WWE Survivor Series Best and Worse Moments
A Disappointing Performance from Women's Divison
So we kick start today's blog post with a down and unfortunately it comes from the women's division. With some of the best women of both RAW and Smackdown going head to head, this was a match I was honestly really excited to sit back and watch. Both brands have been doing a fairly good job in portraying the division well from gripping and entertaining storylines to standout matches, to history-making moments including the first ever women's Hell in a Cell match. Keeping all that in mind I was expecting to see a fantastic traditional Survivor Series elimination match between these two teams. We had a bunch of very different superstars who all brought something completely different to the table. The potential for this match to be one of the standouts of the night was high but they completely were unable to live up to expectations. Now, I won't take away the fact that the match was a decent length (even though it could have been longer) and we did get some brilliant spots throughout the duration of the match but overall I think we can all agree that this could have been a lot-lot stronger. I was expecting to see much more from the RAW and Smackdown women's champions and Nia Jax, in particular, could have been a much more dominant force. The WWE have been building her up as this big, tough monster since the brand split and seeing her tap out this past weekend really just didn't sit well with me at all. I would have liked to have seen her take on a much bigger role in this match and way more eliminations. I found it really strange that Naomi was eliminated via count out with Nia hardly doing anything to her. I would have much preferred to have seen her send Naomi or any other women on the opposing team through a barricade. Having her have that kind of spot would have been exactly what she needed and the irony of her later being eliminated by count out also would have been brilliant and not have made her look as weak. I do think Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss were two of the real standouts of the match. Despite Smackdown LIVE not picking up the victory, they were the ones I think about first when going over this match. As for RAW, I was completely expecting them to get the win here. With Charlotte undefeated on pay per view, I wasn't expecting the WWE to break that this weekend. I did like the little beat down on Bayley after the match and the fact that Bayley got the win for her team but all round this was one of the most disappointing matches of the night. This could have been something huge for the entire division and a standout moment in women's wrestling. I do believe the WWE really missed out on an opportunity here.
The Miz Comes up on top Thanks to the help of Maryse
Another match I really was looking forward to this past weekend was the one on one bout between the Miz and Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship. Now, I didn't really know what to expect from this match when it came down to the final moments and the ending. I was one hundred percent expecting this to be a strong matchup between the two but I was certainly conflicted when it came down to the end result. Because I was so focused on the Cruiserweight division heading over to Smackdown LIVE in the build up to this match I strongly believed that we would be seeing the IC title moving to RAW regardless of the end result to this match. I know there are plenty of fans who believe the Miz should be moved over to Monday night RAW and with this match set up and the Cruiserweight match being what it was I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen a title change here. As predicted the match was an entertaining one. We had some solid spots and I was definitely interested in the action taking place. Like I said, this was the one match I wasn't completely sure how was going to end but I have to admit that I did like what we got. I have mentioned it a million times before but the work we have seen from the Miz since the draft split has kept me most entertained and I have been nothing but gripped and entertained by his work and last night was no different. The closing moments of this match followed up with exactly what we have been seeing from Miz recently as it was due to the help of his wife Maryse that he was able to retain the Intercontinental championship once again and keep the title on Smackdown LIVE. Honestly, I was pretty happy with the result. I Wasnt too bothered about how this match was going to end and I ended up liking Maryse's involvement and how the match ended altogether. Not to mention I'm glad to see the IC title remain on Smackdown LIVE especially considering that the Cruiserweight Championship isn't moving from RAW.
Cruiserweight Divison set to Remain on Monday night RAW
This year's Survivor Series pay per view as jam packed full of disappointing moments none however quite reached the level of what is up next in today's blog post. Now, I really don't want to have to talk about it again but we have to touch on the cruiserweight division and that match up between Smackdown LIVE's Kalisto and the current Cruiserweight Champion, Brian Kendrick. So the rules were simple; Kendrick was set to defend his title against Kalisto and if Kalisto was able to pick up the victory not only would he be crowned the new champ but the entire division would move over to Smackdown LIVE. Now, the match itself wasn't all that bad. The action was decent and because of what was up for grabs I honestly did find myself very into the action and almost gripped to my TV screen. In the build up to this match everyone I spoke to, every article I read and every video I watched saw the same thing; everyone agreeing on the fact that the Cruiserweight division should be moved to Smackdown LIVE. I've always believed the division should have been on Smackdown and due to what we have seen over the past few months, the WWE have shown that the division is in the wrong place. The whole thing has been a complete mess, the division isn't getting enough time or attention and there is a strong lack of interest. It's rare that wrestling fans can actually agree on anything but this is something almost everyone was able to agree on; the WWE cruiserweight division needed to move over to Smackdown LIVE. Unfortunately, the match-up between Brian Kendrick and Kalisto was short lived due to involvement from Baron Corbin who forced the match to end in DQ meaning that not only Brian Kendrick was able to keep hold of the Cruiserweight championship but the entire division will now remain on Monday night RAW. I cannot believe just how mad this match made me. It makes absolutely no sense for the cruiserweights to stay on Monday night RAW especially with 205 kick starting next week and airing every Tuesday night. It made perfect sense for Kalisto to pick up this win and again, I do believe the WWE made a huge huge mistake here and this will be something they really do regret.
