Men’s 5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series Match
Team RAW (Kurt Angle, Triple H, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe & Braun Strowman) vs. Team SmackDown (Shane McMahon, John Cena, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura & Bobby Roode)
What we learned: To the surprise of nobody, we learned here that McMahon family drama is more important than everything as the main event of the night was full of questionable booking that took away from a match that had the chance to be great.
It was no surprise that the two brands came into the final match of the evening tied, and with everything (or really nothing) on the line, this should have been a fantastic match. While there were plenty of fun moments and interesting matchups that we’d never seen before, this ended up being a real disappointment as it went along.
I thought the start of the match was very entertaining, and not just because of the look on Shane McMahon’s face when Braun Strowman hurled him across the ring. Much like we saw in the opening match, there were some tags to create some compelling matchups and the crowd was really into it. Watching Shinsuke Nakamura begging to get in to square off with Finn Balor was amazing, and seeing Triple H go up against some guys he worked so hard to get to NXT was a great story as well. There were no eliminations for nearly 12 minutes until the Braun Strowman show started.
It was expected that Braun was going to be let loose and built up in a match like this, and that’s exactly what happened as he eliminated Shinsuke and Bobby Roode within about 90 seconds to give the red team a 5-on-3 lead before they started arguing with each other. I figured there would be some friction with Triple H and Kurt Angle at some point, and it started right around this time. This also led to Braun getting double-teamed by Randy Orton and John Cena (interesting combo with their history), and soon after, being slammed through the announce table by four members of the blue brand in a great spot.
Cena would go on to eliminate Samoa Joe before being eliminated himself by Kurt Angle. Cena wasn’t really a factor at all in this match, which made his return a little surprising, but the interaction between him and Angle was pretty cool to watch. Even with an RKO taking him out, I thought Balor’s elimination was a little weak and was hoping he’d somehow factor into the finish, but said finish was always going to be about the family drama with some Braun thrown in.
Strowman finally recovered and eliminated Orton, leaving Shane McMahon on his own. Before that, Shane had to deal with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn coming down and getting involved, and I’ll get to more of that in a minute. I just don’t like Shane being in this spot that could have been used for someone else. I get the story they’re trying to tell, but the end of the match was just not good. I’m not saying that Shane taking a beating isn’t fun to watch, but it was the way it happened that didn’t make much sense. Triple H taking out Angle was so forced and had no drama to it like I’m sure they were hoping for, and Braun taking out Triple H after they became the survivors of the match didn’t make much sense either. Overall, it was still a decent match but could have been so much better.
What’s next: Okay, let’s take a look at this thing by brand. On the SmackDown Live side of things, Shane McMahon will be disappointed in himself for the loss and still has to deal with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, who were upset that they weren’t part of the team. They’ll say that the blue brand would have won had they been out there and everything that goes along with that, and we’ll have to continue that storyline until they either get traded or there’s some sort of “Loser Leaves SmackDown Live” sort of thing. Other than that, there weren’t many big stories to come out of the match for these guys. Cena was just there to be there. Orton lasted a while because he has Survivor Series history and Shinsuke and Roode were simply fed to Strowman.
On the other side of things, there’s a lot happening. Triple H taking out Angle will lead to something between them down the line, and Stephanie will surely be involved in all of that. Throw in the Jason Jordan interview from earlier in the night and being replaced on the team will also play a factor that I can’t say I’m overly optimistic about.
I did like that there was some tension and arguing between Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. They’ve got a great history together, and the announce team made sure to mention that during the build and during the match itself, which could mean we’ll get a program between the two, possibly in a number one contender’s situation in which the winner goes on to face Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble.
As for Braun Strowman, he’s going to continue to be booked strongly and has to be considered one of the favorites to win the Royal Rumble. However, with Roman Reigns still being pushed to take on Lesnar at WrestleMania, that makes for difficult booking moving forward. Will him beating down Triple H lead to The Authority punishing him and setting up a future match? The program with Kane seems to be over (it’s hard to keep going after you slam someone through the ring) and with this continued momentum, creative needs a way to keep it going.
RAW-4 SmackDown-3
Next: Ranking every Survivor Series in history
What was your favorite match of Survivor Series? Feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section below.