Survivor Series Rate Survivor Series

[CM Punk]

Okay, I'm like posting a lot about SS, but when Shane was the last survivor, I was half expecting the SD roster to come out and take some of them out or even Daniel Bryan to take someone out. Would have marked for Bryan tbh.

 

[Grievous 3D]

I mean, to be fair, it was pretty bad. They had a lot of new stars and had them eliminated at the start. The last 3 survivors on each team were Cena, Orton and Shane Vs. HHH, Braun and Angle.

Angle could barely wrestle, Cena didn't look motivated, Shane became the last survivor and so much more was wrong with the main event. Instead of establishing stars, they didn't make anyone look good. Aside from Nakumura 1v5ing them. But that was brief.

A jam packed survivor series match and they just made it feel like filler.

2014 one was dope, last years was sick, this one was just lackluster. And with all the star power they had in here too? I understand why people are upset.

I should have given it a *** tbh.

It would appear this match was turned into a "building block"
for some kind "McMahon Family Showdown" with Triple H
& Shane...or at the very least a Triple H/Angle Wrestlemania
match for control of RAW or some bullshit like that.

I personally would have rather seen less has-beens and part
timers in the match...but it doesn't really mean anything.

Its a real shame because the men's 5 on 5 match last year
was an absolute blast...but...this one appears to have been
a big let down.

Honestly...the teams could have been a lot better...but...then
I'm guessing the teams are never "perfect" no matter what
year it is.

Honestly...I don't think people should take too much out of
these Brand vs. Brand events...they are basically a giant
mess of short build feuds which rarely have any long term
consequences.

I mean...I guess I'm not going to complain because both
Charlotte & Asuka were winners on this night...and while
Becky being eliminated first after only 2 minutes is annoying...
there appears to be some kind of balance because Becky was
the last one eliminated for SmackDown last year.

I guess I'll have to wait to see the entire pay per view for
myself...but on paper...it looked like a great night.

 

[Mustafar Reginald]

Okay, I gotta add that I never saw Joe and Strowman against him, so I'm not too sure how much offense they got.

Joe & Strowman got a good deal of offense on him. Joe attacked Lesnar before the match started and sent him through the announce table. I recall him leading the charge for most of their under seven minute match until Brock reversed the Coquina Clutch into an F-5. I'm sure Lesnar got a few suplex's in too but that match was heavily in favor of Joe because I pre-match attack. Strowman's dominated Lesnar. Strowman was shrugging off all of Lesnar's offense (hit with a German Suplex, no big deal, just stands right back up like your Warrior facing Hunter and beat up Lesnar so more) until Lesnar locked in the Kimura. Prior to that, I believe the offense was mostly Strowman killing Lesnar, with Lesnar getting in a few shots that didn't really do much for him. Think Lesnar ended up kicking out of like two of Strowman's finishes and then put him away after one F-5. Which felt incredibly deflating, I get that they're building up the F-5 again as unstoppable for Mania when Roman kicks out of it for the first time in over year, but it just didn't clash with Strowman's character or the match prior.

Anyway, PPV Review time. I don't watch the pre-show because fuck the pre-show.

Survivor Series Review

Dogs vs. Unicorns
It feels strange to start off on such a positive note. Like, I don't have anything to complain about with this match. I mean, guess for awhile there I was legitimately concerned this was going to become Unicorn Stampede: The Match but you now, that probably only lasted like two minutes total. This might actually be my favorite match of the night, it's a close one between this and Lesnar/AJ, but this match was so good it was almost a detriment to the other matches. Like I got through the Women's match fine because it had Asuka to carry my attention but it took forever for Usos vs. The Bar to truly hook me by comparison, and that was the match I was most eager going in.

