Last night’s Survivor Series was full of surprises. From title changes to a devastating Scorpion Death Drop, the event pretty much had it all. However, it left many questions regarding the future of the storyline, especially now that the Authority is no longer in power. Here are five paths I believe the company will take in the coming weeks.
5. Ryback Fades to the Midcard
Let me start by saying that last night’s main event was impeccably booked. From Cena exiting early to Ziggler selling to hell out of his beating to Sting’s entertaining debut, they did pretty much everything right.
However, their one mistake was having Ryback eliminated minutes into the contest. He was the biggest story in the weeks leading up to the event, but played essentially no role in the actual match. Unfortunately for Ryback, it looks like he was simply being used as a crutch while the company waits for others to return. After Reigns, Lesnar, and Barrett return to television, the Big Guy will once again be an afterthought.
Survivor Series is mere hours away at this point. This baby is totally free, so anyone paying for this pay-per-view is doing it all wrong. In total, there are five matches on the main card, including a traditional Survivor Series tag team main event. Without further ado, here are my predictions for tonight’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Fandango (with Rosa Mendes) vs. TBA
Although Fandango’s opponent has yet to be announced, I’d put my money on Adam Rose serving as the punching bag. The match will likely be used to further tension between Adam Rose and the Bunny, while also allowing Fandango to pick up a victory in his return to action.
Winner: Fandango by pinfall
Alicia Fox, Emma, Naomi, and Natalya vs. Paige, Cameron, Layla, and Summer Rae (Divas Elimination Match)
This will be similar to last year’s Divas elimination match in that it will be total waste of ten minutes (and if we’re really lucky, we might get to see it again on Raw tomorrow!). This could go in many directions, but my guess is that Paige’s team wins after last eliminating Natalya.
Winners: Paige, Cameron, Layla, and Summer Rae by pinfall
The stakes have been raised at this year’s Survivor Series, as the Authority will attempt to retain power, while members of Team Cena fight to retain their jobs. The card appears to be set and will feature a total of six matches, with two championships on the line.
This event has been marketed as free, so it’s unclear whether the company will play it safe and phone in the results. If they decide to surprise fans, however, here are five ways they could potentially do so.
We are just days away from the WWE’s latest pay-per-view, Survivor Series. At last year’s event, Randy Orton defended his championship against the Big Show in a highly criticized main event. This time around, it will be John Cena risking his job in an attempt to slay the Authority.
The shelf life of a WWE superstar can be short, so it’s always important for competitors to make the most of their time in the ring, especially at pay-per-views. Here is a look at the superstars who have progressed, regressed, or remained stagnant over the past year.
Progression:
Luke Harper
Harper has made tremendous strides over the past year. He and former partner Erick Rowan were destroyed by Daniel Bryan and CM Punk at last year’s Survivor Series. He walks into this year’s event as a surprise Intercontinental Champion, and is booked into the main event with Team Authority. Harper’s stock is definitely on the rise.
Ryback
It appears the company is once again fond of Ryback. The Big Guy was basically buried in the midcard after his feud with John Cena last year, including a quick defeat at the hands of Mark Henry last year at Survivor Series. He has been the focal point of WWE television over the past few weeks, so it will be interesting to see where they go from here. One can hope that this isn’t simply a stopgap measure until guys like Reigns and Lesnar get back on television.
Honorable Mention: Ambrose/Rollins
It’s difficult to talk about progression without mentioning the former Shield brothers. These two were destroyed last year in a match whose only purpose was to get Roman Reigns over as a singles competitor. (Dean Ambrose was eliminated 2 minutes into this match and Rollins eventually stepped aside so the Spear party could commence.) What difference a year makes, however. Rollins is the leader of Team Authority and arguably the star of the main event, while Ambrose has elevated himself and will attempt to solidify the midcard on Sunday.
During a match between Big Show and Sheamus on Monday’s WWE Survivor Series “go-home” edition of RAW, which featured interference from Rusev and Mark Henry, Sheamus was “injured” and is now no longer part of “Team Cena” in the traditional elimination match main event for this Sunday’s pay-per-view.
