Survivor Series has come and gone, so let’s deconstruct it! With plenty of big name stars missing in action for one of the bigger shows of the year, WWE fans everywhere were hopeful that the company would finally let the young guys take control of the main event scene. And WWE definitely did, only until they didn’t when it mattered most. Let’s take a look at what went down on an up and down Survivor Series show.
The Authority Finds Their Man
After Seth Rollins untimely knee injury, WWE put together a tournament to crown a brand-new WWE Champion. After having the first two rounds completed on Raw, our Final Four was set and featured Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio. Needless to say, Reigns was the big favorite heading into the night and while he did have a great evening, things didn’t exactly finish how many of us expected.
The first match of the show was Reigns going against Del Rio for a spot in the Finals. As you’d expect, this was a hard-hitting match with a lot of stiff shots from both men. Reigns in particular took a pretty big beating throughout this thing as WWE tried to force us into believing he was an underdog overcoming the odds and not the next John Cena. The match itself featured the usual spots from both guys with Reigns hitting his patented kick on the apron to Del Rio to take control.
Back in the ring, Del Rio got Reigns hung up on the turnbuckle and went for the same top-rope stomp that helped him beat Kalisto, only for Reigns to dodge it. Del Rio’s knee appeared to buckle when he landed, and he took a lot of time to get up as Reigns awkwardly called for his Spear for a good 90 seconds straight. Finally Alberto gets to his feet and Reigns goes for his finisher when…
Del Rio catches him with a superkick out of nowhere! Del Rio goes for the cover but Reigns kicks out before the two exchange near-falls for the next few minutes. Finally, Reigns is able to power up and hit Del Rio with a Spear for the 1-2-3.
Roman is on to the Finals.
Our next semifinal bout takes place in the people’s bracket, with Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens doing battle. It won’t surprise anyone that these two easily got the loudest pops of the night, with the crowd being especially behind Owens. The match itself was a thing of beauty because it was the opposite of a technically sound wrestling match. Both men put their unique styles on display, with Owens especially putting on a show.
As the match broke down, Ambrose took Owens up top and tried to hit a superplex, only for KO to hit an awesome reversal off top for a near-fall.
Both men go for their finishers before Owens takes Ambrose outside and gains control. Back in the ring Owens tries a Pop-Up Power Bomb, but Ambrose leaps over him and hits Dirty Deeds for the 1-2-3.
Our Finals are set as brothers will face off for the WWE Title. I legitimately had some excitement at the possibilities in this match. Would Ambrose turn heel to get a title reign? Would Reigns finally take a shortcut and embrace his destiny as a monster heel? Either way, it seemed to be setting up an awesome months-long feud between the two.
Or so I thought.
As expected, both men gave it their all in what turned out to be good but not great title match. The ending actually came pretty abruptly. Ambrose hits Reigns with Dirty Deeds out of nowhere for the near-fall, and then the Lunatic Fringe tries goes for a running clothesline to Reigns in the corner, only for the Big Dog to hit a SPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE!
Reigns covers Ambrose for the 1-2-3 AND YOUR NEWWWWWWWWW, WWE WORLD CHAMPIOOOOOOON, ROMAN REIGNS!
Confetti starts falling from the rafters as Reigns embraces Ambrose and then stands in disbelief at the fact that he has finally reached the mountain top.
But wait, there’s like 15 minutes left until this show is over… oh God please tell me they aren’t really thinking about doing this right now.
Cue Triple H’s music, yup this is definitely happening.
Trips comes out and raises Reigns arm, but you know, REIGNS IS ANTI-AUTHORITY TRIPS SO HERE EAT A SPEAR!
Reigns spears Trips back to Stamford and then is IMMEDIATELY hit with a Brogue Kick from Sheamus who appears out of nowhere! Sheamus cashes in and the ref begins his count, 1….2…. REIGNS KICKS OUT!
Sheamus picks up Reigns for another Brogue kick but Reigns ducks it and then…
Yeah he’s eating another Brogue Kick, and this time there is no kicking out. 1-2-3, Sheamus is your Champion.
Yay.
So uh, yeah WWE is trying to get Reigns over as a Daniel Bryan-esque underdog getting screwed by the Authority and praying everyone forgets he’s John Cena 2.0 which, yeah I’m sure that’s gonna work out just fine.
And instead of crowning a young guy and giving us an awesome feud between Ambrose and Reigns that could have seen a memorable heel turn, we get an old reliable as Champion and Reigns feuding with the only person most fans unanimously disapprove of as Champ more than him in Sheamus.
Whatever.
Other Results –
The Brothers of Destruction Squash the Wyatts – Speaking of storylines that could have been interesting but ultimately fizzled, the Undertaker and Kane took on Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and the rest of the Wyatts in what was nothing more than a glorified squash match to remind us all of how dominant Kane and Taker used to be.
The match was nowhere near a classic, but it did feature some nice callbacks to a time when Kane and the Undertaker weren’t old and overweight relics of the past. Strong Throwman gets involved and eats a double chokeslam through the announce table for his troubles.
Back in the ring, Bray Wyatt and Harper put a beatdown on the brothers before Wyatt does his Spider walk as both brothers lay there and well you know where this is going.
Everyone eats a chokeslam before Taker hits Harper with a harder-than-it-used-to-be-Tombstone for the 1-2-3.
So yeah, WWE decided to give Taker and Kane another PPV win as a reminder of what they used to be 15 years ago, instead of you know, putting over a young heel who will be with the company for the next 15 years. Somehow, they buried Bray AND made Reigns look stupid on the same show.
Nice.
Charlotte Punishes Paige to Retain – This match was.. interesting. It’s not that the Divas didn’t put on a good match, because they really did, I mean look at this barricade/spear spot they pulled off.
The crowd just didn’t know how to react for this. Their controversial contract signing and references to Reid Flair’s death (and the subsequent reactions from his parents) put one hell of a cloud over this thing. No matter what they pulled off in the ring, this match was going to be uncomfortable all around and you could see it on television. In the end, Charlotte retains with the Figure Eight.
Now let’s all move on.
We Are Not Worty of the New Day – So this being Survivor Series, there was actually a Survivor Series elimination match! WWE sure seemed excited about it, announcing the match as TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA vs. TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA. Seriously.
Eventually it was Ryback, the Lucha Dragons and the Usos against King Barrett, Sheamus, and the New Day, featuring Xavier Woods and his glorious mane.
Oh, and a whole lot of dancing.
This match had some cool spots, like the Usos and Lucha Dragons hitting a senton over the top rope AT THE SAME DAMN TIME.
Our finish sees the New Day bail on Sheamus after Big E gets injured and the faces picking up the win. Yawn.
Mmmmmpressive – Tyler Breeze made his pay-per-view debut in what was actually a pretty entertaining match with Dolph Ziggler, aka Breeze’s boos ex or something like that. Breeze picks up the win with what looks like his new finisher instead of his patented Beauty Shot.
OH HEY ZIGGLER IS GETTING BURIED AGAIN!
Goldust Returns in Victorious Fashion – Our kick-off show saw another traditional elimination match featuring Miz, Stardust, the Ascension and Bo Dallas taking on the Dudley Boyz, Neville, Titus O’Neill and a returning Goldust. Seriously, who the hell comes up with these teams? And where the hell is Darren Young?
Anyways, the only reason you have to care about this is Goldust showed up to take Cesaro’s spot after our hero suffered an injury that will require surgery and keep him on the shelf for a few months. UGH.
Get well soon Cesaro, your section awaits you.