Tags
AJ Styles, Akira Tozawa, Auska, Becky Lynch, Brock Lesnar, Buddy Murphy, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, Drew McIntyre, Finn Bálor, Hideo Itami, Kalisto, Kenny Omega, Mandy Rose, NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, Raw, Road To Wrestlemania, Ronda Rousey, Royal Rumble 2019, Rusev, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins, Shane McMahon, Sheamus, Shinsuke Nakamura, Smackdown, Sonya Deville, The Bar, The Miz, Vince McMahon, WrestleMania 35, WWE, WWE Championship, WWE Cruiserweight Championship, WWE Network, WWE Raw, WWE Raw Women's Championship, WWE Royal Rumble, WWE Royal Rumble 2019, WWE Smackdown, WWE Smackdown Live Women's Championship, WWE United States Championship, WWE Universal Championship
As I stated in my article yesterday, “This weekend is one of the coolest weekends in professional wrestling besides WrestleMania weekend because not only is it Royal Rumble weekend, it also marks the start of the Road to WrestleMania.” NXT TakeOver: Phoenix was last night and it did not disappoint, but tonight is where it all begins. The Royal Rumble is the platform that a wrestler can elevate his/herself to have the greatest opportunity afforded to them if they can out last 29 other men/women in the Royal Rumble match. This is one of two PPV’s that the WWE does that you hope that they don’t screw up and that they deliver on a product that is worthy of being presented to us as the main product. When the Royal Rumble invades Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, it will be the 32ND edition of the Rumble and I am excited because this is the start of the playoffs that will lead to the SuperBowl of the WWE in WrestleMania 35. Who will walk out WWE Champion? Who walks out Universal Champion and who wins the rumble match? Who will have the right to step on the stage that us wrestling fans like to call the “Showcase of the Immortals.” Hopefully, all of those answers will be answered and you as the wrestling fan get what you have hoped for.
I am going to talk about the Rumble matches first because it’ll paint a picture of who will win the championship matches tonight. Out of all the participants in the men’s Royal Rumble match, there are only two men that come to mind as a legitimate threat to win it all if Kenny Omega does not show up. Those two men are the architect Seth Rollins and the Scottish psychopath Drew McIntyre. Those two men have the best chances of winning the match, but only one can survive and I think that man is Seth Rollins. Seth has been quite the push as has Finn Balor and it just seems like destiny that he wins and claims his place at the top of the food chain. My iron man for the match which means the person who lasts a long time in the rumble is going to be Baron Corbin. I just feel like that snake will somehow find a way to stay in the match for a long time as he has done it before. The women’s Royal Rumble match is pretty cut and dry for me as I believe Becky Lynch will lose her match to Auska, but she’ll enter the rumble and she’ll win as she decides to challenge Ronda Rousey for her title as she’ll defeat Sasha Banks tonight. My Iron Woman for the rumble is going to be Sonya Deville who I believe in my heart deserves the push more than Mandy Rose and you can believe that.
Now, you probably guessed from the paragraph above that I believe that Brock Lesnar is walking out of the Rumble with the title. It’s not easy for me to say that because I would love to see Finn slay the beast or Goliath as Vince McMahon has referred to Brock as, but I just don’t see it happening. I just feel that the WWE is teasing you by giving you what you want, but I think Finn gets his real shot at the belt after Mania. The other championship match that is intriguing to me is the match for the WWE Championship between champion Daniel Bryan and challenger AJ Styles. I would love to see AJ walk out of the Rumble as champion, but I am starting to really get into Daniel’s heel run so I feel it’s too soon for him to lose it now. I don’t know what it is about the tag team match, but it’s one that I do not care about because I don’t believe in Shane and The Miz as a legitimate team to beat The Bar. I feel the same exact way about the United States Championship match between Rusev (Champion) and Shinsuke Nakamura. That has been a non-existent storyline on my radar so I have no vested interest. The only other match that seems interesting is on the pre-show and it’s the Fatal Four Way for the Cruiserweight title as Buddy Murphy defends his belt against Hideo Itami, Kalisto, and Akira Tozawa. I believe Buddy Murphy will retain, but it has the potential to be one heck of a match. Check out my predictions below and enjoy one of the coolest nights in Wrestling.
