Women's Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match Set for Survivor Series 2021

Major League Baseball has the World Series. WWE has Survivor Series, their own Fall Classic. Since 1987, Survivor Series has been World Wrestling Entertainment's traditional autumn event, usually taking place days before Thanksgiving. It serves as one of WWE's "Big Four," and is chronologically the last "Big Four" event of the calendar year. Survivor Series is WWE's second-oldest event, just two years younger than their mega-premiere event, WrestleMania. It was at the 1990 event that The Undertaker made his memorable debut, and fittingly, the 2020 event saw The Phenom call it a career after 30 years.

The centerpiece of Survivor Series was the traditional elimination matches--tag matches that were usually competed in a 5-on-5 format, though some were 4-on-4 and even much bigger than that. It was (and still is) the perfect way to showcase the neverending battle between good and evil, as these matches often pitted a group of faces against a group of heels, each with different agendas and each usually led (or captained) by a high level talent. In the early years, the card solely consisted of these type of matches, but as time went by, Survivor Series usually saw one or two of the traditional matches.

Since the original Brand Extension began in 2002, we have seen some Raw vs SmackDown elimination matches, and those matches often seen faces and heels working together for brand supremacy. During that period, the Raw vs SmackDown matches were occasional, but with the return of the current Brand Extension in 2016, Survivor Series' sole purpose was to pit Raw vs SmackDown--Raw's champions vs SmackDown's champions, and Raw vs SmackDown-based traditional matches. In 2019, NXT was involved, and nearly every match on that card was Raw vs SmackDown vs NXT. Since 2016, we've seen women's traditional matches yearly, pitting Raw's talented women against SmackDown's, and regarding this year's event, the women's teams have been set, and they are as follows:

Team Raw: On the Raw side, it will be Bianca Belair, Women's Tag Team Champion Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Carmella, and Queen Zelina. A bit peculiar that only one half of the Women's Tag Team Champions is on Team Raw, but I guess a sacrifice had to be made. It's a very interesting tandem. Zelina and Carmella have been partners in villainy since their last weeks as SmackDown combatants, and they have recently antagonized the tag champs on Raw. Of course, Liv has history with Carmella dating back to their time on SmackDown, and as for Bianca, she is looking to get back into the Raw Women's Championship picture, and if she becomes Sole Survivor, there would certainly be a case made for another title opportunity.

Team SmackDown: On the SmackDown side, it will be Sasha Banks, Shayna Baszler, Shotzi Blackheart, Natalya, and Aliyah. I honestly find the SmackDown side more interesting; for one, this is a huge spotlight for Aliyah and Shotzi--both coming from NXT, and now in a huge match at a Big Four event. Shotzi recently turned heel by attacking Sasha Banks very recently, so that's another interesting story. I have to think that Naomi not being on Team SmackDown is part of her storylined torment at the hands of the evil Sonya Deville, and I'm hoping that we may get a match between the two at the event. But even so, why is Toni Storm not on Team SmackDown? Many on social media are wondering why Natalya has to be on Team SmackDown, as that is a spot that could have easily went to Toni. Tegan Nox not being on Team Raw robs us of a confrontation between Tegan and her now-villainous former partner Shotzi. But even so, this should be an amazing showcase for all ten women.

The 35th annual Survivor Series will take place on November 21.