What we took away, what we learned and what the future holds for WWE following Sunday night’s Survivor Series pay-per-view in Toronto.
There’s only two WWE pay-per-view events left in 2016 and TLC and Roadblock will have a lot of work to do to generate the buzz that Survivor Series created on Sunday night in Toronto. Whether it be a controversial ending, a controversial winner, a surprise or just simply some great matches, the 30th annual Survivor Series had just about everything, didn’t it?
But now that Survivor Series is behind us, where do we go from here? Did we learn anything? Let’s take a look at the six matches from the main card (not that Kane vs Luke Harper wasn’t exhilarating) that saw two championship matches, three traditional Survivor Series contests and one grudge match that had the whole world talking.
5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series Women’s Elimination Match
What we learned: There’s certainly a few things to take away from this classic Survivor Series match but the most important thing we learned following this match is that the women’s division is in a very good place right now; it was very nice to see all of these talented ladies get a chance to shine on the big stage. I thought it was a great call to have them open the show as it shows confidence that they can get a “Big Four” show going and get the crowd hot. And Toronto certainly had a hot crowd all weekend, didn’t they?
On the RAW side of things, I was actually pleased to see Sasha Banks get eliminated a little earlier than expected. As I noted last week, I thought it was important to start to move away from the Sasha Banks vs Charlotte feud and give a few more of the ladies in red a chance in the spotlight and I think this match did just that. Yes, Alicia Fox likely isn’t going to elevate any higher than she is now but it was nice to see the veteran in a big match like this. She’s done everything that’s ever been asked of her and showed on Sunday night that she’s still a true professional. And outside of the questionable tap to Becky Lynch, Nia Jax did what she needed to do in this match and that was establish some dominance. She’s still a bit green and her time will definitely come down the line.
But the night was about Bayley and Charlotte and I thought this was done very well. It was important for Bayley to get the win and stand out from the rest in this match and that’s exactly what happened. While she’s insanely over with the crowd, she hasn’t had that monster moment on the main roster just yet and keeping her in there with two champions proved that she’s ready to take that next step. Charlotte just keeps being Charlotte and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. She’s a natural heel just like her father was and she showed once again why she’s on top.
On the Smackdown Live side of things, they’ve just got so many talented women on their roster and I’m digging what’s going on over on the blue show. They didn’t need to win this match and I never expected them to. Leaving Nikki Bella completely out of the match was a surprise but seeing as she’s been in the spotlight for a long time, I think it was good to let everyone else take a turn on Sunday night and it’s just setting up something for the future anyway. While I do hope Naomi gets a nice run at some point, she’s just not quite there yet. Natalya is and always has been the most consistent worker on the women’s roster and proved that yet again on Sunday night in front of a crowd that was really behind her. Carmella has that little “it” factor about her that will serve her well moving forward and she’s only going to keep getting better as time goes on. Becky Lynch is probably the most talented woman on the women’s roster not named Charlotte and Alexa Bliss is impressing me more each and every week. This match allowed her and every other woman in this match to get some good screen time and show the world what they can do. Pretty solid stuff here.
What’s next: Well, as much as I thought they were getting away from the Charlotte vs Sasha Banks feud, that’s obviously not going to happen right away as her return match for the RAW Women’s Championship has been set for next week. But I really don’t see them switching the title yet again.
This is Bayley’s time to shine against Charlotte and hopefully this leads us to the Sasha Banks vs Bayley singles match on the big stage that everyone is waiting for. A slow build to WrestleMania would be ideal so I hope they don’t jump the gun on this.
Hopefully Nia Jax won’t be just thrown back into a long series of squash matches. While I do think she still has a lot to learn and that those types of matches do help her, she needs a good program to keep the momentum she picked up on Sunday night moving forward.
On the blue brand, the question will be who attacked Nikki Bella and the most likely answer is Natalya, who had been wanting to be in the Survivor Series match for weeks leading up to the show and I think a program between those two would be pretty solid. The feud between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss is far from over after what transpired in Scotland and they’re likely headed towards a match at TLC. I really hope they give them some kind of specialty match to spice things up a bit but I suppose it would take quite a bit of force to get Alexa Bliss through a table, wouldn’t it?