Survivor Series, the WWE’s penultimate network special of 2019, takes place on Sunday at the AllState Arena in Chicago.
Ahead of the event, which can be seen on the WWE Network and starts at 4am UAE time, here are some predictions on what to expect as the company’s three brands Raw, SmackDown and NXT go up against each other.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship match: Brock Lesnar (champion) v Rey Mysterio
A feud that started in September with Lesnar beating down Mysterio and his son Dominik in a shock attack culminates in a title match.
Lesnar has worked hard to make Mysterio out to be a legitimate threat and the No Holds Barred stipulation should even up things a little.
Mysterio has been rejuvenated by this feud and hopefully he and WWE can keep this up going in to next year.
But this will end with Lesnar coming out on top to remain on top of the pile on Raw.
Prediction: Lesnar retains
Universal Championship match: The Fiend (champion) v Daniel Bryan
Graham: Bray Wyatt is your new Universal title holder and his latest incarnation, The Fiend, has arguably been the WWE’s success story of the second half of the year.
Fans have loved him so far, even though he has been booked as a heel with shock attacks on rivals, so it will be interesting to see how the crowd behaves in Chicago against Daniel Bryan.
This is not the 2014 ‘Yes Movement’ Bryan, but he is still popular and putting him as Wyatt’s first title defence is clearly an attempt to position the new champion as a heel.
Bryan remains excellent in the ring and, just as he did in 2014 at the Royal Rumble, he can carry Wyatt to a great match.
Prediction: The Fiend’s reign of terror goes on
NXT Championship match: Adam Cole (champion) v opponent TBC
Adam Cole will face the winner of a triple threat on Saturday at NXT TakeOver: War Games.
The three men competing are Pete Dunne, Killian Dain and Damian Priest.
I’m predicting Dunne, the former NXT UK champion, gets the win and then falls short to Cole in a short, but thrilling, match in Chicago.
Prediction: Cole prevails
Women’s brand supremacy triple threat: Becky Lynch (Raw) v Bayley (SmackDown) v Shayna Baszler (NXT)
This match-up involving the three women’s champions has produced some of the best TV over the past month.
Lynch v Baszler is a money match and this only whets the appetite of when they do have a singles feud in the future.
Bayley does feel like the spare part, and while WWE have tried to make her look stronger on TV in the past couple of weeks it does look as if she is here to take the pinfall.
Lynch does not need the win and a Baszler victory would do wonders for her and NXT.
Prediction: Baszler pins Bayley to win
Men’s brand supremacy triple threat team elimination match: Raw (Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton and Ricochet) v SmackDown (Roman Reigns, Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman, Mustafa Ali and Shorty G) v NXT (team tba)
With three teams, and 15 men involved, this is going to be a step into the unknown and could be confusing at times.
The NXT Team had not been announced at the timing of writing, but will include Tomasso Ciampa, Matt Riddle and Keith Lee among others.
NXT are not winning this, their talent has got over massively in the build up and they will gain exposure competing in what could well be the main event in Chicago.
In these kind of matches it is always hard to go against Roman Reigns. He has been kept out of the title picture largely since his return and leading SmackDown to victory can start his slow build towards a push towards the main event scene in 2020.
There are lots of inter-team intrigue to this match. Can Reigns co-exist with Baron Corbin? Can Ricochet trust Randy Orton? Will Seth Rollins respond to the booing by fans by turning heel on Sunday?
It could be messy but this ends in a SmackDown success and the road to WrestleMania 36 beginning for Reigns.
Prediction: SmackDown win with Roman Reigns the sole survivor
Women’s brand supremacy triple threat team elimination match: Raw (Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane and Sarah Logan) v Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans and Nikki Cross) v Team NXT (team tba)
Like the men’s match this format will be fascinating to see how it unfolds.
NXT are not winning here, despite the brilliant Rhea Ripley being almost certainly in their ranks.
Raw have the strongest team on paper and Charlotte Flair will regain some momentum for herself by leading the team to success.
But with rumours of WWE looking to push Asuka again expect her to also be still standing as a survivor to create tension post-match with Flair.
Prediction: Raw wins with Flair and Asuka surviving.
Men’s brand supremacy triple threat: AJ Styles (Raw – Intercontinental champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown – United States champion) v Roderick Strong (NXT- North American champion)
This will have an odd dynamic as all three men are heels on their respective brands.
This will be fun though. Styles and Nakamura have history from their WrestleMania 34 clash, while Strong is a tremendous talent on NXT.
Nakamura needs this the most of the three, and help from his manager Sami Zayn, might well see this be a SmackDown success.
Prediction: Nakamura comes out on top
Men’s brand supremacy Tag Team triple threat: Viking Raiders (Raw) v The New Day (SmackDown) v Undisputed Era (NXT)
The three teams who are champions on WWE programming face off here.
It felt, with the sudden title win this month in Manchester, that New Day have got the SmackDown belts back so they could be in this match.
Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish are a tremendous tag team, but the Undisputed Era duo do not go over here.
Viking Raiders have been protected on Raw of late and a big triumph here can further boost their credibility.
Prediction: Viking Raiders take the win
