WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 27th August 2018 // Reigns & Strowman vs. Ziggler & McIntyre

This week's RAW was a weird one as WWE looked to build a number of big shows at the same time. We got a major surprise heel turn, a classic Intercontinental Championship match between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, Trish Stratus making a surprise appearance to confront Elias in her hometown, as well as Baron Corbin's first week as Acting RAW General  Manager. But was it any good? Lets take a look!

The opening segment was as pretty paint by numbers situation, giving us both a main event for the next PPV, Hell in a Cell, as well as the evening, as Braun Strowman officially announced he'd be cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase against Universal Champion Roman

Reigns in San Antonio on 16^th September, before Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre challenged the Monster and the Big Dog to a match. The interaction between Reigns and Strowman was decent enough, the two clearly still have some chemistry from their surprise hit rivalry last year, whilst the Toronto crowd reacted well to a few well-placed verbal jabs. After Ziggler & McIntyre interrupted though the segment lost any of it's sting. The pair seemed to talk for a long time without actually saying anything, firstly complaining about Ziggler losing to Seth Rollins and then rambling on about wanting to face Reigns and Strowman for reasons that they didn't really make clear, all while getting little to no reaction from the crowd. Things weren't made better when Acting General Manager Baron Corbin came out and made all the confirmed matches official, taking his sweet time in doing so. I get what they're going for with Corbin, with him attempting to take credit for the work done by everyone else, but he's got so little charisma that he ended up sucking more air out of a segment that was already dying. The entire segment went about 15 minutes, felt like 25 and could've been done in 8 or 9.

No Disqualification Match – Acting RAW General Manager Baron Corbin def. Finn Balor via Pinfall

Under the section labelled “Feuds that have gone on way too long”, we have Baron Corbin and Finn Balor in their fourth singles match since the middle of July. This wasn't a feud that anyone was clamouring to see in the first place. The match itself was okay, some good back and forth in the later stages, once we got past an endless stretch of the same weardown hold from Corbin. It was clear to see that the two have been working together regularly from the couple of slick sequences they put together during the second half of the match, with some good variations on stuff like Corbin's Bossman clothesline spot. The highlight came from a slingblade on the outside from Balor that lead into the ad break, whilst a Tope con Hilo in the closing stages also looked great. The finish was used as a way to establish Corbin as Acting General Manager further, with the Lone Wolf causing a Disqualification with a steel chair, only to announce he'd forgotten to make announce that the bout was No DQ, following up with another chair shot and an End of Days for the win. You'd expect that this feud is finally done now, but with Balor unable to get the victory without the Demon it's hard to see where he goes next, especially if Corbin is staying as AGM for any amount of time.

Despite the match being six weeks away still, we got a package looking at Triple H vs. The Undertaker at Super Show-down with Ric Flair, Christian, Mick Foley, Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash discussing what we could see and who they thought would win.

We learned that Dana Brooke would be facing Sasha Banks next in her first RAW singles match since November 2017 in a backstage segment with Titus Worldwide crew. There seemed to be some tension teased between Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews, with Crews confused at O'Neil's optimism for Brooke's chances.

Singles Match – Sasha Banks (with Bayley) def. Dana Brooke (with Titus O'Neil & Apollo Crews) via submission

In the first of a number of short matches on the show, Banks put Brooke away with the Banks Statement in two and a half minutes. For what it was, I found this relatively entertaining. Brooke going for a number of roll up attempts early made storyline sense, whilst the wrestler, who has consistently been towards the lower end of the female performers since debuting in 2015, actually didn't look awful here, hitting a nice looking enziguiri, pulling out some flippy type stuff, before going for her Samoan Driver finish and getting caught with a backstabber. I'm not quite sure what this match was for, with very little storyline development, but with Evolution not to far away it makes sense to give some depth to a couple of women at the far reaches of the division to fill out that card.

Backstage, there was an interaction between Dean Ambrose and Jinder Mahal that filled sometime and would eventually lead to a match in the third hour.

The first very good segment of the show was next as we got promos from Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, with the latter accepting an open challenge from the former. Rollins promo was alright, not offering much beyond crowd pandering, but effective enough to keep Toronto engaged and getting pops when necessary, before issuing the challenge. Owens on the other hand was on fire, full of anger at not having Sami Zayn by his side anymore, like Rollins had Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam, whilst also discussing how RAW hadn't been as much fun as he'd expecting. The Toronto crowd was super hot for their fellow Canadian, that is until he mentioned he's from Quebec and began speaking exclusively in French to a chorus of boos. It was timed to perfection with Owens spending enough time reeling in the crowd to get them to believe in his cause, only to turn on them just before the match began. Although with the skill and fire of the segment of his babyface promo it's curious that Owens has yet to be seen in this role regularly since his very first match with WWE at NXT Takeover: R Evolution back in December 2014.

Singles Match for Intercontinental Championship – Seth Rollins def. Kevin Owens via pinfall to retain

A superb television match here, with Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins putting on what was almost certainly their best singles match in WWE, and definitely the best match on the show. Part of why this match worked better for me than their series over the Universal Championship in Autumn 2016 was that Rollins has grown and grown as a babyface since that point, becoming arguably the best performer on the main roster since then, honing his moveset, whilst also making better use of his impeccable selling. That was on full display here as Owens targetting the Architect's shoulder, including a lovely senton onto the afflicted area. A couple of tremendous sequences in the middle of the bout with Rollins looking to hit either the Curb Stomp or the Ripcord Knee, only for Owens to block with an attack to the shoulder, would eventually string together into Owens locking in a Crossface and then modifying the submission to block Rollins arm reaching the rope, in a well-done dramatic moment was a personal highlight. Some back and forth series of reversals that would conclude with Owens hitting a Stunner as an answer to Rollins' Avadra Kedavra was brilliant in a completely different way, more reminiscent of their indy work than their early WWE series, as both men continued to show their versatility as in-ring performers. I would have liked to have seen Rollins' shoulder used further in the closing stages, as whilst Rollins still sold well the injury was put on the back burner in the final third, whilst playing very little role in the eventual finish. I think that with a little work on that this bout could've been pushed even further. However, it was super cool to see Owens pull out a double jump moonsault from his bag of tricks and, of course, missing the move would lead to Rollins retaining his belt at the first time of asking, collecting a W with a Curb Stomp to bring a stellar Intercontinental Championship match to an end.

Backstage, Braun Strowman handed his Money in the Bank briefcase to Baron Corbin, signalling that his cash-in at Hell in a Cell is now official.

There was an intriguing angle post-match as a frustrated Owens, who has struggled for victories since moving to RAW in April, sat in the ring, muttered the words “I quit” before slowly walking to the back. Like most, I'm very intrigued to see what happens next, which is the most important part of any weekly wrestling show.

