wrestling / Columns

411’s WWE Survivor Series Preview

November 20, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka
Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar Image Credit: WWE

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The Staff

* Kevin Pantoja, Wrestling Zone Reviewer
* Mike Hammerlock, Wrestling Zone 8-Ball
* Michael Weyer, Shining a Spotlight

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WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
(Champion) Brian Kendrick vs. Kalisto

Brian Kendrick vs. Kalisto (Cruiserweight championship)

Mike Hammerlock: Good to see Kalisto immediately jumping into the cruiserweight mix upon his return. He’s a superb choice to help build the profile of the division. Kendrick’s been caught up in the aimlessness that has plagued the cruiserweights since they went to Raw. Getting them over to Smackdown where Mauro Ranallo can call the matches and Daniel Bryan can be involved strikes me as a smart move. On Raw they’ve been treated like filler, likely because Vince McMahon considers them to be filler. Smackdown seems to be running with less Vince influence. Seeing that 205 Live will air immediately after Smackdown, I think they’ve telegraphed the brand migration.

Winner: Kalisto

Kevin Pantoja: After putting the Cruiserweight Title on The Brian Kendrick at Hell in a Cell, I think that having him drop the title would be a mistake. Add in that Kalisto only just returned from injury and I don’t think he would be the guy to move the title over to. However, with all that being said, I expect Kalisto to become champion. The new cruiserweight show 205Live is happening at the same location as Smackdown on a weekly basis, so it would just make the most sense from a travel perspective. The cruiserweights shouldn’t have to work Raw and then Smackdown if nobody else does. The cruiserweights have been a flop so far and a title change won’t help, but a move to Smackdown might.

Winner: Kalisto

Mike Hammerlock: Good to see Kalisto immediately jumping into the cruiserweight mix upon his return. He’s a superb choice to help build the profile of the division. Kendrick’s been caught up in the aimlessness that has plagued the cruiserweights since they went to Raw. Getting them over to Smackdown where Mauro Ranallo can call the matches and Daniel Bryan can be involved strikes me as a smart move. On Raw they’ve been treated like filler, likely because Vince McMahon considers them to be filler. Smackdown seems to be running with less Vince influence. Seeing that 205 Live will air immediately after Smackdown, I think they’ve telegraphed the brand migration.

Winner: Kalisto

Michael Weyer: I don’t see another title change so soon. It should be a good match with plenty of highflying action and nice to see Kendrick getting a good push again. Kalisto might be a good champ but not this soon, this should set up the rematch to be a bigger deal down the road. A nice show for the fans but not too important in the long run.

Winner and still Cruiserweight Champion: Brian Kendrick

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WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
(Champion) The Miz vs. Sami Zayn

Kevin Pantoja: This a tough match to predict. On one hand, I don’t see why they would put the title on the Miz again just to have him drop it to Sami Zayn a few days later. On the other hand, is there really a point to this match if the title doesn’t move to Raw? I feel like the WWE would like the Intercontinental Title on their flagship show. I really like both Miz and Sami and I would love to see Sami as champion, but I don’t want the IC Title to switch to Raw. Smackdown can clearly book the IC Title much better than Raw can. Despite that, I see the switch being made in both matches where a title moving brands is possible. Plus, it will open the door for Bryan to trade Miz, even though he will most likely get lost in the shuffle on Raw.

Winner: Sami Zayn

Mike Hammerlock: If the Cruiserweight Championship is headed from Raw to Smackdown (and I’m reasonably sure it is), then it stands to reason the IC title will move in the opposite direction. First off, Sami Zayn winning in Canada is smart business. Second, Miz has done such a stellar enough job in 2016 that he should now chase the WWE title (along with Dolph Ziggler). Third, an Intercontinental-U.S. title unification makes some sense in that it would create on highly prestigious secondary title. So I’m guessing the IC belt switches brands. My wish list if it does: use Sami Zayn to finally let Roman Reigns be the heel he is and debut TV titles on both brands that have to be defended every week. Though my WWE wishes never come true.

