Shane McMahon to captain SmackDown’s Survivor Series team
WWE continued to round out SmackDown’s team for Survivor Series on tonight’s episode.
Shane McMahon opened the show and announced himself as the brand’s men’s division team captain, with the storyline pitting him directly against a familiar rival in Kurt Angle. Angle was announced as Raw’s team captain on Monday night.
Two more members joined SmackDown’s team later in the night as Bobby Roode (who defeated Dolph Ziggler in a two-out-of-three falls match) and Shinsuke Nakamura (who beat Kevin Owens with some help from Randy Orton as he overcame Sami Zayn’s interference) won their qualifying matches.
Earlier in the show, Owens and Zayn met backstage and furthered their issues with Shane by lamenting that he gives himself and his friends all of the opportunities
Shane, Orton, Roode, and Nakamura have now been officially confirmed as being part of the team, with a qualifying match between AJ Styles and Rusev to decide their final member next week. Angle and Braun Strowman have been announced for the Raw side for the traditional five-on-five elimination tag match between the brands.
If all goes according to plan, Styles will be confirmed as SmackDown’s last team member and Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, and Finn Balor will join Angle and Strowman.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.