But that's not really talking about why the match was so good, and if I had to pin-point a reason, it was because the match was structured with a definitive half-way point. I mean that figuratively, it may be literal but I'm not going to take a stop-watch and determine whether it not it happened half-way. I digress, the spot I'm talking about is the Triple Powerbomb because when The Shield first attempted their finish it signaled a change in the match. If that match ended their, it would've been fine, they had a few nice bits of story and some good spots. A little underwhelming but a fine start nevertheless. But no, the Triple Powerbomb was prevented and the remaining match was set to "Go" and featured several incredibly creative tag team moves and well-executed false finishes. My favorite spot of the match, was when Big E had um . . . let's say Dean, on for the Big Ending but instead charged him into New Day corner for a faceplant & double kick from Kofi & Xavier, that was really cool. Or the Double Midnight Hour to Dean & Ambrose, it was pretty clear going in The Shield was winning but what a convincing false finish. The finish with the sky high Triple Powerbomb was fantastic too, not only because it's a big flashy version of the move but because it highlights a growing level of respect and not only physically elevated Xavier but The New Day as a whole. Not team came out looking worse and the decision to start this off was great. It may have inadvertently hurt the other matches for me, but with no scores and the lengthy time they allowed them, it was far easier to suspend disbelief and believe, hey maybe Roman Reigns won't lol Cena wins us. And for the vast majority of the match I was like, "Yeah The Shield's winning, easy" but their were brief moments where I thought the New Day would win, and that is the mark of a good match.

Match Rating: 9/10

Let's Talk About Asuka
I love Asuka. I don't remember if anyone remembers that Eve Torres thread that I hijacked, if you don't, if you don't just know that I posted enough Eve Torres pictures in there that eventually it got to the point where typing "Mustafar Reginald" in Google's image search was basically the same as typing "Eve Torres" in Google image search. That's no longer the case anymore, there's weirdly still a photo of Ryback that shows up but the point I'm trying to stress here is that I love Asuka, more than I every loved Eve Torres. Last time I made a "Favorite wrestlers of all-time" list she ranked at 15, and she probably could've been higher but I stationed her there because I'm afraid of becoming a victim to recency bias.

To cut to the chase, the lens I viewed this match through wasn't the traditional "Is this a good match" but rather, how does this match handle Asuka. I went in with two dead-set demands that were going to make or break the match for me. Demand 1, Asuka has to be sole survivor of Team Raw. Demand II, Asuka has to eliminate at least three wrestlers. And what do you know, they accomplished both these facts. Now, I wasn't huge on the gap between Asuka's first elimination and her other two, I think she would've created a bigger impact had she eliminated three all straight but it doesn't matter because this was the best booking of Asuka on the main roster yet (and this is coming from someone who's only real complaint is that the fired Emma after giving her competitive bouts with Asuka, I wasn't against the notion of seeing Asuka in a competitive match in here first nights but then just letting Emma go afterward just made me annoyed that they didn't just have Asuka destroy here). However, it's not just those demands being met that made Asuka out to be the big deal she is, but there's another key component here. She eliminated everyone using different moves. Carmella got her head kicked swift off, Tamina tapped to save her arm, Natayla lost to the more standard Asuka Lock. What I like about this is firmly establishes on a big stage that Asuka is capable of defeating opponents in a multitude of ways, which will make future bouts more interesting to watch since it won't always be "Asuka Lock then finish" (example in NXT off the top of my head, her bouts with Nia Jax and the second one with Bayley). Like the commentators later said nobody kicks out of the springboard 450 that AJ does and all I could think was, "I never seen him beat anyone with that". Establishing this early is key too, otherwise it risk making the loser look weak in defeat for losing to that move that nobody loses too. Also, favorite Asuka moment, was that Ankle Lock reversal to the Sharpshooter. I know Angle's got seniority but he should just past the torch to Asuka, she's performed it better on both PPV's that they've wrestled on.

Oh right, this match wasn't just Asuka. So the non-Asuka portions of the match? They were okay. They were mostly serviceable filler to wet my appetite for Asuka's time. The segments between Tamina and Nia Jax were nice, I never really pictured Tamina as Nia Jax equivalent but I love these brief big monster faces off and having her lose by count-out perseveres her dominating aura while also getting her out there so Asuka can stand center stage (also, I would say Tamina being paired as almost an equal to Nia here made Asuka's elimination of her even more impressive but I highly doubt anyone truly saw Tamina in a stronger light). The only real true downer her is that unfortunate mistime on the Alicia Fox elimination. That was pretty clumsy but they recovered quick enough.

Match Rating: 8/10

At Least It Was Short
I'd be lying if I said this match was anything but mostly boring. Like I said previously in The Shield/New Day (in case you skipped it because I've already written a ridiculous amount and maybe you only check the matches you care about and for some reason it was this one and not that one), that opener was so good I felt it actively detracted from my enjoyment of the following match, sans the Women's match because again if you skipped the previous ones, I love Asuka. So I'm not sure how much of this is centered on the match itself but I thought this bout was rather dull.

