The John Report: WWE Survivor Series 2014 Preview

This Sunday night is WWE Survivor Series from St. Louis. It’s a big show in the sense that WWE has been promoting the WWE Network this month for new subscribers by telling them that it's free. Because of that, they probably expect a bigger audience than normal for this PPV, which might as well be called a Free Per View. Those of us that already have WWE Network are already paying $9.99 monthly for it or whatever the price is where you are. Those in the UK still don't have it (at least legally), so they're probably angry about it.

The other noteworthy item about the event is that the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar has been missing in action for two months now. This will be the second straight PPV without a WWE Title match. Due to his absence, the focus has been on the Team Cena vs. Team Authority while everything else has been barely promoted although the Ambrose/Wyatt match isn't bad as the second biggest match on the show.

You would think that WWE would make this show stacked from top to bottom. Instead, it's pretty basic with just five matches announced. It's one of the weakest midcard lineups they've ever had. There could be a match or two that are added, so that will help. At least there are strong rumors of a big surprise showing up, but we don't want to spoil it.

(Note: All graphics are from WWE.com. The banner is courtesy of my friend Steve Melo.)

Tag Team Titles: Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow vs. Los Matadores

As of right now this isn't an elimination match although that could change and it should change because one fall to a finish with four teams is dumb. Plus, if it's elimination style they can probably go 15-20 minutes, which this show probably needs with such a short card. The crowd would care about the match more if it was elimination style. One fall to the finish is confusing with so many guys out there.The winners will either be the champs or the Miz/Mizdow team. If WWE put it on the Miz team then they would be entertaining just because Mizdow is getting cheered a lot and they can tell the story that Miz is angry at him for getting the attention. That's a reason to not put the gold on them. If they lose, Miz could blame Mizdow and that could lead to the Sandow face turn.

There's nothing wrong with Goldust & Stardust as the champs. What I would do is bring up The Ascension on the first Raw of 2015 (build them up with video packages in December), have them beat every team on television leading to a tag title match at the Rumble where they win the tag titles in a quick match that makes them look dominant. From there they can feud with The Usos while Goldust can retire and Cody can go back to being himself after feuding with his brother. Does all of that make sense? I think so.

Winners: Goldust & Stardust

Divas Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match: Natalya, Alicia Fox, Naomi & Emma vs. Paige, Summer Rae, Layla & Cameron

It's really bad that WWE had four weeks of television to build matches for this card and they did absolutely nothing to build this match up. It was just announced on television. That was it. Paige is the only one in this match that is regularly featured on TV. Natalya is on TV a bit, but not as much as I'd like.What they could do is use this match to build Naomi back up as a contender by having her win for her team. Paige doesn't need a win in a match like this. Naomi could benefit from it. Since I think the other divas match will be a heel victory, I'll go with the faces here. Don't be surprised if the crowd is dead for this. I don't blame them since WWE obviously didn't care enough to try to tell a story with this match.

Hopefully Cameron doesn't try to pin anybody's back. I'll never forget that especially with the Johnny Awards coming up. Yeah I can do cheap plugs too!

Winners: Natalya & Naomi as the survivors

Divas Title: AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella

At least this feud has received some TV time. Brie will be in her sister's corner as punishment for losing to her at the last PPV. They really didn't do a lot of wacky segments between the sisters, so that's a good thing. They could either have Brie accidentally cost Nikki the match by not helping her the right way or perhaps Brie will help Nikki win because she's forced to do it. I actually don't mind Nikki as a heel. She's way better at it then when she's a face.

I was always going to pick Nikki to win just because I think it's a better storyline with her as the champion and Brie going after her for the title, which would be her redemption in the feud. Hopefully they can end that at Royal Rumble and not all the way to WrestleMania. If AJ keeps it then they really don't have enough opponents for her to feud with. Plus, AJ had the advantage on television this week so that adds to my belief that Nikki is going to win.

