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The Survivor Series takes place on Sunday. Here is our look at the show.
Team Cena: John Cena & Dolph Ziggler & Erick Rowan & Big Show & Ryback vs. Team Authority: Seth Rollins & Kane & Rusev & Mark Henry & WWE Intercontinental champion Luke Harper. If The Authority loses, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon lose their power. If Team Cena loses, Cena's teammates all lose their jobs.
Dave: With all respect to everyone else on the card, this is a one match show and this is the one match. WWE has a great opportunity to elevate guys here on both sides. I would really love to see Team Cena win here, without Cena himself being a part of the reason. They should have the Authority take him out early, thus saying the rest of the team has little chance of winning. From there, they could have Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback shine, elevating them. They also need to be sure to protect Rusev on the other side. I would love to see him do a spot where he locks the Accolade on the Big Show and refused to let go, thus taking out Big Show but getting himself disqualified. That would be a great way to keep him strong. The firing cliche is so dated, I hope they don’t do that. It makes more sense for the Authority to lose and if Ryback is the guy that does it, he and HHH could set up for a program into Mania season. Also, if they want people to keep their subs when the free month ends, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the finish lead to a Vince McMahon return to TV. They have a chance to do some great business in this match.
Mike: I expect this to be a LONG match. They could even go a good 40-60 minutes if they time out the eliminations right. I know that everyone excepts Cena to be the savior, but I love the idea of John being shockingly eliminated early, leaving the other four literally fighting for their jobs. That could set up a great sequence with Dolph fighting against the odds, showcasing his versatility as a wrestler. Rowan vs. Harper could be cool to see when that goes down. In the end, I have no doubt The Authority will be on the losing end.
Richard: If we go with the ‘What happens at the end of Smackdown means the opposite happens at the PPV’ congratulations Team Cena, you have kept your jobs. I like Dave’s theory about Cena being eliminated early to allow the ‘newer’ faces to shine. I also like Dave’s way to eliminate Rusev because if he is pinned or is forced to submit, it weakens the character. With the beat down at the end of Smackdown, I wonder if we will see Hunter try to throw his weight around only to be stopped by a returning Randy Orton. The biggest moment of this match could be the first time that Harper and Rowan collide in the ring because they built it well on Smackdown.
Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt.
Dave: I expect this to be really good. WWE hurt Bray with how they booked him so Ambrose has to win here because a loss would hurt him while a win wouldn’t really elevate Bray. They need to keep working on building him back up though, just not here.
Mike: This needs to be a WAR. I don't think we need a clean finish as much as we need a wild, gritty fight that goes all over the place and ends in chaotic fashion. Let's leave the people wanting more insanity when this is finished. I'd even pull out the seldom used deal where they end up brawling in different areas backstage over the course of the show to make it look like the fight hasn't stopped and then bring them back out to the ring later for Ambrose to run off Wyatt and get a big pop. Let's use this as a way to showcase both as wild men. It won't be Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah the Butcher in terms of blood and guts but you can channel some of that craziness for an audience that usually doesn't see anything of that sort.
Richard: I am going to go into this with no expectations because I was burned so badly by the Rollins/Ambrose feud and how it was booked. The more brawling that we see in this match, the better I think it will be. Whenever Wyatt has tried to be a ‘wrestler’ and not a ‘brawler’ it has affected his matches. I hope this is a brief pause to give us that final Rollins/Ambrose match, then we can return to this in 2015.
WWE Divas champion AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella.
Dave: I expect Nikki to get the win here, leading to a sister vs. sister program that will probably culminate at WrestleMania.
Mike: My gut here is that Brie costs her sister a chance at the belt to "get her back" for the month of hell she's been put through. I don't see them taking the belt off Lee, even though she and the belt have hardly been pushed hard.
Richard: Since they are doing the ‘dress up’ bit, maybe we can get AJ to dress like Punk and Nikki can dress like Cena. Let’s have Brie interfere to let Nikki win because she thinks she has a better chance to beat her sister than AJ to become the Divas Champion. Then give us a Paige/AJ feud for us to enjoy strong women’s wrestling.
Natalya & Emma & Naomi & Alicia Fox vs. Paige & Layla & Summer Raw & Cameron: Elimination Tag Team bout.
Dave: I hate to say it but does it really matter? It’s a popcorn match, and that is due to how the ladies are booked, not their talent levels.
Mike: This is not going to be long and it won't be pretty at points. In a perfect world, it comes down to Paige and Natalya and we get a good 5-10 minutes of action, but I don't think that's where WWE intends to go with this. My guess is Team Alicia survives.
Richard: I wonder if this match will end up being shorter than the Divas Title Match. Maybe they can give us the Divas Battle Royal rules where if you are thrown to the floor regardless of which rope you go over (or under), you are eliminated. Give it to Natalya’s team so they can have a happy Total Divas moment.
WWE Tag Team champions Goldust & Stardust vs. Miz & Damien Mizdow & The Usos vs. Los Matadores.
Dave: Out of these four, the most over guy is Mizdow so I say put the belts on them and accelerate the program where Mizdow finally turns face. The people want it and WWE has a chance to fix the way they have booked Mizdow. I hope they take it.
Mike: I am with Dave on this one. Miz and Mizdown have the most upside right now and I can see WWE putting the belts on them to have more silliness between them, especially since Miz keeps trying to upstage his "stunt double." If they give this time, there's a chance for this to be really good considering who's involved.
Richard: I would love to see this be an elimination match and with only five matches so far, they can give this a lot of time. I hope they give this match close to 15 minutes regardless so we can remember how good tag team wrestling can be. The only team that I cannot see winning is Los Matadores, but at least we can be guaranteed five times when JBL will talk about a twerking bull. Since Miz talked about how HE is going to win the title, I think he will be a champion, but it will be Sandow who gets the victory. Sandow’s character is so goofy and over the top, but it works so well. It is the anti-Tyson Kidd in terms of his behavior, but it works just as well.
Fandango (with Rosa Mendes) in action (Kickoff show)
Dave: Since he hasn’t had his opponent announced, looks like this a reboot so he will win.
Mike: It really should be a Fandango win, but I wouldn't bet the farm on that. Working the PPV Kickoff and being paired with Rosa Mendes doesn't scream huge return to me. Perhaps he'll wrestle Adam Rose and end up part of that storyline.
Richard: He can’t beat Zack Ryder, but maybe they will give him R Truth or Adam Rose (with the bunny costing him the match). Of the three things announced for the Kickoff Show (this, Barrett, and Heyman), I would rank this fifth.
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