Question of the Week: Who should get a push from being on a Survivor Series team?
 

Christian. No reason necessary.

The Uso on the left

Slater

John Felix Anthony Cena

Ambrose should score a pinfall over Rollins if they plan to move him on to face Wyatt next.

Zack Ryder. He and Dolph are friends. Like Dottie Henson and her sister from a League of Their Own. Ryder is forced on the team by the Show Off.

He then becomes the fat kid from the movie saying "you're gonna lose" to teammates.

<font color=goldenrod>If they've totally abandoned the idea of the new Nation of Domination stable (and after several months I think it's safe to say they have) I wouldn't mind Big E getting thrown onto Team Cena. I love that dude. Plus it'd make sense that Cena would want to have some extra muscle on his team.</font>

Johnny Curtis, because push Johnny Curtis damn it!

Johnny Curtis, or whatever he is repackaged as would be cool. But I'm actually hoping for Ryback to be a part of Team Cena.

It would also make a weird amount of sense for Cena to bring up Adrian Neville for his team, since Cena's character finds Neville so impressive.

Not so much a genuine shove but the start of something; I'd have Miz and Mizdow on a team, have Miz pinned but have him send Mizdow to the back in his place (the ref would be confused but allow it). Somewhere down the line I'd have Mizdow sent in as a replacement for Miz in a match against Sheamus for the US title and actually have Mizdow score the upset victory only for Miz to grab the title from the time keeper and take the title for himself. This would give plenty of sympathy for Mizdow and build towards a match between the two where Mizdow wins the belt proper.

He's even on-air friends with Cena. The more I think about it, he'd be a good fit for the team.

Cesaro. Can become the new "muscle" of the Authority and right now compliments the Ziggler pick on Cena's side.

Also really deserves to get that long awaited post-Mania push that got quickly tossed in the gutter just like the dreams of this post-Mania period being really amazing for the WWE.

Yeah, Cesaro needs to be in this.

I wouldn't say he's been buried, since he still looks kinda strong in all his recent losses, but he's still losing all the time.

Cesaro, and then he can come to the amazing remixed Dean Malenko again. Heck, get Maxine back and have her be a valet.

Jeff Hardy

But since he's not with the company, Ziggler.

Also, while I don't realistically seeing it happen, I think Zack Ryder would be a good pick for the team, given his on-screen friendship with Cena and Dolph, and the fact he'd like revenge on Kane.

And after reading this thread, others agree with my thoughts :y:

Adrian Neville would also make sense I guess, I noticed somebody suggest him. As NXT champion, and wanting his chance to take the step to the main roster, it would be a good place to bring him up.

Borrowing from that idea;

They should push NXT as a whole by having a Traditional Survivor Series NXT Showcase.

Neville/Zayn/Corbin/Lucha Dragons vs. Breeze/Kidd/Bull Dempsy/Vaudevillains.

I love that idea! Even if it's just the preshow match. I would use it to build upon Corbin's "lone wolf" character by having him reluctant to join in on the pre-match promo, insist on starting the match, and refusing to tag out. He has a good showing and gets a couple eliminations, but he's eventually worn down by the numbers and eliminated. The heels win and start to beat down Neville, who was the last one eliminated. Corbin comes back and helps fight them off, then has an "I want that" stare down with Neville and the belt. Boom, there's your next NXT title feud with an instantly credible contender.

THE RYBACK! Assuming there is a second 5 on 5 match then he should be in it and just dominate the match.

Definitely THE RYBACK. All other answers are so terribly wrong.

It'd be interesting just to see what Corbin can do, as he's only had 20 second matches.

I like the idea of the NXT Elimination match, but I wouldn't have Corbin out there. Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn are musts for the face team. Lucha Dragons also fit. Maybe Hideo Itami as the last guy in there? Have Tyson Kidd, Tyler Breeze, The Vaudevillains and maybe Bull Dempsey on the heel side. Titus O'Neil would also make sense given current storylines.

That being said, they also have that "NXT 5" thing going on. Kevin Steen hasn't debuted on NXT television yet, but it would certainly help him stand out in NXT if his claim to fame was working Survivor Series first. Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami, Finn Balor & Kevin Owens vs. Titus O'Neil, Tyler Breeze, Tyson Kidd & The Ascension?

Heath Slater can appear in Titus's corner and get kicked in the head really hard by Itami to start off the match in a big way.

Hm... Blue-chip prospect debuts at Survivor Series. Could work.

Michael Cole mentioned on SmackDown that The Rock and The Undertaker debuted at Survivor Series. I could see them hyping that aspect during the match.
"We could be looking at a future Hall of Famer, Mackel!"

How about this booking for the match:

* Tom Phillips, Renee Young and William Regal switch in as the commentary team, to give the match a different feel presentation-wise.

* Sami Zayn comes out kicking and dancing as he usually does. Hideo Itami is out, followed by his friend, rival and sometimes partner, Finn Balor. Kevin Owens makes his WWE debut, showing up at Survivor Series before he even appears on NXT. Adrian Neville is last out as the NXT Champion.

