WWE Survivor Series 2015: B/R Expert Match Predictions and Analysis
The build to WWE Survivor Series 2015 has centered on two main storylines: the crowning of a new WWE heavyweight champion and the ongoing feud between The Wyatt Family and The Brothers of Destruction, The Undertaker and Kane.
Focusing solely on those angles has left WWE Survivor Series 2015 a bit thin. The card has yet to be fleshed out, leaving a lot of wiggle room for potential surprise matches or for potential duds that get thrown together at the last minute.
Just days away from the event, here's the rundown of matches:
- Charlotte vs. Paige (WWE Divas Championship)
- Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler
- The Wyatt Family vs. The Brothers of Destruction
- Traditional 5-on-5 Elimination Tag Team Match (Participants TBD)
- WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-final: Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio
- WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-final: Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose
- WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final (TBD)
By any standard, that's a light card for a pay-per-view. That doesn't mean there isn't intrigue in this event or questions that need to answers. That's why Bleacher Report has once again called upon its panel of experts to predict who will walk out of WWE Survivor Series 2015 as winners, as well as examine some of the bigger issues heading into Sunday's event.
It's time to meet the lineup.
The Expert Lineup for Survivor Series
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As it has been doing for months, Bleacher Report has pulled together an all-star group of WWE writers to answer the tough questions about the WWE landscape and provide predictions for each match on the Survivor Series card.
This month's lineup includes:
- Brad Jones (@beardjones).
- Anthony Mango (@ToeKneeManGo), founder of SmarkOutMoment.com and host of the podcast Smack Talk.
- Aaron Bower (@aaronbower)
- Erik Beaston (@ErikBeaston).
- The Doctor Chris Mueller (@BR_Doctor).
- And yours truly, James Moffat (@jamesmoffat)
Let's dive right into WWE Survivor Series 2015 questions and predictions, starting with Erik Beaston. Tie up your laces and get ready to rumble. The predictions start now.
Bonus Question #1
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Q: There's currently one traditional elimination match slated for Survivor Series, although the participants are still a mystery. Give us your best fantasy booking for a traditional Survivor Series elimination match using the current roster. What are the teams, what are the stakes and who comes out on top?
Erik Beaston (EB): The Usos, Neville, Cesaro and Ryback vs. The New Day, King Barrett and Sheamus would be the match, if only because the 10 guys involved have interacted with each other over the last few weeks and it makes sense. As someone left befuddled by booking decisions far too often, sensible matches are always welcome. To add a twist, I would book a stipulation that states if someone pins or forces a submission from Sheamus, they win the Money in the Bank briefcase. It creates intrigue as to whether the babyfaces can work together to secure the win or if they'd be too interested in winning the case. I would have Sheamus emerge with the win, giving him a much needed bit of momentum as the end of the year approaches.
James Moffat (JM): First, let's make the stakes title shots, with the winners getting matches for the tag team, intercontinental, and United States belts on the Raw following Survivor Series. Second: Let's mix it up and say it's not heels vs. faces, as is traditional, but teams are "fan voted." That means you've got Team Cesaro (Cesaro, King Barrett, Sheamus and Neville) vs. Team Stardust (Stardust, The Usos, Ryback and The Miz). The mixed teams would create interesting dynamics, and since everyone gets a title shot if they win, they'd have no choice but to work together.
Chris Mueller (CM): There are so many people who deserve a spot on the card it’s hard to pick. It should be a classic heels vs. babyfaces match with Cesaro, Neville and The Dudley Boyz taking on Sheamus, King Barrett, Kevin Owens and Stardust. The stake would simply be bragging rights, and the babyfaces would have to come out on top to make the fans happy.
Anthony Mango (AM): I would actually go one step further and do two different 5-on-5 matches—one for the pre-show and one for the main card. The pre-show would consist of The Dudley Boyz, The Lucha Dragons and R-Truth against Stardust, The Ascension, The Miz and Big Show, with The Dudley Boyz and The Lucha Dragons surviving to help the tag team division look strong going forward. For the main show, the teams would be The New Day, King Barrett and Sheamus against The Usos, Cesaro, Neville and Ryback. This time around, though, Cesaro would be the sole survivor after fighting back against the odds.