This led to the main event “contract signing” between Team Cena and Team Authority. While no contracts were actually signed, all members of the now five-on-six elimination match for this Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view was announced.
Team Authority will feature Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Rusev, Luke Harper and Cesaro.
Team Cena consists of John Cena, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback.
Make sure to join us here this Sunday night for the best WWE Survivor Series live results coverage on the web.
On Monday’s WWE Survivor Series “go-home” edition of RAW, a new WWE Intercontinental Champion was crowned.
After the opening promo segment, which featured all members of “Team Authority” in the ring, Triple H ordered Authority team-member Luke Harper to remain in the ring. He then ordered Dolph Ziggler to come out for the first match of the evening.
The show then went to commercial break and once we returned, Lilian Garcia announced that during the break she was informed that the Harper-Ziggler match would be for Ziggler’s Intercontinental title.
Before the match began, Seth Rollins, Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble hit the ring and attacked Ziggler. Once Ziggler returned to his feet, Harper began giving him a beating. In the end, Harper managed to score the 1-2-3 to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion.
– There has been some talk of having a Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler non-title match on the WWE Survivor Series “go-home” edition of RAW.
– Georgia Smith, daughter of the late WWE legend “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, was backstage at the WWE television taping on Tuesday night in Liverpool, England. She was hanging out backstage along with her boyfriend, singer Adam Berry. Below is a photo of the two with Tyson Kidd.
As you might have picked up on, the top priority for WWE television this past week was to elevate Ryback back to the top-tier status he enjoyed prior to his lost to CM Punk at Hell in a Cell 2013.
Speaking of Ryback, he’s official for “Team Cena” at the upcoming WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 23rd, as he joins team captain John Cena and team members Dolph Ziggler, Big Show and Sheamus.
On the other end of the match, which is a traditional ten-man elimination style match with the big Authority stipulation, is Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Rusev and Luke Harper.
Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt and Nikki Bella vs. AJ Lee for the WWE Divas Championship are the only other two matches official for the show thus far.
As noted, Adam Rose vs. The Bunny in a Kickoff Show match and a WWE Tag-Team Championship four-way with Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos vs. Los Matadores vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow is also expected.
Survivor Series is less than two weeks away, and while three matches on the card are essentially set, much of the program is still unannounced. So, will the WWE work to build a pay-per-view that is solid from top to bottom, or are they simply throwing in the towel because this is a “free” event? Here is the card is expect to see on November 23rd in St. Louis.
Adam Rose vs. The Bunny
After attacking the Bunny last week on Raw, it appears these two legends of the squared circle will square off sooner rather than later. This pairing has kickoff show written all over it, as the company tries to get the crowd going with a “humorous” contest.
Gold & Stardust (Tag Team Champions) vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow vs. Los Matadores vs. The Usos
Los Matadores have picked up a few victories over Gold & Stardust over the past few weeks, and the Miz and his stunt double have also feuded with the champs. Throw in the Usos to make an even number of teams, and you’ve got yourself an elimination tag team match for the straps.
– Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are featured on the latest edition of WWE’s “30 Second Fury,” which you can see below.
– WWE will debut the first ever edition of SmackDown on the WWE Network next week as part of their “SmackDown Week” special, which promotes the 15th anniversary of the show. The first SmackDown episode will air after Tuesday’s edition of Main Event, and immediately afterwards, a 30-minute special on the April 9, 2003 edition of SmackDown will air. The official description for that special reads as follows:
“Rowdy Roddy Piper brings back ‘Piper’s Pit’ after 14 long years with Mr. McMahon as the featured guest.”
– Kevin Steen is expected to have his new official WWE ring name in the near future. He is expected to make his NXT TV in-ring debut before the end of the year.
– Luke Harper changed his Twitter handle to simply, “.” and after last night’s SmackDown, he tweeted the following:
The Wyatt Family vignette that aired during Monday’s WWE RAW show were apparently designed to start the push of Luke Harper as a singles competitor.
Apparently the working plan is to split up the group, an idea that has been talked about for a while now. There is no word yet on if this means Bray Wyatt will be switching babyface or not.
