WWE Survivor Series took place last night at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. It was a strong event that resulted in a lot of talking points.
Here’s a quick results recap…
Tag Team Survivor Series Match: Team Smackdown (The Usos, New Day, Sanity, The Colons, and The Club) beat Team RAW (Roode & Gable, The Ascension, B Team, Lucha House Party, and The Revival) — Usos are sole survivors.
Women’s Survivor Series Match: Team RAW (Nia Jax, Mickie James, Sasha Banks, Bayley & Tamina) beat Team Smackdown (Naomi, Carmella, Asuka, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose) — Nia Jax is the sole survivor
Seth Rollins defeated Shinsuke Nakamura
Authors of Pain defeated The Bar
Men’s Survivor Series Match: Team RAW (Finn Balor, Braun Strowman, Lashley, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McInrye) defeated Team Smackdown (Shane McMahon, The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy & Samoa Joe) — Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre & Lashley are the sole survivors
Ronda Rousey defeated Charlotte Flair by DQ
Brock Lesnar defeated Daniel Bryan
Now here are the takeaways…
1. The Women’s Division is Driving WWE: The WWE is doing something special with the women’s division. Don’t believe me? Go back and see that nearly the entire pre-show was dedicated to the women. Why? Because WWE has smartly tied all the women’s storylines into one master narrative. The division runs through its two champions — Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey — and everyone’s stories fall in place because of it.
Since Evolution, the WWE has found a way to create big fight feels to the majority of the marquee women’s matches. These just aren’t “another match” — they mean something. At Evolution, the vibe for Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm, Nikki Bella vs. Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane, and Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch was off the charts. These matches had emotional investment, they had stories to tell, and damn it, we were hooked.
And even though she wasn’t there, Becky Lynch is the captain of this ship. Her character’s evolution (combined with WWE’s push of the division) has sky rocketed the women of WWE to the forefront of everyone’s minds.
When Roman Reigns left WWE, people wondered who would take his place at the top of the card, and at the forefront of WWE’s creativity — and the women are doing that, and we are all winning because of it.
2. WWE Creative is on Fire: WWE creative has had to think on its feet for the better of a month. With Roman Reigns’ just heartbreaking departure from the company to John Cena and Daniel Bryan bowing out of Crown Jewel to Becky Lynch’s injury — creative has to think fast.
And they’ve done a pretty remarkable job. While you’ll still get eye-rolling malarkey like Drake Maverick peeing himself, we were treated to some grand storytelling as of late. Dean Ambrose’s shocking turn on Seth Rollins. Becky Lynch’s ascension to becoming “The Man.” Daniel Bryan’s heel turn. Elias’ face turn. The push of Drew McIntyre.
All of these things have worked tremendously — and they’ve had to happen quick.
WWE Creative takes a lot of crap from everyone, justifiably so at times, but right now we have to recognize they’re doing some really good work at a break neck pace right now.
3. They’re Doing the Right Thing (Finally) with Nia Jax: A lot of people are not happy with the fact Nia Jax got such a big push during the show. The frustration is understandable. How can WWE give a push to someone who was responsible for removing one of the hottest acts in WWE from a match we were all dying to see? Some will immediately play the nepotism card — she’s The Rock and Roman’s cousin, she won’t get the blame. There’s a point there, if this had been Dana Brooke or Billie Kay, the push wouldn’t be there; the punishment probably would.
However, the WWE was handed a great opportunity — to turn a real life accident and create a monster heel. Nia Jax has been floundering in this weird Big Show-esque “heel one day, face the next” mode. Now, she’s hated — legitimately. She was being booed out of the arena. And to her credit, Nia ate it up like Sunday brunch. She basked in the heat, and smiled. That’s a great heel right there. They love the hate. WWE finally has the opportunity to create something with Nia organically. You might not like the short-term outcome, but long term this is going to turn out great.
4. Charlotte Flair’s Greatness Just Increased Exponentially: The Mad Queen has arrived. Charlotte Flair has always been the picture of poise. Yes, she’s a fierce competitor. Yes, she can get physical. But, we’ve never seen her snap. She’s done wicked things, but in a calculated manner (remember the Sasha Banks powerbomb at Hell in a Cell?). At Survivor Series, she…just…snapped. We’ve never seen this unhinged side of Charlotte, and the crowd adored it. This move reminded me of her dad when he was just snap in the middle of a promo, and not in that latter day knee drop the jacket way. I’m talking 1980s “I hate you Dusty Rhodes” way. This leads us to so many possibilities for the future. Is it Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen? Is Ronda vs. Becky vs. Charlotte at Wrestlemania? Where do we go? We don’t know and that’s exciting.
