4 Similarities between Survivor Series 2017 and Survivor Series 2018

Survivor Series 2018 was a hugely successful event just like the events before it. Survivor Series is famous due to the fact that it showcases matches between wrestlers of both the brands and the battles are usually longer than regular matches between wrestlers of the same brand.

Except for the Cruiserweight title match, all matches were between the wrestlers of the blue and the red brand. In a shocking result, Raw took the entire pay-per-view away, laying waste to Shane McMahon’s World Cup victory for the SmackDown brand earlier this month.

The only victory which came for SmackDown was between the tag teams of the two brands, where The Usos scored the final pinfall for Team SmackDown. However, the match was on the pre-show and did not count towards the final tally.

Survivor Series 2017 too had some shock results, but none so shocking as this year’s edition of the PPV. Even though that was the case, there were still some similarities between the two editions which cannot be overlooked. Let’s take a look at some of these similarities and how they affected the events.

#4 Braun scores the most eliminations

Team Raw had Strowman, McIntyre, and Lashley as the last men standing

Braun Strowman has been the WWE’s new monster for the past three years. He’s impressed time and time again and received a lot of push which he has surely deserved.

Last year, Braun Strowman scored the most eliminations in the traditional men’s 5-on-5 elimination match. He scored a record three eliminations in the match and powerslammed Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Randy Orton to pick up the pinfalls.

In 2018 again, Braun Strowman found himself a part of Team Raw. He was again the pick among the ten superstars who performed the best in the elimination match.

This time around Strowman managed to score 4 eliminations for his team. He powerslammed Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, The Miz, and Shane McMahon to score four consecutive eliminations for Team Raw. Interestingly, all four eliminations once again came via pinfall for him.

With the push that Braun Strowman regularly gets, its heartbreaking to see how the WWE fails to take him all the way to the top whenever the opportunity is handed to him.

#3 Headlining superstars

Charlotte had to step in as Becky's replacement

Last year the two main singles matches were between the top four champions in the WWE. For the women, Charlotte took on Alexa Bliss in the Women’s Champion vs Champion match, while Brock Lesnar took on AJ Styles in the Men’s Champion vs Champion match.

This year, we saw the women’s champion vs champion match take a hit as Becky Lynch suffered an injury just days before the big event. This called for Charlotte to take her place in the big match against Ronda Rousey, in which she competed as not a champion but a representative of the blue brand.

This meant that both the big matches involving individual superstars had one same wrestler as last year. Brock Lesnar once again wrestled as the Raw Universal Champion, this time against Daniel Bryan of SmackDown, while Charlotte fought against the Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey.

#2 Second loss for The Bar

Survivor Series 2017 saw The Bar as the Raw Tag Team Champions taking on the team of Jimmy and Jey Uso who battled as the SmackDown Tag Team Champions.

After an entertaining match, The Usos picked up the win which resulted in a win for the SmackDown brand too and laid waste to The Bar.

This year The Bar battled in the Survivor Series as the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. The duo of Cesaro and Sheamus took on the newcomers Authors of Pain who recently won the Raw Tag Team titles.

Even though The Bar had Big Show by their side during the match, distractions cost them the match against the Authors of Pain which was rather disappointing. Hence, Akam and Rezar managed to score a point for the red brand this year.

Since The Bar have proven themselves by being crowned the tag team champions on both the brands in just over a year, it is unfortunate to see them lose to the other brand’s team two years in a row.

#1 Consecutive wins for Team Raw

Team Raw swept the singles' elimination matches once again

Survivor Series 2017 saw Team Raw standing tall as the victors as the show came to a close. For the women's team, Asuka scored the last fall for Team Raw to help her team win the match. The elimination match for the men's had Braun Strowman score the last pin for Team Raw as he along with Triple H were the two last men standing before Strowman took out his frustration on Triple H.

A similar show came out at Survivor Series. For the women's elimination match, Nia Jax scored the last pinfall on Asuka who was on Team SmackDown this year around, to give Raw a victory.

For the men's side, Strowman was again the dominant force who scored the last of his four consecutive pins on Shane McMahon to hand his team the win before being assaulted by Baron Corbin.

Both versions of the pay-per-view had Raw winning the individual elimination matches for both men and women, signally that the flagship brand of the WWE is more powerful than the blue brand.

Edited by Sagnik Monga