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre managed to improve on their promo from the opening segment in an interview with Renee Young. The pair bought a whole heap more energy to their performances, whilst also seeming to have a better idea of why they were challenging two of the most dominant performers on the RAW brand. This boiled down to the idea that Reigns' body wasn't ready to compete following gruelling matches with Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor last week, whilst Braun Strowman's mind wasn't ready to compete after two thwarted Money in the Bank cash-ins in the same time period.

Tag Team Match – The Revival def. RAW Tag Team Champions The B-Team via pinfall

The B-Team's undefeated streak finally came to an end at the hands of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder this week as The Revival went over Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas in a rematch from SummerSlam Kick-Off. This was a fairly basic tag match in structure, failing to get any real reaction out of the crowd. A lot of the action felt contrived and clunky, including a couple of roll-up spots that went on for way to long and killed an energy the match could have had. WWE seems to have no idea what made either team popular and even less of an idea about how it wants to present them to it's audience. Are the B-Team a comedy babyface act? Because there was very little in the way of shenanigan or attempted shenanigan from them here. This meant that the Revival's cutting off the ring schtick simply comes across as boring, because there's little to no promise of anything exciting or entertaining later on in the match. With The Revival's act, if the crowd aren't behind the face in peril then it falls flat. It's difficult to see how RAW's tag division can recover at the moment, as whilst there is some talent there, especially in Dawson & Wilder, the creative and attention to detail, both big and small, simply isn't there.

An entertaining segment saw Trish Stratus interrupt Elias, after The Drifter began ripping into Stratus' hometown of Toronto. Neither performer was without their slip-ups during their promos, but both has enough charisma to keep the crowd and the vocal talent to roll with their mistakes. There was a couple of really well-written lines in this with Elias making a reference to Torontonian Drake's song “Started from the Bottom”, whilst a pair of barbs from each wrestler later on in the promo got great pops from the crowd, even if it did feel like they were papering over that they had no legitimate chemistry. A Stratus slap closed the segment, with Ronda Rousey and Natalya's entrance for the next match being used as a way to swiftly move on from the fact that there wasn't any real ending in place.

Before, Natalya took on Alicia Fox, we got to here from Alexa Bliss, with the revelation that she was revoking or invoking or devoking perhaps, her rematch clause for Rousey's RAW Women's Championship at Hell in a Cell. Bliss also reintroduced Mickie James who hadn't been seen for quite a while, for a nice pop.

Singles Match – Natalya (with RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey & WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus) def. Alicia Fox (with Alexa Bliss & Mickie James) via submission.

A quick and simple win for Natalya in her home-country in her first match since her father, Jim Neidhart, passed away. Natty won with a Sharpshooter in a few minutes and whilst there was nothing of note in the bout, it's difficult to complain about WWE allowing for such a sentimentally sweet moment. This was made especially heart-warming/heart-breaking by Natty pointing to the sky and proclaiming the match was for her Dad afterwards. WWE doesn't always handle death well on it's television products, here's hoping that Jim Neidhart becomes an exception and makes a new rule.

Backstage, Natalya, Rousey and Stratus were met by the Bella Twins. Brie and Nikki talked awkwardly for a few seconds, before it was revealed they'd be returning to action on next week's show. Yay. (For fact fans, this will be their first TV match as a duo since the 17^th October 2015 edition of Main Event, where they went over Team B.A.D.'s Naomi and Tamina on a show that also included Stardust vs. Fandango and Ryback vs. Adam Rose!)

Another look at what various WWE alumni thinks about The Undertaker facing Triple H in Melbourne in October. This time we heard from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Booker T, The Big Show and Diamond Dallas Page, which was nice.

In a surprisingly entertaining segment, Baron Corbin informed Bobby Lashley that he had a match next, but that Corbin couldn't remember who he'd booked him against. I got a kick out of Lashley laughing it off, pretending to be pals with Corbin whilst slapping him on the shoulder. Corbin later informed Lashley that his match was a handicap match once the former Impact World Champion had got in the ring. I'm interested to see how long WWE pushes Corbin as the heel GM using his power irresponsibly and what the actual pay-off is, considering his boss is still the villainous RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon.

Two-on-One Handicap Match – Bobby Lashley def. The Ascension via pinfall

This was a thing. A rather stupid piece of booking, as Lashley going over two guys who haven't looked like a threat in years, but are also considered to have never been booked correctly since leaving NXT, isn't going to help him get over, whilst neither placing him in a feud with Baron Corbin. With the RAW tag team division a mess it's irresponsible to kill another team off in what was a pretty throwaway contest.

Singles Match – Dean Ambrose def. Jinder Mahal via pinfall

Completing a trifeca of short matches, Jinder Mahal's run at the top of the SmackDown brand seemed a distance memory as he lost cleanly to Dean Ambrose in under five minutes. Mahal had pretty much the whole match, controlling after a distraction from Sunil Singh, leading to dull and forgettable contest that offered very little in the way of entertainment. Ambrose's comebacks were repeatedly cut off by Mahal, the Lunatic Fringe reversed a Khallas attempt with a Dirty Deeds. Out of the three matches The Shield members had on the show, this was the weakest and ultimately most pointless, coming across as generic time-filler. I suppose Ambrose needed to be continued to be reintroduced to the audience and a quick win over a former World Champion is a solid way to do, but the delivery came off as lazy and unimaginative.

In the lockeroom, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns had a confrontation, although seemed to be on the same page before the main event.

Tag Team Match – WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & “Mr. Monster in the Bank” Braun Strowman vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre ended in a no contest

Less of a match and more of a set-up for a shock conclusion to the show, as Braun Strowman turned on Roman Reigns, appearing to side with Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre as the trio turned away both Dean Ambrose and Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, before inflicting further punishment on Reigns. The match was alright up until this point, as Reigns battled against Ziggler and McIntyre as the face-in-peril with McIntyre and Ziggler continuing to work well as a team and showing plenty of intensity and physicality throughout as they thwarted various Reigns comeback attempts. But I'm not sure how effective the angle was or if it was the right decision to turn Strowman at this point. The Toronto crowd didn't seem to know what to make of what was happening, especially at the start, when it was very unclear where the angle was heading, but even then the reaction from them didn't match what was going on in the ring, mostly because nobody wanted to see a Braun Strowman heel-turn just 10 months after he became a babyface. Following the Becky Lynch heel-turn at SummerSlam, this feels like another case of WWE being out-of-touch with what it's core audience wants to see and how it is connected with the performers in the ring.

There's intrigue from this reviewer in how this plays out next week and going forward and it has been a while since RAW ended with a genuinely surprising moment. There is also potential in a Strowman/Ziggler/McIntyre vs. The Shield match to main event RAW with variational singles match also having promise whilst also filling valuable minutes of content. Like any good episodic TV ending, I was left asking questions about how the relationships between the characters were effected and whether there was an full and proper alliance between the villainous trio or whether this was one-off or month-long partnership, but I was also left questioning whether the timing was right, whether the correct person had made the turn and how WWE's insistence of keeping Reigns as the babyface star of the show could negatively impact on not just Strowman, but on Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose also.

