Cook’s WWE Survivor Series 2017 Report Card

Hi, hello & welcome to the WWE Survivor Series Report Card! It’s the one night of the year where Raw & SmackDown faces off for bragging rights. Who will stand tall as the top brand in WWE? That’s what we’re here to find out.

Here’s how I grade the WWE SuperStars…

A – Outstanding. Great moves, selling, interaction with the fans, everything. Stands out as a top performer.
B – Above Average. Very good offensively or defensively. Plays their role well. Helps the match accomplish what it set out to do.
C – Average. The type of performance that does nothing to stand out. No outstanding moves, no great effort to sell their opponent’s offense or draw the crowd into what they’re doing, just bland, basic wrestling. Sometimes, especially in a multi-man match, a short period of time spent in the ring without a chance to do too much.
D – Below Average. Poor execution, ignoring the crowd, not doing things that make sense.
F – Failure. Not doing anything useful. Actively holding the match back from accomplishing its objective.

Renee Young, Peter Rosenberg, Jerry “The King” Lawler & Shawn Michaels are on the Kickoff Show Panel. Shawn had a pretty rough night on there to be honest.

Kickoff Show Match: Matt Hardy vs. Elias: Elias sings a wonderful song in honor of Houston. The few fans already in attendance are pro-Matt & anti-Elias. Matt dominates the matwork early, as the veteran appears to be teaching the newbie some tricks. Elias takes control and targets the arm of Hardy. Michael Cole, Corey Graves & Booker T go to work hyping the other matches on tonight’s card. Double underhook shoulderbreaker by Elias gets a two count, nicely done. Hardy does a Side Effect on the apron because he knows apron moves work on the indies. Elias rams Hardy’s shoulder into the ring post and hits the Drift Away for the three count. He’s made Booker’s Fave Five!

It’s tough to work in front of an empty arena, and these guys did the best they could. Good win for Elias.

Grades
Hardy: C
Elias: C

Miz kicking it in the Social Media Lounge with Charly Caruso. I feel like two of the three social media questions were the same exact question. Twitter needs to step their game up.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Kickoff Show Match: Champion Enzo Amore vs. Kalisto: Kalisto’s entrance does not go well. Houston still thinks Enzo is a good person. Houston does not have the best taste in people. Let’s see if Kalisto can get something out of Enzo. He’s certainly got some fire going early. Kalisto with the Code Red for a two count early, and then we go into the Enzo domination & resthold period. Kalisto in the Tree of Woe & Enzo hits the Realest Forearm in the Room for a two count. Nice call, Nigel McGuinness! Nice moonsault by Kalisto. He comes back with some flying offense. Hurricanrana DDT by Kalisto. Enzo slips out of the SDS, and pulls Kalisto onto the apron. He tries to hit Eat Defeat on the apron, but doesn’t really get it. I don’t know how the apron would affect that. He hits it in the ring after a bump into a turnbuckle. It’s like the Greatest Hits of 205 Live.

It was a match and it was there.

Grades
Enzo: C-
Kalisto: C-

Shawn Michaels brings up The Knights and that shuts Jerry Lawler up real quick. Old farts like me remember why Michaels had to replace Lawler in that match. If you don’t remember, ask Doug Gilbert.

Kickoff Show Match: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Breezango: Owens & Zayn just have a fantastic entrance. Zayn jumping up and down like a moron while Owens is all pissy. Then they cut a promo and that’s also fantastic. Sami’s “Well, if you’re asking me, I felt a little unsafe” sounds like me at work. This promo battle makes me want to see these teams feud forever, because it’s freaking awesome. Breezango dominates early on & Sami takes a lot of offense, but Tyler Breeze eventually settles into the Morton role. Chinlocks! Owens talking some serious trash here. Fandango with the hot tag & he’s all over Zayn. Fandango misses the Last Dance top rope legdrop fairly & squarely, Owens gets the tag and hits the pop-up powerbomb for the three count!

Nice little match with a bunch of people that I like to get people ready for the main show. Kickoff Show Main Event is becoming an important slot.

Grades
KO/Sami: B
Beezango: B

Looks like it’ll be a five-man booth for the show. Michael Cole, Booker T, Corey Graves, Tom Phillips & Byron Saxton.

