WWE had to make a pivot for Survivor Series. After Roman Reigns' announcement that his leukemia had returned. WWE had to have him relinquish the belt he fought so hard to get. 

Things are beginning to take shape on WWE's Survivor Series. The big four pay-per-view was going to steer away from the RAW vs SmackDown theme. WWE had to change its plans. Here is my projection of the card. Of course things may shift. 
(I'll do it FiveThirtyEight statistical style, so if I get it wrong I can blame it on the "polling errors.")

• AJ Styles vs Brock Lesnar  (99% chance).
• Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey  (99% chance).
• Team Corbin vs Team Angle (20% chance). 
• Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker (35% chance).
• Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose (45% chance). 
• New Day being on the Kickoff (65% chance).

Lesnar looks to conquer Styles again 
I'm most looking forward to Styles/Lesnar II. Just due to what AJ was able to do with Lesnar alone. Styles is still a fresh opponent for Lesnar. Hopefully, we get some actual build up to this match. Styles sadly won't have a shot at getting the W. Considering Lesnar will soon be facing Daniel Cormier in the UFC. It's just a matter of timing. Still these two should be able to provide a solid match. Lesnar's WWE status is still up in the air. According to sources he was suppose to be done with WWE until Royal Rumble season. 

Rousey should lose at Survivor Series
Rousey has been blamed for months (by fans) for injuring her opponents. Her match with Nikki Bella at Evolution was decent but some of the spots looked rough. Maybe just maybe her move set is a little to rough for someone with inexperience? I mean her judo throws and her finisher look botch-worthy on occasion. Don't get me wrong Ronda Rousey is still an attraction but WWE needs to still monitor her in order to make her the next "star" of the company. What if WWE has Rousey lose? That would be the best thing for her at Survivor Series. Becky Lynch is a strong opponent with years of experience on Rousey. WWE shouldn't have Rousey go undefeated until WrestleMania 35 for a few reasons. 

1. It's not realistic. Although WWE has never prided itself on being real. You can't tell me "the rookie" doesn't get rolled up and pinned at some point. 
2. If she becomes a "streak" what is she after its gone? Right Asuka? 
3. Losing to any WWE superstar won't make her "weak" and she is going to lose at one point. Minus well happen before Charlotte Flair beats her. 

The Kurt Angle and Baron Corbin Power Struggle
​Now this brings me to the long winded feud of Baron Corbin and Kurt Angle. RAW's power struggle was expected to collide at Survivor Series. Now it's not looking good as WWE may go for RAW vs SmackDown teams. Due to the theme change. I do believe that Corbin/Angle need to end their feud soon though. I still have a feeling Angle will end up on Team RAW or involved with Survivor Series somehow. He was last year. Plus he has to continue his feud with Shane McMahon. 

The Sad Circumstance of Shawn Michaels
Now my final subject for this blog. Shawn Michaels un-retired in spectacular fashion. Now he is expected to be on a collision course with The Undertaker. Yet seeing HBK wrestle in 2018 bums me out. I just don't have the desire to see a changed man go back to wrestling. Shawn Michaels is bald. Why is that a big deal some may wonder? It ruins his mystique. It destroys the image we once had of him. It's like an old wrestler working on the indys and he no longer looks good. That's essentially Shawn Michaels despite his in-shape look. He can still go but it won't be the same. Triple H is also bald but we got to openly witness the evolution. So it's not as bad as HBK's. 

Michaels has the chance to put on dream matches. The Undertaker is still waiting for his match. If I'm being honest I'd rather have Sting come back for another run. He could've done so much more but wasn't able too. Some part-time returns feel fresh. Some don't. HBK's doesn't feel right for multiple reasons. Maybe it was because he did stay true to his retirement for eight years or maybe it was because he came back for WWE's controversial Crown Jewel event? 

WWE's Survivor Series plans are intriguing. Even though they have to be concerned about fatigue kicking in. WWE has done so many events in a short period of time hopefully Survivor Series is able to succeed. 

