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WWE will present the 2021 Survivor Series PPV on Sunday from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Here is our take on what should happen on the show!
WWE Champion Big E vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
Dave: It's really hard to get into WWE right now, coming off of Saudi Arabia and the heartless way they continue to release people, most of whom were never given a chance to show what they could do. But, such is life in Vince's world. If they wanted to make things interesting, they could have E score a win over Reigns. The only problem I see if that Vince would make it tainted as all hell, which would do more harm than good. The best finish I can think of, that Vince may actually do, is that E is close to winning when the goon squad costs him the match. He can come out of it as the uncrowned winner and set up a rematch down the road.
Mike: I will tell you what I think SHOULD happen and what I think WILL happen. SHOULD HAPPEN: Big E shocks the world by completely rocking Roman and pinning him clean with the Big Ending to put an exclamation mark on the idea that he's the MAN on Raw, leaving a pissed off Roman to carve a path of destruction elsewhere coming out of the show. WHAT I THINK WILL HAPPEN: They go back and forth with a lot of near falls and just when it appears E might have the win, Kevin Owens gets involved, setting up Roman hitting a spear or two for the pin, leaving E vs. Owens to continue and/or be blown off on the Day One PPV.
Richard: I am with Mike about what should happen in this match. A Roman Reigns victory does nothing to help either brand. Roman stays dominant and Big E is the secondary top champion. I liked 90% of what happened at the end of Smackdown to set up this match (what a great idea to build a PPV IN THE FINAL SEGMENT BEFORE THE PPV). If Big E was standing over a fallen Roman Reigns, it puts some doubt into the match (if you ignore the Inverse Transitive Go Home Theory). I think this should be 12 to 15 minutes of two men who want to beat the hell out of each other. Instead we will get 'Typical Roman Reigns Match' with fight/monologue/fight/monologue/fight/wash/rinse/repeat for 22 to 25 minutes. Give Big E the victory so we can get a 15 minute segment of Roman talking very softly about how he didn't lose.
Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair.
Dave: Between her issue with Nia Jax and now the belt fiasco with Becky, it sure doesn't seem like Charlotte is 100 percent invested in WWE right now. That alone would make me have her do the job here. Becky worked her butt off to get back from maternity leave. She is fully invested. She should get the win.
Mike: Pretty crazy that the match that has the most intrigue is based on a story we broke here on PWInsider.com that a lot of people in the company did not want me writing about the night we broke the story. I expect some of the ill will has been turned into a working shoot, but where do we go from here? Do we do some sort of ridiculous takeoff on the overdone Montreal Screwjob and have Charlotte get a win? Do we have one of them get the clean win here? I say no to all that noise. I say they go back and forth with a crazy brawl before the match, they finally get separated and brought to the ring, they ring the bell and then they go back and forth until it's totally out of control with the idea that they are out for blood. Throw it out and leave the issue to be blown off another day, making everyone think they hate each other that much more, maybe even come back with a No DQ Street Fight, etc. stipulation for the 1/1 PPV, since that will probably get a bigger build than this show did!
Richard: It is a shame that the hook for this match is nothing that is related to the wrestling skill of either woman. If those issues dominate over the competition then this match will be a trainwreck. I don't see either of these women putting their personal issues ahead of trying to prove who is better. While I wasn't thinking of a Montreal rehash, with what they did with referee Aja in the "Sonya Hates Me" tag match on Smackdown, it could play a role. Remember that Sonya was doing everything for Charlotte when Adam 'suspended' her 'indefinitely' for a week. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!!!!! I think Charlotte wins this match because if she does not win, who knows what will happen on Smackdown and you don't need someone in Charlotte's position on the card to hijack the 'booking' of the brand.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs. WWE United States Champion Damian Priest.
Dave: Of the two men, Priest has yet to be yoyo'd. For that reason alone he should win here, to keep his momentum rolling.
Mike: I love Nakamura's work, but right now Damian Priest seems to have far more upside, so I say Nakamura misses with the Kinshasa and Priest takes him out with the Reckoning.
Richard: This has the potential to steal the show if they are given time. This should be a showcase for Damian Priest and a victory over Nakamura means more than the other result. If Priest hits Reckoning on Boogs, he is the top face in the company. If he hits Reckoning on Boogs' dance partner, he is the Man of the Year.
Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Raw - Seth Rollins & Finn Balor & Kevin Owens & Austin Theory & Bobby Lashley vs. Team Smackdown - Drew McIntyre & Jeff Hardy & King Xavier Woods & Sheamus & Happy Corbin.
Dave: Smackdown has more faces on their team so I will go with them since maybe they will have them work together better. Plus, it's a good spot to give Woods another solid win.