Finally...

As episodes of RAW go, this was high on big impact moments and talking points, but low on good quality content across the three hours, with some horrible booking seen throughout. Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins stole the show with their Intercontinental Championship match, whilst Owens' walk-out was probably the most interesting storyline development. Alongside this we had Braun Strowman's questionable heel turn and alignment with Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, whilst we also got a surprise appearance from Hall of Famer Trish Stratus in a fun appearance with Elias. We also got a look at Baron Corbin in the role of Acting General Manager for the first time, something which feels like it could be fun in the short term, but could get tiresome if a pay-off doesn't come by Survivor Series at the very latest. A nice moment for Natalya and a surprisingly competent performance from Dana Brooke aside, the rest of the show was a mix between filler matches and dull matches with bad booking as WWE continued to struggled to know what to do with it's tag teams and Bobby Lashley.

Try to check out the gem of a match between Rollins and Owens in full, but I'm sure all of the moments worth seeing from the rest of the show are available on YouTube.

Review by James Marston

Our Favourite RAW Moments

What's this? A shameless cash-in article because it's RAW 25 tonight? Absolutely not. Shut up. Don't go away though, read these views. 

I thought I'd ask our writers and a few friends what they've enjoyed the most over the last twenty five years and this is the collection of those views. What a treat for you the reader. We've got a cavalcade of the great and the good when it comes to ATPW involved Craig Hermit, 

CRAIG HERMIT 

Twenty Five years people, that's a quarter of a century. That's how long RAW has been on that long?! So what is my favourite moment? I genuinely can't give you one because think about it. You as an individual has changed throughout that time.

Case in point, I remember being a child cheering watching the RAW episode when Mr Perfect sent Ric Flair away to WCW after a career ending match. I wouldn't be having the same reaction now. I remember watching the Stone Cold vs Mr McMahon feud every week with something else added on, now I'd be saying this is just drawn out. 

Kurt Angle feuding with Stone Cold was my highlight of the Invasion, "Milkomania!"

Then when the Trish Stratus feud with Lita reached new levels, they main evented the show. WWE had consistently fed fans that Women in the division were eye candy, but damnit that match, both women displayed exactly why they were role models to women that this was just the beginning and it's to WWE's discredit that fans never saw more of this and more development from their wrestlers until recently.

And Daniel Bryan, or should I say the Daniel Bryan movement, wow, think about it, highjacking The Authority's Championship speech and then in the run to Wrestlemania highjacking the show.

Closing with Paige, remembering her first Divas Title victory. It was incredible, not the match but the moment. Fans who'd seen her in NXT, Shimmer and UK knew how awesome she is and this moment seeing her seize the Title. Damn incredible.

So those are some of the moments I remember, oh The Shield breaking up too, there we go!


Think about your 25 years, can you sum it up in one moment? Much like RAW, you can't.

JOZEF RACZKA

Not everything great in WWE happened in the Attitude Era. I'm sure a lot of them did but as someone whose first Wrestlemania was Thirty, it would be disingenuous to write about something that really had no meaning to me. The first full episode of RAW I watched was June 2nd 2014, does that mean anything to you? It should, it's when Seth Rollins, the Architect of The Shield brought it all crashing down around him when he beat Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose with a chair. It was the beginning of my understanding of why you dumb nerds watch this shit and also of me becoming one of you.

But here's the thing, that's not even the death of friendship, I wanted to talk about today. Sure, we've had the end of The Shield, we've had The Miz & Damien Mizdow but in recent years, there's no contender for one moment that we're going to all look back on , maybe even 25 years from now and think 'well that was basically perfect'. I talk to you, of course, about Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens' Festival of Friendship. The Festival is a tribute to the rock-solid nature of Owens and Jericho when it comes to character relations, you see, anyone who's been watching the programming could have worked out that Owens was going to turn on Jericho but Jericho being so blinded to how one-sided the friendship is at that point makes it all the more heartbreaking. Yet it doesn't forget in making Jericho the hero of the story, that he's also a grand-stage narcissist who talks of himself as a gift and makes his entrance with a chorus of showgirls, it's a celebration of friendship but very much, it's a Chris Jericho event, nothing of the flash or pomp suggests Kevin Owens. Wrestling is just a media through which the story is performed, stories of superheroes and supervillains can stand alongside more nuanced tales of broken people refusing to see that they can't make someone change.

That's what we got here and with all the Craigslist magicians, reinterpretations of The Creation of Adam and surprise Gillberg returns you could ask for. This segment was great, as good as the pipebomb, as good as The Rock: This Is Your Life. All this and we learnt one of the most important lessons that wrestling has taught us in years: "It's art! You don't need pants!"

SEAN TAYLOR-RICHARDSON

When Nitro commentator Tony Schiavone joked about Mick Foley’s title win putting butts on seats, he not only hammered a nail in the WCW coffin, he also pointed viewers in the direction of Raw’s greatest ever moment. In front of a wild crowd, Mankind and The Rock engaged in a fiery brawl, aided and abetted by a rich cast of supporting characters: from the McMahons to D-X, this who’s who of the Attitude Era was capped off by the arrival of the never-hotter Stone Cold Steve Austin. As the glass shattered, the fans came unglued; more than happy to see a major star, this pop was reminiscent of a home crowd witnessing a last minute winner over the local rivals Moments later and Mankind was champion: for all of Schiavone’s sarcasm, this represented one of the most genuine feel good moments in WWF/E history.

ANDY SCOTLAND 

I think for me personally, my favourite moment from Raw would be the segment between Mike Tyson and Steve Austin from January 19th, 1998. Steve Austin had just come off his Royal Rumble win and was as popular as anyone had ever been. Vince McMahon was a proud as could be about having “The Baddest Man On The Planet” Mike Tyson on Monday Night Raw and you just knew that Austin was coming to spoil the whole thing. I can still remember the whole segment almost from memory. I was glued to the TV watching it. You could have offered me anything in the world but as a 10 year old, nothing else existed for those minutes. It made regular news around the world. That brawl between the two was probably up there with the best brawl ever on TV, not just WWE. Over 20 years later, people still put it in the top moments in WWE history and I can completely agree.

JAMES MARSTON 

When I asked myself to write my favourite RAW moment, it seems like a lot of our writers I struggled to find my moment. Not because of a lack of choice, but because of the abundance of choice. As much as we, the fans, like to bemoan the WWE, there's no doubt that Vince McMahon and his pals know how to create moments that stick in your mind for years and years. Part of that is how often WWE likes to replay it's classic moments...how often have you seen D-Generation X invade on WCW get an outing on RAW? But another part is the power behind the moments themselves in the first place. Whilst storylines might not always hit home or end how we'd like to see them end, the moments along the way are what keeps us coming back. 