Aaron Bower (AB): From the Superstars not yet booked for Survivor Series, I’m definitely keen on The New Day being involved here, and with only one spot left on their team, I’d push Xavier Woods out to ringside and get Sheamus and King Barrett into the mix. The babyface team would be captained by Cesaro, naturally. He could get The Usos on his team, with someone such as Neville also involved. The stakes would probably involve The Usos getting a shot at the tag titles if their team wins and also the promise that whichever star is left standing at the end gets a push into the world title picture.
Brad Jones (BJ): I'd put a team of NXT graduates composed of Kalisto, Bo Dallas, Neville and Cesaro up against four of the current crop of NXT standouts in Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable. The idea would be the twos squads are competing for bragging rights over their respective eras in NXT. It would seem wise to have Cesaro end up as the solve survivor; Corbin could betray Crews with the two brawling to the back afterward. Jordan and Gable would then put on a strong showing, but ultimately suffer from the effects of being outnumbered. Survivor Series has seen some great debuts over the years, so exposing the pay-per-view audience to some future Superstars would seem like a smart way to honour that tradition.
Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler
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Q: True or False: Tyler Breeze's direction on the main roster will more closely mirror that of Adam Rose (gimmick jobber) than Neville (standout midcarder).
EB: False. Breeze is a far better worker than Adam Rose with a gimmick Vince McMahon probably understands more than that of a party animal. That he has been paired with the lovely, leggy and vindictive Summer Rae and against Dolph Ziggler suggests there are plans for him to succeed. One never really got that impression as far as Rose was concerned. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. Hell, I figured Bo Dallas was going to be one of the breakout stars of 2015 after the hot start to his WWE career. Unlike Dallas, though, Breeze has never shown anything but sheer determination and willpower to get over and succeed in the industry. He will be fine, barring some unexpected blunder at Survivor Series.
Match Prediction: Tyler Breeze defeats Dolph Ziggler.
JM: My heart says false, but my brain says true. Breeze is an immensely talented worker in the ring, but it'll be tough for WWE Creative to not want to use him solely for his character, which he has perfected. I think his floor is much higher than Rose's, but his ceiling isn't as high as Neville's. I think Breeze's apex may be U.S. champ-era Zack Ryder.
Match Prediction: Tyler Breeze.
CM: False. I think Breeze will have to tweak his character as time goes on, but he is too versatile to end up as a jobber.
Match Prediction: Tyler Breeze wins.
AM: At best, he's looking at a Fandango career, where WWE cares about him for a few months and then he falls by the wayside. This is the worst time of the year to make a main roster debut, as history shows WWE either makes you a top priority or they forget about you on the build to WrestleMania, meaning you've done nothing and lost all your steam by April. Breeze could benefit from the number of injuries at present, but only if WWE actually puts effort into his push and gives him proper feuds to work with and not last-minute matches like this.
Match Prediction: Tyler Breeze gets the win.
AB: Worryingly, although it’s tough to directly compare him to anyone, Breeze’s promotion to the main roster so far more closely resembles gimmick Adam Rose than standout Neville. Luckily, Breeze is in a great feud to kick off his time on the main roster, and if he and Ziggler are afforded the proper time to promote their rivalry on TV, it could be a great watch. Ziggler’s efforts inside the ring are well-documented, and if he can bring the best out of Breeze, it could be a special feud.
Match Prediction: Dolph Ziggler.
BJ: False. Adam Rose always seemed like a gimmick without much depth designed to replace the far better Leo Kruger character. Rose's comedy was his strong suit, but that didn't really have much connection to his rock-star persona. Conversely, the model gimmick Tyler Breeze is employing begs to be exploited in the squared circle. It's a new twist on a well-worn archetype, one that's previously worked very well in wrestling. Combined with Breeze's technical acumen, there's a potential for Prince Pretty to make a huge impact on the main roster.
Match Prediction: Tyler Breeze.
Charlotte vs. Paige (WWE Divas Championship)
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Q: Agree or Disagree: WWE stepped over the line evoking Reid Flair in the Charlotte-Paige feud.
EB: Absolutely not. Ric Flair is someone whose life, both professionally and personally, has been used to fuel stories and create angles throughout the course of his career so it only makes sense that pattern would continue with Charlotte. Now, if Vince McMahon or any other member of WWE Creative failed to reach out to the family and get their blessing, then it is completely inappropriate. Otherwise, it was no different to Randy Orton's proclamation that Eddie Guerrero was in hell. Right or wrong, it is nothing worse than what we have seen before from the controversy-starved company.
