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This year’s Survivor Series was built around “fantasy warfare, just got real” with several matches featuring the Superstars of RAW and SmackDown Live. When it comes down to the women, it would be a showcase to which brand is truly leading the charge in the “Women’s Evolution”. A sneak attack, a surprising submission, and several puzzling eliminations later, the true survivors would be the fans in Toronto, Canada as well as the ones watching at home that sat through this. (Yeah, that’s right get your reading glasses on. The library is OPEN)
First during the Kickoff, SmackDown Live’s captain Nikki Bella and SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch were confronted by RAW Champion and captain Charlotte Flair and her shadow lackey, Dana Brooke. Nikki finally confronts the woman who not only took away her beloved Divas Championship, but the woman who took a year off her career. Things ended with Flair telling the Fearless One to watch her back.
"My squad is going to burn this whole 'kingdom' down to the ground!" – Nikki @BellaTwins to @MsCharlotteWWE #SurvivorSeries pic.twitter.com/mSZ0IeMpQU
— WWE (@WWE) November 20, 2016
And now we get on to the main event, which opened the show! Both Team RAW and SmackDown Live make their way to the ring, minus Nikki Bella. Team Blue looks befuddled as we are taken backstage as SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan and coach Natalya are tending to an attacked Nikki Bella, who was hurt in her surgically repaired neck. A medic refuses to clear Nikki and the Queen of Harts has to step up and now wrestle this match.
Before the Women's #SurvivorSeries Elimination Match, something happened to Nikki @BellaTwins, which led to @NatByNature as a replacement. pic.twitter.com/VnZtJfCDEX
— WWE (@WWE) November 21, 2016
With the captain out now the match is now Team RAW (Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Alicia Fox, Bayley and Nia Jax) versus Team SmackDown Live (Natalya, Naomi, Becky Lynch, Carmella, and Alexa Bliss).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sE16IKPqTA
The eliminations are as follows:
- Alicia Fox pinned Carmella after a scissors kick
- Alexa Bliss pinned Alicia Fox after Twisted Bliss
- Naomi was counted out
- Natalya pinned Sasha Banks using a roll up
- Charlotte pinned Natalya after a big boot
- Becky Lynch made Nia Jax submit with the DisArmHer
- Charlotte pinned Alexa Bliss after a big boot
- Bayley pinned Becky Lynch after a Bayley-to-Belly
Your winners are Team RAW’s Charlotte Flair and Bayley! And after about 23.68 seconds of celebration, Charlotte attacked Bayley and then threw her into the barricade. The Queen stands alone to end the segment.
Later in the night, Maryse helped her hubby The Miz retain the Intercontinental Title after prematurely ringing the bell to throw off his foe Sami Zayn allowing Miz to capitalize. (I’ll place my thoughts here, it was brilliant to have her ring the bell. A very unique way for her to get involved. And Maryse’s streak of pop diva style outfits at pay-per-view remains intact.)
Behind every great man is a great woman, and @mikethemiz & @MaryseMizanin have proved that again tonight… #SurvivorSeries #ICTitle pic.twitter.com/MAibOeOzCz
— WWE (@WWE) November 21, 2016
Thoughts: Another pay-per-view goes by, another predictable outcome. Like the team has stated in the predictions, Team RAW was bound to win and Charlotte would for sure be one of the sole survivors. I want to say that this is a case where the match was underwhelming because of the performers involved. They had a great spot in opening the show and had plenty of time going about 17 minutes. But the match never kicked out of first gear and the eliminations made little to no sense, and paled in comparison to the EPIC brawl from the SmackDown before the show.
With all the talks of the women’s division being the best it has ever been and the constant snubbing of the past, it truly is interesting how this match failed to outdo the iconic 2008 Survivor Series match. The 2008 edition featured a fraction of the time and nearly none of the emphasis from the company. The fact of the matter is: the match failed to deliver. However, there were things that were positive and cool to see within the match.
One of the things I enjoyed was the matching color schemes in the attires. It was a nice touch that the other matches didn’t hit on so major kudos to the women for that. I really loved the story of Charlotte getting annoyed with the faces on the RAW side “stealing her spotlight”. It was a great easter egg for what was to come post-match. Another positive was the HUGE reaction for Alexa Bliss. It was good seeing the crowd being so into what she was doing and responding so well. The best elimination in the match was of Sasha Banks. It was out of nowhere and left us all shook. That is what should have taken place more during this match.
The Nia Jax section of the match was a huge highlight as well as a huge letdown . It was cool to see her dare each SmackDown woman to come into the match, crush them, and then tag another victim. Her strength was displayed in a big way. Naomi slayed her crossbody onto Nia Jax, but then her elimination fell flat. A countout elimination should have been for Nia. After spending the match dominating and slaying all of the women, why would a DisArmHer make her tap after absolutely NO DAMAGE beeing done to the arm. That made no sense. After knocking herself out on SmackDown earlier in the week, a countout victory was absolutely the right call to eliminate such a beast like Nia.
Also, when did Michelle McCool‘s Charlotte’s big boot become this devastating move? After people have been kicking out of it for the past year? What about Natural Selection? That made those eliminations look weak and questionable. The finish of the match was very anti-climatic and I did not feel like I was going on this roller-coaster ride and got the “OMG WTF LOL WHUT” feeling from the drop/ending of the match. However the aftermath made sense because like it or not, Charlotte is the HBIC. She’s the Queen and nobody steals the spotlight, I get it.
Leaving Survivor Series, we are left with certainty on one brand and questions from the other. We know that RAW is going to remain the narrative of Three Horsewomen and Friends with Bayley and Charlotte feuding over the Women’s title. And SmackDown Live continues to slay me with Murder, She Wrote tease. Will there be consequences for losing the match? Who attacked Nikki Bella? What will happen next in the Alexa/Becky feud as they could barely get along during the match. What song will Nattie quote? I’m hoping she duets with Naomi for Britney’s “Slumber Party” duet with Tinashe (Buy Glory on iTunes). I must give the effort tonight a solid C. Some was good, most was iffy to bad. But I really would like the action on RAW to catch up to their sisters on Team Blue. Heading into the end of the year and into the road to Mania, things got to start kicking up.
What did you think of Survivor Series? Were you Team RAW or Team SmackDown? Who attacked Nikki Bella? Are you excited for Bayley vs Charlotte? Have your own fantasy warfare in the comments and thanks for reading!
