During the men’s Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown Survivor Series elimination match, Raw’s Drew McIntyre blasted SmackDown’s Samoa Joe with a Claymore Kick seconds into the match to score a decisive pinfall and an early elimination.
Fans in the Los Angeles Staples Center reacted in-kind with chants of “bull—t!”
It was a microcosm of the major talking point, and ensuing outrage, coming out of Survivor Series as the established Raw flagship utterly dominated the more hipster-friendly and wrestling-centric SmackDown Live. U2 had come to town and beaten the crap out of Arcade Fire.
But juicy narrative aside, Survivor Series 2018 delivered as a strong pay-per-view that effortlessly rebounded from the controversy-laden misfire that was Crown Jewel earlier this month.
WWE impressively navigated through inconvenient waters with a Survivor Series slate filled with first-time matchups between prioritized Superstars. Instead of taking the easy way out with a series of non-finishes and outside interference to protect the top of its hierarchy, WWE ditched its typical and ineffective 50-50 booking formula and made a statement: Raw is the dominant brand in this promotion.
For now.
What’s important will be the follow-up. SmackDown Live will need to immediately develop a sense of urgency that could see everything from a Shane McMahon heel turn to major personnel moves such as trades and (kayfabe) firings. If this is the case—which is a big if since WWE’s fast-paced programming does not lend itself to proficient long-term planning—there was nothing wrong with tonight’s overarching theme.
Most importantly, just about every match over-delivered en route to Raw’s dominance. WWE was self-aware from the opening bell as it bided its time with overnight pariah Nia Jax, who absorbed the most negative reaction of the night only to prevail as the sole survivor.
Jax was limited in the women’s traditional Survivor Series elimination match, which is for the best until she can go for long stretches without incident. Suddenly a super-heel, Jax makes the perfect opponent for Ronda Rousey, who was jeered despite avoiding the nightmare scenario of wrestling red-hot babyface Becky Lynch.
Still, Rousey excelled in her match against Lynch’s replacement Charlotte in one of two excellent main events, each with its own unique story and wrestling style. Charlotte’s heel turn erased months of ill will between her and the WWE Universe, which has been trained by WWE’s one-trick-pony booking strategy to react positively to heels, especially on pay-per-view.
While Rousey and Charlotte excelled in a grappling-style contest, Brock Lesnar and Daniel Bryan used the simplest of David vs. Goliath formulas to gradually build to an alluring crescendo that succeeded in creating hope as to whether Bryan was actually going to pull this off. I watched this pay-per-view from a plane flying out of Italy, and the airline’s WiFi blocked the WWE Network prior to the main event. I immediately read about what happened via WWE’s Twitter feed, and even when I was able to watch the match having known what happened, I still fell for every nearfall. It was just that good.
Masterpiece main events aside, it could be argued that the best match on the show wasn’t even between Raw and SmackDown, but rather a crowd-pleasing, aerial spectacle between 205 Live cruiserweights Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali.
Survivor Series boasted a pay-per-view featuring WWE’s very best performers in novel matchups. Once upon a time, that was the goal of every pay-per-view.
I was severely disappointed when Raw beat Smackdown Live at #SurvivorSeries 6-0 but @adampacitti was right when he said “joke’s on you (Team Raw) because Team Smackdown has a billion dollars coming their way from Fox.” #BleedBlue #TeamBlue #TeamSDL
— Nicholas Denny (@WolffeGamer13) November 19, 2018
So Fox got a contract with Smackdown coming soon to give WWE a larger market. So we have Raw go 6-0 sweep on smackdown??? @WWE #SurvivorSeries
— Harrison Black (@MrCoolCatTTV) November 19, 2018
RAW 6-0 LMAO
So much for Smackdown on FOX, huh? #SurvivorSeries— Cryptic Enrix (@EnrixKeeper) November 19, 2018
There is so little emphasis on brand supremacy throughout the year, the fact that the alleged blue brand registered a goose egg creates a talking point that will now add to the annually dormant narrative of red vs. blue. Some have even jumped off the deep end with this narrative to assume that SmackDown Live is now doomed once the show moves to Fox broadcasting network under an entirely new regime.
In October of 2019.
The time will come—or at least it should—where SmackDown will usurp Raw as WWE’s chief priority. Fox will pay over $1 billion dollars for the rights to air the soon-to-be Friday night show, and a pay-per-view one year away from its premiere will have zero impact on how well or poorly this deal works out, especially in today’s 24-hour news cycle where storylines are forgotten within weeks, if not days.
On this day, however, Survivor Series was a success that has created opportunities for interesting storyline directions as WrestleMania season approaches.
