10 Best Survivor Series Elimination Matches EVER - According To Dave Meltzer

3. Team Raw Vs Team SmackDown Live! (2016, ****1/2)

Roman Reigns Shane McMahon
WWE.com

Athletic, atmospheric and awe-inspiring, the first Raw Vs SmackDown Live! elimination match of the 2016 Brand Extension era, went almost an hour and blew the roof off the arena ahead of Goldberg and Brock Lesnar doing the same in a fraction of the time.

'Fantasy Warfare Just Got Real' was the tagline of the Toronto edition of the show thanks to the Lesnar/Goldberg battle, but the 10-man match that preceded it delivered dreamlike realities in both booking and competition.

Fans were serviced with a babyface Shield reunion that saw Dean Ambrose turn on own partner and WWE Champion AJ Styles. The increasingly fragile relationship between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens took another turn when both were eliminated amidst the desecration of his beloved list, whilst Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt continued their unlikely dominance on the blue brand by winning the day for Shane McMahon's squad.

Speaking of 'The Money', his night came to an end not through a planned pinfall but an absolutely horrific head injury following a spectacular-but-mistimed bump. Diving coast-to-coast right into a Roman Reigns spear, 'Shane-O-Mac's bulbous bonce bounced so hard off the mat he was legitimately concussed. An instinctive reaction saw him throw a shoulder up from the subsequent pinfall attempt, but the referee smartly spotted the emptiness behind his eyes and waved him all the way out of the match.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett