WWE Survivor Series 2018 preview

Bobby Roode & Chad Gable, The Revival, The B-Team, Lucha House Party and The Ascension (RAW) vs. The Usos, The New Day, Sanity, Gallows & Anderson and The Colons (SmackDown) in a 5-on-5 Tag Team Survivor Series Elimination match on the Survivor Series Kickoff Show

The story: Also, for some reason, WWE has yet to really acknowledge the fact that Lucha House Party is three wrestlers, not two. Sanity is too, but there’s no possibility they’ll try to put all three members in the match. I mean, Corey Graves mentioned it a couple of times on commentary this week — during the battle royal to determine captainship — and Renee Young and Michael Cole basically just told him to get bent. (And even with the numbers advantage, they still lost.)

Prediction: If SmackDown doesn’t win this match — look, The Usos and/or The New Day could beat all the RAW scrubs on their own — then we’ll really know professional wrestling is rigged. 

Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Mustafa Ali for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

The story: At WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia, the hometown boy Buddy Murphy finally defeated Cedric Alexander to become the Cruiserweight Champion. But during all the build to that title match, Murphy and Ali were also in an intense rivalry themselves. So now Ali is able to challenge Murphy with the title on the line.

Prediction: This isn’t even based on any logic: I just want Mustafa Ali to finally win the championship. Please. He deserves it. (*CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP*) 

Mickie James, Nia Jax, Tamina, Natalya, & Ruby Riott (RAW) vs. Carmella, Naomi, Sonya Deville, Asuka, & ??? (SmackDown), in a Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination match

The story: Honestly, when it comes to Survivor Series teams, the story is usually, “CAN THEY POSSIBLY CO-EXIST?!?” And that’s definitely the question you’ve got to ask when it comes to Captain Alexa Bliss putting Natalya on the same team as Ruby Riott, aka Natalya’s personal antagonist. (Especially when she left her other bestie, Alicia Fox, off the team entirely.) This has to be Bliss looking for a potential scapegoat or fall guy, right? Or maybe it’s a trick like the Sasha vs. Bayley match on RAW.

Prediction: On RAW this week, Bliss called her team the “greatest team in Survivor Series history,” which definitely requires a very loose — and genuinely, incorrect, unless she was talking exclusively about Mickie James and Ruby Riott — definition of “great.” On SmackDown, it still makes zero sense that Sonya Deville is even on the team. (Mandy Rose has a point), and now they’re even down one person — who was also supposed to be their captain — in Charlotte, as Charlotte has been bumped up to facing off against Ronda Rousey. Based on what’s going on with everything outside the match itself with these characters, RAW wins (possibly with Nia Jax and Tamina functioning as sole survivors) and looks very messy while doing it.

RAW Tag Team Champions AOP (RAW) vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar (SmackDown)

The story: Both of these teams are relatively new champions, and really, that’s the only story besides the whole competitive spirit thing. Considering AOP have barely gotten to do anything on the main roster, The Bar might actually get cheered here. Cesaro definitely will.

Prediction: AOP wins, but please let Big Show hit Drake Maverick with the knockout punch just once. And then maybe give a real explanation for Big Show even being part of The Bar, other than WWE still wanting a (less sensical) version of the Braun Strowman/Dolph Ziggler/Drew McIntyre alliance. 

Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, & Bobby Lashley (RAW) vs. The Miz, Shane McMahon, Rey Mysterio, Samoa Joe, & Jeff Hardy (SmackDown), in a Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination match

The story: RAW team captain Baron Corbin clearly handpicked the majority of his team; Balor was a Stephanie McMahon pick and Lashley (LASH-LEY! LASH-LEY!) beat Elias to get on this team. The SmackDown team, on the other hand, was mostly the result of co-captains (at the time) trying to balance their choices, but now The Miz is captain on his own. Within the teams themselves, Strowman made a deal with Stephanie to lead RAW to victory in exchange for the opportunity to destroy Corbin after all was said and done; McIntyre (and Ziggler, in tow) and Balor have major beef about what it means to be a WWE Superstar; no one but Lio Rush likes Lashley (LASH-LEY! LASH-LEY!); The Miz really hates Rey Mysterio because he’s basically just stuck with this Daniel Bryan pick; Samoa Joe hates everyone. Oh, and Shane McMahon is the worst in the world, even though we’re all supposed to pretend he’s the “good McMahon.”

Prediction: RAW has Braun. There you go.  

RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey (RAW) vs. Charlotte Flair (SmackDown)

The story: Immediately post-Evolution pay-per-view, the SmackDown Women’s Champion interrupted the RAW Women’s Champion’s red carpet interview with faux niceties. From that moment on, the match was official for Survivor Series. And then this week, Becky Lynch led a SmackDown women’s invasion that ended in a career-defining image… and also a match-threatening injury. (Which sucks on multiple levels, especially since it looked like it would be the main event match of Survivor Series.) So on SmackDown, she chose Charlotte as her replacement to take out Rousey.

Prediction: Now that it’s not a Champion vs. Champion match, it seems like the one who is the champion should win. But with Nia Jax waiting in the wings — as much as she says she wants Rousey to win for RAW supremacy purposes — that could easily lead to an interference that causes Rousey’s first loss. 

Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins (RAW) vs. United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown)

The story: Seriously, guys — SmackDown is doing all the work here in building these head-to-head matches. While Seth Rollins is on RAW, saying he won’t even be thinking about his match against Nakamura until Sunday — because he’s still focused on Dean Ambrose—Nakamura has been using his very limited screentime on SmackDown to hype up the match.

Prediction: Nakamura wins, most likely with Ambrose interference. We can at least hope this first-time ever dream match is a good one, especially since an Ambrose interference will mean another big Nakamura match that’s not even really about Nakamura.

Universal Champion Brock Lesnar (RAW) vs. WWE Champion Daniel Bryan (SmackDown)

The story: So, AJ Styles’ recent WWE Championship reign actually began right before last year’s Survivor Series, in which Styles was able to have the Champion vs. Champion match against then-Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. It looked it would all be a bit of history repeating… and then Daniel Bryan used Styles’ one weakness — a shot to the crotch — to defeat him for the WWE Championship. Now this? This is a dream match.

Prediction: Let’s just hope we get the Brock who will actually want to wrestle a match. Due to UFC and general WWE stuff, he’ll probably win too — as much Daniel Bryan’s “YES”-ing as a result of winning would really be some old school, troll-like “YES”-ing. (But seriously: Brock Lesnar will win.)