What matches are going to take place at WWE Survivor Series 2016?
We still have a long way to go, as Hell in a Cell won’t even happen for another two weeks, but part of the fun of being in the IWC is trying to predict things absurdly far in advance. So when push comes to shove, what do you think the card is going to look like for November 20th at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto? Let’s go ahead and try to test our psychic skills by predicting what the lineup of matches will be for the pay-per-view.
CONFIRMED MATCHES
PRESUMABLE MATCHES
Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
Goldberg has yet to accept the challenge, but we all know that carrot wasn’t dangled just to be met with a response of “nope.” The only real question is whether it will happen at Hell in a Cell or at Survivor Series, but given the nature of the two events, there’s no question the bigger pay-per-view is Survivor Series. After all, it’s one of the “big four” shows.
Standard operating procedure is to just assume Brock Lesnar is going to win every match he’s booked in, as his track record shows. Since Goldberg was victorious in their last fight, the likelihood that Lesnar comes out on top is upgraded even more. There’s no long-term benefit to Goldberg winning, while Lesnar’s path of destruction will look even more prominent if he checks Goldberg off the list.
Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match (Men’s Division)
Just as WWE wouldn’t tease the Goldberg and Lesnar confrontation only to not deliver, the same can apply to the three Raw vs. SmackDown elimination matches. Although these are not officially confirmed yet, it’s not even a question of whether or not these matches will happen, but who will compete on the respective teams.
As far as the primary one consisting of the singles male wrestlers, there’s more than enough people to choose from to have some flexibility. The general rule of thumb is to pick the people who will probably not be busy doing something else, which is why I think we can exclude the two world champions and everybody who could be in the tag team section.
The midcard title holders, though, would serve as excellent choices for team captains. If Roman Reigns and Dolph Ziggler are still the respective United States and Intercontinental champions, there’s an argument to be made that there’s no better option to lead the roster while the world champions are busy.
Since there won’t be distinctions of heel and babyface teams, there will definitely be people joining them who wouldn’t normally want to align with those two. Rusev and The Miz, for instance, could very easily go from feuding with them to being on their teams.
As far as a prediction on the teams go, my guess at the moment is Roman Reigns, Rusev, Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn and possibly Braun Strowman representing Raw, while the SmackDown squad consists of Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Kane, Baron Corbin and Jack Swagger.
Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match (Women’s Division)
This one is much easier to predict, as the options are severely limited in comparison to the male side of things.
By this point, Emmalina should have made her debut/return while Paige will still be suspended. No real effort has been given to using Alicia Fox, and even less emphasis has been put on Summer Rae. By default, Raw’s team should consist of Sasha Banks as the team captain along with Becky Lynch, Emmalina, Dana Brooke and Charlotte—although there’s a chance Nia Jax makes it on the team rather than wrestling a squash match.
At least two people are going to have to sit out of the SmackDown team, since there are 7 women on that side. If Becky Lynch is still the champion, she’ll be the team captain, but Alexa Bliss should definitely be on the team as well whether she wins or loses their title match on November 8th. To round it out, Nikki Bella and Carmella take priority, which leaves only one spot for Naomi, Natalya and Eva Marie. If I had to place a bet, I’d say Naomi stands the best chance to make it on the team out of those three.
Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match (Tag Team Division)
Both Raw and SmackDown basically have three good teams and a few losers.
Without a doubt, Raw’s group will consist of The New Day, Enzo and Cass, along with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. The other two teams could be The Shining Stars and The Golden Truth, but it wouldn’t hurt to see a new tag team form before then and usurp one of those spots.
As far as SmackDown goes, the guarantees should be The Usos, American Alpha, The Hype Bros and the current champions Heath Slater and Rhyno (assuming they’re still a team at this point). The Vaudevillains, Breezango and The Ascension will have to fight it out to determine who gets that last spot, even though there’s a chance The Spirit Squad steps back into the mix and takes it for themselves.
POTENTIAL OTHER MATCHES
WWE Universal Championship Match
Unless WWE decides to do something that I don’t think is in the plans by having the Universal and World champions lead their respective rosters’ teams, we can assume there will be a title match for both of them separate from those matches.
As far as the Universal Championship goes, I’m expecting Kevin Owens to retain at Hell in a Cell, but to still have another match lined up with Seth Rollins for Survivor Series. Alternatively, maybe Rollins ends up on the team match and this is where Chris Jericho turns on his BFF, but that’s less likely of an option than the standard 3-event match outline WWE likes to follow.
WWE World Championship Match
AJ Styles won’t be dropping the World Championship on SmackDown over the next few weeks, so if he’s defending the championship, Dean Ambrose is probably going to be the one challenging him. There’s been talk that John Cena would be taking time off for the end of the year to film American Grit, and he made no appearance on this week’s episode of SmackDown, while The Lunatic Fringe 100% continued his program with Styles. It’s the easy and predictable call, as is the idea that Styles would retain against Ambrose here.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Unless there’s a tag team formed out of the cruiserweight division which finds its way onto Raw’s side for the Survivor Series match, I expect virtually all names to be available. The focal point will probably still be on T.J. Perkins out of the bunch, either defending the championship or receiving a rematch against Brian Kendrick. However, if Perkins is successful in retaining at Hell in a Cell, someone will probably take Kendrick’s spot as the #1 contender. WWE’s utilized Rich Swann the most out of everybody so far, but there are so many options on the table that it could damn near be anybody. Noam Dar, Lince Dorado, Jack Gallagher….just pick a name out of a hat and the outcome will probably be great no matter what.
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
Can you picture these two working on the same team together? I doubt it. The card is going to be stacked, but it will probably be a 4+ hour show just like WrestleMania and SummerSlam, and people will also want to see some singles matches to help break up the monotony of the elimination ones.
Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt have been feuding for a while, but WWE loves to drag things out. Since there’s no other event for SmackDown coming before Survivor Series, this would be their chance to finish the feud and give Orton a victory to offset his loss to Wyatt at No Mercy.
Sheamus vs. Cesaro
Just as there’s room for the Wyatt and Orton match, I’m going out on a limb and saying Sheamus and Cesaro not only won’t win their Raw Tag Team Championship match at Hell in a Cell, but they’ll face off in a singles match at Survivor Series to determine which one of the two gets a singles title shot. The ability to have The New Day retain the championship and not have to defend it throughout November, leading them into December where they can surpass Demolition’s record is just too easy, meaning Cesaro and Sheamus will still have beef with one another. This should end their feud for good, and I think the easiest way to go about things is for Cesaro to win a title shot against Kevin Owens for Roadblock and the Royal Rumble while Sheamus moves on to Roman Reigns’ United States Championship.
Those are my predictions for what we’re going to see, but what do you think? What is the Survivor Series card going to shape up to be? Drop your suggestions in the comments below!