The New Day vs. The Shield: The fans seem inclined to support the Shield during New Day’s promo. They still rock though! Dean Ambrose & Kofi Kingston start the match, Dean has the advantage with a smack to the mouth of SmackDown Live’s Kingston. Seth Rollins & Xavier Woods tag in. Rollins gets the quick advantage there with a clothesline & Woods tags Big E. Rollins tags in Roman Reigns so the big boys can go at it. Big E shows his power early on. Reigns elbows him down & a Samoan Drop gets two. Everybody goes in the ring & the Shield ends up standing tall. The Shield rips off the New Day’s Unicorn Stampede on Woods. Kofi gets the hot tag & has all kinds of offense for Ambrose. Boom Drop! Kofi misses Trouble in Paradise, Ambrose can’t lock in Dirty Deeds, and now it’s 3 on 1 on Ambrose in a Unicorn Stampede. Things break down again. Big E with the spear on Ambrose to the floor! He rips Ambrose’s Raw/Shield t-shirt. Ambrose takes more punishment and rebounds with a missile dropkick. He tags Rollins in! Rollins is a house of fire. A buckle bomb followed by a Reigns clothesline gets two. Some back & forth action afterwards. Ambrose gets a close nearfall with Dirty Deeds to Kingston. Woods breaks it up and tags in. SUPERKICK! Rollins tells his partners to end it now. They send Big E & Kofi into the barricade. It’s time for the Triple Powerbomb! Or not! Big E breaks it up! Reigns into the steps! Trouble in Paradise to Rollins! Woods kicks Dean down! Big E sends Dean into a pair of superkicks…Xavier with a splash! Big E with a splash! Time for the Big Ending? He’s got Rollins & Ambrose up! Woods & Kingston with the Midnight Hour! Spear by Reigns on Big E! We’ve got a staredown, and it’s a Pier 6 brawl! The referee has no control of any of this. Dirty Deeds to Big E on the floor! Kofi fights Reigns off in the ring, but then gets speared! And here comes a Super Triple Powerbomb to Kofi Kingston! That’ll do it.

Good way to kick off the show! Two over teams going at it & getting a lot of response to get the crowd going. It’s a good idea.

Grades
New Day: B
Shield: B+

Stephanie McMahon pumps up Team Raw: Women’s Edition. Who knew she was bigger than Nia?

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Alicia Fox (Captain), Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Asuka and Bayley vs. Becky Lynch (Captain), Carmella, Tamina, Naomi, and Natalya: Foxy rocking quite the captain’s hat this evening. The captains start the match as they should. Becky gets the early advantage, but gets eliminated super early when Bayley does a blind tag & schoolgirls her! Natalya comes in & takes it to Bayley. Tamina comes in & Bayley gets over to the corner where Asuka waits. Some quick kicks & people take turns on Tamina in the corner, but then Bayley gets driven into the SmackDown corner. Bayley fights off Tamina, Carmella with the kick, and Tamina goes up top & hits the Superfly Splash on Bayley to even sides. Nia Jax tags in & faces off with Tamina. They take turns knocking people off the apron. Nia takes the advantage & cannonballs through Tamina in the middle of the ring for two. Tamina tries to lift Nia up and that doesn’t happen. Nia does lift Tamina up, but drops her to knock Lana off the apron. Superkicks to Nia! Naomi with a plancha to Nia on the floor! Nia & Tamina battle on the outside…crossbody by Tamina on the floor! Nia gets counted out! Foxy is not happy with Nia, and the distraction nearly leads to a rollup pin by Naomi. Some reversals lead to a pinfall on Alicia, and Banks gets Naomi into the Banks Statement for a tapout. That was a bit jumbled. Asuka starts kicking away on Carmella. Carmella gets some offense on Asuka, and starts mocking Sasha, which gets Sasha all ratchet. Carmella then pisses off Asuka with some chops, which was a bad idea. She kicks her head off. Natalya is in with Sasha now, and they’re trading blows. Double knees in the corner, and the Banks Statement…which is broken up by Tamina! Natalya sends Sasha into the turnbuckle, and locks in the Sharpshooter! Tamina knocks Asuka out of the corner, and Sasha has to tap out! We’re down to Asuka vs. Natalya & Tamina. Tamina goes up top for a splash…nope! Armbar by Asuka, and Tamina taps out! Natalya runs in and is all over Asuka. She goes for the Sharpshooter, and Asuka counters into a kneebar! Natalya breaks out, but gets kicked in the head. Double chickenwing buster into the Asuka lock, & Natalya taps out!

