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EditorialWWE Survivor Series 2015: Who Should Be the Sole Survivor?

WWE Survivor Series 2015: Who Should Be the Sole Survivor?

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At the moment, the participants for the traditional 5-on-5 elimination match set to take place at this year’s Survivor Series have yet to be announced, but considering the amount of injuries and the matches that have already been scheduled, the playing field is rather small. As such, we have a basic idea of the 20 or so possible men who could end up competing in the match, even if 50% of them won’t be.

With that being said, since speculation as to who will be on which team is far too hard to pinpoint, the question I have on my mind right isn’t who could be the top of the food chain in the match, but who should.

It isn’t a guarantee that we will have a sole survivor, as the match is structured in a way that allows for there to be all five teammates still kicking by the finish, but is there anything that pushes someone better than when they’re that one that defied the odds and can celebrate by themselves in the ring?

The roster is big, so it could be tough to narrow it down to just one deserving man, but let’s give it a shot.

POSSIBLE CANDIDATES

To give everyone a sense of what we’re working with, here is a list of the 20 stars currently still available for a match that have been used in a decent enough role as of late. Others, such as Damien Sandow and Curtis Axel, have been missing in action a long while and will likely sit this out.

HEELS = The New Day (x3), King Barrett, Sheamus, The Miz, Big Show, Stardust, and The Ascension (x2)

BABYFACES = Cesaro, The Usos (x2), Neville, Ryback, The Dudley Boyz (x2), The Lucha Dragons (x2) and R-Truth

Any combination of five of those heels and five of those faces could go up against each other, or there could even be two Survivor Series matches with one of them going on the pre-show, so they all have at least a slight chance at standing out in a 5-on-5 scenario.

However, just because they have a chance to wrestle doesn’t mean they’re all weighted equally in terms of importance. The vast majority of these people don’t matter to the grand scheme of what’s going on in WWE, and not everybody can be a winner. Worse off, half won’t even get an opportunity to win.

THE TEN WITHOUT A TEAM

Step 1 in making our selection is to get rid of the people not competing in the match.

When you look at the names above, the five heels that stand out to me that can be sacrificed are The Miz, Big Show, Stardust and The Ascension. Yes, they have their positives, but The New Day are currently the tag team champions, so they can’t be off this card. Stardust and The Ascension are in a stable together (despite how little WWE has acknowledged that since they formed) but the three of them can’t join The New Day, as that would then be a team of 6. Yes, Stardust could act as a manager, or Xavier Woods could busy himself with the trombone, but I don’t expect either of those things to happen. We would need two more to team with The New Day, and since The Miz has been used more for MizTV than wrestling while Big Show has been gone the past few weeks, that leaves the big stars Sheamus and King Barrett for those spots.

As far as the babyfaces go, this is a little more complicated. The Usos are feuding with The New Day, so they’re in. Cesaro is just far too popular at the moment, so he’s in as well. That leaves two spots which could go to either the combination of Neville and Ryback or The Dudley Boyz or The Lucha Dragons. Since Kalisto has been pushed, but Sin Cara has not, I’d rule out The Lucha Dragons. The Dudley Boyz have taken a backseat as well, so they could miss Survivor Series and I don’t think fans would be shocked. Obviously, nobody would be surprised if the odd man out, R-Truth, was absent, either.

That already takes 10 people out of the equation and leaves us with the following names: The New Day, King Barrett, Sheamus, The Usos, Cesaro, Neville and Ryback.

THE TAG TEAM TROUBLE

For a match that emphasizes teamwork, history shows that tag teams actually perform rather poorly as far as eliminations go. Normally, when one half of a duo is taken out, the other half follows soon after. 2013 is a perfect example, where The Usos were on the losing team, but even with the winners of The Real Americans and The Shield, it was Roman Reigns by himself at the end. The tandem of Cesaro and Jack Swagger were the second and third eliminated, behind Dean Ambrose, while Seth Rollins fell toward the end.

The reason why I think this happens is because tag teams can take the hit and not look too bad in the process. There’s also a risk that if you have one person as a sole survivor, it devalues the other members of the teams. If Jimmy Uso were to be the sole survivor, who would put much stock in Jey Uso going forward? If Big E wins for his team while Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston look like chumps, doesn’t that effectively make him appear to be above his brethren?

Because of that, I would rule out The New Day and The Usos as being worthy of the sole survivor position. Their acts are too focused on teams for them to be “sole” anything, and since they’ll likely be feuding in a title match at TLC anyway, there’s no use in wasting this push on something that’s bound to just follow an easy path.

