Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialSuperstars Missing from WWE Survivor Series 2018 Card

Superstars Missing from WWE Survivor Series 2018 Card

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With Survivor Series 2018 coming up this Sunday night, the go-home shows of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live have given us an indication of what talent is booked for the pay-per-view and who is not currently scheduled. Of course, the card is always subject to change and WWE may end up making alterations to this lineup, but at the moment, the men and women in this breakdown are not currently advertised as being part of this event.

In some cases, this may be justified, or even a purposeful plan to set up a surprise. In other cases, it may be ridiculous. That is up to you to decide as we take a look at which superstars aren’t being promoted for this show.

From the Raw Men’s Singles Division

— Apollo Crews: While Crews has been getting much more of a push recently than the past year or so, he’s still not quite at the level that WWE wished to put him on Team Raw. That’s a shame, as he could have maybe had a decent showing if they wanted him to. Then again, maybe he’s just avoiding being the quick sacrificial lamb.

— Bray Wyatt: The Eater of Worlds has been completely missing from television since Matt Hardy’s exit. They either have no idea what to do with him or they are waiting to bring him back until a specific time to execute a plan. I’m banking on the former.

— Curt Hawkins: Jobber rule of thumb dictates the lesser people who aren’t prioritized for Raw are not going to get spots on the pay-per-views.

— Dean Ambrose: You really think The Lunatic Fringe isn’t going to show up and interfere in the match between Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura? Come on. That’s his purpose for this event. He’ll definitely make an appearance.

— Elias: Screwing Elias out of the final spot by having Lio Rush get him counted out was a great way to explain his absence from this card, put more heat on a heel duo and excuse having to make Elias get pinned at some point. I’m all for it. Plus, he can still potentially show up and do a musical performance if they need some filler.

— Goldust: Injury (knees). There is no set timetable for his return.

— Jason Jordan: Injury (neck). There is no set timetable for his return, if it ever happens.

— Jinder Mahal: Injury (shoulder), plus he’s irrelevant at the moment. You’d think a former WWE champion would mean more, right? I imagine if this had been Team Corbin vs. Team Angle, he’d have been on Team Corbin.

— Kevin Owens: Injury (knee). He is expected back possibly sometime around WrestleMania season.

— Mojo Rawley: Jobber rule of thumb. Not a surprise.

— No Way Jose: Jobber rule of thumb. Not a surprise.

— Roman Reigns: The Big Dog will remain out of action for quite some time as he is suffering from leukemia. There is no timetable for his return.

— Sami Zayn: Injury (two torn rotator cuffs). He is expected back possibly sometime around WrestleMania season.

— Titus O’Neil: Jobber rule of thumb, for the most part, but with the added situation that he seems more focused lately on the PR-related aspects of his job than the in-ring aspect.

— Zack Ryder: Jobber status, unfortunately. There had been some rumors that he would be going to 205 Live, but since those came out, absolutely nothing of the sort has been hinted to in any more official capacity. Even then, he’d be out of luck for this event, as only one match representing 205 Live is on the card. He does seem to maybe be reforming his tag team with Curt Hawkins, though, and if that’s the case, it’d be nice to see The Major Bros back in action on the tag team scene of Raw.

From the Raw Women’s Division

— Alicia Fox: When they need Alicia, they make her a prominently featured wrestler. When they don’t, they toss her aside. It’s happened for years. Nobody should be surprised it happened again here.

— Bayley / Sasha Banks: Boooo you got screwed booooo. That’s what happens when you have a heel pick the team. She picks mostly all heels. I’m actually really surprised they didn’t go with Alicia Fox taking Natalya’s spot to really seal the deal with it. But hey, Bayley and Banks wouldn’t have accomplished much here, so I’m cool with them sitting this out.

— Dana Brooke: Dana Brooke is always overlooked. This is the way it works. She’ll be in the Royal Rumble, don’t worry.

— Ember Moon: By losing several times in a row now, there’s no reason she would be on the team. She’s better than this, but according to WWE booking at the current timeframe, she’s a loser. You don’t want losers on your squad.

— Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan: At least Ruby Riott is in the mix to represent The Riott Squad. Since there aren’t enough spots to accommodate everyone else, she’s the one that is the best choice. It makes sense.

From the Raw Tag Team Division

— Breezango: Fandango remains out due to a shoulder injury; Tyler Breeze is stuck in jobber limbo. But hey, Breeze won a match for Main Event this week. That’s just about the same thing, right? Right?

— Heath Slater and Rhyno: There are only six active tag teams on Raw outside of the champions and to be the one and only that gets overlooked for what is essentially a completely filler segment speaks volumes.

From the SmackDown Men’s Singles Division

— Aiden English: The best thing Aiden English had going for him was this feud with Rusev and even that couldn’t last more than a few weeks on television, let alone boost him to a spot on this card. He’s a jobber. The next time we’ll see him at a special event may be the Royal Rumble, but it may not even be until the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

— AJ Styles: After losing the WWE Championship, he is no longer in the Survivor Series match against Brock Lesnar. Daniel Bryan will take his place.

— Andrade “Cien” Almas: I’m really disappointed Almas wasn’t given a Survivor Series spot. He would have been a great fit for something different and I think he should have been in there as one of the potential options instead of Shane McMahon, who could have still been involved on the outside. Shame.

— R-Truth: As he’s on the lower end of the hierarchy, R-Truth can fit in certain spots when they need him to, but he’s never really going to be a main focal point. His exclusion makes sense to me. There are bigger fish to fry.

— Randy Orton: Very curious why he wasn’t on Team SmackDown. Is it just to jump Rey Mysterio and hit him with an RKO? Hm…

— Rusev: The Bulgarian Brute is another person I thought could have been in the mix for Team SmackDown. He should have had a chance to qualify, at least.

— Shelton Benjamin: As has been the case for a few months now, The Gold Standard is just not someone they feel like focusing on. He wrestles at live events and when it comes to TV and pay-per-views, they suddenly have nothing for him.

— Sin Cara: Injury (knee). No timetable for his return established.

— Tye Dillinger: Injury (hand). No timetable for his return established.

From the SmackDown Women’s Division

— Becky Lynch: Obviously, this was not planned whatsoever, and it’s just the worst…

— The IIconics: Well, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce at least finally got onto a card at Super Show-Down, even if it was strictly because of the location and they went back to being overlooked. I guess that’s something? It’s a shame they were brought up with no real intentions of doing anything at all with them. It’s almost as if they’re suffering from the typical curse of NXT talent that Vince doesn’t want to utilize once they hit the main roster. Hm… #conspiracytheories

— Lana: For whatever reason, WWE opted to not go with Lana for Survivor Series. Not everyone can make the team, so that’s okay, but I was thinking she would be in there more than Sonya Deville. I’m not opposed to it. Lana’s had much more of the spotlight recently and it’s nice to see Deville get something to do for once.

— Mandy Rose: So….is she on the team by default now, or what? They couldn’t even just say that in passing?

— Zelina Vega: Zelina was recently kept off television due to a potential concussion suffered at Evolution. As far as I’m aware, this has not been entirely confirmed to still be an issue, but since WWE had enough other options to pick from for the Survivor Series team, it’s best to just play it safe.

From the SmackDown Tag Team Division

— The Bludgeon Brothers: Not only has Erick Rowan been out with an injury for a few months, but apparently, Luke Harper has also been seen in a cast recently, which would point to both Bludgeon Brothers being out of action for medical reasons. That’s as good of an excuse not to be booked as you can get.

From the 205 Live Cruiserweight Division

— Everybody but Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy: This is one of the rare events nowadays that has some representation from 205 Live as Buddy Murphy will defend the Cruiserweight Championship against Mustafa Ali. Everybody else, though, will be missing from the event. For the completionists out there, this includes Akira Tozawa, Ariya Daivari, The Brian Kendrick, Cedric Alexander, Drew Gulak, Gentleman Jack Gallagher, Hideo Itami, Lio Rush, Mike Kanellis, TJP and Tony Nese.

Do you think these men and women or any others not on this list should have been booked on the card in some fashion? How would you have utilized them if given the opportunity? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!