Survivor Series thread

So, in the space of one UK tour, we've seen changes to 2 matches, and I think there might well be another one next week when Charlotte faces Natalya - I'm hoping Charlotte wins and faces Bliss, as it keeps her and Asuka apart - that match is possibly the biggest woman's match there is.

Aj vs Brock as champ vs champ is going to be awesome. Thousands of times better than Mahal, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mahal wins the title back shortly after the PPV.

As I've mentioned on another thread, I'm expecting Shield vs New Day to be added, and Usos vs The Bar could be a really good match.

I also have a suspicion that Trips is interfering in the Raw vs SD match, to start the build for a Mania match vs either Kurt or Shane.

John Cena is taking Styles place on team Smackdown too. Bad for Rusev, good for a Cena Strowman face off moment. They can tease Cena vs Joe and Joe vs Orton too, they are the dream matches in my mind. Should be plenty of interest in the traditional match now. With Shane vs Kurt as a cherry on top. And with all eyes on the match they might as well set up some stuff with HHH like you say too

I can see a Jason Jordan turn with Braun being a eliminated by pursing Kane in a count out leaving Kurt by himself and Jordan turning.

AJ Vs Lesnar I think was added as Vince new Lesnar Vs Mahal wasn't a big draw for the PPV as ive read that Jinder will be winning the title back in time for the tour to India.

Also could we see Rockstar Spud debut at SS as he's signed this weekend for WWE and skipping Nxt and going straight to main roster could we possibly see a British Stable in the cruiserweight division ?

Also s there one spot left in the raws women team think pagie will get that if there is.

Could the Undertaker also return? There's an element of him about the Survivor Series poster at the top of the page - no Wyatt either so far on the card.

I think Spud is going onto 205 Live (must suck for the likes of Alexander and Tozawa, who work all the time only to see guys like Kalisto and Enzo get moved to the division and get immediate title shots).

Spud can be a draw. And his match series with Ethan III were great, so adding better all round talent will make the division more watchable.

Yeah, the poster is basically Undertaker from the Survivor Series buried alive match. But I'm still hoping they add a Kane vs Braun match instead of the distracted monster bit in the 5 on 5 match. They did that at TLC already, pretty much.

Honestly Bosch does it matter what plans may or may not be in that much detail? It will be more fun if something surprising happens lol

i honestly cant see anything surprising Mahal cost AJ and can see a Jordan heel turn and a Enzo beat down from Spud and Dunne

Bit of a surprising raw development last night:

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Kind of takes the seriousness of survivor series up a notch. It's being shown as so important for Raw to win with the anniversary coming up, that HHH has forced his way in to protect the legacy. I think there is going to be a tonne of stuff set up for countless other shows, and maybe even a continuing power struggle to put the emphasis back on which show is the best, like it was just after the split. For too long it has not really felt like the shows were really trying to outdo each other weekly, pretty much since SD was giving Raw a spanking and Vince shifted the talent around and Jinder happened.

I bet the internet (ha) will love the fact Jordan are a pedigree, but to anyone overreacting I say, remember when HHH broke Romans face on the desk. His attempted push isn't over. A potential heel turn finally makes a bit more sense maybe. Daddy didn't stick up for me, etc etc. But I don't really it happening, because they are still making the young fans and casuals feel sorry for him.

Yeah, I loved the internet squealing about Trips 'burying another young kid' by taking his place on the team and then pedigreeing him. Don't they realise it's setting up Kurt vs Trips, and potentially Jordan vs Trips once Jordan has found out where his personality is?

It's shaping up to be a really intriguing card. I'm looking forward to the Usos vs The Bar, both teams have been excellent this year and I can't decide who I want to win. Hoping for either a double DQ or double count-out so they both keep their momentum.

still think Jordan will turn on Kurt for taking him out of the team for HHH. Read online that Paige will have a match at survivor series not sure who or if she'll replace someone. Also Neville has had talks with Vince and is returning soon can see that after Enzo wins got a real feeling now theres gonna be a English stable now.

I don't care how good or bad Survivor Series ends up, the whole thing is worth it just for HBK ripping Vince in the pre show. If you didn't watch it, there was a cringey women's team backstage using that awful repeated tag line. Then cut to HBK sarcastic as hell saying he's a Raw guy, but hey this is the one time a year Raw and Smackdown collide in direct competition, and if you say it even slightly different then you'll be selling oranges on the highway.

Everyone knows this forced scripted stuff is shit, but people aren't telling Vince enough backstage anymore. So HBK doing it on air is the next best thing. It's a shame the other talent just has to go along with it

So...

Shield vs New Day was pretty good, but I couldn't help thinking that New Day just looked out of their depth. It just didn't match up to the Wyatts vs Shield from a few years ago, and whilst there were a few really nice spots, it was nothing more than okay.

Women's 5-on-5 happened, nice that Asuka looked so strong, and even better that Charlotte was kept out of it. Charlotte vs Asuka is the biggest women's money match in the world, excluding Ronda Rousey, of course.

Bliss vs Charlotte was okay.

Miz vs Corbin was one of Miz's better matches, I thought. Miz was entertaining, took some nasty looking moves, Corbin still just looks like he's still not sure what he's doing, and nor can he be arsed to start learning the finer points.

Usos vs The Bar: started slowly, and then got great. Usos are so damned good this year, they're entertaining, nasty as hell in the ring and gave Cesaro and Sheamus as good as they got. My only concern with them now is that there's no-one left for them on SD, so surely a move to Raw beckons? Them vs Ambrose & Rollins, The Revival, the Hardys... so much potential.