Match Prediction: Paige defeats Charlotte to win the title when Becky Lynch turns heel.
JM: While I disagree WWE stepped over a line, the company is using a cheap ploy to get people talking about women's wrestling. It's a shame WWE had to stoop this low, but it created this poorly devised monster by not allowing these women to showcase their immense abilities in the ring. Instead, WWE continues to push the reality era into its Divas division much more than anywhere else in the company. Not only do the women suffer but the fans do too.
Match Prediction: Charlotte retains.
CM: Disagree. As long as Charlotte signed off on it, nobody should care. That moment added real drama and gave her a good reason to get physical. People always complain about WWE being too PG until they do something controversial, and then it’s “Everyone grab a torch and storm Titan Towers!”
Match Prediction: Charlotte retains.
AM: Disagree. I'm sure if Charlotte had a problem doing it, she would have rejected the idea and WWE would have respected her wishes. Just because her mother and others don't like it doesn't mean Charlotte can't talk about her own brother.
Match Prediction: Charlotte retains the title, especially after this controversy.
AB: Agree. It shows where the Divas division is right now that WWE had to lower the tone so much just to generate cheap, lazy heat on Paige. The frustrating thing for most WWE fans is Paige is such a good heel she didn’t need cheap heat. What this rivalry needed was storyline depth and TV time, and it’s really failed to get either of those things. Saying that, it should definitely be the feud that determines the title over the next few months, as there’s plenty of room for improvement.
Match Prediction: Charlotte.
BJ: The reality is the only people who can say whether WWE crossed the line are the people who make that call: Reid's family. As a viewer, the best response I can give to the segment is it was misguided. The comments certainly got the desired effect in terms of building tension for the title match, but you have to ask at what cost. Ric Flair is a legend, and Charlotte is a top prospect for the future—if neither is comfortable with how things played out, was it worth doing?
Match Prediction: Charlotte.
The Wyatt Family vs. Undertaker-Kane
5 of 10Q: True or False: WWE messed up by not making a traditional Survivor Series match out of the Bray Wyatt-Undertaker feud.
EB: False, if only because a match of that magnitude would necessitate the inclusion of some major stars on the babyface side of things, or else they would look like the fodder they likely would be. It needs a Daniel Bryan or a Sting, and with those guys not cleared to compete, the company took the smart route by booking Undertaker and Kane against two members of The Wyatt Family. There will be little pressure to deliver a show-stealing match, so it can be what it is meant to be anyway without any great big disappointment: a celebration of The Deadman on the 25th anniversary of his debut.
Match Prediction: The Undertaker and Kane defeat Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper.
JM: True-ish. It makes too much sense for The Wyatt Family to be in a match such as this, and it makes too much sense for WWE to use the Survivor Series platform to introduce new faces into both the company and a feud with The Wyatts. But WWE screwed up this angle by having The Brothers of Destruction run wild over the entire Wyatt Family, and any Superstars on a Kane-Undertaker team would've been the first to be eliminated anyway. They might as well have gone with an old-fashioned tag match.
Match Prediction: Undertaker and Kane win.
CM: False. At first I wanted to see Kane and Taker recruit two others to join the fight against the whole Wyatt Family, but the more I have thought about it, the more I like the idea of Kane and Taker having all the spotlight. Also, elimination matches don’t always come across well, and keeping this a regular tag match ensures more ring time for all four men.
Match Prediction: The Wyatt Family wins.
AM: True. Nothing states it absolutely has to be 5-on-5, so there could have been a 4-on-4 in which Undertaker and Kane teamed up with someone such as Finn Balor and possibly Sting if he's cleared to compete, making this an epic confrontation instead of an underwhelming regular tag match.
Match Prediction: The Brothers of Destruction come out on top.
AB: True. There’s no way this should have been reduced to a plain, simple tag match, especially when you factor in most of WWE’s build for this event has been based around The Undertaker. It seemed simple logic to place him in a traditional Survivor Series match, but instead we have a tag battle that seems set to have little impact on the pay-per-view. Had it been The Wyatt Family even taking on Undertaker, Kane and two random members of the roster, it would have been better than this.
Match Prediction: Bray Wyatt and a mystery partner.
