Recap and Review of WWE Survivor Series 2021
Tonight, was the annual Survivor Series event, which is the second longest running show that WWE has. The theme of Raw vs Smackdown started in 2005 and over the last sixteen years most of the Survivor Series events have been Raw vs Smackdown. Going into this year’s event, things felt very different. It’s been a tumultuous year for WWE with all the releases, rivalries backstage and politics backstage. I wondered how the stars were going to step up on the last big show of the year. Here is what went down at Survivor Series
Kickoff Show- Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Damian Priest by DQ
Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair
Men’s Survivor Series Match- Raw (Seth Rollins was the sole survivor)
Omos wins the Dual Brand Battle Royal
RK-BRO defeated The Uso
Women’s Survivor Series Match- Raw (Bianca Belair was the sole survivor)
Roman Reigns defeated Big E
The Kickoff Show featured United States Champion Damian Priest facing off against Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. This was the match I was most excited about heading into Survivor Series because of the talent of both men and in hopes they could elevate their respective Championships again. This was an amazing strike fest between both men, but unfortunately it ended in disqualification when Priest had enough of Rik Boogz and attacked, he and Nakamura with the guitar. It was a smart to keep both championships and competitors strong.
One of the biggest rivalries in recent years finally came to a boiling point tonight in the form of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. They have always had a very healthy rivalry, but it’s gotten a lot more heated and personal in recent weeks. This was an absolute slugfest filled with so much aggression. You could just tell that this was super personal between both women. This match honestly should have been the main event with how great it was. The match could have gone either way, but Becky snuck a win in just moments after Charlotte tried to do the same thing.
Up next was the 5 on 5 Men’s Survivor Series Match with two teams that were stacked. Team Raw got off to bad start as Kevin Owens walked out just minutes into the match. This match got chaotic many times throughout times during the match. It was fun to see all the craziness and mayhem during the match. I was shocked that McIntyre weren’t the last two in the match. The last two men in the match were Seth Rollins and Jeff Hardy, which is a dream match for many fans. These two battled until Rollins was able to hit the Stomp and secure the victory for Raw.
In honor of the 25th Anniversary of The Rock’s debut at Survivor Series, they had a 25-man Battle Royal between the members of Raw and Smackdown. I really loved the fact that most of the big men lasted a long time this time. It’s really cliché when you see everyone gang up on all the big men right away and eliminate them. Azeez, Shanky, and Otis all stayed in a long time, and it was a big man who the Battle Royal. Omos has twelve eliminations during the match and looked impressive. I will be curious to see where this win takes Omos in the future.
The Uso’s took on the crazy tag team of RK-BRO, which was fun because they are completely different tag teams. The Uso’s have been a tag team forever while Orton and Riddle have only teamed for six months. These two teams had great chemistry together considering they are polar opposites. Tonight, was a monumental night for Randy Orton because he broke the record for most WWE pay per view matches ever. He also continued his success at Survivor Series. He’s been amazing at Survivor Series over the years and tonight was no different.
It was great to see the five-on-five Women’s Survivor Series match, because it showed that all the women in WWE are great at what they do. The spotlight doesn’t always need to be on the Four Horsewomen of Charlotte, Becky, Sasha, and Bayley when they are all there and healthy. I also think the way this match ended with Bianca beating four of the most formidable women on her own was not believable. I understand trying to create new stars, but there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. I hope Women like Toni Storm, Shotzi and Liv Morgan continue to get opportunities, but I understand they had to get Belair some momentum since she’s lost a ton since Summerslam
The Main Event was between WWE Champion Big E and Universal Champion Roman Reigns. This was a hard-hitting heavyweight battle and as it should have been. There was a lot of trash talking and a lot of emotion during this match. This match was how a match between two World Heavyweight Champions should be. This was such a great match, but unfortunately, we know Reigns isn’t losing any time soon. I personally don’t think it would have hurt him had he lost a non-title match against Big E, who needed the win more. Survivor Series was a solid show, but very predictable in so many ways. It gets a 7 out of 10 for me. The matches were solid, but there epic moments or anything shocking that took place. Hopefully they can start the New Year off better with Day 1 on New Year’s Day.
