On the 1000th episode of "SmackDown" on October 16, Miz defeated Rusev to qualify for the WWE World Cup tournament to determine the "Best Wrestler in the World" at the Crown Jewel event. At the event in November, Miz defeated Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio to advance to the finals against Dolph Ziggler, but injured his knee before the match, rendering him unable to compete. SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon replaced him and defeated Ziggler, winning the World Cup. On the following episode of "SmackDown", Bryan and Miz were announced as co-captain of the Men's Survivor Series match at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, however, SmackDown General Manager Paige removed Bryan from the match the following week and replaced him with Jeff Hardy, leaving Miz as the sole captain of Team SmackDown for the event. At the event, Team SmackDown lost to Team Raw.