Not surprising that Asuka would get the win & be the sole survivor. She’s won everything else in her path so far. Good booking & a solid match here. Special props to Tamina, who was in a lot more than expected and was better than expected.

Stephanie & Daniel Bryan chat backstage about how the night is going & discuss the Men’s Elimination match, along with the idea of Bryan having complete control should Shane be taken out tonight. She actually let him keep his balls. That’s a mild upset.

WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz (w/Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) vs. WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin: Corbin gets an early advantage, but a distraction by the Miztourage turns the tide temporarily. Maryse is sitting at ringside & Corbin decides to trash talk her, which sends Miz over the edge. Corbin retakes the advantage at any rate & continues dominating Miz. The Miztourage keeps distracting, and Bo Dallas chop blocks the knee of Corbin, enabling Miz to go on offense. He keeps working the knee and locks in the Figure 4 leglock. Corbin reaches the ropes, and hits Deep Six for a two count. Rollup by Miz gets two. Corbin slides outside & wipes Axel out. Dallas gets tossed into the ring & it’s End of Days for him. Rollup by Miz gets two. End of Days blocked, DDT by Miz gets two. Yes Kicks! As usual the last one misses, but Miz hits some running dropkicks in the corner. End of Days by Corbin, and the US Champion scores a mild upset!

Pretty good showing from the Lone Wolf here. He’s had some letdown performances in big matches recently, but he & Miz had some good chemistry here & he looked real good taking out Miz & his goons. Miz had his working boots on to make Corbin look like a million bucks and the match went as well as could have been hoped. I think I liked this more than most looking at some quick online reaction, but that happens from time to time.

Grades
Miz: B+
Corbin: B+

Corbin informs Miz that his hand went up while Miz’s went closed. He shut all the fans’ mouths too.

Paul Heyman informs Charly Caruso that Brock Lesnar is going to win tonight.

WWE Raw Tag Team Champions The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro) vs. WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos : Usos working over Sheamus & making wishes. Cesaro tags in & the Uso teamwork continues. The Bar finally gets the advantage when Sheamus responds to a Jimmy dive attempt with a Finlay roll on the floor. RED ROOSTER JOKE. Cesaro & Sheamus take control while Mr. T jokes are made. Sheamus loses focus & Jimmy hits a twisting plancha to get an opportunity to make the tag. Jey’s in and he’s going crazy. He misses in the corner, Cesaro doesn’t miss the uppercut. Backdrop into the corner by Jey, and the running smash gets two. Sheamus with the distraction. SWING! Cesaro locks in the Sharpshooter! Jimmy eats a Brogue Kick…Jey finally reaches the ropes. Cesaro isn’t a Hart, so the Sharpshooter isn’t quite as lethal. Cesaro gets knocked off the top & Sheamus goes into the post, but Jey jumps right into Sheamus’s arms…an assisted White Noise gets two! Jimmy takes a beating from the middle rope. The Bar sets Jey up…Jey fights out & Samoan Drops Sheamus off of Cesaro’s shoulders! Both men try to get to their corners…Jimmy makes the tag, Cesaro eats a double superkick! There’s a couple for Sheamus! Leaping tag! Plancha to Cesaro on the floor! Top rope splash on Sheamus wins it for the Usos!

The match didn’t quite reach THIS IS AWESOME levels for me, but it picked up towards the end. Two good teams, but they didn’t quite gel tonight for whatever reason.

Grades
Bar: C
Usos: C

Raw & SmackDown Live are tied at two.