Buddy Murphy Retains
Rusev Retains
The Bar retains
Daniel Bryan over AJ
Brock Lesnar over Finn Balor
Auska over Becky Lynch
Ronda Rousey over Sasha Banks
Becky Lynch wins the Women’s Royal Rumble
Seth Rollins wins The Men’s Royal Rumble
One of the greatest things to happen in the WWE in the last year or two has been the women’s evolution where the men finally have to step up their game against a women’s division that is evolving at a high pace. The greatest thing to happen to the women’s evolution in that time span has been the one and only Becky Lynch, the Smackdown Live Women’s Champion who has been cutting some of the best promos around. At the WWE’s 32ND edition of Survivor Series, we were supposed to have the incredible match up between Becky and WWE Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, but we were robbed of that due to a Nia Jax elbow to the face put Becky out of commission. It is not completely Nia’s fault because accidents do happen, but that would have been match of the night. But now, we were left with Smackdown and it’s writers deciding to flip the script and change everything. We will get the rumored WrestleMania 35 match between Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey and then for some god awful reason we got a heel turn from Daniel Bryan as he defeated AJ Styles for the WWE Championship which now means that Daniel is taking on WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in what will surely be billed as David vs Goliath.
Now all the excitement for the PPV has almost completely left my body, but there are some matches that could save the night from being a total waste. I honestly believe that WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs WWE United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura has the potential to be a match of the night winner as two of the best in the business in my opinion go at it for brand supremacy. I honestly do not believe that Brock Lesnar has what it takes anymore to put on an OK match which is why I think they are giving Daniel Bryan a shot, but I’d be surprised if he won. I honestly believe that Charlotte is going to be the saving grace of that match just like Becky Lynch would have been meaning that they will carry the match. As much as I would love to see the RAW women’s team win their traditional Survivor series match, I just think there is too much tension between Natalya and Ruby Riott right now that will somehow come into play during the match. I am just wondering who the last member of the Smackdown Live women’s team is going to be since Charlotte can no longer do it. I say that we bring in Nikki Cross since she already wrestled on the show a couple of weeks ago.
I don’t understand the point of having two heel tag teams face each other, but I am afraid to say that A.O.P. (Authors Of Pain) vs The Bar (Sheamus and & Cesaro) could actually be one hell of a match. I do not have too much invested interest in what 205 Live is bringing to the table only because I haven’t followed that in a while, but I like Mustafa Ali and what he brings so I’ll check it out when he challenges WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy. Now, the men’s traditonal Survivor Series match that sees Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, Braun Strowman, Finn Bálor, and Bobby Lashley represent RAW as they take on Smackdown’s team of The Miz, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Shane McMahon, and Rey Mysterio should be a very interesting match. The line in the sand could be drawn from this match as we inch closer to the road to WrestleMania 35. I think the WWE lost faith in the Tag team version of the traditional Survivor Series match when they placed it on the pre-show, but mark my words it will set the tone for the rest of the night and reveal to you which brand will take it all this year.
If you missed last night’s showing of NXT TakeOver: WarGames II then you missed one hell of a night. That event definitely set the tone for the weekend that it always does. The first match saw Matt Riddle, the king of bros, dispose of Kassius Ohno in seconds. With a little help from some friends Shayna Baszler disposed of her arch nemesis Kairi Sane 2-1 in a best two out of three falls match that left much to be desired. The next three matches are a complete toss up of what could be considered match of the night. First in what was an excellent match, Aleister Black and Johnny Gargano fought an epic match where both men left everything they had in the ring, but Aleister dug in deep and found a way to win hitting not one, but two Fade to Black’s. The very next match did much of the same as the previous match, but one thing is for certain. Even though the Velveteen Dream lost to NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, he earned my respect and I look forward to watching this man whether it be in NXT or when he gets the call up. I loved the theatrics and the ode to Hollywood Hogan that Dream displayed last night. Last, but certainly not least the WarGames match once again lived up the hype as Ricochet, Pete Dunne, and the War Raiders went to war with The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly). Both teams blazed a path of destruction that I will never forget, but The Undisputed Era couldn’t get it done this time around. While it’s a hard choice to make, but the match of the night winner in my opinion is Aleister Black vs Johnny Gargano. Check out the event on the WWE Network and check out my predictions below for Survivor Series.
