Welcome to another edition of WWE CREATIVE LICENSE—a spin-off of Fantasy Booking that dives a bit deeper into the idea of full creative control.
This segment opens up the fan fiction concept to more than just setting up an entire card and instead, revolves around generalized pitches for story ideas, ways to repackage characters, brainstorming brand new creative strategies and so on.
For this edition, I'll be focusing on something that I've seen pitched by several people as a potential part of the Survivor Series 2022 card: Could WWE put The Bloodline in a Survivor Series match this year?
I think there's a chance it happens, but that it isn't likely. So before we get closer to that event and it becomes either more of a reality set in stone or a guaranteed no chance, I'd like to present my balancing act of how I would go about booking that team's opposition and the rest of the card for Survivor Series 2022. I hope you enjoy the pitch!
Phase 1) Names Off the BoardI'm working under the assumption the 2022 WWE Draft doesn't take place before this to shuffle the rosters around. Also, nobody gets called up from NXT in the meantime, despite Solo Sikoa's random insertion onto the SmackDown brand.
I'm also going to handicap myself by not being able to use anyone who is currently MIA for any reason. That means no injured stars like Randy Orton or Rick Boogs, no kayfabe injuries like Edge, and no talent like Naomi, Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair, who are gone, but could theoretically pop up at any moment.
That limits us quite a bit, and when you take out the Superstars who won't turn any heads because they're just enhancement talent, the list to pull from gets whittled down to a smaller pool.
Phase 2) A Basic Match Lineup Structure
Normally, Survivor Series has Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown for the men and women, then all the champions against each other, and something else peppered in—maybe a random challenge, a women's tag team championship match, etc.
Since Roman Reigns and The Usos hold both brand's set of belts for those divisions, you can either have them defend the titles or not be on this card at all. I'm choosing the route of The Bloodline in a five-on-five match against "people from Raw and SmackDown, because it doesn't matter if it isn't brand warfare for this match as nobody wins anything if Raw or SmackDown comes out on top anyway."
But on top of that, I would go with Bobby Lashley vs. Gunther for the United States / Intercontinental challenge. For the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championship situation, I think we'll be looking at Bianca Belair vs. Ronda Rousey. Sorry, Liv Morgan fans. She's still on this card.
That means we need five men and women from Raw and SmackDown to go with the champion matches, then five more men from either brand to fight The Bloodline, and maybe one other match on the card.
That final match, to me, is better off being another women's match. So let's book the Women's Tag Team Championship on the line, taking four more women off the table. I'm expecting Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky to still be champions, and for their opponents, let's feed them Shotzi and Xia Li, I guess. Boy would I like this division to be better. Maybe there's enough time to build up those two as a team to justify a title shot.
Phase 3) Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown for the Women's Division
Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Bayley and Rhea Ripley are set for Team Raw. They're the biggest names you can put in there. That leaves one more spot, which would ideally go to a returning person like Carmella or Zelina Vega just for fun, but since I'm not counting them as options, we're left with Doudrop, Nikki A.S.H., Dana Brooke, Tamina or Sonya Deville (as she's not listed as a Raw or SmackDown star right now). I'd go with Deville, as she's the most standout of the bunch. If not, Doudrop, but they'd have to rehab her in the meantime.
For SmackDown, let's go with Liv Morgan, Natalya, Raquel Rodriguez and Shayna Baszler and guarantees. That fifth option could be either Aliyah or Lacey Evans. Considering the former is mostly a jobber and the latter is on wonky ground, take your pick, but it would depend to me on how you want to book this match. If you're looking for a quick elimination to cut down on time, go with Aliyah. If you want to make it seem like the scales are more even, go with Evans. For my money's worth, I think bigger stars makes more sense, so I'll pick Evans as the final member of this team.
Settling on the women's division teams is much easier than the men's.
Phase 4) Picks for The Bloodline's Opponents and Men's Raw and SmackDown Teams
You need solid names to contend with The Bloodline, or it'll be a blowout. However, you can't leave Raw and SmackDown hanging. They need good representatives for those brands, too.
Logically, Drew McIntyre has to be on the anti-Bloodline team. I think Kevin Owens is another obvious pick to offset Sami Zayn. One from Raw, one from SmackDown.
We need to keep McIntyre away from Karrion Kross, so let's put Kross on Team SmackDown. Likewise, Matt Riddle needs to stay away from Seth Rollins. Since Riddle's had beef with The Bloodline, he goes on that team and Rollins goes on Team Raw.
Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura have had issues with The Bloodline, but I think we can do better than both on the same team. Let's go Ricochet on anti-Bloodline and Nakamura on Team SmackDown.
Lastly, Madcap Moss has popped up as another ally against The Bloodline. When he gets put on that team, we're left with SmackDown still needing three people and Raw still needing four.
Johnny Gargano is a given for Team Raw. Even though he's feuding with Austin Theory, I think those two need to be on this team and give some tension to the group. But you can have some fun with it by having Tommaso Ciampa there, too. The Miz and/or Dexter Lumis works, too, but I like the idea of Gargano having two of his former teammates who he's feuded with and to stop Lumis from getting overexposed or for The Miz to just play a quick loss. He can be ringside to support Ciampa, if need be. Big fan of The Miz, but let's highlight Ciampa to keep things fresh.
Rounding out that team, I think Omos makes sense to represent Raw. He's huge. Why wouldn't you want him as an anchor?
To compensate, SmackDown puts Braun Strowman on their team. Let's see the two big guys go at it. They can even eliminate each other in a double count-out.
Baron Corbin is a great Survivor Series teammate. He can either be a big guy, the heel who costs the team an elimination, a comedic person who gets taken out fast, or a surprise solid guy taking other people out. He'd also balance out Rollins or Theory, in a way, as the rude guy who is full of himself and would potentially rather further his ego than win the match.
Lastly, Sheamus on Team SmackDown. The Brawling Brute is a former champion of all sorts of belts and would be another babyface (seemingly, at this point) who can offset Corbin and Kross and argue with them, maybe even starting a feud with Kross out of this.
Phase 5) Final Card for Survivor Series 2022
Here's what we're working with, after it's all said and done, in order of how I would present the card's lineup.
Women's Team Raw: Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Bayley, Rhea Ripley and Sonya Deville vs. Women's Team SmackDown: Lacey Evans, Liv Morgan, Natalya, Raquel Rodriguez and Shayna Baszler
United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Gunther
Women's Tag Team Championship Match: Damage CTRL (c) vs. Shotzi and Xia Li
Men's Team Raw: Austin Theory, Johnny Gargano, Omos, Seth Rollins and Tommaso Ciampa vs. Men's Team SmackDown: Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman, Karrion Kross, Sheamus and Shinsuke Nakamura
Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Ronda Rousey
The Bloodline vs. Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Madcap Moss, Matt Riddle and Ricochet
I think that balances out rather well. Most of the big names are on the card. The ones who aren't, like Judgment Day, don't get along with other teams, and we're in the interest of keeping certain people apart. Women's and men's matches are separated, as are tag team matches and singles matches, for the most part.
Team SmackDown wins for the women with Raquel being highlighted as sole survivor. Gunther beats Lashley. Kai and Sky retain. Team Raw wins for the men after Kross gets sucker-kicked by Sheamus and someone like Theory is able to just capitalize with a quick pin. Rousey beats Belair. It ends with Roman Reigns winning for his team and asserting his dominance above all brands as crossover champion.
What do you think?
Tell me your thoughts on my pitch as well as what you'd do if you were given Creative License and told to write a storyline with that goal in mind.
Drop a comment below and let me know!