Mike: I love a good Survivor Series match, even if WWE hasn't really done a good job building to this year's event. I really miss the late 1980s presentation of this show and wish they'd just revert back to the 5 vs. 5 series of Elimination matches, especially since they don't need to push the PPVs as hard thanks to the Peacock deal and the WWE Network. So, who wins here? I look at Team Smackdown here and think they are the victors. We'll see Hardy and Corbin end up sacrificed early and I suspect we'll see Lashley DQ'd and Theory wiped out. Owens vs. Woods should happen since Woods should want to avenge the attack on Big E. My guess is Seth will self-destruct the Raw team by being a jerk and be left lying. If it's on me, Woods, Drew and maybe even Sheamus survive.
Richard: Raw has the team of everyone who will turn on each other (can we get Big Show to come back to WWE for one more match so he can turn as well?) while Smackdown has the team with the person you want to turn on (Corbin). I am looking forward to Hardy/Balor, Woods/Owens, Lashley/McIntyre, and Sheamus/Lashley in this match. I hope Austin Theory asks for a selfie with Owens during the match and Owens kicks him and hits a stunner to allow him to get eliminated. I think Drew eliminates Lashley to get a small piece of revenge for all of those losses. Woods eliminating Owens would be a good way to end the match and give Smackdown the victory. Regardless of the final elimination, I think Smackdown should win this match.
Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Raw - Bianca Belair & Rhea Ripley & Liv Morgan & Carmella & Queen Zelina Vega vs. Team Smackdown - Sasha Banks & Shotzi Blackheart & Shayna Baszler & Natalya & Toni Storm.
Dave: I have Smackdown winning the men's bout so I will give the women's match to Raw. That sounds pretty Vince-like to me.
Mike: The real key to this SHOULD be building to that moment where Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair get to reprise their rivalry from Wrestlemania. That could be a lot of fun. It's way too early to beat Zelina clean with her new Queen character, so perhaps she can pull out an old Macho King deal and break the sceptre over someone's head. One would think they'd have Shayna and Natalya wiping people out. As far as who should get the win here, my gut says Team Raw as Biana, Liv and Zelina all have some momentum going in comparison to the Smackdown team.
Richard: They care about this match so much that even though Toni Storm was announced as the final member of the Smackdown team well before Smackdown aired, she wasn't in the graphic. There are a few matchups I am looking forward to in this match: Rhea/Storm, Shotzi/Rhea, Sasha/Rhea, Sasha/Bianca, Bianca/Toni, Liv/Toni, and Sasha/Liv. Will Sasha and Shotzi be able to work together after Sasha's lungblower after their match on Smackdown? Will the Raw team members understand what Zelina is saying when she goes full Madonna? I want to see Shayna and Carmella in the ring together to see how Carmella reacts to someone who probably wants to destroy her moneymaker. I think Raw wins this match.
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro.
Dave: Since I have Roman winning about, I have The Usos losing here. They can get their love back from Roman when they help him win in his match.
Mike: This is an interesting one, because you know the Roman Bloodline character will be furious if his guys lose to the Raw team. My gut feeling is that Riddle ends up taking the pin here. I just don't see them having Orton take the loss. If they give this time, this could be a lot of fun.
Richard: This has the potential to be a very good match, but the 'What will Roman say in a very low voice if the Usos lose' factor could affect the result of this match. There is no other reason why the Usos should win this match. They are a made team and if Orton and Riddle can beat one of the best teams in WWE history, it could mean more for them going forward. There will be a few RKOs in this match and I think the Raw champs pull it off.
25 Man Battle Royal featuring AJ Styles, Apollo Crews, Cedric Alexander, Cesaro, Chad Gable, Commander Azeez, Drew Gulak, Jinder Mahal, Los Lotharios, Mansoor, Omos, Otis, R-Truth, Ricochet, Robert Roode, Sami Zayn, Shanky, Shelton Benjamin, The Street Profits, T-Bar, and The Viking Raiders.
Dave: I couldn't care less but maybe for once they will let the huge guy get the win. Vince loves Omos so let's give it to him.
Mike: Unless they have plans for a big swerve with a substitute name showing up to surprise NYC, this looks pretty elementary here. Based on the list here, unless they go with Omos turning on AJ Styles to get the win or something out of nowhere, there really aren't a lot of talents who have any momentum in this bout (thanks to creative), so to me, the obvious winner here should be AJ Styles. Lots of great talents, but no one who has been able to take three steps forward in a row of late and that's really sad because in another promotion or environment, many of them would be killing it inside the ring and mean far more. See: Miro.
Richard: At least they found a way to get all of the tag teams on the pay per view along with some other additions to fill out the field. I wish Reggie was in this match to see him spring into the ring and then flip out of the ring to accidentally eliminate himself. You have Jinder and Shanky but no Veer? Where is Mustafa Ali? You would think that AJ or Cesaro would be the favorites, but this match was announced by Sonya while with Sami Zayn. That must mean that Zayn is the first one eliminated. You can't really say that this win will advance anyone's career because just look at the WWE booking for the last forever with the midcard. I do want an Azeez/Omos face off to remind us of the greatness that was Raw Underground (Azeez was the top fighter while Omos was the door man). The way they treat these wrestlers, R Truth should win. I would give it to Gable but Cesaro will probably win.
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