Survivor Series 2020 Review

Sunday, November 22nd, 2020
Amway Center
Orlando, Florida

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Team Raw (AJ Styles, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, Braun Strowman & Sheamus) vs. Team SmackDown (Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, Otis, Seth Rollins & King Corbin)

Styles goes for a dropkick on Uso, but he misses on that spot as Paul Heyman watches from an angle. Uso hits a nice pop up Samoan drop and tags in Corbin. He continues the offense before tagging in Otis, who misses Styles in the corner. We now have Riddle and Otis in a dream match scenario. Owens being as awesome as he is, comes in and immediately starts stomping on Riddle's bare feet. Owens reluctantly tags in Rollins, who then comes in and goes on his knees for the greater good. He allows Sheamus to hit a Brogue Kick and is eliminated. Team SmackDown attempts to re-group out of the ring, but here comes the Strowman Express. Now we get the battle between Lee and Otis. Lee gets him up on his back, but Otis counters out. Otis ends up eating a left hand and in comes Strowman with a clothesline. Owens gets a hot tag and he sends Styles flying with a back body drop. Owens knocks Styles off the apron and then hits the rest of Team Raw with Stunners. In comes Styles with a Phenomenal Forearm and now Owens is eliminated. Corbin is almost able to sneak a quick pin on Styles, but Team Raw makes the save. Riddle comes in and hits the Bro-ton and eliminates Corbin. We are now 5-2 in favor of Raw. Sheamus tags in and hits a big knee to the face for a 2 count. Otis tries to spark a comeback and in comes Strowman. They collide a couple of times, but Otis is able to hit a body slam. Otis goes up top, but Riddle distracts him and Strowman hits a powerslam to eliminate Otis. Uso comes in and hits a series of superkicks on Raw. He hits a dive over the top rope to take out all of Team SmackDown. Uso hits a superkick on Styles and misses off the top rope. Uso knocks Styles off the ropes, but he makes a tag to Lee. Uso doesn't know and he catches Uso in mid-air and hits a Spirit Bomb to get the easy victory for Team Raw. The sides were certainly stacked against SmackDown and they did nothing to make it seem any differently there. The match, which had potential to be something really good, turned out to be just an average affair. There was really no drama, which hurt it overall. Team Raw all celebrates after the match.

Match Rating: **1/2 (out of 5)

The New Day vs. The Street Profits

The New Day comes out in full promotional Gears of War outfits. I know nothing about the game, but I'm sure most of you get it. The Street Profits cut a promo backstage talking about the Undertaker. This is the one match on the show that I am really looking forward to. We get some showmanship to start things off, but Kofi rolls into a kick from Ford. The Profits hit a double flapjack to follow it up. Kofi gets a foot up on Ford after being flipped by Dawkins and then hits a dive over the top rope. After a long beatdown, Ford hits a DDT and makes the tag to Dawkins. Dawkins hits a cool double underhook twisting neckbreaker that I've never seen before. Woods is able to knock Dawkins off the top rope and New Day then hits Midnight Hour for a 2 count. Kofi hits the Boom Drop three times on Ford, but Ford hits a dropkick to allow him to make a tag. He hits the Frog Splash off the top rope, but he sells the ribs and the delay allows Kofi to kick out. The Profits hit a super blockbuster off the top rope on Woods and get the win. I like both teams a lot, but that was really disappointing. They just seemed a bit off. They celebrate with each other after the match. 

Match Rating: **3/4

They show both women's teams backstage hanging out in the back. 

Sami Zayn vs. Bobby Lashley

Zayn might be the best thing going in WWE today. Lashley runs through a Zayn clothesline and hits one of his own. Zayn is able to weasel his way into a comeback and hits a leaping elbow. He goes off the second rope, but Lashley catches him and launches him with a suplex. Zayn acts as if he is suffering from vertigo and almost sneaks out a victory with a quick pin. Zayn rolls out of the ring and tries to get the Hurt Business to hit him for the disqualification, but Lashley comes in and attacks him instead. Zayn dumps Lashley out of the ring and Zayn tries to rip off the turnbuckle, but the Hurt Business stops him. Zayn goes for the Helluva Kick, but Lashley hits a chokeslam. Zayn attempts to walk out and falls down, claiming MVP tripped him. MVP throws him back in the ring behind the ref's back and Lashley puts him in the Hurt Lock for the victory. This was just such a weird match to even book for this show and it just didn't click. I love Sami, but this one was a clash with the double heel dynamic.

Match Rating: *1/4

The Usos are at Roman Reigns' locker. He isn't happy and says that if they don't respect Jey, then they don't respect him or their family. If that's the case, Jey doesn't have a seat at the table and he tells him to leave. 