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I don't understand why, but lately the WWE roster has been aging so much it makes me sick to my stomach. Especially with so many talented young wrestlers in the company ready to steal the show. Guys like Andrade "Cien" Almas, Mojo, Apollo Crews, and the whole NXT roster and what we see is the full time return of Rey Mysterio, part time returns of Kurt Angle, Undertaker, DX ,Kane, Big Show, R Truth, Shelton Benjamin and so many old guys that being called up to the main roster is a demotion now.

Especially on Smackdown. The Randy Orton's and Jeff Hardy's of this company are the reason why ratings suck and so many people don't watch anymore. I am a huge lifelong WWE  fan and it is the most frustrating time I ever witnessed.There are no reasons to let so many talented guys rot like this and use over the hill guys especially Taker whose matches often result in cringeworthy moments. It is like watching our grandpa in a ring and hope he doesn't get badly hurt. I could understand if there was no young talents ready to take the mantle but there are many. Here is the list of guys I  would make sure we never see wrestle anymore:
1 Undertaker
2 Kane
3 HHH
4 Shawn  Michaels
5 R-Truth
6 Big Show
7 Baron Corbin. Not old but sucks
8 Shelton Benjamin
9 Goldust
10 Rhyno
11 Jeff Hardy

PHASE OUT
1 Randy Orton
2 Shinsuke Nakamura
3 Bobby Roode
4 Brock Lesnar

Fire:
1 Ascension
2 Heath Slater
3 Fandango
4 Eric Young
5 Alexander Wolfe
6 Colon's
7 Rowan
8 Zack Ryder​

Replace them with big pushes from: 
1 Andrade Cien Almas
2 Chad Gable
3 Apollo Crews
4 Mojo Rawley
5 Killian Dain
6 Bo Dallas
7 Aleister Black
8 Ty Dillinger
9 EC3

My main guys:
1 Seth Rollins
2 Dean Ambrose
3 Braun Strowman
4 Aleister Black
5 Ciampa
6 Johnny Gargano
7 Adam Cole 
8 Roderick Strong
9 Kyle O'Reilly
10 AJ Styles
11 Daniel Bryan
12 The Miz
13 New Day 
14 Uso's
15 AOP
16 Revival
17 Moustache Mountain
18 Pete Dunne
19 Drew McIntyre
 20 Velveteen Dream

I believe these changes would result in a younger and more talented roster that wouldn't waste its youth but embrace it. I believe while keeping some veterans you need more youth to counter balance it. WWE's aging problem is getting silly. Not everything should be a "return" or a "comeback." WWE needs to get back to simple wrestling storytelling. Similar to how NXT has proven that it works. 

WWE's only getting older. It's sad to see such talented, young workers get passed by the relics of the past. 

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WWE is staying in this relationship because the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is paying them tons of money. I mean heck the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia forced Shawn Michaels out of retirement. Just think about that... WWE has been trying to get HBK to return for dream matches. All it took was Saudi Arabia offering HBK $10 million for one match. Fans have been urging WWE to exit the Saudi Arabia relationship since the start. Greatest Royal Rumble didn't feature a single women for well.. reasons. That contradicts WWE's current women's evolution. Now Crown Jewel is in jeopardy for different reasons. 

The current idea of WWE canceling Crown Jewel created the back up plan to replicate the same exact card at Survivor Series. Also meaning WWE would have to pay Shawn Michaels and Brock Lesnar the same amount out of pocket. Politicians are telling WWE to reconsider their deal with Saudi Arabia. Most are encouraging WWE to put event on pause. WWE is currently monitoring the situation. 

We live in crazy times. This WWE/Saudi Arabia partnership may not last after all. Sorry, for the shorter blog post but this topic is mind-boggling. 

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​

There’s the idea that some may feel she has to be perfect, as a woman filling a male-dominated spot in a male-dominated form of entertainment, but she doesn’t need to be perfect. Why? Because Michael Cole and Corey Graves are absolutely far from perfect. If I had a nickel for every time Michael Cole flubbed anything the last five years, I could buy a place to live in New York City. Not rent, buy, do you know how ridiculous that cost is? Astronomical.