Last month, I tweeted all of my predictions for SummerSlam and it was not only because I was running out of time, but because I was disappointed in the product. I went into the night thinking that maybe the product wouldn’t totally suck, but they made some poor choices to go along with the really good ones. Nonetheless, I tried watching Raw the next night and I just could not take the product that they are producing. It’s so bad in my opinion that Smackdown Live is becoming the more appealing product. It’s becoming so bad that NXT is the supreme brand in that company and Cody Rhodes is looking more like a genius everyday. Did anyone happen to catch All In because that is how an event is done so the WWE should take notes. So to start out the convo about tonight’s pay per view which is Hell In A Cell, we have to look at what happened last month to lead to this one. For starters, we are getting the John Cena/Nikki Bella vs Miz and Maryse, but with Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella because why not? That in my opinion is a pre-show match because I don’t want to see it.
One of the biggest things I don’t understand is why did you have Ronda Rousey destroy Alexa Bliss in their first match to only give her a rematch? Is Ronda only going to destroy her again or is she going to have something up her sleeve this time around? It’s just frustrating because you want me to believe that Ronda is the baddest chick on the planet who just wrecks people, but tonight Alexa will have fought a better match this time around. Why give Braun Strowman the Money In The Bank briefcase for him to treat it like he is John Cena? We all knew a match between Strowman and Reigns was going to happen anyways, I’m just wondering if we are going to get an appearance from Brock tonight or what role will Mick Foley play as special guest referee. Can someone please tell me why in the hell are The New day tag team champions and why has it taken Rusev Day this long to be in the title picture? Can someone please help WWE creative get a clue already because Rusev Day has been hot for a while. The only thing I want to see is Rusev Day walking out with the WWE Smackdown Live Tag Team Titles.
Now let’s look at the things that they got right last month at SummerSlam and we’ll start with Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles. The match may have ended with AJ getting disqualified, but man you could feel the anger and tension at the end of that fight. These two want to kill each other in the ring and I am 100% buying into it. Becky Lynch’s heel turn last month was what everyone in the world wanted and they delivered. It’s the best programming going around right now in WWE Women’s wrestling and they have not disappointed a single soul yet. I want to see Becky Lynch continue with this mean streak well past this event and into the future because the lass kicker is here to take names. I like what Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler have been doing for a while together, but I am not sure if I like them being called Strowman’s Stooges. Nonetheless, all I want is for Dean to have his heel turn tonight and for Drew and Dolph to walk out as champions once again. I personally do not have any stock in the Orton/Jeff Hardy fight, but it’s nice to see that Jeff will finally have his first Hell In A Cell match ever. Check out my predictions below:
Tonight is World Wrestling Entertainment’s annual Pay Per View Extreme Rules, you know the event that they claim they let go extreme, but we never really see anything too extreme in the sense of the old 90’s Hardcore scene. If you’re a WWE Fanatic then you are just excited that the PPV is here because there are some decent matches on the card with the one match I am looking forward to in the 30 minute iron man match for the Intercontinental championship that pins the champion Dolph Ziggler against former champion Seth Rollins. I mean other than that match, the only other matches worth looking forward to is the Extreme Rules women’s match between Nia Jax and Champion Alexa Bliss and the Raw Tag Team Championship match between The Deleters of Worlds (Bray Wyatt & Matt Hardy) vs The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel). I know a lot of you are looking forward to the return of TeamHellNo (Daniel Bryan & Kane), but I am kind of over it because there is still a rivalry that needs to commence while they have The Miz on Smackdown Live. One match that I would have been interested in is the AJ Styles/Rusev match for the WWE Championship if I thought that the title was actually going to change hands, but it’s not.
I am still sour over the fact that after having him wrestle AJ Styles at WrestleMania, The Greatest Royal Rumble, Backlash, and Money In The Bank that Shinsuke Nakamura is not WWE Champion. I had high hopes for the King Of Strong Style, but apparently the WWE didn’t and now he is fighting for the US Championship against Jeff Hardy which don’t get me wrong will probably be a good match. It’s just not what I had in mind for Shinsuke after winning the Royal Rumble. Then they are giving us a match that while it features two of the most physical wrestlers in the ring, it also features two of the worst on the microphone in Bobby Lashley vs Roman Reigns. What did we do to deserve this punishment in our lives? So you have to expect a very physical match with almost no wrestling skills behind it and definitely no microphone interactions. The other question is whether the WWE is going to stop being afraid of someone who doesn’t speak the language that well become a champion. You know I am talking about Asuka who won the first ever WWE Women’s Royal Rumble match and failed to win as well at WrestleMania like her fellow countrymen. Enough is enough already and just make her champion because Carmella being champ was fun while it lasted.
