WWE Survivor Series 2019
The 33rd annual WWE Survivor Series was much anticipated based on the exciting brand warfare build-up, with the added caveat of NXT thrown in to battle Raw and SmackDown. It made for a major hype job, partly because NXT has been presented as being equal to Raw and SmackDown, which has been vital in making NXT seem like a brand worth taking seriously. Three big title matches would also be taking place at Survivor Series 2019, and since we were in Chicago, would we be privy to the return of a familiar face who has just (kind of) returned to the company by becoming a talking head on WWE Backstage?
Kick-Off Show
Ten-Team Battle Royal
I’ll mostly just run through the eliminations of this initial Survivor Series 2019 bout, which featured three teams from Raw, four teams from SmackDown and three teams from NXT. The Revival and RooDolph initially waited before participating proper; Dolph wore a SmackDown cap initially, which must have been an attempt at an inside joke. Steve Cutler was thrown out by Lucha House Party despite Jaxson Ryker at ringside, causing The Forgotten Sons to be the first side gone. Lince Dorado was then tossed out powerbomb-style by Angelo Dawkins. Marcel Barthel back-dropped Zack Ryder out to eliminate him and Curt Hawkins. As Nigel McGuinness, Corey Graves and Vic Joseph handled commentary, WALTER was upset with Fabian Aichner causing Imperium to be eliminated by Robert Roode. The crowd was mostly dead for this bout, especially after Otis’ attempt to hit Dolph with the Caterpillar led to him being thrown out by The OC and The Revival. Breezango were next to go: Fandango caught Tyler Breeze after he was knocked off the apron by The Revival, only for him to be knocked off again and eliminated, meaning that NXT was now totally done. The Street Profits eliminated The Revival at the same time, and Dolph superkicked Luke Gallows off the apron to put him and Karl Anderson out, meaning that it was down to The Street Profits against Dolph and Roode. Ziggler inadvertently superkicked Roode through the ropes, and after some teases, Montez Ford splashed Dolph, only for Roode to throw him out, getting the win for him and Dolph, and securing SmackDown’s first win of the night (last year a pre-show win was their only triumph, so would it be any different this year?). Nigel said it was early days by using the line “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”, which made me laugh for reasons that should be obvious for those interested in the real wrestling war that NXT has had with AEW.
NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match
Lio Rush (C) vs. Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa
Byron Saxton was back on commentary here, which was cool as he’s barely been seen or heard since SmackDown went to FOX. He and local boy Aiden English handled the call for this one, which was officially a tri-brand match as well, even if all three have had their stints on 205 Live. This had the expected fast-paced cruiser action, and it was refreshing not only to see the Cruiserweight Title defended on a big stage again (albeit as part of the Kick-Off Show), but with three names that fans recognise, giving the athletes a better chance of having their match get over. That being said it was Lio, arguably the least estbalished performer (yet the defending Champion) who got the chants from the Chicago fans, with “Let’s go Lio!” and “Lio sucks!” ringing out. The big move here was Akira and Kalisto working together to hit Rush with a reverse double-team Spanish fly off the top rope (or maybe Lio hit them both with the move armdrag-style; it was hard to tell). Because of Rush’s originally scheduled title defence against Angel Garza, that fact seemed to forecast the outcome, though Akira and Kalisto did both have some very close calls. In the end, Kalisto hit Tozawa with a Salida Del Sol, only to taste the Final Hour from Lio, which allowed Rush to retain. This gave NXT its first win of the night, leaving only Raw without a victory so far prior to Survivor Series 2019 starting.