This is a huge step for Renee, as well as women in general on the main roster. Yes, we’ve had female commentators for other shows and specials, but the fact that its a full time position on Raw is a huge deal. It not only shows Renee’s growth over the years, but leaves the door open for other opportunities of change within the WWE.

So thanks Renee, for truly living up to the “anything can happen” schtick within WWE, this is one of those times where it’s a magnificent surprise.

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A couple of notes right out of the gate. 

• Jaxson Ryker is Gunner from TNA. He has potential to do some great things in NXT. 
• Heavy Machinery is insanely over. The first NXT event I went to Enzo & Cass were the first ones out and the most over. 
• Otis is a star. Tucker Knight is fine but it is clear Otis Dozovic will be a breakout talent.

The match was solid. Heavy Machinery made it. Otis is electrifying with all his moves.

Dakota Kai is just super fun to watch. I think she will be the "correct version" of Bayley by the time she makes the main roster. Aliyah has some serious skills as a heel. Honestly it is only a matter of time until Aliyah is main roster bound or in the NXT Women's Championship picture. 

​Aliyah and Dakota Kai had a really solid match. 

The pop for Tyler Breeze was loud. Most of the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Matha is still really raw right now. The crowd chanted "Gillberg" at him. Breeze is still one of the best wrestlers to come out of NXT. During this match I was thinking of his classic with Jushin "Thunder" Liger. It was an honor to watch Breeze takedown Matha. 

The fans were into it. Lars Sullivan ended up laying him out. 

Detroit is Johnny Gargano territory. His theme gets me instantly pumped. Even with a brute like Lars, Johnny made this match brilliant. Gargano has a bright future. I have gotten to watch him live three times. I want Gargano to have the best success on the main roster. 

LeRae is easily the best one out of the four. Baszler attracts a fan base for her violent style. To me I find her uninteresting, maybe that will change. Cross and Borne play their gimmicks well. The match was solid. 

Ciampa was fun to watch live. Dijakovic is going to be great at one of the next TakOver events. His match with Ciampa was stellar. The crowd legitimately thought we would see a title change. Dijakovic brought out some depth from his move set. 

• Two Things...
• Although Ciampa/Dijakovic became one of the best matches of the night. It would have been cool to witness Ciampa VS Gargano live.
• Dominik Dijakovic needs a better name. Vince McMahon won't have that on the main roster. Dude made Adrian Neville, Antonio Cesaro, and Elias Samson drop portions of their names. 

This was such a great main event. Really can't go wrong with The Undisputed Era. Ricochet makes every move look so easy. War Raiders will be dominating the tag team division soon enough. Ricochet stole the show. 

Overall this event was excellent. It was a good way to spend the fifth anniversary of the site. 

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This is super cool. ZWrestleTalk is five years old. Which in my opinion is pretty impressive considering how many outlets/blogs end up calling it quits. 

I'm proud that this site is still going, and it has more of a purpose. It is crazy to think that five years ago my very first blog was about The Authority (Stephanie McMahon and Triple H). This was before WWE decided to split the brands again. Countless of great wrestling moments have transpired. TNA is no longer even TNA! It's called IMPACT now. Lucha Underground wasn't around five years ago, and we were one of the first to write about it. They still follow us on Twitter to this day. Jeff Jarrett created Global Force Wrestling, which I did countless blogs on and it fizzled out. When the site first started WWE NXT was fairly new, and the WWE Network was a couple months away from launch. 

It's been five years of me doing predictions for WWE pay-per-views. Sometimes I got it right, and other times I was way off. 

It's been fun to express my opinion on part timers, Sting's WWE debut, AJ Styles joining WWE, and the evolution of NXT. There is many other moments I can recount that were super fun to blog. 

So I'd like to take the time to thank some people. I want to thank the current staff of ZWrestleTalk. Dom Bouchard, thanks for bringing some of the biggest hot takes in wrestling to this site. One day we will get to that podcast (by the way our guest list is LOADED. Thanks Dom). I would like to thank the new writers to the site Amanda and JD. I'm excited to see what we will accomplish. 