I haven’t really paid attention to Raw or Smackdown so I have no idea what Finn Balor vs Baron Corbin is about other than it keeps Finn away from the Universal Championship that must have disintegrated when Thanos clicked his thumb during Avengers: Infinity War. Braun Strowman is on on heck of a ride right now and I am enjoying every second of it because he looks like a genuine good guy and he is exactly what Vince McMahon loves which is a big physical specimen. He takes on Kevin Owens in a steel cage match which means that Kevin is going to try and escape all match long, but he’s going to catch those hands. The pre-show has two matches attached to it with talent that should be getting pushed like Sanity and Andrade “Cien” Almas. Andrade “Cien” Almas could be a really great heel for the company, but you know xenophobia is a crazy thing. Sanity has some real talented individuals behind them like one Killian Dane who I think has a lot of potential in the future. They are paired against The New Day which I think are running on their last legs while I didn’t even realize that Sin Cara is still on the payroll and taking on Almas. So, tune in tonight because in case you didn’t know rumor has it that Hulk Hogan is showing up tonight now that he has been reinstated. So, check out my predictions below:
As the WWE rolls into the Allstate Arena in Chicago for the Ninth annual Money In The Bank PPV, here are some of the things you can expect to happen tonight. As awesome as it sounds to have a match between Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey, we all know that Ronda is not walking out of Chicago with the title. I also do not think that she is necessarily going to lose either, but I do think that there is going to be outside interference that will put an end to the match. It is still too early in her career for her to be crowned a champion and I feel like the WWE is still just getting started on Nia’s dominant run as WWE Raw Women’s Champion. I am hoping that tonight is the last that we are going to see of Shinsuke Nakamura challenging AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. I am hoping that the WWE has come to it’s senses and that they have finally decided what they are going to do with the belt. I mean what are you going to do with it? Are you going to have AJ retain somehow? Or are you going to finally put the strap behind Shinsuke who will honestly do better with it than Jinder Mahal.
I Honestly do not see Carmella walking out of MITB with the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship. I get that she cashed in and was able to win the title that way, but I do not see her handing Asuka a loss on her record. I honestly think her championship run ends tonight and let the dominance begin. As much as most of the wrestling world hates Roman Reigns and as much of the reports we hear that maybe Vince has woken up like Matt Hardy, I still think Vince is big on Roman and he’s walking out with a win. Sami Zayn has to be on someone’s shit list because as much as I’d love to see him beat Bobby Lashley, it’s not going to happen despite his poor mic skills. I am having a hard time deciding who I want to win the IC Match because while I like Elias, I am still a huge fan of Seth’s and he is making the IC belt legitimate. That is the only reason why I see Seth walking out as IC Champion, sorry Elias. I don’t understand the point of having this rivalry between Big Cass and Daniel Bryan only because there are better opponents for Daniel on this dream run.
The only thing left to be talking about are the two Money In The Bank ladder matches for the men and the women. In the men’s match, we have Finn Balor, The Miz, Rusev, Braun Strowman, Bobby Roode, Kevin Owens, and a member of New Day to be decided at the event. In reality, I’d love it to be Big E Langston in the match, but Kofi would be cool to see as well. The only person I would want to see win this match is Braun Strowman, but there is a very good chance that it’s Finn Balor that walks out with the briefcase. I just feel that he is destined to have another shot at the WWE Universal Championship. The women’s match features Charlotte, Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, Ember Moon, Lana, Natalya, Sasha Banks, and Naomi. I don’t understand how there is no one from the Riot Squad or what was left of Absolution in this match, but instead we have the old order and one newbie in Ember Moon. The WWE gave Carmella the briefcase twice last year so do not be surprised if Lana somehow pulls this off, but I am routing for Ember Moon to win the match. Check out my predictions below:
Things are changing in the WWE and we got a preview of it with The Greatest Royal Rumble where both brands will no longer have a solo pay per view. I can’t say that I am entirely disappointed in the WWE’s decision to do this because some PPV’s were rather lackluster at times, but what does this mean for everyone else heading into tonight’s WWE Backlash? What it means is that superstars from both rosters will be fighting to get a spot on a PPV whereas before it would be easier to do with the WWE needing to fill the slots on the specific cards. Is this the best thing? Maybe not, but it will tell you is that the end of the roster split could be over which means guys will be buried. This could also spell the end of the Universal Championship, but that remains to be seen. The WWE heads into the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ with a pretty stacked card thanks to this new change. The obvious stand out match in my opinion tonight will be the No Disqualification match between WWE Champion AJ Styles and the new and improved Shinsuke Nakamura. Is this finally the day that Shinsuke will reign supreme making his turn to the dark side the right choice after all or will the WWE just not take a chance on the man. It’s frustrating because they put a title around the waste of Jinder Mahal and that turned out to be a major flop. The WWE needs to make up it’s mind and give guys that deserve a shot at the top the chance like Cesaro or Nakamura. Vince is just burying his baby a little more and Triple H is looking like the genius with NXT.
