5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Survivor Series 2023 (Results & Review)

1. A Heatless Championship Match

WWE Survivor Series 2023 Zoey Stark Rhea Ripley
WWE.com

Watching the Women’s World Championship match, it was pretty clearly a well-worked match between two very good in-ring superstars.

But the match between Zoey Stark and Rhea Ripley was a heatless bout, with small bursts of emotion from the fans. As a result, it felt like they were running through the motions of a match, trying to elicit certain reactions and falling short.

Anyone looking to place blame could point to a disappointing build in which the still-new Stark was forced to deliver painful dialogue (not her strong suit) while fans were never given much of a reason to invest in or care about her. If fans can’t get behind the babyface challenger, it’s going to be an uphill battle to win over the crowd overall – and that was saying something given how hot the audience was Saturday night.

Stark is a great wrestler, and Ripley is a tremendous star, but this was seriously lacking and fell flat. It would be great to see them get a proper build and run it back at some point down the line, because both of them deserve a better showcase.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.