This Sunday night, the WWE presents its annual Thanksgiving week tradition as the 28th Survivor Series emanates live from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
Top 5 Best and Worst Traditional Survivor Series Teams
Through the years, the WWE's November Classic has been synonymous with the Thanksgiving holiday and the theme of survival. This was never more evident in the first four years from 1987-90, which each took place on Thanksgiving night and then the following four editions (1991-94), which emanated on Thanksgiving Eve.
The original concept - and one that I truly loved, especially in the earlier days - was to intertwine several on-going feuds by forming teams of four or five WWE Superstars (usually faces vs. heels) to engage in an elimination tag team match that saw random wrestlers forced to band together through the goal of surviving the night with the top billed face and heel serving as the captain of each team.
Top 10 Best Team Captains In Survivor Series History
The original concept was amazing, and led to unpredictability with Team Andre defeating Team Hogan at the inaugural event in 1987. Back then, pay-per-views were so scarce that the WWE fans were salivating for a chance to see Hogan and Andre share a ring for the first time since WrestleMania III in March 1987.
The WWE evolved over the years and the elimination matches have taken a backseat at a lot of the recent editions of this event, but this year the WWE's second-longest running show is headlined by a traditional match pitting Team Cena vs. Team Authority.
I'm in the camp that the WWE has so many pay-per-views each year that it wouldn't be a bad idea to put more of an emphasis on the team matches for one night a year at Survivor Seris. This is especially true since TLC - the next pay-per-view -- is only three weeks away from this event, so why not just have a tag team match headline here, especially with the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar absent?
It would have been nice for the WWE to bring Lesnar back and put him on Team Authority as a way to really make the match feel important, but the added stipulations and John Cena's involvement have added to the match. These classic survival matches work well with a little extra flavor such as in 2001 (Alliance vs. WWF), 2003 (Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff) and 2004 (Team Orton vs. Team Triple H), which is a big reason why they made our Top 5 list.
It would have been cool to see Lesnar go toe-to-toe with Ryback within this match and team with guys who no one ever thought they'd see Lesnar share a side with. That's the sort of formula that makes these matches so great, but that has been missing in recent years.
While the WWE will likely never return to the old format of having every match be an elimination match, which I campaigned for earlier this month in this column, it is nice that Survivor Series has a sense of importance again with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon's fate in the hands of Team Authority and Team Cena's jobs in the hands of themselves while Cena himself doesn't have much to lose.
This has always been one of my favorite WWE pay-per-views of the year and I'm glad the company didn't scrap it in 2010 like it originally planned to as tradition is a big part of professional wrestling and the Survivor Series is the second-longest running pay-per-view the WWE offers.
Onto the predictions:
Fatal 4 Way For The WWE Tag Team Championships-Goldust & Stardust (c) vs. The Usos vs. The Miz and Damien Sandow vs. Los Matadores:
This would be a perfect choice for an opener to get the crowd hyped up for the event as an exciting fast-paced match involving four teams and eight guys right out of the chute would be a good start for the pay-per-view.
The WWE has a pretty decent tag team division now and it's nice to see natural partners like Los Matadores and The Usos in the company instead of thrown together midcard singles wrestlers, though I'll admit the Miz/Sandow pairing has been genius up to this point.
I'm not sure if this is elimination or not, but hopefully it is given a lot of time. It's too bad the tag division isn't what it used to be as the big tag survival matches at the first two Survivor Series events were gold.
As far as a winner, I'm torn between the two heels as I don't believe either face team will escape St. Louis with the gold. The Usos just had a lengthy run and seem like a long shot to win the titles back while I would bet that Los Matadores are the least likely tandem to walk away from the match as champions.
The Goldust & Stardust pairing has been an interesting one, and I'm not sure they should lose the belts just yet, though Cody Rhodes recently hinted on Twitter that he may be coming back soon. That would either put an end to Stardust or start a dynamic where he flip flops between the two characters.
I'm leaning towards The Miz and Damien Sandow in this one because the WWE seems to be high on them and the WWE Universe has gotten a kick out of Sandow's antics. The WWE also recently released a T-shirt of the duo, leading me to believe they're in this for the long haul.
The company has planted some seeds of dissent between the two already, which could mean that Sandow does something to fumble away the victory to draw the ire of the selfish Miz while the two serving as dysfunctional Tag Team Champions could always make for entertaining television.
I'm torn between both heel teams, but I think the titles may change hands and MizDow will walk away with the gold. I could very well see Gold and Stardust retain since they only won the gold at September's Night of Champions, but the WWE just seems to high on MizDow right now.
