With WWE Evolution in the rear-view mirror and Wrestlemania season arching into view on the horizon, it’s time to revisit an important question that has been asked hundreds of times over the past number months.
When will a women’s match be the main event at the biggest event in sports entertainment?
Stephanie McMahon, Trish Stratus, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair and many more have said they believe a women’s match will eventually close Wrestlemania and that goal is attainable within, at least, the next five years.
Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch is a Wrestlemania main event level match that could have, and should have, closed this year’s Survivor Series.
However, following Becky’s legitimate injury on the final Monday Night Raw before Survivor Series (which gave us this incredible visual), we’ll have to wait a little longer to see a Rousey vs. Lynch bout. But maybe this injury is actually a blessing in disguise. WWE caught lightning in a bottle with Lynch’s well-received heel turn, and the pairing of Rousey and Lynch has been a fantastic war-of-words. Maybe WWE can delay this match until Wrestlemania, at which point both women can make some history.
Despite Lynch’s injury, we’re still going to see Rousey, the Raw Women’s Champion, in a one-on-one match, but it’ll be against Lynch’s hand-picked replacement, Charlotte Flair. It’s worth remembering that it was only a few months ago when Flair seemed like the obvious choice to main event a Wrestlemania with Rousey. The two women were the biggest stars in the division, but Flair’s star has now faded behind Lynch’s.
The Rousey/Flair match should be entertaining and could potentially set up a different sort of match for a future Wrestlemania featuring the stable of Flair, Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley taking on Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir. The Four Horsewomen of WWE vs. the Four Horsewomen of MMA. The future is bright for the entire women’s division, especially with Lynch and Rousey at the forefront.
Prediction: Rousey defeats Flair
WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar (Raw) vs. WWE Champion Daniel Bryan (Smackdown)
Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles was a bout that had the capability of being an exceptional return match following their meeting at Survivor Series 2017, where Lesnar displayed his best on-on-one performance in years.
But whoa there, hang on. We have a new WWE Champion, and Styles isn’t even on the Survivor Series Card anymore. Daniel Bryan defeated Styles on Smackdown to become the new WWE Champion and will now take on Lesnar in Styles’ place. But wait, there’s more! Bryan also appears to have made a heel turn thanks to a low blow and post-match beat down on Styles. So what can you expect from Bryan vs. Lesnar?
Who knows, but maybe that’s what WWE wants. Vince McMahon has always liked to keep the audience guessing and there are more question marks surrounding this match than anything else on the card.
Prediction: Lesnar defeats Bryan
Traditional Men’s Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Match
Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, Finn Balor & Bobby Lashley (Raw) vs. The Miz, Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, Rey Mysyerio & Jeff Hardy (Smackdown)
The traditional Survivor Series matches were both thrown into flux following the go-home editions of Raw and Smackdown. Before Bryan even won the WWE title, he was taken off Team Smackdown, which allowed newly minted solo captain The Miz to choose a replacement. Instead of waiting to potentially choose Styles (which he theoretically could have after Styles lost the title later in the show), he chose Jeff Hardy. Meanwhile, Raw rounded their roster with Finn Balor and Bobby Lashley to complement Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre.
This match features a lot of moving parts, however there still aren’t a whole lot of stakes involved. "Brand supremacy" doesn’t really carry any weight with the fans, but it apparently means a lot to Raw and Smackdown Commissioners Stephanie and Shane McMahon. The most noteworthy aspect of this match surrounds Strowman and the fact that if he leads Team Raw to a win, he gets to beat up Baron Corbin and gets a title shot against Lesnar.
Prediction: Team Raw defeats Team Smackdown
Traditional Women’s Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Match
Mickie James, Nia Jax, Tamina, Natalya & Ruby Riott (Raw) vs. Asuka, Carmella, Naomi, Sonya Deville & TBD (Smackdown)
The women’s match is now missing what was their most noteworthy star in Charlotte Flair, with a replacement yet to be named. There are a few options for the mystery teammate, but the selection almost certainly won’t carry same weight as Flair. The possibilities include the likes of Nikki Cross, Zelina Vega and Mandy Rose. But maybe we’ll see a curve ball come show time and see Sasha Banks or Bayley on the Blue brand following their exclusion on Team Raw and beat down courtesy of Raw captain Alexa Bliss on Monday.
This match has a little more drama than the men’s but it’s almost exclusively because of what Becky Lynch and the Smackdown women did in their invasion of Raw on Monday. As noted above, Lynch won’t be wrestling thanks to a legitimate injury caused by Nia Jax during that melee.
Jax has been getting quite a bit of heat online from fans, which prompted this response from the former Raw Women’s champ…
But not to be outdone, "The Man" came back with this piece of gold…
It is a true shame that Lynch won’t be wrestling at Survivor Series.
Prediction: Team Smackdown defeats Team Raw
Tag Team Survivor Elimination Match
Bobby Roode & Chad Gable, The Ascension, Lucha House Party, B-Team & The Revival (Raw) vs. The Usos, New Day, Gallows & Anderson, Sanity & The Colons (Smackdown)
This feels like a huge afterthought. The Raw side is severely lacking in talent aside from The Revival, while Smackdown have some of the top tag teams in WWE. This match will be a car crash, but should at least provide some entertaining spots.
Prediction: Team Smackdown defeats Team Raw
Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins (Raw) vs. U.S. Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (Smackdown)
This match means nothing, but we should at least get some great wrestling if both are given some time to work. The most intriguing part of the match surrounds whether or not the newly turned Dean Ambrose will show up to cause havoc.
Prediction: Nakamura defeats Rollins
Raw Tag Team Champions Authors of Pain vs. Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Bar
This match means almost less than nothing. A-O-P just won the tag belts and WWE crowds haven’t really bought into them yet. On the other side is The Bar who are just there. They aren’t good, they aren’t bad, they just simply exist.
Prediction: Authors of Pain defeat The Bar
WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Buddy Murphy (C) vs. Mustafa Ali
It’s the only championship that is up for grabs on Sunday. This will be on the pre-show, but that won’t prevent both guys from working hard and putting on a great effort. Hopefully the arena has a good amount of fans in it by the time the match starts.
Prediction: Buddy Murphy defeats Mustafa Ali to retain Cruiserweight Championship
Tune into Survivor Series live on the WWE Network Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacfic, and follow along on Sportsnet.ca and with Kevin Michie on Twitter.