WWE Survivor Series 2011: Predicting the 25th Anniversary Show

WWE Survivor Series got its start in 1987 and had quite the interesting concept: Every match was an elimination match.

We saw teams of five going at it in 10-man elimination matches to figure out who would be the sole survivor, or in some cases survivors.

Over the years, though, the elimination match took a back seat to storylines and title matches.

Because of the feel of tradition the match brings to the pay-per-view, we’ll usually get one or two matches at each event.

Tomorrow night’s 25th anniversary show will feature one of those matches. In addition to that, five other matches are scheduled, four of which are title matches.

The big thing is the Rock's return to the ring. I'm getting a WrestleMania feel here, and that's not a good thing.

WrestleMania was built around The Rock hosting, and its sole purpose seemed to be to set up Rock versus John Cena next year. It made for an overall boring and disappointing show.

That's the feeling I'm getting here. A show that's built around the Rock, and it's sole purpose may be to just further the Rock/Cena storyline.

I hope WWE surprises us here and gives us a great show. So let's get started!

Team Orton vs. Team Barrett

Randy Orton, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Sin Cara and Mason Ryan versus Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and Hunico

Here we have multiple feuds going at it. With so many rivalries and very few match slots, WWE put them all together to clash at once.

This match was set up last week, and since this past Monday’s Raw and yesterday’s SmackDown, Team Barrett hasn’t been looking too good.

On Monday Night Raw, Mason Ryan defeated Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus defeated Jack Swagger, and Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett in a match where both teams got involved and the faces stood tall.

The heels weren’t without victory, though, as Cody Rhodes and Hunico defeated Kofi Kingston and Sin Cara.

Last night on SmackDown, we saw four matches between members of both teams. Out of the four, only one of them was won by a member of Team Barrett.

Team Orton has all of the momentum going into the match, and I think that’s why they’re going to lose.

Wade Barrett looks like he’s finally in for the push WWE dropped the ball on last year. Here’s what I think will happen:

The heels will dominate the entire match, eliminating Kingston, Sin Cara, and Ryan, leaving the match a five-on-two situation. Orton and Sheamus will start to come back, eliminating all but Barrett and Rhodes. Sheamus will then be eliminated, and just when it looks like Orton will take out Rhodes, Barrett will hit Wasteland for the win.

Winners: Team Barrett (Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes survive)

Beth Phoenix vs. Eve: Lumberjill Match for the Divas Title

When Beth Phoenix won the Divas Championship, I was incredibly happy. A legit wrestler was holding the title, and it looked like things were going to change.

Unfortunately, not much has changed.

Despite having the title, the focus of the division is still on Kelly Kelly and Eve. In fact, even though Eve is the No.1 contender, the focus is mainly on Kelly right now due to her Maxim cover shoot.

Eve is more like Kelly’s sidekick, and it’s because of that I don’t see her winning the title.

I think WWE is waiting to give the title back to Kelly. My guess is within the next month or two.

Kelly would then lose the title to Natalya. That’ll set up Natalya versus Beth Phoenix for WrestleMania. In other words, Beth will be retaining here.

Factoring in all the Divas as "lumberjills," there will probably be a huge brawl of some sort after the match.

Winner and Still Champion: Beth Phoenix

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison: United States Title

Here’s a match that kind of came out of nowhere.

John Morrison had been on one hell of a losing streak. He finally got his first victory since last August against Dolph Ziggler a few weeks ago.

According to interim Raw general manager John Laurinaitis, that one victory in four months is enough to get a shot at the United States Championship.

Everyone expected to see the Long Island Iced Z himself, Zack Ryder, in this match due to his petition on Twitter. The petition has garnered quite a bit of attention from the fans, but Laurinaitis decided to ignore it.

With rumors of John Morrison on his way out of WWE and having interest in TNA, I just don’t see him winning this match.

The fact that this was just kind of thrown together also tells us that Dolph Ziggler will retain his title.

Winner and Still Champion: Dolph Ziggler

Mark Henry vs. Big Show: World Title

Am I the only one who has been kind of bored with this feud?

