WWE Survivor Series 2019 review: Highlights, takeaways and projections

Highlights, takeaways and what’s next for the superstars of WWE and NXT following Sunday night’s Survivor Series pay-per-view event from Chicago.

For the 33rd consecutive year, WWE held its Survivor Series pay-per-view event, this year taking place at the Allstate Arena just outside Chicago, and for the first time, the NXT brand joined the battle for brand supremacy with Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown.

Each brand came away with a win on the Kickoff Show with Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode picking up a win for the blue brand in a 10-Team Interbrand Tag Team Battle Royal, NXT Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush besting Akira Tozawa and Kalisto in a Triple Threat Match and The Viking Raiders picking up a win for RAW in a Triple Threat Tag Match featuring all of the tag champs.

Not every match on the card featured superstars from each brand as all three world titles were on the line as well. With so much to get to, let’s jump right into the main card, starting with the 5-on-5-on-5 Survivor Series Women’s Elimination Match.

Team RAW (Charlotte Flair, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Natalya, Sarah Logan) vs. Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Nikki Cross, Lacey Evans, Dana Brooke, Carmella) vs. Team NXT (Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, Candice LaRae)

Order of elimination

• Bianca Belair eliminates Nikki Cross via pinfall
• Bianca Belair eliminates Sarah Logan via pinfall
• Charlotte Flair eliminates Carmella via pinfall
• Sasha Banks eliminates Kairi Sane via pinfall
• Asuka eliminates Dana Brooke via pinfall
• Asuka walked out on Team RAW
• Lacey Evans eliminates Charlotte Flair via pinfall
• Natalya eliminates Lacey Evans via pinfall
• Sasha Banks & Natalya eliminate Toni Storm via submission
• Sasha Banks eliminates Bianca Belair via pinfall
• Sasha Banks eliminates Natalya via pinfall
• Rhea Ripley eliminates Sasha Banks via pinfall

Rhea Ripley, Candice LaRae & Io Shirai are the survivors for Team NXT

This was a good selection to start the main card. These 15 women got nearly half an hour to work and there was certainly plenty to showcase. Those not overly familiar with the women of NXT got a great look at what they can see on Wednesday nights and Rhea Ripley is on her way to becoming an absolute star. While I wasn’t a big fan of Io Shirai and Candice LaRae leaving the match early on only to come back at the end (all while never being officially eliminated from the match) and make the NXT team look like the big heels, this was still a lot of fun.

I wasn’t sure how these matches were going to play out with the entire match being one giant Triple Threat Match but I thought most things went smoothly. Bianca Belair picked up consecutive pinfalls in a strong showing of her own. The only big story to come from the main roster was Asuka abandoning her team after spitting the green mist into Charlotte Flair’s face midway through the match. Good start to the night.

What’s next: There’s obviously something brewing between Charlotte Flair and Asuka, which should start up on Monday night, more than likely with The Queen needing to find herself a new tag partner to even the odds with Asuka and Kairi Sane. As for the big story of the night, Rhea Ripley has had a monster week and could and probably should be next in line for the NXT Women’s Championship when and if Shayna Baszler makes her way to Monday or Friday nights.

Survivor Series Scoreboard: NXT-2, Monday Night RAW-1, Friday Night SmackDown-1