I was a young fan during the tail end of the Attitude Era, but didn't have Sky, so my main exposure to WWF was Sunday Night Heat on Channel 4 and the handful of PPVs they showed. Whilst I've obviously seen the majority of the iconic moments from this period, it would be wrong to choose something from here as it just didn't have the same impact on me watching them years after the fact and often knowing what was going to happen. I began finding WWE back again in 2007, before learning how to connect with RAW online a few years later. Therefore the moments I've been most effected by mostly come from after 2010. I remember being baffled by Donald Trump buying RAW, thrilled by the Nexus invasion angle and saddened by Edge's retirement...but the first time I remember coming away thinking "Holy shit, what has just happened?" was CM Punk's Pipebomb promo. 

Coming after a fairly forgettable Tables Match between R-Truth and John Cena, from the moment Punk sat cross-legged on ramp, clad in a "Stone Cold" Steve Austin t-shirt, his energy came straight through the screen and made me take notice of what was about to happen. Pre this moment, Punk's 2011 had been hit and miss, placed as the leader of the New Nexus, over as fuck and picking up victories over John Cena, Rey Mysterio and John Morrison, but also losing ever match in his series with Randy Orton, there was no particular indication of what was about to come. That's probably what made the subsequent promo so special. 

It might have launched a series of worked shoots that didn't always work, but in that moment as Punk began to rile off his issues with WWE, Vince McMahon, John Lauranitis and the fans, it felt like a real shift was occurring. Winks and nods to things outside the company, mentioning New Japan, Ring of Honor and even Colt Cabana, at a time when WWE was much more cut off from the rest of the wrestling world than it is today, felt like nothing else that had happened on that show, that month, year or beyond. Punk bought attitude, a real visceral energy as he spat his lines at the audience, the camera and mentioned the death of Vince McMahon. Pulling back the curtain and airing petty grievances, all whilst John Cena, the Micky Mouse to WWE's Disney, lay prone in the ring, selling a table bump for what felt like an age. It propelled storylines for months and months to come, resulting in a lengthy WWE title run for Punk, the return of Paul Heyman and gave WWE a genuine buzz. Even if WWE essentially dropped the ball after Money in the Bank, this promo also gave us one of the greatest WWE matches of all-time. 

(All this nice stuff and we're still blocked by CM Punk on Twitter!) 

--- 

Enjoy RAW 25 tonight folks, lets hope it brings us many more fantastic moments to talk about!

Article by Craig Hermit, Jozef Rackza (@NotJozefRaczka), Sean Taylor-Richardson (@GrownManCenaFan), Andy Scotland (@WrestleRopes) and James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale) 

RAW 1278 Review // The Miz vs. Roman Reigns // Intercontinental Championship

It was the first RAW after Survivor Series and we where still in the Toyata Center in Houston, Texas on 20th November. The show heavily featured The Shield as they appeared on an episode of Miz TV, resulting in Roman Reigns getting a shot at The Miz's Intercontinental Championship in the main event, whilst Dean Ambrose also had a match against Sheamus. We also saw the return of Paige, as she interrupted a RAW Women's Championship #1 Contenders match, alongside NXT performers Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose, as well as some of the fallout from the Survivor Series main event as Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan and Braun Strowman confronted Triple H, resulting a match between Jordan and Strowman happening later in the show. But was it any good? Lets take a look! 

 The Shield wreaked havoc on Miz TV

Dean Ambrose def. Sheamus // 9:01

Intercontinental Championship // Roman Reigns def. The Miz (C) via pinfall // 12:54

The Shield were all over the show this week, beginning with an appearance on Miz TV, that had originally been announced as solo appearance from Roman Reigns. Miz drifted past his loss to Baron Corbin the night earlier, before The Shield arrived and things got interesting. The two parties did job, playing around with the lively pro-Miz portion of the audience, having a load of fun along the way, even if the lights did go off in the middle! I get a weird satisfaction anytime Miz loses his head and starts ranting and raving at people and there was plenty of that on display here as he went on a madcap tirade asking The Shield to say "thank you" for the part The A-Lister played in the group getting back together. The crowd bought into it and Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins joked around, bouncing off each other and looking natural in their interactions as they took the piss-out of Miz for losing at Survivor Series. When Reigns said he felt left out when Rollins talked about he and Dean Ambrose (who mostly wandered around in the background, presumably because he's the Lunatic Fringe) getting a RAW Tag Team title shot, Rollins suggested Reigns have a chance at The Miz's championship, leading to The Miztourage taking a beat and a main event IC title match being made.

A good television bout in the second chapter of the Shield's story on this episode. Dean Ambrose and Sheamus worked a physical contest in their tenth TV singles match, based around a number of power moves from The Celtic Warrior. Some work was done on Ambrose's elbow, although despite the commentary team mentioning it a few times and The Lunatic Fringe selling well, it didn't seem to be a massive focus of the in-ring action. What was a focus was the power of Sheamus, as he lobbed around Ambrose with a series of release verticle suplexes, as well as a cool moment when The Great White went straight from a stretch muffler into a sitout powerbomb. Ambrose's scrappy comeback, after Sheamus went into the corner post was fun, but the match peaked once Seth Rollins and Cesaro started to interact at ringside. This produced a couple of distraction near falls, as well as a brilliant moment of Rollins flying through the ring and hitting The Swiss Superman with a suicide dive on the other side, seconds before Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on Sheamus to pick up the clean win. The match used it's time well, built towards its finish and also included a really good highspot near fall for Sheamus off an avalanche rolling senton.

As Kurt Angle tried to check on Jason Jordan's injured leg, The Miz was unsuccessful in his attempt to get Angle to cancel his match with Roman Reigns...

After no title matches on the main show the night before it was a good idea to stick one on this episode and perhaps a brighter one to take the belt of The Miz, following a poorly booked loss to Baron Corbin. Considering that loss, the creative for the contest did a stellar job of making Miz look like a threat to Reigns. Without The Miztourage or Maryse at ringside it could have easily felt like Reigns was going to coast to a quick victory, yet we saw The A-Lister constantly ducking to the floor in the early goings, before eventually managing to block a Superman Punch coming off the steel steps and hit snap DDT on the floor and from then on wards Miz became a threat to the Big Dog, able to escape Samoan drops and superman punches. Amongst a couple of really well-done chains of action, the threat level was raised when Cesaro & Sheamus came to ringside and Miz got a believable near fall off a Skull Crushing Finale following the distraction. The ending with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose out to counter the threat and Reigns nailing a gorgeous spear on the champion had bags of energy and ended the show on a high note, getting a good pop from a crowd who had initially been split for the pair. A solid main event, that opened a few interesting avenues for The Shield and their rivals, especially with no RAW PPV scheduled in December.

Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville attacked Mickie James, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Alicia Fox

Before we talk about Paige's return, I wanted to discuss the dud of a segment that preceded her return. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss was out to complain about fans patronising her following a loss to SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair the night earlier. It was alright work from Bliss, but it was clear she had very little direction or idea where this promo was supposed to go. Mickie James, then Bayley, then Sasha Banks and finally Alicia Fox came out to say they thought they deserved a title shot. The problem was none of them did. James had lost two consecutive title bouts in October, hadn't won since and didn't even quality for the RAW Women's team at Survivor Series, Bayley was the first RAW Woman eliminated at Survivor Series and had only won one non-tag team match since her last title shot in September, Banks probably had the best case, with two wins over Fox since the September five-way and a stellar tag team record, but had also submitted to Natalya the night earlier and Fox had one win since May. Kurt Angle coming out and making a four-way because the four women had came out was daft, because of Asuka's performance at Survivor Series. I understand wanting to hold off her win, but at least give her a reason for not going after Bliss' title. This was a ham-fisted attempt to get bodies in the ring for the upcoming attack, but they could have just as easily done that without this segment.

The Fatal Four-way didn't last all that until Paige interrupted, making her first WWE appearance since, to a massive pop. Paige commanded the crowd with ease, before Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville hit the ring to cause the Four-way to go to a no-contest.

After the match, Paige, Deville and Rose lay waist to Bayley, Banks and James, concluding with a Rampaige to Bayley in an interesting development to RAW's Women's division. Backstage, Alexa Bliss interrupted Renee Young trying to interview Paige, Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose, before the trio battered the RAW Women's Champion, leaving her lying on the floor.

Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan and Braun Strowman all confronted Triple H // 5:55 

Braun Strowman def. Jason Jordan via Disqualification // 1:45

Following the contentious conclusion to Survivor Series, the show began with the fallout from the main event, with Stephanie McMahon gloating over the RAW victory and bringing out her husband, Triple H. The segment kept a great pace with Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan and Braun Strowman all flying down the ramp to get in the face of The Game, with Angle in particular doing a brilliant job of selling his anger after Triple H hit him with a Pedigree on Sunday. Whether you enjoyed that finish or not, this was Angle's best acting performance since returning to WWE as he looked genuinely pissed off with his 2000-02 rival. He stormed to the ring, got up in The Cerebral Assassins face and looked fucking furious, like Triple H had told him that milk was a bad choice. Jordan coming out was okay, it made sense after the Pedigree he took last week, and the crowd was actually into him challenging Triple H, but it was Braun Strowman's arrival, moments after the D-Generation X founder had said he wasn't afraid of anyone in the locker room that created the real moment. A tense stare-down, with Triple H exiting the ring was a lovely piece of business, with the crowd desperate to see Strowman go off on one and lob the COO all over the ring. Where this is heading I have no idea, but I'm interested to fine out. The segment closed with Stephanie McMahon booking a match between Strowman and Jordan later on.

Jason Jordan tried to get out of his match with Braun Strowman, telling his Dad that he was really hurt, but then got weirdly pumped up about the prospect when Angle couldn't stop the match... Braun Strowman told Charly Caruso he was glad that Jason Jordan had said he wasn't afraid of him, because that makes him different from everyone else, including Triple H... Jason Jordan went to Matt Hardy for some advice about his mater later, with Hardy telling him "some nights it's just not your night" HELPFUL...

The Strowman vs. Jordan match didn't last long, as it appeared Jordan was ready to bail after less than two minutes, holding onto his injured knee and with Strowman looking the other way, Kane attacked the Monster Among Men with a steel chair.

Kane continued to attack Strowman after the match, driving a steel chair between Strowman's throat and the ring steps, leaving the Monster Amongst Men gasping for air...

Akira Tozawa, Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali def. The 'Zo Train // 4:13 

I had a few issues with the segment that lead to this week's only Cruiserweight match and very little of that has to do with the performances of the Cruiserweight. Firstly, Enzo Amore doing his usual schtick isn't working. It was great when he had a sore throat and would get his 'Zo Train to help out, because it actually go heat, however right now the crowd is happy to join in and it caps the reactions that the actual babyfaces of the division are able to get. Secondly, if all of the 'Zo Train are here, then why on earth didn't they book an Elimination Tag on the Kick-Off show for Survivor Series? It would've showcased ten different performers from the division and surely been a much more exciting affair than the crowd sitting in silence to watch an adequate Amore vs. Kalisto title match. Thirdly, if they didn't want to do that, why weren't some or all of the 'Zo Train not at ringside to enhance Amore's gimmick and give him a cheaper than cheap victory? Rich Swann even mentioned "Without your boys you're nothing but a catchphrase and a T-Shirt!" which made Swann look like a goon, because Amore had clearly retained his title on his own 24 hours previously! Drew Gulak was the one shining light throughout the whole thing, he's a babe.

The tag match was solid multi-man fare with a nice spot involving interference and distraction from Amore allowing The Zo-Train to take control and an action packed hot tag from Cedric Alexander, that would conclude with a Neuralyzer to Dar and Lumbar Check to Nese, before Ali picked up the pin on Dar with the 054 splash. It wasn't much more than filler, but it would've improved the quality of the Kick-Off show had it replaced the Kalisto vs. Enzo Amore match on the show.

Samoa Joe def. Finn Balor [Prince Devitt] via referee stoppage // 8:34 

A good opener, but weirdly thrown away here on television, with a clean finish to boot and no follow up. This quality of the action was a step down from the match the pair had in Manchester two weeks ago, being mostly Joe dominating his smaller opponent. The Samoan Submission controlled, about 80% of the match, reversing slingblades into overhead belly to belly suplexes, hitting suicide dives and more or less rag-dolling Prince Devitt all over the ring. The action was always crisp and impactful, but lacked a little something of the energy and fire that I enjoyed in their Manchester bout. It was, of course, better to see a decisive finish, instead of the previous double countout, but I was surprised to see Balor lose so clearly. He looked good in his final fire up, but Booker T threw him under the bus on commentary for not making it to the top rope quick enough and this took away a little from Joe eventually dragging him off the top and locking in a Coquina Clutch for the win. I'd suspected Balor might've been a future opponent for Brock Lesnar before WrestleMania, based on this match that appears to no longer be the case.

Matt Hardy attacked Elias [Elias Samson]

Elias mocked the crowd and attempted to sing about Matt Hardy, but was quickly interrupted by his subject. The two brawled a little, before Elias escaped a Twist of Fate and left...

Asuka [Kana] def. Dana Brooke via pinfall // 2:35 

Dana Brooke had a split-screen promo ahead of her match with Asuka, claiming that she'd watched the Asuka Collection on the WWE Network and had found some holes in her opponent's game....hmmm, yeah, ok hen. 

Dana Brooke wasn't ready for Asuka, 5-0. 

Also

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows shilled various merch for WWEShop, as part of the Countdown to Black Friday.