I mean, with the exception of the ring collapsing, what has really happened?

Big Show returned to get revenge on Henry for injuring him. What has he done so far? Talk.

That’s all Mark Henry has been doing as well. A few times it looked like they were going to kill each other, but they just ended up having a stare down.

This past Monday on Raw we finally got to see them in the ring together in a match as they fought alongside the Raw Survivor Series main event in a tag-team match. Henry and Alberto Del Rio won the match, giving them momentum for tomorrow night.

Last night on SmackDown, all Big Show did was talk. Talk is boring, but that’s what we get most of in WWE nowadays, so I guess we’ll have to get used it.

I think Big Show will get his revenge in this match. It won’t be by winning the title, though.

We have to factor Daniel Bryan into this match. The World’s Slowest Champion has been attacking the Money in the Bank winner lately, and I think that’ll result in Bryan getting involved.

Mark Henry will win this match, but Big Show will knock him out afterwards. That’ll give the opportunity to Daniel Bryan to cash in.

How is Big Show getting his revenge? By screwing Mark Henry out of the title by helping an unlikely opponent win it.

Winner and Still Champion: Mark Henry

Then if it does actually go down:

Winner and New Champion: Daniel Bryan

Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk: WWE Title

CM Punk has been the highlight of this feud. Alberto Del Rio, on the other hand, has been putting me to sleep.

It’s the same thing over and over again. Del Rio is boring and his interesting level is in the negatives. He may be the most uninteresting and boring champion WWE has ever had.

Punk wants to win the title to make Monday Night Raw exciting and interesting again, and I think that'll happen if he wins.

Much like the World Title feud, this one has also been mostly just talk. Despite Punk being involved, this feud has overall bored me much like Henry/Show.

Now that I think about it, the WWE Title picture has bored since August. There have been a total of three people vying for the title over the past four or five months.

Those three are CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio, and John Cena. Cena has thankfully stepped aside and decided to now bury the Awesome Truth instead of the title. That leaves us with two wrestlers.

There is no one else in the main event scene right now.

No matter who wins, we’ll end up getting Del Rio versus Punk again next month at the TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV.

Who will win? Well, does it really matter? It’s not like the champion will have a new opponent until potentially after the Royal Rumble.

I’m going with CM Punk for the fact that he doesn’t put me to sleep every time he’s on television.

Also, there’s the fact that as champion he really would bring excitement to Raw, be a lot more interesting and be a champion people would actually want to see.

Winner and New Champion: CM Punk

The Rock and John Cena vs. the Awesome Truth

Much like the extremely forgettable WrestleMania 27, the entire Survivor Series PPV has been built around The Rock. To be more specific, the Rock’s return to the ring.

The Awesome Truth have sometimes been the most interesting part of Monday Night Raw. That was until they started saying the same things over and over again.

For R-Truth, it’s little Jimmy, conspiracies, and seeing his opponents “get got.” For The Miz, it’s been the same conspiracy and how he defeated John Cena at WrestleMania.

Since the Awesome Truth/John Cena feud officially began, Miz has brought up beating Cena at WrestleMania every time.

Who cares? That show sucked. I would have been ashamed to have been on the card to what may have been the worst WrestleMania in history, right up there with WrestleMania IX.

Anyway, when the Rock entered the feud I was hoping that some new life would be brought into the rivalry.

When he returned this past Monday, it was the same thing. While seeing the Rock fight was quite different, it all boiled down to The Rock versus John Cena at WrestleMania 28.

The Rock delivered two Rock Bottoms that night, one of which he did after stopping Cena’s Attitude Adjustment, thus stealing the spotlight. This whole match will come down to whether or not “The Most Charismatic Tag Team of All Time” can get along.

I don’t think they can.

I can see the Rock turning his back on Cena, and that will give the Awesome Truth the chance for victory.

In other words, this match isn’t about Rock/Cena versus Miz/Truth, it’s all about Rock versus Cena at Wrestlemania.

The victory here will go to the Awesome Truth because Rock and Cena won’t be able to get along, which in turn furthers their feud heading into ‘Mania.

Winners: The Awesome Truth