The other match that has me intrigued because it may just turn out to be a match of the night contender is the one between Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins who puts the title on the line against The Miz. Even though we can kind of guess where the WWE is going to go with this match, it’s almost a no brainer that these two men are going to entertain you in the ring with the story they will tell. I am not entirely sure what the connection or the reasoning behind Daniel Bryan and Big Cass is, but I think I am like the rest of you in saying I am just happy to see Daniel Bryan wrestling in a WWE ring again. Now, if we could only convince CM Punk to come back, we would have more dream matches to come. I am also happy to see Big Cass make a comeback and I think it says something about where Vince’s head is at considering all the possible options he could have given Daniel Bryan. Instead, he chose to insert the big guy in there after missing almost a year which means everyone else has to wait. I think the only person that people want to see win the most tonight is Samoa Joe who gets his shot at the “Big Dog” Roman Reigns. He didn’t get over at WrestleMania or the Greatest Royal Rumble so let’s put him against the one man that the people actually want to succeed in the returning Samoa Joe. This is the thought process that goes on in this company and you can definitely see what frustrates the fans time and time again. It seemed that Carmella was over when she cashed in her Money In The Bank contract for the Smackdown Women’s title, but I am not so sure she walks out with it tonight. Then again, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay could prove to be thorns in her side tonight.
The match between Raw Women’s Champion Nia Jax and her challenger Alexa Bliss is a match that we actually care about because we respect the two of them. Alexa was one of the best champions in recent history because they didn’t constantly play hot potatoes with the strap, but how serious is the company with Nia Jax as champ? I think that Nia deserves her run as Champion to showcase how much of a dominant force that she is. The tag team match that features Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman taking on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn could be a match that sets something up like a feud between Lashley and Strowman or this is giving Strowman something to do. I don’t really understand the idea behind their pairing, but I am hoping for a match. I don’t think it’ll happen tonight, but look for it in the future. I think that Randy Orton vs Jeff Hardy could be a decent match, but file this under I’m not expecting much out of it. The final match to talk about is the pre-show match that sees Ruby Riot taking on Bayley which will breathe new life into the Raw Women’s roster. I’d love to see Ruby take the win to set up an actual feud between the two, but we’ll see. As I said before, the combining of the two for every PPV gives the WWE a shot at giving you the best possible PPV every month instead of two PPV’s where one might be a home run versus the other. I’ll be tuning in and I suggest that you do as well. Check out my predictions below:
I don’t know if this is the least excited I have ever been for a WrestleMania in my life. Last year, I was at WrestleMania 33 and I had the time of my life watching it in person and enjoying it. This year, I just feel like WrestleMania 34 which takes place from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans could be one of the more disappointing ones in history. The event just boasters a very lackluster lineup of matches that no one wants to see and matches that we have seen before. For example, we already saw Roman Reigns take on Brock Lesnar for a title at WrestleMania 31 and the best decision they made that night was having Seth Rollins cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase. Does anyone really care about the Ronda Rousey/Kurt Angle vs Stephanie McMahon/Triple H match? The only smart thing they did was not have her face any of the Women’s roster because hopefully her in ring skills are better than her mic skills cause that needs a lot of work. There are a lot of matches on the card that look interesting, but a lot are just not that exciting. One thing is for sure, I only want the American Bad Ass version of The Undertaker showing up tonight to confront John Cena.
The only interesting matches that are on the card is obviously the return of Daniel Bryan to ring action when he teams with Shane McMahon to take on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. It has been a long time since we’ve seen Daniel fight anyone and i am sure the crowd will be pumped up for that one. The match that sees The Miz defend his Intercontinental Championship against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor should be a match of the night contender right along the dream match. The dream match of course is the rematch between Shinsuke Nakamura and WWE Champion AJ Styles. The last time these two met, it was Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Japan and that match was out of this world. Now, we get to see it in a WWE ring and it should tear the roof off the Superdome. While I am not really looking forward to it, I am interested to see if the WWE does what we expect them to do when it comes to Charlotte vs Asuka. We expect the WWE to allow Asuka to continue her undefeated streak especially after the fact that she won the Mixed Match Challenge with The Miz.Are they going to allow Charlotte to be the one that ends the streak? Who knows, but I seriously doubt it.
