WWE Survivor Series 2014: Final Picks and Predictions for All Matches

The 28th annual Survivor Series is just over 24 hours away, and World Wrestling Entertainment has done an excellent job of bringing together a main event that not only feels like a big deal but has the high stakes every major pay-per-view bout should.

John Cena, Ryback, Big Show, Erick Rowan and Dolph Ziggler will fight for the right to eliminate The Authority from WWE and bring back a sense of fairness and impartiality to the top of the food chain.

Seth Rollins, Mark Henry, Kane, intercontinental champion Luke Harper and United States champion Rusev will fight for the termination of the Superstars who dared to oppose Triple H and Stephanie McMahon's reign of terror over the sports-entertainment world.

It is a clash that has the potential to be a Match of the Year candidate based on the talent involved and one that could very well wind up defining the event in years to come.

With an undercard featuring a highly personal match between Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt, defenses of both the WWE Tag Team and Divas Championships and an Eight-Diva Tag Team Elimination bout, this year's Survivor Series is shaping up to be one of the more fun and entertaining entries in the event's annals.

Who will emerge from the show victorious? What will the outcome of the main event be?

Find out which of the teams striving to survive will actually accomplish its goal with final picks and predictions for Survivor Series 2014!

Fatal 4-Way Match for the WWE Tag Team Championships

Credit: WWE.com

If Gold and Stardust want to emerge from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis with their WWE Tag Team Championships intact, they will have to overcome the challenge of three of the top tandems in sports-entertainment.

The Usos are familiar opponents, having competed against the champions numerous times since September, including a Steel Cage match on the November 7 episode of Friday Night SmackDown.

Los Matadores, on the other hand, find themselves in title contention thanks to a slew of upset victories.

Long portrayed an undercard team, the type that competes more often on Superstars and Main Event than either Raw or SmackDown, they have earned their spot in Sunday night's championship bout through hard work and remaining over with the audience despite WWE Creative giving them absolutely nothing worthwhile since the conclusion of their rivalry with 3MB this past summer.

The Miz and Damien Mizdow are the most interesting of the four teams to watch at Survivor Series.

Though they once appeared to be a tight unit, there has been some dissension sneaking in that could be the emphasis for a split in the very near future. Fans who tuned in to this week's SmackDown witnessed it firsthand. Whether that hampers the duo's quest for gold or ultimately strengthens their bond remains to be seen.

With that said, their act is over enough that, if anyone is to take the tag team championships from around the waist of the brothers in paint, it would be the former WWE Intercontinental champion and his lackey.

But they will not.

Prediction: Gold and Stardust Retain

Gold and Stardust are still very much in the infancy of their title reign. Losing Sunday to any of the teams would completely halt their push and kill any legitimacy or credibility their reign may have had.

Outside of The Usos, none of the other teams are strong competition, and even Jimmy and Jey have been on the receiving end of too many losses of late to really be effective champions at this point.

With that said, the current titleholders are hardly on a roll themselves, losing more than they win and suffering from a decided lack of direction.

Luckily for them, they are very much the lesser of two evils and on Sunday night will retain their championships.

8-Diva Tag Team Elimination Match

Credit: WWE.com

Announced during this past Tuesday night's edition of Main Event, which aired exclusively on WWE Network, the Divas will compete at Sunday's pay-per-view extravaganza in a traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team match.

Natalya will lead Alicia Fox, Naomi and Emma into battle against former Divas champion Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae and Layla as WWE attempts to fill out the remainder of the pay-per-view card.

Third-generation Diva Natalya has had her fair share of issues with both Summer Rae and Layla in recent weeks, competing against both in singles competition on SmackDown. Paige, on the other hand, has had her hands full with former friend Alicia Fox, who scored a huge upset victory over the raven-haired beauty on this week's Main Event.

Naomi and Cameron certainly have history with each other, dating back to their days as the Funkadactyls, not to mention the nasty split that occurred just a few months ago.

