WWE Survivor Series Reax

Read on for my thoughts on Sunday's WWE special event.
Kickoff:
Nice stuff with the people arriving to the building in their own styles.

Graves dropping a Badstreet, USA reference popped me.

Del Rio beating Cena clean on his first night back is good. I hope he's an important player in 2016.

Reigns has been trying to get the title for a while now, with a number of setbacks and roadblocks.

Oh, Lord. They're drawing parallels between Reigns and Rock. That won't end well.

Owens vs. Ambrose is pretty hype, especially taking place on a WWE PPV in 2015.

Hopefully Charlotte vs. Paige puts the action at the center instead of the angle that got us there.

I wonder how the Dudleys feel about being on the pre-show instead of defending the tag titles on the main card.

Color me surprised with Goldust being in this one instead of Darren Young. That's an interesting call.

- Miz/Bo/Cosmic Wasteland vs. Neville/Dudleys/Titus/Goldust:
Goldust has been biding his time for months to get "revenge" on Stardust (although that feud was pretty much over after Fastlane).

I'm curious to how much they'll do for Goldust. I'm a little surprised he's back on the main roster.

The Ascension are better in NXT.

Why get the tables? That would get you DQ'd.

Nice spot by Neville.

Wow. Not a good night for the former NXT Tag Team Champions.

Neville's athleticism is impressive as always.

Good stuff leading to Neville being eliminated.

Goldust with two eliminations. Good for him.

Flair and HBK on the podcast should be fun, especially after the angle with Charlotte.

I'm curious to see how much mileage they can get from an Edge and Christian show, but it could be a lot of fun.

Stardust always looks like he's having fun being the depraved character heeling the crowd. I like it.

Would it really have been so hard to do a segment setting up the other elimination match? Just have the leader of the heel team get in a confrontation with the leader of the face team.

Good move from the Bizarre One.

Nice stuff leading to Bo's elimination.

I wouldn't blame Stardust for walking out on a pretty meaningless match.

Not a bad ending at all.

Not an awful interview with Summer Breeze. I think they're trying a little too hard, but maybe that's kind of the point?

Survivor Series:
Great opening video package. It's REALLY cool seeing the two legendary "brothers" together again.

NEXT WWE CHAMPION BABYGURL. BALEE DAT.

Zeb's an amazing character. Del Rio's a really good wrestler. I'm glad they're together.

- Reigns vs. Del Rio:
Del Rio trying to counter the Superman punch and spear by working on the arm is smart. Way better than 97 highspots with no meaning to them.

If this WWE Title tournament leads to HHH vs. Nash again, I swear to God...

Pretty good stuff so far. Reigns looks and works like a main eventer.

This has been solid.

If competitors were smart, they'd counter Del Rio's stomp that way now after it worked for Reigns.

I'm really liking this. Good superkick spot.

Del Rio's veteran instincts are really refreshing. He's tenacious and smart.

Good match overall.

Mostly good promo segment backstage. I think Owens did need to remind us he's done impressive things. He's lost in the shuffle now.

- Owens vs. Ambrose:
These guys are actually fighting to be in a WWE Title match. It's surreal after years of Cena, Orton, Batista, Sheamus, etc. as the prototypes.

I like the style these two bring to the table, modified to work for WWE. It's good to have some of these types without them dominating the promotion. That's true of any style getting stale in the main event scene.

Owens' in-ring banter is hysterical. It makes good matches even better.

These two look like they're in a real fight/match. There are methods to their madness.

WE GOT A FLYIN LUNATIC MAGGLE. I'm glad the second suicide dive was scouted.

That was a particularly solid conclusion. Ambrose vs. Reigns could be pretty fun. Will HHH get involved?

I liked the crazy TLC promo other than featuring Kane and Big Show in prominent roles.

I hope we some something cool with Taker and Kane for the 25th anniversary.

Is this elimination match even important? Why are they having it?

What does it say that Sheamus and Barrett are just coming out with New Day instead of getting their own entrances?

I want to see Big E get a big singles push someday. 

The bit with Sheamus was actually kind of funny, I have to admit.

- Ryback/Dragons/Usos vs. Sheamus/Barrett/New Day:
Xavier protecting his hair is great.

I've been a fan of this version of Sin Cara pretty much since Day One.

Meh. Big group highspots aren't really my favorite.

For that matter, neither are spots where people who aren't high-flyers do big splashes.

