5 bold predictions for Survivor Series 2017

Could Alexa Bliss be in for a surprise at Survivor Series?
Could Alexa Bliss be in for a surprise at Survivor Series?

The one night of the year where Raw and SmackDown Live go head-to-head in competitive action is almost upon us.

Last year’s Survivor Series was full of shocks, but what lies in store for the 2017 event? Will Kurt Angle lose his job as Raw General Manager? Who will be the fifth member of the SmackDown Live women’s team? Will Jinder Mahal be involved at all?

You can follow Sportskeeda's live updates and coverage of Survivor Series 2017 right here.

Of all the pay-per-views WWE has produced so far in 2017, this one is probably the most exciting of the lot and certainly the most unpredictable.

In this article, we stick our necks on the line to bring you five bold predictions of what might occur in Houston, Texas on Sunday.


#1 Jason Jordan costs Kurt Angle his job

Kurt Angle kicked Jason Jordan off Team Raw
Kurt Angle kicked Jason Jordan off Team Raw

It just goes to show how stacked the WWE roster is these days that Jason Jordan, Bray Wyatt, Jinder Mahal, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens who have been mainstays of Raw and SmackDown Live over the last few months, aren’t even on the Survivor Series card.

JJ was initially due to be on Team Raw for the 5-on-5 elimination match at the event but, courtesy of an attack from Bray Wyatt, he was declared unfit to compete by Kurt Angle was replaced by Triple H, who gave him a Pedigree for his troubles.

The Jordan-Angle storyline hasn’t gone down well with fans and it feels like it’s only a matter of time before the former American Alpha member turns on his ‘biological father’ and reveals he made the whole thing up to get better opportunities in WWE – something he has succeeded in doing.

Perhaps Jordan could cost Team Raw at Survivor Series, in turn making Angle lose his job as General Manager, as revenge for being excluded from the team. This could also set up a future match between the two, possibly at the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania.

#2 Samoa Joe eliminates John Cena

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Samoa Joe confronted John Cena in August

Despite losing in back-to-back PPV main events, Samoa Joe probably had more buzz about him coming out of SummerSlam than almost anybody else involved on the show.

The former NXT champion looked impressive all summer-long in his rivalry with Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns, and he was reportedly set to enter into a feud after SummerSlam with none other than John Cena.

However, an injury ended the rivalry before it began, and Joe spent the next couple of months on the sidelines while Cena and Reigns battled it out – on the mic and in the ring – before settling their differences in a blockbuster match at No Mercy.

Now that Joe and Cena are on opposing sides in the 5-on-5 men’s elimination match at Survivor Series, it represents the perfect opportunity for “The Samoan Submission Machine” to score the first fall in a possible rivalry that can be revisited in the months to come.

#3 Carmella cashes in… on Alexa Bliss!

Ca
Carmella has been Ms. Money In The Bank since June

You can count on one hand the number of times Carmella has threatened to cash in her Money In The Bank contract – first on Naomi and then on Natalya – and it’s sometimes easy to forget that she’s a women’s champion-in-waiting on the SmackDown Live roster.

But that’s not a bad thing. Looking back at the best cash-ins from years gone by, like when Seth Rollins entered himself into the WrestleMania 31 main event or when Dolph Ziggler defeated Alberto Del Rio, it’s when we least expected it, and talk of Carmella cashing in anytime soon has gone eerily quiet.

New SmackDown Women’s champion Charlotte Flair is unlikely to lose her title just days after her emotional victory over Natalya, but what if "The Princess of Staten Island" decides to cash in on Alexa Bliss, Flair’s Survivor Series opponent, to win the Raw Women’s title?

SmackDown’s women’s division is likely to be bolstered in the build to WrestleMania 34 by Paige and Nikki Bella, so it wouldn’t hurt them to lose someone from their roster, and Carmella switching to Raw could eventually see her reunite with Big Cass further down the line.

#4 Jinder Mahal interferes in the main event

Jinder M
Jinder Mahal is not scheduled for a match at Survivor Series

Poor Jinder Mahal. Two weeks ago, he was still WWE champion and preparing for the biggest match of his career in the main event of Survivor Series against Brock Lesnar.

Fast forward to now and “The Modern Day Maharaja” is no longer WWE champion and he’s gone from main-eventing Survivor Series to not even having a spot on the card.

Surely, after five months as a key figure on SmackDown Live, he’ll be involved at the PPV in some capacity, so don’t be surprised if we see Jinder and the Singh Brothers marching down to the ring to interfere in the match between Lesnar and AJ Styles.

The former WWE champion has reasons to target both of them, though his chances of taking out “The Beast” are slim-to-none, so he’s more likely to cost Styles the victory to add an extra chapter to their storyline ahead of the inevitable rematch for the title.

#5 Asuka gets eliminated

Asu
Asuka is a member of Team Raw at Survivor Series

If you’re a die-hard NXT fan, you’ll know what all the fuss is about surrounding Asuka. However, if you’re only seeing her for the first time in these last few weeks, you’re probably struggling to understand the hype.

“The Empress of Tomorrow” took longer than expected to defeat the recently released Emma in two relatively even encounters, and it wasn’t until her victories over Stacie Cullen and Stacy Coates in squash matches on Raw that we saw what she is really about.

Asuka has never been pinned or made to submit during her time in NXT or WWE, so it’ll be a major shock if she is eliminated from the 5-on-5 women’s match at Survivor Series, but stranger things have happened.

The only realistic way it could happen is if Dana Brooke, who is not scheduled for the PPV, distracts her to cause an elimination, possibly via count-out. The two had a confrontation on Raw this week and are expected to enter into a feud after the PPV.

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