Emma, one of the more talented wrestlers on the Divas roster, unfortunately finds herself merely along for the ride.

Prediction: Team Paige Wins (Paige is the sole survivor)

A match thrown in at the last second just to get the Divas on the card, Team Natalya vs. Team Paige has the potential to surprise fans. Six of the eight women involved are capable of delivering a very good match if given time. Considering the fact that there are only five matches announced for Sunday's card, there is reason to believe that the match may get that time.

Natalya has seen her screen time across Raw, SmackDown and NXT increase thanks to her relationship with Tyson Kidd and the renewed push he has enjoyed in 2014. A very talented in-ring technician, she is likely to be one of the final women battling for a win.

But she will not get it.

Paige is the future of the Divas division, and despite some truly horrific booking over the last three months, remains over with the fans. Add to that the fact that WWE has gone out of their way to market everything from hoodies to teddy bears for the Brit, and there's all the more reason to believe that she will be the star of this weekend's bout.

Expect to see Paige eliminate Natalya to win the match. Whether that comes clean or with the assistance of Kidd, thus furthering his and his wife's story, remains to be seen.

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

Credit: WWE.com

Dean Ambrose was on a roll entering Hell in a Cell this past October. He was as popular as any star on the roster, including John Cena, and was the perfect foil for the prim and proper Authority. He made their life a living hell for two months straight and nearly defeated their golden boy, Seth Rollins, inside The Devil's Playground known as Hell in a Cell.

Then Bray Wyatt brought his momentum to a halt, interfering in the biggest match of the Lunatic Fringe's career and costing him a victory.

Since then, the two deranged stars have gone back and forth on the microphone, waxing poetic as Wyatt attempts to show Ambrose just how much help he needs and how much he needs to be saved.

Ambrose was seemingly bulletproof, not falling for Wyatt's mind games or his theatrics. That is, until Wyatt struck a nerve by bringing up the former Shield member's father and the issues Ambrose has had with him since childhood. For the first time in his WWE, Ambrose appeared shaken, rattled even, and the manipulative Wyatt realized it. 

Since then, The Eater of Worlds has continued to pick at Ambrose's psyche. Despite the unstable star's insistence that it is not working, his body language and facial expressions say otherwise.

Sunday, Ambrose has the opportunity to avenge his loss to Rollins and all of the mental torment he has been forced to endure over the last month, while Wyatt has a chance to not only convert a new follower but at the same time rebound from a disappointing second half of 2014 with a huge singles win.

Prediction: Double Disqualification

There is no way WWE can possibly justify a loss for either Wyatt or Ambrose this early in their rivalry. Ambrose is coming off an incredible hot streak and needs to be kept strong. If not, he risks falling back into the midcard, a place where no one ever benefits.

Ask Dolph Ziggler. Or Cesaro. Or Kofi Kingston.

Wyatt, on the other hand, is only starting to recover from the feuds with John Cena and Chris Jericho that ultimately did more to hurt than help him. Having him lose only adds to the perception that he talks a good game but regularly fails to back it up when the bell rings.

Thus, the only realistic option available to WWE Creative is a draw in which neither man has to lose and the story can continue.

There is a great deal of potential for the feud to be something truly captivating and engaging. Thus far, it has not reach that potential. Giving writers the opportunity to hash out a better story by giving them another month may be just what the doctor ordered for this ailing program.

Or it may only serve to do more damage.

But it's worth the risk given the performers involved.

WWE Divas Championship Match: AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella

Credit: WWE.com

At Hell in a Cell, Nikki Bella defeated sister Brie, thus winning her services as a personal assistant for 30 days. In the weeks that have followed, fans have watched as Nikki has forced Brie to wait on her, fetch her coffee and do minuscule chores for her.

Meanwhile, AJ Lee continued to reign as Divas champion despite not really doing anything of note throughout the entire month of October. It wasn't until Halloween night that she found out who her next challenger would be, when Nikki won a costume Battle Royal.