Roman Reigns won the Intercontinental Championship, Paige returned alongside the debuting Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose, Kane assaulted Braun Strowman. In terms of creating moments this show did a very good job. There was also quite a few good to very good matches for a television product, with the main event, Ambrose vs. Sheamus and Balor vs. Joe (to some extent) all standing out. However, some of the booking showed a lack of thought and at times, direction. Specifically, Asuka's positioning in the Women's division and the mindless segment that lead to the four-way and to a lesser degree the baffling use of the Cruiserweight division. There was a few developments that I'm interested to see play out, such as where Samoa Joe and Finn Balor are heading next and also I feel like Jason Jordan's story is beginning to head somewhere productive (hopefully!). My match of the night was the Intercontinental title change as it had some drama to it and was one of the better finishes we've seen on RAW this year.

Review by James Marston

Survivor Series 2017 Review // RAW vs. SmackDown

It had been repeatedly hammered home that this was that Survivor Series was the one night of the year when RAW and SmackDown went head to head and that's exactly what Houston, Texas received on 19th November. The show had Triple H, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor and Braun Strowman tagging up for RAW against SmackDown's John Cena, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Shane McMahon & Bobby Roode in elimination tag action, RAW's The Shield facing The New Day representing SmackDown, another elimination tag action as Sasha Banks, Bayley, Asuka, Alica Fox & Nia Jax from RAW faced off with Natalya, Becky Lynch, Naomi, Tamina & Carmella of SmackDown and RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss squared off with SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair. But was it any good? Let's take a look!

Elimination // RAW (Triple H, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor [Prince Devitt] & Braun Strowman) def. SmackDown (John Cena, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Shane McMahon & Bobby Roode) via pinfall // 33:21

Stephanie McMahon and Daniel Bryan had a little chat backstage about the RAW vs. SmackDown Men's match and it was just quite a cute situation. Jason Jordan spoke to Charly Caruso, saying he was ready to go with RAW needed him later tonight.

Holy moly, there's a lot to talk about here. Let's begin by talking about some of the combination that the match threw out, as creative got it pretty much spot on, in terms of who people were interested in seeing clash together. We got a little bit of Randy Orton vs. Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Finn Balor, Triple H vs. Bobby Roode and Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode all before the first elimination. Those ten minutes or so were a joy to watch because the crowd was hot for pretty much every pairing, the pairings were amongst some of the ones I was most looking forward to seeing and they all played out pretty much step for step perfectly. Triple H and Roode was a favourite for it's sports-entertainment factor, playing on the similarities in the way the two perform, but Balor and Nakamura had the best wrestling sequence. We later also got John Cena in their with Samoa Joe and then Kurt Angle (for a massive pop) before Finn Balor and Randy Orton rounded out the pairings I was looking forward to with a lovely back and forth. 

Let's delve further into the booking, as as much as the pairings can bring excitement and fill the bout out, it's the eliminations and their timing that the bout lives and dies on. Nakamura going out first was a little disappointing, but he looked better here than in any of his other PPV outings. He was shown outwitting both Angle and Triple H, with only his over-exuberance in knocking Braun Strowman off the apron being his eventual downfall. The same can be said for Roode, who out wrestled Triple H and gave a good fight against the unstoppable Strowman. Joe argued with teammate Balor before taking two Attitude Adjustments, Cena took a pair of Angle slams, Balor looked great when called upon, played a hand in Cena's elimination and only fell to an RKO outta nowhere and Orton was caught distracted by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn getting involved with Shane McMahon and also fell to the matches star, Strowman. It was mildly annoying to see Strowman as the only regular performer in the stretch, but he gets a huge rub from being left in the ring with Angle, Triple H and McMahon, whilst those three were preserved for a big WrestleMania match next year. It would've been nice for a regular roster member to get a pin on one of those part-timers and having Angle pin Cena was a little counterproductive, but everyone was protected in one way or another, which makes up for that a little bit.

To conclude, I should talk about the storyline elements of the match, including it's finish. Firstly, we had Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens turning up to jump Shane McMahon, moments after Balor had been eliminated. They'd quickly get run off by McMahon with a steel chair, with Orton subsequently being eliminated. This is a good thing to build intrigue for SmackDown and had been hinted to earlier on, but I'm not sure where it can be taken beyond another match between McMahon and Owens and the two best friends moaning every single week on television, which will get old quickly. The finish ended up becoming much more of an sports-entertainment angle than anything, which different people will have different tolerances for. Myself, I can give or take it. Triple H saved opponent and brother-in-law McMahon after a lengthy period inside an Ankle lock from Angle, nailed Angle with a Pedigree, had McMahon pin the Olympic Gold medallist and then hit a Pedigree on McMahon to take the win. Having those three involved in a main event finish in 2017 doesn't sit particularly well with, but neither does it make angry or take away my enjoyment massively. The commentary team did a good job of explaining the potential motives behind The Game's actions, whilst Strowman staring a whole in Hunter for pretty much the duration was pretty much enough to justify the slightly convoluted conclusion.

After the match, Braun Strowman warned Triple H that if he ever crossed him again he would never play the Game again, meaning that when The Game tried to attack the Monster Among Men from behind, he ended up taking two Running Powerslams to close the show.

The Shield def. The New Day via pinfall // 21:32 

The Shield and The New Day warmed up backstage towards the end of the Kick-Off show as we found out that that match would open the main show. The Newy Day got some mic-time, talking about dogs, Bob Barker and brotherhood.

Well, this was barrel loads of fun. The two teams opened the show with loads of energy from the off, beginning by telling a story of New Day being technically superior whilst The Shield had the power advantage as Kofi Kingston and Dean Ambrose, Xavier Woods and Seth Rollins and finally, Roman Reigns and Big E paired up. The match felt like it always had the potential to break down, with a couple of sequences placed at interesting times during the match, mixing up the traditional tag team layout and remaining entertaining throughout. After a short stint for Woods, Ambrose worked the face in peril role, which is something he excels in, but in amongst that you had Rollins and Reigns jumping Woods and Kingston on the outside, as well as the big spot of Big E's spear through the ropes. So, the things we've become used to in tag team matches were pretty much all present (including a lightning hot tag from Rollins), it was hard to know exactly what would come next or when the next moment would take place, making for great viewing. 

Honestly, it stands testament to the two teams, their work over the last few years and their work in this match, that by the end, after watching them go at it for over twenty minutes, I wanted more. Perhaps that was because it was the opening match and had it came in the middle of the card I would've been a bit more fatigued by the show, in which case that's a credit to the booking staff for sticking this on as the opener. I feel like for all the wild brawling, the match could've done with a few extra convincing near falls to just raise the drama down the stretch. The King's Landing and Dirty Deeds on Kingston with a late save by Woods, as a double Midnight Hour to Ambrose and Rollins where Reigns made the save by hitting a spear on Big E were the two that stand out, but I would've liked to have seen a few more. The logical moment to fit one in would've been when The Shield set-up for the Triple Powerbomb on Woods, after Big E and Kingston were thrown into the barricades, as E recovering to stop the move took a little momentum away from the match, when E recovering to break up the fall would've resulted in a memorable moment and also justified The Shield using an avalanche version of the move to get the eventual win. That's a minor issue with a match that I enjoyed tremendously and the bout should be commended for standing out amongst the five other tag team matches on the card.

