Survivor Series: WWE Cruiserweight Championship - Brian Kendrick (c) VS Kalisto

[Jack-Hammer]

It was announced on SmackDown Live tonight that another brand vs. brand title match will go down at Survivor Series with Brian Kendrick defending the Cruiserweight Championship against Kalisto. If Kalisto wins, then the Cruiserweight Championship and Division head to SmackDown Live.

This is interesting because I think it raises genuine doubts as to Dolph Ziggler retaining the IC title against Sami Zayn. When you take into account that the 205 Live show, which debuts on the WWE Network near the end of the month, is to take place after the SmackDown Live tapings, the odds of the blue brand gaining the Cruiserweight Division seem pretty strong. In some ways, it would go along with the schtick SmackDown has since it's branded itself "the land of opportunity" since the Cruiserweight Championship is so new, the Cruiserweight Division has only been active for a few months and it's not really prominent on Raw. The blue brand has its own recently created Women's and Tag Team Championships, so the Cruiserweight Championship & Division will seem right at home.

It's unlikely that the blue brand will control both the IC & Cruiserweight titles and while Kendrick vs. Kalisto is ultimately just sort of thrown together, the bigger picture could be a fresh start with the division being on SmackDown Live, which is where a lot of people felt it should have been in the first place.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Kendrick NEEDS to retain. RAW has the extra hour to give to Cruiserweights, SmackDown doesn't. It's as simple as that. Forcing SmackDown to shoulder the burden of the Cruiserweight division would kill the brand.

 

[ShinChan]

Brian Kendrick should retain here. He shouldn't lose to Kalisto of all people. Plus, he just won the title 10 days ago.

I won't want Smackdown to lose the InterContinental title either. What's left for the midcarders if there's no InterContinental title? Cruiserweight title is only for Cruiserweights, it can't replace the midcard title.

The Cruiserweights ain't working at Raw but replacing InterContinental title at Smackdown is an impossible task for Cruiserweight title.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Kendrick NEEDS to retain. RAW has the extra hour to give to Cruiserweights, SmackDown doesn't. It's as simple as that. Forcing SmackDown to shoulder the burden of the Cruiserweight division would kill the brand.

Sure, Raw has an extra hour but so what? They don't do anything with it pertaining to the Cruiserweight Division other than usually putting them in random six man tag matches. With 205 Live, the Cruiserweight Division has a show all to itself and that itself can render whatever Raw does as superfluous. Using 205 Live to help build storylines & characters while also utilizing them on SmackDown Live erases whatever "burden" the blue brand has from being 2 hours instead of 3.

Generally speaking though, I agree that the blue brand shouldn't give up the IC title if it comes down to that.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Kalisto loses and then on the next episode of Smackdown they make him their inaugural champions for their version of the cruiserweights.

I'm half joking. I wouldn't bat and eye if that happened.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

With the new 205 live show starting after survivor series, I wouldn't be surprised if they move the cruiserweight division to smackdown. The fact of the matter is that they've been pretty much wasted on raw right now and with the new show whould have these guys travelling to both taping anyway, so why not just bring the division to smackdown and use the first smackdown show as a way to introduce te divisin properly before they get they're own show the following week.

So why I'm not a huge fans of playing hot potato with this title like they are doing right now, maybe having somebody like kalisto as the head of the division would just help the division grow and become relevant.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

I haven't watched Smackdown yet, so I don't understand why Steph/Mick would agree to possibly losing the ENTIRE cruiserweight division. Was anything mentioned, other than Shane/Bryan making the match?

Part of me says that Kalisto will win, so Smackdown could get the cruiserwights. Raw wins the brand vs brand survivor series match and get a couple draft picks(and a few NXT callups to even everything out).
The other part is saying that wwe has long stopped thinking over and above. This match will be forgettable and only exist to get a win under Kendrick championship reign, so he can eventually lose to Swann.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I haven't watched Smackdown yet, so I don't understand why Steph/Mick would agree to possibly losing the ENTIRE cruiserweight division. Was anything mentioned, other than Shane/Bryan making the match?

No reason was given, as I recall. The general attitude seemed to be that it was mostly a quid pro quo kinda thing; since the blue brand is putting one of its titles on the line against a Raw wrestler, the red brand is putting one of its titles against a SmackDown wrestler. It goes with the whole "brand superiority" aspect surrounding Survivor Series. Roman Reigns was already part of the Raw men's Survivor Series team, the only title available was the Cruiserweight Championship.

Honestly, that works for me because there are, every once in a while, aspects that only require a little common sense to see why it's going down. At the same time, I think it could've worked a bit better if Bryan & Shane, since they'll be on Raw this Monday, goaded Stephanie & Mick into agreeing to the match since there'll be all sorts of "tension" and passive aggressive tactics used by all of them. Still, it's hardly a deal breaker as the importance of this match isn't exactly high.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The stipulation seems to big for it not to occur. Kendrick was only ever going to have a short reign, the division isn't really working on the micro managed Raw and they must see Kalisto as credible as he's a two time(!) United States champ.

