10 Big Talking Points From WWE Survivor Series 2017
Teases, pushes and a questionable finale on what was a noticeably McMahon-orintated show.
There was no shortage of twists and turns during the build-up to this year’s Survivor Series. Changes were being made right up until the week before the show, with Triple H making a surprise return to join the likes of Kurt Angle, John Cena, Brock Lesnar and more in a card that looked incredible on paper.
All in all, it made for a show as star-studded as any in the pay-per-view’s history, and that star-power helped this year’s installment deliver the goods—for the most part.
The first three-and-a-half hours of the show were pretty great, highlighted by a typically brilliant Lesnar vs AJ Styles match. However, the final 15 minutes left a little to be desired.
As the numbers were whittled down in the five-on-five elimination match, the pace started to slow until Triple H flipped the whole thing on its head, turning on Angle, seemingly aligning with Shane McMahon, only to then pin his brother-in-law to steal the spotlight for himself and the spoils for Team Raw.
Confusing, surprising, downright ridiculous—however you choose to describe that conclusion, one thing’s for sure in that it provided us with plenty of talking points to digest in the aftermath of the show.
10. Asuka
After Asuka’s first match on the main roster ended up being a back-and-forth, 9-and-a-half-minute match with Emma, there were one or two concerns that her NXT dominance wasn’t going to be replicated in the big leagues.
At Survivor Series, though, those worries were pretty much dispelled after the former NXT Women’s Champion put in a match-winning performance, ending the night as Team Raw’s Sole Survivor in the five-on-five women’s elimination match.
Asuka took out three members of the SmackDown side, pinning Carmella off a spin kick before forcing Tamina and Natalya to submit with a flying cross armbar and the Asuka Lock respectively.
That display presumably puts Asuka in pole position, and deservedly so, to challenge Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship. Although, with no Raw pay-per-view scheduled until the new year, don’t be surprised to see Asuka have to jump through a few more hoops before she’s granted that likely title shot.