Bray Wyatt leads team Smackdown LIVE to Victory
As we have already touched on today, the men's traditional Survivor Series was in my eyes the easy match of the night. When you look at what was presented to us this was the standout match of the evening and I have to say that I find it a touch one to actually critique. It had everything I could have possibly asked for. I found myself completely hooked and entertained from start to finish and it was easily the best-booked match of the night. It was the only of the three traditional elimination matches that I believed saw the right eliminations take place at the right timing and the one match where I could feel and see the storyline and everything worked and came together perfectly. Now, Smackdown LIVE overall had a brilliant performance. They were the dominate team throughout a great deal of the match and if you don't include what happened between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose they were able to work as a perfect cohesive team from start to finish. Everything tied together perfectly from Shane McMahon's fantastic spots and general involvement in the match altogether to the story development for certain storyline's currently going between certain superstars that competed in this match. However, my personal favourite moment for Smackdown LIVE last night just had to come from the ending of this match. Over the past eighteen months or so I and everyone else has spent a great deal of time talking about Bray Wyatt and poorly booked he has been. We have seen him work some fantastic storyline's and even stronger matches but his win/loss record is something that has never look great. I have mentioned recently that I'm not the biggest fan of what we have been seeing between him and Orton as of late but last night really was a fantastic night for him. Not only did we get more of a feel of what was going on between Bray and Orton but we got to see the eater of worlds pick up the biggest victory of the night when he pinned Roman Reigns to lead Smackdown LIVE to it's biggest victory of the night. I don't know about you but I honestly did not see this coming at all but it was such a well done moment and exactly what Wyatt needed. The WWE really did do a fantastic job with this match. We got to see the story between AJ and Ambrose developed perfectly, we had a Shield moment, Strowman's elimination managed to keep him looking strong and dominate (kinda) and Bray's victory was simply the icing on top of the cake. I cannot speak any higher of this match!
Goldberg Picks up Shock victory over Brock Lesnar
This biggest shock this weekend happened to be the biggest disappointment of the weekend. One of the matches I was most looking forward was, of course, Brock Lesnar VS Goldberg. As someone who has been a fan of both men for such a long time and after spending so much time writing and talking about both men seeing their rivalry brought back to life in two thousand and sixteen was a huge deal for me personally and so so many other fans. Even seeing Goldberg return to a WWE ring was a huge huge deal and I remember the night he did do so I marked out like I was a four-year-old attending m&m world for the first time. It's a moment I had been waiting for for so long and trust me when I say the man did not disappoint on that night. Hearing that he and Lesnar would be going one on one at Survivor Series was massive. As soon as it was announced I was mentally thinking of the way this match was going to go and those all important closing moments. Now, I won't pretend like I wasn't a little disappointed with the build up. I do believe it could have been a whole lot stronger and intense but a weak build up was not going to take away how big this match felt and how excited I was for it. Now, when it comes to talking about this match itself I honestly do not know where to begin. This was a match that felt Wrestlemania quality. It felt like a big big deal. Everyone was expecting this crazy, fifteen-minute fight between these two, something that easily and quickly topped their previous match all those years ago. As we all prepared for what we believed to be a standout match of the year the WWE went in and gave us one of the biggest shocks of the year when Goldberg took complete control of this match, not wasting any time he went straight on the attack and managed to defeat the beast in under two minutes. That's right, under two minutes. Watching this for the first time I cannot tell you just how mad I was. This was such a shock, such a letdown and not what any of us were expecting at all. My issue with this whole thing is the fact that now it does just feel like the past few years the WWE have spent building Lesnar up as this huge, dominate, beast have been wasted. I would have much preferred to have seen that victory over Lesnar go to an up and coming star who really could have benefited from the win. Thinking about it now, I still hate the result but I can also see why it was done. If the WWE want to turn this around however they are going to have to do a couple of huge things. The first is change up Lesnar. We now need to see a new kind of Brock Lesnar. A more angry, a more intense, a more dangerous Brock Lesnar. The second is pay very close attention to Goldberg. He's set to be sticking around a little longer and if you want to make his win mean something if an up and coming talent such as Kevin Owens or someone of that level could actually defeat Goldberg it would be a huge huge deal and that superstar would be made a massive star. I would love to know what you thought of the Lesnar/ Goldberg match now that a few days have passed so feel free to leave a comment bellow doing so.
A brief Shield Reunion
And finally, we have the Sheild reunion. Nothing makes me happier than seeing Dean Ambrose
Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins working together once again. You naturally as a wrestling fan have the urge to start yelling "it's a shield moment! it's a shield moment! It's a fucking Shield moment!" and that is exactly what I was left doing this past weekend when Ambrose decided to take out teammate AJ Styles thanks to the help of RAW's Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. Now, in the moment I was a little worried this was going to cost team Smackdown LIVE but like I said, it was almost impossible not to mark out at this moment and the fact that Smackdown still picked up the win made this even better. It tied in with the whole night perfectly, it made the match even more entertaining and we got to see the story develop between Ambrose and Styles. I cannot fault this moment at all.
As I said in the intro, I believe this was a really interesting pay per view. I think it's safe to say that the men's traditional Survivor Series elimination match was the match of the night. I was surprised to see Smackdown LIVE not pick up the tag team win but I was over the moon with the victory they did pick up. There was of course so many disappointments throughout the night and that ending was a huge huge surprise. As always I would love to know what you thought of the entire show so feel free to leave a comment bellow or drop me a tweet over at @TezangiVicoria.
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And finally, we have the Sheild reunion. Nothing makes me happier than seeing Dean Ambrose
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