Elimination // RAW (Sasha Banks, Bayley, Asuka [Kana], Alicia Fox & Nia Jax) def. SmackDown (Natalya, Becky Lynch, Naomi, Tamina & Carmella) via submission // 18:26 

Backstage, Becky Lynch rallied the SmackDown Women's Team with everyone throwing out some of their achievements and Lana hinting that Tamina would be able to take out RAW's Nia Jax. Stephanie McMahon fired up the RAW Women's Team, going along the line and giving individual advice to each woman, in a cute segment. 

Just as men's match was booked around Braun Strowman, the theme for the Women's bout was "Nobody is ready for Asuka". Of course, the conclusion where Asuka was able to battle off both Tamina and Natalya, ending up getting two submissions in the process, was the main way Asuka was put over as an unstoppable force. The crowd was hot for her scrap, getting behind her, even if it was slightly obvious how things were going to go down, because Asuka's badassery is undeniable. There was a number of other ways that fed into building the Empress of Tomorrow though. Tamina's dominance, eliminating Bayley and coming off the better of Nia Jax (with the help of Naomi) would work to Asuka's advantage when Tamina tapped out quickly to an armbar. The same when Natalya tapped out Sasha Banks with the Sharpshooter, only for Asuka to escape the hold relatively easily and lock in a submission of her own moments later. Basically, anytime anyone got into it with Asuka, they got flattened. How this will effect the division as a whole, especially on RAW, in 2018 is yet to be seen, but it's only a matter of time before Asuka has gold around her waist. 

The rest of the match and it's structure was a little hit and miss. The early eliminations of Becky Lynch and Bayley felt like a mistake, with the two being amongst the strongest and most popular workers in the match. There was combinations that I was looking forward to seeing both women that didn't happen because neither was around past the five minute mark. Then you had Carmella, who did very little until her elimination. The strangest moment of the match saw Naomi pin Alicia Fox and then weirdly lock in a submission, which lead to Banks eliminating Naomi with a Banks Statement. It was a confusing moment, that didn't come off well and only achieved to make Naomi look a bit dim. There was however a number of good wrestling sequences peppered throughout the match, including a surprisingly good showdown between Jax and Tamina, a slick sequence with Naomi and Fox and a personal favourite encounter with Banks and Natalya. The biggest compliment I can give the match is that it didn't as long as it was, never outstaying it's welcome and had enough variety within it to remain interesting.

Charlotte Flair [Charlotte] def. Alexa Bliss via submission // 15:45 

Alexa Bliss joined the Kick-Off panel for an interview, with things quickly developing into a split-screen conversation with Charlotte Flair. It was a good idea to give the pair sometime to interact after no build-up for their match, but the content was a little weird, including a strange moment when Flair told Bliss that she hoped that Bliss beat her, for reasons that were never made clear. 

Similar to the Women's elimination bout, there were elements of this match that worked well and elements that either didn't work as well or could've worked better. The overall story of the bout was a strong one, with idea that Charlotte Flair was the more powerful of the two coming to the forefront from the very beginning as see got the better of a back and forth strike sequence, followed up by the idea that Bliss was potentially smarter and willing to do more as she hit an arm wringer of the apron in the first highspot of the match. This was perhaps best seen in a good near fall, where Bliss was able to evade a stalking Flair and hit a Snap DDT. We'd also see Bliss attempting to work over Flair's ribs and stomach, which was fine and they had a couple of decent spots to showcase this, but the thread was criminally underused in terms of storytelling. The focus had very little effect on Flair and whilst Charlotte sold well at times, we could've seen in the injury play into near falls, Flair struggle a little more to bridge in the Figure Eight, which only would've made her look stronger when she eventually managed to pull out the victory! 

The two mostly worked well together, a personal favourite moment was Flair blocking a tornado DDT and hitting an exploder suplex into the turnbuckle, there was also a number of instances of sloppiness that hurt the overall picture. Bliss's mid-rope version of Insault to Injury was a cool idea, but then Bliss completely missed the second part of the move. There was a debacle when Bliss initially went for a Code Red as well, when it appeared like the two attempted to cover by going in a different direction for a moment, only to reattempt the move a little bit later. Considering we'd seen Kalisto hit the move on the Kick-Off show and hit it much better with Enzo Amore, this was a risky move that didn't really need to be included. Flair blocking a DDT by the grabbing the ropes also stands out, because the crowd completely no sold the moment, possibly because the pair didn't make it very clear what was actually going on. The final third of the bout showed what the two can do together and featured some much better wrestling than we'd seen in the middle section. Bliss has a habit of wrestling above her ability and making mistakes, which seemed to be the case here, had the two stuck to something more simple and focused on fleshing out the story they'd developed, then this good match could've been taken up a few notches. 

Brock Lesnar def. AJ Styles via pinfall // 15:18

Kayla Braxton asked AJ Styles what his strategy was for later on, with Styles saying he wasn't going to tell her, but said he'd use his fear to his advantage, before Jinder Mahal turned up and smiled at him. Paul Heyman was interviewed by Charly Caruso, saying that AJ Styles was "Phenomenal" but that he was in for a fight tonight.

AJ Styles provided the opponent for what would be Brock Lesnar's best singles match in two years, as the two lived up to the hype and created a great match that played to the strengths of both characters. Styles has had another incredible year, continuing to prove he's the best in-ring performer in WWE and this was another example of his abilities. He spent most of the match taking a hell of a beating, selling that beating and fighting from underneath. Styles selling and bumping in the first two thirds of the match was superb, as the bout had a similar vibe to Lesnar's match with John Cena at SummerSlam 2014, but Styles bought a certain extra believability as was chucked around the ring. The moment where Styles took his third or fourth German suplex and then bambied his way back to his feet, only to fall back down immediately, was a great example of this. 

The bout did a fantastic job of placing Styles as the underdog, but creating opportunities for him that the crowd could buy into, helped by the lighting quick offence of the bouts protagonist, whilst his selling, showing he was hurt but fighting anyway, made it easy to get behind "The Phenomenal One". AJ was also helped by Lesnar's willingness to sell for him, especially when caught in the calf crusher. He went above and beyond what you'd expect to see from someone like Lesnar, screaming in agony whilst in the hold, as well as hobbling around for the rest of the match. The Beast is clever enough to know that he looks more impressive for winning on one leg, whilst that also helps Styles look valiant in defeat, causing an injury to a man who has breezed past opponents like Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman already this year. Styles' other moment came from a Phenomenal Forearm near fall, when Paul Heyman was the one selling the potential danger to his client at ringside. When the two went exchanged holds, which wasn't often, it was done well with a good speed and accuracy, I would've liked to have seen a little bit more of that in the match's final stretch and another five minutes would've raised things up a notch had that been the case.

