WWE Survivor Series 2021 preview: Match breakdowns and predictions

King of the Ring winner Xavier Woods explains to Kevin Michie the types of changes he would make to give the 5-on-5 matches at Survivor Series more meaning.

Thy Kingdom for a meaningful Survivor Series.

At least, that’s what this year's King of the Ring winner “King” Xavier Woods wants.

What was once a marquee event on the WWE pay-per-view calendar, Survivor Series has since garnered more apathy than intrigue. That apathy stems from WWE’s inability to add any meaningful stakes to the traditional five-on-five Survivor Series matches. For instance, instead of qualifying matches this year, members of the five-on-five matches were instead appointed, with little to no explanation.

Sportsnet recently spoke with Woods, a member of the SmackDown team, who was caught off guard when he learned that he had made the squad.

“I got a text from (Big) E saying, ‘hey congrats on being on the Survivor Series team.’ And I said, ‘what?’ And he sent me the Tweet and I said, ‘oh dope I’m on the team this is great!’ And then I’m just waiting on Twitter to see who else is on it.”

In the same way an NHL player may find out he’s been traded thanks to a tweet from Elliotte Friedman, wrestlers are finding out that they’re participating in a pay-per-view via Twitter. The disconnect between wrestlers and writers mirrors the way fans are feeling about the pay-per-view.

WWE continues to tout that Survivor Series is the only time all year that fans will get to see Raw and SmackDown wrestlers go head-to-head, which is hilariously untrue. WWE also espouses how wrestlers can boast supremacy over their colleagues, should their team win, as a way to add intrigue to the matches. Woods doesn’t agree.

“For how many years has it been, like, bragging rights?” asks Woods. “I just got back to SmackDown (a few) weeks ago, I don’t care (about brand supremacy). I just got here. I’ve been gone for, like, three years. I just got back to the blue side.”

“What I care about is taking care of my Kingdom, and my Kingdom envelopes Raw, as well,” Woods continues. “So I want to win because I like a ‘W’ in the column, I like the winners purse in my hand, but I can do that just by fighting guys on SmackDown. If I’m going to fight guys on Raw, a team of five, who are all killers, why would we not fight for something?”

So how should WWE go about generating more interest in the traditional five-on-five Survivor Series matches? Woods has an idea.

“I think that in order to make it more exciting we put something on the line, such as Royal Rumble spots,” Woods tells Sportsnet. “So the losing team, which would definitely be the red side, the Raw side, when they lose they then have a five-way elimination match for spots one through five in the Royal Rumble. And on the SmackDown side, the winning team, the King’s team, we would do the same thing, but we’d be fighting for spots 26 through 30. Why? Because now people that watch Survivor Series go, ‘oh SmackDown won, which (wrestler) is going to get number 30?’”

For this year, though, fans will have to settle for brand supremacy and bragging rights.

Men’s Five-on-Five Survivor Series match

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

Team SmackDown: King Xavier Woods, Drew McIntyre, Jeff Hardy, Happy Corbin, TBD

As mentioned previously, there aren’t a lot of stakes involved in this match, with wrestlers constantly being replaced in the lead-up to the PPV. Woods, though, believes that the SmackDown side has a distinct advantage.

“I think that we’re going to be great and we’re going to do very well, especially with the King of the team,“ said Woods.“(The) Raw team? Full of incredible performers, great athletes, great wrestlers, lots of accolades. But the egos are kind of out of control, and I don’t think they’re going to be able to mesh well.”

“I think that we’re going to run through them”

So confident is Woods that he’s already planning an evening that will include food and drinks for his teammates.

“I’m actually really excited. I might bring a mimosa or something and just watch the show, bring some food for everybody, have the royal catering crew come through and just be in our corner, giving us stuff while they beat the crap out of each other.”

Woods’ confidence is contagious, and so there is only one way to go with this prediction.

Prediction: Team SmackDown wins

Women’s Five-on-Five Survivor Series match

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

Team SmackDown: Sasha Banks, Shayna Baszler, Shotzi Blackheart, Natalya, Toni Storm

“Can they co-exist?”

The most overused term across all of WWE programming over the last several years. Having said that, we’ll be hearing a lot of it heading into this elimination match, as there are plenty of rifts on both sides.

However, there is good news as the match includes plenty of star power with the likes of Sasha Banks, Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley and Shayna Baszler. There is also adequate room for one of the wrestlers involved to break out from the pack as a new star, looking most specifically at the likes of Shotzi Blackheart and Toni Storm.

Prediction: Team SmackDown wins

Becky Lynch (Raw Women’s Champion) vs Charlotte Flair (SmackDown Women’s Champion)

Where pro wrestling is often most successful is when it is able to blend the line of reality and storyline. Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair have a whole lot of reality worked into their upcoming match, and that makes it the most intriguing bout on the Survivor Series card.

On a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Lynch opened up about the falling out that she and Flair have had. The former friends, who were part of the backstage “Four Horsewomen” stable including Sasha Banks and Bayley, have devolved into nothing more than colleagues, left to trade verbal jabs behind the scenes.

Last month when the two were set to swap their Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championship titles after being drafted to alternate shows, Flair went off script by way of throwing down the championship before the exchange took place.

Lynch told Helwani that, “I knew she was going to purposefully disrespect me.” Lynch contends that Flair is uncomfortable with the success that she has attained, which has led to the animosity between the two.

Make no mistake about it, pro wrestling is predetermined. In the lengthy history of the former carnival sideshow, rare has it been for a wrestler to go into business for themselves, attempting to change the agreed-upon outcome. When that did happen, any wrestler who was guilty of veering wildly off-script was generally dealt with by other wrestlers in a quick and violent fashion.

This is not to say that the Charlotte/Becky match will devolve into a legitimate brawl. There is precedent to show that even the most bitter of real-life relationships have been able to put differences aside in order to go to work in the ring, with the most noteworthy example being Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in 1997. Charlotte and Becky could very well put their personal bitterness aside to, once again, demonstrate that they are two of the top wrestlers in the world.

While there is a great deal of unknowns surrounding what may or may not happen in this match, there is one near-certainty; and that surrounds the fact that neither competitor will want to lose cleanly via pinfall or submission to the other.

Prediction: No-contest/Disqualification

Big E (WWE Champion) vs Roman Reigns (Universal Champion)

At last year's Survivor Series when Roman Reigns was just shifting his current title reign into gear, the WWE Universe was treated to a great matchup between Reins and McIntyre, the WWE Champion at the time. While some felt that McIntyre may have just cause to pick up a win, Reigns squashed those thoughts with a clean victory.

Reigns has dominated anyone that has been put in his wake since then. His matchup on Sunday against Big E, who captured the WWE Championship in September, will undoubtedly be another win for Reigns.

Big E has long been deserving of a major championship and a main event spot. Much like McIntyre, E has justification in saying he could defeat anyone on WWE’s roster right now. However, Reigns is on another stratosphere of dominance and at Survivor Series that dominance will not end.

Prediction: Roman Reigns

Other predictions…

The Usos (SmackDown Tag Team Champions) def. Randy Orton & Matt Riddle (Raw Tag Team Champions)

Damian Priest (United States Champion) def. Shinsuke Nakamura (Intercontinental Champion)

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