With WWE Survivor Series right around the corner, PWP’s Eron Ramadanov gives his thoughts and plans for the pay-per-view.
Usually, I’m not one to “fantasy book”, but I decided that I’d take an early look at WWE Survivor Series, coming up this November 22nd in Atlanta, GA. Obviously, with what happened at WWE Hell In A Cell, I’ll have some inspiration and ideas on how the pay-per-view will play out. During WWE HIAC, they played two vignettes introducing the theme for this pay-per-view, which is celebrating 25 years of the Undertaker. I found this odd; I can’t remember the last time WWE dedicated an entire pay-per-view to someone’s legacy.
Anyways…
With that being said, I’m all for it. If you didn’t know, I’m a huge mark for the Undertaker. He’s easily one of my favorite superstars of all time and continues to give me goosebumps whenever I see his iconic walk to the ring. So you probably know that I wasn’t too thrilled about the Undertaker losing to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30 and I thought I would feel the same way about WWE Hell In A Cell, but I didn’t.
I found myself perfectly fine with the ending of this final encounter between these two legends. Firstly, because it had a decisive and clean finish, with a clear-cut winner. And we saw the Undertaker accept defeat when he pointed at Lesnar and nodded his head forward as a sense of acceptance toward his defeat. As Lesnar and Paul Heyman left ringside, we got a good moment with the Undertaker, where he rose one more time, as fans in the Staples Center showered him with, “Thank you, Taker!” chants. To say the least, it was an awesome moment and as a die-hard Taker fan, it was closure for the end of the streak and the end of his feud with Brock Lesnar.
But then, it happened…
Bray Wyatt and his family entered the arena, and everyone in attendance and at home knew exactly what was coming. The Wyatt Family back at full strength with Braun Strowman, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper, being led by their self-promoted savoir took to the Undertaker with a brutal and intense beating. After that, the Wyatt Family raised the Undertaker above their heads and carried him out of the arena.
What does this mean? Well, obviously the feud between the Undertaker and Bray Wyatt isn’t over. But not only that, it appears like there will be so much more added to this already interesting feud, where chapter two will be written at Survivor Series.
So with that being said, let’s get into what we should expect at WWE Survivor Series: 25 years of the Undertaker.
Main Event:
Team Undertaker (Undertaker, Kane, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose) vs. The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman)
This makes the most sense, as to what’s next for the Undertaker and Bray Wyatt.
With the Wyatt Family back in full-force, it only makes sense for this team/faction to become a dominant group in WWE, destroying any and everyone in their path. The booking of the Wyatt Family has been inconsistent and lack-luster, but it’s not too late. With this new look and feel, the Wyatt Family can be revived and pushed into center stage. Now, going up the Deadman, at a pay-per-view that’s celebrating his legacy, doesn’t seem good for this heel faction and they’ll probably take a loss here, but after that, WWE must position this group as an unstoppable force.
Adding the element of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose makes sense for two reasons; they’ve had a long and storied feud with the Wyatt Family, both individually and collectively and the fact that it seems like WWE has no real direction for either of them at this moment. So, I think Reigns and Ambrose being a part of Team Taker is a lock.
As for Kane, it makes total sense. During WWE’s tour in Mexico, we saw the Undertaker and Kane reunite to face off against the Wyatt Family. A Brothers of Destruction reunion is something that most people, including me, want to see. This match is pure money. I think some of the interactions between these two teams and the build-up leading to it can be something really special and possibly revive the Survivor Series pay-per-view to being meaning something again.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match:
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Neville
Yes, I know. This will NEVER happen under a Vince McMahon run WWE. But, this match idea is more of an idea than something I want set in stone when it comes to the actual participates. Would I like to see Neville go against Seth Rollins for the WWE Title? Absolutely. Does it have to be Neville? No.
For the Survivor Series pay-per-view, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is never really the focal point; it’s the traditional team vs. team matches. So, this year, I’d love to see someone like Neville, who is a young mid-card talent get elevated, even if it’s for one month, to the main-event title picture. Now, as I said, it doesn’t have to be Neville. It could be a number of other deserving talents like Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, Ryback, etc.
Why the heck not?
Give someone like Neville a chance to have a fantastic match with Seth Rollins at a pay-per-view. Even with Ziggler, the story writes itself. Remember at this time last year, we saw Ziggler pin Rollins to send the Authority packing for about a month… but none-the-less, it would make perfect sense for Rollins to want to get some revenge on the man that beat him at last year’s Survivor Series. Personally, I feel like this would be the perfect chance to elevate and showcase a talent like Neville with your World Champion.
The Mid-Card
As for the middle of this card, it’ll be interesting to see how they’re going to fill it out. As for the two mid-card Champions, both Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens don’t really have any true opponents.
For Del Rio, he’s going to have to be able to keep the US Title elevated on a weekly basis, just like John Cena. With Cena out for extended period of time, it’ll be interesting to see who ADR will feud with going into WWE Survivor Series and into December. It’s possible that he’ll be thrown into a traditional team vs. team match for the mid-card, but I’d personally like to see him and Kevin Owens stay away from that, unless it’s against each other. I wouldn’t mind seeing a babyface Alberto Del Rio (for the time being) lead a team against a heel Kevin Owens team, where they battle for which mid-card title is superior.
For Kevin Owens, I think the ultimate end-game for his Intercontinental Championship is to eventually feud with Sami Zayn of NXT. Until then, I don’t see anyone on the current main roster that could be plugged in here that would interest me in the slightest. Could WWE throw us someone like Mark Henry or Big Show against the IC Champ to showcase Owens’ strength? Could we see a call-up from NXT? Could we see a returning Daniel Bryan? So many possibilities…. we’ll see what happens with Owens and his title.
As for the WWE Tag Team Champions, it’s going to be interesting to see if the Dudley Boyz will get another chance against the New Day. Honestly, both teams will probably be thrown into a team vs. team match or they’ll have another straight-up tag match. Either way, I think the Dudley Boyz, the way they are now, have overstayed their welcome. I don’t know the status of Jey Uso, but I think the tag-team division needs The Usos back in the WWE Tag Title picture, big time.
I’m grasping at straws, people. Take it easy.
Thanks for reading and let me know what you want to see at WWE Survivor Series.