ComScore
sports

The Wrestling Classic's WWE Survivor Series Predictions and Favorite Matches

Updates from the November 15th Raw leading up to the event on November 21

MOBILE 97 1
WWE

Hey everyone! It's The Wrestling Classic here with another list for ONE37PM. The annual November PPV and one of the WWE's Big Four annual events—Survivor Series—is around the corner. That being said, I thought I would put together a Survivor Series spectacular article. I will try to accomplish two things with this article:

The first subject we're going to cover are my top ten favorite traditional Survivor Series elimination matches. When the event was first introduced to fans around Thanksgiving time in 1987, the tagline was "teams of five trying to survive." This was because the event was initially going to be a show headlined with 5-on-5 tag team elimination matches. This was kept true for a few years until they started introducing random singles matches on the card among the elimination matches. Although Survivor Series has gone through many changes throughout the years, they have always tried to incorporate at least one elimination tag team match on the card. I want to list the ten that I consider the best.

The second thing we're going to do in this article is share some predictions for the 2021 Survivor Series card. Since 2016, the event has been themed around brand supremacy. This means Raw faces off against Smackdown in all of the matches to see which brand is superior. There are traditional tag matches for the men and women. Also, the champions on each brand face off against each other as well. I'll let you know what I think will happen; let me know if you agree. Enjoy!

Be sure to share this article and debate with your friends. Also be sure to let me know how you feel about this list on Instagram or Twitter.

WWE Survivor Series 2021 Date, Start Time and Location:

This year's Survivor Series event will take place on Sunday, November 2021 at Brooklyn's Barclay's Center at 8pm EST.

My 10 Favorite WWE Survivor Series Matches:

Before we dive into this year's event, I want to look back in time at some of the best match ups to ever occur under the Survivor Series umbrella.

10. Team Hogan vs. Team Andre

Survivor Series 1987

9. Wild Card Match

Survivor Series 1995

8. Team Dream Team vs. The Million Dollar Team

Survivor Series 1990

7. Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown

Survivor Series 2016

6. Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown vs. Team NXT

Survivor Series 2019

5. Team Mega Powers vs. Team Twin Towers

Survivor Series 1988

4. Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown

Survivor Series 2016

3. Team Cena vs. Team Authority

Survivor Series 2014

2. Team Alliance vs. Team WWF

Survivor Series 2001

1. Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff

Survivor Series 2003

Survivor Series 2021 Predictions:

Now that we've taken a trip down memory lane, let's look to the future. Here are my predictions for the WWE Survivor Series 2021 event.

Women's 5-on-5: Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown

women 5on5
WWE

Prediction: Team Raw

Team Raw: Bianca Belair, Carmella, Queen Zelina, Rhea Ripley & Liv Morgan

Team Smackdown: Sasha Banks, Natalya, Shotzi, Shayna Baszler & Toni Storm

When it comes to this traditional Survivor Series match for the women, it's layered with drama. On the Raw side of things, Carmella and Liv Morgan have been feuding since around June. Mella and Queen Zelina had recently defeated Rhea and Nikki Ash in a non title match. Bianca Belair herself has her history with Carmella and Zelina too. Rhea Ripley is also the only person on her team that was on Raw prior to the draft last month.

On the Smackdown side of things, Shotzi has already spoken about her current issues with Sasha Banks. Natalya will try to lead the team, being the seasoned veteran, but it's a team full of big egos. Shayna Baszler could end up dominating this match like she did at the 2019 Elimination Chamber. Toni Storm recently confronted Charlotte Flair, making her presence known.

For some reason, I just feel like the women on the red brand will do a better job at coexisting and working together compared to the Smackdown team. I would not be surprised if the final two came down to Liv Morgan and Toni Storm.

Men's 5-on-5: Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown

mens survivor series match 1
WWE

Prediction: Team Smackdown

Team Raw: Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley & Austin Theory

Team Smackdown: Drew McIntyre, Jeff Hardy, King Woods, ???? & Baron Corbin

When it comes to the traditional men's Survivor Series elimination tag match, it's a lot harder to predict who would win. On Team Raw, we have Rollins and Lashley who are heels plus Balor and Mysterio who are baby faces. An interesting fact is that outside of Bobby Lashley, all of the Raw team was just on Smackdown a month ago. Kevin Owens turned heel recently by attacking Big E. Also, let's not forget that Lashley got into this match by beating up Rey Mysterio's son. There's also been tension between Rollins and Owens in these past few weeks.