Asuka vs. Sasha Banks

We get some mat wrestling to start things off and Banks even goes for the Bank Statement early on, but Asuka is able to block. Banks hits the Backstabber for a 2 count. Asuka comes back with some kicks and a knee. They fight out on the apron and Asuka pushes her down with a kick. She follows it up with a Hip Attack, sending Banks to the floor. Asuka counters Banks' Meteora attempt with a Codebreaker on the outside. Back in the ring, Banks hits another Backstabber for another 2 count. I don't know what it is, but everyone just seems a step slower tonight. Banks puts on the Bank Statement, but Asuka counters out again and then hits another Codebreaker. We get a series of pin atttempts, but none of them are successful. Asuka hits a kick to the head, but Banks is able to get a roll up pinfall victory out of nowhere. They aren't capable of having a bad match, but this was nowhere near their best. 

Match Rating: ***

They show the highlights of Miz winning the pre-show battle royal. They then show the Gobbledy Gooker winning the 24/7 Title. They show him finding a big pile of bird seed and Akira Tozawa comes in and pins him to win the title. R Truth is there though and immediately pins Tozawa. 

Team Raw (Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Lacey Evans, Peyton Royce & Lana) vs. Team SmackDown (Bayley, Bianca Belair, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan & Natalya)

I feel like every Survivor Series match in the modern era starts the same. That was the most refreshing thing about recently watching the 1989 show. The big storyline here I guess is Lana and how her Raw teammates are bullying her. Belair shows off her strength by holding Royce above her head for an impressive amount of time before dropping her on the turnbuckle. All of the competitors except Bayley and Lana are outside the ring. Bayley goes up top, but Royce is there to stop her. Royce hits a superplex to the floor on top of the clump of women as Lana stands there. Royce hits Deja Vu on Bayley and eliminates her. Wow, didn't expect that. Royce and Natalya have a segment together that ends with Natalya putting on the Sharpshooter and eliminating Royce. Evans misses with a moonsault and Baszler runs in illegally. Natalya puts her in the Sharpshooter, but Evans hits Natalya with the Women's Right to eliminate her. Evans hits a top rope Spanish Fly on Belair for a nearfall. Jax tags in and dominates until the Riott Squad use quick tags to slow her down. Riott hits the Riott Kick, but it knocks her into her side to tag in Baszler. Baszler locks in the Kirifuda Clutch on Riott. Riott counters it into a pinfall, but the ref is distracted at fist. By the time he starts counting, Riott passes out and Baszler pins her. Morgan hits a Crucifix Bomb on Evans and elminates her. Raw's lead is now down to 3-2. Morgan gets some offense in on Jax, but Jax catches her and hits a Samoan Drop to eliminate her and make it 3-1. Belair gets Jax down, but Jax gets her knees up on the splash attempt. She hits a leg drop and gets a nearfall. Baszler gets the Kirifuda Clutch on Belair off of a springboard cartwheel. Belair makes her way to the ropes, but Baszler doesn't release the hold and she is disqualified. Belair and Jax are fighting on the outside of the ring. Belair dumps Jax over the barricade and tries to make it in the ring before the 10 count, but she's a split second too late. So this means that the sole survivor is Lana. This actually was pretty fun, even if the formula is desperately in need of an update. 

Match Rating: ***

Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre

We start the match with lots and lots of stalling. Every now and then there's a move, followed by more stalling. McIntyre starts making a comeback and launches Reigns. Reigns goes for a Superman punch, but McIntyre catches him into a leaping spinebuster. McIntyre hits a Future Shock for a close call. McIntyre goes for a Claymore Kick, but he gets hit with a Superman punch instead. Out of the ring, Reigns hits a Samoan Drop through the table and then hits a Spear through the barricade, but it's not enough to put McIntyre away. Reigns hits a Spear in the ring and McIntyre kicks out. Cue the generic look of shock. Since Reigns stalls some more, McIntyre is able to hit a Claymore Kick, but it bumps Reigns into the referee. Out comes Jey Uso, who McIntyre easily dumps. Reigns then hits a low blow and Jey hits a superkick. Reigns puts him in the Guillotine and out comes a second official. McIntyre passes out and the ref calls for the bell. That was pretty good, but nowhere near the great match that I saw some people saying. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

We get a big group of wrestlers down to the ring for the Undertaker's farewell. Shane McMahon, Big Show, JBL, Jeff Hardy, Mick Foley, Godfather, The Godwinns, Savio Vega, Rikishi, Kevin Nash, Booker T, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Triple H and Kane all go to the ring. From there we get a highlight package featuring "Now That We're Dead" by Metallica. After the video package, it's just Mr. McMahon in the ring. He introduces Undertaker, who maybe breaks the record for his longest entrance. He says that after 30 long years, it is finally time for Undertaker to rest in peace. He gets on his knee and we get a hologram of Paul Bearer. He walks off and raises his hand and that's it? For the amount of time it took up, there sure wasn't much to that. 

This was kind of a ho-hum show. There was nothing really that bad like a lot of the more recent shows, but there was nothing really memorable about it either. Even the Undertaker farewell seemed kind of lazy. With the lack of a true story for most matches, it felt like they really needed to step it up like they did last year. Unfortunately that was not the case this year. 

Overall Rating: 50%