WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

Boston

ALEXA BLISS, ASUKA, BECKY LYNCH, BIANCA BELAIR & MIA YIM vs. DAMAGE CTRL (BAYLEY, DAKOTA KAI, IYO SKY), NIKKI CROSS & RHEA RIPLEY "WARGAMES" (39:35): They changed Survivor Series this year. It used to be on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, now it was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The last few years they had Smackdown vs. RAW matches but this year they had two Wargames matches instead. Even though the 5 on 5 elimination matches were never that great, I kind of missed them. They couldn't really do Smackdown vs. RAW matches because Roman Reigns has both championship belts and The Uso's have both tag team belts. I guess they could have done Gunter (the U.S. title) vs. Seth Rollins (the IC title) and Ronda Rousey (the Smackdown women's champ) vs. Bianca Belair (the RAW women's champ). And while I liked the addition of the Wargames matches...at least in AEW they actually had real, five member teams. The Bloodline is a real five member team, but the others were just random, assorted wrestlers teamed together. Without buckets of blood, these Wargames matches seemed pretty tame. I actually thought that the women's Wargames match was better, mostly because Becky, Iyo Sky, and Nikki Cross jumped off the top of the cage. Nobody jumped off the top of the cage in the men's Wargames match. In this match, the women used Singapore canes, handcuffs (which Alexa Bliss could have easily slipped out of because her wrist is like as thin as paper), tables, ladders, trash cans, and chairs. I thought that the Wargames matches would be a lot better, although even AEW's Blood and Guts matches have been kind of boring. Claudio swinging Jericho on top of the cage earlier this year was a highlight, though. There weren't any memorable highlights in these two Wargames matches. This was entertaining but nothing special. **1/2

AJ STYLES vs. FINN BALOR (18:23): In a perfect world, these two would be wrestling for the title in a PPV main event. This match was boring, but it's not entirely AJ and Finn Balor's fault. They put this on right after a Wargames match. It wasn't for a title. Nobody cared about it so the crowd was dead. The last few minutes were pretty exciting but mostly it was dull. *

RONDA ROUSEY vs. SHOTZI (7:12): Nobody thought that Shotzi would win the title here, so the crowd was pretty quiet for this one. They did pop when Shotzi jumped onto Shayna in the crowd and ended up laying out some WWE plants sitting ringside. Shotzi tapped out. When Shotzi Blackheart was in NXT I predicted that she would end up being a big star on the main roster. I was wrong. 1/2*

AUSTIN THEORY vs. SETH ROLLINS vs. BOBBY LASHLEY (14:50): Austin Theory failed at winning the IC title when he cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on RAW after a Rollins vs. Lashley match. He won the title here...so why didn't they just have him win the title then? That makes no sense. He also kind of inadvertently won when he fell on Rollins and got the pin. This match was decent, though these three seem to wrestle every week against each other on RAW so it wasn't anything fresh or new. Rollins did a Phoenix Splash that missed. That made me think of that Phoenix Splash that Kenny Omega did on the hard wood below the ring mat at Full Gear two year's ago. Fuck, that was brutal. It's not good when multiple times during a WWE show I'm thinking of better things that happened in AEW. If AEW was smart, they'd put their Blood & Guts match on a PPV. I'd rather see that, since the multiple commercials during that match hindered it. **1/2

THE BLOODLINE (ROMAN REIGNS, THE USO'S, SOLO SIKOA & SAMI ZAYN) vs. DREW McINTYRE, KEVIN OWENS & THE BRAWLING BRUTES (SHEAMUS, BUTCH & RIDGE HOLLAND) "WARGAMES" (38:32): While the storyline aspect of this match was great, I really thought that this match would have been a lot better. I was expecting someone to jump off the top of the cage and land on someone on a table. Nobody jumped off the top of the cage. They don't have a roof on the cage for this very reason. WWE also must be taking note of AEW, because AEW loves doing storyline drama in their big matches where wrestlers stop and ponder their actions. In this match, Sami Zayn was beating up Kevin Owens and helping The Bloodline to victory and Sami had to stop and give a look that made him seem to be contemplating his life choices. Michael Cole mentioned that Kevin Owens was Sami Zayn's best man at his wedding. The inner turmoil! Zayn eventually gave in to his demons and kicked Owens in the face leading to Roman pinning Owens and The Bloodline winning. Then everyone hugged Sami Zayn. Considering Zayn has always been a heel and has been a member of The Bloodline all year, I'm not sure why this drama was even played up. He kind of turned a long time ago. If the WWE was smart they would have Zayn beat Roman for the title in a PPV main event at a big show like Summerslam next year. The fans love Sami Zayn. The WWE isn't the smartest, though, so I don't see that ever happening. Yes, Sami will eventually turn into a good guy and wrestle Roman...but I doubt they'd give Sami the title. They did break some tables in this match. They used a few chairs. I thought this would be a bit more exciting, though. This show turned out to be pretty underwhelming, actually, especially after last week's Full Gear show which was superior entertainment. Hell, Dynamite on Wednesday with Jericho vs. Ishii and The Elite vs. Death Triangle was better than this show. **