BJ: True. Seeing Undertaker at Survivor Series will still be a great moment, but it would feel much more special if he was scheduled to wrestle in the pay-per-view's signature match. As it stands, this is an added attraction—but it could easily have been a bona fide main event. Seeing The Wyatt Family in a marquee match would have done a great deal for their credibility. Moreover, it would have offered up a prime opportunity for a couple of up-and-comers to be paired with the Brothers of Destruction. It's difficult to say who should have got that role, but it seems wasteful for it to go unfilled.
Prediction: Brothers of Destruction.
Bonus Question #2
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Q: With the lack of emphasis on the traditional Survivor Series match and the event’s very traditional Sunday PPV slot instead of its roots as a Thanksgiving staple, is Survivor Series still worthy of being a member of WWE’s Big 4 (with WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble)?
EB: Survivor Series is still one of WWE’s Big 4, but only in name. There is still an aura that surrounds the show, but the same can be said about Money in the Bank. In fact, the June pay-per-view may very well have usurped Survivor Series in terms of fan anticipation. With that said, WWE still hypes it as one of their flagship shows. As long as they continue to do that, a portion of the audience will always accept it as such.
JM: As much as it pains me, no. Survivor Series is no longer a Big 4 event. Money in the Bank has overtaken it for importance, and other events, such as Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber and TLC, have more intrigue because of their gimmick stipulations. I'm going to go and cry in a corner now and rewatch the 2001 and 2002 editions of this once-storied event.
CM: It is for a longtime fan, but younger fans probably don’t care about this event any more than they would Hell in a Cell or Extreme Rules. WWE has dropped the ball with Survivor Series in recent years, and it seems like a matter of time until the event is dead and gone.
AM: Sadly, Survivor Series has been slowly but surely bumped off the Big 4 list and replaced by Money in the Bank. It's still an important event, but it's just not treated with as much reverence as it used to be.
AB: Yes, but only just. The main reason for that is if truth be told, there’s not another pay-per-view that can take its place as one of the so-called Big 4. What this year’s event will probably prove is Survivor Series needs its flagship match back at the top of the card next year. Even though Team Cena vs. Team Authority didn’t sound great initially last year, it came through as a pretty enjoyable spectacle. WWE has to get the plans right early on and make sure there’s a storyline that can be pushed through into a traditional Survivor Series match in 2016.
BJ: It seemed like last year's show was a concerted effort to return Survivor Series to the Big 4, but as of 2015, it's not on a level with the likes of WrestleMania or even SummerSlam. The lack of its signature specialty match certainly contributes to that. Ideally, Survivor Series should be a time for the world championship to duck out of the spotlight. It doesn't matter whether that means the champion leads a team in a 4-on-4 or 5-on-5 match or the midcard gets a chance to shine, but something should set it apart from the shows before and after it.
Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio (WWE Championship Tournament Semi-Final)
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Q: True or False: The World Championship Tournament was set up as nothing more than a coronation for Roman Reigns.
EB: True. How can one even argue that when the final four is essentially the same field he defeated to earn the No. 1 contender’s spot in the first place? We have already seen Reigns tear through Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio to earn the shot at former champion Seth Rollins, while Ambrose has simply been substituted in for Dolph Ziggler. The tournament was Reigns’ to win from the very beginning. Whether any twists or turns have been thought up in the weeks since remains to be seen.
Match Prediction: Roman Reigns defeats Alberto Del Rio in the biggest foregone conclusion of the night.
JM: Absolutely true, but did WWE have any other choice? The answer is no. With no John Cena, no Seth Rollins, no Brock Lesnar and no Randy Orton, it's time to see whether Roman Reigns can run with the ball. Could WWE have made this thing more intriguing by having Dean Ambrose and Reigns on the same side of the bracket? Of course. Let's just hope ADR doesn't do anything to hurt Reigns in this match. Has another wrestler looked any worse than he has in his two tournament matches? He's the new Ryback.
Match Prediction: Roman Reigns.
CM: False. WWE had to scramble after Rollins was injured, and holding a tournament is much better than randomly selecting two guys to fight for the belt. In fact, I do not even think Reigns will leave with the belt on Sunday.
Match Prediction: Roman Reigns advances.
AM: False. Roman Reigns would have won the championship from Seth Rollins, but after Rollins went down with his injury, plans have surely changed. It will now be used to build him up but snatch it away from him one more time to tease the fans.
Match Prediction: Roman Reigns struggles but defeats Alberto Del Rio nonetheless.
