WWE Survivor Series 2017: Grading Hype Level for Each Announced Match

The build to any pay-per-view card is of the utmost importance.

Poor build results in a lack of interest and can doom a show to mediocrity far before the Superstars take to the squared circle for their respective matches.

When said pay-per-view is one of the marquee events of the year, as Sunday's Survivor Series is, the significance of the hype surrounding the show is amplified.

With two legitimate main event matches in Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown and Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles, the show has the potential to be one of the most buzzworthy, fan-friendly events of the year.

But has the hype and build for each match lived up to the excitement surrounding the show?

Ahead of Sunday's extravaganza, find out if WWE Creative has held up its end of the bargain in generating genuine interest for the show based on the efforts it has put in over the last month.

Cruiserweight Championship Match: Kalisto vs. Enzo Amore

Enzo Amore captured the Cruiserweight Championship from Neville at No Mercy, beginning the most improbable title reign in WWE. The loudmouthed Superstar infuriated the cruiserweight division, putting himself above the other competitors and alienating himself from the locker room.

Only Kalisto, though, could challenge him thanks to a contract provision created by Raw general manager Kurt Angle. 

The masked luchador wasted little time defeating Amore, winning the title on the October 9 episode of Raw.

Just 13 days later at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Amore utilized an eye rake to regain the title he should never have lost.

Since then, the Superstars have been on a collision course, routinely working together in tag team matches and other televised segments. On the November 14 episode of 205 Live, Kalisto celebrated his birthday and predictably, Amore found himself face-first in the cake. 

Fueled by anger and a burning ego, Amore will attempt to retain his title against Kalisto as part of the Survivor Series Kickoff Show.

One of the lengthier builds to any match on the card, the match will benefit from an obnoxious heel whom fans undeniably want to see get beat up. Kalisto is hardly a strong enough heel to end the silver-tongued Superstar's reign, but he should do just enough to keep the audience invested in the first match of the night.

The build has been slow, steady and consistent, with enough to keep the programming going strong rather than limping into Sunday's show. That earns it an above-average grade, even if the excitement surrounding the bout is lower than it should be, given the strength of the champion's heel work.

Grade: B- 

Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte

The first of the champion vs. champion matches on the Survivor Series card has Raw women's champion Alexa Bliss battling SmackDown women's champion Charlotte in a match that was only finalized Tuesday night.

Charlotte defeated Natalya to capture the SmackDown title on the November 14 episode, altering the planned match between Little Miss Bliss and The Queen of Harts.

It did not take Bliss long to inject some heat into the program, though.

Less than one hour after Charlotte forced a tapout from Natalya, Bliss delivered a hard right hand to the new champion that left the second-generation star lying unconscious in the backstage area. The attack, part of the Raw invasion of SmackDown, will certainly spur retaliation from Charlotte come Sunday night.

It is difficult to assert build to a match that was born only Tuesday deserves a grade anywhere near average, but seeing as how it plays a role in the overarching Raw vs. SmackDown feud and featured such a vivid image of Bliss cold-cocking Charlotte, exceptions can be made.

Grade: C+

Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. United States Champion Baron Corbin

The rivalry between The Miz and Baron Corbin did not exist before the match between the intercontinental and United States champions was announced.

Unfortunately for Corbin, The Lone Wolf made the mistake of poking a rattlesnake, making reference to Miz's pregnant wife Maryse in a promo cut on his cell phone. Miz responded, going as far as to drop a passionate (though bleeped) F-bomb.

The Superstars have continued to take shots at each other but, for the most part, have been embroiled in their own individual rivalries.

Corbin secured his spot in the match on Tuesday's episode of SmackDown, defeating Sin Cara to cash his ticket to Survivor Series. The Miz, meanwhile, teamed with Cesaro and Sheamus in a loss to The Shield one night earlier.

The build on WWE Creative's part has been less than stellar, but given the work of the Superstars themselves, and the intensity shown by The Miz, the match has its fair share of intrigue.

