It’s the 32nd annual SURVIVOR SERIES – the only night of the year where everybody’s character is boiled down to a forced tribal allegiance that makes no sense!
It was occasionally a good time seeing Jon Coachman struggle through a two hour Kickoff show – you could sense his existential dread when he realized he had an hour and a half left.
Loved Lawler’s explanation for the Bryan heel turn – he saw the Survivor Series main event and “the evil came out, brother.”
LARS SULLIVAN COMING SOON~!
0. Traditional Survivor Series 10-on-10 Tag Team Elimination Match: Team RAW (Bobby Roode & Chad Gable, The B-Team, Lucha Dragons, The Revival and The Ascension) w/ Gran Metalik vs. Team SmackDown (The Usos, The New Day, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, SAnitY and The Colons) w/ Kofi Kingston and Alexander Wolfe
My general take on all three of these Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Matches is that WWE is rarely going pull off some cohesive story in or out of the ring for these, so the matches are all about the fun their participants pack in during the 20-30 minutes of random STUFF. This, like all the matches, was occasionally fun and occasionally mailed in empty bullshit.
This match did have the added benefit of The Usos and The New Day, and leave it to those guys to bring the house down on a finish for a pretty meaningless match. Prior to that, Primo vs. Kalisto was a fun pairing to start but man is it sad to see a Primo who is completely checked out. Metalik replacing Kalisto mid-match made me laugh because what a set of damn circumstances had to occur for Metalik to work a Kickoff match. Big E was very over. And we all got to learn that Lucha House Party vs. Gallows & Anderson is probably a match that should not happen. Kofi Kingston and Alexander Wolfe as cornermen was a sight to see too.
The final 10 minutes or so were great: Gable’s deadlift German suplex of Big E, Big E’s absolute rocket ship of a spear tope, and the German suplex plancha were all wild – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that last one before. E’s catch of Gable’s moonsault to setup the Midnight Hour was brilliant, as was the Shatter Machine counter of Woods’ elbow drop, as was the few minutes we got of Usos vs. Revival.
It’s not saying much, but the best Elimination Match of the night. ***1/2
HEY! Sasha and Bayley got added! “After we win tonight, we are coming after every single one of you” – why must PPV’s give me hope for interesting directions only to see them shattered under the weight of Monday Night RAW
1. Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team RAW (Sasha Banks, Bayley, Mickie James, Nia Jax & Tamina) w/ Alexa Bliss vs. Team SmackDown (Naomi, Asuka, Carmella, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville)
Like the match before it, some fun stuff in between a bunch of random empty bullshit. Nia Jax is having a moment in that everybody hates her for injuring Becky Lynch, so her using that moment to go for Kevin Nash cool and not scary mean badass is an absolute travesty.
Tamina eliminating Naomi kick to frustrated groans only for Carmella to roll her up for a MASSIVE pop was an awesome start. Then they just kinda did some stuff. Some moves. Irish whips. Chinlocks. A signature spot or two. Asuka is great – everything she looked did looked tremendous, and the showdown with Sasha Banks was EVERYTHING: the CROWD, the pink/purple hair contrast, the picture-in-picture of Asuka’s ass attack on the floor and her German suplex in ring. Nia as sole survivor was ehhhhh but hey WWE you do you. This had some real good bits but was a little all over the place. ***1/4
2. Intercontinental Champion vs. U.S. Champion: Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Great start, great finish, iffy middle – this might be as good as 2018 Nakamura gets. They could’ve shaved off a few minutes, but it was a match I always wanted to see and they gave me what I wanted: a bunch of good wrestling. They were clearly digging working each other, just trading holds and taunting each other and countering stuff. Rollins switching his rope-running direction for a tope only to run into a kick was awesome, as was the epic curb stomp for the 3. I mean, they were wearing t-shirts. But I liked this. ***1/2
R-Truth running around trying to join all three Survivor Series teams was a legitimately great bit. Love Ron Killings.
3. RAW Tag Team Champions vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions: The Authors of Pain w/ Drake Maverick vs. The Bar w/ Big Show
A match bound to be remembered for whatever Enzo Amore was trying to do. It was kind of a cool big boy brawl but never went full big boy brawl. Rezar tackling Cesaro during the swing was my favorite part. Drake Maverick pissing himself was not. ***
The Miz in full hype man mode for Team SmackDown was a treasure.
4. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Buddy Murphy [c] vs. Mustafa Ali
I love that these two got some time and I love that they won over the initially skeptical crowd with This is Awesome chants. It wasn’t their best outing, it wasn’t up to par with some of their higher end stuff this year, but it showed off what they’re capable of and they pulled off some incredible stuff: Ali’s psychotic bumping to the floor (god damn did he take that one to the barricade like he was shout out of a canon), the Spanish Fly off the commentary table to the floor, and Ali jumping into a Buddy jumping knee was all tremendous. And the tilt-a-whirl draping DDT was one of the craziest things I ever did see. ***1/2
5. Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team RAW (Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor & Bobby Lashley) w/ Baron Corbin and Lio Rush vs. Team SmackDown (The Miz, Shane McMahon, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio & Samoa Joe)
Like the tag and women’s elimination matches, more good bits in between a bunch of random bullshit. Rey Mysterio was the star here… paired off great with Finn, Braun, and even Bob Lashley. Joe going down to a Claymore 30 seconds in was a scream. Drew and Braun coming to blows was awesome. The Miz as a player coach was tremendous. But it all led to another big match finish built around Shane McMahon and I’m more of a Shane apologist than most but that’s kind of inexcusable. ***1/4
Ronda smiling and slapping hands.. off.
6. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair
WHAT A PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING MATCH. She might go into hibernation for months at a time, but Big Match Charlotte is THE BEST and this was another example of Ronda Rousey, Professional Wrestler delivering like nobody else.
This thing was real, and by that I mean these two were always on and working – death stares throughout, struggling to hit every move, a bloody mouth, stiff shots on every strike. Everything felt BIG and the crowd would chant for Becky once in a while but mostly they were buzzing for the incredible stuff in front of them.
There were a few parts here where I just freaked out for the wrestling, from Charlotte just booting Ronda in the face to setup the figure-eight to Charlotte hitting her best ever spear for an insane near fall. At one point Charlotte was using the chop in such a way it felt like a shoot move.
Both felt completely wrecked by the end and realistically probably were. Even with a DQ finish, this was wrestling magic. Sometimes two folks try to armdrag and dropkick their way into a reaction, sometimes two folks beat the shit out of each other and treat everything was legitimate and have everybody hanging on their every move. ****1/2
Brutal, epic beating post-match… Ronda walking off with welts all over her and the crowd chanting for Becky or booing her as she stared at them, disappointed… WOW. WWE has a real get with Ronda and they’ve made the most out of it setting up hot angles with Charlotte and Becky. If only they could do that on the show Ronda is actually on! * ba dum tss *
7. Universal Champion vs. WWE Champion: Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman vs. Daniel Bryan
To borrow a phrase… YES! THE AMERICAN DRAGON IS BACK AND HE IS WRESTLING A MOTIVATED BROCK LESNAR WHO HAS BEEN TOLD BY PAUL HEYMAN THAT DANIEL BRYAN IS A GOOD WRESTLER. HOLY SHIT.
They leaned into what could’ve been a tough story – Brock dominating Bryan – and made it work. Completely, utterly work.
The atmosphere put this over the top: the credibility these guys bring, Heyman screaming on the outside, the return of Bryan’s black gear, and the lack of YES chants on Bryan’s entrance which felt jarring. It had a hyped crowd after Charlotte/Rousey that became a quiet crowd as Bryan was decimated that became a raucous crowd as Bryan made a comeback.
The first few minutes was everything I wanted from these guys – Bryan all dickish and confident and taunting Brock until Brock just swatted him down and dropped him with the first German suplex.
The bulk of the match was Brock’s assault on Bryan which not only had a bunch of German and belly-to-back suplexes but TWO bearhugs, which you just know Bryan called. Bryan’s selling put this all over the top – his body felt useless. I loved his sell of a German suplex where he just kind of stopped mid-bump in a heap of pain.
Bryan’s eventual comeback, which came in the form of a ref bump and a low blow and a Knee+ near fall, was phenomenal, as was Bryan kicking Brock’s ass for a bit.
The finish was as epic as it gets too – Lesnar’s catch of Bryan’s tope reminds ya that this guy can professionally wrestle. The YesLock counter of the F5 was awesome as was Bryan just absolutely potatoing Brock to get him back into it.
Just a big, wonderful main event wrestling match, a Dream Match that not only completely delivered but was different from what was expected when it originally became a Dream Match in the first place. So good. ****3/4
A good show – even if some stuff was stupid or didn’t sniff high-end, every thing was at a minimum good and the last two matches are classics. 8/10
