WWE Survivor Series 2017 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections
By Luke Norris
The Shield (RAW) vs. The New Day (SmackDown)
What we learned: It’s going to be tough with some of these matches to talk about anything we learned as the majority of these matches aren’t going to lead to much down the line, but if we learned anything here, it’s that these two trios can put on one hell of a match together.
When the kickoff panel announced that The Shield and The New Day were going to be starting off the show, I immediately thought it was the perfect way to go. With the talent level of the six men involved and the great build leading into the match, I figured they would get the crowd going, and that’s exactly what happened. This match was so much fun to watch, and while the outcome was pretty obvious — there’s no way The Shield was going to lose in their first pay-per-view after reuniting — this was still extremely entertaining.
With a four-hour show and only seven matches, it was clear that just about everyone was going to get some time to shine, and there was plenty of shine in this bout. It happened quite a bit throughout the night, but I really dug the tags at the beginning of the match to set up certain matchups, and seeing Big E and Roman get after it in the power vs. power spot was great. Roman has been built up for so long, and to see Big E as almost his equal for a short time was a big deal.
The match started a little slow with those tags going on, but once these teams got going, the intensity level stayed up throughout with some great spots. The spear through the ropes from Big E is always impressive and things kicked up another notch with the double Midnight Hour to Ambrose and Rollins. Reigns made the save in one of so many great near falls throughout the match. The end saw a big triple powerbomb off the ropes from The Shield to Kofi Kingston, and the Hounds of Justice walked away with the victory in a superb opening match.
What’s next: The titles were taken off of Rollins and Ambrose to set up this match, so it will be interesting to see if they look for their rematch with Cesaro and Sheamus as things get back to normal. Reigns has a big six months coming up as he’s likely going to be booked very strongly heading into the Royal Rumble (possible winner) and WrestleMania with a seemingly inevitable match with Lesnar coming. It will be interesting to see what happens with The New Day as the blue brand settles back in. Before this matchup, their feud with The Usos, which provided so many great matches this year, came to an end, and without the tag titles to chase, creative needs to find a way to keep their momentum going after a strong showing on Sunday night. Perhaps they invite The Shield to Night of Champions for a rematch. That’s not likely, but I’d love to see this match again.