3 of the biggest stars who might be left off the Survivor Series 2018 card

In a week from Sunday, WWE Survivor Series will take center stage in Los Angeles' Staples Center. Survivor Series is one of WWE's traditional 'Big Four' pay-per-views, and is the second longest running WWE pay-per-view in history. This will be the 32nd event under the Survivor Series chronology.

This year's event will be based on brand warfare as Raw and SmackDown will battle each other for brand supremacy. Thus far, WWE has announced the following matches for the mega-event (most of which are champion vs champion matches, and traditional elimination style matches).

#1 Ronda Rousey (Raw Women's Champion) Vs Becky Lynch (SmackDown Women's Champion.

#2 Seth Rollins (Intercontinental Champion) Vs Shinsuke Nakamura (United States Champion).

#3 Brock Lesnar (Universal Champion) Vs AJ Styles (WWE Champion).

#4 Team Raw (Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman, TBA, and TBA) with Baron Corbin Vs Team SmackDown Live (The Miz, Daniel Bryan, Shane McMahon, Rey Mysterio, and Samoa Joe) in a 5 on 5 Survivor Series elimination match.

#5 Team Raw (no members have been announced thus far) with Alexa Bliss Vs Team SmackDown Live (Carmella, Naomi, Sonya Deville, Asuka and TBA) in a 5 on 5 Survivor Series elimination match.

#6 AOP (Raw Tag-Team Champions) with Drake Maverick Vs The Bar (SmackDown Tag Team Champions) with Big Show.

#7 Team Raw (no members have been announced thus far) Vs Team SmackDown Live (The Usos, The New Day, TBA, TBA, TBA), in a 5 on 5 Survivor Series tag-team match.

#8 Buddy Murphy (c) Vs Mustafa Ali for the WWE cruiserweight championship.

Given that WWE has such a vast roster, and such a limited event running time, it's inevitable that a bunch of talented and top stars will be left off the pay-per-view card.

With that said, lets look at 3 top stars who might be left off the Survivor Series card.

---

#3 Finn Balor

He's been treading water on the red brand for far too long

Finn Balor is one of the most underutlised stars on the WWE roster today, if not the most. He's been treading water on the red brand for far too long, and has been involved in meaningless feuds with Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin (both of which have been typical examples of WWE's 50-50 booking).

His recent alliance with Bayley has been fun and entertaining to watch, but it's hard to imagine this alliance would be a catalyst for a change of fortunes for the leader of the Balor Club.

Recent reports suggest that Bobby Lashley and Kurt Angle (who has already lost his qualifying match to Drew McIntyre), will be the last two members to fill in the remaining spots on Raw's men team. This means that Balor will most likely be left off another pay-per-view card for the fourth consecutive time.

#2 Dean Ambrose

Ambrose is expected to cost Rollins his match against Nakamura

Dean Ambrose's shocking heel turn has instigated a deeply personal feud with his former buddy, Seth Rollins, which has made him the top heel on Raw, and the most despicable one we've seen in recent memory.

Given that Rollins lost the Raw tag titles to AOP in a handicap match this week on Raw, and Ambrose hasn't done much since turning on Rollins, it seems unlikely Ambrose will be able to make it to the Survivor Series card.

Although Rollins will definitely have to look out for Ambrose during his match against Shinsuke Nakamura at Survivor Series, as Ambrose is expected to cost Rollins his match against Nakamura.

Ambrose could still earn a spot on Raw's men Survivor Series team, but that seems unlikely, owing to his recent selfish interactions with team-mates, and his on-screen character.

#1 Randy Orton

Orton's exclusion from SmackDown's team is wrong

It was very tough for hardcore WWE fans to fathom the fact that Randy Orton will not be representing SmackDown Live as a member of the men's team. Orton has long been considered as one of the greatest Survivor Series tag match competitors, and has been called 'Mr. Survivor Series' by many fans and experts alike.

Orton has been on a rampage, and has torn through much of SmackDown Live's babyface roster, but that still wasn't enough to secure him a spot on the men's Survivor Series team.

What was even more astounding was that Orton wasn't even a part of a qualifying match, as he didn't even have a chance to earn a spot on SmackDown's team. There could be numerous story-line reasons for that, but why would SmackDown Live not want one of its most vicious stars brutally dismantle Raw's team?

Orton's exclusion from SmackDown's team is wrong for all reasons, but he could factor into the match, perhaps taking out his current nemesis, Rey Mysterio.