Predicting the match order at Survivor Series

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

WWE has announced 7 different segments for the main card of Survivor Series.

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

1. Men’s elimination tag
2. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair
3. Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan
4. Women’s elimination tag
5. Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
6. Authors of Pain vs. The Bar
7. Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali

Main event

The top three matches are all candidates to headline this event.

Ronda Rousey versus Becky Lynch was the clear main event of Survivor Series when the go-home episode of Raw went off the air, but everything changed on Tuesday when Becky was pulled from the card. New opponents for Rousey and Lesnar were determined on the go-home episode of SmackDown. Considering there is no build at all for Rousey vs. Flair or Lesnar vs. Bryan, I think that gives the men’s elimination tag team match the edge for the main event spot.

That being said, the men’s elimination tag seems to be lacking in star power compared to last year when it was loaded up with Kurt Angle, Triple H, and John Cena. Therefore if WWE has a major angle planned for the finish of either Lesnar or Rousey’s match, one of those dream matches could certainly find its way into the main event spot.

I’m sticking with the men’s elimination tag match as the final bout of the night, but it’s not a slam dunk choice.

Opening match

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

Heel versus heel matches with no heat are a terrible choice for the opener, so I’d be shocked to see Authors of Pain versus The Bar in this spot.

I’m sure the cruiserweights would put on a hell of a show if given the opener, but I don’t believe WWE has ever began a PPV with a cruiserweight match ever since the division was revived in September 2016. I’m also not convinced that the cruiserweights are still going to be scheduled for the main card by the time Sunday night rolls around.

That means the best choices for the opening match are either Rollins versus Nakamura or the women’s elimination tag.

This is a very difficult decision to make. Given that the pre-show will probably culminate with a large scale elimination tag team match featuring 10 different teams, I think it’s best to put some space between that match and the similarly structured women’s elimination tag team match. That means I’m giving the opening spot to Rollins and Nakamura.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7: Men’s elimination tag

Dream matches

Rousey vs. Flair and Lesnar vs. Bryan make for a clear triple main event scenario. The main question to consider is: should that triple main event be interrupted with a cool-down match? I don’t think so.

The two obvious cool-down matches are The Bar or the cruiserweights. I can’t really imagine those matches fitting into the card well once the audience has already gotten a taste of either Lesnar or Rousey. Last year at Survivor Series, WWE ended the night with the triple main event of Flair vs. Bliss, Lesnar vs. Styles, and the men’s elimination tag. I think it makes the most sense to follow suit this year as well.

So which dream match should come first? Even without Becky Lynch in the match, her war of words with Rousey still makes it feel like a big angle could be planned for the finish of Rousey’s match with Flair. Therefore I’ll put Lesnar versus Bryan in Segment 5, with Rousey following that up in Segment 6.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5: Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan
Segment 6: Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair
Segment 7: Men’s elimination tag

Everything else

It seem like a really bad idea to put the two least important matches of the night back-to-back. That means the women’s elimination tag team match must go in Segment 3, in order to prevent that issue.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Segment 2:
Segment 3: Women’s elimination tag
Segment 4:
Segment 5: Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan
Segment 6: Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair
Segment 7: Men’s elimination tag

That leaves The Bar and the cruiserweights for Segment 2 and Segment 4. Considering that Rollins vs. Nakamura is an opener that doesn’t really have a story behind it, I think it makes the most sense to follow it up with superstars who the audience is more familiar with. That means AoP and The Bar get Segment 2, while the cruisers land in Segment 4, right before the triple main event.

Finalized card

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

Segment 1: Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (16 minutes)
Segment 2: Authors of Pain vs. The Bar (10)
Segment 3: Women’s elimination tag (18)
Segment 4: Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali (10)
Segment 5: Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan (13)
Segment 6: Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair (15)
Segment 7: Men’s elimination tag (38)

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