This is becoming a tradition! A Big 4 PPV comes on and we get a NXT Takeover event to start the weekend! This time, it's Takeover War Games and Survivor Series, emanating from Houston, Texas. Takeover has 6 matches on the card, one dark match while Survivor Series features 7, many featuring interbrand matches between Raw and Smackdown. Let's talk Takeover first.
First off, the live crowd will be treated to an absolute gem of a match as Pete Dunne will defend the WWE United Kingdom Championship against Johnny Gargano. HOW IS THIS NOT ON THE MAIN CARD!?!?! I'm legit upset. This could be a match of the year contender if these two go all out. Ugh...
Kassius Ohno will battle Lars Sullivan in the battle of the heavyweights. Sullivan is an absolute beast and will be the next major monster heel on the main roster. While I don't think Sullivan will become NXT Champion (none of the monsters heels seem to do) I do think he'll be a major player on the main roster. His NXT run is just getting started and by defeating Kassius Ohno, it will continue his dominant run. Sullivan with the easy win. This should be fun to watch.
Aleister Black will be facing The Velveteen Dream in a strange match up. Strange, because I feel like Black should be facing someone on his level. Dream is still relatively fresh in the company so this is more like a big match for Dream and not a big match for Black. I guess all the other guys were busy so this was the only other option. Black's first loss should not come from Dream. He needs to have a good showing, come close to beating him but in the end, fail and let Black's run continue. Black wins with the Black Mass.
Drew McIntyre puts up his NXT Championship against Andrade Cien Almas. Almas has had this coming for a long time. He was one of the big time talents NXT signed in the years after its big breakout but they really haven't used him to his maximum potential. Turning heel and aligning with Zelina Vega has done wonders for him and he's getting his first shot at the title here. McIntyre won't be having a short reign as champion. The person I see dethroning him is Adam Cole, who would eventually lose to Johnny Gargano, who would then be attacking by a returning Tommaso Ciampa to set up that mega match. Almas beating McIntyre would be nice as he should have had a run with the title or at least be in contention for it by now but now that McIntyre has been crowned the next face of the brand, Almas is just there to help make Drew looks good. McIntyre wins in a hard fought match.
For the first time in a year and a half (19 months to be exact), we will have a new NXT Women's Champion. Four superstars will compete for the right to call themselves the 6th NXT Women's Champ. They are Peyton Royce, one half of the Iconic Duo, Nikki Cross, a member of Sanity, Ember Moon, Asuka last opponent in NXT and Kairi Sane, the winner of the inaugural Mae Young Classic. It's easy to look at the four competitors and say we know the winner. Kairi has been booked as another hard hitting resilient female wrestler from the land of the rising sun. Asuka left a lasting impression on NXT and it could be that WWE wants to keep a dominant Japanese star as champion. While I think Kairi winning the title should happen, I don't think it needs to happen this quickly. She's been on TV for NXT for about 2 months. She doesn't need to win the Mae Young Classic and the women's title in her first two months. It's like overkill. I don't like this version of Nikki Cross in NXT. I would have preferred her Best in the Universe gimmick opposed to the craziness of Sanity. She has a strong chance of winning due to her group already holding onto the tag titles. Adding one more title wouldn't be a bad thing to show their dominance. Ember Moon, in all reality, should have defeated Asuka at Takeover Brooklyn III. I know they wanted Asuka to remain undefeated for her main roster debut but now I'm nervous anytime she wrestles. I don't want her streak to end because of some dumb main roster hi-jinks. Moon should have gone over but she gets another chance here and of the four, she's one I feel like should do it, based on the fact she gave Asuka two hard fought matches. Peyton Royce has been in NXT the longest, dating back to her tryout in 2014. Peyton and Billie Kay have found their niche as apart of the NXT women's division, being two mean girls ala LayCool or the BFFs. It works for them and could lead to title gold for Peyton and an eventual feud with Billie Kay.
Of the four, I'm pulling most for Peyton because of that. I think we need a heel champion to run the division at this point. Let Ember, Ruby, Nikki and Kairi chase Peyton until Mania season. I'm going with Peyton Royce to win her first NXT Women's Championship at Takeover, thanks to Billie Kay.
