WWE Survivor Series 2019 review: Highlights, takeaways and projections
By Luke Norris
Team RAW (Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Kevin Owens) vs. Team SmackDown (Roman Reigns, King Corbin, Shorty G, Mustafa Ali, Braun Strowman) vs. Team NXT (Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, Damian Priest, WALTER)
Order of elimination
- Drew McIntyre eliminates WALTER via pinfall
- Kevin Owens eliminates Shorty G via pinfall
- Tommaso Ciampa eliminates Kevin Owens via pinfall
- Randy Orton eliminates Damian Priest via pinfall
- Matt Riddle eliminates Randy Orton via pinfall
- Baron Corbin eliminates Matt Riddle via pinfall
- Braun Strowman is eliminated via countout
- Baron Corbin eliminates Ricochet via pinfall
- Seth Rollins eliminates Mustafa Ali via pinfall
- Roman Reigns eliminates Drew McIntyre via pinfall
- Tommaso Ciampa eliminates Baron Corbin via pinfall
- Seth Rollins eliminates Tommaso Ciampa via pinfall
- Keith Lee eliminates Seth Rollins via pinfall
- Roman Reigns eliminates Keith Lee via pinfall
Roman Reigns is the sole survivor for Team SmackDown
I’m sure there are plenty of people out there in the WWE Universe that didn’t like the ending and/or the winner of this traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match, including just about everyone in attendance in Chicago (very pro-NXT crowd), but the ride there was incredibly entertaining. There were so many good matchups and spots here that it was sometimes difficult to keep track of everything that was happening.
There was the big man vs. big man vs. other big man battles with Braun Strowman, WALTER (who was surprisingly eliminated very early on), Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee. There were the amazing displays from Ricochet and Shorty G (that name is still awful). We got our mandatory RKOs from Randy Orton, who was then eliminated by Matt Riddle in a fun moment for the youngster. Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee (especially Keith Lee) got a chance to shine for NXT. There was the expected conflict with Roman Reigns and Baron Corbin, which led to The King being ousted from the matchup, and then Reigns and Rollins teamed up late for some nostalgia for The Shield, who debuted at Survivor Series seven years ago.
It was nice to see Lee get a pinfall and Rollins as I certainly didn’t expect that as I thought Rollins and Reigns would have to go at it to determine a winner. Lee nearly pulled off the upset but couldn’t quite do enough to get past Roman. NXT once again looked very strong here but it was Team SmackDown picking up their second win of the night with Reigns as the sole survivor. Very entertaining.
What’s next: There were a lot of future feuds that were teased here. We’ve got the Reigns-Corbin thing still going, which will likely turn into a TLC Match to close that thing out. But then there’s the Kevin Owens saga. He showed up to help Team Ciampa on Saturday night for WarGames but then was eliminated by Ciampa during this match. So do we really even know what show he’s technically on right now?
It may not happen right away but Matt Riddle and Randy Orton will meet down the line somewhere, perhaps another tease at the Royal Rumble that leads to something at WrestleMania. It will be interesting to see where Seth Rollins goes from here as he’ll have to start something completely new at this point. Certainly, a lot to be decided in the coming weeks.
Survivor Series Scoreboard: NXT-3, Monday Night RAW-1, Friday Night SmackDown-2