There’s something special about the Survivor series every year. It’s refreshing to take a break from traditional feuds, and enjoy some good-old brand warfare for a few weeks. However, everything depends on the booking.
Survivor series this year had two major mountains to climb. Firstly, to pull off the brand warfare barely a month after the draft, and to live up to the standards set by last year’s edition.
While they pulled off the brand warfare just about right, the show falls flat on its face when compared to last year. While this year had its share of great moments, the lows outweigh the high by a mile.
The night started off with the pre-show featuring Charly, JBL, Jerry Lawler and Booker T, and Peter Rosenberg. The panel discussions were like any other panel discussion out there, Sami Zayn’s quips were the only positive from the panel discussion. The R-Truth segment was fun, but we’ve already seen 100 iterations of it. The panel closed and the main battle royal started.
The dual-brand battle royale was the highlight of the pre-show. But even with the likes of John Morrison, Jeff Hardy, Roode and Ziggler, Rey Mysterio present, the battle royale didn’t feature anything to remember for a long time.
The match started off with John Morrison getting eliminated within the first thirty seconds, while there had been some ups-and-downs, some individual stories were at play as well, the match itself was underwhelming.
The only moments where I was genuinely intrigued were:
i) Ricochet eliminating Cedric Alexander, only to be eliminated by Shelton Benjamin.
ii) Apollo Crews taking care of Shelton in quick succession.
iii) The back-and-forth between Chad Gable and Dominick at the twilight of the match.
The ending, however, was just uninspired, lazy writing. Miz gets out of the ring without getting eliminated, only to eliminate Dominick for the win, this is something we’ve seen so many times that it just doesn’t excite me anymore.
The main show started with the classic men’s’ five-on-five tag team match. As Team Raw consisting of AJ Styles, Riddle, Keith Lee, Braun Strowman, and Sheamus took on Team SmackDown featuring Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, Otis, Seth Rollins & Baron Corbin. The individual caliber of superstars in the match was enough to carry the match forward.
Team SD started out strong, with Corbin and Jey talking control of AJ. However, the tides changed with Riddle tagging in and team Raw took control. There were a few good individual moments here and there keeping the match running.
Eventually, Kevin Owens tagged Seth Rollins in for the match. Rollins looked at his teammates and sacrificed himself to Sheamus, in his words “For the greater good”. While it’s unsure what made the Messiah sacrifice himself, chances are he’s taking his much-deserved break to be with his wife Becky Lynch, who’s expecting their first child next month.
The rest of the match was a clean sweep for the red brand. Each of the members got an elimination, which in kayfabe terms seems absolutely right. While performances from Otis, Jey Uso, Sheamus, and Strowman were great, Riddle and Keith Lee were only a shadow of their performance from last year’s classic.
Next on the card was the face-off between the two champion tag-teams. The New Day representing Raw and the Street Profits from Smackdown, and boy, did it deliver! This was everything you’d expect from two of the most exciting teams out there, a complete package with bodies flying everywhere, and some top-notch technical wrestling here and there as well.
The match started with the New Day making their entrance in their outfit from Gears 5. Big E coming along with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods was a nice touch. The street profits were shown backstage, where they paid their tribute to the undertaker and they said it was their time to shine.
The match had its fair share of moments, hot-tags, near-falls, tag-team moves, you had everything! And boy, can Montez Ford fly!
I’ve always been a big fan of his frog splashes, but today was special. The flight, the height it reached was phenomenal.
But my biggest positive from the match was how inspiring Angelo Dawkins’ performance was. We always consider Montez destined to be a star, but Dawkins definitely put his 100% on the mat today, proving his place in the top as well.
Next up was another much-anticipated champion vs champion match. The United States Champion and the CEO of the Hurt Business took on the Great Liberator Sami Zayn. While Sami Zayn being the cowardly heel deprives us of his amazing in-ring action, his comedy skits are definitely worth loving.
Zayn tried his best to get the Hurt Business disqualified so he could skim a win out of it. Him tripping over MVP and asking for disqualification was gold. However, Lashley dominated most of the match as expected. While it wasn’t boring, Sami Zayn’s current gimmick really limits his in-ring magic.