The Viking Raiders vs. The New Day vs. The Undisputed Era
It was the combination of Corey, Vic and Jerry Lawler for this bout, which pitted three sets of Tag Team Champions against one another. Kofi Kingston seemed to have a shorter hairstyle here, as he and Big E cut an impassioned promo beforehand about their credentials. This had a big-fight feel and it defintiely had the best crowd response of the pre-show matches (partly cause it was closer to the main card beginning, admittedly). Alicia Taylor from NXT was the ring announcer, and it was nice that all three brands received as much representation as possible, even when it came to those introducing the wrestlers. This match was not fought under Tornado rules, meaning that one rep from each team was in the ring at once (incidentally, the tri-brand storyline meant that the night as a whole set a record for the most three-way match formats in one evening). This was an interesting match-up because The Vikings were the mostly-unbeaten powerhouse tandem, and thus the favourites, while New Day had the experience and star power, and the team of Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish were the newcomers to the PPV stage, but they were banged up from War Games the previous night. This was a very entertaining battle; the spot of the match here was Erik slamming Ivar onto all four of their opponents at ringside. It was also refreshing that none of the Kick-Off Show matches were interrupted by any commercials. The Viking Experience to O’Reilly onto Fish earned The Vikings the win and Raw its first win of the night after Big E was taken out by the Vikings (Lawler said “Big E was hit so hard that his kids will be born dizzy”) and Kofi kicked the post when attempting Trouble In Paradise on the floor. This meant an equal score across the board as Survivor Series 2019 was set to start proper.
Main Show
Women’s Triple Threat Survivor Series Elimination Match
Opening the main card was the all-women’s Survivor Series 2019 match, the first in history to be a three-way affair. It was Michael Cole, Beth Phoenix and Jerry Lawler on commentary for this bout, and the three brand teams all came out together rather than having separate entrances, which in some ways harkens back to the very early days of Survivor Series when teams would all come out together. Team Raw consisted of Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane and Sarah Logan; Team SmackDown comprised Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, Carmella, Lacey Evans and Nikki Cross; and Team NXT featured Rhea Ripley, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, Candice LeRae and Toni Storm (incidentally, all of NXT’s reps bar Toni were in War Games the previous night on opposing sides, making their alliance a little more tentative than those of the red or blue brands). Like with the three-way tag clash on the pre-show, one combatant from each brand was in the ring at any given point, with everyone else on the apron. Fans chanted “NXT!” loudly from the start, which demonstrated which side the audience was on in this battle of the brands. Everybody got their chance to be a part of the match in the early going, which included the longer-than-usual sequence of every participant getting their big moves in. This all led to everyone laying down at ringside, but this included Candice and Io both being injured (presumably still selling their injuries from War Games), which led to both being helped out, thus putting NXT at a big disadvantage for the remainder of the contest. Bianca restored some faith for her squad by pinning Cross with her feet on the ropes, and Belair hit a 450 Splash on Logan to send her packing too, making it four remaining competitors apiece for Raw and SmackDown, and three for NXT.
Carmella almost eliminated Charlotte after she hit her with a hurricanrana off the ropes with Flair landing right on Bianca, but both The Queen and The EST kicked out of Carmella’s attempted covers. Flair rebounded with Natural Selection to Carmella, which eliminated her from the bout and thus meant that Raw now had four women left. Sasha caught Kairi with a Meteora to pin her after Sane had drilled Toni with an In-Sane Elbow, meaning that every team now had three females remaining. Asuka caught Dana with a roundhouse kick to bring Team SmackDown to just two members left, but Charlotte claiming a blind tag from Asuka led to those two having a shoving match and Charlotte pulling Asuka down to the canvas to some boos. Asuka responded by sending green mist right into Flair’s eyes (her own teammate, remember), which weakened Flair significantly; Asuka then walked out, voluntarily forcing Raw to go down to two women, and then one when Lacey struck Charlotte with the Women’s Right. It meant Natalya was now flying the Raw flag alone against Lacey and Sasha off Team SD, and Toni, Rhea and Bianca for Team NXT. A roll-up by Nattie sent Evans out, meaning that Banks was alone for her squad; NXT’s members now greatly outnumbered theoir main brand rivals. A Shaprshooter/Bank Statement combo by Nattie and Sasha eliminated Toni Storm, and the two veterans teamed up again to hit Bianca with a version of the Hart Attack to beat Belair; Natalya, Sasha and Rhea were the final women standing. Natalya stupidly trusted Sasha long enough for Banks to clock her in the jaw and pin her, meaning that it was either SmackDown or NXT that would win. Fans were loudly backing the underdog brand, but Sasha seemed to have a grasp on things and trapped Ripley in the Bank Statement, only for Shirai and LeRae to return to ringside, having never been eliminated, to break up the hold. So, NXT again had three women, compared to SmackDown only having Sasha left. After a huge flying dropkick by Shirai, Rhea hit Sasha with the Riptide to give Team NXT the victory to a big pop, and giving the black-and-gold brand the first win on the main portion of Survivor Series 2019 in what was a rather enjoyable opener.
