Here’s our final thoughts on Raw/SmackDown Live’s WWE Survivor Series 2016!
Noam Dar, Rich Swann, and T.J. Perkins vs. Ariya Daivari, Drew Gulak, and Tony Nese (Six-Man Tag Team Match)
Reactions: This was some unexpected fun. The Cruiserweight’s tend to always get featured in some sort of multi-man matchup these days and this was the case here. It was your usual Raw Cruiserweight showcase with a few more PPV pre-show minutes tacked onto it. Swann stood out (like he always does), but everyone else managed to keep up. Here’s hoping that this pinfall Swann pulled off further pushes him towards a future title shot.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Kane vs. Luke Harper
Reactions: Whenever’s Kane involved in something these days, chances are the match is gonna be a lot slower and methodical than anything else on the card. Him and Harper put on something akin to something that you’d usually catch on an episode of SmackDown Live. The opening moments were slow as all hell (no pun intended considering who’s a part of this match), but things sped up a bit more after that big Superplex by Kane. Everything afterwards was mostly big move here and big move there. This was just some random inoffensive action that you only need to see once. We guess Kane’s still got some unfinished business with Orton and his new stablemates…
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Team Raw (The New Day (Big E and/or Kofi Kingston and/or Xavier Woods), Sheamus and Cesaro, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Enzo Amore and Big Cass and The Shining Stars (Primo and Epico)) vs. Team SmackDown Live (Heath Slater and Rhyno, The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley), American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable), The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) and Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango)) (10–on–10 Traditional Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match)
Reactions: This is where the PPV started to improve. All these tag teams pulled off one of the more spirited exhibitions of the entire evening. The ring was jam packed with a slew of talented tag teams, which made this contest way more easier to watch over the women’s elimination match. The opening promos from Enzo & Cass and The New Day started this party off right. Once again, the eliminations ended up happening faster than we expected. But at least the action in between never slowed down to a snail’s pace. The big splashes and planchas to the outside, American Alpha’s Steiner Bros. finisher callback, The Club’s dominating performance and Cesaro’s slew of impressive moves brought this match to life. The Usos even looked good ind defeat. We knew this one wouldn’t disappoint and we’re happy to say that it met our high expectations.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
The Miz (c) (with Maryse) vs. Sami Zayn (WWE Intercontinental Championship; if Zayn wins, the title will transfer to Raw)
Reactions: Something tells us this match would be just a lil’ bit better if Ziggler managed to hold on to the IC Championship. But hey, this title bout was still a fun encounter. Miz’s leg work was focused and Zayn relied on his energetic moveset to counter it. Nothing too special occurred here as far as unique moments are concerned, but this one still kept us entertained throughout. The ending fell a bit flat with us, but it gave The Miz the type of sneaky out he needs to keep his title reign alive. This was pretty good (mostly cause Zayn’s excellent selling pulls us into his matches all the time).
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Team Raw (Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Nia Jax, Alicia Fox and Sasha Banks with Dana Brooke) vs. Team SmackDown Live (Nikki Bella, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Carmella and Naomi with Natalya) (5–on–5 Traditional Survivor Series Women’s Elimination Match)
Reactions: So Nikki ended up taken out before she could even make her entrance. Natalya ended up being the one to fill in her spot. As for the match itself, this was decent. The opening moments were the best parts of the match (plus watching Jax dominate for a few moments stood out, too). Naomi’s daredevil offense, the mayhem that erupted after every woman entered the ring and the double team maneuvers used to break Jax down were the match’s highlights. Natalya ended up being a worthy replacement for Nikki cause she went Suplex crazy. The rest of this Elimination Tag Match was filled with quick eliminations, so it didn’t overstay its welcome at least. It could have been a lot better with some more quality women on both sides, but it was still passable. Charlotte, Bayley, Lynch and Natalya stood out as this match’s main MVP’s.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Brian Kendrick (c) vs. Kalisto (Singles Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship; if Kalisto wins the title, then Smackdown Live will get the Cruiserweight Division from Raw)
Reactions: This one was a definite heartbreaker. Not due to the match itself, mind you. It hurt us mostly because Baron Corbin’s random interference killed off our hype just as things started going from good to great. Kalisto arrived with his slickest maneuvers while Kendrick pulled out his sneakiest moves and rugged array of submissions. Kendrick slowed down the fast action a bit with his extended submission work, but the action picked up after Kalisto broke out a rare Spanish Fly from the ring apron. Kendrick’s top rope Headlock Takeover into the Captain’s Hook was also amazing to see. This was a decent match; however, it loses a bit of its luster due to the crappy ending and Kendrick’s unexciting submission work. We totally thought SmackDown Live had this one in the bag. Damn…
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Team Raw (Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins) vs. Team SmackDown Live (AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt and Shane McMahon) (with James Ellsworth) (5–on–5 Traditional Survivor Series Men’s Elimination Match)
Reactions: This was the most important Traditional Survivor Series Elimination match on the entire PPV. Overall, it was good at points and really unfocused during other ones. This one ran long and it showed (it was painfully obvious that the men involved in this match were forced to kill time). But near the middle stretch, the action intensified as the main feuds from each brand boiled over into the ring. We even got a brief Shield reunion, which brought the crowd and us to life. Even James Ellsworth became a part of a OMG moment at the hands of Strowman. The scariest moment came after Shane ate a midair spear from Reigns, but things picked back up once Reigns went into survival mode. The combined might of The Wyatt Family proved too much to overcome and that led to a SmackDown Live win. We enjoyed the majority of this match, but its several disjointed parts kept it from being truly amazing.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. Goldberg
Reactions: WTF! WOW! The Beast Incarnate who broke ‘Taker’s WrestleMania streak, destroyed Cena in seconds to claim the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and remained unbeatable forever just got taken out in a mere minute and a few seconds. That entire match outcome brought our jaws to the floor (we’re still trying to pick ’em up). So were the rumors true? Did Goldberg injure himself on the last Raw and this is the only way he could perform tonight? It seems so cause three moves were all we saw from Goldberg and then the winning pin. We’re still in disbelief over this one. We enjoyed it, but there are so many questions we want answered due to the results of this encounter. This left us unfulfilled, so this needs to happen again at the Royal Rumble 2017. Man, who did Lesnar piss off?
Rating: SQUASH!
Match of the Night
The 10–on–10 Traditional Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match!
Final Verdict
Survivor Series 2016 will always be remembered for the most shocking main event squash in recent memory (right next to Lesnar vs. Cena at SummerSlam 2014). Goldberg cut down WWE’s resident world beater in just mere minutes. What. An. Ending. Besides that shocker of an ending, the big Raw vs. SmackDown Live tag team elimination match was immensely entertaining. We also got a kick out of the big singles Superstars brand warfare match, even though it was a bit too slow and felt really off at certain intervals. The rest of the card was filled with average to decent bouts, but at least they were far from atrocious. This show was marked by three high points, but everything else failed to be just as remarkable. WWE Survivor Series 2016 needed to live up to its extraordinary card. It kind of did that. Kind of…
Final Score: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
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