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka took on Smackdown Women’s champion Sasha Banks next. Honestly, this match writes for itself, two of the most successful women in current wrestling taking on each other should definitely be a highlight.
The women definitely kept the show running, with reversals after reversals and some top-notch selling from Sasha and Asuka really kept it running the whole time. The match ended with a quick roll-up from Sasha, giving her a much-needed win, while protecting Asuka in the best way possible.
Considering Sasha Banks’ luck with championship reigns and her lack of title wins, this match was a perfect example of her capabilities. While Asuka, at 39 providing consistently good matches every week is a blessing for the world.
After a short segment with the 24/7 title, we moved on to the women’s five-on-five tag team match. The buildup to this was disappointing, considering 90% of the buildup involved Lana getting put through a table. But, it didn’t disappoint.
Unlike the men’s match, this had eliminations left, right, and center. Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Peyton Royce definitely stood out giving them a much-needed moment. But the ending felt a bit weird.
Nia Jax and Bianca Belair were outside as Jax tried to put Belair through a table. Belair fought back and put Jax through the stairs. Their back and forth got both of them counted out, leaving Lana as the only survivor for the match. While it wasn’t the best of endings, it was something unique.
While I would’ve enjoyed seeing Belair have her moment as the winner, this was a pretty good moment. However, we’re probably gonna see Lana put through announce tables for the next couple of weeks, so prepare yourselves.
With that, we came to the main event. The Universal Champion, the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns took on the WWE champion, the Scottish Psychopath Drew McIntyre. Two giant men squaring off against each other with intriguing characters and amazing storylines of their own, this was a match you’d remember.
Both of them had amazing sets of pyro for their entrances. The king arrived with Paul Heyman by his side, while Drew came in his newly acquired Kilt and Claymore Sword. The match started off with both of them getting into rest holds, until Drew decided to hit him with a shoulder block.
Both the men put everything they had on the line to win the match. Samoan drops, dropkicks, suplexes, both of them flaunted their movesets to the greatest. Roman countering a Claymore for a Samoan Drop was an amazing show of his strength.
The back-and-forth continued until Reigns knocked out the ref, requiring a replacement. Jay Uso interfered, giving Roman the chance to hit a low blow before the new ref arrived. Roman finally hit a superman punch and let held drew in a guillotine choke until he passed out.
Comparing it to their forgettable WrestleMania 35 match, this was better in a lot of aspects. However, a pinfall ending would’ve been better for McIntyre.
While we don’t know what’s next for Roman and Jey, this looked like the tribal king is satisfied with his brother.
One of the major highlights of this year’s Survivor Series was that it was the 30th anniversary of The Undertaker’s decorated career. It was finally his farewell, his moment to say goodbye. The farewell started with some of his most notable former rivals arriving to pay their tribute. From Shawn Michaels to Ric Flair, from Rikishi to Savio Vega, it was heartwarming to see everyone together. While all of them donned their suits and dressed, Kane decided to take it up a notch, returning in his wrestling gear.
After the entrances, we’re shown a video package of the deadman’s’ career. From his early days to the very end. With multiple legends paying their homage to the Phenom. As the video package ended, the legends left with Vince McMahon alone in the ring. He welcomed the deadman for the last time.
As the music hit, the deadman arrived for his last visit. The music, the atmosphere, and the classic attire, he had it all. He was lifted to the ring level by a platform and he entered the ring. He took the mike and spoke. He had sent enough people to rest in peace, but it was time for the Phenom to do the same. He did the classic Undertaker pose on his knees and we saw a holographic Paul Bearer on the ring. Afterward, he stood up, raised his hand, and left, leaving behind one of the most decorated careers of all time.
Quite honestly, the technology of the Thunderdome did allow a lot of tweaks here and there, but this needed the crowd more than anything. The piped-in crowd chants will never do justice to the man himself.
Survivor Series this year excelled in certain things: the farewell was pulled-off brilliantly, the tag team champions match was great and the champions definitely showed why they deserved to be at the very top. However, the classic Survivor Series matches were disappointing and a lot of it just felt flat. With Raw coming up in a few hours, let’s hope the creatives make amends for a better TLC.