ELIAS vs. MATT HARDY (9:15): This was the first of three pre-show matches. I didn't see this, although I will say that Elias' songs are one of the WWE's few highlights every week.
ENZO AMORE vs. KALISTO (8:45): Enzo retained the cruiserweight title, a title that seemingly becomes more or a joke every day. As a heel, Enzo on the mic doesn't work, and since he's never been good in the ring, he's a dead man walking. I did watch this and already forget it. 1/2*
KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN vs. BREEZANGO (7:45): The last of the pre-show matches. This pre-show started at 6 PM and the whole show ended around 10:45 PM. Zayn is great as a solo wrestler...so I was stupidly hoping this new heel push would mean the return of the great, Zayn solo matches (remember his matches against Nakamura and Cesaro on those NXT specials? Ah, memories). Nope. Now Zayn and Owens just team up in superfluous matches like this. And Zayn is not a good heel. He's too happy and smiles too much. It's like he just can't do it. 1/2*
THE SHIELD vs. THE NEW DAY (21:20): Decent opener, although nothing special. This match had less than a week's build which was a problem. The Shield just isn't as cool, exciting, or interesting as they were year's ago. This match had some good action but it could have been much better. **1/2
ALICIA FOX, SASHA BANKS, BAYLEY, ASUKA & NIA JAX vs. BECKY LYNCH, NAOMI, CARMELLA, NATALYA & TAMINA (18:35): The RAW team won when Asuka got the final pin to remain undefeated. This was just okay. I'm not the biggest fan of Survivor Series. 5 on 5 elimination matches are rarely good and I could care less if RAW or Smackdown is better. **
BARON CORBIN vs. THE MIZ (9:35): This was better than I expected. The Miz is the IC champion and Corbin is the U.S. champion. It was all action with no boring spots. Of course it wasn't! It was only nine minutes. Still, this was probably the best Corbin match I've ever seen...which, granted, isn't saying much. **1/2
THE USO'S vs. CESARO & SHEAMUS (15:55): Good, not great, and this probably should have been better. This was the RAW tag champs vs. the Smackdown champs. It got good late but never rose to anything PPV-worthy. **1/2
CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. ALEXA BLISS (15:00): Ugh. Bliss is not an entertaining wrestler. She's the champ. Flair's the champ. So this whole show was matches with no titles on the line except the meaningless 205Live crown. Which made this a stupid, pointless show. This was boring but Flair tried. *1/2
BROCK LESNAR vs. AJ STYLES (15:25): Good match and the best Lesnar match in a long time. The first five minutes was an all Brock beat down. Then AJ came back and it heated up and then AJ of course lost. This was the one WWE match I dreamed about ever since AJ got here. Unfortunately it had five million things going against it. It wasn't the main event. It had two champions but wasn't for the either belt. AJ won the title two week's ago on Smackdown which meant this match had less than a two week build. The announcers kept talking about how if AJ won then Smackdown would have already "won" Survivor Series (winning more matches total on the show), thus making the last match meaningless, so of course AJ wasn't fucking winning. Still, it was pretty awesome for awhile. ***
KURT ANGLE, BRAUN STROWMAN, FINN BALOR, SOMOA JOE & TRIPLE H vs. SHANE McMAHON, RANDY ORTON, BOBBY ROODE, SHINSUKE NAKAMURA & JOHN CENA (33:20): This was good early but had a dull, flat finish. The Houston crowd was hot all night which was good (usually by this late hour they're asleep and inching towards the exits). Nakamura facing Balor got a monstrous reaction from the crowd. Cena and Roode did nothing. The Smackdown gang put Braun through a table. Shane was by himself at the end vs. HHH, Braun, and Kurt Angle. HHH turned on Angle and let Shane pin Angle. But then HHH turned on Shane and pinned him to win for RAW. Then Braun was mad at this stupid ending so he slammed HHH. Entertaining match with a stupid, McMahon-focused ending
that we're all sick of. **1/2
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