In fairness, the match did a fine job of protecting the individual characters, as both Baron Corbin and Miz kept their heel traits throughout the bout, and that is admirable. But still, the in-ring content just wasn't that engaging. The finish was alright and I got a big pop out of Corbin punching Axel right in the neck-brace, and ultimately for being the only match here not to hit the ten minute mark, I'm not going to criticize it too heavily but this was mostly a dull outing for. Glad Corbin won though, thought he would, Miz is kinda solidified to a point where this loss isn't going to do much damage to him, whereas Corbin's character is still growing, more reliant on victories as a big man, and I honestly still kinda see him as a goober who couldn't cash-in on Jinder.

Match Rating: 6/10

Sheamus' Dumb Hair & Cesaro vs. The Bartenders
This was the match I was most anticipating heading into Survivor Series as I feel like the tag division has been a consistent highlight on ever PPV this year and both The Usos and The Bar are primarily responsible for that. With that said, after Shield/New Day, I just wasn't able to get into the match for the longest time. Of course, we're talking top workers here so eventually they did hook me and we got another solid match! Again, I don't have much to critique here, once I got into it we had several great tag spots and that finish would've been finish of the night on any other PPV. Just that flying tag was so cool, and really highlights their supremacy as the top tag team. Like, as cool as it was I'm sure most teams could've done a spot like that but contextually speaking, ending the match highlighting a unique and more timing-sensitive tag, only reinforces their victory by show-casing the familiarity and technique of the team.

Match Rating: 8/10

Can We Go Back to Talking About Asuka, Please. I Can't Even Say, "At Least It Was Short" This Time
Look, I want to still be a fan of Alexa Bliss. She's great on the mic, one of the best in the company even (though her material isn't always up to snuff like the embarrassing "Old lady" jokes, but her deliver and facial expressions are always on point), and she can manage to imbue her matches with a little more personality which is something I appreciate but I can't help it, she does not deliver in the ring. To be fair, I actually enjoyed her match with Bayley back in Payback and the match with Mickie James was fine too but here? Oh boy, this was a fifteen minute bore-fest for me, and mostly because Alexa Bliss dominated throughout the match. There were very few moments were I just wasn't watching a match like I was watching paint dry, her offense is just so un-interesting. To be fair, their were two spots I really liked and Alexa Bliss was responsible for one of them (oh, and I guess I liked her arguing with the ref about knowing about the hair, her oozing some personality into a mostly lifeless affair). Doing the Insault to Injury from the second rope was cool, even if she botched the landing on sault part, and Charlotte's guillotine powerbomb reversal moment was cool but otherwise, I don't know, it was very slow-paced with a bunch of rest holds and milquetoast moves occasionally broken up by bits where Charlotte managed some offense. The story told in place is fine, punctuated by Charlotte's finishing line of "You'll never beat me" but just because a story works fine on paper doesn't translate to an engaging contest. Outside of the fact that it's just kinda hard to believe a contest between Bliss and Charlotte would so heavily lean towards Bliss for the vast majority of it (she didn't even really employ many heel or David tactics throughout the bout in order to maintain a sense of believability [I think she did one near the beginning which started the target the ribs story]). Not only that, but the booking of the match made it painstakingly obvious that Charlotte was winning, which I'm grateful for but it also made slugging through the contest tedious. Two other quick complaints. Complaint I, early on when Alexa Bliss has Charlotte in an abdominal stretch and she "squeezed" on her ribs to continue the attack on them, did anyone think that actually looked painful? It just looked like she was kinda touching with the occasional attempts to tickle but she wasn't quite sure if she should follow through. Took me out of the match. Complaint 2, Speaking of taking me out of the match, near the end of the match, Alexa goes for a cover, she goes to grab Charlotte's leg but realizes that "Oh shit, she needs to put her foot on the rope" then quickly lets go and hooks Charlotte's other leg so Charlotte can do the planned spot. I don't won't to blast her too badly for making a simple mistake and she did rectify it quick enough but I noticed it and it broke all immersion because it was just like, "Okay, Charlotte's definitely using the rope, thanks for the heads up Alexa". Ultimately though, the right person won, which does salvage it a bit but this is definitely the low-point for me.