The Pick: The Miz and Damien Sandow.
Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton were the sole survivors of the Team Orton vs. Team Batista match at the 2008 event:
Divas Traditional Four-on-Four Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match-Alicia Fox, Emma, Naomi and Natalya vs. Paige, Cameron, Layla and Summer Rae: I miss the days of clever team names, but those are far gone here in 2014. I'm not sure who the captains are here, but based on merit it should probably be Natalya and Paige.
These Divas traditional matches are always somewhat rushed, but Divas like Natalya and Paige have enough in-ring skill to save it from being a terrible match. There was talk of having the Bella twins each captain a team, but the WWE has opted to have Brie Bella battle AJ Lee for the Divas Championship instead.
As far as a winner, it's hard to project this one since it was pretty much thrown together at the last minute, but given how dominant Natalya should be, her squad should probably walk away victorious, though Paige just lost to Lee in their feud over the Divas Championship and could use the heat back.
The Pick: Paige's team. Survivors: Paige and Cameron.
Team Total Divas took on Team "True" Divas at last year's Survivor Series:
Singles Match-Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose: While I think this will be a good feud in the long run and also think that the match will deliver on Sunday, I'm uncertain why we couldn't finish up the Ambrose and Rollins feud before jump-starting this one out of nowhere.
Wyatt of course interrupted the Ambrose vs. Rollins match at Hell in a Cell last month, but why Ambrose would all of a sudden solely set his sights on Wyatt is nonsensical just like the fact that Roman Reigns pretty much ignored Seth Rollins turning on him for most of the summer until finally getting even with him in September.
Nonsense aside, this should be a solid match and I mapped out how the WWE could keep this feud exciting and make it a long-term feud without it getting stale in a recent column here at Sports World News.
The WWE tried pushing Wyatt big time in the spring during his feud with John Cena, even having him go one-on-one with the face of the franchise at WrestleMania XXX, but they then seemed to put the brakes on his push.
Wyatt is now back sans Erick Rowan and Luke Harper and it seems as though the WWE is going to put him over Sunday against Ambrose. I still feel Ambrose should be on Team Cena due to his vendetta with Rollins and the WWE could have easily stuck Wyatt on Team Authority so that Ambrose had two people to go after in the match.
Though an argument could be made that Wyatt isn't a team player as far as The Authority is concerned, Luke Harper never reached out to anyone outside of The Wyatt Family either. The lack of Ambrose and Wyatt in the main event speaks more to the WWE's lack of depth than anything, as the company wouldn't have many Superstars left to fill out the rest of the card if they were included.
As far as a winner, Ambrose may be due for a win and some revenge -- and he'll likely get it in the next phase of this feud -- but it seems like Wyatt's push begins here.
The Pick: Bray Wyatt
Ambrose debuted as a member of The Shield in the WWE at the 2012 Survivor Series:
WWE Divas Championship-AJ Lee (c) vs. Nikki Bella:
We have entered the final week of Brie Bella being Nikki's assistant, and I'm sure that riveting storyline will somehow play into Sunday's Divas Championship contest.
Lee won the title for a third time at Night of Champions in September and there have been rumors that she might be leaving the WWE soon, though those will likely prove to be as true as the speculation that she wanted to have a baby that emerged prior to her return in June.
The WWE seems to be hitching its wagon to Nikki Bella, though it still makes little sense that she is one of the top heels in the Divas division and she's dating the top babyface in the company in John Cena, but nothing is said about it.
The WWE shows their relationship on Total Divas, so it's not like it's a secret that they are together. Is Cena, company man and all around "good guy," not bothered by his girlfriend's change of attitude and treatment of her sister?
As far as a winner goes, I wouldn't be surprised if the WWE pulled the trigger on giving Bella the title to complete the package of her being a cocky heel. There is always the rumored rule by Vince McMahon that no one on Total Divas can win the belt, but with almost every diva now on the program that rule may go to the wayside soon unless Lee has a record-setting reign.
I wouldn't be shocked to see the title change hands on Sunday, but for now I'm sticking with Lee walking out of the Scottrade Center with the championship.
The Pick: AJ Lee.
Trish Stratus and Victoria had a memorable Women's Championship hardcore match at the 2002 Survivor Series:
Traditional Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match-Team Cena (captain John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, The Big Show, Ryback and Erick Rowan vs. Team Authority (captain Seth Rollins, Corporate Kane, Mark Henry, United States Champion Rusev w/ Lana and Intercontinental Champion Luke Harper:
The stipulations here are if Team Cena wins, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon will have to relinquish their power while if Team Authority wins, everyone on Team Cena except for Cena himself will be fired.