Does anyone really still care that the Andre The Giant battle royal is still happening? I don’t think so and I think they ruined it last year giving Mojo Rawley the win, but it also proved that winning that means nothing in the business as far as your future cause Jinder Mahal was WWE Champion. The WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal took a huge hit when it was forced to change it’s name from The Fabulous Moolah Memorial Tournament to that. I don’t disagree with the name change, but that was bad Mojo for the battle royal itself. You know the Triple threat match over on Smackdown Live looks awfully familair to me, but oh yea it’s the same match we have seen time and time again, but this time with The Bludgeon Brothers added into the mix. The one question that I have for this match is are they keeping the titles with The Usos or are they going to push The Bludgeon Brothers? I’m not completely sure in what direction the WWE is going to go in with Nia Jax taking on Alexa Bliss only because I’m wondering if they are going to give Nia her shot at being a champion or not?
I am a little excited to see Mustafa Ali take on Cedric Alexander for the vacant Cruiserweight Championship because Cedric has definitely earned his shot at being champion in my opinion. You know what I want to see tonight as well is Rusev celebrate Rusev Day at WrestleMania walking out US Champion again! I am definitely curious who Braun Strowman chose as his tag team partner to take on Raw WWE Tag Champs Sheamus and Cesaro because there are a lot of names being thrown around. If you ask me, there is a part of me that wants to see Bray with him, but Braun doesn’t need Bray because he has his own star power. I am a huge fan of Bray Wyatt, but the WWE sealed his fate. Anyways, while I may have said that I am not excited for a lot of the matches on the card, I hope the WWE does pull this off and they have an amazing show. I love WrestleMania and always have since the first one I watched which was WrestleMania III. Enjoy the show and here are my predictions for tonight.
I am pretty sure that I have described all the things that were wrong about the WWE bringing back the Elimination Chamber match last year. In fact, you can check out all the injuries that have happened in this 
The men will also make history tonight (well sorta) when seven instead of six men enter the chamber tonight to see who will earn a shot at the WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34. Braun Strowman, John Cena, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Elias Sampson, The Miz, and Roman Reigns will battle for the chance. Now the way they are doing it is that three men instead of two will start the match with another entering after five minutes. Now, let’s be honest with each other, while I would love to see Braun Strowman get his legitimate shot at Brock, you know the WWE still has a hard on for Roman Reigns. Rumor has it that John Cena will be facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34 while Braun will be involved in something stupid. So, it almost seems like a nightmare come true for fans of Wrestling that Roman is going to be headlining WrestleMania for the fourth year in a row. Here’s another fact to look at while you watch tonight: last year at this time, Bray Wyatt won the Elimination Chamber match to become WWE Champion. So what has happened to the man since then?
One of the best characters to come into this new era of wrestling continues to be disrespected even though we did want to see him face “Woken” Matt Hardy. He seems to be the stepping stone for every wrestler on the roster and that is disheartening. While, I think the tag team division needs to continue to grow, I think I would be OK with Titus Worldwide winning a little gold even though I won’t think it’ll happen tonight. Nia Jax is fighting Asuka tonight for the chance to be included in the WrestleMania 34 match, but I don’t think the WWE is ready for Asuka to lose sadly. Although, I will say that a one on one match between Asuka and Alexa Bliss will be one for the ages even though it should have been Paige in this picture. Sadly, The Good Brothers have been relegated to the Pre-show along with the Miztourage, but that is life in the WWE I suppose. This is a chance for the WWE to pave the way to WrestleMania and beyond so they have to make logical choices, but that remains to be seen. We also have the contract signing to look forward to tonight for Ronda Rousey, but we all know that Stephanie McMahon is going to make this one personal. Here are my predictions for tonight:
Things were rocking in Houston, Texas last night for WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames and things are about to get better tonight for WWE Survivor Series. Survivor Series is one of the original Big Four Pay Per Views (alongside Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, and SummerSlam) that the WWE debuted back in 1987. It’s the second longest running pay per view the company has and one of the best for it’s unique match that it was built around which was a five on five single elimination match (dubbed the Survivor Series match). This year things got a little more exciting especially with the competition between Raw and Smackdown as we now have champion vs champion matches. We have WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar (Raw) taking on WWE Champion AJ Styles (SD Live) in what should one interesting match. We are also getting WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz (Raw) taking on WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin (SD Live). We also have WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss taking on WWE Smackdown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in a sort of dream match hence the reason Charlotte won the title.