Winner: Sami Zayn

Michael Weyer: Like many, I’m baffled at the sudden change to the Miz as Ziggler was doing well. Still, it’s obvious the idea is to take the IC title to RAW and boost it up more which means Zayn is winning. It should still be a good match, just not as fun as Ziggler-Zayn would have been, expect interference and I see Ziggler costing Miz the belt. Good but could have been better with the original plan even if it still means Zayn as the champ.

Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Sami Zayn

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Team RAW (New Day, Anderson & Gallows, Enzo & Cass, The Shining Stars, Cesaro & Sheamus) vs. Team Smackdown Live (Rhyno & Heath Slater, The Usos, American Alpha, Breezeango, Hype Bros)

Kevin Pantoja: These Raw vs. Smackdown Survivor Series matches sound like they could be fun. I’m a sucker for traditional Survivor Series matches and I especially really like the twenty man tags like this from back in the late 80’s. There is a lot of talent in the match (Cesaro, American Alpha, Breeze, New Day, etc.). Enough to outweigh the less interesting members of the match. Due to my predictions on the other Survivor Series matches, I get the sense that Smackdown at least takes this one.

Winner: Team Smackdown

Mike Hammerlock: They need a bigger ring for 10v10 match. Or maybe this should just be a team battle royal. Scramble rules, where a teammate can jump in if you roll out of the ring, also would make sense just to cycle guys in and out in a more fluid fashion. Hell, they could have made this a torneo cibernetico where only one guy wins in the end. Unfortunately, it’s probably going to be a ball of confusion until the teams winnow down to more manageable numbers. Hopefully Xavier Woods will be at his ringside best to distract us during the early stages. In the end this schmoz seems made to order to Cesaro, who can pull off multiple feats of strength along the way. Though no complaints if Heath Slater is the last man standing.

Winner: Team Raw

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Team RAW (Alicia Fox, Charlotte, Nia Jax, Bayley, Sasha Banks) vs. Team Smackdown Live (Carmella, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Naomi, Nikki Bella)
Women’s WWE Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match

Kevin Pantoja: Raw has put Sasha Banks and Charlotte in the main event of Raw and a Pay-Per-View. They beat fans over the heads with “WOMEN MAKING HISTORY, WE’RE TRYING SO HARD, STEPHANIE MCMAHON IS THE SAVIOR, ETC” and yet, for all of that, Smackdown has still handled their division way better. Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch and Carmella vs. Nikki Bella had matches that felt like bigger deals than Charlotte vs. Sasha. The women on Smackdown are way more interesting but there are two clear reasons why I think Raw will win. Nia Jax, who could get eliminated by DQ or countout, but I see her surviving. The other reason is Charlotte. She wins all the time on PPVs (though she tapped at Battleground) and she has joined Roman Reigns and John Cena as people that I’ve just stopped betting against.

Winner: Team Raw

Mike Hammerlock: I fear for where they might go with this match. Every fiber of Vince McMahon’s being has got to want to make it a story about crazy bitches who spend more time fighting each other rather than the other team. Resist the urge Vince. Obviously lots of ways this could go, but I suspect Nikki Bella will demonstrate that “Cena wins LOL” can be sexually transmitted. Plus Natalya acting as the coach should pay some dividends. She should be able to swing an elimination or two.

Winner: Team Smackdown

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Team RAW (Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Chris Jericho, Braun Strowman) vs. Team Smackdown Live (AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Shane McMahon)

Kevin Pantoja: Going back to all of the old Raw vs. Smackdown tag matches, whether they were on Survivor Series or Bragging Rights, Smackdown won most or all of them. I was 100% ready to predict them to win again this year. Then this past week’s Smackdown happened. The Undertaker returned, sounding like it would be on a much more regular basis, and basically threatened Team Smackdown if they lost. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking but I almost instantly saw a world where AJ Styles could win this match but his ego gets in his way. That causes Smackdown to lose and the Undertaker comes for AJ. AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble sounds like something that could help sell out 60,000+ in the Alamodome. For that reason alone, I’m picking Raw.

Winner: Team Raw

Mike Hammerlock: The Undertaker doesn’t show up five days before Survivor Series unless he’s going to do something at Survivor Series, right? That’s just unconscious knowledge. Taker also is a slave to kayfabe. When he says he’s Smackdown to the core, he means it. Smackdown is going to win this thing via Undertaker. I don’t know how, but it’s going to happen. Wish they had made more of Randy Orton’s fairly illustrious Survivor Series history. He’s about as close to a ringer as you get at this PPV. Also should note this year’s Survivor Series matches are more about setting things up and kick starting the Road to WrestleMania than in settling existing beefs. The implosions will be the big story.