 

[L@RISANO]

Sure, Raw has an extra hour but so what? They don't do anything with it pertaining to the Cruiserweight Division other than usually putting them in random six man tag matches. With 205 Live, the Cruiserweight Division has a show all to itself and that itself can render whatever Raw does as superfluous. Using 205 Live to help build storylines & characters while also utilizing them on SmackDown Live erases whatever "burden" the blue brand has from being 2 hours instead of 3.

Generally speaking though, I agree that the blue brand shouldn't give up the IC title if it comes down to that.

I see the Cruiserweights gaining some prominence through 205 Live as well as SD Live as well. Something that has been sorely lacking on RAW for their division since it began.

As for the IC title, I believe Reigns vs Owens at Roadblock will be some sort of title vs title match with the US and Universal title on the line... One has to wonder if WWE might be thinking of shelving the US title and thus the IC title could be heading to RAW after Survivor Series to become the sole Midcard title for the long term.

 

[ShinChan]

As for the IC title, I believe Reigns vs Owens at Roadblock will be some sort of title vs title match with the US and Universal title on the line... One has to wonder if WWE might be thinking of shelving the US title and thus the IC title could be heading to RAW after Survivor Series to become the sole Midcard title for the long term.

Let's assume that the things you said become reality.

Then there's no midcard title left for Smackdown. What's left for the midcarders? Nothing.

I don't think that Smackdown should be without any midcard title. Not everyone is going to challenge the world title.

 

[sMark]

What i want to see is Stephanie go all angry on Kendrick and Zayn:
- Brian if you lose tonight, Cruiserweights will never be a part of RAW again! (Nope, they will have their own show and Kalisto as champion)
- Sami if you lose tonight, you fired! (so IC title stay on SD and Zayn can go there, since this is where he is needed right now)

The rest of interpromotional matches should go like this:
Tag Team - SD wins, since their tag scene is better
Women - RAW wins, since they are better
Men - RAW wins, Ellsworth cost couple of guys, Shane is the ultimate looser. So Ellsworth can go into the sunset and Shane branded the guy who lost it all, not other 4.

 

[L@RISANO]

Let's assume that the things you said become reality.

Then there's no midcard title left for Smackdown. What's left for the midcarders? Nothing.

I don't think that Smackdown should be without any midcard title. Not everyone is going to challenge the world title.

SD Live has had logical storyline writing since it began.

Thus, with the World, Womens, TAG and possibly Cruiserweight titles on the show, and also the fact that SD Live clearly has a nonexistent Midcard scene, does SD Live really need a nailed-on Midcard title to fight over with the personnel at their disposal?

Or can it just be that the select few who are in the IC hunt step up for a chance at the Main title and the show continues its logical storytelling?

Another thing, SD Live has shown that they are willing to rotate talents to suit their storylines also and that has meant not having to cram certain superstars on the show just because, ntm, whereas RAW seems to tell stories for climax at PPVs only, SD Live has a start and a finish that doesn't always have to follow such a formula which allows the show to flow and make it easy to watch. So far so good, I await post-Survivor Series with great anticipation.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As for the IC title, I believe Reigns vs Owens at Roadblock will be some sort of title vs title match with the US and Universal title on the line... One has to wonder if WWE might be thinking of shelving the US title and thus the IC title could be heading to RAW after Survivor Series to become the sole Midcard title for the long term.

While I suppose it's possible, I don't think it's all that likely. The Roadblock ppv is just slightly more than a month from now and if there was talk backstage of retiring the US title in favor of the IC title, I think there's a very strong chance that such talk would've leaked out by now. That's not always the case, of course, but such rumors do usually find their way to the internet and to my knowledge, there's been absolutely zero chatter about that.

I could see SmackDown retaining control of the IC title and gaining the Cruiserweight Championship. While Raw may have the extra hour of time, it's not as if they've actually been devoting that time to the Cruiserweight Division. So by having them on SmackDown Live and by airing 205 Live on the network, it just seems like the logical thing to do.

As for the Intercontinental Championship, I think it's had a great year in 2016 and certainly the best year it's had in quite a long time. I think part of that is due, at least since the brand split, to the title being on SmackDown where, let's face it, the overall booking and storytelling is much more coherent and consistent. Raw has the greater overall exposure due in no small part to SmackDown always having been the taped show, the show that's not really gotten the same relevant treatment as Raw. However, SmackDown having control of the original WWE Championship, the original WWE mid-card title in the Intercontinental Championship and stealing the Cruiserweight Division from Raw would be, from a storyline perspective, a nice way of sticking to the red brand.

As of right now, there are 5 interbrand matches, which means that one side is ultimately going to come out on the winning end. I can see the Raw women & tag team teams winning their elimination tag team matches while the SmackDown men win theirs, Kalisto wins the Cruiserweight Championship and Ziggler retains the Intercontinental Championship. The blue brand is sort of the underdog in this and with this being their first sort of rivalry with Raw, it'd be fun to see the underdogs ultimately come out on top because Raw always brags about its superiority, being the "A show" and all that, it has for years, so having Raw come out on the short end of the stick could make it interesting in the long term potentially by having Raw do something that doesn't normally happen: the "B show" getting the overall better of it.