5 Things I learnt from Survivor Series 2019

Hi Guys,

The last few weeks have been crazy in the world of wrestling from NJPW to AEW to WWE to all the independent promotions we all love to watch. This weekend was no exception with not only NXT Takeover: War Games, but also Survivor Series. Also, for the first time, there were matches not only between the red and blue brand, but also WWE's black and gold brand: RAW v Smackdown Live v NXT.

On Saturday night, NXT once again put on an amazing set of matches showcasing some of the best and most diverse athletes in the entire industry and every match turned out. We had an amazing triple threat match between Pete Dunne, Damian Priest and Killian Dane mixing strong style and crazy athletics as well as an amazingly brutal singles match between Finn Balor and Matt Riddle. As expected the main war games match between Undisputed Era and the dream team of Tomasso Ciampa, Kevin Owens, Keith Lee and Dijakovic was phenomenal. However, my stand out match of the night was the women's match! It was the perfect combo of hard hitting brutality, pure wrestling and amazing story. There was also stuff that I couldn't believe I'd ever see from Io Shirai moonsaulting off the cage and Ripley's finisher to Shayna on the chairs that won her and LeRae the match which had been a 4 v 2 handicap match (I won't give any spoilers) - just watch it if you can!



Come Sunday, Survivor Series had a lot to live up too. So, instead of my usual reactions post, which is sometimes just too long and boring, here are 5 things I've learnt from this years Survivor Series:

1. There actually is diversity in the women's division 
If you looked at the women's survivor series match, it was crazy to see how much diversity there actually was if you looked at it. Between the 15 women, you had Caucasian, Japanese and African-American women, tall and small women as well as strong and petite women. I have always been a critic of WWE when it comes to this issue, not because they don't have diverse women in the company, because obviously they do and this spreads from WWE to NXT to NXT UK. My issue was more about utilising these women and putting them in the spotlight. Survivor Series was the perfect example of how to do this right. Bianca shined throughout the show eliminating some huge stars, and Asuka made her mark by spraying mist in Charlotte's eye. Rhea Ripley used her height and strength to dominate the other women whilst Io Shirai and Candicde LeRae using theur smaller frames and agility to do the same thing. It was a breath of fresh air. But, why does this have to be something that happens once in a blue moon? Bring all these women to the forefront of your division, because they have support and people want them to do well.



2. There was a lot of hype, but not enough substance
In the lead up to SS, I was so excited for the card. It pretty much had matches and matches full of amazing superstars and, for the most of it, it was a great card. However, and I know a lot of people will agree with me, there were a few matches that were good but people expected a lot more. For example, if you listened to my last podcast (https://www.mixcloud.com/WrestlingChatter/world-tag-league-and-survivor-series/) I was so excited for the triple threat match between AJ Styles, Roderick Strong and Shinksuke Nakamura for obvious reasons. But it just felt a bit flat considering how amazing the 3 people in it are! Sami Zayn on the outside made for some great entertainment and overall it was a good match, but something was missing. Another match that was almost universally over-hyped was the main event triple threat between Becky Lynch, Shayna Bayzler and Bayley. Again, for me, it was a good match. Bayley was an amazing heel and you could hear the crowd behind her opponents which only pissed her off more. The issue was, the whole build up had been around Bayzler and Lynch but they were hardly in the match together at all. It just felt as if they didn't continue the story and it lacked the power considering most of the time it was 1 v 1.

3 They are pushing NXT to the moon!
And I am okay with that! Honestly, going into the show, I was worried they were building up NXT just to fall because why would they discredit their main roster guys and have the developmental guys win? Well, NXT is no longer developmental and it't the place to be so why shouldn't the black and gold brand dominate? With 4 wins over RAW and SD live, it showed why NXT is the brand and the crowd were definitely behind it from booing whenever an NXT superstar got eliminated or just the investment in the NXT matches (e.g. Cole v Dunne). The bigwigs in the back must see the potential in NXT and how much it's grown otherwise it wouldn't have done so well. It's giving the brand a mainstream platform over the past few weeks to show the more casual fan what proper sports entertainment wrestling can be. Not only does it tell stories well, but it balances it with pure wrestling which is something the bigger brands haven't mastered. With this all said and done, I hope NXT stays in NXT to carry on establishing their ground, but this push has opened a lot of eyes and proved that the talent in NXT is second to none!



4. It was a bit too predictable 
How many matches and teams can we see where there are rifts between teammates? It all started at War Games with Dakota Kai turning on Tegan Nox and it was exciting because there was so much history between the two. Then, come Sunday, Asuka turned on Flair during the women's match and it made sense because of the history of the two. However, as the night went on and we got to the men's match, I got bored. It was just so repetitive. Baron Corbin and Mustafa Ali had an argument causing Ali to be pinned, then Baron Corbin and Roman Reigns had a disagreement leading to a superman punch to the King and him getting pinned by Ciampa. Like I get it, but it was boring and slightly predictable. We all knew there was going to be tension in the teams and thought it might jeopardise the teams chances of winning, but I didn't think they'd do it that many times! What would've been good was to see rifts between pairs we didn't expect and teamwork between enemies - we can all dream!

5. In the end, a lot of it didn't make sense
There were some great matches, but in the grand scheme of things, I just got a bit confused. NXT dominated and that was a great thing, but really it shouldn't have happened. Not because they aren't talented but because most of them were in gruelling matches the night before and seemed to come out the next night as if nothing had happened. In reality, there should've been some injuries that caused problems more than just Candice and Io leaving because of it (but then suddenly coming back miraculously cured) and what we saw duing Adam Cole v Pete Dunne. In terms of some of the matches, it was great: build up Keith Lee, have Shayna pin Bayley so Becky isn't discredited and . But then what about Walter being eliminated first? Or the Viking Raiders (who haven't done much) defeat the Undisputed Era who are being portrayed as this mega faction! I know I'm being picky, because it was a good PPV - it's just sometimes I didn't see the logic but hopefully its all about long time booking and it will make sense!

I know it seems like I'm being mega negative: but I'm not. It was probably my favourite PPV of the year and there was so much right with it! I guess that because it was so good from the line up and lead up, I hold it to a way higher standard and think it could've blown everything out of the water and put on an amazing show. However, it was a great show and I loved watching it so, if you have time, give it a watch because you won't regret it! 

So, what was everyone's thoughts of Survivor Series? As always, let me know what you think and let me know what you think of this years line up and make sure you keep an eye out on my podcast to keep up to date with the tournament https://www.mixcloud.com/WrestlingChatter/! Make sure you follow me on my at:

(@Wrestling_Chat on Twitter and Wrestling Chatter on FB and WrestlingChatter96 on IG)! I

Until next time,

Bye