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I’ve been on hiatus for a bit and will continue my hiatus after this column. I will discuss the reason at the end of the column along with a big announcement that has me very excited. However, I felt the need to break from my time off to discuss the massive changes to the Survivor Series card. This was quite the week in the WWE. Here’s my quick thoughts on what went down: Jinder Got Hindered? Unless you’ve been living under a rock this week, you saw A.J. Styles shock the world and end the title reign of Jinder Mahal. This has been extremely well received, and I can’t say that I’m upset. In a recent column, I made the case for why now was the time to take the belt off Jinder. I even suggested that AJ be the man to do it. In addition, A.J. Styles v Brock Lesnar was my desired Summerslam main event. Needless to say, I am beyond ecstatic to see that match go down at Survivor Series. However, allow me to provide some words of caution to those of you celebrating the demise of Jinder Mahal. I think this is a red herring. The timing doesn’t make any sense. Why hype Jinder v Brock for the better part of a month only to pull a bait and switch? Why go out of your way to not only build Jinder up as champion but also protect him at every turn only to take the belt off him on a taped episode of Smackdown? I think something is up. I think the WWE realized the no-win situation they had put themselves in for Survivor Series. Either Brock had to squash Jinder and much of their build was for naught, or they needed to book Lesnar to lose. Neither option was particularly appealing. Instead, they punted on the issue and gave a replacement match that they knew would be popular. I keep coming back to the previously announced WWE title match between Jinder Mahal and Kevin Owens on the India Tour. I still think that happens. Starrcade is six days after Survivor Series. Even if it is a house show, I think the WWE is looking for a reason to make the show feel extra special. What better way to do that than by having KO win the belt off Styles? So what does this mean? The WWE will have set up a heel champion in Kevin Owens defending his title against the hometown hero in Jinder Mahal. Jinder wins the belt back and the status quo is restored. It makes too much sense not to happen. Heed my words of caution IWC. I don’t want to see you on the edge of a cliff a couple weeks from now. Intriguing Changes to the Survivor Series Card? With so many heel v heel matches set up for Survivor Series, I expected title changes to occur. What I didn’t expect was for one of the title changes to be the Shield dropping their tag titles to “The Bar”. I enjoy the duo of Sheamus and Cesaro, but that ship had seemed to sail and The Bar v The Usos marks a major step down from the originally scheduled showdown. Alas, all is not lost. The WWE isn’t keeping The Shield off the card. Ambrose and Rollins are two of their most bankable attractions. All signs point to a match against The New Day. Assuming Reigns is healthy enough to go, a 3 on 3 stable match is a killer edition to the card. I’m still clamoring for The Shield v The Usos, but a 3 on 3 stable warfare is more than an adequate replacement. Speaking of title changes, I’m fairly confident in my thought that Charlotte will take the belt off of Natalya on Smackdown next week. Alexa Bliss v Natalya just isn’t interesting. Not only do heel v heel matches not work, but Alexa isn’t at all suited to play off a heel’s persona. Charlotte v Alexa is arguably the best women’s match that the WWE can give us that hasn’t already occurred. Not only that, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Carmella finally cashes in. MAKE IT HAPPEN WWE. Last, but certainly not least, I love the addition of John Cena to Team Smackdown. I was struggling to see who on Smackdown could fill the void that AJ left behind. Cena is absolutely the best choice. He brings additional star power to a match that is already juicy. Although not all ten characters are “faces”, all ten wrestlers involved in the match are extremely popular. This is a dynamic that we haven’t really seen in Survivor Series matches before, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out. A Major Announcement? A Major Announcement! As I mentioned, I’ve been on hiatus and will continue to be on hiatus for another couple of weeks. The reason for this is that I’ve been hard at work putting together my newest column series. Starting the week after Survivor Series, I’ll be debuting my latest passion project, “Ranking The Royal Rumble Matches”. My column series have been my favorite to write by far, and I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. That’s a wrap kids. Sign off below!
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