AB: True, to an extent. These tournaments always create opportunities for men to make a name for themselves, as the other finalist facing Reigns will probably do this Sunday. But it feels like there’s not much controversy coming our way, at least in terms of a shock Dean Ambrose or Kevin Owens victory. Reigns was originally booked to face Seth Rollins for the title at Survivor Series, so how does he lose here? Only with a massive swerve.
Match Prediction: Roman Reigns.
BJ: False. With Reigns already the No. 1 Contender, there would have been far easier ways to put the belt around his waist at Survivor Series than this bracket. If anything, the tournament was set up to draw attention away from the telegraphed win. Putting the title up for grabs in this manner has made WWE's weekly output much more engaging than it perhaps would have been otherwise. Of course, if the end goal is Reigns as champion, it's a fine strategy—but the intrigue that's been built up around the title is surely the primary aim.
Prediction: Roman Reigns.
Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose (WWE Championship Tournament Semi-Final)
8 of 10Q: Does including the intercontinental and United States champions in this tournament strengthen or lessen the importance of their own titles?
EB: On one hand, it proves those champions are among the four most elite stars on the roster. On the other hand, having them both lose (which is almost a certainty) only devalues their belts. I would have to go with the latter here. How often does WWE Creative have to remind fans their secondary champions will never live up to the main event talent before people just stop taking those titles seriously?
Match Prediction: Dean Ambrose pins Kevin Owens.
JM: I thought this tournament would strengthen their standings, but WWE is going full steam ahead with Reigns vs. Ambrose, so they're tossing aside already established champions in favor of two guys who are in with a perpetual chance for them. It would have been better, as I mentioned earlier, to have Reigns and Ambrose in one semi-final, and Owens and Del Rio battle in another. At least then it would have been champion versus champion, elevating both titles. Instead, we're going to have both midcard titleholders lose on the same night but retain their titles. I don't know how that could be worse for those belts.
Match Prediction: Dean Ambrose.
CM: I don’t think it does anything to affect the titles. It helps Owens and Del Rio to be included in the tournament, but the only thing that can change the perception of their titles is the performances they put on when defending them.
Match Prediction: Dean Ambrose advances to the final.
AM: You would think it upgrades them as they look like contenders for the world title, but it actually hurts them because of their positions. Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio will be losing, so it will reinforce the idea in the minds of the fans that these midcard belts are a stepping stone and that if you win them, you're not as good as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship folk. These two would have been better off defending their belts in separate matches and only having the final of the tournament on this card.
Match Prediction: Dean Ambrose defeats Kevin Owens in his last match as a babyface for a while.
AB: I don’t think it does either. There’s not much of a case to say it strengthens them because the spotlight has been completely taken away from them over the past couple of weeks. Alberto Del Rio was supposed to give the United States Championship a big lift with John Cena away, but he hasn’t been able to do that yet. That’s not his fault, it’s just a situation of unfortunate circumstance because of Seth Rollins’ injury.
Match Prediction: Dean Ambrose.
BJ: Having the two champions progress so far in the tournament definitely strengthens the titles as they're being presented right now. These belts should be considered just a notch below the world title. It certainly helps that Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens are among the best wrestlers on the roster. It's difficult to imagine Ryback looking so comfortable in this position despite the fact he made the best of a reign plagued by other problems.
Match Prediction: Dean Ambrose.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final
9 of 10Q: What is the one thing WWE must not do in the final match to determine the new WWE champion?
EB: This one is easy. WWE must not give in to fans’ expectations of a swerve if that is not the direction it already intended to go. Stay the course. A swerve for swerve’s sake is absolutely the wrong way to go about making up for the lack of Seth Rollins, John Cena and Randy Orton. It would be so easy to give in and throw away a year’s worth of booking while simultaneously altering WrestleMania plans in the name of popping a single TV rating for Monday’s Raw. Instead, the company should stick to its guns, tell the story it has already planted the seeds for and progress from there. If a swerve is involved, fine. But booking one just because would only further muddy already polluted creative waters.
Match Prediction: Roman Reigns defeats Dean Ambrose to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
JM: It's got to be a clean match. No outside interference, no crazy count-outs, no rehash of the Corporate Champion storyline. It's gotta be one man standing at the end. Let craziness ensue the next night on Raw or even immediately after the bell. But the much talked about swerve cannot happen during the match. It would cheapen the title and its holder, and WWE will likely have made two other champs (Owens and Del Rio) look weak. It can't afford to do it to another on the same night.
