After this Sunday’s TLC pay-per-view, the next event on the 2017 WWE docket is November’s Survivor Series, which will be the first joint-promotion PPV since SummerSlam. Raw and Smackdown Superstars will both be taking part in the event, and WWE seems to want to make this year’s installment a bit more of a big deal.
Survivor Series used to be one of the “big four” PPVs for WWE, but it hasn’t had the same luster for a while now, as events like Elimination Chamber and Money in Bank have dwarfed the importance of the Thanksgiving-time show, which has historically focused on tag team elimination matches and occasionally a big egg hatching.
There are plenty of rumors swirling about what might be on the card for this year’s Survivor Series, and three big matches in particular seem to be getting either talked about or reported on as a sure thing. So let’s take a look at the various rumors and see how likely they might be. (Please note that these are all just rumors for the time being, but just in case some of these end up being accurate, they may very well turn out to be spoilers. So read on at your own risk.
Jinder Mahal vs. Brock Lesnar
Yes, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the main event (or one of the main events) of Survivor Series will be a champion vs. champion match. Except … not that, because neither title will be on the line at Survivor Series. But the two top singles champions of either brand currently don’t have a clear challenger, so they might as well fight each other, right?
This match will either likely end in SHENANIGANS or with another dominant Lesnar victory, but just imagine the agonized wails of internet message boards if Mahal gets a clean pin on Brock Lesnar AND Shinsuke Nakamura in the span of two months.
Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen
This one has probably been talked about the most, and for the longest time, but WWE has been teasing a Four Horsewomen of WWE vs. Four Horsewomen of MMA match for a good long while now. Ronda Rousey and Jessamyn Duke have been appearing at more and more WWE events, Shayna Baszler has officially signed with WWE, and WON reports indicate that Rousey, Duke, and Marina Shafir are all training very hard at the moment for a transition to pro wrestling.
4 vs. 4 certainly lends itself extremely well to the traditional Survivor Series format, and if WWE is trying to make the show a big deal, it’s hard to imagine what would make a bigger splash in mainstream news than the first official pro wrestling match for Ronda Rousey.
Team Shane vs. Team Owens
I bet you thought Hell in a Cell was the end of things, didn’t you? Reports say that Survivor Series will be the true blowoff to the Shane vs. Owens feud, and that the two men will both captain a team to go up against each other. This could mean anything from Owens and his new cohort Sami Zayn taking on Shane and AJ Styles in a straight-up tag team match, or all the way up to a five-on-five traditional Survivor Series match.
If Shane and Owens end up on opposite sides leading their own teams, the biggest question would be who would wind up on either side. This might be another cross-brand match, where they both helm a big coalition, but it might also be contained to the Smackdown Live roster, in which case, you can’t count out the addition of people like Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler to Owens’ team and people like Nakamura and Tye Dillinger to McMahon’s.
Whither John Cena?
The biggest x-factor regarding the Survivor Series is the status of John Cena, who is currently out filming one million movies. Initially, Cena’s hiatus was supposed to end at Survivor Series, and he was initially advertised to be at that show. Rumors really went bonkers while Cena was still advertised to appear at Survivor Series, up to and including a rumor that WWE wanted to run Cena vs. Undertaker at that show.
Cena has since been pulled as listed and promoted talent for Survivor Series, but there’s nothing to stop Cena of all people from showing up for a surprise appearance or match. Heck, maybe he’ll show up after Lesnar vs. Mahal to get an impromptu title match and win his 17th world championship.
Well, we can dream, anyway.
