WWE Pulls SmackDown Superstar from Survivor Series Team

By Matthew Aguilar

Tonight's SmackDown kicked off with a 6 woman tag match that featured Sasha Banks teaming up with Naomi and Aliyah against Natalya, Shotzi, and Shayna Baszler. It was a big night for Aliyah, as after. a little help from Naomi Aliyah got the pin and the win, netting her first victory on SmackDown. As you might assume, Aliyah was beyond happy with the win and took that energy backstage, but SmackDown General Manager Sonya Deville interrupted her interview to give her some bad news. She told her that unfortunately, she was not going to be a part of the SmackDown Survivor Series team, and you could tell Aliyah was crushed.

This is probably just to punish her for getting help from Naomi, as Deville keeps targeting Naomi with ambushes and unfair stipulations. This should lead to a match between the two at some point, but in the meantime, it seems Aliyah is caught in the crossfire.

Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road for Aliyah, and she still won her first match as part of SmackDown, so even Deville can't take that away now (though she probably tried).

Aliyah was one of the new names brought from NXT through the WWE draft, and being a part of Survivor Series was a great step so early in her SmackDown career. It's unfortunate that it's not happening now, but then again, this is WWE, so anything can happen between now and Survivor Series.

Right now the Survivor Series card is still coming together, but we do know the two Survivor Series teams facing off at the pay-per-view.

The Raw Men's team will be made up of Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio, and Dominik Mysterio, while the SmackDown's Men's team consists of Drew McIntyre, Jeff Hardy, King Woods, Sami Zayn, and Happy Corbin with Madcap Riddick Moss by his side.

Next, we have the Raw Women's team, which leads off with Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Carmella, and Queen Vega. The SmackDown Women's team will feature Sasha Banks, followed by Shayna Baszler, Shotzi Blackheart, Natalya, and a mystery superstar since Aliyah is not a part of it anymore.

Who will be taking Ali8yah's place? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!

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