Winner: Team Smackdown

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Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg
Singles Match

Kevin Pantoja: Boy, this sounds massively uninteresting. I didn’t care about this in 2004 and I care far less in 2016. Brock Lesnar has given minimal effort in a lot of his recent matches. I expect Goldberg to give it his all this time around but he hasn’t wrestled in over a decade. That, combined with his shoulder injury on Raw, makes me way less confident about a match I already had little to no confidence in. I think Brock will win because wasting all of his dominance on Goldberg would be monumentally stupid.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

Mike Hammerlock: If you thought the egg these two laid at WrestleMania XX smelled nasty wait until you get a whiff of what it smells like 12 years later. Brock Lesnar is a gifted specimen in the ring, able to hit moves with explosion, power and precision that is unmatched. Bill Goldberg is a muscle head closing in on his 50th birthday with a decade of ring rust. This is going to be hot garbage. What’s going to make it even worse is the guy who is totally outclassed in the ring is going to win. No way Goldberg’s ego will allow for him to come back for anything less than a victory, and it’s going to look even more unbelievable than that sorry segment he did with Rusev.

Winner: Goldberg

Michael Weyer: So here we go, the follow-up 12 years later to one of the most infamously bad matches of all time. Let’s be clear, this is not going to be pretty. Oh, they’ll give it more of a go this time around but Goldberg way too long out of the ring and Brock is Brock. So it will be a spectacle and not as terrible this time around but both past the time to give a truly great match. Why this even exists just makes you think “2016 is nuts” and I’ll give it to Goldberg just because he’s gone so long. Still, don’t expect anything major from this and even a bit sad to see them act like time hasn’t passed by.

Winner: Goldberg

Michael Weyer: I don’t see another title change so soon. It should be a good match with plenty of highflying action and nice to see Kendrick getting a good push again. Kalisto might be a good champ but not this soon, this should set up the rematch to be a bigger deal down the road. A nice show for the fans but not too important in the long run.

Winner and still Cruiserweight Champion: Brian Kendrick

Overall Thoughts & PPV Interest Level (from 1 being the worst to 5 being the best)

Kevin Pantoja: My interest level for this PPV is a 3.5: Originally, I was only interested in the Survivor Series matches, while the Cruiserweight and IC Title didn’t interest me and Goldberg/Brock sounded piss poor. My feelings haven’t changed about the Survivor Series, Cruiserweight or Goldberg/Brock matches, but Miz being IC Champion again has me much more intrigued by that match. If nothing else, the show should be fun, but will likely suffer from the overly long runtime like Mania and SummerSlam.

Mike Hammerlock: My interest level for this PPV is a 3: In recent years Survivor Series has been a complete shitshow. It has become the WWE’s annual scrape of the barrel. The format has gotten beyond tired. It’s fallen into this death slot between Hell in Cell, which has become the event where scores get settled, and the Royal Rumble, where the WWE gets into WrestleMania mode. At least they’ve tried to inject something new into the mix with the Raw vs. Smackdown angle. I don’t really care about that and I suspect no one else does either, but it’s a better storytelling device than forming random teams to fight for unclear reasons. If they keep the crossover matches to a bare minimum at other joint events, then the brand war could rebuild Survivor Series’ prestige in the future. Mind you, Vince’s ADHD probably will foil that plot. Yet it would be nice to see the annual Red vs. Blue clash take on some real importance.

Well, that is all for this Roundtable everyone. Don’t forget to leave us your thoughts and predictions below in the comments and we will see you again next month for the Smackdown Live branded TLC 2016 PPV.

My Interest Level for this PPV is: 3. The Goldberg-Brock match sounds a mess but the rest looks good. I’m a sucker for old school Survivor Series and this is a nice throwback to it with so much action and stars and should be a good event. Even the ladies get good stuff and so this should be a nice return to form for WWE.

Remember to join 411 for our LIVE PPV coverage, starting at 5:00pm ET Sunday night.