On the Smackdown side McIntyre, Hardy and Woods are all baby faces while Zayn and Corbin are the heels on the team. The competitors on Team Smackdown really don't have any issues amongst each other, which leads me to think they might have a better chance ending the match with Survivors winning the match for the blue brand.

Intercontinental Champion (Shinsuke Nakamura) vs. United States Champion (Damien Priest)

20211115 SS Match NakamuraBoggsPriest FC Date 511e81f77c4bec1f2579cc851e10093d
WWE

Prediction - Damien Priest

This match follows the brand supremacy tradition of having the champions of each brand face each other. Smackdown’s Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura faces off against Raw’s United States Champion Damien Priest. This will be a great match between two of the workhorses of the company. They’ll both do their darnedest to give us the best match possible and maybe even a NXT Takeover quality encounter.

Shinsuke Nakamura has been on the main roster since 2017 and pretty secure in the spot that he has in on the card. Damien Priest still feels fresh to the main roster with the biggest thing he’s done outside of winning the United States Championship being the tag match with Bad Bunny. I feel like Priest needs a couple of more big victories under his belt and therefore I think he wins this Sunday.

Raw Tag Team Champions (RK-Bro) vs. Smackdown Tag Team Champions (The Usos)

20211115 SS Match RKBroUsos FC Date 16e10086a0edbc4e8cd3bbbb3b33c476
WWE

Prediction - The Usos

As the years continue to pass us by, the more I realize that the Usos might be one of the greatest tag teams of the modern era. It’s a debate between the Usos, Bucks, FTR and New Day for the top four. This Sunday, they’ll be facing off against the unlikely team of Randy Orton and Matt Riddle. The Usos are seven time tag team champions and currently represent the Bloodline. Therefore, I think they’ll be working a little bit harder to make sure they make their “Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns proud.

Randy Orton and Matt Riddle have been dominant since officially coming together, but they still have their issues at times. The veteran Randal doesn’t like it when Riddle loses focus on what is most important and that is keeping those tag team titles. Considering that I think we’re going to get Orton versus Riddle at Wrestlemania, I think a loss here for the team is a great way to plant seeds for that match.

Raw Women's Champion (Becky Lynch) vs. Smackdown Women's Champion (Charlotte Flair)

lynch v flair 1
WWE

Prediction - Charlotte Flair

This really seemed like the way to go, especially after the controversy surrounding the champion title swap on Smackdown a couple of weeks back. Don't get me wrong, "The Opportunity" Charlotte Flair versus "Big Time Becks" Becky Lynch will always be a main event match in my mind, but when I started thinking about making a prediction, I was stumped. I came to realize that winning this match doesn't really benefit or hurt either woman. They're not defending their titles; it's more about showing pride for their brands—I guess in the spirit of confrontation. Neither one of them really needs to be protected.

If "The Man" or "The Queen" wins, all they're leaving with is bragging rights. However, I feel like Charlotte has more to brag about and it annoys fans more when she can back up her accolades. Becky Lynch losing here will also give Liv Morgan more confidence for her upcoming match with Lynch. That all being said, I want Charlotte Flair to win. Becky Lynch will be fine.

WWE Champion (Big E) vs. Universal Champion (Roman Reigns w/ Paul Heyman)

big e v reigns 1
WWE

Prediction - Roman Reigns

This will be a really good match. There is a clear babyface and clear heel here as well, which always helps the dynamic. Listen, I really want Big E to win this match. I think it would really make Big E a made man and dominant champion if he was to defeat Roman Reigns here. However, I don't see the Tribal Chief taking an L here unless it was a disqualification or count-out.

Last year, when we were in this dilemma with Drew McIntyre, they used the creative booking of having McIntyre pass out in Reigns submission hold forcing the referee to call the match. This protected Drew because he didn't lose clean by pinfall or tapping out. They could use the same booking here, but it would be too obvious and a cop out. Regardless, I want Big E to win, but I just don't see Roman Reigns losing a match until he loses that championship. I don’t think WWE will pull that trigger.

Did you like this article?
Thumbs Up
Liked
Thumbs Down
Disliked