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The Survivor Series pay-per-view is WWE's last so-called big event of the calendar year and this year's edition promises to be another exciting one.
Since 2016, WWE's theme for Survivor Series has mostly revolved around brand supremacy between RAW and SmackDown. Except for 2019, when NXT was also thrown into the mix.
WWE have been quite consistent with their brand vs. brand theme over the last five years. However, another theme that the company has secretly stuck with is the changing of titles at the last possible minute.
Throughout the years, the WWE Universe has seen the top, mid-card, and tag team champions of every respective brand go head-to-head against one another, and 2020 seems to be no different.
By this point though, there are quite a few deep observers who have learned the fact that WWE are bound to change title holders right before Survivor Series. This year saw the continuation of the tradition, courtesy of Drew McIntyre's WWE Championship win over Randy Orton earlier this week.
This article takes an in-depth look at five such instances when WWE Superstars won a championship right before Survivor Series. In doing so, WWE were also forced to make vital changes to the Survivor Series match card.
Without any further ado, let's get into it.
#5 New Day beat The Revival for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships - WWE Survivor Series 2019
Survivor Series 2019 will go down in history as one of the biggest editions in the pay-per-view's history. The event marked the only occasion when NXT was involved in a brand war between RAW and SmackDown. Surprisingly enough, the black-and-gold brand ended up winning the night.
One of the biggest matches of that particular match-card featured the respective tag team champions of the three brands. Heading into the show, The Viking Raiders had set the tone as RAW Tag Team Champions. Meanwhile, The Undisputed Era took NXT by storm and the duo of Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish seemed unstoppable at that point.
On the blue side of things, however, it did seem that The Revival were once again set to turn back the clock with a classic tag team match, something that they mostly did during their time in NXT.
However, the duo of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder ended up losing the blue tag titles to the New Day. Eventually, it was the duo of Big E and Kofi Kingston who represented SmackDown, but The Viking Raiders got the last laugh when it mattered the most.
#4 Charlotte Flair sets up a clash with The Goddess - WWE Survivor Series 2017
Given Charlotte Flair's resume, it shouldn't come as a surprise that WWE decided to give her the nod ahead of Natalya for one of their biggest PPVs of the year. In the lead-up to Survivor Series 2017, the eventualfive-time SmackDown Women's Champion won the title to make history.
With a historic win in her hometown, Charlotte became the first-ever female Superstar to hold the NXT, RAW, and SmackDown Women's Championship. The win over Natalya had also meant that WWE set up an emphatic clash between Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series. The Goddess vs. The Queen in a champion vs. champion match.
The match itself was 15 minutes long and had huge implications on the night. As Flair tapped Alexa Bliss out to the Figure Eight, SmackDown took a 3-2 lead over RAW.
As for Charlotte Flair in particular, her first reign as SmackDown Women's Champion was historic. She even went on to end Asuka's 914-day win streak at WrestleMania 34.
#3 AOP manhandle an already-broken Seth Rollins - WWE Survivor Series 2018
The year 2018 was absolutely vital for two WWE Superstars, Seth Rollins and the returning Dean Ambrose. After marking his return in August by sporting a brand new look, Ambrose aligned himself with Rollins and six days later, even helped the latter win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
As the duo eventually reunited The Shield with Roman Reigns, The Big Dog was eventually forced to vacate his Universal title due to the return of his real-life leukemia.
On the very same night, in what was arguably one of the most emotional wins in WWE history, Ambrose and Rollins captured the WWE RAW Tag Team titles from Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. What seemed like a win dedicated to Reigns, which seemingly booked their spot at Survivor Series, quickly turned into everyone's worst nightmare.
The night eventually ended with Ambrose turning his back on Rollins, as the former left The Architect of The Shield in an absolute mess. The following week, Rollins was forced to defend the tag titles against AOP in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match, which he obviously lost.
The win in Manchester, England set up a huge AOP vs. The Bar tag team match for Survivor Series. Things then started to get a lot uglier between the two former members of The Shield.
#2 AJ Styles ends Jinder Mahal's reign to set up a clash with The Beast - WWE Survivor Series 2017
Jinder Mahal's one and only WWE Championship reign felt iconic. Often met with criticism, Mahal did his absolute best to perform at the top level. More often than not, The Modern Day Maharaja delivered.
As WWE Champion, Mahal cemented his place as a dominating titleholder by securing a few notable wins. In the lead-up to Survivor Series, WWE had already started advertising a match between Jinder Mahal and Brock Lesnar.
Mahal had claimed that he had beaten every worthy contender on SmackDown, but Styles didn't take the former champ's words too kindly.
On the November 7th episode of SmackDown, Styles, much to many fans' shock and rejoice, won the WWE Championship for the second time. In doing so, not only did Styles become a two-time WWE Champion, but he also replaced Mahal on the Survivor Series card. Thus, setting up AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar.
In a first-time-ever clash between the two world champions, Styles and Lesnar took each other to the limit. While the favorite, Lesnar, walked out as the winner, The Phenomenal One proved that even in his 40s, he was capable of being labeled as one of the most athletically-gifted Superstars on the planet.
#1 Daniel Bryan prevents AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar II - WWE Survivor Series 2018
Survivor Series 2018 had quite a few exciting matchups on the main card, which featured the likes of Ronda Rousey, Seth Rollins, and Charlotte Flair. The PPV headliner, however, was a huge David vs. Goliath clash between Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar.
Much like this year's last-minute WWE title change between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton, D-Bry also pulled-off a similar antic that year. On the last SmackDown before Survivor Series 2018, Bryan earned himself a shot at the WWE Championship just by getting into a heated exchange with then-champion AJ Styles.
In what was the main event of SmackDown, Bryan went on to defeat Styles, but not without heel shenanigans. With the referee knocked down, Bryan hit Styles with a low-blow and pinned him to win the WWE title. In the process, Bryan ended the WWE Universe's dream of witnessing a grand rematch between Styles and Lesnar and also solidified his heel turn.
Despite the replacement, Daniel Bryan proved in the main event of Survivor Series that he is more than capable of putting on classics.
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