WWE Survivor Series 2019 showcased the three brands of WWE programming, RAW, SmackDown Live, and NXT. The latter just coming off an awesome WarGames event last night. How any of them are able to walk without crutches is beyond me, but hey, they probably do a few more push-ups than I do.
Overall a pretty good show, some slow starts and sluggish finishes may have marred the overall feel of the event, but let’s break down match-by-match and you can judge for yourselves.
On the WWE Survivor Series 2019 pre-show Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode win a battle royal last eliminating The Street Profits. Pre-show victories count towards the overall score. Lio Rush successfully defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Akira Tozawa and Kalisto. One for NXT. In the final pre-show match, featuring all three tag team champions of each brand, The Viking Raiders earn a point for RAW, defeating Undisputed Era and The New Day. Spoiler alert… It’s the ONLY win for RAW.
WWE Survivor Series 2019 officially begins with the Women’s Survivor Series Match:
Team NXT (Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Toni Storm, Io Shirai, Candice LaRae) defeated Team RAW (Charlottle, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Sarah Logan) and Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, Carmella, Lacey Evans, and Nikki Cross). Overall a really good match, but we didn’t get the good stuff until after a lot of eliminations or drop-outs in quick succession. This match 100% put over Rhea Ripley. It also had the typical “don’t get along formula” which gets a whole team taken out. Charlotte didn’t play nice, and got the green mist for it. They did something a bit odd, Io Shirai and Candice LaRae both “left” due to injuries from last night, yet at the end of the match, after Ripley pins Banks, Ripley, Shirai, and LaRae are declared winners. NXT portrayed a bit heelish towards the end, but the live crowd, and I’m sure the crowd at home didn’t mind.
Triple Threat Mid-Tier Champions Triple Threat Match: Roderick Strong defeated AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura. What a match. Holy crud. This one got off to a slow start and then suddenly someone hit the turbo button to send it into high gear. Strong didn’t highlight the match, likely still sore from last night, but damn did he knock Styles for a loop mid-match. Nakamura, probably his best match in months. Styles, I don’t need to tell you how he brings his all-in game in every match. Great finish, with Roddy stealing the win.
Noticing a trend yet? NXT on a streak…
Adam Cole retains the NXT Championship against Pete Dunne
Wow. Wow. Wow. For two guys who went through WarGames, one nearly dying, they put on a WrestleMania-level match. So many near-finishes where I thought Dunne was winning. So many near falls. But in the end, a Panama City Piledriver on the ring apron began the end for Dunne. Cole’s reversal of the Bitter End into a Panama City Piledriver for the pinfall finish was incredibly done. Wow.
The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) retains the WWE Universal Championship against Daniel Bryan
This match successfully brought the return of the YES! Movement, but not sure if it’s here to stay. Good match, not great but really well portrayed how Bryan threw everything at Wyatt’s Fiend but still couldn’t keep him down. Bryan succumbing to the Mandible Claw was the right finish to continue this horrific reign of terror.
Team SmackDown (Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, King Bacon Rorbin, Mustafa Ali, and Chad Gable) defeated Team RAW (Randy Orton, Ricochet, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and Kevin Owens) and Team NXT (Tommaso Ciampa, Damien Priest, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, and WALTER)
First off, great match. GREAT match. Second, BAD CALL to have the NXT UK Champion, Walter, eliminated first. Very bad move. I don’t care if anyone can find a way to justify it, you don’t have the CHAMPION OF NXT UK GO DOWN FIRST! Chad Gable (because I absolutely refuse to call him Shorty G), goes on a suplex rampage, and some very nice amateur chain wrestling with Matt Riddle. He gets eliminated next by Kevin Owens. Here it comes again, some quick eliminations to speed things up and to stretch out the big spots… Which, I hate to mention, are orchestrated by King Bacon Rorbin who constantly distracts or interferes with his own teammates, causing them to be eliminated. Priest doesn’t do a whole lot as Orton sends him bye-bye with an RKO, but is then rolled up by Matt Riddle for the elimination. The Original Bro gets a short celebration as he eats an RKO, and is pinned by Bacon Bits. Fast forward through eliminations, until Reigns spears Corbin, allowing Ciampa to pin him. Down to Seth Rollins for RAW, Roman Reigns for SmackDown, Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee for NXT. Lee gets his spotlight. Ciampa eliminates Rollins after the Fairy Tale Ending, but is then speared by Reigns. Lee and Reigns go toe-to-toe, and the crowd goes wild. Lee nearly has it in the bag with a Spirit Bomb Powerbomb, but Reigns kicks out. Reigns hits a huge spear to win for his team.
Post-match, show of respect from Lee and Reigns. That’s what we wanted to see. Keith Lee has a very bright future.
Brock Lesnar retained the WWE Championship against Rey Mysterio, Dominick, lead pipes, and chairs.
It was a Brock match with a dash of “hopes and dreams” as this could have been a fairy tale ending for Rey and Dom, but nope. Nope. Nope. Fun to watch Dominick get some ring time, but it became clear this was Brock’s night to continue holding the WWE Championship hostage. Sold it well I suppose, staggering up the ramp to make it look like he just barely escaped with the title.
Tell me again how Kofi was scripted to last all of ten seconds?
Why did Rey look like The Fiend or a really bad Joker?
Why is Lesnar still a thing?
Shayna Baszler defeated Bayley and Becky Lynch in the Women’s Champions Triple Threat Main Event
Well, glad to see Baszler win. I predicted she would either pin or make Bayley tap, as Lynch has to continue looking like the top female star. It was a sluggish match, and it didn’t help that the crowd was dead following the men’s survivor series match. Starting a pre-show at 6pm is too early. However, the show ended before 10:30. That’s surprising. Maybe WWE will realize they don’t need to start so early. In any case the match had trouble moving along, picked up towards the last few minutes. I felt bad, this should have been better. Maybe the chemistry wasn’t right, or everyone was just so tired by its end. Baszler’s win was well done, however the post-match was very “Vince-like” as Becky Lynch rose to take down Baszler and take her place standing tall, with her own music playing to close the show.
WWE has this thing about being a bit too overprotective, in my opinion. Lynch didn’t get pinned, so this wasn’t really necessary. But, it’ll make for a storyline later on.
Overall, even with some odd rushed eliminations, WWE Survivor Series 2019 was well paced and booking for once, mostly made sense. Except for Brock, he lives outside the realm of sanity.
WWE Survivor Series 2019 is now streaming on WWE Network.
