7 Biggest Missed Opportunities From WWE Survivor Series 2018

This month, WWE took a break from the majority of its regular storylines as the focus once again shifted towards Survivor Series and, more importantly, brand supremacy. As a result, the creative team were busy setting up multiple contests between all of Raw and SmackDown's respective champions, and more traditional tag team elimination matches than you could ever dream of. This all came to fruition last night and it was certainly a memorable show.

On a night that we saw dream matches take place, two unlikely opponents somehow managed to produce a surprising classic. However, the show's biggest victor was undoubtedly Raw as the red brand managed to make history, obliterating SmackDown at every opportunity.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all edge-of-seat action as recycled endings, missing superstars, bland and repetitive booking and last minute adjustments prevented Survivor Series from fufilling its true potential. As a result, the event was less about reigning supreme and more of a "what could have been".

Despite being one of WWE's big-four pay-per-views, Survivor Series rarely lives up to expectations and, unfortunately, this year's outing wasn't able to muster up enough offence to swing things in its favour.

It goes without saying that tag team wrestling is the foundation upon which Survivor Series was built. The classic five-on-five traditional tag team matches have been a staple of the event since its inception and they are undoubtedly a part of the furniture. Unfortunately, WWE doesn't know how to look after that furniture.

All in all, there were four tag team matches that took place during the evening, with three of them being traditional Survivor Series elimination matches. Ranging from bad to messy to mildly decent, none of them really delivered what they should have at the major event. The creative team could have used the event to enhance WWE's flailing tag team division, but even with main-event superstars in the mix, these tag matches couldn't tell a strong story, once again highlighting how the company struggles to make the division mean anything.

Speaking of its tag team division, perhaps the biggest offender of the evening was the champions vs. champions tag team match between AOP and The Bar. This was a chance for Raw's new tag team champions to really prove themselves as they faced off against hardened warriors Sheamus and Cesaro. Instead, we got nothing more than a straightforward, run-of-the-mill house-show match with a cringe-worthy comedy-infested ending.

While Survivor Series did have some great outings, none of them were tag team matches and, as the event was built upon tag team wrestling, this can't be seen as anything other than a major letdown.