The pre-show had three matches, Elias defeating Matt Hardy, Enzo Amore retaining the Cruiserweight Championship, and Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn defeating Breezango.
The show kicks off seeing The Shield defeating The New Day in a six-man bout. Great match, pace gradually picked up steam, with some nice teasing near-falls and some big bumps late in the match.
The first Survivor Series match features the Women’s Division, and the victory goes to Team RAW, as Asuka is the sole survivor, last eliminating Tamina and Natalya. Good match, a surprise early elimination saw Becky Lynch out first, while later, Nia Jax is eliminated by count-out, which appeared to make her elimination believable.
In what many might have thought to be a surprise, Bacon Rorbin defeated The Miz. The victory wasn’t so much the surprise, as it was a clean win. No cheap shots, no interference, just a plain ol’ Corbin overpowering and earning a solid victory over The Miz. Post-match, he cut a scathing promo, likely directed to the internet fans who still doubt Corbin’s ability to be main event material.
A good tag match, satisfyingly entertaining, The Usos defeated The Bar. A lot og big hits as expected, a lot of near falls and superkicks. An enjoyable match, felt as though there could have been more.
Raw vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Match, Charlotte defeats Alexa Bliss by submission. This was one of the better matches of the night. Charlotte took some hard and scary looking bumps. Bliss had a lot of near falls, but Charlotte’s resilience proved to be the deciding factor.
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defeated WWE Champion AJ Styles: This was an odd one. Brock dominated majority of the match, until he made a mistake, or perhaps got cocky, something which the creative team wanted to show Brock as overconfident, and allowed Styles to have a pretty hefty comeback. This one did legitimately give fans belief Styles could make the upset, but one too many high fly moves cost him. One F5. It’s over. Styles looked damn good though. Those German suplexes… Ouch.
Team RAW defeated Team SmackDown: Again, very odd paced match. Nakamura was out first, second out was Bobby Roode. The NXT guys go bye-bye first? Bleh. They come back to plow Strowman through the announce table. Cena goes Super Saiyan on Samoa Joe, eliminating him. Cena is sent home thanks to Kurt Angle. Balor is gone next following an awkward looking RKO. So… We’ve just taken a trip back in time to the mid-2000’s as Triple H, Randy Orton, Kurt Angle, and Shane McMahon are left, not including Strowman who is still out cold. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn strike, causing Orton to face elimination next. With it down to Shane, we begin the sequence of stranger events. Triple H turns on Kurt Angle, allowing Shane to pin him. Triple H then feigns aligning with Shane, drilling his brother-in-law with a Pedigree, pinning him, and with Braun Strowman, taking the win for Team RAW. Triple H then get all show-boaty-gloaty with Strowman, who isn’t happy with the double-swerve, and we aren’t either as we wanted to see Strowman lay waste for the win. We still get it, when Braun snaps and puts the fear of god into Triple H. Unfortunately, the Game doesn’t take kindly. He attacks the Monster Among Men from behind, a bad move, as Triple H then eat not one, but two running Powerslams to close the show.
Good show tonight, matches were well-paced and well-executed. Some of the finishes came off a bit odd, but nonetheless will give us all something to talk about tomorrow night as RAW celebrates.
