Whose reputation survives?

It’s not been a great few weeks for WWE so they really need a great PPV this weekend, but can they really deliver it? Time to preview the Survivor Series.

Raw (Michaels, Carlito, Masters, Big Show and Kane)
V
Smackdown (Batista, JBL, Orton, Mysterio and Lashley)

Even though there’s a WWE Title match on the card this has been booked as the main event but does it really have any point? What if Raw wins, all they do is just show to everyone what we know anyway, that Raw is the superior brand. More money is spent on Raw and every draft lottery helps them a great deal more than it does Smackdown. If Smackdown wins, so what? We shouldn’t be in a position where matches decide which brand is the best, they’re separate entities and best they stay that way. If there’s competition, it just means each brand’s main event of the week gets interrupted by the other brand’s stars.

This won’t decide anything anyway as the Raw team is minus Cena, Edge, Angle, Triple H and Flair while Smackdown has all its big guns apart from The Undertaker, or does it? Undi is definitely back this Sunday and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some angle played out where Batista can’t wrestle and Taker comes back to replace him. Of course that’ll cause aggro between him and Orton which is why I believe Raw will definitely win this match.

So what purpose can this match really have? Well, Survivor Series has made names in the past, especially Undertaker and Rocky Mavia. This year I believe it might do the same for Lashley. He’s the new powerhouse on Smackdown and could easily wipe out Carlito and Masters to earn himself a reputation. I also see this whole Raw v Smackdown angle being used to gradually turn JBL face. I go for Raw to get the win here.

WWE Title: John Cena v Kurt Angle

Vince makes mistakes now and then, and one of them is having Cena as WWE Champion. Seeing that a New Year’s Revolution poster still shows Cena as champ we can all guess what’s going to happen here. Angle should be champion, I’d much prefer to see title matches like Angle v Michaels or Angle v Kane or perhaps even a Triple H face turn than Cena as champ.

This feud has been a bit predictable. The challenger gets some dodgy wins in tag matches or via the help of Bischoff and Daivari ( I can’t believe Vince is still doing the Arab American storyline). The matches have been ok mainly thanks to Angle and this should be interesting enough with the Daivari element added to the mix. I still see Cena getting the win though.

Last Man Standing: Ric Flair v Triple H

I’m not sure if this is for the IC Belt, even the preview on wwe.com doesn’t tell me. If that’s the case then Triple H is definitely going to win this, I couldn’t imagine him wanting to be the IC Champ again. Like Cena v Angle, this has been rather predictable. Flair talks a lot and gets red in the face and Triple H just does the same while wearing an almost ever-present bandage on his forehead. Trips just moans about Flair being past it and that he should retire (sounds true to me but with his divorce on the way we’ll see Flair wrestling in his 60’s). This should be a good match and could well steal the card like they did at Taboo Tuesday. Then again there’s not much of a card to steal here. Both will bleed as usual, Trips will use his sledgehammer and Flair will grab Trips balls so it’s a quiet night for Steph on Sunday. That’s a point actually, after all those appearances where have the McMahon’s gone too? I go for Triple H to get the win.

WWE Women’s Title: Trish v Melina

So why is a Smackdown wrestler getting a crack at the women’s title? Wonder what Victoria and Candice think of that? The storyline is a simple one. Melina wins a battle royal on the Raw Eddie Guerrero tribute show and wants a crack at the title. One kidnapping later and she’s got the match. I suppose that makes up for her Tag champs jobbing to the Raw tag champs. I go for Trish to get the win here simply because the belt has to stay on Raw. The future is the inevitable feud between Trish and Mickie.

US Title: Booker T v Chris Benoit Match 1 of Best of Seven series

Pardon me while I try to check if this is still WWE 2005. Yep it is but this is straight out of WCW when the pair had a great feud. It’s also a copy of the Cena v Booker T series. Why bother with the result of this, I think we can all guess this’ll drag onto a final match at the Rumble. This should be a good match, both deserve better to be honest but they work well together so it shouldn’t be a disappointing series. I go for a dodgy Booker T win.

Eric Bischoff v Theodore Long

Another pointless match, why do we have to put up with so many Bischoff appearances in the ring? There’s bound to be outside interference here, perhaps even the event that leaves Batista unable to take part in the main event. I go for a Long win but hopefully it’ll be a short time before that Long victory!

It’s not a great card is it? Stars such as Edge, Kennedy, Hardy, tag teams galore all missing and of course no Eddie. It has some potential but if one of the expected highlights flops this could be the worst Survivor Series since the clowns invaded!

Stephen Ashfield