Since bursting on the scene last fall, Bray Wyatt has been one of the most diabolical and confusing characters on the WWE roster. Fans are likely to find him delivering a soliloquy in a dark room one minute, while serenading an audience the next.
Along the way, Wyatt has taken out a number of superstars, including Kane, Daniel Bryan, and John Cena. However, it seems as if Wyatt has lost momentum in recent weeks.
Wyatt has lost momentum since his feud with John Cena.
Everything seemed to be going fine for Wyatt and his Family during his program with John Cena. Wyatt was able to defeat Cena during one of the three matches, and although he wasn’t able to win the series, he looked strong at times and amassed more followers. At the same time, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan were challenging for the Tag Team Championships and it seemed like only a matter of time before they would capture gold.
However, the stable has seemed lost since the Cena program. Wyatt feuded with Chris Jericho in a program that was underwhelming and did little to advance either superstar. As for Harper and Rowan, they could never overcome the Usos and it now appears that they are out of the title picture for the time being. The current Wyatt Family situation begs the question: Is the stable quickly losing relevance?
In recent weeks, Wyatt has been fed to a number of superstars as they attempt to build up Night of Champions. Nowhere was this more evident than a few weeks ago when John Cena tore through the entire three-man stable just one week after being destroyed by Brock Lesnar.
This week on Raw was no different, as the Big Show delivered a double chokeslam to Harper and Rowan, once again sending the Wyatt Family running for the hills with their tails between their legs.
Feeding the Wyatt Family to the Big Show makes little sense. After all, it is not like the Big Show has a match at Night of Champions, so unlike the Cena situation, the company isn’t really building for the pay-per-view by burying the future of the company. Instead, it was just another pointless beating and loss for the Wyatt Family.
– It was announced on the WWE Night Of Champions “go-home” edition of RAW on Monday night that at the “Kickoff Show” for this Sunday’s pay-per-view, Christian will conduct a “Peep Show” talk show segment with special guest Chris Jericho.
– Also announced on RAW was a big six-man tag-team match for this week’s SmackDown, which will see Big Show and The Usos vs. Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan.
The following matches were taped on Monday night, September 15, 2014 at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Luke Harper and Erick Rowan def. Los Matadores in tag-team action to open up the show. The finish saw Harper hit a side-walk slam for the pinfall victory.
– Sin Cara def. Justin Gabriel in the main event of the show. This was said to be an exciting, crowd-pleasing, high-flying style of match, the exact type you would expect from these two.
– Luke Harper of The Wyatt Family is reportedly currently working through some type of eye injury. We don’t have a lot of details in terms of the severity of the injury, however when additional information surfaces, we will be sure to update you here on the site.
– Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio will be working his first official match with the Mexican-based AAA promotion tonight.
As things stand right now, the only matches officially set for the September 21st WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view in Nashville, Tennessee are Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Sheamus vs. Cesaro for the WWE United States Championship and Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
According to reports, two additional matches that are all but confirmed are The Usos vs. Goldust and Stardust for the WWE Tag-Team Championships and Mark Henry vs. Rusev.
The plan right now for the WWE Divas Championship match on the card appears to be a four-way with Paige defending against AJ Lee, Nikki Bella and Brie Bella, as all four were linked together on all of WWE’s television shows this week.
Another match likely for the show, although it may not be a pay-per-view match, is Bo Dallas vs. Jack Swagger.
The key Superstars left without matches that are expected on the show are Chris Jericho (in his final match of his current run with WWE), Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.
It appears WWE is going with a Reigns vs. Rollins match, so they may go with Jericho vs. Orton since the Jericho vs. Wyatt and Reigns vs. Orton matches are set for next week’s RAW to combat the season premiere of Monday Night Football. However, they could either way, with one final Jericho vs. Wyatt “blow-off” match, as well as another Reigns vs. Orton bout.
As noted in the past, the WWE Studios film “Lockdown,” which Dean Ambrose is off filming, is set to wrap up on the Saturday before Night Of Champions, so he could end up on the show if WWE chooses to go that route.
