SummerSlam has come and gone, unofficially marking the end of a season of WWE programming. For traditional fans, WWE has a history of building around its big four PPVs. The Royal Rumble kicks off the year by highlighting a who’s who of the roster and featuring a few returning stars, while setting the table for WrestleMania. The spring builds to that biggest show of the year. The summer often gets its own focused program like Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake, The Nexus invasion, The (WWE version of the) Summer of Punk, and Brock Lesnar’s feud with The Undertaker. And then there’s Survivor Series.

Survivor Series was created to both counter program against the NWA’s annual Starrcade super show and to spotlight a second Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant showdown while mixing things up a little and spotlighting some other talents in the process. It’s the second oldest surviving annual show for WWE, and though it has lost some of its luster relative to the other big four, it remains a show where big things can happen, which has in recent years included CM Punk starting his year plus reign with the WWE Championship, Sting arriving in WWE, and Braun Strowman formalizing his face turn opposite partner Triple H last year.

A lot will happen between now and mid-November to set the stage for Survivor Series. We don’t know for sure quite what it will look like, but there’s a lot to speculate on with each passing week of Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live, not to mention the Hell in a Cell and Evolution PPVs in between. This article takes a look at 20 major happenings that could go down in WWE by Survivor Series.

20 The Return Of The Wyatt Family

On the Raw after SummerSlam, the Shield staged an impromptu reunion, when Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose had Roman Reigns’s back to fend off Braun Strowman’s attempt at cashing in his Money in the Bank contract.

But now that The Shield is back, Strowman has 'joined up' with Ziggler and McIntyre, but that can't be a long-term program. If Strrowman's a heel again, why not reunite one of the better heel groups of the past few years?

Strowman was a part of the Wyatt Family, and with former ally Bray Wyatt largely floating in the wind, and Luke Harper recently thrown off course by Erick Rowan’s injury, there is a pack who could very well re-assemble. The Wyatts and The Shield had a stellar rivalry back in 2014 and we may see it revisited four years later.

19 Samoa Joe Wins The WWE Championship

AJ Styles’s reign with the WWE Championship is growing historically long, and this summer he eclipsed JBL as the longest reigning SmackDown exclusive world champion of all time.

Styles has survived challenges from Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Jinder Mahal. But can he survive Samoa Joe?

While Styles has been great, particularly as an in ring performer, there are questions about what more he can really do with this title reign. Meanwhile, Joe is a respected veteran of the business who has thrived in every role WWE has cast him in. There’s reason to believe WWE may well pull the trigger on giving him the title.

18 The Four Horsewomen of MMA On Raw

Ronda Rousey has successfully transitioned her legitimate fighting skills into the pro wrestling format. It’s particularly impressive how well she has worked as a crossover face—the kind of star casual and hardcore fans alike seem to be behind.

The one knock on Rousey has been how happy she looks on-screen, undermining the tough attitude that helped elevate her to mainstream celebrity during her UFC career. Turning heel may well help her unlock that part of her personality, besides which she has the makings of terrifically intimidating heel.

Another piece of the puzzle? All three of Rousey’s self-proclaimed Four Horsewomen of MMA friends are signed to NXT. Shayna Baszler just dropped the NXT Women’s Championship, and it could be just a matter of time before she leads the rest of the pack up to the main roster.

17 Triple H Retires The Undertaker

This fall, WWE will stage its second international stadium show spectacular of the year when the company visits Australia for the Super Show-Down. The key match announced already sees Triple H battle The Undertaker.

Taker has actually worked more matches in 2018 than in recent years, as a hip surgery seems to have brought some spring back to his step, and he’s good to go for short outings. While Triple H isn’t known for short matches, he’ll surely cater to Taker’s needs in this case.

But who wins the match? There’s every chance WWE sends the stadium crowd happy with The Phenom beating The Game decisively. However, if the two do go all out for one last fully realized match, it’s also possible that Triple H not only wins, but sends his legendary foe riding off into the sunset after a final great showing.

16 Brock Lesnar Returns

Brock Lesnar lost his Universal Championship to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam. The prevailing wisdom was that that meant The Beast Incarnate was going to ride off into the sunset, at least for the time being, to focus on his UFC return.

But what if Lesnar comes back sooner?

In terms of storyline logic, Kurt Angle made it clear that he wouldn’t welcome back Lesnar, particularly for his title rematch, anytime soon. However, when Angle said that, Stephanie McMahon sent him home.

It would follow that the door is now open for Lesnar to come back, and WWE could very much swerve its audience if he were to return much sooner than anyone expects.

15 Charlotte Flair And Becky Lynch Flip Roles

SummerSlam saw Becky Lynch turn heel, assaulting Charlotte Flair after she won their Triple Threat Match with Carmella and walked out SmackDown Women’s Champion. The trouble with this scenario was that, for as logical and well executed as the moment was, the hardcore fans in Brooklyn were all too eager cheer on Lynch and boo Flair. The dynamic continued on the subsequent SmackDown.