Match Rating: 4/10

How This Match Feed Off Viewer Expectations in Order to Create a Truly Phenomenal Match
AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar is perhaps my match of the entire night, and is one of the best matches both men have had in the tenure within WWE in my opinion. What I love about this match is said directly in the title, this match used viewer expectation in order create, I'm not going to repeat the whole title. Brock Lesnar is a character that has been defined through dominance. Last year at Survivor Series, that took a bit of a shift. Goldberg shocked him into quick defeat, and at WrestleMania the two had a monster of a clash. As I mentioned above to CM Punk both Joe & Strowman looked strong in competition but Joe did so with a cheap assault pre-match and Strowman is arguably the most protected monster the WWE has ever had, constantly providing unbelievably feats, like surviving vehicular manslaughter, attempted murder, or standing up after a ring collapse superplex. Despite becoming somewhat of the norm, these were all anomaly's. Nobody was going into this match expecting a Goldberg, Joe, or Strowman encounter.

I had two big concerns going into this match. The first was timing. Ignoring the car crash fatal four way at SummerSlam where Lesnar spent half the match on the bench anyway, Lesnar has not wrestled a match longer than ten minutes this entire year. Starting with Goldberg beating him in under two minutes, Lesnar hasn't wrestled for ten minutes. This conditioned me to expect the match to end that quickly. Secondly, was offense. While it hasn't been the case recently, prior to Goldberg, Lesnar dominated offensively. Going as far to nearly complete shut out his opponents, like when squashed John Cena (which they brought up here, for good reason, to instill that memory while Styles was suffering a similar fate). Watching the first five or six or however long it lasted minutes of Styles getting decimated with no offense was disheartening. Because within the context that they created, it was entirely plausible that this was the case (especially since we're gearing up to Mania season, which means we're edging closer and closer to the fate Reigns dethrones Lesnar main event). He eventually got some punches in but was then annihilated.

But as the match progressed, AJ Styles eventually pulls out some offense. CM Punk already discussed this from an in-ring character perspective, and Michael Cole too corroborated this story quoting Shawn Michaels saying "The longer the match goes on, it favors Styles" (side-note, I'm using Cole as a base-point to attempt to establish intent in the story-telling since I believe he is still the main mouth-piece for that jazz [wouldn't be surprised if it was Graves do to commentating both shows, by the way, I have the five-man team, never do that again WWE]) but what was more valuable to me was how that scenario effectively reversed the expectations. Because the match had played so heavily into the expectations with a Lesnar match, the complaints that well all have, he just destroys someone, that made the reversal with AJ starting to mount more and more offense all the more effective. Not only that but it made the rest of the match all that more dramatic. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that this match was a lock for Lesnar. Especially at the crucial point where they theoretically need to tie the score (they didn't do that last year so it was plausible they wouldn't but highly unlikely). I wouldn't have bought AJ winning at any moment during the match had the beginning not play out like that because in breaking the aforementioned expectation, the match conditioned itself to break expectation. With the general short run-time and dominance of Lesnar we expected, it's all too easy to be pessimistic and assume that was going to be the case but when they themselves avert that conclusions, other pre-conceived notions go out the window. I did believe that AJ could've won it with the Phenomenal Forearm, I was on the edge of my seat hoping for Styles to win, rather than just going "Tch, Lesnar's not losing" and that's all because this match know exactly viewer perspective and how to play off that to create an instant classic.

Or maybe it just knew my particularly mindset. I don't want to speak for everyone when I say that but this is the integral reason why I loved this match. You know, going in, I thought it was close but no, this is my favorite match of the night. Maybe a ten. Like, in the sense that their are better matches, but if you judge it based on what it was going for, could it really have been any better? I don't know, I'm probably going to give it a 9 anyway but whatever. One more thing though that isn't like analytical at all, but the finish was amazing. Typically when people do a catching finisher in like the fireman's carry position, they catch them like they're going to World's Strongest Slam them then re-position, the fact that Lesnar caught Styles in F-5 position, thing of beauty.