I'd also like to thank the countless other writers who made quick stops at ZWrestleTalk. They helped the site grow too. 

I would also like to thank all the guests who have ever done guest predictions for The Wrestling BreakDownZ. It's a long list so I'm only going to highlight a few. Josh.0, Zach McGibbon, and Zack Heydorn brought some outstanding guest work to the site. 

So you may ask how Triple Z is spending his fifth anniversary? I'm going to NXT Detroit tonight. Blogs will follow that event. I didn't even realize it was ZWrestleTalk's anniversary when I originally got the tickets for NXT. It just makes this day even cooler. 

Thanks for the ride these past five years. I have enjoyed the comments and questions from our fans. It has been amazing to watch the site grow in viewership, and I'm confident we will be hitting more milestones soon. 

Also by the way the old blogs are comical. If you want a laugh go into the archives and find some classics. The comment section use to be crazy too.

ZWrestleTalk is 5!  

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Whether you call it sports entertainment, or professional wrestling, (I prefer athletic novelas), we can all agree that aside from athleticism, storytelling is a big part of what makes it so great. What is their motivation? Why are we cheering for these people to fight to the death in a cage to see who has to shave their head bald? What do you mean this guy has an entrance to hell, likely underneath that very ring?

It’s interesting, funny, and ridiculous. But it’s also so compelling and a key way of roping people in. When you’re fully into the story and invested in what’s going on, it makes what they do in (or out) of the ring that much more enjoyable to watch. That's mainly why I've become so invested in the feud between Joe and Styles, we love a good cup of drama filled tea.

Yeah, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles have historically had incredible matches and feuds outside of the WWE. Both of them have a fierce intensity to them and you can’t help but be enthralled; and that applies to both their ringwork, and their characterization. The feud currently going on between the two of them is compelling because of how it reaches into aspects of the home life, what viewers typically don't get to experience.

Samoa Joe’s being perfectly creepy, disrespectful, and an all around douche; a great contrast to AJ’s hard working, determined family man. Samoa’s disrespecting AJ’s wife, his family, and yes it seems so novela-esque, but Joe’s coming off as such a disrespectful bad man and it’s absolutely sucking me in. It’s just fun, and the drama between the two of them has been a highlight on SmackDown so far, similarly to how personal it is between The Miz and Daniel Bryan. They’re dramatic, and bring forth an intensity that can’t be found in every storyline these days.

Personal, passionate feuds with speckles of truth or real life just feed the drama hungry human in me. What feuds are you interested, and why have they gotten your interest?

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Well isn't this something great. WWE is getting frustrated that a free agent is appearing on another wrestling show. This was all avoidable so the only people WWE can blame is themselves. 

Jericho is super smart. Also ALL IN is smart. Their event was even more legit due to his appearance. Not to mention his cruise should be a blast for pro wrestling and rock fans. 

Some speculated that Jericho would join IMPACT. He was the one that suggested Don Callis to takeover the booking/management. It has resulted in a dramatic change of product. The once laughable IMPACT is rebuilding towards being the clear number three promotion in the world. Even IMPACT hinted at Jericho coming to the company in a tweet. Where fans were chanting for Jericho.

Jericho is currently trying to prove he can show up anywhere. He has appeared in NJPW, ROH, and ALL IN. The next logical destination would be IMPACT. If WWE was mad at Jericho for ALL IN could you imagine the "heat" on him if he showed up at IMPACT? 

WWE could easily lure Jericho back for WrestleMania season but let's be real they are going to act bitter about this. Jericho will continue running with his incredible band Fozzy and doing independent shows. I'm sure he will continue New Japan, Ring of Honor, and the sequel ALL IN event on top of appearing on IMPACT.  My prediction for a WWE-Jericho reunion would be early 2020 on the road to WrestleMania 36. 

Seems far away right? Yet let's see if Jericho can make an impact!

Comment below on what you think Chris Jericho should do. 

