Survivor Series is coming up, and with the men, women and tag teams each getting their own designated contests, just about every Superstar on the Raw and SmackDown LIVE rosters has been pledged to a team. But what if an individual Superstar was given carte blanche to pick their own squad? WWE.com interviewed 10 Superstars to see who they’d select for their dream Survivor Series teams.
You can probably guess who WWE World Champion AJ Styles picked to be on his team: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. No fourth guy? No fourth guy. (Sorry, Finn.) Why no fourth guy? “Because together, we are The Club, and we don’t need anyone else.” When it comes to tradition, safe to say he don’t want none.
The Phenomenal One’s running mate hewed a bit more to tradition in selecting his own Survivor Series team, though Anderson definitely kept his allies in-house for the most part by picking fellow Bullet Club alumni Luke Gallows (“I don’t do anything without him”), AJ Styles (“We came into WWE together”) and Finn Bálor (“My best friend”) as his core. Randy Orton, who he describes as “the best wrestler in the world over the last 10-15 years,” is the outlier, with one condition: “[As] long as he accepts us, which I have a sneaky feeling he would.” As for his team name? Trademark issues prevent Anderson from his first choice, but happily, he’s come up with a solution: “Bbbullet Clubbb.” Too-sweet me, brother.
Proving great minds think alike, The Suntan Biker Man’s own Survivor Series team was a near-mirror of his tag team partner’s, with Bruiser Brody taking the place of Randy Orton as his crew’s fifth man. “The Club is too sweet, and Bruiser Brody would make it even better.” He even named his own team The Bullet Club, and while he didn’t share Anderson’s wariness of copyright issues, he commended his partner for his smarts: “He’s a creative fellow.”
Currently terrorizing the ranks of WWE NXT, Samoa Joe is one of the most destructive big men WWE has seen in a long time. So it makes sense that the former NXT Champion shored up his own Survivor Series ranks with, as he calls it, “A lot of mean, nasty dudes put together to wreck shop”: Yokozuna, The Ultimate Warrior, and Mark Henry. The fourth man? The “tough” and “lethal” Bad News Brown, whose skills as a judoka make him an ideal pick, though Joe did acknowledge the potential difficulties. “He does have a bad history with Survivor Series and not being quite the team player,” he admitted, “But I think he would come around to the cause.”
Don’t let the hugs fool you: Bayley is a student of WWE first and foremost, and The Huggable One’s dream team is a who’s who of the industry’s most accomplished names, beginning with her closest friend and greatest rival: “I believe with [Sasha Banks] on our side, we would win,” said Bayley, “And maybe we’re, like, best friends or something.” Bayley also made room for “childhood hero” Lita and “Macho Man” Randy Savage, who was the first Superstar she ever saw on a TV screen. And, last but not least, NXT trainer Norman Smiley, who “taught [her] things that I never thought I could ever learn, that I never knew before, that I will never forget. He’s probably one of the most incredible technical wrestlers you will ever see.” Oh, and she’s already got her celebration planned out: “We’d probably get some inflatables in the ring and do the Big Wiggle.”
Raw’s dastardly WWE Cruiserweight Champion had one quality when looking for his teammates: Unpredictability. Hence the selections of Brian Pillman and Eddie Guerrero. “[With] both these men, it’s win-at-all-costs for them,” explained Kendrick. “That’s something I aspire to be like.” From WWE NXT, he plucked the Women’s Champion Asuka — “she’s got a viciousness about her” — and Bam Bam Bigelow from the past to fill out the size/nastiness quotient. While that may seem like an odd crew on its face, like everything Kendrick does, there’s a reason behind it, even if it can’t be seen at first: “The four of them — and, hopefully, in some ways I resemble them — we don’t care what we have to do to win. Ugly is fine.”
“Please sign Cedric” was the rallying cry for this beloved Cruiserweight, but who would Cedric Alexander sign if he was given the green light to do so? “Right off the bat, Rob Van Dam. Because come on, he’s Rob Van Dam.” So far so good. Who else? “The Undertaker, because, once again, he’s The Undertaker. He’s The Phenom. How could you not want The Phenom on your team?” Proving he’s on a different level strategically than his peers, Cedric was also the only person we interviewed who picked Brock Lesnar, and for his final pick? “The Rock. I love The Rock. He’s awesome. Pretty short and simple reasons, but to me, that’s the ultimate dream team.”
SmackDown LIVE’s beloved Tag Team Champion has never been the most conventional Superstar. So it’s not surprising his dream team is comprised of both men and women: In addition to the record-setting (for now) Demolition, The One Man Band has roped in Haystacks Calhoun and Luna Vachon for his group. That’s enough talent to fill even the biggest above-ground pool.
Given that Alexa Bliss has stormed SmackDown LIVE’s Women’s division like a five-foot house on fire, it’s only fitting that she’s stocking her Survivor Series team with a similar cadre of rabble-rousers. “I want the most dominating and the most intimidating women in WWE history on my team,” said Alexa. Hence her multitalented #squadgoal: Luna Vachon, Sensational Sherri, Nia Jax and Lita.
Usually, with these dream Survivor Series teams, WWE.com offers some kind of editorial connective tissue between the Superstars’ comments. But to be perfectly honest? We don’t want to end up on The List of Jericho. So here, in full, are The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla’s comments. Drink ‘em in, maaaaannn.
“I’ve put a lot of thought into this, as you can imagine. Two weeks, I believe. Just daily, daily, 24/7, and I’ve come to a conclusion. First of all, I would be on it. I would be captaining it, of course. I think that should be very important. Then also, I would go with Eddie Guerrero — the only person in WWE history as devious and underhanded as I am. Then I would go with Shawn Michaels, my greatest rival of all time, who is the only person crazy enough to match up with me. I don’t trust him, but I know he would fight to the death with me because I’ve gone through hell many, many times with him. Then, of course, King Kong Bundy would have to be involved, because he wants five, meaning he wants all five of our opponents. He will pin them all for a count of five. And then, as the dark horse, Funaki. Very devious, very sneaky man. He can be a great interviewer for our team. He would be the guy who kind of interviews the four of us before we go out there. So Jericho, Michaels, Bundy and Funaki. That’s got victory written all over it.”