WWE Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss vs. WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte : The pivotal game five. Charlotte’s size & strength advantage are obvious early on. Alexa has to take a big chance to get an advantage, and an arm wringer off the apron does just that. Alexa works the ribs & locks in a modified abdominal stretch. It lasts awhile. Booker seems to think they’re in the championship rounds. A hard kickout sends Charlotte face-first into the turnbuckle. Charlotte blocks the tornado DDT & suplexes Bliss into the corner. She goes up top, and Bliss knocks her down & off. Double knees & a handspring splash get a two count. Sunset flip doesn’t work. Bliss turns a powerbomb into a rana for two. Code Red gets two for Alexa. She locks in a guillotine choke! Charlotte fights out and hits a sit-out powerbomb for two. She tries a figure 8, but Alexa fights out. Natural Selection gets two! She puts Bliss in position for the moonsault, and she misses! Her percentage on that move is up there with her dad’s on top rope moves. Another nearfall & Alexa continues to get more frustrated. There’s a spear by Charlotte & both women are down. Alexa gets the advantage & goes up top…she misses Twisted Bliss. Charlotte hits the big boot & locks in the Figure 8! Alexa has no choice but to tap.

Decent match, but didn’t quite reach that next gear. These two don’t wrestle each other often, so in some ways it’s not a surprise. I think they could have a great match with some work.

Grades
Alexa: C+
Charlotte: B-

The Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match will go on last. That or the next match would have both been fine choices for a main event.

WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman) vs. WWE Champion AJ Styles: Somebody tell Paul Heyman that Brock isn’t defending his title here. Lesnar smashes Styles into the corner and tosses him around early. He manhandles the WWE Champion. Suplex time! Two suplexes, then Brock chucks Styles over the top rope like yesterday’s garbage. Suplex number three. Big knee in the corner. Clothesline sends Styles down. AJ fights back for about thirty seconds, but the tide turns in favor of Lesnar quickly. F5? Not yet. Brock misses in the corner. Shots to the knee & a DDT! Kicks to the hamstring by Styles. He tries the Phenomenon DDT, but Brock fights out. He then tries a Tornado DDT, but Brock blocks the impact. Pele kick! Brock ducks the Phenomenal Forearm and hits suplex number four. Brock takes a swing at AJ & tumbles out of the ring. AJ with a flying forearm plancha! He pushes Brock knee first into the steel! Another forearm! They go back inside. Big shot by Brock & an enziguri by AJ. Lionsault by Styles! He goes back outside…Springboard 450 gets a two count! First cover of the match! AJ sets up a Styles Clash, Brock turns it to an F5 attempt & AJ rolls into the Calf Crusher! Brock pounds his way out of it! He lifts AJ, AJ kicks him! Phenomenal Forearm! It gets two! AJ goes back outside…he jumps again, but Brock catches him & hits the F5! That’s it.

That was better than anything we would have gotten out of Jinder Mahal. Styles took everything Lesnar could throw at him & left his mark on the Universal Champion. It’s likely that this will be the only time these guys meet, which would be a shame because it was so much fun. Aside from one bad stretch with attempted DDTs this was pretty great.

Grades
Lesnar: A-
Styles: A-

Brock’s left knee looked weird after the match & he was moving around pretty slowly, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Kurt Angle (Captain), Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe & Triple H vs. Shane McMahon (Captain), Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode and John Cena: SmackDown’s captain starts against Bruan Strowman. He doesn’t last too long before tagging out. Randy Orton & Samoa Joe have a first-time meeting instead. They exchange moves and end up in a standoff. Balor tags Joe, and Orton tags in Nakamura! Chants of NXT & New Japan go in the crowd while these two wrestle. Balor pokes the man in the face! After some kicks ducked, Triple H decides he wants a piece of Nakamura. COME ON! Big shots in the corner by H. Nak fights back with some shots of his own. Big boot. Face buster by Triple H sends Nakamura into the corner, and Bobby Roode tags in! Triple H getting to face some of his boys tonight. They exchange shoves. Roode takes too long to set up the Glorious taunt and gets punched down. Clothesline gets a near-fall for Roode. Triple H with a spinebuster and a crotch chop. Roode blocks the Pedigree and hits a spinebuster of his own. GLORIOUS! H gets Roode into the corner & Angle tags in. German suplexes! Nakamura comes back in & also takes a shot at Strowman. Nakamura’s going after all of them right now. Kurt tags Braun in, and that leads to a running powerslam & Nakamura’s elimination. Roode tries his luck with Strowman & fares little better. Strowman drops him one time before hitting the powerslam & making it 5 on 3.

