Csonka’s WWE Survivor Series 2018 Review

Csonka’s WWE Survivor Series 2018 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Tag Team Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Smackdown defeated Team Raw @ 22:50 via pin [***¼]
– Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Raw defeated Team Smackdown @ 20:10 via pin [**]
– Seth Rollins defeated Shinsuke Nakamura @ 21:30 via pin [***½]
– The Authors of Pain defeated The Bar @ 8:05 via pin [*]
– WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Champion Buddy Murphy defeated Mustafa Ali @ 12:20 via pin [****]
– Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Raw defeated Tam Smackdown @ 24:04 via pin [**½]
– Ronda Rousey defeated Charlotte @ 14:17 via DQ [****]
– Brock Lesnar defeated Daniel Bryan @ 18:45 via pin [****]

---

– My word…

#TheFreak…

….coming soon.@LarsSWWE #SurvivorSeries pic.twitter.com/zupCR8j5Ot

— WWE (@WWE) November 18, 2018

Tag Team Survivor Series Elimination Match: Chad Gable & Bobby Roode, The Ascension, Lucha House Party, The Revival, The B Team vs. The Usos, The New Day, The Colons, SAnitY, & The Good Brothers: Wolfe, Metalik, & Kofi aren’t wrestling, but are at ringside. Kalisto and Epico begin, Kalisto tweaks his knee and tags in Dorado. They work double teams and cover for 2. Epico cuts him off, and tags in Promo for double teams. The Colons get run together and Kalisto tweaks the knee again but shatter machine eliminates the Colons. Anderson in and runs wild with spinebusters. Axel tags in and cuts him off. The Hennig neck snap follows as Metalik is replacing Kalisto. Dallas in and he maintains control. Gallows with the cheap shot and Anderson eliminates the B Team. Gable and Big E in now. Fain tags himself in and mows down Gable with the divide for 2. He and EY hit the double team neck breaker for 2. Roode dumps Dain and the moonsault/neck breaker combo eliminates Sanity. Konnor and Big E in now. Big E cuts him off with an abdominal stretch, Big E spanks his ass, and Konnor tosses him aside. Woods in and runs into a fall away slam. Viktor in and covers for 2. Woods picks up the pace, tags in Big E and the assisted splash eliminates the Ascension. Metalik in and Gallows now tags in. Metalik tags in Dorado, gets caught, magic killer is countered and Dorado hits a stunner. Anderson cuts off the RANA, but gets sent to the ropes. The luchas hit moonsaults to the floor. Metalik hits the ropewalk senton and eliminates the Good Brothers. Dropkick by Metalik on an Uso, Dorado in and cradles Jimmy for 2. The lionsault follows for 2. Jey hits a nasty looking Samoan drop to eliminate the luchas. Dorado landed on his head there. Woods and Dawson in and Gable tags in as they take control on Woods. Dawson back in and hits leg drops and elbow drops. Woods cradles him for 2. Woods battles back, hits a missile dropkick and Big E and Dash tag in. Big E starts throwing suplexes, dances, and takes out Dawson and dumps Dash but Gable tags in with a suplex. Roode in chaos theory neck breaker combo on Big E gets 2. Big E fights off the DDT and he and Woods hit the backstabber/STO combo for 2. Dawson hits a suicide dive as it breaks down. Big E kills Dash with the suicide spear. Roode then tosses Gable onto the pile. Superkick to Roode, Gable and Jey up top and Gable hits a super German to the floor onto the pile. Back in and Woods fights off Gable and Roode, Big E tags in and catches the Gable moonsault and the midnight hour connects for the elimination. Woods tags in a Dawson hits a DDT. Dash tags in and Woods heads up top, and jumps into shatter machine for the elimination. Down to the Usos and Revival. They brawl, Dawson and Jimmy work up top and Dash tags in and they hit power and glory for 2. They look for shatter machine, superkick by Jey and another follows. Superkicks to both Dash & Dawson. The big splash connects and the Usos win. Team Smackdown defeated Team Raw @ 22:50 via pin [***¼] This was really sloppy early on, but turned into a good and really fun match thanks to the second half, with a few wild spots, and the Usos vs. Revival closing stretch.

