Predicting the match order at Survivor Series 2017

It's one thing to predict the winners and losers at Survivor Series 2017, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced 7 different matches for the main card of Survivor Series 2017, not counting the Kickoff match featuring Enzo Amore versus Kalisto.

Here is my subjective view of how important each of these 7 segments rank on the Survivor Series 2017 card, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Raw Men vs. SmackDown Men
2. Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles
3. The Shield vs. New Day
4. Raw Women vs. SmackDown Women
5. Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair
6. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Usos
7. The Miz vs. Baron Corbin

It is important to come up with a list like this to get an idea of which matches are going to be placed in the key spots on the card or take up the most time, and which matches might end up in the cool-down spots or be given the least amount of time.

Main event

This main event match is usually obvious but I am struggling to identify it for this event, and that was before Triple H was even added to the men’s elimination match.

Lesnar and Styles should be the favorite to main event because it features both top titles, so it could be argued that the titles are heavily devalued if they don’t close out the night. But the titles aren’t on the line and the match doesn’t really have any story development. And WWE didn’t seem to mind devaluing their top championship by sticking it on Jinder Mahal for several months.

In this battle for brand supremacy, it feels like Stephanie and Shane are far more focused on the importance of the men’s elimination match rather than Lesnar’s match. It also looks like the men’s elimination match has superior star power (Cena, Angle, Shane, Triple H) compared to Lesnar versus Styles.

Lesnar did main event over the men’s elimination match last year at Survivor Series 2016, but AJ Styles as his opponent this year doesn’t quite match the intrigue of Goldberg’s return match from last year (though this is still a dream match and far superior to Lesnar vs. Mahal).

With all of that in mind, I’m going with the men’s elimination match as the main event of Survivor Series 2017.

Opening match

The opening match of the night is usually one of the mid-level attractions with good work rate that normally doesn’t require a dedicated video package ahead of time to hype it up.

The best choices for the kind of high-tempo match that WWE usually slots here are all of the remaining tag team matches.

If WWE doesn’t want to stack the end of the card with 3 major matches, there might be an argument to starting the night with The Shield and New Day. But that match has potential to steal the show and overshadow everything that follows it, so WWE should probably open the night with a less important tag match.

That leaves Cesaro’s match or the women’s elimination match to start things off. This is probably taking the lazy way out, but last year’s card began with the women’s elimination match and I think WWE will probably repeat that choice for 2017 as well. I think the general idea is to spread out the distance between the two elimination matches as far as possible, and to also keep extra distance between the two women’s matches on the card.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Raw Women vs. SmackDown Women
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7: Raw Men vs. SmackDown Men

Everything else

The second segment of the night is usually reserved for one of the least important matches of the night. Miz and Corbin stick out like a sore thumb in that regard and is an easy choice for this spot.

After that, it’s probably time for another tag match, so that means the Usos or The Shield. Both matches could be similarly awesome but the star power is far greater in the Shield’s match, so it should be placed later in the night. That means the Usos land in Segment 3.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Raw Women vs. SmackDown Women
Segment 2: The Miz vs. Baron Corbin
Segment 3: Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Usos
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7: Raw Men vs. SmackDown Men

Segment 4 is pretty interesting in that I can see a scenario where Lesnar and Styles end up here, if WWE doesn’t want to load up the final 3 segments with all of the most important matches on the card. But I think Charlotte’s match is a safer bet for this spot and that WWE will go with the triple-headed monster to end the night.

It doesn’t seem ideal to place the Shield’s tag match right before the men’s elimination match, so I’ll put New Day in Segment 5 and Lesnar in Segment 6.

There really doesn’t need to be a cool-down match right before the men’s elimination match because that match will probably be 45 to 60 minutes long, which means it could have some slower periods built into the middle portion of the match.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at Survivor Series 2017, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times.

Segment 1: Raw Women vs. SmackDown Women (18 minutes)
Segment 2: The Miz vs. Baron Corbin (9)
Segment 3: Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Usos (13)
Segment 4: Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair (11)
Segment 5: The Shield vs. New Day (19)
Segment 6: Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles (14)
Segment 7: Raw Men vs. SmackDown Men (49)

These predicted match times are realistic for a 4-hour card. If the main card actually runs closer to 5 hours, then a few of these times will need to be increased. The men’s elimination match stands out as one that could approach a length of 60 minutes in that scenario.

That's my prediction for the match order at Survivor Series 2017. What's yours?