Survivor Series teams set

[ShaneOfan]

Big surprise tonight.

We knew Team Authority but Team Cena was up in the air all night. They did a great job keeping us guessing. But the match will be...

Kane, Rollins, Henry, Rusev, and Luke Harper

Vs

Cena, Ziggler, Show, Da Big Guy, and... Eric ROWEN!

[chuway]

I definitely missed something. What happened to Sheamus?

[Messiah]

This match looks terrible.

[Westcoastvibes]

I definitely missed something. What happened to Sheamus?

They are playing an injury angle. He was taken to the hospital per Stephanie.

Its a bit late in the game for that though, he took an (what I think was) awkward worlds strongest slam threw the announcers table. It looked to me like henry did not get sheamus' body up high enough to allow for a flat, safe impact.

If he is legit injured or not IDK, either way he is kayfabe out and rowan is in.

I guess rowan was the next logical replacement if sheamus is injured, he came out yelling and pointing aggressively at harper as if he was angry he joined team authority, it was subtle but enough to sell a indifference between the two.





Big question..... Is rowan the wildcard?
I am almost certain someone will turn on cena during the match, I doubt its ziggler or show. Ryback, even though joining the good fight, has made it clear he is about ryback and ryback only so I would not count him out. Rowan is a surprise and there is no story development at all with him so he could be a plant by hhh or he could be the extra muscle needed.

[PorkChop]

This match looks terrible.

Nothing they put out this year could be worse than 2010, when Chris Masters and Tyler Reks were on the teams.

[VaderBomb]

I was under the assumption that Cesaro would be in the match after what happened on Raw. They should take Corporate Kane out of the match and add Cesaro,

[Hanley!]

I was under the assumption that Cesaro would be in the match after what happened on Raw. They should take Corporate Kane out of the match and add Cesaro,

Much as I like Cesaro better than Kane, that's an illogical piece of booking. Kane is one of the few members of team Authority that is actually a member of the Authority. You want him in the match. Plus he's an established name who won't mind going out of the match early and giving someone a rub.

This match could be awful, and it does look Hogan era levels of "lets put all the biggest guys in the ring together". Apart from Ziggler and Rollins, everyone in this match is huge.

But I don't think the teams are that bad. They could be pretty good from a story-development and star-making perspective. Which doesn't mean they will, and in fact they probably won't. But the potential is there. The Survivor Series match has always been a good one for getting people over.

Here's how I'd book the match:

- Rusev eliminates Big Show early on. Team Authority get the early lead.
- Ryback eliminates Kane. This evens things up again.
- Rusev & Ryback start brawling outside and both end up getting disqualified as they fight to the back. This keeps both these guys strong. Neither of them needs to take a pin.
- Luke Harper cheap shots and eliminates Eric Rowen to cement the upcoming feud between the two. Authority are now leading 3 to 2.
- Cena gets ganged up on by the heels and eliminated while Ziggler is recovering on the floor (he should be doing most of the selling for the face team for the whole night).
- I'd probably make things even more interesting by having Sheamus interfere and attack Cena leading to his elimination. He needs to turn heel badly. He can later explain on Raw that Cena let him get hospitalised or that the Authority was right about him all along. All that stuff.
- Ziggler makes a come back and eliminates Mark Henry.

So we're down to Ziggler against Harper & Rollins. Depending on who they're planning to win this match, I'd book things one of two ways:

SCENARIO ONE: AUTHORITY WINS

Ziggler faces off against Harper for a few minutes and finally manages to hit the Zig Zag on Harper. Unfortunately this comes right after a blind tag and Rollins hits Ziggler with the curb stomp as he's getting back to his feet. Authority wins, Ziggler still looks strong. Harper gets the rub for surviving. Rollins looks like a boss.

SCENARIO TWO: AUTHORITY LOSES

Ziggler faces off against Harper, but the numbers game catches up to him when Rollins storms the ring. They both beat on Ziggler until a miss-communication causes Harper to clothesline Rollins. In his surprise Ziggler hits the Zig Zag and pins Harper. When Rollins gets back to his feet, Ziggler rolls him up and gets the victory. Harper still looks strong, Rollins still looks strong and Ziggler looks like a boss just for making it through.

I think Rollins should last until the end for the Authority for obvious reasons. He's the one they should really focus on pushing. But I picked Ziggler both because I think he needs and deserves a push, but also because the whole underdog narrative really works best with him as the main focus. He's the guy that really seems to have been held down by the Authority. Cena and Big Show have been pushed down people's throats for years, Rowen has only just turned face and Ryback is still green and being promised the world. None of them make a compelling focal point for the underdog story of fighting against the machine. Ziggler really needs to be the guy they use to have that story work.

[Viazon]

I'm glad that Harper and Rowen are getting a look in. I thought after they broke away from Bray Wyatt they wouldn't have any use for them.

[The Legend]

Apparently Sheamus is legitimately hurt and had to get surpery to repair a neck stinger and some other neck damage that may have occurred when Henry slammed him through the announce table on Monday Night. So that would potentially explain why the change was made.

[VaderBomb]

I was under the assumption that Cesaro would be in the match after what happened on Raw. They should take Corporate Kane out of the match and add Cesaro,

Much as I like Cesaro better than Kane, that's an illogical piece of booking. Kane is one of the few members of team Authority that is actually a member of the Authority. You want him in the match. Plus he's an established name who won't mind going out of the match early and giving someone a rub.

I would agree, but then what was the point of that bit on Raw? Why have Cesaro involve himself at all? He came down seemingly to help Team Cena only to fake them out and stand with The Authority. Senseless booking if nothing is going to come out of it.

[SortaCreative]

You just know Cena is going to be the sole survivor.

Don't fight this fact.

Embrace it. Become one with it.

Understand it.