After Michael Cole showed footage of Kevin Owens joining Team Ciampa for War Games (Cole actually called the situation a “storyline” which was ridiculous), Seth Rollins spoke to KO backstage where he asked him where his loyalties lied for the men’s Survivor Series 2019 elimination match later on. KO said he just wanted to get even with Undisputed Era after they beat him down on Raw, but KO said that he didn’t need NXT, whereas Raw really did need Owens, so he would be trusted for the red brand. Owens also questioned how trustworthy Rollins was on his history (incidentally, Seth was heavily booed during this, which is now normal).
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong
The next match at Survivor Series 2019 pitted the United States, Intercontinental and NXT North American Champions against each other in what promised to be a damn good three-way; Sami Zayn was at Nakamura’s side as usual, and the Chicago crowd had a fine time chanting along with Shin’s music (though really they were chanting his old theme). Nigel replaced Phoenix to announce this with Cole and Lawler, happy with NXT’s potential to claim a second straight victory in this contest. Not only did this pit three mid-card titleholders against one another early on, but it also included three heels, and with Sami at ringside as the fourth villain involved. Shin looked good early on with some stiff kicks, before AJ struck Strong with a big dropkick. Roderick had a brief flurry before he was waylaid at ringside, allowing Nakamura and Styles to renew their long rivalry alone with Shin in control. A Gut Check by Roderick to Nakamura finally gave the NXT rep a chance to make headway. The pace accelerated after a few minutes, and in line with that, so did the big moves; at one point, Strong caught Styles as he attempted his back-flip reverse DDT and monkey-flipped him straight into a stiff kick by Nakamura. Strong kicked AJ in the back of the head as he tried to Styles Clash Nakamura, and Sami capitalised on this by dragging Shin to temporary safety on the floor. In the biggest move of the match, AJ held Roderick up for an electric chair, which allowed Shin to hit a high kick off the top rope. Sami interfered by shoving AJ into the post, but Nakamura then almost lost to a big knee by Roddy. Nakamura hit Strong with a GTS in the heart of CM Punk Country, but AJ whacked him with a big forearm as he went for a Kinshasa; after further back-and-forth big moves by all three, Shin hit Roddy with a Kinshasa, but AJ broke up the pin. Shortly thereafter, AJ hit Nakamura with a Phenomenal Forearm, but Roderick shoved Styles out of the ring and pinned Shin to get a big upset win, and NXT’s second victory on the main show. This meant that NXT could now not lose the battle of the brands at Survivor Series 2019, though Raw or SmackDown could still draw with the Wednesday night upstarts.
Backstage, The Miz tried to tell Daniel Bryan that The Fiend was pure evil and that Bray Wyatt’s alter ego could not be stopped, so Miz told Bryan that he had to beat Fiend to help both themselves and their families. Daniel’s response: “Get out of my face.”
