Opinion
Writing The Book: WWE Survivor Series 2018
Before the event itself goes down, see how Abe Odeh would book WWE Survivor Series 2018!
Before we get started, I’ll mention that I didn’t book the cruiserweight match because I wanted to stay focused on the battle between Raw and Smackdown. The Cruiserweight Championship match is currently not on the pre-show and I hope it stays that way. Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali had one of my favorite matches of the year this summer so hopefully they’ll have a chance to recreate some of that magic for a bigger audience on the main card.
5 v 5 Survivor Series Tag Team Match
Team Raw (The Revival, Bobby Roode & Chad Gable, The Ascension, B-Team, & Lucha House Party) vs Team Smackdown Live (The Usos, New Day, The Colons, Sanity, and Gallows & Anderson)
Winners: SD Live
Sole Survivors: Usos and New Day
Order of Eliminations: Ascension (via New Day), Lucha House Party (via Sanity), Colons (via B-Team), B-Team (via G&A), Roode & Gable (via G&A), Gallows & Anderson (via Revival), Sanity (via Revival), Revival (via Usos)
Since this match is on the pre-show, I made pretty standard booking decisions. The Usos and New Day are the clear best teams among the ten competing so they get to be the sole survivors. If this match was in the middle of the card, I’d probably give that honor to Sanity because we all know they need that big win. The Revival are the most legitimate tag team on the Team Raw side and they could also use some spotlight. Toppling both the New Day and Usos is a big leap so I decided to have them go on a small roll then barely fall short in the end.
Score:
- SD Live 1
- Raw 0
Champion vs. Champion
Raw Tag Team Champions AOP vs Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Bar
Result: AOP goes over clean with The Last Chapter.
AOP just became the tag team champions and I imagine they’ll be holding the belts for awhile in a shallow Raw tag division. They need the win much more than Sheamus and Cesaro.
Score:
- Raw 1
- SD Live 1
5 v 5 Women’s Survivor Series Match
Team Raw (Mickie James, Nia Jax, Tamina, Ruby Riott, & Natalya) vs Team Smackdown Live (Carmella, Naomi, Sonya Deville, Asuka, & TBA)
Winners: Raw
Sole Survivors: Nia Jax and Tamina
I’m going to make a couple changes to the teams before I get into the eliminations. It doesn’t make sense that Natalya is a lone babyface on a team of heels. For this reason, I would have the Riott Squad attack Nattie backstage and have her unable to compete in the match. Natalya is currently in a feud with Ruby Riott so that further adds to the reason. She would then be replaced with Alicia Fox who is already friends with both Mickie James and Team Captain, Alexa Bliss. Also, at the time of this article being created, Smackdown has not announced a fifth member for their women’s team. It was likely going to be Charlotte but she had to replace Becky Lynch in her match. I’m giving that fifth spot would go to Mandy Rose. She lobbied for her chance to replace Charlotte last week and now she’ll be given that opportunity.
Order of Eliminations: Sonya (via Tamina), Alicia (via Naomi), Mickie (via Asuka), Mandy (via Nia), Carmella (via Ruby), Ruby (via Asuka), Noami (via Tamina), Asuka (via Nia)
I want several things to happen in this match: Mandy accidentally causes Sonya’s elimination, Ruby gets an elimination, and Asuka gets two. There were seeds planted last week of Sonya and Mandy having a falling-out so Sonya being eliminated because of Mandy would further that story. Since I can’t give Asuka the luxury of winning the Survivor Series match for a second year in a row, I gave her two consolation eliminations. The superstars that need it more are Nia Jax and Tamina. They’ve just formed a new tandem so they need to solidify their stable with a win. Asuka’s elimination should be the result of slightly bent rules. It’ll be 2-on-1 at the end of the match so Nia and Tamina would gang up on her until they have the advantage.
Score:
- Raw 2
- SD Live 1
Champion vs. Champion
Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura
Result: Nakamura wins with a Kinshasa.
A lot of people expect Dean Ambrose to make an appearance but I decided to work around that since I have interference occurring in other matches. After a grueling 20-minute, show-stealing match, it looks like Seth is about to pick up the win. But right before that can happen, The Shield’s music hits, leaving Seth in shock and confusion. It can’t be Roman Reigns and Dean is done with The Shield. As Seth looks around for Dean, he loses sight of Nakamura and walks right into a knee. Nakamura wins and Dean causes Rollins the match without even having to show up.