I think it really spoiled any potential surprise of Sheamus cashing in with him being in this match and the references to him being Mr. MITB.

Barrett dancing with New Day needs to be a .GIF. That was hysterical.

This is pretty solid. I almost don't want it to end.

Can Big E feud with Sheamus for the belt after the PPV?

New Day is consistently entertaining.

Dude, Sheamus beating three men would build him nicely to be champ.

A heel having to overcome the odds is odd. That's basically Babyface 101. I think he should pull out a shillelagh and smash all of them.

Sheamus vs. Ryback COULD be interesting going forward. It would definitely put someone new in the WWE Title picture.

Maybe Sheamus losing here was to throw people off the track of him cashing in? They could definitely have Ryback challenge for the title at some point. Hell, it's worth a shot.

- Paige vs. Charlotte:
I think Charlotte pretty much fits right in with the main roster Divas skill-wise. She doesn't look like a rookie by any means.

AJ started the Divas Revolution. Unfortunately, she wasn't as important to WWE as the Total Divas Revolution.

I love a good Figure Four spot.

I like aggressive Charlotte.

Charlotte's natural athleticism is on display here.

There's something a little off in this match that's keeping it from being as good as, say, Charlotte vs. Sasha.

That barricade spot was a little off.

This Figure Eight spot is good, though.

Not bad overall. I think Charlotte's earned her keep as champion.

Ambrose vs. Reigns for the title is pretty special.

Good promo from Ambrose. So-so promo from Roman.

I'm glad Breeze is getting to wrestle on such a large stage. He's put in a lot of work in NXT.

I definitely see the Dolph Ziggler of years past in the work of Tyler Breeze.

- Breeze vs. Ziggler:
Not bad so far from the man making his main roster PPV debut.

OUCH. JBL making reference to King's heart attack was uncomfortable.

These two match up pretty nicely.

Breeze had a mostly good showing overall. Hopefully we see more from these two.

The first chapter of Bray/Taker was missing something without Wyatt's followers.

Twenty-five years of the Deadman Maggle.

Really cool graphic in the casket. He's really gone through some changes. I'm somewhat surprised they didn't skip American Badass Taker.

Dude, Rowan must have a death wish.

- Wyatt/Harper vs. Taker/Kane:
I fully expect this to turn into a Freebird Rules situation with the Wyatts.

Wow. They're not even mentioning Hogan's name when talking about Taker's title win.

Strowman looks like a beast after that.

Demon Kane's generally more fun to watch in the ring than Corporate Kane.

Thanks for coming, Braun! You don't mess with Taker and Kane.

Pin them, you idiots!! You have them where you want them!

Good match overall. I just wish it didn't de-fang the Wyatts after the solid angle last month.

So, what the heck do they all do from here?

- Reigns vs. Ambrose:
I like the idea that these two know each other so well and have such respect for each other that they're going all out right out of the gate.

I think it's clear Reigns has improved since going for the title at WM31. I'd be fine with him winning the belt. There's a difference between being ready to be champion and being ready to be the next big mega-star. The latter isn't going to happen until someone proves themselves as champion.

Kind of a scary superman punch counter.

That spear could have done it after Ambrose survived a match earlier in the night.

I would have bought Ambrose winning with the surprise Dirty Deeds.

Ambrose and Reigns just slugging it out is pretty cool. It's like they're actually fighting to win a title instead of just doing flashy moves! What a concept.

BOOM. Good ending. I can't wait for the rematch. Hopefully at TLC? That could be insane.

I'm glad they're presumably not bringing Rock out to try to give the new champ the rub.

Big babyface moment for Roman here. They might be going a LITTLE heavy with all the pyro and stuff, though. That's only going to further the "Reigns is the Chosen One" thing.

I KIND OF wish HHH was coming down as a wrestler. Although I like the idea of him trying to win Roman over to his side one more time instead of immediately getting physical.

REIGNS SPEARS TRIPLE H! BAH GAWD ALMIGHTY!!!

NICE Brogue Kick out of nowhere.

- Reigns vs. Sheamus:
Was kicking out of the Brogue Kick excessive?

I ALMOST would have lol'd if Reigns beat Sheamus in the cash-in. That would have really been a waste of the briefcase, though.

They should push Sheamus hard as HHH's chosen champion. Reigns vs. HHH at WM32 works for me, although they could also have HHH screw Roman over by putting him first in the Rumble, only for Reigns to win that and get the title match anyway.

More wrestling coming up.