WWE Survivor Series 2017 Live Blog, Results, Spoilers

WWE hosts the 2017 edition of Survivor Series from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas tonight live on the WWE Network. No titles are on the line tonight, but stars from Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live are facing each other in a battle for brand supremacy.

Survivor Series 2017 quick results

• 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Raw (Kurt Angle, Triple H, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman) def. Team SmackDown Live (Shane McMahon, John Cena, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura). Sole Survivors: Triple H, Braun Strowman.
• WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar def. WWE Champion AJ Styles (F-5)
• 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Raw (Alicia Fox, Asuka, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Bayley) def. Team Smackdown Live (Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi, Tamina, Natalya): Sole Survivor is Asuka
• WWE Smackdown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair def. WWE Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss via submission (Figure Eight)
• The Shield def. The New Day via pinfall (top-rope triple powerbomb)
• WWE Smackdown Live Tag Team Champions Jimmy and Jey Uso def. WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus via pinfall (Big Splash)
• WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin def. WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz via pinfall (End of Days)

The Shield vs. The New Day

After a special two-hour preshow, the event started off with one of its best matches in The Shield versus The New Day. 

This one played a lot like the Shield six-man tag matches of old, with Rollins and Ambrose doing most of the work in-ring with Reigns came in to deliver the power moves. The New Day had the advantage on more than one occasion, most notably when the trio hit Seth and Dean with a double Midnight Ride. 

But Roman, still being positioned as the next face of the company, made the save. The match came down to just Kofi Kingston in the ring after Xavier Woods and Big E were taken out via Ripcord Knee and Dirty Deeds on the floor. The Shield teased a triple powerbomb, but took things one step further by hitting hoisting Kingston to the top rope and hitting the move from there.

Reigns illness and absence from last month’s TLC might have derailed the Shield’s reunion, but this was a big win the group needed to make said reunion feel worthwhile. 

Women’s 5-on-5 Elimination Match

Raw took an early 2-0 lead in the night thanks to their women’s team winning their respective 5-on-5 Elimination match. 

The match was fairly back and forth early on with a few surprises, namely Becky Lynch getting pinned first and Nia Jax being eliminated via count out. 

A few quick eliminations later on made it two to two: Asuka and Sasha Banks versus Natalya and Tamina. Nattie locked Banks into the Sharpshooter for the submission, leaving it a 2-on-1 situation for Asuka.

But all that did was give Asuka the perfect opening to show her dominance. She was able to make quick work of both women, finishing off the match with an Asuka lock on Natalya for the win as the Sole Survivor.

The Miz vs. Baron Corbin

In a battle of the midcard champions, Baron Corbin help Smackdown Live get on the board with a pinfall win over The Miz. 

Both men are heels, but Miz played a more sympathetic role throughout the match as Corbin antagonized Maryse (who was sitting in the crowd) throughout the night. 

After Corbin took out both Curtis Axel (who was still in a neck brace) and Bo Dallas, Miz looked to have the opening with a series of Yes Kicks and running corner dropkicks. But Corbin cut him off at the pass during a kick and hit the End of Days for the win. 

It wasn’t one of the best matches of the night, but it did give Corbin a solid win.

Sheamus & Cesaro vs. The Usos

In what might have been the biggest letdown of the night, the Usos defeated Cesaro and Sheamus in an unspectacular outing.

The match got plenty of time and both sides threw in a good amount of moves, but the match never felt like it could get out of first gear. It was noticeably slower than the last few Uso matches, while the Bar didn’t pull out any spectacular power moves from their series with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. 

Credit where its due though, that finishing sequence was pretty excellent. The Usos pulled out one of their old tricks as one of the brothers made the tag while the other dived onto the floor below to hit Cesaro with a diving press.

But other than that, it was the most skippable match of the evening.

 

Charlotte Flair vs. Alexa Bliss

Billed at 5-foot-10, Charlotte Flair is one of the tallest women on WWE’s roster. Meanwhile Alexa Bliss is billed at 5-1, making her one of the shortest female wrestlers. Put the two together in a ring and that height difference becomes staggering. 

Yet despite Bliss looking like she was half Charlotte’s size, the two managed to put on a good match Bliss worked Charlotte over with her usual ruthless style, while the daughter of Ric Flair rallied back with her impressive athletic ability. Flair rallied with some power moves, including an excellent sit-out powerbomb, and finished Bliss off with a Figure Eight leglock. 