– Bliss kicked Natalya & Riott off of team Raw for fighting. Bayley and banks are replacing them.

Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match: Bayley, Mickie, Nia Jax, Tamina, and Sasha Banks vs. Naomi, Sonya Deville, Asuka, Carmella, and Mandy Rose: Tamina and Naomi to begin and Naomi gets a cradle for 2. The dropkick follows and they all brawl, Disaster kick by Naomi on Jax, but Tamina hits a superkick and eliminates her. Carmella cradles Tamina and eliminates her and does a dance break. Jax is in and rag dolls her a bit and Rose gets tagged in. Jax lays her out and covers for 2. Rose battles back with a running knee strike, James tags in and hits a neck breaker for 2. Rose fights back, tags in Asuka, and locks up with James. They trade shoulder tackles, Asuka gets pissed and hits an ass attack. The octopus stretch follows, but James cradles her for 2. Back fist by Asuka, Deville tags in and continues to control on James. James cuts her off with a head scissors, Bayley tags herself in and hits elbow drops for 2. Banks tags in and hits corner knees, and James tags herself in and hits the Thesz press for 2. Deville cuts her off with spear, Rose tags in and steals the elimination after Deville hit the running knee strike. Carmella tags in and isolates Bayley. Bayley slowly fights back, stunner in the ropes, and heads up top, leaps over Carmella and the DDT follows by Carmella. She mocks Banks a bit, but runs into to belly and she’s gone. Rose attacks, works over Bayley and talks trash. Bayley cuts her off and tags in Banks. The work into counters, banks statement and Rose taps. Deville rushes in and works over Banks. Asuka tags back in and lays the boots to Banks and covers for 2. Deville back in and grounds Banks with a body scissors. Banks escapes, tags in Bayley and the running knee follows and she covers for 2. Deville tries to dump her, and then hits the spinebuster for 2 as Jax make the save. Jax post herself and Asuka lays the boots to her but Banks hits meteora on the floor. Bayley sloppily tackles Deville to the floor, they battle on the floor and Bayley hits Bayley to belly and both get counted out We’re down to Banks & Jax vs Asuka. Banks and Asuka roll back in, and they trade dropkicks. Knee strike by Asuka, and then dumps Banks with a German. Jax is back and Asuka knocks her to the floor. Banks back in and Asuka kicks her to the floor. Banks cuts her off, but Asuka hits an ass attack on the floor. Back in and Asuka heads up top and hits the missile dropkick for 2. They work into counters, charging knees by Banks follow. She heads up top and Jax shoves her off and that allows Asuka to tap Banks. Jax in and leg drops Asuka a few times and the Samoan drop finishes Asuka. Team Raw defeated Team Smackdown @ 20:10 via pin [**] Jax winning made sense, since she’s challenging Rousey soon, but she did next to nothing here, and continues to fail to impress. I guess it’s good that she had heat on her for the Becky injury as the crowd hated her here, but damn she really is no good. Outside of Nia, there was almost no heat for this, the action was flat, and it felt every bit of the 20-minutes it lasted. I wouldn’t call it bad, but it was only ok at best.

