On the opposite spectrum of the Raw superstars and SmackDown superstars missing from the 2017 Survivor Series event, let’s examine the lucky few who will not just perform, but likely steal the show in some capacity.
Whether it’s in a scripted or non-kayfabe sense by factoring in everything from wins and losses, how much of an emphasis they’re given on the show, their momentum for the next TV episode, match performances and everything between, here’s my shortlist for who I think will be stealing the show at Survivor Series.
Brock Lesnar
Jinder Mahal was going to be absolutely massacred. He stood absolutely no chance to even put up a fight, let alone be victorious, and there was a reasonable expectation that he could have been squashed in a matter of seconds.
AJ Styles, on the other hand, should be putting up a much better fight, even though he’s still going to come up short. That’s going to rub his fans the wrong way, as I’m sure there are plenty of people who are holding out hope that he can come out on top to defeat The Beast Incarnate, but it’s not going to happen.
It’s been echoed every event for months that Lesnar is being set up to drop the Universal Championship to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania and after a few hiccups here and there, I’m confident in my prediction that WWE is not going to want him to look weak at all for the rest of his title reign.
This doesn’t mean that he’ll toss Styles around like a ragdoll and just play with him before putting him out of his misery, but it does mean that Raw is going to have a victory with Lesnar over Styles, even if we look at The Phenomenal One as putting up one hell of an effort.
The Shield
Reforming The Shield is pretty much the only way WWE can get people to cheer Roman Reigns, so it’s strange that they decided to pair them up against such popular babyfaces like The New Day, which will hinder that.
All throughout this match, we’ll likely see the crowd split unless Reigns is in the ring, wherein he’ll be booed against whoever he’s facing.
That being said, The Shield is still going to win this encounter, because we weren’t able to get their reunion at TLC like originally planned.
The only way they don’t win is if Kane interferes and costs them the match in order to pick up where he left off with Reigns, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case, as I have an inkling he’ll be popping up to screw over somebody else we’ll talk about later.
The New Day just aren’t going to be able to overtake The Shield, but that’s okay, because nothing is at stake anyway, so while fans won’t get to cheer The Shield dramatically over some tyrannical heels, the match should still be interesting.
Asuka
With Asuka on Team Raw, there’s no way that squad is losing, even if every other member of the team is eliminated and leaves it all up to The Empress of Tomorrow to do all the dirty work.
I don’t think that’s necessarily going to happen, as I can imagine a scenario where Asuka is at least helped out here and there by Nia Jax, if not also someone like Sasha Banks, but I do think this is all going to boil down to Asuka being the saving grace of Team Raw.
If anybody on any team is looking like the best possible candidate to be a sole survivor this year, it’s Asuka, who will continue her undefeated streak by standing tall and securing a victory for her team, which will help her case when she challenges Alexa Bliss for a shot at the Raw Women’s Championship down the line.
Nobody on Team SmackDown is ready for Asuka.
Braun Strowman
As far as Team Raw and Team SmackDown goes, The Monster Among Men should be the prioritized person when it comes to the question “who gets to dismantle the other team and look powerful?”
That doesn’t mean I think he’ll be the sole survivor, though. On the contrary, I’m anticipating interference from Kane to actually get Strowman eliminated, providing an opportunity to help balance the scales and give Team SmacKDown more of a shot at winning.
Still, Strowman is a beast and I’m confident WWE won’t do something stupid like they’ve done in the past with Ryback and others by having Strowman get eliminated early on just for shock value. That happened this year in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and it was a dumb choice then, but it would be an even crazier booking decision now.
Strowman should have an impressive showing to keep his momentum going.
Shared Glory: Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon…and Triple H
It’s kind of hard not to have the two team captains on the list, isn’t it? After all, they’re the actual leaders of their respective brands, as well as legends who are there to be the driving points of the story being told.
By adding them to this list, though, I’m not saying that they’ll be putting on the best performances or that they’ll necessarily even score a single pinfall for their teams. Rather, this is just a fact that win or lose, however long they last in the match, they both will have to come out on Raw and SmackDown to address the events that took place and all eyes will be on their response to their victory or defeat.
Not having them as the top stars of the night would just mean WWE has no idea what the brand supremacy concept is all about, and since they’re the creative team who booked it in the first place, that is certainly not the case.
Where Triple H comes into the mix, though, is what I’m most interested in. He does have the potential to put on a great performance and his last minute replacement of Jason Jordan could mean there are some potential wild ways this could all pan out.
Does this end with Triple H replacing Kurt Angle after the two get into some kind of scuffle, and for some reason, Angle walks out on Raw and puts aside his differences with Shane McMahon? Hell, for that matter, does there end up being some kind of mutual respect and Angle comes over to SmackDown to replace Daniel Bryan?
Triple H is the x-factor that I have my eyes on, as I think he’ll be doing something that will overtake both Angle and McMahon.
Those are my picks, but who do you think will end up being the primary focal points?
Do you think any of the champions who are missing from this list like Natalya or The Bar will be able to crack the top few spots of importance and should have been included, or do you feel the same as I do where these people above will shine far brighter than anybody else on the card?
Drop your predictions in the comments below!