Match Rating: 9maybea10butlet'sgowith9/10

Braun Strowman Time Traveled to Early 2006
I originally wasn't going to watch this match but was in such a good mood following Styles/Lesnar, and I wanted to talk about the PPV and figured I shouldn't do a review like this on here without talking about every single match in excruciating death because apparently I hate sleeping it's 6:27 AM as I type this why do I hate myself so much, so watched the main event. As the title implies, I was not that thrilled that the conclusion to the match saw Strowman with a bunch of part-timers, all of whom, outside of Shane McMahon weirdly, are definitely past their prime. Angle is like my second favorite wrestler of all-time, I enjoyed him fine at TLC but here, it's just a far cry from the wrestling machine I remember. Where's the intensity, this felt boiler-plate from him, just a stripped down to basic components Kurt Angle. I don't know, multi-man's aren't a great judge. Every match I've seen from HHH in years has bored me, some of them are technically fine like the Rollins match, but it's been years since he's entertained me in a bout. Shane McMahon on the other hand has had two of his best matches ever this year against Styles & Owens, it's really weird that he's the one I have the most faith in now of three.

Anyway, the match started off fine delivering unique and interesting match-ups that many people wanted to see. My friend and I have really wanted a Joe/Orton feud, people went nuts for Balor/Shinsuke, and Triple H facing his son was something I definitely wanted to see. Unfortunately though, Shinsuke and Roode having been in the company for ages and were pretty quickly eliminated. In a sense they were protected since Strowman eliminated them, and Strowman kills everyone but still it was just disheartening to see them go so quickly and the match ultimately revolve around an authority angle, plus Braun Strowman. Bless Braun Strowman. Anyway, Shinsuke came out looking fine since he had a pretty cool sequence tackling everyone but Roode just looked like an idiot to me. He was only in there to perform his stupid taunt (and at a stupidest time at first [lol at Finn's reaction, if you guys want to have a blast watching this match, Finn's reactions on the sidelines were gold]). He contributed basically nothing besides that to the match.

That's not to say it was abhorrent, I liked the fact that the Raw team was far more in chaos compared to the Smackdown team despite the result. With Samoa Joe being a dick to everyone, HHH betraying Angle to play some stupid mind game on Shane so he could beat him himself, while all Smackdown Live's internal problems were relegated to KO & Sami, and with the five man suplex to Strowman, they demonstrated more teamwork than Raw did (sans Finn's sneak Coup de Grace I guess). It was a neat little wrinkle that made the match at least a little more amusing.

But ultimately, this is a match that just got worse as it progressed.

Match Rating: 6/10

PPV Rating: 7.1/10

Rankings

PPV's
I. Survivor Series ~ 7.1/10
II. Payback ~ 6.4/10
III. WrestleMania 33 ~ 6.1/10
IV. Money in the Bank ~ 5.8/10
V. Backlash ~ 5.1/10

Matches
I. WWE Title, John Cena vs. AJ Styles (c): Royal Rumble ~ 10/10
II. Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles: Survivor Series ~ 9/10
III. The Shield vs. The New Day: Survivor Series ~ 9/10
IV. WWE Title, Bray Wyatt vs. AJ Styles vs. The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin vs. John Cena (c), Elimination Chamber: Elimination Chamber ~ 9/10
V. Money in the Bank, AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn: Money in the Bank ~ 9/10
VI. Raw Tag Team Titles, Sheamus & Cesaro vs. The Hardy Boyz (c): Payback ~ 8/10
VI. CW Title, Austin Aries vs. Neville (c): Payback ~ 8/10
VII. Raw Women's Title, Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley (c): Payback ~ 8/10
VIII. Raw Women's Title, Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax vs. Bayley (c): WrestleMania 33 ~ 8/10
IX. Universal Title, Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg (c): WrestleMania 33 ~ 8/10
X. AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon: WrestleMania 33 ~ 8/10​

Okay, so friendly reminder that my scores are not weighted, not that it should matter, I think Survivor Series is the only PPV I ever gave a 7 to on here. I'd have to check back on my TLC 2013 review post but it was a pain just getting my rankings for this year and I'm getting tired so eh, it doesn't matter. It was great PPV. Also, note, outside of adding the top matches of Survivor Series to the list, I didn't particularly put any thought in updating the match listing. And for the record, I've seen about every WWE PPV this year (minus Extreme Rules), I just either haven't had time to write a review and a mixture of skipping matches (Jinder's) but I don't feel like adding them to the rankings since I didn't do it on here and I don't like rating matches off memory.