AJ vs Brock - match of the night. AJ is so good, despite taking a kicking, and the way the points were, Brock was clearly going to win, but there were times AJ looked like he'd do it. Brock actually turned up for this one, and proved that when he wants to, and he's working with someone he likes or wants to work with, he's truly one of the best. A great match, and millions of times better than if Mahal was champ. All we saw of Jinder was a promo, and that's just the way it should be. Please let this be the end of the Mahal experiment, let AJ hold the title until Mania and put him up against Nakamura. Please?

Main event:
I hated it. The four NXT guys were all eliminated too easily, I did like that Trips sold for Roode and Naka, but the rest was all a bit 'meh'. Kurt needs to stop wrestling, every time he was down for a pinfall and didn't kick out on 1, a voice in my head kept thinking 'he's paralysed!'. He needs to stop wrestling for good now. Despite Cena getting a big build-up, he was barely in the match. Strowman is now a face, I guess, but I can't see where he can go at the moment. He was no match for Brock who's off until January, him vs Reigns has been done - Joe, maybe?

All in all, a decent PPV with a couple of really good matches.

Joe and Strowman had a shoving match, so that's one match up. I assume Kane was smashed through the ring last week to logically keep him away from an interference in the Survivor Series match and set up one big match where Kane tries to exact his revenge too. HHH will obviously not ignore the beating he took, maybe Joe will be his guy again for that.

It was a good enough PPV.

The main event match itself, I kind of agree. Last week I said it seems like the fresh guys won't really matter in this match, in terms of historical relevance no one will remember that Roode and Nakamura got to beat up HHH a bit either. I was hoping for a change from past booking, where maybe a team had to rely on a new guy in the end. The match was all about HHH and ultimate underdog babyface Shane, but they did at least make Strowman, although it's not like he really needed HHH for that. Wrestling is about moments, as we know, and the guys getting those were already firmly established or legendary.

KO and Sami got to run in, but we're ineffectual in the end.

HHH falls over at least twice in every match he's had in the last few years. Just saying...

AJ vs Brock. Did they have to have the running score? Could they not have just said after the match "you do realise the score is now tied" Great match, a proper beast vs crafty technician affair. AJ has earned the right to beat Jinder and the Bolly's whilst at 50% two nights after a big fight, against (relatively) all odds. That should be the story, have him take a beating from all angles again then tap Jinder out. That would settle Jinder down to the Mid card and give AJ fitting moment on tv. AJ already filmed a Mattel advert after his title win that aired on the PPV, so that's a hopeful sign (ready to be disappointed now lol) but he looks like the real face of WWE at the moment.

Uso's vs The Shield has to happen at some point. We need to see Roman torn between bloodline and the brotherhood to further his character.

Vs the bar they showed again they have everything, and that includes how to put together a great match. Cesaro got Samoan dropped while Sheamus had a hold of the Uso, and the suicide tag came back (They don't do it often which is exactly the right way to do things) 2 big spots, not 22.

The real money is in Uso's vs anyone. So I'd just figure out a way to get them both tag titles. Night of Champions probably needs something more than just SD talent in that regard.

You knew they didn't give a shit about the women's match when Natty came in and then Becky was first out lol. Becky's night consisted of repeating the tag line in pre show and getting rolled up quick. She needs a rivalry to get stuck in to or she's done.

Asuka looks like a genuine superstar. I had faith she'd connect with the mainstream audience. Her swagger is coming across through the tv screen much better than Nakamura's.

Surprised Miz lost, and it felt like that was just to get the scores right. His match with Matt Hardy a few weeks ago was fantastic, and he did well with Corbin. He needs to take his frustration out on his entourage, I think, from a character stand point. Stick him vs AJ for the world title or do something bigger with him. He's clearly doing great work at the minute.

It actually did feel like New Day weren't keeping up in their match vs Shield too, I remember thinking it felt off more than a few times. It was surprising, but like you say there was a definite visable imbalance somehow. Still a good start to the show to liven things up,

I think part of my problem with the main event is that SD was pretty much ignored, it was all about Raw and setting up Trips vs Kurt. Maybe if there was something to win, a Draft pick for the winning brand or something, but it felt inconsequential. There was potential for Zayn and KO to do more to cost Shane, we could have had that earlier to get rid of Shane, and then have Cena or Orton facing the three Raw guys. Maybe having Nakamura eliminate Joe, or something. It just felt off to have the main event slots being taken by Trips, Angle, Shane and Orton. At least Braun is a hint that they're looking to the future a little bit.

Yeah, that's why I've not really got into brand split survivor series matches beyond intrigue of certain match ups. There is no wager, nothing comes from being the winning brand. They could use it to make Smackdown seem like it has an equal footing, but they don't seem to want to. They did a bit better job of the build this time, but all that will be remembered from it is that HHH screwed Angle, upset Braun, and destroyed Shane.

Of course, they can get tv out of it if Smackdown doesn't let it slide. But they lost fair and square, it's just that Shane has had his ego crushed. (In reality his ego was stroked, taking all that shit from his family, and still stepping up to fight)

One thing I noticed during the PPV though, they teased a potential Daniel Bryan heel turn? Steph fed him some ideas about how he could claim Smackdown for himself if Shane got hurt. But I think I'd still prefer a long burn Shane heel turn, and not letting his family feud rest coild further that thread. He could put Bryan in danger again, risk AJ's title vs a raw guy to show he has the best roster or whatever.

I'm not sure I want another McMahon family heel, ever again. Having a babyface GM works, especially if SD is being positioned as the land of opportunity. A heel GM isn't going to award someone for winning a lot of matches, and it'll be Orton and Cena main eventing until they die. I quite like having guys like AJ, KO and others getting a shot at main-eventing, except when it's Mahal and utterly undeserved, of course.

One small annoyance with Survivor Series was Michael Cole continually referring to Nakamura as 'Shin'. Started to annoy me probably more than it should have.