Cook’s WWE Survivor Series 2021 Gambling Picks

If you’re a WWE Superstar and have made it to Survivor Series, you kinda have to feel like a survivor already, right? Lots of budget cuts lately, to the point where it’s tough to keep track of who’s still employed by WWE and who isn’t. As far as I know, the people listed in the matches below and the twenty-five people in The Rock 25th Anniversary Battle Royal are still employed. For now.

It looks like a fun card on paper. The build has been pretty blah, but isn’t that par for the course with WWE these days? There’s some really good matches going on, you just gotta ignore everything going on around it. BetOnline has some odds on these matches, so we’ll take a look at them for entertainment purposes.

United States Champion vs. Intercontinental Champion
Damian Priest (-240) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (+165)

.@ArcherOfInfamy and @ShinsukeN are ready to rock THIS SUNDAY at #SurvivorSeries. #USTitle #ICTitle #TeamRaw #TeamSmackDown pic.twitter.com/LKQJnJlHYI

— WWE (@WWE) November 19, 2021

I like how Nakamura has a championship, yet is still in the role of putting people over on big shows. He lost to Roman Reigns on the Tribute to the Troops event, and now he’s here to lose to Damian Priest. Which, don’t get me wrong, is the right thing to do. Priest is on his way up, and Shinsuke is what he is at this point. It just strikes me as kinda funny, you know? At least Nakamura does a good job. No reason to bet on the underdog here though, unless Priest pisses somebody off backstage.

Raw Tag Team Champions vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions
RK-Bro (-220) vs. The Usos (+155)

"Randy's never beaten me in a match. He forgot, but he's done a lot in his life, it was a blip for him but a huge moment for me."

"Randy definitely didn't remember, he had no idea we wrestled before!"@SuperKingofBros remembers beating @RandyOrton at #SurvivorSeries in 2019 🤭 pic.twitter.com/Yo7vRDNIUu

— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) November 18, 2021

One of these teams has been pretty active in WWE’s tag team division for what feels like decades now. The other just recently formed and features Randy Orton, who always turns against his friends in the end. And somehow Randy Orton & Riddle are the favorites? Come on now. I know they’re the new freshness & all that, but the Usos have been here since Day One Ish and can do the damn thing.

Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match
Team Raw (Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Carmella & Queen Zelina) (-130) vs. Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Shayna Baszler, Shotzi, Natalya & Toni Storm) (-110)

.@SashaBanksWWE had to give a strong reminder that she’s the captain of team #SmackDown! @ShotziWWE pic.twitter.com/dHrTR74n0a

— WWE (@WWE) November 20, 2021

We all love Survivor Series elimination matches, right? Especially when they deal with BRAND SUPREMACY instead of, you know, personal issues between wrestlers. OK, so some of these wrestlers do have personal issues with each other, but we’re expected to buy them as part of cohesive units. It’s bass-ackwards, I’ve mentioned this ever since they started doing it and I’ll probably keep mentioning it until they stop doing it.

On the bright side, most of the people involved in this match are good to competent in the ring, or at least are interesting. So it should be a decent enough show. I’m guessing either Bianca or Sasha will be part of the surviving crop of talent…Sasha & Toni Storm? Toni needs a win if we’re meant to take her seriously against Charlotte Flair. I’m leaning towards Team SmackDown here.

Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match
Team Raw (Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley & Austin Theory) (+150) vs. Team SmackDown (Drew McIntyre, Jeff Hardy, King Woods, Happy Corbin & Sheamus) (-200)

.@DMcIntyreWWE & @JEFFHARDYBRAND send a message to the #WWERaw #SurvivorSeries team. #SmackDown. pic.twitter.com/29YOQAkeJZ

— WWE (@WWE) November 20, 2021

Team SmackDown seems like the smart pick here too, mostly because Drew McIntyre is on that team and will likely be going over since they like to keep him strong. I could see him as a sole survivor here. If Raw wins, expect Seth Rollins or Kevin Owens to be victorious since they’re in line to challenge Big E. More likely that there’s a miscommunication with the Raw bunch though.

Raw Women’s Champion vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion
Becky Lynch (-400) vs. Charlotte Flair (+250)

No one on our roster acts like this, man or woman. Gender ain’t the issue here. https://t.co/YtbiZLVvrr

— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) November 16, 2021

This is the kind of feud I would have really sunk my teeth into when I was a teenager just getting started learning about all the backstage wrestling gossip. It was always so interesting to read about wrestlers that *really* hated each other, or when something was a SHOOT. Oh, I totally bought into that kind of stuff when I was a youngster. Now I’m old and really don’t give a crap about how any of these people feel about each other. I couldn’t care less whether or not Becky & Charlotte are still BFFs, or if they’ve grown apart, or whose side the locker room is taking in the matter.

I’m also smart enough to know that people like Young Me are who WWE is trying to appeal to with this sort of thing. Hopefully for their sake there are plenty of teenage wrestling nerds learning about the business on the Internet that can buy the idea of “Everything you’re watching is fake, but THIS is real, brother!” This should be a damn good match considering who’s involved, I just hope they don’t do some lame shoot-work thing as the finish. We still don’t need another ode to Montreal.

But, Charlotte Flair at +250 might be a good bet if they’re doing something fishy. I’m just saying.

WWE Champion vs. Universal Champion
Big E (+300) vs. Roman Reigns (-500)

.@WWEBigE comes to aid King Woods @AustinCreedWins’s and sends a message to @WWERomanReigns before they battle on Sunday at #SurvivorSeries! #SmackDown @WWEUsos @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/eD8hPxW6cV

— WWE (@WWE) November 20, 2021

It says something about how much people like Big E that the odds here are this close. Roman’s typically a much bigger favorite than this, and for good reason. He’s been trucking fools for over 400 days as Universal Champion, and there isn’t a soul on the SmackDown roster that looks like a threat to take that title off of him. You might tell me “Drew McIntyre”, but even that seems like a bit of a pipe dream at this point.

Big E at least has something of a chance. He’s been all over the media making appearances on various programs leading into this show. Comes off well, like a good dude. You could see him in the top guy role for some time. Doesn’t mean he’s going to beat Roman Reigns, but Big E’s future seems bright. He should at least remain employed for the rest of 2021. As for Roman Reigns, one wonders if this #Rock25 tease is leading anywhere for him.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the PPV! Or the football or whatever else you plan on doing Sunday night.