 

[SWL]

WWE has been very consistent with their PPVs as of late. Ever since Summerslam every PPV had a big takeaway. Cena/Reigns, Owens/Shane, Kurt Angle/the Shield/Asuka and now this, I love it. Let me start off by saying, I don't like the shirts lol, like, we get who's on which side. You don't have to tell us by having them wrestle in shirts. There's a reason why these people work out every damn day. Having red/blue attires is cool but when you turn it into full on Bragging Rights you should have also made the ropes red and blue

• Shield vs New Day was great, the perfect opener
• Alicia Fox has to be the clumsiest pro wrestler on a big stage rn and Naomi is in the same boat at times, even though everybody used to praise them for "not getting a chance", well here's why. Without Asuka kicking everybody's ass, like we wanted her to, this match would have been nothing.
• Miz vs Corbin was surprisingly good, they slowly built the match up so that the ending had everybody on their feet. We knew that Miz could work a good match but Corbin proved it as well last night. They also made him look hella strong by taking out the entire squad and winning clean even though he had an injured leg. So good on ya
• both the Usos and the Bar had the unfortunate spot on the card where the crowd wanted to care but couldn't really get into it. They put on a really good match, but it would have been way better if the crowd was more into it
• I really wanna get hyped for the womens division and see them succeed but I wasn't feeling this one tbh. To be real, besides Asuka I wasn't feeling any of the women tonight. Maybe I just have to rewatch it again because I felt like I was just sitting through it while watching it live. This is not me hating on either of them but the crowd just wasn't into it, I wasn't really into it either. Sadly, I just wanted it to be over so we can move the fuck on to
• AJ STYLES VS BROCK LESNAR. What a banger. I don't know what to say, AJ Styles is the Shawn Michaels of our generation. Classic after classic against any given opponent. Props to both men tho, it takes 2 to tango and Brock definitely brought it. Lesnar made AJ look good and AJ made Lesnar look good, what a perfect world we live in
• I understand why certain people aren't happy with the way the 5v5 match went. I mean, Triple H could very well be the modern day Hulk Hogan, and I'm not talking about the 80s Hogan but more so the NWO/TNA Hogan that books himself to destroy everybody for his own ego. I mean, I don't wanna believe that but the chances of that being "a thing" are rather high. With that being said tho, I still enjoyed it and the ending with Braun was great. If they're gonna do Triple H vs Braun tho, don't expect much out of it. It will probably just be another Braun/Lesnar-type of match but with Braun going over this time around

All in all, a really good PPV. If you add the hype they built around it, they killed it. I talked about this on the Rate TakeOver War Games thread but that's why you can't compare these 2 shows. On the main roster they just hype the PPVs more so it's harder to live up to it. But they do that because they have to, that's why way more people tune in for the main PPVs than the TakeOver specials. Especially when you think about the amount of content that was in Survivor Series. 7 big matches, 2 and a half hours of wrestling and none of it felt repetitive. 8/10

 

[Rosie]

The weirdness of the main event ending knocked a few things down as the ending is flat. But, other than that, every match was respectable to great, especially the AJ vs Brock match and was one of Brock's best matches in a long time.

8/10

 

[alexb]

Went with an 8/10 myself and do agree with most that indeed it was a very enjoyable, fun show with very little to really complain about. Thoughts:

- Even via the Shield Roman still can't get over with the "you still suck" chants echoing throughout the match...

- I've noticed a lot of talking from New Day's part about brotherhood, trust and whatnot. Granted, it was part of the build for Survivor Series and them taking a stab at the Shield's past when Seth turned on them but it does make me wonder if WWE are planting the seeds for some turn down the road that would lead to the New Day now breaking up. It may be nothing really and of course can't ignore the merch sales but, Idk, they just go me thinking...

- I was very pleased to see WWE took the right approach with Asuka, having her being the sole survivor in the end while looking dominant and all. Lot's of nice moments throughout this match (really enjoyed the bried showdown between Jax and Tamina in particular) however I did find it odd that they had Becky be the first woman eliminated.

- When the match was first announced I had it penciled for a Corbin win but must admit, the exchange those two had via social media, making it all personal, led to me change my mind and pick Miz to win. As it turned out, Corbin won and rightfully so; he needed it more and Miz is just fine, no matter how many pins he eats.