– The GMs and commissioners argue over brand supremacy. They claim Raw is up 1-0, ignoring the kickoff match; why? Because fuck you, that’s why.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins: Nakamura plays around a bit, they work to the ropes and break. They lock up, Nakamura looks to work the arm, looks to ground things and Rollins cradles him for 2. Nakamura powders, takes his time and rolls back in. He attacks with knee strikes, but Rollins follows with a clothesline. Rollins hits the Jerry Lynn leg drop in the ropes and spikes Nakamura’s head to the apron. Nakamura recovers, cuts off the suicide dive and connects with knee strikes. Back in and Nakamura covers for 2. Nakamura grounds things, hits a knee drop and covers for 2. Nakamura works a guillotine, follows with knee strikes, but Rollins fights off bad vibrations and hits a flatliner to the buckles. Rollins follows with chops, strikes, and sling blade. Rollins then dumps Nakamura to the floor. The suicide dive follows, hits a second, and then goes full Jay Lethal with the third. Back in and Rollins hits the springboard clothesline for 2. Rollins follows with rights, but Nakamura cuts him off with a spin kick. Nakamura continues to lay in kicks, sets Rollins on the buckles nod the running knee connects for 2. Rollins fights off the choke and the superkick gets 2. Nakamura fights off the buckle bomb, lays the boots to Rollins, but Rollins fires back with strikes and kicks. Nakamura cuts him off with a rolling arm bar, and transitions to the triangle. Rollins powers up and buckle bombs Nakamura. Rollins sets for blackout, but Nakamura cuts him off and they trade kicks and Nakamura hits the landslide and that gets 2. Nakamura heads up top, Rollins pops up and hits the superplex and then does the deal with the falcon arrow for 2. They trade strikes, Nakamura hits a flurry and follows with a kick and reverse XPLODER. He sets for Kinshasa, but Rollins hits the ripcord knee for 2. Rollins heads up top, and misses high fly flow. Kinshasa by Nakamura connects and that gets 2. Nakamura looks for another, but Rollins hits a pair of superkicks, and black out for the win. Seth Rollins defeated Shinsuke Nakamura @ 21:30 via pin [***½] I was pleasantly surprised that we didn’t get any Dean Ambrose involvement here and that this was just a straight up match. As for the match, it was very good. Nakamura felt motivated, while Rollins continues to make the best out of every opponent he’s given. I think that it was a tad long, and would have been better with a few minutes trimmed, but it was very good and enjoyable.

– Team Raw argues, and Braun says he hates them all. R-Truth appears thinking he’s on Team Raw.

– Enzo was in disguise in the second row and escorted out after playing to he crowd.

@tmz Enzo Amore get booted from WWE show pic.twitter.com/ojuKDFC5n2

— First Lady Of PWG (@carrie_palacios) November 19, 2018

ENZO AMORE GOT KICKED OUT OF #SURVIVORSERIES pic.twitter.com/T8PSXO9rod

— FAR (@CrimsonDevices) November 19, 2018

The Authors of Pain vs. The Bar: Big Show & Drake Maverick are at ringside. Cesaro controls early, but gets cut off and Akem tags in for the double team double stomp, which gets 2. He chokes out Cesaro in the ropes, keeping him isolated and grounded. Akem lays in ground and pound, tags in Rezar, and they work double teams and cover for 2. Sheamus with a cheap shot and Cesaro gets a cradle but the ref was busy with Sheamus. Cesaro fights back with uppercuts, hits the springboard uppercut and tags in Sheamus. Rezar also tags in and they brawl. Sheamus runs wild with knee strikes, stuns Rezar off the ropes and follows with clubbing strikes. Sheamus up top and hits the flying clothesline for 2. Uppercut by Cesaro, and the brogue kick gets 2 as Maverick puts Rezar’s foot on the ropes. They chase Maverick, he runs into Big Show and they have him piss his pants, because why, fuck you that’s why. Great job of taking a character you made awesome and ruining him. The AOP hit the powerbomb/neck breaker combo and win. The Authors of Pain defeated The Bar @ 8:05 via pin [**] This was a complete disappointment as I was hoping for a great hoss fight, instead, it was a lazy house show match with a guy pissing his pants and the AOP getting a “lucky win.” This was bad and the booking completely let these guys down; it was embarrassing bullshit.

– Miz teases a big motivational speech and then says Shane will do it. R-Truth arrives and hilarity ensues.

WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Champion Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali: These two have constantly delivered on 205 Live, and if given the chance, should here as well. Murphy looks to overpower Ali to begin. They work into counters, RANA by Ali and dropkicks Murphy to the floor. Ali up top and hits a somersault dive to wipe out Murphy. Back in and Murphy follows with kicks, and Ali then sends him to the barricade. Ali looks to climb the ropes, but Murphy shoves him off the ropes and into the barricade. Fuuuuuck. Back in and Murphy covers for 2 and follows with a backdrop and a PK to the back; Murphy covers for 2. Murphy grounds the action, Ali fights to his feet and counters into a cover for 1. Ali with kicks, catapults Murphy to the post and follows with a dropkick. Ali lays in rights and an enziguri. Murphy cuts off the rolling x-factor and tosses Ali to the floor. Murphy follows with a tope and back in and Murphy heads up top, leaps over Ali and Ali lights him up with superkicks and a reverse RANA for 2. Ali follows with strikes, they trade and Murphy to the apron. Ali then hits a spike DDT with Murphy in the ropes for 2. Ali heads up top, Murphy cuts that off and dumps him to the floor again. Ali is down and Murphy follows and dismantles an announce table, shades of their 205 Live matches. Ali fights back, and hits a spays fly off the table to the floor. Back in and Murphy cuts off the imploding 450, hits Cheeky Nandos and repeated powerbombs for 2. Murphy is completely frustrated here. Ali counters Murphy’s law, lay in uppercuts but springboards into a flying knee strike (Omega and Fenix recently did the spot as well, it was awesome both times; Murphy’s a big Omega fan). Murphy’s law connects and Ali is finally done. Champion Buddy Murphy defeated Mustafa Ali @ 12:20 via pin [****] They had to fight to get a dead crowd into this and about halfway through they were chanting “205!” and “This is awesome!”. I love when performers do that, all too often wrestlers work and are content to “do their shit,” no matter the reaction and don’t make an effort to change it and let the crowd die, but these guys did it. It wasn’t quite as good as their previous matches, it was still a great outing. Ali is a tremendous babyface, and Murphy remains one of the best success stories of 2018.

Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match: Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, & Lashley vs. Shane McMahon, Jeff Hardy, The Miz, Samoa Joe, & Rey Mysterio: Team Raw argues, and Braun starts. Nope, Drew tags himself in and Joe locks on the clutch and Drew escapes. Joe gets it again, but Drew escapees, claymore, and Joe is done in 30-seonds, thanks for coming. The crowd is not happy. Jeff is in and Drew overpowers him to begin. He follows with a clothesline, Dolph tags in and Jeff avoids the superkick. Shane tags in and lays in something resembling strikes on Dolph. Dolph cuts him off with a dropkick but Shane fights back with arm drags but Dolph sloppily cradles him for 2. The fameasser follows for 2. Dolph then hits the zigzag for 2 as Miz makes the save. Miz is in and Dolph hits a dropkick. Braun tags himself in and then Drew tags in. They argue and everyone brawls. Miz &Jeff attack Braun, Rey joins in and so does Shane. ROAR spot by Braun, but he’s tripped up and 619 by Rey. Shane dismantles an announce table and Smackdown beats down Braun. They put him on the table and Shane does his big elbow spot, putting Braun through the table. Back in and Miz & Drew are in. Miz lays in IT kicks as Paige & Steph watch backstage. Drew hits a desperation head butt and then refuses to tag in Balor. Balor tags himself in, enziguris Drew and cuts of Miz. The standing double stomp follows and cradles Miz for 2. The enziguri follows and Balor heads up top and misses the double stomp. Balor hits John Wooooooooo on the floor, back in and Rey runs wild on Balor, but Balor quickly cuts him off and follows with chops. Rey hits a head scissors and misses 619. Sling blade by Balor, and John Woooo follows. Rey avoids the double stomp and 619 connects. The springboard frog splash finishes Balor. Drew attacks and pummels Rey and dumps Balor. Rey attacks, Lashley in and cuts of Rey. Rey counters the press slam but Lashley hurls him to the buckles. The delayed suplex is fought off by Rey and he takes Lashley down. Dolph in and Rey cuts him off with kicks and both are down. Tag to Jeff and he runs wild on Dolph, hits the leg drop to the balls follows with a cover for 2. Drew distracts Jeff, and Jeff DDTs him on the floor. Back in and a DDT by Dolph gets 2. Dolph looks for a superkick, Jeff counters, and hits twist of fate. He heads up top and the swanton eats knees. Miz tags in, hits the corner clothesline and Shane is back on the apron and tags in. He looks to go coast to coast, hits it and covers for the pin. Lashley attacks and starts killing Shane. He pummels Shane and hits suplexes. Miz tags in and Lashley hits the flatliner. He misses a spear, posting himself, and tags a dead Shane back in. Shane looks for coast to coast again and Braun swats him out of mid-air. Rey makes the save and Jeff tags in. Jeff brawls with Braun, but Bran powerslams him for the elimination. Rey flies in with a dropkick, follows with kicks, and looks for 619, but Braun catches him and the powerslam finishes Rey. Miz tries to rally Shane, but Braun steamrolls them on the floor. back in and the powerslam finishes Miz. Shane is left alone. Christ. Shane looks like he’s about to have a heart attack. John Wooooooo by Braun, and the powerslam connects and Shane is done. Team Raw defeated Tam Smackdown @ 24:04 via pin [**½] This was a painfully mediocre match with way too much Shane McMahon vanity booking. Yes he lost, but we have to have Shane get all of his shit in and look better than anyone else on his team, I’m beyond over it.