NXT Championship Match
Adam Cole (C) vs. Pete Dunne
This Survivor Series 2019 bout marked the first ever time that the NXT Title was defended on a true WWE PPV event. Dunne earned the opportunity the previous night at NXT TakeOver: War Games by defeating Damien Priest and Killian Dain in a three-way, while Cole was definitely still hurting following his War Games participation, which included Tommaso Ciampa drilling him with a huge slam off the top of the WG structure through two tables to cause his defeat the night before. Cole was announcing with Nigel and Beth here in place of Mauro Ranallo, who Michael said was suffering from a lost voice after TakeOver (I believe he chose not to put himself through the wringer of having Vince McMahon “manage” him on commentary after his past struggles in such a scenario, and I don’t blame him). Dunne dominated the early going by targeting the fingers and left elbow of the champion, before Cole took control with a number of big moves. Pete rebounded with a sit-out powerbomb and a moonsault to the floor; Cole soon responded with a Last Shot, but Dunne kicked out. The big moves kept coming, but to less of a crowd response than the two men would have received at a TakeOver special (unusual for Chicago, though I understand that many fans in attendance might not have been familiar with NXT outside of the interbrand storyline), and in a more rushed nature. Dunne hit the Bitter End to come very close to claiming the NXT crown, but Adam just managed to kick out. An exchange of chops and kicks led to Cole stunningly catching Dunne with a vicious superkick as he was upside down attempting a moonsault, but Dunne somehow escaped before tasting a three-count as the fans finally came into the match proper. Cole followed that up with a Panama Sunrise to Dunne on the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring, don’t forget), and the fans who had previously seemed disinterested were now well into this battle. Dunne almost got counted out but made it back in, only to immediately taste a low superkick for another near-fall. As fans chanted “NXT!”, Dunne got hold of Adam’s fingers and twisted them back, but his attempt at a second Bitter End was somehow reversed into another Panama Sunrise, followed up by another Last Shot to earn Cole the win in an awesome match. It wasn’t quite a TakeOver classic, but it was a great bout which proved to any doubters what NXT is all about. Definitely watch this Survivor Series 2019 match if you get a chance. Cole celebrated with The Undisputed Era afterwards to complete their unforgettable week.
We caught a brief glimpse of Team SmackDown arguing about the men’s Survivor Series 2019 match later on.
WWE Universal Championship Match
The Fiend (C) vs. Daniel Bryan
Next up, it was SmackDown’s first chance to hold a match for the new-look blue-strapped Universal Championship. The storyline at Survivor Series 2019 was that Bryan does not want to return to the days of the Yes! Movement, but he is unsure as to what his next path should be and it is eating him alive, which is where The Fiend is at his most dangerous when it comes to targeting an adversary. Bryan tried to catch Fiend with several big dropkicks from the start, only for Fiend to take control after cutting him off with a big clothesline. The red light again remained on the ring throughout, which I personally don’t have any issue with. Fiend launched Bryan into the post on the floor as he barked “Remember me?” at Daniel. A uranage and a front suplex slam/throw further weakened the challenger. Bryan took over after Fiend inadvertently sent himself flying into the steel stairs, and Bryan followed that up with a dive through the ropes; Bryan was caught, but Daniel sent Fiend into the post and struck with a running knee off the apron, as well as a huge splash off the top rope to the floor. Several top rope dropkicks led to Bryan hitting “Yes!” kicks, but Fiend stared right back at him. More kicks followed, and the same happened. Cue more kicks, followed by stomps to the face, as Bryan decided to finally embrace the “Yes!” chants. A Running Knee earned Daniel a two-count, before he turned an attempted Mandible Claw into a triangle over the ropes. Daniel seemed to have Fiend figured out, only for the monster to catch a running Bryan with the Mandible Claw, which he used to pass Daniel out and pin him to win and retain his title in the best match yet for The Fiend character.
Rey Mysterio was interviewed backstage, while wearing a hoodie sporting the word “SILVA” (presumably in support of the troubled Everton manager). Rey said that Brock Lesnar hasn’t changed since Rey battled him back in the early 2000s, but a combination of his lead pipe and the love of his son Dominic have allowed him to change, and hoped that his son watches closely as he beats Lesnar with the pipe during their WWE Title match.
Men’s Triple Threat Survivor Series Elimination Match
With Vic, Corey and Nigel on the call, it was now time for the men to take to the ring for the other three-way elimination bout at Survivor Series 2019. Team Raw consisted of Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens; Team SmackDown included Roman Reigns, King Corbin, Braun Strowman, Mustafa Ali and Shorty G; and as Shawn Michaels revealed on the Kick-Off Show, Team NXT featured Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Damien Priest, Matt Riddle and WALTER (way to ignore Dominic Dijakovic after War Games, Ciampa). NXT again received many of the cheers, though Ali got some support by showing a flag of Chicago in his hometown, and KO got a strong reaction based off his NXT adventures the previous night. By the way, NXT only revealing its male competitors on the pre-show, and its female faces on Facebook Live after TakeOver, seemed slightly anticlimactic based on rumours of surprise participants, but perhaps it was actually a true fact that WWE would assess how the NXT guys and gals were feeling following the Saturday night show before committing to Survivor Series 2019 line-ups (which perhaps explains Dijakovic being absent).
