Top 5 Takeaways from WWE Survivor Series 2017

Top 5 Takeaways from WWE Survivor Series 2017

By Anton Ware

Hello Geektified family! It's time for another monthly review as we cover the latest WWE offering, Survivor Series. The Toyota Center in Houston, TX played home to the event and is the 31st edition of the show. Last year’s event featured Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg and two RAW vs. Smackdown 5-on-5 elimination matches from the men and women’s division. This year’s show featured another pair of 5-on-5 elimination matches and Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles in a Champion vs. Champion match. Who rises to the top you ask? Well, let's get into it!

#5: The Hounds Decimate the Unicorns

In the opening contest, The Shield took on the New Day in a dream matchup to determine the best trio in WWE history. This event marks the 5th year that the Hounds of Justice have been in WWE. At Survivor Series 2012, Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns came through the crowd and interfered in the main event match on CM Punk’s behalf. Since then, they’ve have been running roughshod over WWE with title wins, Money in the Bank, and Royal Rumble victories. The New Day were also looking to leave their mark in history as well. Accomplished tag specialists in their own right, The New Day came into this as the underdog because they’ve had been criticized for being too “playful” and not having the aggression and intensity to match The Shield. New Day lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championship to The Usos inside Hell in a Cell last month and were out to prove that they can deliver in a big match setting.  The match itself was a damn fine contest. The match simply boiled down to who was the more cohesive unit.  Both teams showed signs of that throughout the match. The New Day would bust out some creative triple team moves while The Shield relied on their traditional offense of every member using their separate strengths for the better. In the end, it would be The Shield gaining the victory with a Super Triple Powerbomb from the second rope onto Kofi Kingston.

#4: No One Is Ready For Asuka

In the Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series Women’s matchup for the Raw vs. Smackdown themed show, Asuka was the sole survivor of TEAM RAW as she eliminated Tamina and Natalya during the last five minutes of the match. The Empress of Tomorrow continues her dominance on the main roster. By picking up the win for her team and keeping her undefeated streak intact, one would think that a title opportunity is right around the corner. Stars like Bayley and Sasha Banks may take issue with her being next in line, but we shall see in the coming weeks what transpires.

#3: Less is more with Commentary

Throughout the show, we were treated with commentary from all five active members of the WWE announce team. What we also got was constant bickering over who works for the better brand and confusion as to who works for what brand. It really took away from the viewing experience because they were not on the same page when it came to storytelling which probably confused viewers throughout the show. WWE should’ve stuck with a three-man booth with alternating announcers for certain matches. Five men trying to speak and be the voice behind the in-ring action is too much and hopefully WWE will learn from this mistake come Royal Rumble time.

#2: Smackdown Dominates the Midcard While RAW Wins “The Big Ones”

The Young Lions of Smackdown put on a show by winning their respective matches for the blue brand. The Smackdown Women’s, United States, and Tag Title holders all prevailed in their Champion vs. Champion matches which painted RAW in a corner to turn up the volume against Shane McMahon and company and boy, did they ever. Brock Lesnar would go on defeat AJ Styles in a Champion vs. Champion match in a hard fought contest and Team Raw would defeat Team Smackdown in the main 5-on-5 elimination match which gave RAW bragging right for then night. Arguably the most star studded Survivor Series match in the event’s history, it featured the past, present, and future of the company being showcased in one monumental contest. The match wasn’t without controversy as Smackdown stars Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens attacked Shane McMahon to get revenge for not being put on the SD Live team. Owens and Zayn had been disgruntled over their position on the roster and wanted to make it clear they weren’t fans of not only Shane McMahon, but Smackdown in general. Speaking of the main event, that leads us to…

#1: The Ending

During the final moments of the main event, it came down to Shane McMahon (representing Smackdown) vs. Braun Strowman, HHH, and Kurt Angle (representing RAW) in a 3-on-1 situation. Each man wanted a piece of the Smackdown Commissioner by tagging one another to end the match once and for all. Kurt Angle won the tag game and put Shane in the Ankle Lock. As Shane was about to tap out, HHH broke the hold and dropped Angle with a Pedigree. HHH draped Shane over Angle for the pin as Strowman looked on in shock. Hunter signified his allegiance to Shane by helping him to his feet only to nail him with the Pedigree that clinched the win for Team Raw. Afterwards, HHH tried to get Strowman to celebrate, but he only infuriated the Monster of Among Men. Strowman accused Triple H of trying to betray him and delivered two Powerslams to HHH and walked up the ramp to end the show. The end of the show was flat and uneventful. Why did Triple H temporarily turn on his team by putting the screws to Kurt Angle for no apparent reason?  It cooled off the crowd as they were confused for the rest of the main event. What will the fallout be between Angle and HHH? Will there be any repercussions for Strowman’s attack on HHH? It all remains to be seen.

What did you guys think of the show? Was it a hit or miss? Let me know in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

-Anton