– Corbin attacks Braun and runs away.

– Seth comments about tonight’s win over Nakamura. He wants to go and drink beer, and Charly informs him that he will defend against Dean at TLC.

Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte: The glam squad attacked Rousey again. They lock up and Rousey lays in kicks and they work to the ropes. Charlotte shoves her down and Rousey scores a takedown, they tease submissions and counter into a stand off. Charlotte gets a takedown, grounding the action. Rousey to her feet but Charlotte slams her to the buckles. Charlotte works her over in the corner, hits the XPLODER and covers for 1. Charlotte starts working the leg, grounding Rousey again. Rousey looks to escape, and her mouth is busted open. Rousey counters back and hits a jumping knee strike. She then gets the hanging arm bar in the ropes. Rousey heads up top, but Charlotte crotches her and follows her up. Rousey fights off the superplex, dumps Charlotte and pulls Charlotte back and rolls into an arm bar attempt. Charlotte tries to cradle out and then powers Rousey up and locks on a crab. Rousey fights, counters the figure eight, but Charlotte kicks her in the face. Natural selection countered and Rousey attacks the arm. Charlotte rolls out and hits a big boot. Rousey blocks the moonsault with her feet, and hits her rolling slam deal. Charlotte firs up and hits the spear for a good near fall. Charlotte gets the figure eight, but Rousey fights and rolls it and they roll to the floor. Rousey slams Charlotte to the barricade back in and hits a series of throws and lays in strikes. Charlotte fires back with chops, takes out the knee, and Rousey now blocks the chops and runs into a big boot and Charlotte covers for 2. Rousey counters the suplex and rolls for an arm bar, but Charlotte rolls to the apron. Rousey hits the swinging slam and looks for an arm bar, but Charlotte rolls to the floor. Charlotte breaks the count, Rousey follows her out and Charlotte hits her with a kendo stick for the DQ. Ronda Rousey defeated Charlotte @ 14:17 via DQ [****] I am far from a fan of DQ finishes on PPV, but I felt that this played very well and Charlotte as a heel is much better than her as a babyface. This was a great, hard-hitting match; really dirty in a real fight feel kind of way. After dropping off match quality wise following the win over Asuka, Charlotte has been really good since the feud with Becky. I really love how different Rousey feels compared to the rest of the division because so many of the women’s matches feel the same, but her matches are always different. I think a rematch will be even better. This gives Rousey future matches with Jax, Becky, & Charlotte.