While WWE clearly sees Flair as second only to Ronda Rousey in representing its women’s division, it’s not totally out of the question that they’ll pull a double turn with Flair winding up the heel and Lynch the face. A full-fledged double turn might not even be necessary as WWE is notorious for playing fast and loose with female talent turning on a dime from week to week.

14 Dolph Ziggler And Drew McIntyre Split

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre have been a source of intrigue after debuting as a pair on Raw this spring. They’re heel performers, but what WWE was doing with them—and particularly McIntyre after being called back up from developmental? This summer saw McIntyre prove instrumental in backing Ziggler’s Intercontinental Championship campaign, but now that their standing rivals, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, seem to be moving on with The Shield, where do Ziggler and McIntyre go?

Despite his considerable talent, McIntyre hasn’t worked many spotlighted matches as a singles performer this run, and it’s less a matter of protecting a limited performer than keeping him special. It’s only a matter of time before this pair splinters, either with McIntyre getting sick of being taken advantage of, turning face on Ziggler, or going into business for himself.

13 Rusev Turns Face

Rusev earned the respect of fans in his first years on the main roster as both a throwback big man heel, and a legitimately good in ring performer. He has further developed an organic connection with the hardcore audience via his oddball Rusev Day gimmick, and showing more of his personality.

As a heel Rusev seems to have hit a ceiling.

Barring a slew of injuries or WWE radically changing directions, he’s unlikely to become a main event fixture. The question then becomes how long he can stay viable as an upper mid-card heel whom fans nonetheless cheer? It wouldn’t be a stretch at all for WWE to lean into the crowd response and turn him face this fall—possibly taking Lana and Aiden English along with him.

12 The Authors Of Pain Win The Raw Tag Titles

Of all the talents WWE called up to the main roster after WrestleMania, there’s a very real argument that the Authors of Pain have been the most underutilized. The guys are big, imposing talents, but more than that, their NXT run saw them grow nicely and prove that they could actually go at a high level in the ring.

While the SmackDown tag team scene has been pretty loaded since spring, Raw has lagged behind. It’s telling that WWE has chosen to run with The B-Team as comedic champs through much of the summer. Based on their repeated failed attempts at capturing gold, it seems as though WWE isn’t ready to invest in The Revival, so it only makes sense that the Authors of Pain aren’t so much being mistreated as held in reserve as WWE waits to unleash them as dominant tag team champions.

11 Stephanie McMahon Debuts A New Evolution Stable

WWE has been pretty casual about throwing out the words Revolution and Evolution regarding the progress of women’s wrestling in recent years. As such, it came as little surprise that WWE called its first ever all-female PPV, Evolution.

The name already has a context in WWE, pertaining to Triple H’s celebrated faction with Ric Flair that launched Randy Orton and Batista as top names. As Stephanie continues to clash with Ronda Rousey, it would be well within character for her to take a page out of her husband’s book and launch her own Evolution stable. Maybe the group would include Natalya as the staple veteran, and turning on Rousey. Charlotte Flair seems like a natural to carry the torch from her father’s involvement in the original stable. From there, perhaps some NXT call ups, or young talents like Ember Moon could fill out the group.

10 Sasha Banks And Bayley Finally Have A Proper Feud

Sasha Banks and Bayley had one of the best feuds in NXT history when they collided in 2015. When Bayley joined Banks on the main roster, they were introduced as friends, which was a sensible enough starting point.

The general consensus was that Banks would eventually transition to her natural heel role and they’d rekindle their well established issue from developmental.

It took time for the two to be at odds with each other on Raw, but when it did happen it looked like they’d proceed with Bayley as the heel, and might even get a WrestleMania showdown. Instead, months have gone by and the two continue to vacillate between enemies and tag team partners. Maybe WWE will finally pull the trigger on the feud this fall.

9 Velveteen Dream Moves Up To The Main Roster

Velveteen Dream has impressed NXT fans over the last year, particularly with stellar performance after stellar performance at NXT TakeOver specials. While he still has room to grow, there’s also reason to believe that with his skills and flamboyant character, he could succeed on the main roster as soon as WWE feels it needs him.

With a crowded scene at the top of NXT, with Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Ricochet, and (when he comes back from injury) Aleister Black occupying top spots, the best thing for Dream may be to move Raw or SmackDown while his act still has its buzz.

8 Renee Young Gets A Permanent Main Roster Commentary Spot

Renee Young has been popular among wrestling fans since her arrival on WWE television, and the company clearly sees something in her to have made her the anchor of PPV pre-show panels, and the first woman to call an entire episode of Raw. Word is that she’ll join Beth Phoenix in calling this year’s Mae Young Classic, and the question has become, what is Young’s ceiling?

Particularly as WWE features women more and more prominently, it makes sense for Young to get opportunities like calling the Evolution PPV. But might the company go all the way in having her do play by play or color commentary for Raw or SmackDown permanently? Jonathan Coachman has been brutally bad since his return to WWE, and Corey Graves is stretched thin calling both Raw and SmackDown, so there certainly would be opportunities to sub Young into a high profile spot.

