WWE Survivor Series 2018: Ranking Matches By Expected Quality

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6. Men’s 5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match

Might as well get all of these eliminators out of the way right off the bat. I hate to sound like a broken record, but if any match was crying out “I’M GOING TO BE A TRAIN WRECK,” it’s this one.

Let’s look at the participants: on the Blue Team, we have The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, and THE BEST IN THE WORLD™ Shane McMahon. One of these things is not like the other, you know? Any time Shane gets involved in a match, I (and many others) expect a completely illogical spotfest that has no meaning whatsoever.

How about the Raw side of things? Braun Strowman wants to murk Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley is all muscle and no substance,  and Finn Bálor is just happy to be there. Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre are still on the same page as each other, but no one else on the team. I SMELL SHENANIGANS.

There’s too many potential outside factors at play in this one, too. Randy Orton is arguably the greatest Survivor Series competitor of all time, and he’s not on the SmackDown team. Kurt Angle got humbled by McIntyre a week ago, and he’s got a legit beef with Corbin and Stephanie McMahon – could he show up?

Again, this one is destined for overbooking, and while it may be “fun,” it won’t be good.

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5. The Bar vs. AoP

I keep going back and forth in my mind on how I want to rank the championship-type matches for Survivor Series, and I can’t help but flip-flop a few matches in the order. Like, I think this one will be a terrific HOSS FIGHT, but I feel like fifth best out of eight is too low. But I also can’t think of which remaining match won’t at least be as good as the tag champs throwing hands.

And I want to be clear on this – from here on out, all of the matches on the card will be good, at the very least. Heck, some of the Survivor Series matches may be “good,” too, but the non-eliminators will definitely be the ones to watch this Sunday.

Looking at the battle of tag champs, it’s the highest profile match yet for the former Authors of Pain. Drake Maverick may not be Paul Ellering, but he’s been a boon for AoP lately. They’re one of few teams to have a size advantage over Cesaro and Sheamus, too.

Speaking of The Bar, it’s been a while since they disappointed inside the ring. Cesaro is a non-ironic Best in the World candidate, while Sheamus is great at being an alabaster chunk of stone in the ring – impossible to move, but packing a tremendous wallop if it hits you.