The WWE rolled through midwest tonight, as they set up shop in Des Moines, Iowa. This week’s card featured a total of eight matches, including a life changing six-man tag main event. It’s time to once again take the WWE to school, and I’ll be the one doling out the grades.
As always, matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, move variety, crowd reaction, and overall impact on the storyline. Important in-ring promos will also be graded based on factors such as originality, believability, and importance. Without further ado, here is this week’s Raw report card.
Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel
Tonight’s show started with Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel, and featured a shitload of guests, including the Authority, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. There was some entertaining banter during the segment, including Triple H and Jericho hurling corny insults at one another as Jericho dissed Triple H’s pink tie, while the Game chose to attack Y2J’s scarf during a hilarious back and forth. Rollins was extremely over during the promo and got the biggest pop of the night in his home state. Cena threatening to sue the company was pretty lame, however, and held the promo back a bit. It was an overall decent segment, it set up the main event, and the crowd seemed to be into it.
Grade: B
Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro and the Miz
The first match of the night was a tag team match featuring the United States and Intercontinental Champions. The Miz showed up with his body double Damien Mizdow and a personal stylist, complete with chairs and makeup. Miz and Sandow were hilarious throughout the contest and the ending was solid. Ziggler and Cesaro also worked well together during the opening portion of the match, with Cesaro’s fall away slam into a pinning combination being one of the most impressive spots I’ve seen in a long time. Overall, it was an entertaining contest and was a good way to advance both feuds.
Tonight is the Labor Day edition of WWE RAW, which takes place live tonight at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
Confirmed thus far for tonight’s show is a “Highlight Reel” segment with Chris Jericho and special guest, Randy Orton.
Superstars advertised for tonight’s show in Des Moines include John Cena, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Kane, Seth Rollins and Triple H.
– What hard-hitting questions will Jericho have for Orton?
– How will Cena respond to Brock Lesnar?
– What is going on between AJ Lee and Paige?
– Will Reigns get his hands on Rollins?
– How will Brie Bella move past her sisters actions last week?
Make sure to join us here tonight for live WWE RAW results coverage.
– It was announced on this week’s edition of RAW that on Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan will take on Big Show and Mark Henry in tag-team action.
– Jeff Hardy: My Life, My Rules debuts this Wednesday on the WWE Network. Below is a video preview.
The following matches were taped on Tuesday night in Seattle, Washington for tonight’s WWE SummerSlam “go-home” edition of SmackDown on SyFy:
– Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro
– Dolph Ziggler vs. Titus O’Neil
– Mark Henry vs. Luke Harper
– Mark Henry & Big Show vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
– A.J. Lee vs. Eva Marie non-title
– Jack Swagger vs. Bo Dallas
– Roman Reigns vs. The Miz
At one point, the plan for the WWE SummerSlam “Kickoff Show” match was a four-way tag-team match for the WWE Tag-Team Championships, with The Usos defending against Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, Ryback and Curtis Axel and Goldust and Stardust.
As things stand now, the pre-show match for the pay-per-view is being discussed and a decision is expected to be made at some point during the next week.
It’s worth noting that the new “Slater Gator” duo (Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil) may end up being involved if they go the tag-team route, which is expected, as the new tag-combination recently picked up a notable win over Goldust and Stardust on WWE Main Event.
While it’s possible these plans have changed, as of yesterday, Chris Jericho vs. Luke Harper and a Miz TV segment with Bo Dallas was in the script for tonight’s edition of WWE RAW.
Additionally, tonight’s RAW is expected to advance the story line behind Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton for SummerSlam, as well as John Cena’s first “reaction interview” for his match at SummerSlam with Brock Lesnar.
The latest word going around this weekend is that the rumored Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella match may be saved for the Night Of Champions pay-per-view in September, as opposed to the SummerSlam show in August. More should be known based on how they follow-up on the angle at RAW tonight.
As far as the Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins and AJ Lee vs. Paige matches at SummerSlam, it is believed that both will be a gimmick match of some sort.
Finally, there is talk of the WWE Tag-Team Championship match at SummerSlam being a fatal four-way with The Usos defending against Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, as well as two other tag-teams.