6 Observations From Attending WWE Survivor Series Live

6. The Main Event Build Worked

As a long time wrestling fan who grew up in Toronto I was very intrigued with how the crowd would react to Goldberg and Brock Lesnar during the main event. Goldberg, a star from wrestling's hottest era, does not have much of a history in Toronto or Canada as WCW did not venture north of the US border very often and Canada on the whole has always been a WWE stronghold. Goldberg's history in Canada consists of the awesome moment in WCW where he speared a hugely popular, body armour clad Bret Hart and a match against Ric Flair in Vancouver during his last WWE run where he was booed out of the building despite being a face.

Brock Lesnar on the other hand is a legitimate, modern day warrior (editors note: not an intentional Kerry Von Erich reference). WWE's beast incarnate, whom in addition to being a popular special attraction happens to live in Canada, and when fighting in the UFC refers to Saskatchewan as his hometown.

The Rocky Balboa build to this match (seriously, check out the similarities between this 2k17 build and the Rocky vs Mason 'the Line' Dixon build in Rocky Balboa) was set up to have the past his prime, returning conquering hero vs the unbeatable, legitimate prizefighter. With Goldberg's failed face history in Canada, Brock Lesnar's hometown hero status combined with a Toronto crowd that has a long standing history of doing what they wish, all bets were off on the main event's face-heel divide. These worries were only compounded during a recent RAW in Minnesota where Brock Lesnar was cheered and Goldberg chants were non existent.

As the match entrances and promo packages got underway 'Goooooldberg' chants echoed throughout building and everyone was standing on their feet awaiting the return of the star. The WWE's bold Face-Heel gambit had paid off and fans were firmly behind the WCW Icon.