Because this was a long Survivor Series 2019 match, I’ll just cover the eliminations and particularly important happenings. Drew, Braun and WALTER had a brief yet intriguing three-way face-off near the beginning as fans chanted “WALTER!”, which included a fun chop battle between McIntyre and WALTER. This surprisingly led to WALTER being eliminated first courtesy of a Claymore by Drew, which fans did not like at all. A big Frog Splash by Owens eliminated Shorty G. Owens also took out Corbin with a Stunner on the floor, only to be DDT’d through the ropes by Ciampa to get rid of KO, meaning that it was now a case of each brand having lost one man. Orton RKO’d Ciampa right after he tagged out to Priest who Randy still RKO’d to eliminate; Riddle then avoided an RKO to roll up Orton and eliminate him in a big upset, though Randy still RKO’d him moments later, which allowed Corbin to pin and eliminate The Bro. NXT now only had two men, while Raw had three and SmackDown had four. A Keith Lee/Strowman stand-off was interrupted by McIntyre, before Braun ran around ringside to take out just about everybody remaining that wasn’t on his own team. A Claymore by Drew to Braun led to Strowman being counted out after he had collided with Lee. An End Of Days allowed King Corbin to pin Ricochet, making it two for Raw, three for SmackDown and two for NXT. Ali had a chance to shine before being interrupted by the attention-seeking Corbin, which allowed Rollins to stomp and pin Mustafa to major boos. With two competitors remaining apiece, it was anybody’s guess now as to which side would win this bout. As Drew aimed a Claymore at Ciampa, he instead took a Spear from Roman to pin Drew, meaning that only the suddenly-unpopular Seth was left for the red brand. His exchange with Reigns led to Rollins being booed and Reigns being cheered, which even given the circumstances causing such reactions would have literally been unbelievable a few years ago. Reigns eventually tired of Corbin, hitting him with a Superman Punch and a Spear that allowed Ciampa to pin the King. So, it was Rollins vs. Reigns vs. Ciampa and Lee, with the former Shield members forming a short-lived alliance to take out the NXT charges; this eventually led to a Superman Punch/Stomp combo allowing Seth to pin Ciampa, leaving Lee all alone with Rollins and Reigns, which suddenly made Lee the big fan favourite in Chi-Town. Even more so when he pinned Rollins with a variation of a Jackhammer, leaving Keith against Roman to decide a winner. Lee came very close to securing a victory with a middle rope moonsault and a huge pop-up powerbomb, but Reigns survived long enough to hit a Spear to win another very good contest. This gave SmackDown its first win of the PPV portion of Survivor Series 2019, which also meant that Raw could no longer claim overall victory or even joint-victory in Chicago. Afterwards, Reigns endorsed Lee with a Shield fist-bump.
Backstage, Becky Lynch discussed her upcoming match, saying that Shayna took advantage of Becky travelling around the world, and noting that she didn’t want to fight Bayley but will gladly do so if that is what the former Hugger wanted.
WWE Championship No Holds Barred Match
Brock Lesnar (C) vs. Rey Mysterio
This Survivor Series 2019 clash was set up by Lesnar destroying Rey and Dominic almost two months ago on Raw, and the No Holds Barred stipulation was added last Monday night to give Rey a fighting chance of dethroning The Beast in what was arguably his biggest match since he won the World Heavyweight Title in the same arena at WrestleMania 22. Incidentally, this marked their first ever meeting on a PPV event, though they did have very occasional television run-ins back in 2003. Rey’s attire seemed to be themed after The Joker, which is good from a pop culture standpoint but a bit questionable considering the fight he was about to have. Paul Heyman did part of his intro for Lesnar in Spanish as a way to fire a dig at the challenger. Rey retrieved his lead pipe immediately after the bell rang, which led Lesnar to retreat. Brock quickly took control with several clothesline, then he tossed Rey out of the ring and then hard across an announcer’s table, before giving him an overhead belly-to-belly suplex through a table board. Rey sent Brock into the post, but Lesnar cut off his attempt to retrieve the pipe, and instead Brock suplexed him onto the weapon. Rey then took a trip to Suplex City, as everybody does. Then, Dominic ran in with a towel, pleading for Brock to end it; instead, Lesnar tossed the towel away and threatened Rey’s son, which allowed Mysterio to hit a low blow, as did Dominic! This allowed Rey to start whacking Lesnar with the pipe, and Dominic hit him with a steel chair, followed by both Mysterios hitting a double 619 and subsequent splashes, and both covered Brock with the Beast kicking out in a hell of a sequence. Dominic then climbed the top rope again, but Brock caught him and suplexed him; he also caught a flying Rey with an F5 and earned the pinfall win to retain the WWE Championship. It was not the massacre that Paul Heyman promised, but Rey came closer to pulling off the miracle than most expected at Survivor Series 2019, thanks to his son demonstrating some signs of what would be a noteworthy wrestling career in the near future. The replay showed Heyman marching towards the timekeeper to commandeer the WWE Championship before Lesnar had even gotten the three-count, which was understated yet hilarious.
Becky Lynch vs. Bayley vs. Shayna Baszler
In the main event of Survivor Series 2019, it was the battle of the Raw, SmackDown and NXT Women’s Champions, with Cole, Graves and Phoenix on commentary duties, the latter in a venue where she won her first Women’s Title back at No Mercy 2007. All three were sporting brand-coordinated armbands to represent their colours (as did many of the performers earlier on, to be fair). Just like AJ vs. Shinsuke vs. Roderick earlier on, this followed the typical traditional three-way formula of each wrestler taking turns to both dominate and to be out of the picture; in terms of crowd reactions, Baszler received big cheers early on, Becky was over as usual, while Bayley received the only real boos (and even then they weren’t as heavy as those that Rollins or even Lesnar had received). This took a bit of time to get going, but it started to accelerate when Lynch hit both of her opponents with a Bexploder Suplex each, as well as DDTing Bayley and reverse DDTing Shayna at the same time. Baszler broke up Becky’s attempt at submitting Bayley with the Dis-Arm-Her, which led to a Bayley To Belly on Baszler for two (Bayley vs. Shayna would have been a great TakeOver match in, say, early 2016). Fan interest cooled off while Becky was taking a breather, with a couple of “Boring” chants being audible, which I thought was unfair. Shayna’s attempt at a Kerifuda Clutch on Bayley on the ropes was broken up by a Lynch powerbomb for two. Submission reversals between Becky and Shayna led to the match heading to ringside, where Shayna sent Bayley and then Lynch into the post, before hitting a Becky with a variation of a double underhook suplex onto Becky onto an announcer’s table. An attempted top rope elbow by Bayley led her to be trapped in the Kerifuda Clutch, where she tapped out to give Baszler the victory. It was one more win to give NXT the night overall at Survivor Series 2019, though unfortunately the match never really reached second gear at any point and thus the main event ended anticlimactically. It’s also fascinating that Bayley received the least attention from the audience, considering that one point she seemed like an absolute dead-cert for stardom. Fans did cheer as Shayna celebrated afterwards, though Becky tripped her on an announcer’s table and tossed her from one desk to another before legdropping her through said desk. A set-up for a future Becky vs. Shayna match perhaps, maybe even at WrestleMania 36?
Overall, I thought that Survivor Series was WWE’s most consistent PPV event of 2019. Every contest on the main card was at least adequate, with there being several very enjoyable matches, particularly Cole vs. Dunne and the men’s elimination bout, plus the three-way tag on the pre-show was also well worth watching. NXT being booked as equal or superior to Raw or SmackDown was a wise decision as it makes the Wednesday night programme one that fans will have a greater interest in watching moving forward. The last match of Survivor Series 2019 didn’t quite deliver fireworks, and to answer my question from the start, CM Punk did not return to WWE proper in his hometown. But on the whole, Survivor Series 2019 was a lot of fun, and one of the top WWE supercards of the year.
