Every 2017 WWE PPV main event ranked by in-ring value

7. WWE Survivor Series: Men’s 5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match

Team RAW (Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Triple H) vs. Team SmackDown (Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena)

If I had to pick one place on this list that’s going to take the most heat from the IWC, it’s probably this one. The main event of Survivor Series, which ended up being a really entertaining pay-per-view as a whole, saw Team RAW take on Team SmackDown in a traditional 5-on-5 elimination match. While the booking was a bit questionable, this was still a very entertaining match to watch, even if it faded a bit down the stretch.

Braun Strowman hurling Shane McMahon across the ring got things off to a nice start and the look on Shane’s face was priceless. The first 10 to 12 minutes were really entertaining as we saw some tags to create some interesting matchups, highlighted by Shinsuke Nakamura just begging to get in there with Finn Balor. Those two went at it for a few minutes before Triple H came in to face off against one of his greatest NXT signings, which was cool to watch. Perhaps that’s why I liked this match more than I should. With all of these guys in there, including Kurt Angle in just his second match back in WWE, it created some matchups we don’t get to see that often and that’s always a good time. I mean, did you ever think you’d see Triple H battle it out with Bobby Roode? Or Kurt Angle wrestle John Cena again? Cool stuff.

Braun Strowman was made to look really strong once again as he eliminated Nakamura and Roode within about 90 seconds and the red squad had the advantage for a while before Cena eliminated Samoa Joe before being eliminated himself by Angle. Orton took out Balor before being eliminated by Orton, which was a big deal given Orton’s history in these matches.

Shane McMahon, who had to fight off Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn at one point, was the last blue-brand competitor in the match and had to go one-on-three against Triple H, Strowman and Angle and that’s when the drama started. Triple H wanted the spotlight and gave the Pedigree to Angle and put Shane on top of him, knocking Angle out of the match and then gave one to Shane to end the match. However, this didn’t sit well with Braun, who powerslammed Trips to end the show. As I said, the end was a little off but the lead to it was fun.