With the WWE Survivor Series 2017 pay-per-view arriving on Sunday night, many WWE fans were waiting for the surprise reveal of one team’s final member. There had been all sorts of rumors about a surprise announcement of various women’s superstars as the final member of the SmackDown women’s team. However, the rumors can now be laid to rest as there’s a very clear choice for who will be on the team.
On Saturday, SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon sent out a tweet about the final team member. In that tweet, he left no more surprises as Natalya Neidhart has been revealed as the fifth and final member of Team SmackDown . Natalya is the former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, having just lost the title to Charlotte Flair in Charlotte, North Carolina this past Tuesday. She’ll now be on Team SmackDown alongside Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi, and Tamina.
Interestingly enough, there were rumors that Nikki Bella might make her surprise return to take the spot. Just last year, Nikki was cost her spot on Team SmackDown by none other than Natalya. That led to the two women’s superstars feuding over several matches and events. It appears that Nikki Bella won’t be making that return unless WWE is going to have an angle where she shows up for another reason.
Other WWE rumors were swirling that Paige might end up being part of the SmackDown team even though she was speculated to be returning to WWE’s Raw this past week. Paige was originally drafted to Raw in last year’s WWE draft but has been out of action since late last year. Reports hit the internet that WWE officials were upset Paige’s surprise return may have been spoiled by her posts on social media days ahead of Raw .
Individual competition drives every #SDLive Superstar. Even in defeat, @NatbyNature proved herself to be a fierce competitor and will be an asset to Team Smackdown’s 5 on 5 #SurvivorSeries Team. Let’s go to work, Nattie.
— Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) November 18, 2017
In terms of betting odds, various online sportsbooks had odds for “first eliminated” and “sole survivor” in the 5-on-5 women’s elimination match. There were also odds available for who the mystery partner would be for Team SmackDown . Natalya had led all favorites with 1 to 10 odds, just ahead of Paige and Nikki Bella.
It’s already being said that with Natalya on the team, the women’s Team Raw probably has the advantage to win this particular match because it’s not a superstar making a return to possibly win the match. Fans will be able to see Natalya and Team SmackDown take on Team Raw ‘s women when Survivor Series pay-per-view goes live Sunday night at 7 p.m. Eastern TIme.
[Featured Image by WWE]