The November 17 episode of Raw saw Brie dressed as AJ and beaten around the ring by her sister. When the Divas champion made her presence felt, Brie seized the moment and scored a pinfall win over Nikki that incensed the buxom brunette. Never prejudiced when deciding whom to attack, AJ laid Brie out, proving that she is most certainly not picking sides in the war with the Bella Twins.

Just days later on SmackDown, Brie looked to avenge the assault, squaring off with AJ in what was the penultimate chapter in the Survivor Series Divas title story. Dressed as Nikki, AJ continued to play mind games with her rivals and picked up a win over Brie.

With AJ getting the upper hand as often as she has and Brie proving quite disobedient in the final week of her role as personal assistant, Nikki's frustration must be reaching a boiling point. But will she be able to channel that frustration into a championship victory, or will it prove more detrimental?

Prediction: Nikki Bella wins the Divas Championship

Has there been any storyline more lackluster since Hell in a Cell than Nikki vs. Brie Bella? The personal-assistant angle has been done so poorly that one gets the impression WWE Creative gave up on it the moment Nikki pinned Brie at the last WWE pay-per-view extravaganza.

Add to that the fact that the use of AJ Lee since her return in June has been incredibly disappointing, and there is no reason whatsoever to be excited about the Divas Championship match at Survivor Series.

AJ has held the title since Night of Champions in September but has absolutely no momentum at this point. She is another champion who has had her character traits downplayed by WWE Creative, whose inability to adequately book champions outside of the main event scene remains startling.

Nikki has a hotter character at this point, and her booking has been better than anyone else involved in the story, though that's not saying much. Expect to see her take advantage of a distraction by Brie, intentional or not, that allows her to capture the Divas title for the second time in her career. 

Team Cena vs. Team Authority

Credit: WWE.com

One of the biggest contests of the year will unfold on November 23 when Team Cena squares off with Team Authority in a huge 10-man Tag Team Elimination match that could very well shape the future of WWE for quite some time.

A victory for Team Cena results in the ousting of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon from power in World Wrestling Entertainment. As the company's COO revealed on SmackDown, however, a loss for Team Cena will result in the firing of all team members except Cena.

It is a high-stakes match the likes of which WWE does so well.

The build to this one has been spectacular, especially taking into consideration the return of Ryback and the rejuvenation of the character. He is back to main event status after a year of jobbing as one-half of RybAxel and is as over as he has ever been. In fact, despite Cena leading his team into battle, it has been Ryback who has been at the center of the hype for the match.

The introduction of Luke Harper to Team Authority and Erick Rowan to Team Cena sets up a unique dynamic that could see the former Wyatt Family members and tag team partners battle one another for the very first time. Even if they really have no reason to.

With Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler and the extremely underrated Rusev involved, the ingredients are there for a truly spectacular match deserving of all the hype surrounding it.

But who wins?

Do you really have to ask?

Prediction: Team Cena wins (Cena and Ryback survive)

So much hype has gone into Ryback's return that booking him to be eliminated prior to the conclusion of the match would be a huge disappointment for fans that have taken the time to invest themselves in the character for a second time.

Those fans, as well as others who have taken to The Big Guy, want to see him run through people en route to sending The Authority packing, and they want to see it way more than they want to see Cena overcome the odds for what feels like the millionth time on WWE pay-per-view.

Whether Cena is joined by the Big Guy or not is inconsequential, though. He is winning, thus banishing Triple H and Stephanie from the company and staying strong for his impending WWE Championship match against Brock Lesnar.

The key to the match, though, is how Seth Rollins is booked.

The former Architect of The Shield has been outstanding as the yapping "golden boy" of The Authority and has excelled as a heel far past what this writer thought he was capable of. He is a legitimate main event villain and the fans despise him, which always helps. 

Having him lose clean to Cena kills a great deal of his momentum. Being the last member of his team and bumping around for both Cena and Ryback, though, gives him an excuse for not winning and at the same time sends fans home happy, having seen the bad guy get his comeuppance.

Which is Storytelling 101.