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What is this? WWE Creative placing two criminally underutilized talent into a less than stellar tag team division? I would of never thought of this duo. Finally, Chad Gable and Bobby Roode have the opportunity to showcase their skills. In a division that desperately needs a spark. 

Roode was part of the tag team Beer Money with James Storm back in TNA. Gable of course was a part of American Alpha, which was killed off by WWE in favor of a Jason Jordan singles career. 

No more drifting for Bobby Roode on the mid-card. He can finally break out and maybe hold some gold. Gable can also get back on track within WWE. Roode & Gable could make a good challenge for Ziggler/McIntyre or Ambrose/Rollins depending on where the gold goes. 

In other tag team creative news, AOP finally has gotten direction. Even though they dropped the name Authors of Pain. AOP has finally gotten a mouthpiece and manager that is worthy. Drake Maverick, 205 Live GM will also manage AOP. Maverick should bring AOP back to where they were in NXT alongside Paul Ellering. 

So RAW delivered with two great decisions. That is becoming a rarity. Not to mention Gable and Roode could end up becoming a feud. The direction of WWE's weekly television is getting stronger and stronger. 

What are your hopes for Gable/Roode and AOP? Comment below!

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I mean when it was revealed that Shawn Michaels was going to be on RAW. I think we could all assume that it wasn't going to be a big deal. That it was going to be a promotion for WWE Network's WWE Super ShowDown in Australia. Yet, something magical happened. 

Shawn Michaels was talking smack about The Undertaker. Then the man he was taunting came out in a surprising moment. The two icons went back in forth verbally. HBK went as far as saying he is offered "dream matches" every year before WrestleMania. Which is true but this time the glaring "One More Match" chant felt more believable. You could even tell Michaels has the itch to get back into the ring, or maybe he is just an incredible actor. The Undertaker was clearly provoking the situation. The promo focus went from Triple H/The Undertaker to the confrontation between Shawn Michaels/The Undertaker. 

The segment between the two legends was brilliantly done, and it was something that added a little extra to an already good RAW that was creatively better than most weeks. 

I thought for sure that it was going to end with Shawn Michaels hitting Sweet Chin Music on The Undertaker. This over-the-top teasing might just be for WWE Super ShowDown and the Last Time Ever match between The Undertaker and Triple H. Fans are speculating the possibilities of Taker/HBK at WrestleMania 35. Ten years have past since The Undertaker retired Shawn Michaels. Out of all the dream matches and part time matches that could happen at WrestleMania 35, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker weren't on my list. We all assumed the story was over. Shawn Michaels name pops up in dream match scenarios every year. Most recently, AJ Styles vs Shawn Michaels. And before that, Daniel Bryan vs Shawn Michaels. 

This brings up the question of should pro wrestling get rid of the term retirement? Wrestlers compete at all ages. Plus it doesn't matter how long or inactive they are. They usually come back to the ring. Just look at Goldberg last year. We thought he was comfortably retired. Look at Ric Flair when he went to TNA. Look at the countless legends on the independent scene who have matches time to time. Billy Gunn, Tommy Dreamer, and Bully Ray all competed at ALL IN. All three of them were though to be retired. Or at least retired from WWE. 

​Heck, The Undertaker ignored his retirement from Roman Reigns. Who could blame him? He clearly didn't want to leave. If Taker is wrestling on borrowed time can we at least see him face Sting? Michaels may have gained more time after taking ten years off. 

Michaels coming out of retirement for another match is similar to a legendary film franchise coming out with another installment. Fans of the franchise want the past to stay in the past, and not mess with the original films, yet it is so exciting to see something from the past come alive again. Michaels probably was doing his job, and he has stayed true to his retirement similar to Stone Cold Steve Austin.  The matter of if he should stay retired is up to him of course. In my opinion I'm fine if any wrestler wants to come back for one more match. Because one day they will be truly gone, and we won't have that chance. Also "retirement" in pro wrestling needs to be revised. Not to mention the old, traditional "go out on your back" gimmick. 

​If HBK triumphantly returns it will be one of the most shocking developments in WWE history. Who should HBK face if he has one more match? Comment below!

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