WWE Survivor Series: Can Goldberg cope with Brock Lesnar?
The key questions heading into Sunday night's PPV
Monday 21 November 2016 06:36, UK
Will Goldberg or Brock Lesnar win Survivor Series' mega match?
That's the big question heading into Sunday night's pay-per-view as the WCW legend and The Beast Incarnate do battle, 12 years after they first fought at WrestleMania XX.
But much more will answered, too, with Raw and Smackdown engaging in a number of brand-on-brand brawls and the cruiserweight division potentially undergoing a seismic shift.
Read the key questions below and then watch WWE Survivor Series, live on Sky Sports Box Office (channel 491) or Sky Sports HD Box Office (channel 492) from midnight on Sunday.
Has Goldberg still got it?
Goldberg looks in pretty decent nick and Paul Heyman, Rusev and a clutch of WWE security guards will tell you he still packs a punch - the legend has hit all of the above with spears, jackhammers and/or fists in the build up to his Survivor Series showdown with Lesnar.
Yet, at 49 years of age - he hits the big 50 on December 27 - and without a match under his belt since he initially fought Lesnar way back in 2004 inside Madison Square Garden, will the former world champion be able to keep pace with The Beast Incarnate?
Lesnar has seen off a raft of future WWE Hall of Famers since he returned in 2012 - John Cena, Triple H and The Undertaker to name but three - while he has only been pinned or submitted once, by The Undertaker at last year's SummerSlam, since he lost to Triple H at WrestleMania 29 in 2013.
But with Goldberg intimating that Sunday's bout will be his final one as a professional wrestler, can he muster up some of the old magic and conquer The Conqueror again, having edged their first meeting 12 years ago with a spear and a jackhammer? It's a must-see main event.
Will Undertaker appear?
If WrestleMania is the WWE event most closely associated with The Undertaker, then Survivor Series runs it a very near second. The Fall Classic is where The Deadman made his debut in 1990 and won his first WWE Title in 1991, while no-one can match his 18 bouts at the show.
It seemed like Survivor Series 2016 would be a Phenom-free zone - but the legend's return on this week's landmark 900th edition of Smackdown has led to speculation that he could appear in Canada this weekend to check out the blue-brand's five-on-five elimination match against Team Raw.
As well as claiming he was back to "take souls and dig holes", Taker also warned Smackdown's squad that they would face his wrath if they slipped up against the red brand. With that in mind, will he help Team Blue win in Toronto - or perhaps beat the heck out of them if they don't?
Where will the Cruiserweight Title end up?
There will be more than just Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick and his challenger Kalisto invested in Sunday's match for Kendrick's title, with the entire cruiserweight division set to move to Smackdown if masked marvel Kalisto is able to prise the belt from The Wizard of Odd.
If that happens, you can get used to Scotland's Noam Dar, plus the likes of Rich Swann, Tony Nese, Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik wrestling on Tuesday nights instead of Mondays, although the fact Kendrick is a sneaky so-and-so who is not afraid to bend the rules may give him the edge.
The veteran taped TJ Perkins' rope to the wrists and feigned injury as he ripped the title from The Fil-Am Flash at WWE Hell in a Cell, while he twisted Sin Cara's mask around so he could not see while downing The International Sensation in a non-title tussle on this week's edition of Raw.
Which brand is best - Raw or Smackdown?
Aside from Kendrick versus Kalisto and the Intercontinental Title scrap between The Miz and Sami Zayn, there will also be three traditional elimination matches pitting red against blue - the aforementioned one Undertaker alluded to, plus women's and tag-team bouts.
Smackdown's men's teams have an excellent record against Raw in matches of this type - they triumphed at both editions of Bragging Rights, in 2009 and 2010, and also won a brand-on-brand battle at Survivor Series in 2005, with Randy Orton emerging as a sole survivor.
The contest ended up as a pseudo one-on-one between Orton and Raw legend Shawn Michaels after Bobby Lashley, Batista, Rey Mysterio and JBL (Smackdown) and Kane, Big Show, Carlito and Chris Masters (Raw) had been eliminated, before Orton downed Michaels with an RKO.
Will there be a sole survivor?
Orton, then, was the final man standing in 2005 - at least until he was attacked post-match by The Undertaker, who was still seething at being locked in a burning casket by the Viper and his father, Bob, a couple of months earlier at the No Mercy pay-per-view!
The win came amid a three-year run of Orton being a sole survivor - he was also the last man left in 2003 while wrestling for Team Bischoff against Team Austin, as well as in 2004 when he captained a four-man squad to victory over a Triple H-led quartet. Can he repeat the feat in Toronto?
The previous sole survivor to emerge was Dolph Ziggler, The Show-Off doing so in 2014 as Team Cena combatted Team Authority. It seemed as if Seth Rollins would be the winner when Triple H walloped Ziggler but then Sting showed up, to attack The Game and help Ziggler pull of the victory.
But what will happen at Survivor Series 2016? Find out by watching the show from midnight on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
WWE Survivor Series booking details
WWE Survivor Series will be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office (channel 491) and Sky Sports HD Box Office (channel 492) from midnight on Sunday, November 20 (Monday morning).
WWE Survivor Series will repeated on Sky Sports Box Office (channel 491) BUT NOT Sky Sports HD Box Office (channel 492) between 10am on Monday, November 21 and 10pm on Thursday, November 24.
WWE Survivor Series will cost £19.95 for viewers in the United Kingdom and €24.95 for customers in the Republic of Ireland, while a live blog of the event will run on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps.
You can order the show online by visiting this link: https://my.sky.com/orderboxoffice/?DCMP=SurvivorSeries
You can also order the pay-per-view over the phone: UK viewers should call 03442 410 888, while customers in the Republic of Ireland should call 0818 220 225. (There may be an additional charge for telephone bookings).
You can also order the show via your Sky remote:
Sky+: Press the box office button on your remote, then click the sports tab followed by WWE Survivor Series.
Sky Q: Press Home on your Sky Q remote, select TV guide, then Box Office and then WWE Survivor Series. Enter your TV Pin if prompted. (Only bookings via Sky TV remote are recordable using Sky Plus).
Sky TV residential customers only. Commercial customers contact Sky for price and to order. Sky Box Office terms apply. Cable customers should contact their local cable operator.
