WWE Survivor Series 2017 is officially in the books and the WWE’s fall classic provided fans with a pay-per-view they haven’t seen the likes of throughout the 2017 calendar year.
In what was a stacked card, WWE Survivor Series lived up to its lofty expectations and then some. Many question the final match of the night, but everything prior to that bout was high-quality professional wrestling.
Survivor Series wasted little time kicking off things with a bang when The Shield battled The New Day in the opening match of the night. And to say it was a tough act to follow would be an understatement as the WWE’s top two trios went at it in a great match that more than lived up to expectations before The Shield got the win. It was a true gem and match of the night candidate without question.
Next up was the 5-on-5 traditional Survivor Series elimination match pitting Raw’s five best women against SmackDown’s five best women. The match was very good with a lot of fast-paced action and despite the argument it didn’t go on long enough, it was a standout battle that saw Asuka as the sole survivor for Team Raw in impressive fashion.
The match that had probably the least amount of hype heading in was Raw’s Intercontinental Champion The Miz battling SmackDown’s United States Champion Baron Corbin, but the match exceeded expectations and was a very good battle. Corbin looked very good and picked up an impressive win with no shady finish to be found.
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Tag team champions squared off in the match that followed when the Raw Tag Team Champions Sheamus and Cesaro faced the SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos in not only a match of the night candidate, but a match of the year candidate. Both teams shined and excelled with several standout moments and spots before The Usos got the win to arguably steal the show.
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The two top women’s competitors in the WWE made their mark when the Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss battled the SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in one of the better women’s matches in the WWE in 2017. In what turned out to be a very physical battle, Charlotte got the win in the end to keep her recent momentum rolling.
A dream match of sorts was on deck when Raw’s Universal Champion Brock Lesnar squared off with SmackDown’s WWE Champion AJ Styles in what turned out to be a defining match for both superstars. Lesnar and Styles tore the house down after The Beast Incarnate dominated The Phenomenal One in the early stages of the match before finally putting away Styles to get the win. It was arguably Lesnar’s best match since his battle with CM Punk at SummerSlam 2013 and further showed why Styles is the best wrestler in the WWE today.
The most universally anticipated match of the night main evented the show when the Team Raw men faced off with the Team SmackDown men. The action early on was very stellar, but the rest of the match was questionable. All the current stars went out relatively early to pave the way for the veterans to steal the spotlight before a confusing finish which saw Triple H appear to turn on Team Raw before laying out SmackDown’s captain Shane McMahon to get the win for Team Raw.
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It was a relatively good match, but it was not on the same level as the rest of the pay-per-view. The ending was strange and left more questions than answers. Not to mention, the interference of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn didn’t do much either. Is Triple H vs. Kurt Angle in the cards for the future? The main event of Survivor Series might have alluded to it.
Despite a questionable main event, Survivor Series was a great show that featured a handful of great matches that should be viewed as match of the year candidates. The hype leading into this event was high, and it lived up to the hype. Nearly everything was spot on and the superstars pulled out all the stops to ensure the event was a success.
Next: WWE Survivor Series 2017 Review
The fallout on Raw and SmackDown this week should be interesting to see where both brands go from here. But at the end of the day, the WWE put forth its best pay-per-view of the year with the 31st annual Survivor Series.