THE FAVE FIVE

That leaves us with the final five options: King Barrett, Sheamus, Cesaro, Neville, and Ryback.

On that list, the first name to rule out for me would be Sheamus. He’s already Mr. Money in the Bank and some people are even expecting him to cash in on either Roman Reigns or Dean Ambrose after they win the championship in the tournament. Yes, having him be the sole survivor AND cash in to become the champion would be huge and give him a massive push going forward, but is it necessary at this time? I think it would border along the lines of overkill, rather. Many (myself included) think a heel turn is coming for Ambrose or Reigns, and if that happens, that will mean a cash-in won’t happen, but I still think Mr. Money in the Bank doesn’t need to be a sole survivor as well.

The same, but to a lesser extent, applies to King Barrett. The buzz from his King of the Ring win isn’t anywhere near as big as it was earlier in the year, but that’s because WWE doesn’t want to focus on it. If Barrett were a priority, WWE would make him one. I personally think he’s underutilized and I would love to see him get a nice push that actually sticks, but I’m also not going to trust that WWE would make good on that. Barrett’s track record is to get a good pop, a few decent wins, and then a month or so later, fade into obscurity. He needs to be the next Mr. Money in the Bank in 2016, as that would be big enough for WWE to have to commit to him.

Then there’s Neville—the Man That Gravity Forgot, otherwise known as The Man WWE Forgets to Book in a Feud. This guy’s entertaining as hell, but since he doesn’t have much character and his mic skills leave much to the imagination. His ring skills are there, but having only that element makes it so WWE tends to rely on him to just wrestle random matches and not put much thought into any direction for him to go (other than up and then down in a flip). Neville’s a solid midcarder right now that I think could hold one of those two championships in 2016 for sure, but this isn’t the right time to push him. The likelihood that he would be given a prime spot at WrestleMania is very slim, and if WWE doesn’t utilize the sole survivor in that fashion, it won’t mean anywhere near as much.

Poor Ryback’s Intercontinental Championship reign was neutered due to WWE’s poor planning when they stretched out his triple threat feud and then his unfortunate injury that followed it. Subsequent matches have all portrayed Ryback as still being a notable star, but just not in the same light. I would love to see him go on the upswing and this would be a perfect opportunity to showcase just why The Big Guy could be a big player. And yet, he’s not my choice…

Who Should Be the Sole Survivor? = Cesaro

Before you click out of this article and spit out bile in the comments about how this is such an IWC/smark answer, hear me out. I fully acknowledge that Cesaro is still in need of much improvement on the mic and while many were endorsing him as their next WWE World Heavyweight champion, I had him fourth on my list behind Ambrose, Reigns, and even Kevin Owens. He’s not someone I would push to the moon by TLC, nor do I think WWE will end up doing that.

However, when you look at the people that could be in this match, Cesaro is the guy who is in the best position to make something out of being a sole survivor. The Cesaro Section concept hasn’t died down yet, and his fans continue to grow, so WWE would be able to trust that giving him this rub wouldn’t be a total waste in a week or two as if they put their eggs in the basket of a passing fad. Cesaro’s matches have been some of the best in 2015, so this is also a means to reward him for his efforts in going out there, putting on a good show, and being pinned without losing the admiration of his supporters.

The Swiss Superman didn’t make it to the quarterfinals of the tournament for nothing. To whatever extent he’s caught their attention, WWE is nonetheless definitely keeping an eye on him. He might not be in the plans to win the world title soon, but that’s not the only belt in the company. Someone is eventually going to have to take that United States Championship away from Alberto Del Rio or that Intercontinental Championship away from Kevin Owens, and while I would argue that the best man for the latter job is Sami Zayn, I 100% back seeing Cesaro dethrone Alberto Del Rio around WrestleMania, where we could see a little retribution as the former Real American beats Zeb Colter’s newest protégé from MexAmerica.

The last time Cesaro won something big was the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and WWE promptly tossed any hopes of a push to come out of that right out the window almost immediately after it happened. The creative team should learn from their mistakes and this time around, actually invest in him and see where he goes. Without the King of the Ring win, we wouldn’t have Austin 3:16. Who’s to say Cesaro can’t take this to the bank and make it the defining moment where he officially started his ascent to the main event? I think he’s entitled to a shot and the 19 other stars, while still good, haven’t had as much of a reformative year as Cesaro has, so he should be granted that honor.

That’s my opinion, but what do you think? Would you like to see Cesaro as the sole survivor of a team this year or do you have someone else in mind? For that matter, do you want to see a sole survivor at all, or should WWE take a different route and have 2 to 5 people make it out of the match?

Tell us your preferences and predictions in the comments below!

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