The Usos def. Cesaro [Claudio Castagnoli] & Sheamus via pinfall // 15:55

A bright tag team bout that matched it's promise and delivered big as the two best tag team in WWE collided. Similar to The Shield vs. The New Day, there were elements of the traditional tag team match structure, but these ideas were played upon and messed with to create a number of different situations. The one moment that stands out from the early part of the match was Jey Uso's hot tag, in which he initially had all the momentum against Cesaro, only for The Swiss Superman to dodge a hip attack and hit a European uppercut, seemingly cutting the hot tag off early, until moments later he got back body dropped into the opposite corner and Jey hit the initially intended hip attack. Uso could've just hit the hip attack straight away and it would've been perfectly fine as part of the hot tag, but the momentum switch and the struggle for Jey meant that when the move was eventually hit it meant a lot more than it would have otherwise.    

The second half of the match featured a number of well-worked near falls and clever highspots. Calling back to last year's Survivor Series, where the two teams were the remaining four in an Elimination match, was a lovely touch, with the teams reenacting the finish their as a near fall. Added detail along the way like Cesaro dropping his mouth guard out of his mouth to distract the referee made me smile and it's that attention to detail and ability to conjure original ideas that has helped these teams develop the reputations that they have. A wild sequence with Jey fighting against both Bar members before succumbing to an assisted White Noise and a superb Tower of Power are also worth mentioning here. The conclusion with The Usos absolutely dominant after Cesaro sacrificed himself, by throwing himself in front of a pair of superkicks meant for Sheamus, before the twins nailed multiple kicks to Sheamus anyway and picked up the win with a Superfly Splash after a tope tag, was full of energy and a moment that Jimmy and Jey fully deserved after the year they've had. That tope tag right at the end was one of the coolest things on the entire show! They've come along way since the "When I say Uce, you say Oh" days, that's for sure.

Baron Corbin def. The Miz via pinfall // 9:25 

The Miz was in the Social Media Lounge with Charly Caruso answered some of the most asinine questions that have ever been asked. Bless him, he tried to make this entertaining, but it ended up just being ridiculously dull as the questions were almost all exactly the same and focused on the RAW vs. SmackDown feud which is the least interesting thing about the show.

Man insults a man's pregnant wife, then beats up that man and his friends in front of said pregnant wife. That's pretty much the story we had on our hands here as WWE struggled to work out how to effectively deal with a heel vs. heel scenario. Corbin and Miz actually did a good job with what they had to do, working a couple of nice sequences and bringing in some psychology as Miz began working the leg to set up for the Figure Four, with Corbin selling well and then got called back to later on when Miz kicked the leg away to set up for a snap DDT. Corbin taking out the constantly interfering Miztourage was an entertaining watch and the match in general made Corbin look like a bit of a beast, but in terms of the story that had been told heading into the match I'm not sure it was the right move here. How does Miz get revenge for his wife after this? We already know he's not the traditional tough guy, but losing so convincingly here pretty much castrated him and after an incredible year left him with very little to do going forward.

Renee Young interviewed Baron Corbin after the match, with Corbin actually doing alright as he talked about shutting the fans mouths, talking with a little bit of character. 

Kevin Owens [Kevin Steen] & Sami Zayn [El Generico] def. Breezango via pinfall // 7:07 

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn got to chat a bit about how pissed off they at being on the pre-show and having to face Breezango and stuff, as well as calling SmackDown an unsafe working environment. Breezango interrupted talking about fashion felons and generally being their usual entertaining selves to lead into their match.

The best match on the pre-show was it's main event and even then this was a cookie cutter tag team match. Considering the match was thrown together on the day, the four guys did a decent job with what they were given, putting on an enjoyable contest, working well in their roles and generally being good at their jobs. Breezango's act seemed particularly fresh, but that's not surprising considering they've only had one match on television since Money in the Bank in June! Fandango's hot tag was a reminder of his in-ring talents, as he fired back with a missile dropkick and tornado DDT and hopefully this performance means that we get to see more of the Fashion Police on SmackDown, outside of their on and off vignettes. The finish was well-done, with the commentary team pushing the guardian angel idea Owens and Zayn have used in promos as Owens saved Zayn from a Last Dance from Fandango, before a Pop-up Powerbomb sealed the victory for OwenZayn as they remain undefeated in WWE. 

Elias [Elias Samson] def. Matt Hardy via pinfall // 7:50 

Elias treated us to a song about how shit Houston is, which seemed to really annoy Booker T on commentary. 

The first match from the Kick-Off show as Matt Hardy once again was asked to perform in front of a building that if I was generous I would say was half-full, in a repeat from SummerSlam. Two of my notes on this match were "some things happen". That's because there was literally no reason to care about this what so ever. The match was thrown together the day of the show when WWE realised they had announced a two hour kick-off show but had only booked one match for it. Elias' double underhook shoulderbreaker and Hardy hitting a side effect on the apron were the two things that made me take notice. I also thought it was curious to have Elias go over Hardy, when the Drifter has been putting over Jason Jordan consistently since October and the fact that every match on the Kick-Off show saw heel come out on top.

Cruiserweight Championship // Enzo Amore def. Kalisto via pinfall // 7:23 

Enzo Amore had pre-match promo about beef and cake and chicken.

This was maybe a tad bit better than their clash at TLC last month, but still nowhere near the level of matches we were getting during Neville's run as champion. There was some good stuff, some okay stuff and a messy finish, but through all of that the crowd could not have cared any less if they had tried. They popped every now and again, for moves like the Code Red from Kalisto, but from the moment Enzo took control there might as well have been no one there. The fact that the match took place when the crowd was still filing into the building didn't help, but I don't think it would've made much difference if all had been present and correct. From Enzo's pre-match promo it seemed like most of the Houston crowd was still behind Amore and therefore when he began working heel and controlling it just didn't work. Maybe now is the time for Enzo to stop doing his crowd-pleasing catchphrases.

Also

There was a weird advert of Kay Jewellers with Bayley helping WWE fan Steven choose a ring to propose to his girlfriend, Valerie, inside an empty arena. 

Whilst the Kick-Off show was a big waste of time, Survivor Series 2017 was the first longer WWE PPV that managed to make it's time count. The main event wasn't a great match and featured questionable booking in the final stages, focusing too much on part-time workers, but simultaneously did a good job of elevating Braun Strowman further in the eyes of the casual and also featured some stronger moments and had a tired crowd popping time after time for the connections in the ring. The Shield vs. The New Day, Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles and The Usos vs. Cesaro & Sheamus were all top drawer contests, diverse and entertaining in their own way. The rest of the main card was solid, with Asuka's performance in the Women's tag, at the top end and the odd booking of Corbin vs. Miz at the other, but there was nothing on the main card that was boring or poorly performed. Overall, this was good PPV across the board, although you're overall enjoyment of the event will depend on your tolerance for how the main event was constructed.


Review by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)