Choke's 2014 WWE Survivor Series Spectacular: Preview! Predictions! Trade Window Talk!
Posted by: choke Nov 23, 2014 | 1645 views | 2 comments
Yes all that in one story! Since it's so much I guess I should just get right to it.
I've got to hand it to the WWE. A few months ago I thought it was insane that Brock Lesnar wouldn't be defending the belt for months, and even though I'd obviously still prefer seeing it up for grabs each PPV, the WWE has done as good of a job as they can to try to keep it out of sight/out of mind and have put together what I feel is a strong card on paper.
Survivor Series Predictions
Kickoff: So Bad News Barrett and Fandango are both slated to make their returns on the kickoff show. From what I've seen, it hasnt been made clear that they will be against EACH OTHER, though I'm not sure if they've ever done more than 1 match on a kickoff show. If they are, one has to expect that Barrett will beat Fandango. If they're both in action in separate matches, I look for both to win in their return matches. It'll be interesting to see if they retain their heelish personalities. I'm guessing they try to make Barrett more of a face than before. I'll have more to say about both in the Trade Talk later this story
WWE Tag Team Champions Goldust and Stardust vs the Miz and Mizdow vs Los Matadores vs the Usos in a Fatal 4 Way Match for the Tag Titles: If I'm not mistaken a Fatal 4 way match means it's NOT elimination style, and first pinfall or submission wins. I like the talent associated with this match and hope the match itself can live up to its potential. It's a tough one to call as one could make an argument for any to walk away with the belts. It's hard to see the Matadores with the belts as the crowd doesnt seem all that invested in them. They do have a non-title win over Goldust and Stardust as well as a win over Miz and Mizdow as well, but that was all probably to further set up this match. The Usos would seem to be a good candidate to win the titles back, but personally I feel like it's just too soon and they haven't really developed the story to do so. Miz and Mizdow are getting more and more over, and I could see them walking out with the tags, but then we'd be left with a heel team as champs with a heel team getting a rematch. Not completely out of the realm of possibility, but I'm going to stick with Goldust and Stardust to retain just based on not having a good enough reason for them to lose them yet.
Alicia Fox, Natalya, Naomi and Emma vs Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae and Layla in a traditional Survivor Series match: Absolutely zero hype on this one, and it feels forced and unimportant. I'd like to think the sole survivor (if there is one) would earn a future Divas title shot. Natalya has been on quite a roll lately so she's a good candidate to survive. Alicia Fox and Paige will somehow find a way to eliminate each other to further their feud, the same with Naomi and Cameron. I can't remember the last I've seen of Emma and Layla but they seem like the outliers and the least likely to survive. That leaves Natalya and Summer Rae, and I look for those two to be the last two remaining, with Natalya taking the win as the sole survivor.
Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt: Love this feud so far. I like when promos get personal, even when scripted, and I love how Ambrose, true to character, just seems to shrug it all off. It wouldn't make sense for the Lunatic Fringe character to allow Wyatt to get inside of his head so easily. It's tough to pick a winner here: on the one hand Ambrose is so over right now and taking what would be his 2nd loss in consecutive PPVs might kill his momentum a bit. On the other hand this is Wyatt's first major match since his return, so a loss here could instantly stall what should be his build towards being a monstrous main event level heel. I think the win is much more needed for Wyatt, and Ambrose will still be over even with a loss here. A rematch TLC style sounds perfect for these two, which could give Ambrose a needed victory next month. Wyatt takes the first of the series
Divas Champion AJ Lee vs Nikki Bella for the title: The build to this hasn't been too bad to me. With Brie getting the win over her sister (why didn't Nikki tell Brie to just lie limp the entire time, and furthermore, what exactly is the punishment for Brie to disobey her PA duties? Okay so the story IS ludicrious, but whatever gets AJ, Nikki and Brie playing dress up like its halloween every day is okay in my book. I thought for sure that the story they were trying to tell would end up with Brie's 30 day stip to be Nikki's assistant end right at Survivor Series, maybe even mid match, where she would then turn on Nikki and cause her the loss. Apparently the days don't add up and she's still locked to be the assistant until next week? Someone confirm this. In that case, I think we see Brie help Nikki win the title, and naturally lead to the sister vs sister match they've been trying to get us hyped for for the last year.
Team Cena (Cena, Ziggler, Big Show, Ryback, Rowan) vs Team Authority (Rollins, Rusev, Mark Henry, Luke Harper, Kane) in a traditional Survivor Series match: I liked the setup for this match much more before the threats from HHH of firing team Cena if they lose. If he had that power why wouldn't he just fire them now? I feel that makes it almost a near certainty that Team Authority will lose. Now it's the WWE, so they could always figure out a way to make it work, whereby maybe Vince comes out to prevent that from happening. There's actually a lot of depth within these teams and several rivalries that have been developed which is nice to see. For example Harper vs Rowan is a natural feud to develop, and Harper vs Ziggler also works due to the recent IC title change. I think this will come down to a moment where Triple H inteferes in the match and seems to be swinging it into Team Authority's favor, which will lead to the return of the Viper who will try to psyche everyone out into thinking he's working with the Authority, only to turn full-on face and give Team Cena the win. I hope they have other surprises in store, but the fans would eat that up.
Trade Window Talk
This is always the best trade window opportunity of the month, right before a PPV, and this month there are a LOT of options for your trading needs.
Rising
1. Harper/Rowan: Been a little behind on my Trade Window stories, and for the sake of your league I'm hoping these two have been snatched up if anyone had grown tired of waiting for them to return. Harper has had the immediate impact of winning the IC title and Rowan took advantage of Sheamus' injury and has been thrust into the Survivor Series main event. If for some reason your league has been sleeping, pick them up
2. Nikki Bella/Brie Bella: I've been suggesting this for some time, but with the Divas title match set for tonight, if either of them (in particular Nikki) is available, it would be a good idea to pick her up as she has a really good chance to win the title tonight. Brie looks to be in line for a title shot maybe at TLC against her sister
3. Mizdow/Matadores: I'm assuming Miz isn't available in your league, but Damien Sandow might be, and the Matadores probably are. With the 4 way tag match practically unpredictable, it could be worth a shot picking up anyone involved in the match just in case a surprise title change happens
4. Bad News Barrett/Fandango: Returning tonight, and without any idea of what their gimmick will be, I still think there's a lot of potential for points in the next month with either of these guys, but most notably Barrett. This is a little under the radar so I'm guessing these two are still widely available.
5. Natalya: Based on my prediction, Natalya looks to get a lot of points tonight. The problem is the future's a little unclear beyond that.
Falling
1. Sheamus: Looks like he needed surgery after Monday, and without any timetable provided for his return and only one month left in this fantasy season, I don't think he's worth holding onto.
2. Paige: She's a bit lost in the shuffle right now as far as the Divas division is concerned. If Nikki does win the title, it's difficult to see Paige involved in the fight for the belt any time soon. Worth holding onto for tonight just as she could be a factor in the Divas survivor series match at least
3. Zack Ryder: Injured and out for the rest of the year. If you had him on your team, you were probably hopeless anyhow, but just in case!
Enjoy the show all!