WWE Survivor Series 2020: Predicting the final 5 men to qualify

There have already been five men in total to qualify for the WWE Survivor Series traditional five-on-five men’s match, so who will be the remaining five?

Even though the promotion continues to refuse to give actual stakes to the WWE Survivor Series matches, the last “Big 5” (I guess it’s 5 now including Money in the Bank, right?) Pay Per View of the calendar year remains interesting to most wrestling fans.

Part of that is due to nostalgia, which will be enhanced this year with the celebration of the Undertaker’s 30th anniversary, but another part of that is due to the uniqueness of the Pay Per View’s format. It’s fun watching the chaos of five-on-five matches and guessing who the sole survivor will be. The champion vs. champion matches are also usually excellent. We won’t be forgetting Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar for a long time.

Keith Lee, AJ Styles, and Sheamus have already qualified for the men’s five-on-five match on the Raw side, while Jey Uso and Kevin Owens have made the SmackDown team.

But who else will join them? Let’s make our five picks, starting with Raw and then moving on to Friday Night SmackDown.

Drew McIntyre

I’d say Drew McIntyre is the safest pick to join the Raw five-on-five WWE Survivor Series team this year. He’s a huge star and will continue to be a major babyface on Monday nights, even without the title.

At Survivor Series, WWE has a chance to hint at a future feud between Keith Lee and McIntyre, since they would be on the same team. We saw how Lee addressed McIntyre on Raw Talk after the Chosen One kept interfering in the Limitless One’s matches, and wrestling fans would love to see a feud between the two former NXT Champions.

Survivor Series is something of a signature Pay Per View for Lee already, seeing how he, alongside Rhea Ripley, was one of the standout performers during NXT’s involvement at last year’s show. He’s a good bet to be the sole survivor again if Raw win, and they have a pretty good track record in these men’s matches.

But maybe McIntyre will outlast him on his own team. We shall see.

Braun Strowman

I thought about picking a “swerve” like Tucker, but he needs some work after that bizarre promo at Hell in a Cell when he turned on Otis.

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Plus, would it really be a five-on-five men’s match without Braun Strowman? These matches are made for Strowman, who is so much fun to watch in chaotic matches where power and size mean a whole lot.

Strowman is getting underrated, to be honest. His work as Universal Champion wasn’t bad; it was more like WWE didn’t have any ideas other than to keep having the Fiend and Strowman feud with each other.

By the end of the rivalry, Strowman looked better than he did at the beginning in terms of his performances, which says a lot about his ability to always improve.

Any excuse to watch Strowman powerslam multiple men through the announce table is one I will take. A Survivor Series team of Styles, McIntyre, Lee, Sheamus, and Strowman would be a hard one to pick against.

Aleister Black

Aleister Black is the next male breakout star on SmackDown, and it seems like he’s finished up his feud with Kevin Owens. Or maybe not, I’m not sure at this point, but I do know that I could watch Owens and Black fight forever. They have great chemistry.

I’d also love to watch Black in the WWE Survivor Series five-on-five match. The Black Mass is an elimination just waiting to happen. It comes out of nowhere, and it can turn the momentum of the match in an instant.

If Aleister can qualify for the Survivor Series match, he could be the X-Factor in SmackDown’s bid to show Raw that they are now indeed the “A” show. They have the superior storylines, after all.

Seth Rollins

Like Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins is too good to leave off the team. I could see WWE adding a dysfunctional element with Rollins on the same team as one of Dominik Mysterio, Rey Mysterio, or Murphy, but I’d rather they not go that route and just focus on Rollins.

We saw how Rollins’ new heel character emerged last year after WWE Survivor Series, because he was imposing himself on his teammates as a self-proclaimed leader. Hence the new “Messiah” character that everybody loves to hate.

So imagine that character no-holds-barred in the build to this year’s Survivor Series. How would his teammates respond to that? I’m specifically looking at Owens. Rollins and Owens would be teammates again on the same Survivor Series team, and one year later with their characters settled, that could be very interesting.

King Corbin

I would prefer Chad Gable to make the team as a potential breakout performer, but I think WWE will have that spot filled in with Aleister Black. So I expect them to go with a more tried-and-true performer who would bring even more drama to SmackDown’s Survivor Series team in King Corbin.

At this point with no stakes, Survivor Series is all about whether or not wrestlers on the same team can stand each other and if they can make it all work before imploding.

Corbin can’t make anything work with anyone. He is the antithesis of a team player and is even more insufferable than Seth Rollins. Remember his time as acting GM of Raw? Awful, awful stuff. And that’s exactly why I think WWE will have him qualify for Team SmackDown.

The very presence of the self-proclaimed “King” is a benefit to Raw. All the volatile parts on SmackDown would make a Raw men’s win more likely, and I think that’s precisely what we’ll see unfold in November.