One of our childhood highlights is watching WWE matches and right now the are back with their famous Survivor Series. It features inter-promotional matches up and down the card as Raw’s Asuka faces SmackDown’s Sasha Banks, Bobby Lashley faces Sami Zayn, The New Day takes on The Street Profits and Roman Reigns battles Drew McIntyre.
The WWE Survivor Series will have two traditional elimination matches, in the form of men’s and women’s Team Raw TISI -1.6% vs. Team SmackDown matches. The main event segment featured The Undertaker’s Final Farewell. Last week’s broadcast of SmackDown was up with 1.779 million viewers while SmackDown’s overnight viewership was down with 2.215 million.
Keith Lee’s new theme music isn’t as good as the original but it’s way better than the main roster remix. The “USA” and “FOX FOXA +0.4%” logos on the back of the Raw and SmackDown t-shirts stood out like a sore thumb but was also very wise product placement. WWE worked really hard to get “Fireface” over, and Sheamus must be thrilled.
WWE really tried to portray this as a passing of the torch between The Street Profits and The New Day, but that message was lost in the comedic tone throughout. WWE called back to Sami Zayn’s vertigo in this match and the “long-term storytelling” tweets exploded. This was a heel vs. heel match where the less obnoxious heel was a monster who surrounded himself with his associates. It was next to impossible to find a sympathetic figure in this one.
The team harmony among Team SmackDown contrasted violently with that of Team Raw. WWE called back to the split between Lana and Natalya and it was as random and unexpected as the breakup itself. Peyton Royce’s suplex on Bayley to the entire field (minus Lana who was in timeout) looked legitimately painful.
This match also confirmed The Undertaker’s Final Farewell would rightfully be the main event, as if anybody could follow something that emotional. Sheamus, The Miz, Jey Uso, all the above, none of the above—there’s no telling who could interfere in this match.
Main Image: Bleacher Report
