WWE Survivor Series
#SurvivorSeries
Original Air Date: November 19, 2017
Event Date: November 19, 2017
aired live on the WWE Network
City: Houston, TX
Venue: Toyota Center
Attendance: 14,478
Commentary: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Booker T, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton
Spanish Commentary: Carlos Cabrera, Marcelo Rodriguez
German Commentary: Calvin Knie, Tim Haber, Carsten Shaefer
Portuguese Commentary: Marco Alfaro, Roberto Figueroa
Russian Commentary: Moti Margolin, Zhan Pomerantsev
Japanese Commentary: Shun Yamaguchi, Funaki
Hindi Commentary: Obaid Kadwani, Shez Sardar
French Commentary: Ray Rougeau, Jean Brassard
Mandarin Commentary: Meng Ai, Sean Deng
Ring Announcers: Jojo, Greg Hamilton
Brand: RAW, SmackDown
Theme Song: “Greatest Show in Earth” by Kid Rock
<< Read the Recap & Review for the Survivor Series Kickoff show. <<
Video
Buildup for the show, featuring a lot of the attacks and rivalries heading into this year’s Survivor Series.
Ring Area
New Day heads to the ring and talks about the greatest brotherhood in WWE: New Day.
Video
Clips from the past few weeks showing how New Day has been front and center for a lot of the RAW versus SmackDown moments, including the siege of RAW and The Shield losing their tag titles.
Match 1
New Day vs The Shield
(referee: Ryan Tran; ring announcer: Jojo)
Result: Dean Ambrose pins Kofi Kingston after a second-rope triple powerbomb
Time: 21:31
Match Thoughts
Very good match. This was chaotic and a lot of fun, as expected. There wasn’t much of a clear narrative throughout the match, it was mostly just a bunch of violent stuff happening all over the place, but it was enjoyable to watch. There was a segment where the action bogged down significantly. New Day tried to set up a big move in the corner, but the people in and around the ring didn’t seem to communicate well so it took a long time to get to. The payoff was good though, and that was one of the only times when the match was able to breathe, so I guess it wasn’t much of a negative.
Video
John Cena introduces a promo for his new animated movie, Ferdinand.
Backstage
Stephanie McMahon gives the women’s RAW team a pep talk.
Match 2
Survivor Series Elimination Match
Becky Lynch & Carmella & Natalya & Tamina w/ Lana & Naomi vs Alicia Fox & Bayley & Sasha Banks & Nia Jax & Asuka
(referee: John Cone; ring announcer: Jojo)
Result: Asuka is the sole survivor and wins for Team RAW
Bayley pins Becky Lynch with a schoolboy (2:02)
Tamina pins Bayley after a Superfly Splash (5:27)
Nia Jax gets counted out (9:00)
Naomi pins Alicia Fox with a sunset flip (10:35)
Sasha Banks forces Naomi to submit to a Bank Statement (10:45)
Asuka pins Carmella after a Buzzsaw Kick (12:59)
Natalya forces Sasha Banks to submit to the Sharpshooter (15:15)
Asuka forces Tamina to submit to the Asuka Lock (17:33)
Asuka forces Natalya to submit to the Asuka Lock (18:27)
Time: 18:27
Match Thoughts
Overall this was good and entertaining, though there were some rough moments. Nia Jax seemed a little timid at first, but her segment with Tamina turned out to be pretty good. Towards the middle of the match was an extremely awkward sequence between Alicia Fox and Naomi. They did not seem to know what each other was doing, and the referee counted three when it didn’t seem like they were ready for it. After that though, when the match got down to the final four, the match got quite interesting. The final few eliminations, and the final segments of the match, were very good (if not completely surprising).
Backstage
Stephanie McMahon gloats that RAW is beating SmackDown so far. Daniel Bryan questions Steph about nepotism on RAW. They continue to debate about the men’s elimination match, but Steph leaves Bryan to think about what it will be like on SmackDown without Shane there to share the power.
Ring Area
Maryse is in the front row for the next match.
Match 3
Baron Corbin (US Champ) vs The Miz (IC Champ) w/ The Miztourage
(referee: Dan Engler; ring announcer: Jojo)
Result: Baron Corbin wins via pinfall after End of Days
Time: 9:25
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. I wasn’t really looking forward to this at all, but they kept the pace high enough for it to be entertaining. Corbin seemed uncharacteristically able to handle not just one opponent, but three people attacking him. This was good for Corbin, but it still doesn’t make me much of a fan of his.
Ring Area
Renee Young enters the ring and gives Corbin a mic. He gloats about shutting The Miz’s mouth and the mouths of everyone watching.
Video
Bayley accompanies a guy as he looks for a ring to propose to his girlfriend.
Backstage
Charly Caruso welcomes Paul Heyman. Heyman mocks Caruso before saying that everything is phenomenal. He says AJ Styles is great, but he’s facing Brock Lesnar tonight.