Perhaps that has to do with the heel vs. heel nature of it all.

Grade: C+

Raw Tag Team Champions The Bar vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos

The match between tag team champions was originally scheduled to see The Shield's Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins squaring off against The Usos in what likely would have been a show-stealing match. The November 6 episode of Raw, though, saw Sheamus and Cesaro regain the Raw Tag Team Championships and alter the course of the pay-per-view.

Now slated to be The Bar vs. The Usos, the match still has the potential to steal the show and rank among the year's best, even if the build has been lackluster.

Sheamus and Cesaro interfered during the Raw invasion of SmackDown, joining The Shield in a beatdown of The Usos.

That, though, is the extent of the build that has been put into the match.

Not that it matters.

The power and technique of Sheamus and Cesaro will match up well with the speed and agility of Jimmy and Jey Uso, who have had their fair share of superb tag team matches in 2017. The winners matter not, especially given the intrigue surrounding the match is centered around the Match of the Night potential.

Grade: D

The Shield vs. The New Day

The November 6 episode of Raw featured The New Day interrupting a Raw Tag Team Championship match between The Shield's Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose and The Bar's Cesaro and Sheamus as part of the ongoing Battle for Brand Supremacy.

By doing so, they set off a rivalry that would pit the decorated trio against the threesome that set the wrestling world on fire back in 2012: The Shield.

During Tuesday's episode of SmackDown, Roman Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins got a measure of revenge on Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, attacking them and igniting the Raw brand's invasion of its Tuesday night counterpart.

The rivalry does not have an overly complex build, nor does it really have to. Much like The Shield's war with The Wyatt Family back in 2014, this is a match between two trios who have dominated WWE and have the credibility to support a match of this enormity.

Fans care about both groups, and the reaction when they take to the ring Sunday night will support that.

And in the process, The Shield and The New Day could very well have the Match of the Year candidate that has been missing from WWE's last few months.

Grade: B-

WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Universal Champion Brock Lesnar

Universal champion Brock Lesnar was originally supposed to battle WWE champion Jinder Mahal in the main event of the Survivor Series pay-per-view.

When AJ Styles defeated Mahal on the November 7 episode of SmackDown from Manchester, England, The Phenomenal One threw pay-per-view plans into upheaval.

The effort to tell the story of Mahal as an invalid opponent for someone like Lesnar, including a video package that sold that narrative to the masses, was negated by the sudden booking change.

With only a few days to work with, both Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman and SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan cut superb promos, putting their respective stars over in an effort to get the champion vs. champion match over with the masses.

Not that they had to.

AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar is a dream match of sorts. Both men exploded onto the national scene in 2002 and since then have taken different paths to superstardom. They are at the top of their profession now, though, and en route to a showdown that has fans genuinely intrigued by the type of match they will bear witness to.

Not an ideally booked build but good enough to keep fans interested.

Grade: C+

Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown

The absolute best build to Sunday's pay-per-view has been that of the Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown 5-on-5 Elimination Tag Team match.

Beginning the night after TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs with SmackDown Live putting Raw under siege, the rivalry played out over a number of weeks. Both Raw general manager Kurt Angle and SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon spent time assembling the best team possible.

Angle became captain of the red brand and name the likes of Braun Strowman, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe to his team. When he tried to shoehorn his son into the match, fans were left uninspired. That ended Monday when Triple H marched to the ring, revealed that he was the new fifth member of the team, and dropped Jordan with a Pedigree.

SmackDown, on the other hand, held qualifying matches to fill out its team.

Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kevin Owens. Bobby Roode knocked off Dolph Ziggler. Randy Orton defeated Sami Zayn. Along with Shane McMahon, it was already an impressive team.

Then it added John Cena.

A star-studded affair was enhanced exponentially Tuesday when Raw invaded SmackDown and laid waste to the blue brand's roster, including McMahon.

With tension running high between the rosters, a war is to be expected Sunday night in the real main event of the pay-per-view extravaganza.

Grade: A