WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

Houston

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

NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

Osaka

DAVID FINLAY vs. KATSUYA KITAMURA (5:32): This was a pre-show match. Kitamura is tanned and looks like he's on steroids. AKA he's dull. Forgettable. 1/2*

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. TITAN & DRAGON LEE (7:18): Good match, obviously. Dragon Lee is awesome, Titan does some of the highest high flying moves in the business, and The Young Bucks are the most entertaining tag team in the world. This was short, for no title, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. ***

HIRAI KAWATO, JUICE ROBINSON, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, KUSHIDA & TIGER MASK vs. SUZUKI-GUN (5:19): Ugh. Another NWO-esque melee. Suzuki Gun is awful. Kawato, a Young Lion (meaning his outfit is a simple pair of black underwear), is one to watch, though. Dude's nuts. **

HIROYOSHI TENZAN, SATOSHI KOJIMA & TOGI MAKABE vs. CHASE OWENS, CODY & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (8:11): Takahashi comes out with two prostitutes on these big shows...so there's at least eye candy during his boring matches. Cody has a new heel gimmick where he tries to make his opponents kiss his ring. Nobody ever does. There wasn't much else beyond that. *

RAPPONGI 3K vs. ACH & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI (15:11): Good match. This was the finals of the Jr. tag team tournament...which Sho and Yoh won even though they're the champs. Which means they won but don't get any sort of prize. They're facing the Bucks at the Dome for the titles. Taguchi is a comedian...which sometimes works. It didn't really work for this; what was supposed to be a highly competitive tournament final. ACH did some cool high flying and Rappongi 3K are fun. **1/2

GEDO, HIROOKI GOTO, KAZUCHIKA OKADA, TOMOHIRO ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI vs. BUSHI, EVIL, HIROMU TAKASHI, SANADA & TETSUYA NAITO (12:07): When Okada and Naito faced off this was good...which was most of the match, actually, setting up their Dome main event. The rest was the usual multi-person throwaway New Japan match. **

MINORU SUZUKI vs. TORU YANO "BULL ROPE MATCH" (15:21): Wow. NJPW is doing stupid gimmick matches now. And this was as dumb as they come. But a regular match with Yano would've been just as dumb. Suzuki Gun interfered. Goto interfered. A steel chair was used. They choked each other. Eh. 1/2*

MARTY SCURLL vs. WILL OSPREAY (17:28): Shocking. Ospreay just won the Jr. title last month and Scurll beat him for it tonight. They did it to set up a 4-way at the Dome with Takahashi and Kushida, but still, a one month title reign? I was looking forward to Ospreay/Takahashi for the belt. As for this match...it was stellar late. These two know each other like the back of their hand. I did think that their match earlier this year in the Super Jr.'s tournament was better, though. But the last five minutes of this was as good as it gets. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. BERETTA (21:33): Good match. Beretta is crazy. Yes, this has been established. Earlier this year he did a flip from the ring to the floor and landed on his back. He also had thumbtacks put in his mouth by the Young Bucks who then Super Kicked him at a ROH show in the Spring. In this match he did a top rope flip to the floor through a table. Omega retained the U.S. title, which probably shouldn't exist (this company has way too many titles). Beretta was better in the tag team division. I doubt he could have a good singles match with anyone else. I guess we'll see. And post-match, Chris Jericho showed up in a video package to challenge Omega at the Dome. Ugh. I guess that's cool and all...but Jericho is a shell of his former self. And I really wanted to see Omega/Ibushi at the Dome. ***

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KOTA IBUSHI (29:28): This was the match of the night. Ibushi did all of his crazy high flying leaps and dives and Tanahashi had the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout the high drama. It started slow and built to a great match by the end. After Tanahashi won, Jay White showed up to beat up Tanahashi and challenge him to a match at the Dome. Honestly? I'd rather have seen this match at the Dome than a Jay White match. But White did have a great match against Ospreay in NYC at ROH's War of the Worlds last Spring. And Tanahashi always brings it. So we'll see. It'll be a long two month wait. ***