Match 4
Sheamus & Cesaro (RAW Tag Champs) vs The Usos (SD Tag Champs)
(referee: Shawn Bennett: ring announcer: Greg Hamilton)
Result: Jimmy Uso pins Sheamus after a Samoan Splash
Time: 16:03
Match Thoughts
Great match! Hard-hitting and high-paced. These two teams showed why they are two of the best when it comes to in-ring tag team action in the WWE. The buildup towards the end of the match was nice, and the final segment was quite nicely done. I think the winners really deserved this one though. They are on the run of their careers.
Backstage
Charly Caruso welcomes Jason Jordan. Jordan says he’s healed and ready to go. He’s completely behind his team, but he would like to see Triple H get eliminated.
Match 5
Charlotte Flair (SD Women’s Champ) vs Alexa Bliss (RAW Women’s Champ)
(referee: Rod Zapata; ring announcer: Greg Hamilton)
Result: Charlotte Flair wins via submission with a Figure Eight
Time: 15:48
Match Thoughts
Good match. I was a little surprised that Bliss didn’t go for more dirty and underhanded tactics, but she’s been kind of transitioning away from that lately anyway. I liked the fight Bliss put up, and I liked a lot of the action here. Very solid match from both wrestlers. It makes me glad that they switched the SD Women’s Title at the last minute (even though Natalya would have put on a good match too).
Video
Buildup for Lesnar versus Styles.
Match 6
AJ Styles (WWE Champ) vs Brock Lesnar (Universal Champ) w/ Paul Heyman
(referee: Charles Robinson; ring announcer: Jojo)
Result: Brock Lesnar wins via pinfall after an F5
Time: 15:19
Match Thoughts
Great match, though it went down the only way it really could have. Styles took a serious beating, but he also believably pushed Lesnar right to the edge of defeat. Everything in this match looked like it hurt (at least from Lesnar’s side of the beatings). This was good for both guys. For Lesnar, it continued to show his dominance, but it showed that he can be vulnerable even to someone much smaller than him. For Styles, even though he took a beating, it showed that he’ll never give up and can compete on the same level as the WWE’s monsters.
Video
Buildup for the men’s elimination match.
Match 7
Survivor Series Elimination Match
Kurt Angle & Finn Balor & Samoa Joe & Braun Strowman & Triple H vs Shane McMahon & Randy Orton & Bobby Roode & Shinsuke Nakamura & John Cena
(referee: Mike Chioda; ring announcer: Greg Hamilton)
Result: Triple H and Braun Strowman survive, Team RAW wins
Braun Strowman pins Shinsuke Nakamura after a running powerslam (11:29)
Braun Strowman pins Bobby Roode after a running powerslam (12:20)
John Cena pins Samoa Joe after an Attitude Adjustment (18:03)
Kurt Angle pins John Cena after an Angle Slam (21:53)
Randy Orton pins Finn Balor after an RKO (23:34)
Braun Strowman pins Randy Orton after a running powerslam (26:35)
Shane McMahon pins Kurt Angle after Triple H Pedigrees Angle (31:59)
Triple H pins Shane McMahon after a Pedigree (33:18)
Time: 33:18
Match Thoughts
This was good, and I think they did well to keep things interesting given the over thirty minute runtime. A lot of the eliminations were too predictable and disappointing for me (especially the first five), but I understand what they felt they needed to do. Ultimately, this match was more about pushing story lines forward. For that reason, I preferred the first half of the match to the second half. The first half had Shinsuke Nakamura looking as good and charismatic as he’s been since joining SmackDown. It also had Roode, Balor, and Joe beinging a lot of excitement to the match. Once they were all eliminated, the match changed gears and became a twisty story more than a match. I enjoyed this alright, but it wasn’t great.
Ring Area
After the match, Triple H celebrates, but Braun Strowman doesn’t like being messed with. He grabs Triple H by throat and warns him never to cross him. Strowman starts to walk away, but Triple runs up and attempts a Pedigree. Triple H fails and takes two running powerslams for his efforts.
Show Impressions
This was a long show and it felt like it, but I did enjoy it. The main event was a little disappointing to me, especially since I don’t much care about Strowman or story lines involving a bunch of people who aren’t regular members of the active rosters. I didn’t really care for the IC vs US match either. To be fair though, Corbin vs The Miz would’ve had to have been spectacular for me to care about it.
I also thought that keeping track of the SmackDown and RAW wins made the last few match winners extremely predictable. The winner of the Styles/Lesnar match was never in question since I knew they would almost certainly go into the main event tied 3 matches to 3.
Besides all that, I enjoyed most of the matches on the show. Styles and Lesnar delivered, as did both tag champs. The opener was fun, and the women’s elimination match was nice.
Match of the Night
AJ Styles vs Brock Lesnar
This has the most excitement for me. I never really thought Styles could win, but he made a believer out of me at times during this match.