The main event of Takeover Wargames is....the WarGames match. It will see Sainty, The Authors of Pain and Roddick Strong and The Undisputed Era in one massive match with two rings and one cage. This will be the first WarGames match I will see live as I wasn't into WCW when they were doing it 20 years ago. This will be a fun main event but like the TLC main event, there's nothing really on the line. Even though Sanity are the tag champs, the titles will not be defended. Again, should be a great and chaotic main event, especially with all the major talent but at the end of the day, it won't progress anything, except maybe Adam Cole to a NXT TItle shot. The Undisputed Era wins, Cole will face McIntyre at Takeover Philadelphia. Hopefully...
Survivor Series started off as a basic Big 4 PPV but has since become a major event, featuring all champion VS champion matches, a dream match and a lot of major WWE stars in the men's elimination match. Let's talk!
Enzo and Kalisto. Yawn. I hate Enzo in the Cruiserweight division. Yes, he brings exposure but not technical ability. We need guys like Cedric Alexander, Neville and Gran Metalik as the faces of the division. Enzo can compete but not be the top guy when there are dozens of other great talents. Enzo wins because.......yeah.
Originally, The Usos were going to take on Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins in what was definitely set to be the best match on the card. As is the theme with the PPV, plans changed and now, Cesaro and Sheamus will get the nod to defend Raw in the battle of the tag team champions. This is a great change. Yes, those four would have tore the house down but Sheamus and Cesaro have been the best Raw tag team all year. They deserve to get this slot. And don't sleep on them either, as they've put on some of the most hard hitting tag matches of the year. This will be exciting, hard hitting and fast paced. Expect superkicks, uppercuts and fists. As great as a team SheCesaro has been, there has been no team better than The Usos in 2017. Their claim of putting the tag division on Smackdown on lock has been true and they will prove they are the best team on Sunday. The Usos will defeat Sheamus and Cesaro, winning the match for Smackdown.
Mid-card champions will clash when Raw's Intercontinental Champion The Miz will face Smackdown's United States Champion Baron Corbin. Though it's a heel VS heel match, Miz is more of the babyface with more of the fans behind him, simply because he has put in the work for the last few years. Remember when everyone said Miz wouldn't amount to anything? Here we are, with Miz having held the IC Title on 7 different occasions and is the third longest reigning champion with combined reigns. I'm a fan of both men but Miz is the superior champion in this situation and needs a win after taking losses from The Olympic Shield and The Original Shield. Miz wins, maybe with the help from his cronies and gets a big win for Raw.
One of the two traditional Survivor Series matches will feature the women of both brands. Raw will have Team Captain Alicia Fox with Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, Bayley and Asuka facing Team Captain Becky Lynch with Naomi, Tamina, Carmella and now, thanks to Charlotte winning the Smackdown Women's Title this week, a fifth member yet to be determined. Based on elimination, it should be Natalya or Lana but obviously, let's start speculation that Paige will be the last member or hey, even Nikki Bella. There's a lot of names I guess....Anyway, looking at Raw's team, it's kind of a bomb squad. You have the always intimidating and dominant Nia Jax, the unpredictable Alicia Fox, who's a former Divas Champion in her own right and the last three women to have held the NXT Women's Title in Asuka, Sasha and Bayley. Asuka is also undefeated AKA hasn't been pinned. They just have a better team. It really depends who is going to be the last member of the Smackdown Team. If it indeed is Paige or Nikki, Smackdown will win with one of them being the surviving memeber. If it's Natalya, Raw will win. Based on last year, one brand will win each of the men and women's traditional matches and Raw won last year in this one. I just don't see the point of putting Asuka on the team and them NOT winning. I could see Asuka going down 4-1 or even 5-1 and then coming back to look as unstoppable as possible. I'd love to see Smackdown win here but they can only get the W if they have Paige or Nikki and I'm not holding my breath. Team Raw wins with Asuka in some way being one of or the lone survivor.