Match Prediction: Dean Ambro...who am I kidding? Roman Reigns becomes your new WWE world heavyweight champion.
CM: They absolutely cannot have any outside interference. If I am right and it ends up being Ambrose and Reigns in the final, they need to be able to tell a story by themselves. It’s a match many people have wanted to see for a long time, and giving it a dirty finish would ruin it for a lot of the WWE Universe.
Match Prediction: Dean Ambrose wins the title after one of them turns heel.
AM: I'm convinced Dean Ambrose is turning heel and cheating to win, but what I don't want to see is for him to join The Authority and become a neutered character. He has so much vitality with his current gimmick and could easily cheat to win without becoming a corporate stooge, whereas if he just becomes an ersatz Seth Rollins, he'll actually turn into a suited bore.
Match Prediction: Dean Ambrose takes the championship and betrays the bro code he has with Roman Reigns to do so.
AB: Turn Dean Ambrose heel. This is just a matter of opinion, of course, but you get the feeling there’s going to be a swerve and that someone’s turning heel. That person should be Roman Reigns. Not only does he have a better future as a heel but Ambrose has a brighter future as a babyface. If WWE is brave and has Reigns vs. Ambrose as its world title feud for the next few months, it could be unmissable viewing. However, that would only properly work with Reigns as the heel, as having fans cheer Ambrose the heel and boo Reigns the babyface would be a confusing and disastrous scenario for WWE.
Match Prediction: Roman Reigns.
BJ: The one thing WWE has to avoid is allowing a Reigns win be the last thing we see at Survivor Series. That's a fine direction to go in, but given how likely it looks at this point, some added intrigue is vital in order to hold the audience's interest up to the beginning of WrestleMania season. Whether it's Ambrose turning on Reigns, Roman siding with the Authority or a Sheamus MitB cash in, it's crucial there's a sting in the tail on Sunday night. Reigns' ascent has been written in the stars for years, so having him claim the title won't be enough to satisfy fans without a twist.
Prediction: Roman Reigns.
Bonus Question #3
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Q: Our traditional ending: Who are you most disappointed is not part of WWE Survivor Series 2015?
EB: With the likelihood that guys such as Cesaro, New Day, Sheamus and Neville end up on the show in some form or fashion, I’m going to go with my traditional answer: Sasha Banks. The most underused star on the main roster, she has been horribly mismanaged since arriving in WWE in July. Everything she accomplished in NXT, including establishing herself as one of 2015’s best wrestlers, regardless of gender, has been erased by WWE Creative's complete inability to use her in anything even remotely close to an effective manner. Her stint thus far on Raw and SmackDown has been one of the most disheartening stories of the year.
JM: Sasha Banks must be injured because there's no way the company would leave one of its best wrestlers, male or female, off the card of another pay-per-view. WWE hasn't booked her on a pay-per-view card since SummerSlam. Plus, in that same time, Banks has wrestled in the two best women's matches of 2015. So she must be injured because you don't sideline talent like that. Oh wait, she isn't injured? You're kidding me, right? Can I get Tom Phillips to confirm that?
CM: Cesaro. This guy has been too good in the ring over the past year not to put him on every PPV card. He will probably end up in the elimination match to give him something to do, but it would have been nice to see him go further in the tournament.
AM: There actually isn't one single person I would put above the rest because there are lots of people I wish could have participated in the event. Seth Rollins is a big one, as is John Cena. I think Randy Orton and Sting could have been valuable assets in the Brothers of Destruction match. There are just too many people injured, and it doesn't help that WWE hasn't advertised a finalized card yet, so even more people could be missing.
AB: Plans change all the time, and he could yet be involved, but the lack of Cesaro is going beyond frustrating and into angering. He’s WWE’s best worker, or at least one of the top three or four, and he has again been robbed of any serious action. WWE needs a plan of action to sort out his booking, and make him one of their go-to men. It’s for the good of the company with so many top stars away from the action at the moment.
BJ: It's a well-worn choice at this point, but Sasha Banks seems like the most egregious omission from the card. The Boss is arguably the most talented woman on the WWE roster at the moment, but she's confined to the background of the Divas Revolution more often than not. Hopefully this is by design; if WWE concentrates on legitimizing Charlotte as champion, then focuses on Banks as 2016 gets into gear, there's a terrific WrestleMania match brewing. However, it could well be we're seeing another talented wrestler fall by the wayside though no fault of their own.
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