There was a popular theory out there that Randy Orton would show up as a mystery partner for Team Cena, out to get revenge on Team Authority in his hometown. The theory continued that the match would come down to Orton, another member of Team Cena and one Authority member, and Orton would turn heel revealing that the whole thing was a plan the whole time and Triple H's way to get rid of Cena's teammates.
While Orton could still get involved in the main event, it doesn't seem as though he'll be a part of either team.
As I said in the intro, I'm glad the WWE is making the traditional match feel important again by putting guys like Cena in there and adding the stipulation.
It's also nice that the company has feuds intertwined within the match as Cena and Ziggler have battled Kane and Rollins the past few weeks, Big Show and Henry are at odds and Harper and Rowan have plenty of history with each other in The Wyatt Family. Harper and Ziggler also have issues now that Harper is the new IC Champion.
It was surprising that the WWE opted to take out Sheamus, since he recently dropped his United States Championship to Rusev and the two have been clashing. It appears as though the injury to the "Celtic Warrior" may be legitimate.
There is always the possibility that Triple H gets involved in this match considering he is desperate and his job is on the line.
Another wild-card could be WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, who is expected to feud with Cena and face him either at TLC or the Royal Rumble, but it's unknown if "The Beast" would be brought in simply to make a run in. If that were the case, the WWE would have just had him in the match.
Continuing with possible swerves, there is always the popular Cena heel turn debate which could see Cena save The Authority while costing his four teammates their jobs, but that is a long shot at best.
Sting may also make his long awaited WWE debut at sometime during this event, and this match would be as good a place as any. If handled right, Sting's introduction into the WWE could go down as one of the best Survivor Series moment of all time if there is any truth to the rumors that he'll be there.
As far as the match goes, the WWE has a chance to make a new star out of this match if it opts to not go the obvious root by having Cena stand tall as the sole survivor or survive alongside someone else. I wrote recently that Dolph Ziggler should be getting more of a push by the WWE, and he should have a chance to shine in this match.
There are rumors of a Rusev vs. Cena match at WrestleMania 31 and the WWE could plant the seeds for that by having Rusev shock the world by eliminating Cena, while Rusev could also get disqualified or counted out to get eliminated so that he doesn't look weak by being pinned within this match.
The WWE has used Survivor Series to start planting the seeds for WrestleMania in the past.
Hulk Hogan being eliminated from the 1987 main event was a surprising twist, and the WWE has a chance to do it again this year with Cena if they so choose to.
As far as a winner, when the WWE first announced that if Team Authority wins, Triple H and Stephanie lose their power, it seemed obvious that their team couldn't lose. Now that Triple H has added the other stipulation, I question whether it was part of the plan all along to raise the stakes or a way of course-correcting by the WWE in an attempt to not make the finish obvious.
It's a little curious that Cena is the only person in the match with nothing to lose and everything to gain by the end of it, which means he could lose the match and still be employed. He could also lose and become an enemy of the four men whose jobs he helped lose when they put their trust in him. Obviously all four men will return in some capacity, but it's unknown how that will go.
I've really felt as though The Authority would win the match easily, but the way that team dominated things on RAW and then again on SmackDown, it seems like the babyfaces are due for revenge. I just hope the WWE thinks outside the box with the booking rather than having Super Cena be the sole survivor to save the day.
I want to pick the faces, and I'm going to, but I'm just not sure what the WWE will do with Triple H and Stephanie and who will be brought in to run things, but this could lead to an angry Triple H and Stephanie challenging Vince for the company leading to a stipulation between Triple H and someone like The Rock at WrestleMania.
The Pick: Team Cena, Survivor: John Cena
The first ever Survivor Series main event was a great battle between Hulk Hogan's team and Andre the Giant's team:
Another big Survivor Series match with high stakes took place when Team Alliance faced Team WWF in 2001:
John Cena was only a captain one other time in his career as his Team battled Big Show's team in 2006:
In 1990, the WWE closed out the Survivor Series with an interesting Grand Finale Match of Survival:
This Sunday night, the WWE continues a long-running tradition with the 28th annual Survivor Series at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. The WWE has a grand opportunity to make this event once again feel like the special event it used to be. Hopefully the WWE Universe is left satisfied when the smoke clears Sunday night on this once beloved Thanksgiving tradition.
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