Traditional Survivor Series Matches Previewed: Part One

On Nov. 23, the 22nd Survivor Series will commence in Boston at the TD Banknorth Garden arena, and it will contain three of the traditional Survivor Series matches that have made this pay-per-view famous.

These matches include: Team HBK verses Team JBL, Team Batista verses Team Orton and Team Raw verses Team Smackdown (Divas).

For the very few of you who do not know, the traditional Survivor Series match is a five on five elimination tag match. Once a superstar has been pinned, he must leave the ring and head for the locker room.  Once an entire team has been eliminated, whoever is left on the other team are the survivors and the winners of the match.

Though many of the participants are not familiar with wrestling alongside one another, they all share heated rivalries with superstars on the other team.

Team HBK vs. Team JBL

HBK’s Team (Face)

Shawn Michaels (Captain)
Rey Mysterio
Cryme Tyme (JTG and Shad)
The Great Khali

JBL’s Team (Heel)

JBL (Captain)
Kane
MVP
John Morrison
The Miz

The rivalry between Shawn Michaels and John “Bradshaw” Layfield started a few weeks ago when JBL hammered Michaels with a chair in a Last Man Standing match with the World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho.

A week later,Michaels started on JBL in an all-out brawl during a meeting of all the Raw superstars and Stephanie McMahon at the start of the show.  They have both been entwined in a battle to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.

The rivalry between Kane and Rey Mysterio has gone on for months and when Stephanie McMahon tried to end the rivalry by putting the two in a No Disqualification match. This just made the rivalry more intense, as Mysterio toppled the Big Red Machine once again.

The Great Khali had a strange change of heart when he came to the aid of Rey Mysterio a few weeks back and from then on has done very little but host the “Khali Kiss Cam.”

MVP is not the only Smackdown superstar who is in this match, as he searches for his bonus by gaining a win.

The heated rivalry of the WWE.COM’s top two shows has been added to this match and could add to the already intense rivalry between Cryme Tyme and The Miz and John Morrison.

Prediction: With the high tension spread throughout the match it is sure to be one of the most brutal traditional matches in history. This could be a win for Team Michaels as he searches for retribution against JBL. Michaels and Rey Mysterio will be left, with Kane being the last of JBL’s side being pinned. 

I feel that even once JBL has been eliminated, he will have an effect on the match but may be on the receiving end of some Sweet Chin Music as a consequence.