Score:
- Raw 2
- SD Live 2
Raw vs. Smackdown
Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair
Result: Charlotte wins by submission (let me explain)
If this match was still Ronda Rousey vs Becky Lynch, it would have been my last match on the card. This is a match we expected to see a WrestleMania but was forced to be made the week of the show. That’s why I want Ronda to have a reason why she loses this match. As Ronda walks out to the ring second, she’ll be wearing her leather jacket as always. But when she takes it off, her arm will be heavily bandaged. Her arm is still damaged after Becky’s ambush. Charlotte’s eyes light up and commentary highlights it. They go through their match and Charlotte begins to take shots at the arm. Ronda eventually finds a way to turn the tides and tries to lock in the armbar. However, she can’t lock it in completely because she’s only able to pull with her one good arm. Charlotte fights out and locks in the Figure-8. Ronda’s bad arm is the arm closest to the ropes. She tries to reach but is visibly agonized at the slightest attempt of stretching her injured arm. She has no choice but to tap.
When I first went through the Survivor Series card, Ronda was one of the first names I circled as an obvious win (which probably will still happen). But when I finished picking the winners, the final result was Raw winning 5-2 and that can’t happen. I needed to pick another match to sway in Smackdown’s favor and Ronda’s potentially injured arm gave me that opening. If the original match stood, Becky would have been my winner so now Charlotte gets that win and gets her confidence back. The questionable win also gives Ronda a claim for a proper rematch in the future.
Score:
- SD Live 3
- Raw 2
Champion vs. Champion
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs WWE Champion Daniel Bryan
Result: Brock wins with an F5 after interference from AJ Styles
As much as Vince McMahon loves Daniel Bryan, he’s not letting Brock Lesnar walk into the UFC fresh off a loss to a much smaller opponent. AJ is surely still fuming after having his historic title reign ended with a low blow so he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Daniel has a miserable night.
Before this match got flipped on its head Tuesday, I was thinking of ways for AJ’s and Brock’s match to end in a no-contest. I didn’t want AJ to lose to Brock two years in a row so I was toying with the idea of having the night end with an even 3-3-1 record between the brands.
Score:
- SD Live 3
- Raw 3
5 v 5 Men’s Survivor Series Match
Team Raw (Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, & Finn Balor) vs Team Smackdown Live (The Miz, Shane McMahon, Rey Mysterio, Samoa Joe, & Jeff Hardy)
Winners: Raw
Sole Survivor: Drew McIntyre
Order of Eliminations: Shane (via Dolph), Finn (via Joe), Braun (via countdown/Mysterio), Mysterio (via Lashley), Lashley (via Miz), Joe (via Drew), Hardy (via Dolph), Dolph (via Miz), Miz (via Drew)
Somehow Shane McMahon has found himself on a Survivor Series team for the third straight year. Dolph should eliminate him in a couple of minutes to rectify what happened in Saudi Arabia. When Mysterio enters the match, Braun will asked to be tagged in, leaving the fans with a pretty interesting face-off in the center of the ring. The two will go back and forth for a bit until the fight spills to the outside of the ring. The ref starts his count. Once the ref reaches 5, Braun will try to tackle Mysterio through the barricade but miss. Braun spends the second half of the 10-count laying in the rubble and Rey somehow comes out on top. However, when the referee is focused on Braun outside the ring, Randy Orton sneaks in, gives Rey an RKO, then leaves, before the ref notices. Rey has been the target of Randy’s for the past couple of weeks so now that story continues. My original plan was for Randy to replace Shane in the match but I already had something similar happen earlier in the night.
At this moment, Braun is eliminated and Rey is lifeless in the ring. Lashley runs in to pick up the scraps, covers Rey with a cocky pin, and eliminates him. Since this was such a bogus elimination, it gives Lio Rush the right to celebrate in an even more obnoxious fashion. This celebration becomes so obnoxious that the ref has no choice but to throw Lio Rush out. Lashley is distraught that his manager is gone so Miz rolls-up Lashley for the pin while he’s distracted. Daniel Bryan’s heel turn suggests that The Miz will turn babyface soon so he needs a moment like this. Now the real fight begins.
The former tag champs of Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler are now faced with the challenge of The Miz, Samoa Joe, and Jeff Hardy. The match turns into a real battle. Joe is eventually eliminated by McIntyre, and Jeff is pinned by Ziggler. Miz is now at the disadvantage. Miz is able to eliminate Dolph and is now head-to-head with Drew McIntyre. The crowd is getting behind Miz in their exchanges as he’s had the appearance of a babyface in the match. Unfortunately, Drew is just too much of a beast to overcome and is the last man standing for Team Raw. The man who is most likely to challenge for the Universal Championship next is the last face we see before the show concludes.
Final Score:
- Raw 4
- SD Live 3
What do you think of Abe Odeh’s booking for WWe Survivor Series 2018?
Let us know on social media @theCHAIRSHOTcom and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
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Opinion
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions
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Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
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Opinion
AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams
AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.
It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.
At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!
#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)
Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?
First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.
Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.
That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.
#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)
This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.
Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.
The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.
As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.
So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.
#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)
Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.
I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.
Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…
Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.
Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!