* Heath Slater accompanies Titus O'Neil, Tyson Kidd, Tyler Breeze & The Ascension to the ring. Prior to the match, Kevin Owens, the unknown bad-ass of the group, slinks off the apron, and approaches an unaware Slater, doing his usual cocky antics outside the ring. Owens then beats the living crap out of Slater all around the ringside area.
"Meet Kevin Owens." - Tom Phillips

* O'Neil now wants to start with Owens, who is all too happy to oblige. They brawl for a bit, and then Owens plays up his history with Zayn, tagging him in. I never saw them team, but this would be a great time for their double-team moves to come out. Zayn breaks things down and hits all his high-flying stuff, with all the faces (and some of the heels) hitting their moves to the outside too.

* Zayn gets O'Neil back in the ring and hits a Helluva Kick followed by the Koji Clutch to make the big man submit. A great way to introduce Zayn as a guy who can fly and is a great mat-wrestler, and the least NXT-associated guy going first puts all the other guys over.

* The Ascension mug Zayn, and the heels beat Zayn down in their corner, but he tags out to Itami, who has a personal grudge against The Ascension, who cleans house on them. He lines up a kick from his corner on Viktor, which allows Balor to blind-tag in, and follow up the kick with a move off the top rope, showing some impressive teamwork. Balor pins Viktor.

* Tyson Kidd and Finn Balor then have a chain-sequence which escalates quickly, but Kidd can't put Balor away, and sells the frustration. Balor makes a comeback, but before he can beat Kidd, Breeze blind-tags in and then sneakily rolls up Balor using the tights for the three count.

* Zayn and Breeze mix it up as old/current rivals, and they re-do the spot where Zayn looks for the Helluva Kick, but Breeze drops down, crotching Zayn. Breeze quickly tags in Konnor, and the two heels do an improvised version of The Fall of Man, with Breeze hitting Zayn with a Beauty Shot as Konnor sweeps the leg. This eliminates Zayn.

* Itami wants his hands on Konnor, and he nails some vicious kicks, but his tunnel-vision leads to him being caught and dropped with the fireman's carry flapjack, but Konnor bounces back into the ropes, allowing Kidd to tag in and hit the Springboard Flying Elbow for the overkill pin.

* Neville does some cool stuff, and ends up in the ring with Kidd, and the two trade some moves, with Kidd going for the Sharpshooter -- only for a roll-up to eliminate Kidd.

* Breeze and Konnor now beat-down Neville, as Owens is fuming on the apron. Neville does make a hot tag, and Owens lights up Breeze. Owens looks for the Package Piledriver, but Konnor nails Owens in the back with a steel chair. Konnor is disqualified, but Owens is down. Breeze rolls into a cover, but only gets two. An execution-style Supermodel Kick finally puts Owens down, however.

* Breeze and Neville are the last two guys, and they work the end stages of the match. Neville goes for the Red Arrow, but Breeze gets the knees up, but it only gets a two count. Breeze again goes for the execution-style Supermodel Kick, but Neville counters and manages to position Breeze for a top rope move again. This time it is an Imploding Star Press, which connects, allowing the faces to win the match.

* Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami, Finn Balor & Kevin Owens all come back out and celebrate with Adrian Neville as the commentators pimp NXT on the WWE Network.

What Noid said, only with less words, and more stress on Tyler Breeze being awesome.

I omitted The Ascension due to the rumour of their imminent call-up. Didn't want to muddy the water with that. Same kinda deal for Titus; he's a Main Roster guy, really.

Love the booking, Noid. Wouldn't see the match being given all that time though, sadly. We'd be more likely to see the faces demolish the heels in quick fashion. Unless it was on the pre-show, which kinda contradicts the point of it being a showcase.

How many viewers do the kickoff shows get? They're free on Youtube & such.

I would like to see Dolph Ziggler get a push. Although, he has held the big gold belt twice, he has yet to win the WWE Championship. It would be interesting if the WWE gave him more mic time and a chance to evolve his character.

I'm inclined to agree with all the Ryder talk. Even if he is on a losing team, him making a strong showing (like a couple of eliminations himself, or being the last guy and not being dropped easily, or both) could be a step in a good direction for him... as long as WWE puts it over and doesn't downplay it.

Little things like this could help build the foundation for greasing the wheel with relevant stars instead of scrambling to hotshot main eventers to be instantly over and marketable from the bottom of the deck.

With no stats or facts to back this up; I'd say fewer people watch the Kickoff show than watch the PPV.

Even though it's free and widely available it seems a lot of effort to watch it if you're not going to watch the actual show, and you don't need to watch the Kickoff in order to watch the PPV.

They should turn Ryder heel.

Have him join Team Cena, get down to Ryder/Cena being the last men and you do the drop off the apron heel turn. Ryder walks away, leaving Cena to the mercy (or lack thereof) of Team Authority.

I wouldn't have Ryder physically attack Cena as we don't want to suspend disbelief too much. I definately wouldn't go with a Ryder/Cena programme or match afterwards either, let the guy keep some steam.

Ryder justifies his actions by recalling what happened to him a couple years ago with the whole Cena/Eve deal, and he becomes a relevant midcard heel act.

You could attach him to The Authority if you wanted, and explain away the whole Kane issue with the usual wrestling BS. You'd have him be the corporate-backed guy sent after Dolph and the IC Title.

Though I'd be inclined to keep him separate do he doesn't become the Authority's whipping boy, and still have him go after the IC Championship.