- As it turned out, Brock vs. AJ was so much better then I ever imagined it would be. Then again, how could it ever be bad with AJ in it? In all fairness though, Brock deserves just as much credit....

- Main event was great, the finish probably a bit meh but by the looks of it, it almost feels like they are somewhat going along the lines of what I predicted last week in regards to the HHH/Angle/Jordan storyline.

Since Jordan didn't get involved last night, watch him come out and confront HHH for his actions, stick up for his "father" and challenge Hunter to a match. If so, the rest may just unfold as I called it: Hunter destroys Jordan and that will lead to the Angle/HHH match at Mania, which they pretty much alreasy cemented last night....

 

[Prince Bálor]

Well, Survivor Series was a long show, but thankfully, it was a good one. 7/10

- The Shield vs The New Day was a very good show opener. ★★★¾
These two teams delivered as expected. I thought this would be an easy win for The Shield, but there were moments where I thought The New Day was taking the win here, the near falls in this match were great, as was the work from everyone involved. The New Day continues to have great PPV matches and The Shield looked good, too.

- Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Bayley & Asuka vs Becky Lynch, Carmella, Tamina, Naomi & Natalya was decent. ★★¼
It had its rough moments and questionable booking decisions, but at least it had some fun parts. Also, Asuka being the lone survivor was the right call.

- Baron Corbin vs The Miz was solid. ★★½
Not much to say here, it was a fine bout with a good, clean finish. The Miz doing DB's offense before running into the End of Days looked cool.

- The Usos vs The Bar was pretty good and fun. ★★★½
This was another match that was guaranteed to deliver and it did. The Usos and The Bar work so well together and the pacing here was really good, the homestretch and the finish itself were good, too. I'd love to see a rematch down the line.

- Charlotte vs Alexa Bliss was good. ★★★
I expected it to be a little more clunky, but thankfully it wasn't. Some of the work could've been a bit more smoother, but all in all, it was good for what it was.

- Brock Lesnar vs AJ Styles was great and MOTN. ★★★★¼
You know, apart from a few botchy moments, this was pretty damn great. It had a great vibe, both guys worked hard and I had a blast watching it. This has to be one of Lesnar's longer matches in recent memory, which is great. It's also great that Styles was given a lot and almost overcame the odds. Lesnar looked motivated and Styles was phenomenal as usual which led to a great, great match.

- Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe & Triple H vs Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura & John Cena was a good ME. ★★★
It was good for what it was, but somewhat disappointing considering the talent involved. Cena and Angle didn't look good, in particular. Sure, there were some fun interactions and all, but the eliminations felt rushed, which I didn't really appreciate. Also, the ending fell flat, but hey, at least Strowman laying out HHH post-match was good.

 

[Randy Borton]

Solid 8/10, Brock vs AJ was match of the night.

 

[The Gipper]

10/10 for that Nia Jax/Tamina staredown alone.

 

[Solid Snake]

If the show was based solely on HHH burying himself, 20/10

 

[SWAGSUKE]

Burying himself in Steph's junk? Yeah, hes been doing that.

 

[SWAGSUKE]

This was the best Survivor Series I've ever seen. I can't say I've seen all of them, but I've seen all of them since 1998. I've seen a few of the earlier deals back in the day or on the Network. I don't watch weekly WWE anymore. It's too much to keep up with, but I try to tune in for the big shows.

That said, the thought of a 4 hour ANYTHING is a lot of time to devote. The card was stacked, but I still thought it would drag. It did not. I enjoyed each match. They all told their own story, and had their own special moments.

There's a ton I could do a deep dive on, but I'd rather do one on Nia.. HI-YOOOOOO....

OK but seriously, Nia vs Tamina was so goddamn good. I've never seen a moment in women's wrestling where they do that type of Power vs Power spot, and 5 on 5 matches are GREAT for that. I was marking the f out. I love those moments in wrestling, where it's two people squaring off that I never would have dreamed of. I'd never have thought it up myself, but when they put it in front of me I'm like "YES! THIS IS WHAT WE NEED! POLYNESIAN WOMEN KICKING ASS!"

Great show. I predicted from the start that this Shane and HHH beef was going to kick off in the main event. I'm hoping they do a match at Mania or something. I'm such a mark for the neverending McMahon saga.

 

[Crash]

A solid show... 8/10 One of the best PPV this year.