in the near future.
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