Winner: Nikki Bella

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

This should be a pretty good match that gets 15-20 minutes. If they had a No Holds Barred or Street Fight type of match it would be a lot of fun just because it fits the style of both men. Ambrose is really liked by the fans although it seems to have tapered off a bit in the past month since he's not working with Orton or Cena right now. Wyatt has proven he's belonged all year long.

It's weird that Wyatt's in the second biggest match and his two Wyatt Family buddies are in the main event. Poor Bray.

I think everybody should be thinking the same for this match in terms of the result. We know there's the gimmick heavy TLC PPV next month, so it makes more sense to drag this rivalry out to that show and give them a gimmick match there. In order to get there, they should have either Wyatt win in a cheap manner or do a countout or disqualification finish.

I'm going with the DQ win for Ambrose. It would be something where Wyatt realizes he can't pin him, so he attacks with a weapon, gets disqualified and takes off. Ambrose wants to keep fighting, so they brawl post match before people break it up. That would lead to a gimmick match at TLC.

Winner: Dean Ambrose by DQ

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Cena (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Erick Rowan & Ryback) vs. Team Authority (Seth Rollins, Kane, Rusev, Mark Henry & Luke Harper)

If Cena's team wins, The Authority loses power. If The Authority wins, all Team Cena members are fired except Cena according to stipulation announced on Smackdown.

This will probably be one of the longest matches of the year in the 30-45 minute range just because, as I've said during this entire preview, they will have a lot of time left on this show. I expect Ziggler to be in the ring for a long time although he's probably not going to last until the end. There will probably be a big moment when Harper faces off with Rowan, which was teased on TV this past weekThere is the possibility of a surprise or two in this match. Randy Orton could appear just because it's in his hometown of St. Louis and if he showed up to hit a RKO to cost The Authority the match it would help his babyface turn. He's been filming a new WWE movie since early November, so they may wait to bring him back. Roman Reigns is another name that could possibly return although they might save him until December as well. Sheamus appears to be legit hurt, so it won't be him.

I'm interested in how Rusev is booked. He hasn't been pinned or submitted while on the main roster although he has lost by disqualification before. They shouldn't pin him in this match. Will Cena interact with him or are they saving it? I'm definitely going to keep an eye on those kinds of things. My guess is he'll lose by DQ or countout while brawling with Big Show or maybe even Rowan.

Some people have mentioned that Triple H isn't in the match and wondering why that is. I think it's because they're going to use him to interfere. Then somebody comes out to prevent him from doing so, which then opens the door for the faces to win. If you know who the rumored surprise is, he'd be the perfect guy for it.

As for the survivors, there's a very good chance Cena is one of them since he's always booked strong and that title match against Brock Lesnar is looming soon. I also think Ryback as one of the survivors would be really smart because they are trying to re-establish him as a top face. In order to do that, he needs to look like a badass in this match. His booking will be key. I'm not a huge fan of Ryback, but they really need to make him look like a big star in this match. It would be similar to how Roman Reigns was booked last year when he was the sole survivor for his team.

In the end, I'm going with Cena's team. The "look strong on TV, lose on PPV" theory is in full effect since The Authority put on a massive beating at the end of Smackdown. They really put the focus on Triple H targeting Ryback, which again makes me think Ryback is going to look really strong here. Don't be shocked if Triple H is back on TV within a few months although there will be a new GM or matchmaker person soon.

Winners: Team Cena (Cena & Ryback as survivors)

Final Thoughts

It's a one match show with the second match also looking pretty good although it's not that huge. Hopefully the big name rumored to be at the show does show up because if he does then it will give fans something to look forward to in the months ahead. The product is stale right now. Changing things up will be a welcome sight, that's for sure.

I'll be posting my review of Survivor Series on Monday morning or by 12pmET. I'll be watching the NFL game, so I'll see the PPV either late Sunday night or early Monday AM. There will be a full recap of everything that happened with the results and analysis of everything on the show.

Thanks for reading.

John Canton - mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter @johnreport

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