7 Lio Rush Wins The Cruiserweight Championship

205 Live has quietly become WWE’s secret weapon—a step in between NXT and the main roster that is generally only featured on the WWE Network, but has nonetheless generated some nice buzz ever since Triple H took over running the show.

For all of its exciting matches, logical storylines, and consistently good programming week to week the Cruiserweight Championship scene itself has felt a bit stagnant.

For as good as Cedric Alexander is, he’s hardly the guy generating the most buzz on his brand, and his program with Drew Gulak, while solid, feels a bit played out.

Lio Rush has been gathering momentum as an up to now undefeated heel. The brash young superstar, whose personality got him backstage heat in NXT, nonetheless looks primed to become the new standard bearer for 205 Live.

6 Natalya Splinters From Ronda Rousey

When WWE paired Natalya and Ronda Rousey as allies, there were multiple levels to the friendship. Rousey is the megastar building off her fame from outside the business, while Natalya grew up in the business and is the division’s best established veteran. Rousey is still a rookie in the world of pro wrestling, whereas Natalya is likely on the tail end of her in-ring career. In real life, Natalya can mentor Rousey, while on screen, she can play the victim for Rousey to rescue and defend.

For all of these elements that work nicely, it feels like only a matter of time before these two part ways. The most predicted angle sees Natalya turning heel to offer Rousey an emotionally charged program with her former friend. Another option would be Rousey’s Four Horsewomen buddies joining her and leaving Natalya in the dust.

5 Sami Zayn Returns In A Non-Wrestling Role

Sami Zayn is one of WWE’s top all around talents. He’s an exceptional in ring worker, a good talker, a terrific white meat babyface, and a surprisingly good heel as evidenced by his most recent run teaming with Kevin Owens.

A move to Raw saw Zayn get stuck in a terrible and one-sided feud that he lost to Bobby Lashley. Afterward, he disappeared due to legitimate injury, and it was probably for the best to get his face off TV for a bit.

Zayn isn’t projected to get back in the ring until 2019. We may see him on television sooner, though, in a managerial or talking role.

WWE had rolled out the Sami and Kevin Show as the latest heel-hosted talk show during Raw and it could be a fine way to rehabilitate Zayn and Owens’s floundering characters to build them back up in a non-wrestling capacity.

4 The Usos Move To Raw

WWE isn’t likely to have another full blown draft or Superstar Shakeup between now and Survivor Series, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be a few strategic moves.

The Usos have anchored SmackDown’s tag division since the brand split, including memorable encounters with New Day and American Alpha. When The Bludgeon Brothers dominated the brothers, though, and WWE opted for New Day to beat them for the titles, it left the Usos conspicuously in no man’s land as well established team that has nonetheless been positioned beneath title contender status.

The best thing now would be for both the Usos to get some new scenery, and for a solid veteran tag team to join the Raw ranks. Jimmy and Jey heading to Raw would have the potential to improve upon a number of current problems, and might just happen this fall.

3 WWE Finds An Answer Against 'All In'

We just saw Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks promote All In, an off-the-beaten-path independent project borrowing talent from Ring of Honor, New Japan, and the independent scene. The event sold out a 10,000 seat arena and was a success on PPV. Rumors abound that WWE has made big money offers to Cody, the Bucks, and other affiliated top talents to get them under the WWE umbrella.

Particularly if the key players passed on WWE’s overtures, there’s reason to believe WWE might eventually find something to counteract the show they just put on, especially if they plan on making this a yearly event. This would be in the tradition of inventing Survivor Series to go head-to-head with Starrcade, as well as bringing Bret Hart back to Raw on what just happened to be the first night of Impact airing on Monday nights. With the WWE Network and no shortage of money at their disposal, WWE will have options.

2 Maria Kanellis Gets Back In The Ring

Ever since Maria Kanellis and her husband Mike resurfaced in WWE during the summer of 2017, the question has been if or when Maria will step back into the ring. She’s not exactly a celebrated wrestler, generally better regarded for her looks and talking than her in ring skills. Nonetheless, she is a competent worker she’s suggested over social media that she’s training to get back into the mix.

While Maria is also recovering from the birth of her child, it wouldn’t be unheard of for her to get back into ring shape.

Particularly with WWE having a number of mixed tag matches over the last year, the duo could fit in as, if nothing else, cannon fodder for a higher profile couple to go over on their way to a PPV match. Otherwise, Maria would certainly fit in as a returning star for the Evolution PPV.

1 Bobby Roode Turns Heel

Bobby Roode has seen one of the sharpest declines from a successful NXT run to an utterly forgettable tenure on the main roster. Yes, he did get a brief United States Championship reign which set him up to get on the card for WrestleMania. Otherwise, though, he’s mostly drifted, and especially so since moving to Raw.

A heel turn won’t fix everything for Roode, but his Impact and NXT work demonstrated it’s a more natural role for his personality and in ring style. He’s too talented for WWE to squander altogether, and hopefully by November WWE will have given him the opportunity to see what he can do on a crowded roster in a heel capacity.