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WWE Survivor Series – Full preview of tonight’s PPV

Sunday November 23, 2008 BY iFight365.com

WWE’s Survivor Series PPV takes place tonight and as always we’ll have live coverage of the show as it happens here at iFight365.com from around 7.30pm EST/12.30am GMT.

Ahead of our live coverage, Michael Campbell and Phil Lowe take a look ahead to the matches advertised for tonight’s show:

- Chris Jericho (C) vs. John Cena for the World Heavyweight Title

Phil Lowe: John Cena’s back? Really? You’d have thought WWE would have advertised his return. Seriously though, all the promotion to push his return has to mean he’s getting the title tonight. It all seems a bit stupid to me if Jericho’s retaining. The match should be decent and I expect the crowd to be electric for this with a decent percentage of Cena’s home town being against him.

Michael Campbell: I pray Cena does not get the belt here. I pray. Jericho has been outstanding and deserves to carry the belt until closer to Mania, as unlikely as that is. This is interesting because the big spoiler is, that Armageddon looks set to be headlined by Cena vs. Jericho vs. Batista, so either guy could walk out wearing gold. The company still wants to do Cena/Batista at Mania (which I think is spasticated because they did that at Summerslam, and WrestleMania’s title matches should almost invariably be fresh), but I think it’s more likely that if that is the case, they’ll have Dave win next month and have Cena go on to raise the strap in Houston.

I smell another screwy finish. Hopefully they do realise that fans would probably prefer to see Cena chase, than be a dominant champ. Winner: Jericho.

- Triple H (C) vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Vladimir Kozlov in a Triple Threat match for the WWE title.

Michael Campbell: The WWE is often criticised, rightly so in my opinion, for their handling of Jeff Hardy. They’ve failed to pull the trigger on so many occasions that it’s put Hardy in a continually awkward limbo. However, they’re in something of a dilemma considering that earlier in the year, he endured suspension through his own neglect. Is this the right time?

I was negative towards the spot Jeff suffered at the Cyber Sunday PPV and felt it completely de-railed him. But this weekend’s angle could add a little intensity to the situation. Plus, Hardy garnered big wins this past month over both The Undertaker and HHH, albeit slightly tainted. But a triple threat match is not the place to raise the belt. He should be doing it at WrestleMania.

Hopefully, Hardy sells the “injury” he sustained this weekend and has Kozlov beat, but Edge takes him out, allowing HHH to steal the win. I can’t understand why people are suggesting that Hardy is en route to a heel turn – Hunter going to the dark side would make much more sense. If this goes down, it sets up Hunter vs. Kozlov possibly for Armaggedon and Edge vs. Jeff. Jeff could then go to No Way Out, win the Elimination Chamber, and face a heel Hunter. Winner: Triple H over Kozlov.

Phil Lowe: Hardy pins The Undertaker cleanly one week, then Triple H the next. By my reckoning, its the first time Trips has been pinned clean in a singles match in 2008. Feel free to correct me on that. Those two wins (especially the win over Taker) suggest to me that Hardy’s winning the belt tonight. Or at least it did until we woke up this morning to learn of the developments on WWE.com.

Hardy’s work on Smackdown these past few weeks has been outstanding on a show that has once again become the best of the three weekly WWE programmes. Those two wins followed by this morning’s angle leave me wondering whether WWE have made a mistake here. A certain main eventer is returning and already we’ve heard talk of him being involved with Hardy on his return. That works for me, but I hope those two wins for Hardy haven’t been wasted. I guess we’ll find out tonight.

- The Undertaker vs. Big Show in a Casket Match

Phil Lowe: Should be a solid match. Unless Edge is being kept off TV while Christian decides if he’s returning or staying in TNA, I think he’ll show up during this match. Have him take out Undertaker, give Show the win and perhaps do Hardy vs. Edge or Triple H vs. Edge while Taker takes some time off.

Michael Campbell: God, I hate this stipulation. There’s usually a lot of attempts to roll your opponent into the casket/onto the stretcher, etc…etc… And some sort of squiffy finish. And they SUCK. Taker needs a few weeks out so…Winner: Big Show.

- Team HBK (Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, The Great Khali and Cryme Tyme) vs. Team JBL (JBL, Kane, MVP, The Miz and John Morrison) in a Survivor Series elimination match.

Michael Campbell: I just don’t care much for this match-up. I’d love to see a good showing for MVP though, with him and perhaps Morrison and Miz surviving. But I suspect that whichever way it goes, it’ll come down to JBL and Michaels and since I’m going with a few heel wins, I’d give this to the faces. Winners: Team HBK.

Phil Lowe: Talk about random teams. I have absolutely no idea who survives here. If creative are keen on pushing the younger guys again, Miz and Morrison winning makes sense and follows on from them getting a win over Michaels on Raw last week. Otherwise, perhaps Michaels and Mysterio survive.

- Team Batista (Batista, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy and R-Truth) vs. Team Orton (Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, Shelton Benjamin and William Regal) in a Survivor Series elimination match.

Phil Lowe: This should be the best of the traditional Survivor Series matches in terms of wrestling. Orton pinning Batista or Punk, perhaps with the help of Cody Rhodes seems to be logical to me.

Michael Campbell: My prayers have been answered (to some extent), as I called for a return to these elimination matches in a column last month. This one has a lot of intrigue, a unique collection of individuals and a ridiculous amount of storylines intertwining.

They’ve all but destroyed CM Punk since he dropped the belt and messed up big time by not saving their one-on-one match that everyone wanted to see. Obviously the central figures here are those two and Batista, but who’ll win is anyone’s guess. I heard a mention of Edge possibly screwing over Punk, which would make sense (I’d be pissed if I were Edge) although I think they may save their interaction for the Royal Rumble. I’ll go with a surprise return for Ted Dibiase, helping sole survivor Orton get the win. Winners: Team Orton.

- Team Raw (Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Jillian Hall, Candice Michelle and Kelly Kelly) vs. Team Smackdown (Michelle McCool, Victoria, Maria, Natalya and Maryse) in a Divas Survivor Series elimination match.

Michael Campbell: What saves this one is that the heels and faces from each brand have been aligned in their respective teams. That’ll add some storyline twists to this encounter, which will possibly be horrendously sloppy. I’d use this as an opportunity to re-build Natalya Neidhart as a dominant individual. But they won’t. It’ll probably all be about McCool and Candice. Winners: Team Smackdown.

Phil Lowe: Sucks if you’re a Diva and are still left out of this match. Team Raw to go over, but I have no idea who survives. Some Santino interaction with Beth for an added bonus as well please.

Don’t forget to join us tonight for our live Survivor Series coverage from shortly before 8pm EST/1am GMT!

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