Survivor Series (2009)

Survivor Series (2009) (also known as Survivor Series: Battle of the Brands) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on November 22, 2009 at the Target Centre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This was the sixty-fifth pay-per-view event, and the fifth event in the Survivor Series chronology to be held in WWEbrand.

Survivor Series (2009) was a joint-promotion event, featuring performers from all three brands: Raw, SmackDown and ECW. The theme of the event was an all interpromotional card titled the "Battle of the Brands", with every match having wrestlers from opposing brands. Nine matches were featured on the event's card (eight were advertised), which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first of these matches was the Battle of the Brands match, a variation of the Survivor Series match where three wrestlers from each brand teamed up. The participants were: Triple H, Matt Morgan and John Morrison from Raw; John Cena, Rey Mysterio and Big Show from SmackDown; and Rob Van Dam and The Gatecrashers from ECW. All three world championships were defended on the event, each in an interpromotional match. Edge defended SmackDown's WWE Championship against Raw's The Undertaker; ECW Champion Mr. Kennedy defended the title against SmackDown's Batista; and Raw's Shawn Michaels defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Eddie Guerrero from ECW. Other matches on the undercard included a singles match between Raw's Sting and SmackDown's Randy Orton; two Survivor Series Elimination matches; and a Triple Threat match for the Cruiserweight Championship.

Battle of the Brands match
The dysfunction between the brands began on October 5 when the Raw General Manager William Regal announced that the talent exchange between the Raw and ECW brands had been ended. The first "strike" in the brand warfare was when ECW wrestler Chavo Guerrero defeated the Cruiserweight Champion JTG of SmackDown at Night of Champions to win the title, taking the title to the ECW brand. This led to general managers feuding on television over the next few weeks of television shows. On the "Old School" edition of Raw on October 26, it was announced that this year's Survivor Series would be an all interbrand event to allow for bragging rights and brand superiority. The general managers agreed to a special styled Survivor Series match where each GM would select three wrestlers to compete in an Elimination Match entitled "Battle of the Brands". By their arranged deadline of the week beginning November 9, Raw General Manager William Regal named Triple H, Matt Morgan and the Intercontinental Champion John Morrison as the Raw team; ECW General Manager Paul Heyman selected Rob Van Dam and the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions The Gatecrashers (Mike Mizanin and Nick Nemeth). For SmackDown, Theodore Long chose John Cena, Rey Mysterio and Big Show. On the November 20 edition of SmackDown, in a Nine-man Battle Royal featuring all of the wrestlers involved in the match, Big Show would win the Battle Royal.

WWE Champion Edge vs. The Undertaker
It was announced that all three world championships would be defended in interbrand matches at Survivor Series. On the November 9 edition of Raw, The Undertaker defeated Triple H, John Morrison and Matt Morgan in a Fatal Four-Way match to become the challenger for Edge's WWE Championship at the pay-per-view.

ECW Champion Mr. Kennedy vs. Batista
To determine who would challenge Mr. Kennedy for the ECW Championship, another Fatal Four-Way match was held on the November 13 SmackDown to determine his challenger. Batista defeated Big Show, Carlito and Rey Mysterio to earn a title shot.

World Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Eddie Guerrero
To determine who would challenge Shawn Michaels for Raw's World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series, Paul Heyman booked a Triple Threat match between Eddie Guerrero, Mark Henry and Rob Van Dam on the November 3 edition of ECW. Guerrero would win the match and go on to the event to challenge Michaels.

Randy Orton vs. Sting
On the April 17 edition of SmackDown, Sting defeated Randy Orton in a singles match, seemingly ending their feud that led into the Triple Threat match at WrestleMania 25 with John Cena for the WWE Championship. After the match, Orton would brutally destroy Sting, bloodying him severley and taking him out of action for many months. Sting returned to WWE on November 6 edition of SmackDown during Orton's own return (Orton had not been seen since SummerSlam). Sting turned up on the November 9 Raw, announcing he was the newest member of the Raw roster, meaning he was eligible to face Orton at Survivor Series due to being on opposing brands. Orton at first did not accept the challenge until he pressured Theodore Long into getting a title shot for wrestling Sting at the event, something that has alluded Orton for his entire career.

Bottom Line
Prior to the pay-per-view, the pre-show Bottom Line featured an interpromotional singles match between Raw's Daniel Bryan and ECW's Mark Henry.