WWE Survivor Series 2016: 10 Things We Learned
Brock Lesnar's aura was smashed by Goldberg...
Nobody could have predicted (with a straight face) what happened in the main event of Survivor Series 2016. Simply out of the question, many were even wondering if Bill Goldberg would be around in WWE at all following the pay-per-view. Not only will he wrestle again post-victory, Goldberg will likely do so against Brock Lesnar.
Survivor Series was largely about which brand would dominate on the night, Team Raw or Team SmackDown. As the crux of the show, this was fine, although it's fair to say that WWE need to start moving away from phoney brand loyalty. That story has been beaten to death over the years.
A trio of traditional elimination matches were backed up by a Goldberg vs. Lesnar encounter existing in the headline slot. Elsewhere, there were scraps for the WWE Intercontinental and Cruiserweight belts, along with a whole truck load of dramatic twists and turns.
SmackDown has TLC on December 4 and Raw has Roadblock: End Of The Line on December 18 to look forward to. With a nod to those upcoming events, here's what could be learned from Survivor Series...
10. Team Raw's Women Beat Team SmackDown
Overall, Survivor Series was a mixed bag for SmackDown Live. Of the main elimination matches, the blue brand would only win one. In fairness, that victory did come in arguably the most important Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown bout later in the show. During the opening match, Raw dominated.
Charlotte Flair teamed with Sasha Banks, Bayley, Nia Jax and Alicia Fox to face SmackDown's Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Naomi, Natalya and Carmella. Before the bell had even managed to ring, Nikki Bella was removed from action due to an apparent attack behind the scenes. Thus, Natalya was hastily inserted into the match by Daniel Bryan.
The shortest of the elimination-style matches, the female encounter was nonetheless an enjoyable and rewarding one. Bayley and Charlotte were the ones to survive after the former had battered Becky Lynch with her Bayley-To-Belly Suplex for the pinfall victory.
Some on both sides were unable to get along, this was a recurring theme of the evening across all of the battling brand matches. In the end, it was Raw that came out on top.