92.
Traditional Survivor Series Match
Team SmackDown - Bobby Roode, John Cena, Randy Orton, Shane McMahon & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Team Raw - Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe & Triple H
Survivor Series 2017
After last year’s excellent Raw vs SmackDown traditional Survivor Series match, you’d be forgiven for thinking this match could follow suit. And looking at the list of men in the match, you can certainly see the potential for something decent, and not one of the 100 worst matches in WWE history. However a closer look reveals a couple of wrestlers in this match that are clearly out of place. And therein lies the problem which we will of course address here.
Standard affair for the set up to this. Since the reintroduction of the brand extension they began to run an annual SmackDown vs Raw Survivor Series. Shane was upset that SmackDown is considered the B show (which is the set up to literally all of these brand supremacy storylines). However there’s extra authority figure struggles after Stephanie McMahon took exception to Shane invading Raw, and now Kurt’s job is at risk as punishment for her embarrassment. If Raw loses, then Kurt Angle will be out as Raw General Manager.
For the first part of the match, you may be wondering why this match is on this list. The match wasn’t particularly exciting in terms of action. What I did like and appreciate was that they took the time to soak in the unique matchups that the match put together. They really milked the interesting combinations of wrestlers like Triple H vs Nakamura, Joe vs Cena, and even a bizarre mirror match between Triple H and Bobby Roode - which is a long time comparison that I didn’t even think WWE would even entertain referencing. Even the homages to matches that happened elsewhere like Balor vs Nakamura and Angle vs Roode were pretty neat.
In fact, in rewatching this for this review, I began to second guess myself. Why did I think this was one of the 100 worst matches in WWE history? The first part of the match, while nothing spectacular, was interesting and fanservice-y enough to make it enjoyable. Then it all happened and everything became clear again.
Other Survivor Series matches can become more interesting as the match develops as stories are allowed to grow and there’s a focus on the more important wrestlers. And there certainly is more of a focus on the more important wrestlers. The issue is that those "important wrestlers" are the 50-year-old part timers. Braun eliminates Nakamura (the guy that will be winning the Royal Rumble and going to Wrestlemania in a matter of months) and Bobby Roode first in quick succession. This would be a sign of things to come. Roode never translated to the main roster and you can point to matches like this as an example why. The “Glorious” gimmick is one that only works when the man is a focus of the brand, because he basically treated himself like a Ric Flair / Triple H hybrid. That cannot work if you aren’t all-in on the man, which they never were on the main roster. As for Nakamura, while this wasn’t what killed him on the main roster, it’s not a good sign for his future.
The other problem is this match made SmackDown look like crap. In the context of the match, SmackDown was the more unified team, whereas Raw competitors were constantly bickering with one another. The SmackDown wrestlers even go out of their way to take Braun out of the match (with some help from two already-eliminated wrestlers). But it doesn’t matter because despite all that, the Raw team is just better.
Let’s talk about some other guys. For the second time in this list, John Cena’s impact on the match is to essentially be a cheerleader for the rest of the wrestlers. A tremendous waste of a big name. Samoa Joe and Finn Balor get a couple of token moments, but outside that make very little impact on the match, and as a result this match did as much good for them as it did for Roode and Nakamura.
This is a classic example of the booking and order of elimination being so crucial to these matches. The focus of the second half of the match was on Shane McMahon, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Braun Strowman. Once Angle gets in a second time against John Cena, it’s just sad. Kurt Angle, for better or worse, was one of the most dynamic and explosive wrestlers in his prime with a 100mph style that helped popularise an entire genre of wrestling. But in 2017 after so many injuries and countless other problems, he’s noticeably struggling to move around the ring. Shane McMahon isn’t much better though and continues his geriatric performances here. Now the argument may be, “well these men are in their 50s, how much can you expect of them”. To which my response would be, okay so why are these the men you are focusing on.
The only wrestler who debuted after 2002 who managed to get a pin in this whole match was Braun Strowman. And while the match did a decent job of making Braun look good, it wasn’t at the expense of anyone that could afford it (like Shane, Orton or Cena) but rather at the expense of the younger talent.
Later in the match, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn attack Shane McMahon because they feel like they should have been on Team SmackDown. Well, they’re not wrong, that’s for sure. It’s ok though because Shane McMahon fights them both off anyway, so what’s the point outside of making more fresh talents look like shit. Not only this, but if you are going to use Zayn and Owens as a means to hurt SmackDown, why not use them in a situation that could explain Roode or Nakamura's elimination? Instead they are just an obstacle that Shane McMahon alone has to overcome.
At the end of the match we're left with Shane McMahon up against Braun Strowman, Kurt Angle and Triple H. The three Raw stars take more time to fight over who gets to fight Shane. If you though Angle and Cena was sad, watching Angle and Shane recreating the early parts of their King of the Ring match was tragic. Angle gets Shane in the ankle lock for an excruciatingly long time. As someone who vehemently hates Shane McMahon matches, even most of his lauded ones, this match is a chore to get through in the second half of the match. After at least a minute in the ankle lock, Triple H shocks everyone by turning on Angle. A pedigree allows Shane to pin Angle, making it 2-1 in favour of Raw.
Braun’s confused look is everyone at this. Triple H teases teaming with Shane, but it’s all a shocking ruse as he pedigrees Shane which allows him to pick up the win for Team Raw. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Triple H goes over. The commentators go on to say how Triple H played Braun Strowman, but he didn’t. HHH never did anything to Braun so the double turn (if you can even call it that) just felt like a contrived way of trying to get some reason for Braun to attack HHH after the match. That’s not even to mention how much of an idiot it makes Shane look like to let his guard down next to the notoriously trustworthy Triple H.
Ultimately this match did set up the surprisingly excellent mixed tag match featuring Angle and Triple H at Wrestlemania. But outside of that, it was mostly inconsequential. Like all brand supremacy storylines this was forgotten about in a matter of weeks. Instead, WWE dropped the opportunity to showcase it’s fresh talent in favour of old men. The second half of this match is a tiresome microcosm of the sort of things that have often held back WWE in its history. It set a bad precedent for Shane McMahon being all over WWE television in a wrestling capacity in 2019, and for that reason alone this match deserves it's place here.
Up next - midgets and clowns. Yep, it’s the mid 90s WWF.
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