Other than WrestleMania, Survivor Series is the longest running annual WWE pay-per-view, having held more events dating back to 1987 than either the Royal Rumble or SummerSlam. Of course in referencing those other shows we’ve just made something abundantly clear – Survivor Series is one of the “big four” shows that are the signature of every year in WWE. These are the events they make and sell DVD/Blu-Ray box sets for. With all due respect to shows like the Hell in a Cell PPV, nobody is making a box set for it. The “Thanksgiving Tradition” is something you can look forward to every November just like turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. The tagline for the 30th Survivor Series this year is FANTASY WARFARE JUST GOT REAL, referring of course to the epic rematch between Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg. Lesnar is the betting favorite at -185, with Goldberg coming in the exact opposite at a +185 dog. You might expect the odds to be much longer given Goldberg is ten years older and Lesnar still seems to be in his physical prime even at 39, but as I always point out you’re betting on the WRITERS and not FIGHTERS. The odds give you evidence there’s a small chance Vince McMahon and the creative team could change their odds between now and Sunday night and have Goldberg win, but since the only real point to him being here is to promote the WWE 2K17 video game, I don’t think that’s a realistic bet. Moving on to title match considerations which are secondary to Goldberg’s wrestling return by a wide margin, we have newly crowned Intercontinental Title champion The Miz from SmackDown facing Sami Zayn from Raw, and The Miz is a small favorite at -150 versus Zayn at +150. This line will almost certainly change before the PPV so you might lock in Zayn early and take the payout before he switches to ta favorite. The whole point of taking the IC Title off Dolph Ziggler seems to be an excuse for Zayn to beat Miz, humiliating the SmackDown brand in the inter-promotional war and bringing that title to Raw. There are other chances for the brands to score points against each other though. Survivor Series has always been known for its team match ups and this year’s edition of the pay per view is no exception. A five-on-five elimination women’s match featuring Team Raw (Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Nia Jax, Alicia Fox, and Sasha Banks) vs. Team SmackDown (Nikki Bella, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Naomi) has the Raw as a -122 favorite and the SmackDown side as a +122 underdog. Sensing a familiar pattern to these odds? No huge dogs, no huge favorites, everything is close and could go either way. The single biggest margin of the PPV is for the men as Team Raw (Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and Seth Rollins) vs. Team SmackDown (AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, and Shane McMahon) only this time Raw is a +230 underdog and SmackDown the -230 favorite. As always these previews are for entertainment purposes and if you do wager please only spend what you can afford. Enjoy Survivor Series on Sunday!
WWE Survivor Series 2016 Preview and Latest Odds
