WWE Survivor Series 2024 preview: Punk makes Roman Reigns look strong again

WWE Survivor Series takes place tonight (Sat. Nov. 30) from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It begins at 4 p.m. ET with the free Countdown show, which runs for two hours on YouTube, WWE.com and various other social media outlets. It leads right into the PPV at 6 p.m. ET, which you can stream from a number of devices if you have a subscription to Peacock in the US and WWE Network everywhere else.

CM Punk makes Roman Reigns look strong again

The Bloodline Civil War comes to a head tonight at the War Games when CM Punk joins the OG Bloodline in a survival battle against Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline and Bronson Reed. For those readers unfamiliar with what a War Games match is, you can catch up on all the rules right here.

Roman Reigns went on hiatus after his loss to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania. During that time, Sikoa made quick moves to force Jimmy Uso and Paul Heyman out of The Bloodline, add the Tongans and Jacob Fatu to the mix and proclaim himself to be the new Tribal Chief.

It’s the battleground Roman returned to at SummerSlam when he stopped Sikoa from winning the Undisputed WWE Championship from Rhodes. Reigns and Sikoa have been at it since then, but OTC needed help dealing with the numbers game on Solo’s side.

Jimmy returned and convinced Roman to try to work things out with Jey, while Sami Zayn also offered his services to return to the family for this war. However, they struggled to find a fifth man until The Wiseman returned and brought CM Punk into the fold as the final member for an undisclosed favor in return.

So how can Solo’s team stop the reunited OG Bloodline at the War Games? Well, Fatu earned his team the War Games advantage by defeating Jey in a singles match. There is also the fact that Roman and CM absolutely do not like each other. This dates back to a decade ago when Punk’s “make Roman look strong” storyline swept the internet and contributed to fan backlash against Reigns at the time. If these two top stars can’t work together at the War Games, OG Bloodline may fall apart and be forced to surrender to Solo Sikoa.

CM Punk claims he is joining this war out of loyalty to Heyman. That means his job tonight is ultimately to make Roman Reigns look strong again by standing tall with him as winners inside the double cage at the War Games. Is this how things will play out, or will a wild card like Seth Rollins show up to ruin both teams’ plans? You’ll have to tune in to Survivor Series to see which version of The Bloodline wins this civil war.

The rest of the map

Here are the four remaining matches also announced for Survivor Series:

War Games: Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, IYO SKY, Bayley & Naomi Vs. Nia Jax, Liv Morgan, Candice LeRae, Raquel Rodriguez & Tiffany Stratton

Of course, Rhea Ripley will go to war with Liv Morgan after the Women’s World Champion tried to take everything from Rhea during her revenge tour this year. Liv and Raquel tried to take Rhea out for good by breaking her face with a baseball bat in the NXT parking lot, but Ripley returned just a few weeks later wearing a protective mask and ready to tear Morgan apart. Liv also has IYO breathing down his neck as the new number one contender for the World Championship.

The other drama going on here is the mysterious backstage attack on Jade Cargill that forced Bianca’s team to replace her with Bayley. Bayley earned that spot by helping Belair defeat Nia Jax to gain the advantage in this War Games match.

Will Liv and Raquel try to hurt someone else on the team before the match begins to neutralize that advantage? Will the babyface tag team implode regardless due to past issues between Bayley, IYO SKY and Belair? Is tonight the right time for Tiffany Stratton to cash in on her Money in the Bank contract, given that Liv Morgan and WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax may be incapacitated at some point during this war? Will we find out who attacked Jade?

GUNTHER (c) vs. Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship

GUNTHER lost his mojo after falling to Cody Rhodes in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. Damian Priest made sure to rub that failure in GUNTHER’s face as he claimed he would take the World Championship back from the Ring General at Survivor Series. GUNTHER tried to ambush Priest backstage, but he also failed, which only made his confidence worse.

WWE has essentially tried to do as much as possible to make it seem like Damian has a good chance to win this match, even if the betting markets aren’t buying it one bit. Is it because Finn Balor is lurking somewhere in the shadows ready to make sure his former Doomsday stablemate never holds this belt again?

LA Knight (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Championship

The megastar needed a new challenger after he defeated Carmelo Hayes and Andrade at Crown Jewel. Enter Shinsuke Nakamura, who returned to WWE television for the first time since April to portray Knight. Shinsuke has been getting over LA all month long, and that includes blasting him with the Kinshasa as well as blinding him with black fog. Can Knight make the necessary adjustments in time to beat Shinsuke and retain his mid-card gold at Survivor Series?

Bron Breaker (c) vs. Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser for the Intercontinental Championship

When someone new wins the Intercontinental Championship, it won’t be long before the Celtic Warrior comes knocking on their door, because it’s the one title in WWE that has eluded him throughout his career. Sheamus and Bron actually battled for the belt earlier this month, but the finish was ruined by Ludwig Kaiser, who has been a thorn in Sheamus’ side for quite some time. Now all three men will battle it out with the title on the line at Survivor Series.

Overview

Let’s face it, the undercard title matches are fine and all, but Survivor Series is about the two War Games matches. The Bloodline Civil War in particular is the most anticipated WWE main event since WrestleMania, and that was true even before CM Punk entered the match. I’d argue that CM and Roman on the same team is a more compelling dynamic to watch than Reigns’ partnership with Cody Rhodes from last month at Bad Blood. The Bloodline storyline pretty much always hits home, and there’s no reason to think things will be any different tonight at Survivor Series.

What will you be looking for at Survivor Series?