The 2022 Survivor Series was the 36th annual Survivor Series professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It took place on November 26, 2022, at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV), Peacock in the United States, and the WWE Network internationally.
Production
Background
Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event, produced every November by WWE since 1987. The second longest running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and Money in the Bank. The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically features teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. The 2022 event was the 36th event under the Survivor Series chronology and occured on November 26, 2022, at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Since WWE reintroduced the brand split in 2016, Survivor Series has centered around competition between wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown for brand supremacy. The 2019 event had also featured WWE's former developmental territory NXT—which had become WWE's third main brand that year—involved in the brand competition; however, NXT was removed from the competition with the 2020 event.
Since the 2017 event, the champions of Raw have faced their SmackDown counterparts in non-title matches. However, on September 19, 2022, WWE announced that, rather than brand supremacy, the 2022 Survivor Series would feature two WarGames matches, one for male competitors and one for female competitors. With the WarGames match previously being featured at NXT's annual WarGames event, it marked the first time the match had been featured on the main roster.
Storylines
The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines, 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 WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
Since the creation of The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley), AJ Styles had been feuding with the group. On the October 10, 2022 episode of Raw, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows made their return to WWE, helping Styles fend off an attack from The Judgment Day, reforming The O.C. in the process. At Crown Jewel, Styles, Anderson, and Gallows faced Bálor, Priest, and Dominik Mysterio in a Six Man Tag Team Match, but were defeated following interference from Ripley. In order to even the odds, The O.C. confronted The Judgment Day on the November 7 episode of Raw, introducing a returning Mia Yim as the newest member of The O.C. The following week, it was announced that Styles would face Bálor in singles competition at Survivor Series.
On the November 11, 2022 episode of SmackDown, Shotzi won a Six-Pack Challenge, earning a match against SmackDown Women's Championship Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series.
On the October 10, 2022 episode of Raw, after a returning Brock Lesnar attacked Bobby Lashley, Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Lashley to win the United States Championship. Rollins held an open challenge on the November 7 episode of Raw, which was answered by Lashley. However, a match between the two would not begin as Lashley attacked Rollins. Following the attack, Austin Theory cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, but failed to win the United States Championship from Rollins after Lashley also attacked him. The following week, Lashley declared he would continue to target Rollins until he won the United States Championship back. Later that night, following Rollins' victory over Finn Bálor, Theory attacked Rollins. The next week, it was announced that Rollins would defend the United States Championship against Lashley and Theory in a Triple Threat Match at Survivor Series.
At SummerSlam, following her victory over Becky Lynch, Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair was confronted by a returning Bayley, who was joined by Dakota Kai and IYO SKY. Bayley, Kai, and SKY, dubbing themselves Damage CTRL, feuded with Belair and her allies, Asuka and Alexa Bliss. Belair would retain her Raw Women's Championship against Bayley at both Extreme Rules and Crown Jewel. On the October 31, 2022 episode of Raw, Asuka and Bliss won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship from Kai and SKY, however, at Crown Jewel, Kai and SKY would win back the title following interference from Nikki Cross. On the Raw following Crown Jewel, Belair, Asuka, and Bliss challenged DAMAGE CTRL to a WarGames match. DAMAGE CTRL accepted, with Cross joining their WarGames team. Mia Yim, who had recently returned to WWE, aligned herself with Belair's team, while Rhea Ripley joined Bayley's team. On the November 21 episode of Raw, Bayley's team earned the WarGames advantage after Ripley defeated Asuka. On the November 25 episode of SmackDown, Belair revealed that the final member of her team would be a returning Becky Lynch.
On the October 21, 2022 episode of SmackDown, The Bloodline (Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Sami Zayn and Solo Sikoa) attacked and injured Sheamus, sparking a feud between The Bloodline and The Brawling Brutes. Sheamus' stablemates Butch and Ridge Holland challenged The Usos for the Raw Tag Team Championship and SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Crown Jewel, but were defeated. On the November 11 episode of SmackDown, The Brawling Brutes brawled with The Bloodline, with The Bloodline's leader, Roman Reigns, becoming involved. However, The Brawling Brutes were outnumbered, and as a result, Drew McIntyre would even the odds. The following week, it was announced that The Brawling Brutes, along with McIntyre, who had history with Reigns, would face The Bloodline in a WarGames match at Survivor Series. Later that night, Kevin Owens joined The Brawling Brutes and McIntyre due to him also having history with The Bloodline.
Match Preview
| AJ Styles vs. Finn Bálor | Preview |
| Ronda Rousey vs. Shotzi | Preview |
| Seth "Freakin" Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Austin Theory | Preview |
| Women's WarGames match | Preview |
| Men's WarGames match | Preview |
Results
- Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
- (c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
- Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair & Mia Yim defeated Nikki Cross, Rhea Ripley & Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai & IYO SKY) in the Women's WarGames match (39:35)
- AJ Styles (w/Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) defeated Finn Bálor (w/Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio) (18:23)
- Ronda Rousey (c) (w/Shayna Baszler) defeated Shotzi to retain the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship (7:12)
- Austin Theory defeated Seth "Freakin" Rollins (c) and Bobby Lashley in a Triple Threat Match to win the WWE United States Championship (14:50)
- The Bloodline (Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn & Solo Sikoa) (w/Paul Heyman) defeated Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens & The Brawling Brutes (Butch, Ridge Holland & Sheamus) in the Men's WarGames match (38:32)
Other on-screen talent
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See also
DVD release
[ Survivor Series 2022 on DVD]
External links
Survivor Series 2022 Official Website
Survivor Series 2022 Kickoff on WWE Network
Survivor Series 2022 on WWE Network- Survivor Series 2022 at CAGEMATCH.net
| Survivor Series 2022 previews |
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| AJ Styles v Finn Bálor • Ronda Rousey v Shotzi • Seth Rollins v Bobby Lashley v Austin Theory • Women's WarGames Match • Men's WarGames Match |
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