Because People Would Get Mad If There Wasn't One On The Card Match
TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA & TBA vs. TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA & TBA
And, no, TBD isn't in the match, because nothing's being 'determined'. The participants in the WWE title tournament finals are TBD by the results of the semi-finals. This is just McMahon fiat.
The Road to Survivor Series
Back in the days before monthly pay-per-view (PPV) and five hours of nationally televised wrestling every week, WWE needed a way to pad out feuds from SummerSlam to WrestleMania. Concepts like Royal Rumble and Survivor Series were born because they helped them do that.
Here's how WWE.com describes the rules and historical significance of the match type in question:
A staple of Survivor Series since the inaugural event in 1987, the Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match is the ultimate battle of survival. Superstars can be eliminated individually via pinfall, submission, count-out or disqualification, and once a competitor is ousted, he must abandon his teammates and return to the locker room. The bout can only end when an entire team has been eliminated.
By pitting, say, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant as the captains of opposing teams, you could tease their eventual showdown without having to pay it off yet. Unlike the Royal Rumble, which still gives Creative an easy storyline way to name a #1 contender every January, in the 21st century, when we see almost every possible pairing of Superstars on Raw every month or two, Survivor Series-style matches aren't as useful.
In fact, they're kind of a pain in the butt, since you actually have to write a reason for four or five guys or gals to band together to fight another four or five guys or gals.
And that's how you get to this...historical significance and fans who like novel concepts demand an elimination tag, but there's no major storyline that demands one. So we'll find out which five dudes will wrestle whichever other five dudes for no reason tomorrow night.
Choose your squads!
With nothing that we know of on the line, let's pick our own teams. Chime in in the comments below, and feel free to get creative and select surprise returns or shocking debuts.
To get you started, here's the current roster as listed on WWE.com (not counting guys who have matches elsewhere on the show):
Babyfaces
Bubba Ray Dudley, Cesaro, Curtis Axel, D-Von Dudley, Damien Sandow, Darren Young, Jack Swagger, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Kalisto, Mark Henry, Neville, R-Truth, Ryback, Sin Cara, Titus O'Neil, Zack Ryder
Heels
Kofi Kingston, Big E, Xavier Woods, Adam Rose, Big Show, Bo Dallas, Fandango, Heath Slater, King Barrett, Konnor, The Miz, Sheamus, Stardust, Viktor
Been so long since they've been on TV I don't remember
David Otunga, Diego, El Torito, Fernando
______________
Who do you think WWE will give us? More importantly, who would you give us in a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series tag elimination match?
Find out the answer to the first question tomorrow night, and answer the second below...both right here at Cageside Seats!