Then there are the traditional Survivor Series matches and things have been heating up with all of the changes in whose in and who is not. The original RAW men’s team consisted of Kurt Angle (Captain), Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, and Jason Jordan taking on Smackdown Live’s team made up of Shane McMahon (Captain), Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, and John Cena. That was the original match and a lot of us were stunned at the fact that Jordan had been picked for the team considering Smackdown told the world that Cena was the last member chosen. Stephanie McMahon agreed with me and Bray Wyatt helped the situation by injuring Jordan last week on RAW. When it came time to announce the replacement, Jordan made the situation difficult and Triple H remedied it by announcing that it was him and he put the exclamation point on it by delivering a pedigree to Jordan. Now the match is interesting and one I can not wait to see because imagine the situations you’ll get in this match. Finn and Shinsuke in the ring at the same time or even Triple H and Bobby Roode and so many more.
The other traditional Survivor Series match is between the Women this time around as RAW’s Alicia Fox (Captain), Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks, and Bayley take on Smackdown Live’s Becky Lynch (Captain), Carmella, Naomi, Tamina, and Natalya. The thing that I would love to see happen tonight with that match is that instead of Natalya being in the match, Paige makes her triumphant return to a WWE ring as a member of Team Smackdown Live. I doubt it will happen because I believe that she is being punished for a picture she took last Monday. We’ll see if anything happens tonight, but there’s more matches for tonight. In their first PPV match since reuniting The Shield (Dean, Seth, and Roman) take on The New Day in a six man elimination falls count anywhere match. RAW tag team champions The Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus) take on The Usos to finish out the RAW vs Smackdown Live matches. The Pre-show features some surprise matches like Breezango taking on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, Enzo defends his cruiserweight title against Kalisto and Matt Hardy takes on Elias Sampson. Again, they have set this PPV up to be a very good one, but it remains to be seen if it ends up going that way for them. I’ll be tuning into it and hopefully you are if you’re a fan. Check out my predictions below:
I am trying to figure out what in the world is going on in the WWE as sickness struck the company at the most inconvenient time ever. WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2017 was supposed to be a huge event this year for one reason and that is the official Shield reunion. All other matches on the card meant absolutely nothing to me besides the Asuka debut. The group was supposed to have a match against The Miz, Sheamus, Cesaro, and Braun Strowman in a tables, ladders, and chairs match. That quickly changed as Kane was added to the fold and Roman was out of the match due to “medical” issues. To replace Roman in the match, Kurt Angle was placed in the match making it the first time in 11 years that he has competed in a WWE ring. Then out of nowhere on the same night as that announcement, another one was made that was mind boggling to me. I was not looking forward to a Bray Wyatt vs Finn Balor III match only to see Bray lose again with a painted face to make you think Sister Abigail has possessed him. No instead, we are receiving what I believe to be a WrestleMania worthy match as two former leaders of The Bullet Club go one on one as Finn takes on Smackdown Live’s AJ Styles. The reason for that is the same reason that Roman Reigns is out apparently so Bray was quarantined and told not to be at the event.
Something bad is going around in the WWE and a lot of them have whatever it is and I have heard two conflicting stories as to what. Some of the other matches on the card include the debut of former NXT women’s champion and the still undefeated Asuka taking on Emma in one on one action. You also have Sasha Banks taking on Alicia Fox on the preshow, Alexa Bliss defending her women’s championship against Mickie James, Kalisto defending the Cruiserweight championship against Enzo Amore, and a cruiserweight tag team match that features Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann taking on The Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher. So as you can see, it’s going to be an uneventful TLC PPV which will probably see Braun Strowman and Co. get the win by making an example of Kurt Angle. The WWE is in a crisis whether they choose to believe it or not with the low attendance numbers that have plagued both RAW and Smackdown. They needed The Shield reunion to boost things, but it’s back to square one and why else would they have a WrestleMania caliber match with AJ and Finn on the card if they were not. Here are my predictions: