Team RAW (AJ Styles, Matt Riddle, Braun Strowman, Sheamus and Keith Lee) def. Team SmackDown (Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, Otis and King Corbin)
I didn’t like this. At all, really. The biggest reason why I wasn’t a fan of this match was because it was just so boring. It was punch, kick, punch, tag. Then more punching and kicking before another tag. If this was going to be a clean sweep, I would have preferred this match to be far shorter than to drag us along thinking SmackDown had a chance.
One specific thing that bugged me was a common trope that happens in Survivor Series matches. AJ Styles hits Kevin Owens with the Phenomenal Forearm. Jey Uso just stands on the side and doesn’t try to break up the pin. Corbin then hits AJ with End of Days, and every member of team RAW breaks the pin. Sometimes wrestlers pretend the ropes are a barrier they can’t go through, and it just baffles me when they see the other team breaking up pins for their teammates.
There wasn’t much heat to this match since WWE skipped the whole invasion aspect of the match. All of the infighting on Team RAW in the weeks leading up to the match ended up meaning nothing, and the collection of SmackDown superstars literally looked like they had no business out there. Boring, uneventful, and ultimately…pointless. **
Street Profits (SmackDown) def. New Day (RAW)
This was a welcome change in pace from the opener, and this was a fantastic tag team match that I throughly enjoyed. Near-falls, smooth sequences, psychological warfare, it was all awesome. I have no doubt there would be “THIS IS AWESOME” chants in front of a life crowd, and it would be well deserved.
Street Profits haven’t done much with the tag titles this year and they’ve felt like an afterthought even though they’ve been champs basically all year. But this was exactly the kind of match they needed to let you know how good they can be in a focused environment. And props to the New Day for putting them over in a big way. Awesome stuff. Absolutely awesome stuff here. ****
Bobby Lashley (RAW) def. Sami Zayn (SmackDown)
This was more or less what I expected it to be. With Lashley bringing the Hurt Business, you’d think Sami would have a contingency plan in store to counteract the obvious interference that was coming.
While I do commend the efforts by Sami to get a cheap victory which fits with his character, the in-ring substance couldn’t be appreciated all that much in lieu of the extra shenanigans. Not the worst thing in the world I suppose. **1/4
Sasha Banks (SmackDown) def. Asuka (RAW)
This was the singles equivalent to Street Profits and New Day. Highly energetic, and a lovely set of counters to boot. Sasha and Asuka had it out for a few months over the summer, so the chemistry has always been there.
But since Sasha was a full fledged heel, their full potential was seen here, and I personally loved it. It’s just good to see a motivated Sasha Banks and Asuka wrestle without shenanigans. I was entertained by this. ****
Team RAW (Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Lana, Lacey Evans and Peyton Royce) vs. Team SmackDown (Natalya, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot, Bayley and Bianca Belair)
I had some of the same reactions as I did with the men’s match. It just seemed to drag on and on. However, the match was secondary to the storyline with Lana. Let’s face it. We knew she was going to factor into the outcome of this match and she would lost likely be declared the winner. It was only a matter of how.
My fear was that WWE was gonna have her start getting fluke pins on everyone, which would just be stupid. However, WWE came up with a stupid enough finish that works just for Lana. Jax and Baszler order Lana to stay outside, Baszler gets herself DQ’ed, Nia and Bianca are both protected with a countout and Lana is awarded the victory. So I guess….everyone wins?
I don’t know, Lana just never clicked with me outside of being Rusev’s manager, and I’m not invested in the storyline. But whatever, I guess. The match itself was what it was. **1/2
Roman Reigns (SmackDown) def. Drew McIntyre (RAW)
This was a war, and definitely a star making performance for Drew if he wasn’t already one. This is actually the kind of fight I expected them to have at WrestleMania last year. I must admit it is very weird seeing Roman not being able to win matches cleanly on his own and needing interference, low blows and ref bumps to win. It’s weird, but I’m loving it along with his new attitude.
Roman took every shortcut possible to win and needed everyone of them to defeat Drew. Drew’s now lost two PPV’s in a row, but they both came in extraordinary circumstances and still looks very strong. I think it’s safe to say putting the title back on Drew was the right decision for this match, as I don’t think we would have gotten that kind of war with Orton as champion. A fantastic main event, and a great showing by the two top dogs in the business. ****1/4
Undertaker’s Farewell
I suppose I’ll share my full thoughts in a future article, but let’s talk about this segment. It was, well, it was weird. First, in regards to all of the legends that came out, what was the point of that if they weren’t gonna stay in the ring? You burnt about 10 minutes of time bringing out these legends just to stand in the ring?
If they were supposed to pay their respects, why leave? It just seemed like filler and a complete waste. A pre-recorded package of all those stars sharing their memories would have done just as well if not better than just playing them down to the ring just to wave and leave not too long after.
As for the Deadman, it’s a cruel hand that fate has dealt that Undertaker’s farewell is met by virtual fans and pumped in crowd noises with artificial chants. But that’s the reality that the pandemic has brought upon us. The Paul Bearer hologram was touching, and yeah, there were some cool visuals, but this just didn’t resonate with me emotionally.
I think part of the reason is because it’s felt like Undertaker has bid us farewell so many times. His Boneyard Match with AJ would have been a perfect send-off. Hell, I thought Taker was done for good after the Reigns match at WrestleMania 33. I also don’t buy this will be a “final” farewell. Yeah, he may never be involved in another WWE program again, but I’d get good money we at least get cameos in the future or if Vince needs a ratings boost.
So, yeah. Not what I was expecting, which isn’t necessarily bad.
Conclusion:
It’s weird. I don’t feel like recommending the show but when I look back I see that there’s three four star matches. That’s normally good enough for an easy recommendation. I guess the problem I had with Survivor Series is that it didn’t feel like anything on the show mattered. The main attraction wasn’t even about RAW vs. SmackDown. It was about The Undertaker.
Basically, what I’m saying is for all the performances tonight, it just felt kinda hollow. Off of match quality alone, I believe the card is good enough for a thumbs up. But this isn’t a show I’d recommend if you wanted to tune in to RAW and SmackDown to see what comes after. If that makes sense.
