The 2016 Survivor Series was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American company WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 30th annual Survivor Series and took place on November 20, 2016, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event centered on the Survivor Series match, a tag team elimination match that pits teams of multiple wrestlers against each other. The event was also based around interbrand competition.
Eight matches were contested at the event, including two on the Kickoff pre-show. The main event featured the in-ring return of Goldberg, who last wrestled at WrestleMania XX in March 2004, where he defeated Brock Lesnar in 1 minute and 26 seconds, which was a rematch from that WrestleMania. The other five matches on the main card were interbrand matches, featuring wrestlers from Raw against those from SmackDown, similar to WWE's previous Bragging Rights event. Three of those matches were Survivor Series matches; Raw's women and tag teams defeated SmackDown's while SmackDown's men defeated Raw in the penultimate match. In other prominent matches, SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion The Miz and Raw's Cruiserweight Champion The Brian Kendrick retained their titles against challengers from the opposing brand, Raw's Sami Zayn and SmackDown's Kalisto, respectively; had Kalisto won the Cruiserweight Championship, the entire cruiserweight division would have been transferred to SmackDown. The 2016 event also had both the longest and the (tied) shortest matches in the event's history.
This was the second Survivor Series to take place in Canada, after 1997, which was in Montreal, Quebec. It was also the first Survivor Series to be four hours in length as well as the first held following the reintroduction of the brand split in July. This event was the genesis of what became the brand supremacy theme of Survivor Series for the next five years, where in addition to Survivor Series matches that pitted the brands against each other, the champions of each brand faced off in non-title matches.
Production Background
Survivor Series is an annual professional wrestling event, produced every November by WWE since 1987, generally held around Thanksgiving in the United States. It was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simultaneously livestreaming on the WWE Network in 2014. In what has become the second longest-running PPV event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four PPVs, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble, referred to as 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. The 30th Survivor Series event was scheduled to be held on November 20, 2016, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the first Survivor Series event to take place in Canada, after 1997, which was in Montreal, Quebec and was known for the infamous "Montreal Screwjob" incident. Tickets went on sale on July 15 through Ticketmaster.
In July, WWE reintroduced the brand extension, again splitting the main roster between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform. Subsequently, Survivor Series featured several interpromotional matches to determine which was the better brand, similar to WWE's previous Bragging Rights event. WWE also expanded the event's length to four hours, marking the first Survivor Series held for this length, which was previously reserved for WrestleMania.
Storylines The event comprised eight matches, including two on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.
On the October 11 episode of SmackDown, SmackDown's Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan challenged Raw to three traditional Survivor Series elimination matches, involving each brand's best five male wrestlers, best five female wrestlers, and best five tag teams, respectively—with the latter having a total of 10 wrestlers per team, but with the stipulation being that if one member of a tag team was eliminated, both members of that particular tag team were eliminated (this was the first Survivor Series since the 1988 event to have teams of five tag teams going against each other). The following week on Raw, Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon accepted the challenge to determine the better brand; this would be the genesis for the theme of the next five events.
Over the following weeks, several tag teams were scheduled for the tag team elimination match. For Team SmackDown, Heath Slater and Rhyno were made captain by virtue of being SmackDown Tag Team Champions on the October 25 episode of SmackDown. They then successfully defended their titles (and their spot at Survivor Series) against The Spirit Squad (Kenny and Mikey) in an impromptu match. The same night, The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley) qualified for the team by defeating The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor). American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) and The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) both qualified on the November 1 episode by defeating The Spirit Squad and The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher), respectively. On the November 8 episode, Breezango defeated The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) to qualify as the final tag team for Team SmackDown. On the final SmackDown before Survivor Series, Booker T in his King Booker character gave a motivational speech to the team. For Team Raw, Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) were revealed as captains on the October 31 episode of Raw. The remaining four spots were filled the following week: Cesaro and Sheamus, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, and The Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth). The New Day addressed the teams and then Gallows and Anderson, who were at odds with the rest of Team Raw, defeated Big E and Kingston in a non-title match. Also, R-Truth sold his team's spot to The Shining Stars (Epico and Primo) for a timeshare. The Golden Truth then fought The Shining Stars in a losing effort to get their spot back.
The spots for the women's elimination match were also successively filled. On the October 25 episode of SmackDown, Nikki Bella became captain of Team SmackDown by defeating Natalya, who had demanded that position for herself. On the November 1 episode, SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch, the number one contender Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Naomi were revealed as the remaining team members, with Natalya introduced as the team's coach. On the November 8 episode, the team's unity was strained when Carmella confronted Bella. Natalya, who was involved in a match against Naomi, tried to separate the two, which cost her the match. The same night, Lynch successfully defended her championship against Bliss, albeit in controversial fashion. For Team Raw, Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair (as team captain), Bayley, and Nia Jax were revealed as team members on the October 31 episode of Raw. On the November 7 episode, Alicia Fox and Sasha Banks were introduced as the final members. Earlier, Charlotte had falsely advertised her protégé Dana Brooke as the fifth member, only to be corrected by Michael Cole. Banks, Bayley, and Fox then defeated Charlotte, Jax, and Brooke in a six-woman tag team match when Bayley pinned Charlotte. On the November 14 episode, due to differences between team members, Charlotte and Banks teamed up and defeated Fox and Jax. On the final SmackDown before Survivor Series, Charlotte came down to ringside during a match between Bella and Carmella. Bella then attacked Charlotte, which prompted the rest of Team Raw to attack Bella. Carmella and the rest of Team SmackDown then came to Bella's aid. The two teams brawled with Team SmackDown getting the upper hand.
The teams for the men's elimination match began to take shape on the October 31 episode of Raw, when after weeks of lobbying for the position, WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho were made co-captains of Team Raw. General Manager Mick Foley then also added United States Champion Roman Reigns. Braun Strowman qualified by winning a 12-man battle royal. On the November 7 episode, Seth Rollins was revealed as the final member. To settle the team's differences, Stephanie McMahon put all five men in a fatal five-way match, which culminated in Owens accidentally pinning Jericho. On the final Raw before Survivor Series, Stephanie tested the team's unity by having the team of Owens and Reigns and the team of Jericho, Rollins, and Strowman face Cesaro and Sheamus and The New Day, respectively, which both teams won. For Team SmackDown, Daniel Bryan introduced all members on the November 1 episode of SmackDown: WWE World Champion AJ Styles (as captain), Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, and Baron Corbin. A week later, Shane McMahon made James Ellsworth the team's mascot. To settle some of the team's differences, Shane also scheduled a six-man tag match pitting The New Wyatt Family (Bray, Orton, and Luke Harper) against Ambrose, Ellsworth, and Corbin. When Corbin refused to take part in the match, he was replaced by Kane, and Corbin instead wrestled Kalisto; during the match, he was kayfabe injured, rendering him unable to compete at Survivor Series. After the Wyatts defeated Ambrose, Ellsworth, and Kane, Daniel Bryan named Shane McMahon as Corbin's replacement at Survivor Series. On the November 7 episode of Raw, Stephanie invited both Shane and Bryan to appear on the following week's Raw to address the interpromotional matches, which Shane and Bryan accepted. During this meeting, each commissioner and general manager touted the reasons for why their respective brand was better and eventually called out their respective male teams. In the ensuing battle, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins of Team Raw stood tall at the end. On the final SmackDown before Survivor Series, SmackDown's male team were the guests on Edge's Cutting Edge show to address the match and their team unity. The Undertaker then came out and warned the team to win the match or face consequences.