Smark Out Moment

Survivor Series, the last of the "big four" ppvs of the year...typically where we get our first inclinations as to what the WWE is planning for the upcoming WrestleMania. They've done a terrible job promoting this ppv, as they've literally focused only on the WWE title match. Obviously that would deserve the most attention, but they didn't put any thought into the World Heavyweight Championship match, nobody cares about the divas, and up until the go-home episode of Raw, they didn't have any other matches outside of those 3 official. Expect a bad buyrate to come from this, which they'll no doubt blame on the pay-per-view entity itself, rather than just their poor card and advertising. Nonetheless, this is what we're looking at...

WWE Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs. Wade Barrett (w/ Special Guest Referee John Cena)
Supposedly, Barrett was going to win the title at Bragging Rights and they changed their minds at the last minute. Does that mean they don't want him as the champ or does it just mean they wanted to wait an extra month? I'm expecting the latter, but only if they find out that the Undertaker might not be able to come back for WrestleMania. If they do in fact want Cena vs Taker, then they need to change their plans, otherwise we might be looking at Cena/Miz or Cena/Barrett, or possibly Cena/Orton/Barrett/Miz. First things first, Barrett has to win the title here, and there's a good chance he does.

PREDICTION: Wade Barrett walks away with the title, but not in a way that Cena is to blame, outside of just counting the pinfall.

World Heavyweight Championship: Kane (c) vs. Edge
This depends solely on whether or not they can figure out Undertaker's recuperation time. If Taker is questionable to come back before WrestleMania, then I think we'll see Edge take the title away from Kane if not here, then next month at TLC. If Taker will be back sooner than later, they'll probably keep the belt on Kane. The trouble is that Kane's title reign became sort of dependent on the Undertaker angle and he's clearly lost as a champ without that angle. This new one with Edge is lackluster if you're being kind about it, and I doubt they'll have Kane walk into WrestleMania as the champion, especially not if he's facing anyone but Taker. Edge is a lot easier to build a world title picture around than Kane at this point, so it would be smarter for them to cut their losses, have Kane drop the title to Edge here, and then lose his rematch at TLC. Then when the Royal Rumble comes around, Kane can be thrown in that group while someone gets the "Royal Rumble Replacement" match as I like to call it (ie, the concept being that at most Royal Rumble events, someone who is less of a big star can challenge for the title, because that isn't the main draw, so you can give someone main event experience and not sacrifice money in the process). Undertaker can get vengeance on Kane without the title, but the title doesn't seem to be able to withstand Kane as a champ without Taker as the challenger.

PREDICTION: Kane retains the title if Taker will be back before WrestleMania. If that isn't the case, Edge will either win the title or win by DQ and then win the title at TLC.

Divas Championship: Lay-Cool (c) vs. Natalya
Don't be too shocked if a whole bunch of divas get involved in this somehow. But really, it doesn't matter what happens here, because I highly, highly doubt the match will be anything that we haven't already seen.

PREDICTION: Natalya isn't winning the title here. They like Layla and McCool too much to take the titles away from them right now....ESPECIALLY to give it to Natalya. Though Natalya is perhaps the best in-ring diva, she's not important enough clearly to the WWE to be the one to take the title from Lay-Cool.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Mysterio [Rey Mysterio, MVP, Kofi Kingston, Big Show, & Chris Masters] vs. Team Del Rio [Alberto Del Rio, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, & Tyler Reks]
Ok, so they decide at the last minute that they'll push a traditional elimination match, and they decide to throw Chris Masters and Tyler Reks in there??? Man, they are fucking this ppv up. Look out for Masters getting eliminated very quickly and the match being a letdown if you're expecting anything great.

PREDICTION: It doesn't matter. They probably won't figure out who they want to win until 10 minutes before the match anyway. But for argument's sake, I'll say Mysterio wins.

John Morrison vs. Sheamus
I don't know why they didn't make this another elimination tag match. They have enough people they can throw in there. Good to see Morrison getting something to do, but seeing as how he got the upper hand each time in this feud, I think its pretty obvious they'll give the win to Sheamus here so he doesn't look weak, meaning Morrison once again goes nowhere.

PREDICTION: Sheamus wins.

Tag Team Championship: Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater (c) vs. Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov
At the last minute, they realize they don't have enough star power on the card, so they put THIS match on there? I know that they like to utilize matches like this as bathroom breaks, but in comparison, wouldn't it be smarter to put on a match people might care about instead? This match won't lead to any more buyrates. Yet you still have some rather popular stars that have nothing to do. Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan are the two midcard champs and nowhere to be seen. R-Truth, Ted DiBiase, and worst of all The Miz have no part in this ppv either. I just don't get it. Plus, does anybody REALLY think that Santino and Kozlov will ever beat these two and win the titles? C'mon.

PREDICTION: Nexus retains.

Intercontinental Championship: Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Kaval
So Kaval has cashed in his ppv-championship match against Ziggler for Survivor Series after beating him on Smackdown 2 days beforehand. No build really to this either. This, combined with Kaval not being booked as being on a roll, nor did he even beat Ziggler soundly, means Kaval most likely won't be winning the title here. It should be a good, competitive match, though, and has the potential to steal the show.

PREDICTION: Ziggler retains, but may lose the match by DQ.

United States Championship: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Ted DiBiase
Massive buildup for this match, am I right? The same amount of effort as the Kaval/Ziggler match (translation: none). Way to boost your buyrates, WWE. Granted, its good they're putting this on here, but would it have killed them to have enough foresight to plan this out ahead of time? As for the match, I don't know. It seems rushed if they give DiBiase the title, and if they have Barrett win, the Nexus as tag champs, Kane as the world champ, and Ziggler as the IC champ, along with Lay-Cool, all heels as champs is kind of redundant. Therefore I guess Bryan wins here and the feud continues (or, I guess you could say, STARTS).

PREDICTION: Daniel Bryan retains.


The card is full, definitely. This means no match for the Miz, nor for R-Truth. Does that mean either of them are going to get involved in the WWE title match? If either does, I'd bet on R-Truth rather than the Miz. The Miz will probably have some backstage segment or promo of sorts and that's about it, no cash-in.