After another very strong showing from NXT at Takeover: Toronto, it was over to WWE’s main roster to try and top Saturday’s show. The build to Survivor Series main card was good for the most part; the Goldberg vs. Lesnar felt bigger than many expected and the cross-brand matches between Raw and Smackdown Live had some interesting sub-plots in them.
But with just six scheduled matches, would the card have enough to fill the 4-hour show?
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#1 Bella out
The Women’s 5-on-5 elimination match was up first, but when Nikki Bella failed to appear when her music hit, the camera cut to backstage, where we would discover that Nikki had been attacked and would be unable to compete.
Smackdown Live coach, Natalya, was conveniently nearby and would be a late replacement for Nikki in the first of three inter-promotional matches on the night.
Whether this was due to an injury to Nikki Bella or purely storyline, remains to be seen, either way, Natalya should have been in the match, especially considering the big pop she got from the Toronto crowd.
#2 Charlotte & Bayley survive
Team Raw would take the win in the 5-on-5 Women’s match, with Charlotte and Bayley being the survivors for their team. However, Charlotte was far from happy with Bayley, who got the decisive pin, for stealing her spotlight, and would attack her after the match.
This seems to suggest that the predicted feud between Charlotte & Bayley will take place heading into Raw’s Roadblock PPV. Can Bayley be the first person to defeat the Raw’s Women Champion on pay-per-view?
#3 Ellsworth meets Foley
In a backstage segment, Smackdown Live’s team mascot, James Ellsworth, would be confronted by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, who would make fun of Ellsworth with a number of chin jokes, how original.
Raw General Manager, Mick Foley, would come to Ellsworth’s aid however and even go as far as to suggest that everyone’s favourite jobber should consider switching to Raw. Ellsworth would politely decline this offer before bumping into a familiar foe, Braun Strowman. Braun would ask Ellsworth, “Don’t I know you?”, before the mascot would flee.
This wouldn’t be the last time the two crossed paths at Survivor Series.
#4 Miz retains the Intercontinental Title
The cross-brand Intercontinental Championship match was up next, as The Miz defended the title against Raw’s Sami Zayn. This match lost a bit of its buzz as most people seemed to be looking forward to the Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler match, after all, it was Dolph who issued the challenge to Raw in the first place.
The match was decent enough though and the finish came when Maryse rang the bell when Zayn had a submission locked in, causing him to break the hold and celebrate what he thought was a victory, only for Miz to roll Sami up for the cheap win. Therefore the Intercontinental Championship will remain on Smackdown Live.
#5 Cesaro & Sheamus give Team Raw victory
The second traditional Survivor Series match of the night saw each brand’s top 5 tag teams compete for supremacy. The match was predictably cluttered, to begin with, but early eliminations for Breezango and, rather shockingly, The New Day, cut the match down to 4-on-4, or 8-on-8 depending on how you look at it.
While there was some decent action in the match, it wasn’t until we got down to the final two teams, The Usos and Cesaro & Sheamus, that the fans seemed to get invested in this match.
Cesaro was particularly impressive in the latter stages of this bout, and it was the ‘Swiss Superman’ who got the decisive fall to give Team Raw their second victory of the night.
#6 Corbin costs Kalisto
In a match with high stakes, Kalisto would attempt to take the Cruiserweight Championship and entire Cruiserweight division over to Smackdown Live, by defeating Brian Kendrick. There was some great action in this match, particularly the Spanish fly off the apron to the floor, but the fans were far from invested.
As has been the problem with the Cruiserweight division since its return, the fans have no reason to care for the characters in the matches, and while the action is fine, there is hardly any character development for the audience to get emotionally invested in.
As for the match, Baron Corbin would run in, despite apparently being too injured to compete in the 5-on-5 match for Smackdown Live and cost his rival, Kalisto, the match.
Therefore, the anticipated reset of the lacklustre Cruiserweight division will not happen, and we look set to continue with monotonous, filler matches.
#7 Marathon match
The match of the night, in regards to in-ring action, has to be the Men’s 5-on-5 elimination match between Raw and Smackdown Live.
Clocking in at just under one hour, this was a marathon of a match and had plenty of spectacular performances from the men involved, particularly Shane McMahon, who lasted a long time, considering his age and lack of ring time over the last few years.
The bout also included some of his signature high-risk moves, such as the ‘coast to coast’ and elbow drop through the commentator’s table.
There were also some significant spots in the match, including James Ellsworth causing Braun Strowman’s elimination by holding onto his foot and forcing him to be counted out. Strowman would then chase down Ellsworth before throwing him off the stage.
We also got another great spot when Randy Orton would intercept a Seth Rollins ‘frogsplash’ to hit an RKO out of nowhere. Arguably the most noteworthy spot of the night however was…
#8 The Shield reunion
Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns would briefly reunite, for The Shield to triple power bomb AJ Styles through a commentator table.
Ambrose was eliminated earlier in the match after a confrontation with teammate and long-term rival, Styles, and would return later on to exact some revenge on his TLC opponent. It will be interesting to see how Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan respond to this unprofessional behaviour from Ambrose.
This attack from The Shield would result in Styles’ elimination from the match, but would Team Raw go on to claim victory?…
#9 Wyatts win for Team Smackdown Live
After AJ Styles’s elimination, the match came down to Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, representing Team Raw, and Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton, representing Smackdown Live. Luke Harper would get involved to give Smackdown the numbers advantage, although his involvement was fairly insignificant in the end.
It was Randy Orton, who played the most significant role, as he not only eliminated Rollins, after the previously mentioned RKO out of nowhere, but he also sacrificed himself to save Bray from a Roman Reigns spear, which in turn gave Bray the opportunity to hit ’Sister Abigail’ on Reigns and give Smackdown Live the victory.
It was a big victory for Smackdown, and it seems as though The Wyatt Family may be unstoppable after recruiting the ‘Viper’, but how long will this unlikely union last?
#10 Goldberg destroys Lesnar
The main event of Survivor Series saw Goldberg return to the ring after 12 years away from WWE, to face the dominant Brock Lesnar. However, in possibly the biggest “Say What?” moment of the year, Goldberg destroyed Brock Lesnar in just over one minute!
It only took two spears and one jackhammer for Goldberg to conquer ‘The Conqueror’. I don’t think anybody can honestly say they saw this coming and it certainly came as a huge shock to fans in attendance in Toronto.
Where do we go from here? Surely this will not be Goldberg’s last match in WWE; Brock Lesnar will definitely be looking for revenge for the most embarrassing defeat of his career.
These results are certain to shake things up, and the entire WWE Universe is eagerly anticipating the aftermath of this shocker on this week’s Raw and SmackDown.
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