Another Survivor Series is in the books, and that means we get to talk about everything that WWE did right, wrong, great, and terrible. The elimination order in this match was ridiculous! How did this guy get eliminated first? Why did they let him make it all the way to the end of the match?
How could they possibly think it was a good idea for so-and-so to eliminate such-and-such?
One thing that can be more interesting than the order of elimination or booking choices is the way that the men and women get eliminated from their matches. Sometimes it’s nonsensical. Sometimes it’s run-of-the-mill, and sometimes, it’s outstanding.
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There were a bunch of really good, fun and creative eliminations this year, which went along well with the good, fun and entertaining matches they put on for the audience live and at home. Here are the five most outstanding eliminations from this year’s Survivor Series event.
#5 The Usos eliminate The New Day
In a matter of seconds, the 10-on-10 elimination tag team match between the tag teams of SmackDown Live and Monday Night RAW became 8-on-10. Then, mere moments later, it was 8-on-8.
Fandango, one-half of the City of Breezango Fashion Police, handed out citations to both teams and some members of the audience. Before he knew it, he was on Big E’s shoulder and getting driven into the mat by a flying DDT from Kofi Kingston.
The 2-time WWE World Tag Team Champions celebrated too early, though, as Jimmy Uso snuck into the ring and readied a superkick for Kofi. One-third of the RAW tag champs turned around, and before he even knew that he wasn’t alone in the ring, the bottom of Uso’s boot was on his face, and he was down for the 3-count.
Xavier Woods went from celebrating with Francesca 2: Turbo, to falling to his knees screaming to the seven deities, bemoaning the situation that had just unfolded.
#4 Randy Orton helps Bray Wyatt eliminate Seth Rollins
Randy Orton is known for his spectacular series of RKOs outta nowhere, that he has pulled off over the years. At Survivor Series he nailed one of the cleanest, best ones yet, to eliminate Seth Rollins. In fact, the RKO that countered Rollins’ attempted frog splash jump, may be second only to the RKO that countered Rollins’ attempt at the curb-stomp back at WrestleMania 31.
The match had broken down after The Shield reunited, just briefly, to put AJ Styles through the announce table with the triple powerbomb. Ambrose wasn’t even on the same team as Reigns and Rollins, and he was already eliminated.
When the high of that moment was over, reality set in and the two remaining members of The Shield were met with the three current members of The Wyatt Family waiting to attack.
Although he looked poised to put away Bray Wyatt with the frog splash, Orton was having none of it and caught him out of mid-air with a gorgeously executed RKO.
Randy Orton helped Wyatt get the final two eliminations of the match, also assisting Bray by pushing him out of the way to take a spear from Roman Reigns, which allowed the leader of the Wyatt Family to hit Sister Abigail on the leader of the Roman Empire.
#3 Roman Reigns eliminates Shane McMahon
Shane McMahon was, as you might expect, treated like a crash test dummy in the 5-on-5 men’s elimination tag team match on Sunday night. He was tossed around by Braun Strowman and took turns getting beat down by the rest of the Monday Night RAW team.
He also got in some great offence, as he helped eliminate Braun Strowman by jumping from the top turnbuckle through the announce table with an elbow drop onto the Abominable Strowman.
His elimination saw a harsh turn of events for the Commissioner of SmackDown Live. He had Roman Reigns down in the corner and was looking to go coast-to-coast with the dropkick from the adjacent turnbuckle, but that’s now how it panned out.
He ended up getting torn out of the air by a Roman Reigns spear and taken out of the equation, no longer able to help his team on their quest to a victory.
It was a scary moment, as it appeared that Roman might have been just slightly late to catch Shane ‘O Mac, and instead of finishing the three count, the referee decided to declare McMahon unable to continue in the contest due to the sincerely scary crash landing.
#2 Braun Strowman gets counted out
What, you say? A count out equates to a great elimination? In this circumstance, it certainly does. As previously noted, Shane McMahon nailed the giant Strowman with an elbow drop from the top turnbuckle through the announce table. That stunned him long enough to almost succumb to the referee’s 10-count.
I say “almost”, because he was about to get back into the ring, at about 7 or 8, but for some reason, he appeared to be held back.
It turned out that James Ellsworth scared out of his mind after being out at ringside during the chaotic match, decided he would be safer underneath the ring than standing next to it. That ended up being a great decision because it put him in the perfect position to stop the monster from re-entering the ring, and in turn, eliminated him from the match-up.
The reveal was great. A pair of hands stuck out from under the ring apron, grasping the ankles of Strowman. It could have been almost any member of Team SmackDown, but it was their mascot, we found out when Strowman simply pulled his leg back and out came the mortified James Ellsworth.
Of course, Ellsworth ended up eating a table (and possibly some Papa John’s pizza) for his misdeeds in the eyes of Strowman. Totally worth it.
#1 Cesaro & Sheamus eliminate The Usos
This list started with The Usos eliminating the RAW Tag Team Champions, and it closes with the #1 contenders for those titles eliminating The Usos.
The final two teams in the 10-on-10 elimination tag match were The Usos for SmackDown Live and Cesaro & Sheamus for Monday Night RAW. They had a great back-and-forth throwdown before the finish came, as Cesaro locked in the Sharpshooter on Jey Uso, much to the delight of the Canadian crowd.
That would be a fairly standard elimination, but Jey didn’t tap out until after Jimmy Uso tried, and failed, to save him from the dire predicament. Jimmy made it into the ring and readied the superkick that he used to earn SmackDown’s first elimination on Kofi Kingston to break up the submission, but Sheamus was there to stop him.
The perfectly timed Brogue Kick stopped Jimmy from saving his brother, and before Jimmy was even able to hit the mat, Jey was tapping out to the Sharpshooter. Beautifully booked, perfectly executed and with a raucous crowd; this is your top elimination of the night.
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