– Post match, Charlotte kicks her ass with repeated kendo shots; there’s your “official” Charlotte heel turn. Or not as she got “thank you Charlotte” chants after the savage beating. She gets a chair and the ref stops her. Charlotte opts for natural selection onto the chair. Charlotte then attacks the refs and looks to Pillmanize Rousey’s neck and does. Rousey took a hell of a beating and sold it extremely well. Charlotte as a crazy/possessed lunatic also was great. Rousey was a sad panda as she left the ring due to the crowd turning on her, I think a turn for her could be coming soon.

Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan: Bryan has wanted this match for a long time, so I hope Lesnar is in a mood like he was with AJ last year and they deliver here. Bryan attacks the knee right away, and then powders and does some laps. He tries to bait Lesnar to the floor, Lesnar follows and Bryan slides back in. Lesnar back in and Lesnar blocks the kick and levels Bryan with a clothesline. He follows with a German and Bryan is down. Lesnar drags him back in and Bryan looks like a corpse. Lesnar hits a dead lift German, and then an overhead belly to belly. Lesnar says he can do this all night long as Ban pulls himself up an takes another overhead suplex. Lesnar celebrates with his title, as Bryan rolls to the floor and Lesnar slams him to the barricade. He does it again, and then rolls Bryan back in. Lesnar now works a bear hug, and slams Bryan down. Lesnar picks him up and then shoves him back down. Lesnar dumps him with another German. Lesnar goes back to the bear hug and hits another overhead toss. The F5 connects and Lesnar pulls up Bryan before 3. Bryan slowly fires back with kicks, and the F5 leads to a ref bump. Low blow by Bryan, busaiku knee! 1…2… NO! Bryan fires away with kicks, kicking the hell out of a grounded Lesnar. He stomps away at him now, Lesnar is rocked. Bryan charges, counters the F5 and dumps Lesnar. Lesnar catches the plancha, but Bryan posts him. The flying apron knee strike by Bryan follows. Lesnar now cuts him off and slams Bryan to the post. He posts Bryan again and then grabs the steps and charges but Bryan moves and Lesnar is down. Bryan hits another apron knee strike and both men are down. They trade kicks, back in and Bryan hits another busaiku knee and only gets 2. Bryan chop blocks Lesnar and slams his knee off the post. Back in and Bryan up top and the missile dropkick connects. The corner dropkicks follow, Lesnar cuts him off, but Bryan counters into the YES lock. Lesnar teases tapping, but powers his way out. Bryan lays in crossface strikes and locks it back on. Lesnar fights, escapes and Bryan gets a triangle, but Lesnar powers up into the F5 and finally pins Bryan. Brock Lesnar defeated Daniel Bryan @ 18:45 via pin [****] It’s very refreshing to see Lesnar work like we know he can, still looking like a beast, but also selling (which he’s great at when he wants to) and having a complete match that I can invest in and care about. Lesnar ran wild early on incomplete beast mode, which was fitting and perfectly believable until Bryan hit the great equalizer in a low blow and made the big comeback, which got the crowd into it. Bryan ran wild, picked up believable near falls, and had the crowd believing. Lesnar eventually overcame, but Bryan looked great even in defeat, much like AJ did last year. This was a great match that I thoroughly enjoyed.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.4

The final score: review Good

The 411

While I wasn’t very excited for the show going in, WWE Survivor Series 2018 was an overall good and fun show. I felt that the 5 on 5 matches, both men’s and women’s disappointed, along with AOP vs. The Bar, but found the rest good to great, with Murphy vs. Ali, Charlotte vs. Rousey, and Bryan vs. Lesnar all delivering great outings.