In a match I didn't know I wanted until the seeds were planted last week, The Original Shield will face The New Day in a 6 man tag match. The Shield have been one of the best groups in WWE history, all holding titles together and then all becoming WWE World Champion after their split. The New Day have been tag champions four times, while their 2nd reign as WWE Tag Team Champions is the longest in the company's history. It's the two best and most successful trios in one massive match that could only take place at Survivor Series. It's a smart move. I wanted to see Ambrose/Rollins and The Usos badly but I want to see this even more. Being this is The Shield's 2nd match back together, the first on PPV in 3 years and it being the 5 year anniversary of their debut, there's no way The Shield can lose. This will be one hell of a match but The Shield will win and continue their reunion tour.
The two most dominant female wrestlers of the past two years will do battle at Survivor Series with Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss facing the new Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair. It's the best match the two shows could do besides another Sasha/Charlotte match. This is another match that got changed from its original iteration but it's only for the better. If Alexa Bliss can win this match, she will own victories over each member of the WWE Four Horsewomen in one year. I don't think any other woman can say that. With Raw taking all the victories in my predictions, I don't think she'll get to claim that just yet. Charlotte will make Alexa tap out to get a big victory for Smackdown.
The men's traditional Survivor Series elimination match is a massive one, featuring the cream of the crop in talent and big names. Team Raw has Captain Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor and Triple H. Team Smackdown has Captain Shane McMahon, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, Randy Orton and John Cena. THIS is a SS match. The men combined have a total 50 WORLD TITLE REIGNS. 50. That's not a typo.You have three of the four top guys in World Title reigns. There's Cena and Flair with 16, Triple H with 14 and Randy Orton with 13. I'm not even counting Joe and Angle's World Title reigns in different companies. It's ridiculous. There are SO many dream match ups in this match. Let's see...Cena/Strowman? Check. Angle/Nakamura? Check. Joe/Orton? Check. Triple H/Roode? Check! And you can just mix and match them from there. So many great storylines can start from this match to the Road to Wrestlemania. Notably missing are Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Jinder Mahal but don't rule them out just yet.
I expect Randy Orton to be the last man remaining for his team. It's his thing. EVERY team he's been apart of, whether he won or loss, he was the last member standing. He's won 5 of these matches, including three in a row at the start of his career and last year's Raw VS Smackdown affair. He's Mr. Survivor Series. While I think Orton will be the last guy for Smackdown, I don't think that will equal a win for Team Blue. It's pretty clear that Zayn and Owens don't give a damn about this brand supremacy crap and as a way to stick it to Shane and Smackdown, I can see them costing Orton the match and starting a feud with him for the next few months. Maybe it will come down to Joe and Orton and Orton will get distracted by the two, get caught by Joe and forced to submit. Maybe it won't even happen like that. Regardless, I'm looking forward to a lengthy match. Last year's contest was 52 minutes. It doesn't have to be that long this year but I'd like it close to the 45 minute mark. I don't know how or exactly what is going to go down but I have Team Raw winning this one. They haven't won a men's elimination match yet against Smackdown. That needs to end.
The main event was originally going to be WWE Champion Jinder Mahal facing Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in a match virtually no one wanted to see but thanks to our savior AJ Styles, we instead get a once in a lifetime dream match as Styles will now challenge The Beast at Survivor Series. Will this be a competitive match? That's the biggest question going into the event. Styles is definitely the most talented star that Lesnar has faced in this Suplex City version of Lesnar. I just don't see WWE putting the title on Styles just to make Lesnar look good. Obviously, with the plans in place, WWE won't be having Lesnar lose. He can't lose any matches until Golden Boy Reigns defeats Lesnar at Wrestlemania 34. Styles will definitely put up a convincing fight but it will end like all Lesnar matches have ended in 2017, with Lesnar the victor. Lesnar will win after catching AJ from a Phenomenal Forearm into a F5. Raw will win the final match of the show.
So I have Raw winning the show 5-2, with only Charlotte and The Usos winning for Smackdown. I think that's better than the obvious 4-3 barely winning edge.
Regardless, it's all going down this weekend! I'm really looking forward to both shows!
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