Joe tags in, and Strowman takes exception. Braun has run into issues working on teams before. Team Blue lays out while Triple H & Kurt Angle have issues. Randy Orton comes in & hits the draping DDT on Triple H. Powerslam to Joe. Cena & Orton square off with Braun Strowman and it doesn’t go wonderfully. They do knock him out of the ring eventually. But that’s a bad idea because now Braun’s clearing off announce tables. Cena & Orton try to suplex him through the table…it doesn’t work, but Shane, Roode & Nakamura come over & help make it happen. Two of those men aren’t supposed to be there but it’s ok. Shane wants to drop an elbow, but Joe follows him up and suplexes him off the top! Joe goes for the choke, but Shane slips out & tags in Cena! Cena & Joe renew old acquaintances for a couple of minutes. Joe misses in the corner, but then Joe hits the STJoe! Balor tags in, but Joe takes back that tag. Cena hits the AA on Joe, then one for Balor too! One more for Joe makes it 4 on 3. Angle comes in to take on Cena. Cena riles up the crowd by being Cena. He tells Angle that he can’t see him, but Angle takes the opportunity to lock in the ankle lock for a second! Angle slam gets two thanks to Shane! Balor with the coup de grace! Angle Slam makes it 4 to 2, as Cena is out! Randy Orton & Shane McMahon are left for SD Live. Balor & Orton face off, & Balor knocks Shane out with a dropkick into the barricade! He takes Orton down, misses the double stomp & Orton hits the RKO! 3 on 2, one of those Raw men is Braun Strowman who’s taking a nap right now. Triple H tries to take care of Orton. He tags in Angle, an attempted top rope move doesn’t work as planned. Shane gets back on the apron and wants a tag, but Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn come on down & attack Shane from behind! Shane fights back with a chair! Randy RKOs Owens & Sami gets chaired back up the ramp. Braun Strowman is back & he’s staring down Randy Orton. Running powerslam makes it 3 on 1.

Shane does some stalling before he goes into the ring to take on Braun Strowman, Triple H & Kurt Angle. Triple H tags in because he wants to beat up his brother in law. Kurt Angle tags in instead because he’s the captain, dang it. Shane rolls Angle up for two, then hits a Russian leg sweep for two. Another nearfall, and another. DDT gets 2. Angle Slam! He locks in the ankle lock! Shane teases the tap, but refuses. Triple H breaks it up & Pedigrees Kurt? He puts Shane on top of Kurt to eliminate him & stares down Braun Strowman. Braun appears confused. Triple H acts like he’s helping Shane, but that doesn’t last long. Pedigree wins it for Team Raw.

Triple H raises Braun’s hand, who still seems confused. There’s a shaking of the head. Hunter seems happy about things, but Braun really doesn’t. No, he isn’t. He locks in a chokehold & tells Triple H not to cross him again or he’ll never play this game again. Triple H tries to lock in the Pedigree. That doesn’t work, and Braun takes him out with the running powerslam! Triple H gets up because he’s an idiot, and gets another powerslam for his trouble.

The show ends before 11, so I liked all of this. Well, not all of it. Shane being the last one out makes sense from a story perspective, but doesn’t help from an entertainment perspective. Neither does KO & Sami being immediately chased off. Triple H getting the win makes sense from a story perspective, but doesn’t help from an entertainment perspective. Braun Strowman getting a push out of this is great, but when your other top pushed talent in the match is Triple H, Kurt Angle & Shane McMahon, you’re not exactly building for the future.

Final Thought

I think my thumb has to go in the middle for this show. There wasn’t anything that was absolutely horrendous. There were some pretty good matches. Styles vs. Lesnar delivered. Some matches didn’t quite live up to expectations, but that’s not surprising because the talent in most of the matches don’t wrestle each other very often. The overall booking is predictably bland, though I guess it’s good that at least one new guy is getting pushed in addition to all the re-treads. If you love Triple H & want more of him on television, you’ll be pretty happy. And there’s enough of those types for me to realize that complaining about it too much is a waste of time & energy that can be spent on complaining about other things.

For more of Steve Cook’s thoughts on pro wrestling, along with his thoughts on whatever happens to be going on at any random point in time, follow him on Twitter!