WWE Survivor Series Review - November 24, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kickoff: Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler Won a Cross-Branded Tag Team Battle Royal

This was basically the Battle Royal equivalent to the Gauntlet match we got with most of these same teams for the WWE World Cup at Crown Jewel three weeks ago. In other words, it was completely pointless. NXT didn't have the strongest showing, as The Forgotten Sons, Imperium and Breezango were eliminated fairly quickly, but at least Street Profits lasted until the end. I would have liked to see them win, but I assume Roode and Ziggler will be challenging SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day soon enough.

Kickoff: NXT Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush def. Kalisto and Akira Tozawa in a Triple Threat Match

No reason was provided as to why Tozawa and Kalisto were randomly put in contention for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, aside from how all three are from separate brands and WWE needed another match on the Kickoff show. That said, this was a treat while it lasted. Rush, Kalisto and Tozawa delivered and obviously there was no reason for Rush to drop the title to either of them (even though I'm sure Kalisto and Tozawa both wish they were back in NXT with him).

Kickoff: Raw Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders def. NXT Tag Team Champions undisputed Era and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match (Non-Title)

I was disappointed this was relegated to the Kickoff show, but I guess it just got the short end of the stick since everything else was a bigger deal. It started out slow, but once they picked up the pace down the stretch, this turned into an enjoyable three-way tag team match. I figured it'd come down to either Viking Raiders or Undisputed Era picking up the victory, and I didn't mind Undisputed Era eating the pinfall loss considering they went through WarGames less than 24 hours prior.

Team NXT (Rhea Ripley, Io Shirai, Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair and Toni Storm) def. Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Nikki Cross, Lacey Evans, Carmella and Dana Brooke) and Team Raw (Charlotte Flair, Natalya, WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors and Sarah Logan) in a 5-on-5-on-5 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match

The eliminations were rushed, but with 15 women involved, I expected that to happen. The Kabuki Warriors have been at odds with Flair for weeks, so Asuka misting her before walking out on her team was a clever way to write them out of the match. Of course, Asuka was never officially eliminated, but then again, maybe she just forfeited. Either way, I had my guard up once Shirai and LeRae went down with "injuries," and I wasn't ecstatic about them resurfacing toward the end to help Ripley win in heelish fashion, but everything else about this was solid. Ripley's back-and-forth with Banks was terrific and it's apparent WWE views Ripley as someone they'll be building their women's division around in the future, as they should. She's tremendous.

NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong def. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and United States Champion AJ Styles in a Triple threat Match (Non-Title)

A lot of people had high hopes for this looking at it on paper, and it definitely should have been better with the time it was given and the level of talent involved, but it was very good for what it was. They could have kicked it up a notch, but at least they kept it consistent throughout and beat the holy hell out of each other. I assumed Styles winning was a given, so Strong stealing the victory for NXT was a pleasant surprise. He also had the strongest showing of the three guys in the match, so I suppose it was only fitting.

NXT Champion Adam Cole def. Pete Dunne

Admittedly, I figured this would be positioned as the "filler" match of the night since it had no prior build and I wasn't sure if this main roster crowd would care (despite it being Chicago, the same site as TakeOver: WarGames III the night before). Well, I was wrong, as this was hands down the best bout on the entire show. Dunne and especially Cole were still (kayfabe) beat up from WarGames and I love how they incorporated those injuries into the match. Cole's Panama Sunrise to Dunne on the ring apron was a thing of beauty and Dunne came close to capturing the championship a few different times. I truly think Cole will be just fine when he inevitably makes the move to the main roster. He's had a hell of a month, and if he isn't pushed as a main event player on Raw or SmackDown down the road, something is seriously wrong.

Universal Champion "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt def. Daniel Bryan

Good lord, the red lighting needs to be done away with as soon as possible. It was kind of cool at Hell in a Cell, but it's been downright dumb and distracting in the matches Wyatt has had since then. Other than that, this was easily the best match of The Fiend's yet. Granted, that isn't saying much, but they didn't get too cute with anything they did and it was more of a competitive contest with less finishers being kicked out of. The highlight of the matchup was Bryan finally bringing back his patented "Yes!" chant to a raucous reaction. I wouldn't mind more matches between these two because they obviously have quality chemistry together.

Team SmackDown (Roman Reigns, King Corbin, Mustafa Ali, Braun Strowman and Shorty G) def. Team NXT (Keith Lee, Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Damian Priest and WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER) and Team Raw (Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Ricochet and Kevin Owens) in a 5-on-5-on-5 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match

Of the two elimination matches, I thought this one was superior, if only for those final few minutes. However, the booking was all over the place and I absolutely hated how WALTER was the first one eliminated in under five minutes. He was barely given a chance to shine before being bumped and what's worse is that he's been undefeated on NXT UK all year long. He showed up at Survivor Series and was taken out quicker than either Brooke or Logan were earlier. That's a disgrace. Plus, Owens showed favoritism toward NXT at one point, only for Ciampa to eliminate him without batting an eyelash. That was weird as well. Everything from that point forward was largely excellent. Riddle pinning Orton and Lee pinning Rollins were huge. SmackDown went over in the end thanks to Reigns, but Lee gained a ton from going toe-to-toe with him. The crowd treated him like the star he is, so needless to say, he and the rest of the NXT crew lost nothing in defeat. The crowd was hanging on every nearfall and it was a blast to watch.

WWE Champion Brock Lesnar def. Rey Mysterio in a No Holds Barred, No Disqualification Match

Lesnar tends to have his best matches with smaller opponents and this was no exception. Granted, it was far from the barn burner it could have been a decade or so ago, but Mysterio is a lot more banged up and Lesnar clearly couldn't give two craps anymore, so we're lucky that this ended up being an entertaining affair. I've seen mixed opinions on this, but I thought it was exactly what it needed to be and that it was booked perfectly. The stipulation was handled well with Mysterio scoring some offense and teaming up on Lesnar with his son Dominic (who was able to get revenge at long last), only for Lesnar to ultimately reign supreme and retain his title. That double 619 spot was wonderful. If the rumors are true and the plan is for them to team at WrestleMania 36, I'm ready.

NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler def. SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch in a Triple Threat Match (Non-Title)

Man, what a letdown this was. The ladies put forth a commendable effort, but the crowd wasn't invested in the action and I don't blame them. There is something to be said for the show being unbearably long, but it never felt like they worked with a sense of urgency or that anything we were seeing was overly important. In fact, Bayley tapping out to Bayley came across as anticlimactic. It was the outcome I was hoping for, mind you, but it came out of nowhere and the reaction was lukewarm at best. Baszler winning in the main event of a WWE pay-per-view is an outstanding accomplishment, but this should not have been put in the main event slot unless it was either going to steal the show or something notable was going to happen afterward (such as Ronda Rousey returning, which would have made complete sense given her history with Lynch and Baszler). Lynch attacking Baszler post-match wasn't enough to justify this going on last.

Overall Show

Say what you will about WWE and their less-than-stellar track record when it comes to stuff like this, but you have to give credit where it's due. They did the right thing by putting NXT over in a major way on this show. They were protected nicely coming into the event and a handful of stars benefited from the extra exposure including Cole, Ripley, Lee, Riddle and Baszler. Just as importantly, the match quality overall was above-average compared to most WWE pay-per-views. Again, NXT's involvement helped quite a bit with that, so we'll see how TLC is without them around. It wasn't a terribly newsworthy event, but I had fun watching it and didn't have many issues with the booking decisions that were made.