Given how the night went, it’s pretty clear that Asuka is being set as the next challenge for Bliss’ title which is sure to lead to some fun interactions. Meanwhile the women’s title picture on Smackdown Live is fairly wide open. So it might be time for them to finally pull the trigger on Carmella’s Money in the Bank cash-in, potentially leading up to the upcoming Starrcade house show that Charlotte is booked for.

Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles

Brock Lesnar versus AJ Styles in a battle of WWE’s two world champions was easily the most-anticipated match of the night. And it didn’t disappoint. 

The match clocked in at over 15 minutes, thankfully longer than Lesnar’s last few singles matches. Despite being undersized, Styles looked like a million bucks and he sold Lesnar’s most devastating moves only to counter with multiple flying forearms, springboard 450s, Pele Kicks and the Calf Crusher submission. 

Lesnar won, once again only needing one F-5 to do so, but Styles was able to counter the attack three different times leading to some jump-out-of-your-seat pin attempts. Brock caught AJ in midair after going for yet another Phenomenal Forearm and delivered his finisher for the win. The commentary team was quick to point out just how good Styles looked in defeat, so this was not a burial by any means. 

But, as many fans feared, this continues the trend of Brock looking unstoppable headed into WrestleMania 34, where he’ll likely lock up with Roman Reigns yet again. 

Men’s 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match

The two shows were tied 3-3 after six matches with only the men’s 5-on-5 match left to go. And then things got weird. 

As many fans were quick to point out on social media leading into the night, the match had five of the company’s biggest rising stars (Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode) and five veteran and part-time stars (Triple H, John Cena, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton and Shane McMahon). One would think with so many wrestlers that the young talent would be positioned to look as strong as possible, given how they’re the ones in the ring on Monday and Tuesday nights every week. But with the exception of Strowman, that wasn’t nearly the case. 

Nakamura, despite having some interesting interactions with the likes of Strowman and Triple H, was the first to fall. Roode went out soon after as both were pinned after a Running Powerslam from Strowman.

Thankfully we did get an interaction between Roode and Triple H prior to that, playing into the joke that Roode could pass as Triple H’s son. 

Joe was the first member of Team Raw to fall, thanks to a pair of Attitude Adjustments by a returning John Cena. Joe had multiple arguments with Balor throughout the match, so expect that to carry over to tomorrow’s Raw. But then Angle, who showed his age a lot more in this match than he did last month at TLC, surprisingly pinned John Cena via a pair of Angle Slams (and a surprise Coups de Grace by Balor).

Balor then ran in as the freshest man in the match and nailed Randy Orton with a slingblade and a shotgun dropkick to set up for another Coup de Grace. Orton dodged the attack and hit the RKO for a quick pin. That’s not a very good outing for the man who is probably going to be Lesnar’s next opponent.

Strowman, who had been incapacitated after all five members of the SmackDown team suplexed him through a table, came back in and quickly finsihed Orton with yet another Running Powerslam. This made it 3-on-1 in Raw’s favor with the only man left being Shane McMahon. 

Angle tagged himself back in to play into the story of the being rivals ever since Shane invaded Raw last month. But after locking in the Ankle Lock, Triple H decided to get involved by hitting Angle with a Pedigree and dragging Shane over him. 

For a moment it looked like Hunter was aligning himself with Shane against Strowman, but once Shane made it back to his feet his was met with a Pedigree and a pin. Strowman wasn’t happy about Triple H trying to play mind games and ended up hitting “The Game” with two powerslams to close out the night. 

So while one man came out of this whole affair looking great, an entire roster was made to look foolish as Raw defeated SmackDown in dominant fashion. 

The match certainly set up a number of feuds, most notably Strowman vs. The McMahons and Shane vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (who interfered late in the match but ended up being chased off by Shane and Orton), but it sent a loud and clear message to fans of Raw’s superiority in the eyes of the writers. And that might not be the best idea when you still want people watching both shows every week. 

Regardless, Survivor Series 2017 was a strong show overall. If you somehow missed it, make sure you go out of your way to watch Lesnar and Styles. It’s likely the only time we ever see that match happen.