5. Daniel Bryan is Full Heel Mode, Bask in It: Last night WWE really toyed with us in a terrific way. Brock vs. Bryan is a dream match, and in the end it delivered on that dream. However, instead they built a story playing on Bryan’s injury history, and Brock’s history of squashing opponents in the main event.
But instead of playing a pure David vs. Goliath match, they allowed Daniel Bryan’s heel tactics to shine. A low blow, taunting his opponent, smiling during a beat down. This is classic, Ring of Honor “American Dragon” heel Daniel Bryan. The comeback story is over, and his reign is going to be something we haven’t seen from Bryan in a long, long time.
6. Lots of Big Names Curiously Absent from This Show: Not everyone can be on a WWE PPV. So it should come as no surprise when the likes of Rhyno, or Drew Gulak were not booked in a match for Survivor Series. However, it’s kind of shocking that, with this being one of WWE’s cornerstone shows, that marquee names like: AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Elias, Randy Orton, Becky Lynch, Kurt Angle, Andrade Cien Almas, and Rusev, amongst others, were not booked on this show. It makes sense for Lynch given her injury. But no Ambrose or Orton to mess with Seth or Mysterio? Styles wasn’t booked even though he could’ve taken a seemingly injured Samoa Joe’s spot. Elias, one of WWE’s biggest babyfaces right now couldn’t get a segment? This really speaks to the depth of WWE’s talent roster, and not to their futures with the company.
7. Cruiserweights Need More Exposure: Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy tore the house down. But did you hear those reactions they got when they walked out? Criminally minimal. This was the first time since TLC 2017 that the Cruiserweight Title was defended on the main part of a WWE PPV. The champion then? Enzo Amore. That was a radically different time for that show. These competitors have toiled a long time on 205 Live, and with tonight’s show it’s now time to get them more exposure.
Jim Ross tweeted during the show, “The 205 athletes need to get exposure on #SDLIVE & #Raw but not eliminate their own show. Makes no sense to keep them hidden, IMO.” He’s not wrong. Sure, the initial run on RAW was pretty whatever, but imagine showcasing these guys on Smackdown every once in a while? It’d do wonders for their status. Now put those talented guys on a main show and let them ball out. Have them go up against a Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, or Rey Mysterio. Guys like Ali and Murphy will only shine brighter if they get mainstream exposure.
8. WWE has Great Tag Teams…if They Ever Want to Use Them: Go back and watch that pre-show match. There was so really, really good wrestling there. I mean, we saw a damn GERMAN OFF THE TOP ONTO THE OUTSIDE. This moment would’ve dominated any NXT or major indie highlight reel for the next year. WWE may one day commit to tag team wrestling, and it’s going to be good.
9. WWE has No Idea What to do with Samoa Joe: Injuries aside, WWE needs to figure out a plan for one of their most over stars. Immediate elimination? Come on, man.
10. WWE Does Not Have to Rely on Part-Timers to Make Mania Special: Every Wrestlemania we wonder what legend/part-timer is going to come back to make the show special. This year, outside of Brock Lesnar, I don’t think WWE needs to place these part-timers in marquee roles. Ambrose and Rollins should build to a great big money match. The women’s division has what, three big money matches they can book? Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar — while it’s been done a few times — could be big money. You’ve got a lot of strong programs, and big time talent on the roster, and people are into them.
Will part-timers be there? Of course! Wrestling has always leaned on the past to draw people in. Go back to World Class’ stadium shows — Fritz Von Erich always had a match. Verne Gagne had big parts on his super shows, even in the latter years of that company. And WWE will trot out guys like Kurt Angle, Undertaker, and Kane. They laid the groundwork for a potential Triple H/Batista match (if HHH is healthy). And regrettably, Hulk Hogan will probably be there. But none of them need to be in the main event, or even close to the top. They can draw the casual fan in to watch or buy a ticket, but the future lies with this talented roster.
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