Survivor Series 2017

The build is here.

Survivor Series 31 (2017) comes to you live from the city of Houston, Texas.  It is the 123^rd PPV in WWF history.

(Dark: GDI: Cole/O’Reilly/Fish d. Kenta/Hero/Sombra

                     Strong d. Gargano)

The lead announcer is Mauro Ranallo – it is his 9^th PPV (Ranallo is really the 4^th voice of the WWF, Gorilla, JR, Joey, and now Mauro). The color analysts are Regal – it is his 19^th PPV; here are all the color analysts who have called more:

-Cornette (23)

-Taz (22)

…that’s it, that’s the list.  Now add that Regal is the primary figure behind the developmental system (Underground) in addition to being a former IC Champ, and you should think of him as a really, really significant figure in promotion history.   Nigel McGuinness is calling his 6^th PPV, and making his debut, sitting in on the first 2 matches, is Corey Graves.  Nigel and Regal will largely lay out during those matches, interjecting only when needed. 

The show opens with a video montage of every Kurt Angle title match:

….Wrestlemania 17 (from Houston, coincidentally) from 2001, Angle takes the WWF Title from Benoit

…Summer Slam 2001, Angle combines the WWF and ECW titles by beating RVD…coincidentally, at ringside, one Paul Heyman…

…Survivor Series 2001…Angle wins a Lumberjack Match against NWA wrestler Booker T…coincidentally, he’s from Houston…

…Royal Rumble 2002…in Atlanta...where, coincidentally, Angle won an Olympic gold medal with a  broken freaking neck, Angle ends the “Invasion” by beating Ric Flair…

…Wrestlemania 18…where, coincidentally, the dark match featured the dark match debut of one Brock Lesnar…Angle beats Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig in his final WWF PPV appearance…

…Summer Slam 2002…Kurt now unifies the NWA Title with the WWF and ECW Titles to create an Undisputed Heavyweight Championship by defeating Rey Mysterio…there’s a coincidence there too, but you don’t know that yet…and that it appears to be the first of these clips without a coincidence is a clue for the eagle eyed viewers for something that’s going to happen a little later tonight…

…Survivor Series 2002…Angle keeps the belt over Jericho in a match that sees postmatch activities between HBK and, coincidentally, Brock Lesnar…

…Royal Rumble 2003…Angle defeats Michaels, postmatch…Haas and Benjamin, who won the Tag Titles earlier that night turn on Kurt to join Lesnar.  Coincidentally, Benjamin is in Kurt’s corner tonight..

…Wrestlemania 19 2003…Angle keeps the WWF Title by beating Brock Lesnar. 

…Survivor Series 2003…Angle and Brock are both in a 4 way match that also includes WWF Champion Eddy Guerrero and Chris Benoit (man, consider that foursome)…Eddy keeps the belt, pinning Brock…

…Royal Rumble 2004…Angle regains the Undisputed Title by beating Guerrero in Philly…earlier that night Haas and Benjamin regained the tag titles by beating Shawn and Hunter, and Lesnar beat Cactus Jack in a barbed wire match that…somewhat controversially…ended with he and Bill Goldberg urinating on the prone Cactus….

…Wrestlemania XX…Angle drops the title to Benoit at MSG….Haas and Benjamin dropped the tag titles to Flair and Leviathan (IRL Batista)….and Brock/Goldberg lost a Weapons Match to Cactus and The Rock that ended Brock’s first run with the company…

…Summer Slam 2004…Angle’s last WWF Title match…he loses again to Benoit in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match…

…Survivor Series 2004…Angle wins a different title, the tag titles, along with Benjamin – they beat RVD/Rey to take the straps…

…Royal Rumble 2005…Team Angle drops those belts, to the Spreekillers (Helms/Rhyno) there’s a postmatch brawl with Team Angle (including Regal) against the Clique…

…Survivor Series 2005…Angle’s next title match was his last…he and Benoit for the vacant IC Title in Detroit at the Eddy Guerrero Memorial show…both men only needed the IC to win the Triple Crown (named the Hart-Guerrero Memorial Triple Crown).  Benoit won. 

Now…12 years later…Survivor Series 2017…Kurt Angle returns in the exact spot where he left…fighting to win the IC Title, which he needs to win the Triple Crown…12 years later…and he’s fighting, of all people, Brock Lesnar. 

(it’s really kinda something if you think about it)

1.       Full Circle (Orton/Cena) d. Sheamus/Mizanin

-One of the clips in the pre-show package was Rhyno/Helms taking the tag belts from Angle/Benjamin – do you know who took the belts from those guys?  It was Orton and Cena, a dozen years ago.  It’s all come around Full Circle, they use heel chicanery to go over the mismatched babyfaces Sheamus/Mizanin.

2.       Asuka d. Bayley Kid Canada d. Claudio Castagnoli

-Asuka has an unbeaten streak – the fans hold up signs, they chant “As-ka” “As-ka” – hell, her catch phrase is “Who’s Next?”  Give her the fireworks, show her walking in from the back. She’s great – Graves, heel announcer, is her biggest cheerleader – the goal for her matches isn’t destruction, it’s to have 4 star matches; you watch Asuka matches knowing you’ll see workrate; wondering if today will be the day someone finally beats her.  For Bayley – it’s hard not to notice the crushing disappointment is just taking its toll; she tries and tries and tries – and never beats Asuka. 

Graves leaves the announce. Kid Canada d. Claudio Castagnoli

3.                          

Kid Canada d. Claudio Castagnoli
Kid Canada is, of course, Kevin Steen in a maple leaf mask.  He’s wearing his regular ring gear, but he’s thrown on that mask. After a year long feud seemingly culminating in a loser leaves town match, all of the “this feud is now over” messages were given, everyone seemingly moved on to someone lighter programs – and apparently, Kevin Steen created a grizzled Canadian luchador named Kid Canada.  Gargano yells at him – Claudio is clearly irritated – he climbs out of the ring, he walks around – he grabs a microphone – he curses in any language except for English, as he doesn’t ever speak English.  Steen wrestles like himself, controlling the early part of the action against a distracted Castagnoli.  Interference from Gargano helps turn the tide, Claudio has control until Steen pulls out whatever kind of lucha moves he’s able to do – ideally, he hits some thrown together version of the 619 (Nigel calls it the 450) the moves can be lousy, they just startle Claudio so much that he winds up getting cradled.

Kid Canada then joins the announce for the next match.  He maintains the persona, and when the announcers say “come on Kevin, stop this” – he no sells it in that thick Quebecoise accent “I don’t know who is this Kevin, but he sounds handsome and talented and girthy in the trunks”

4.       Tres Bon Mask Challenge: El Generico d. Kalisto

-Kid Canada brought with him a little tournament to crown the greatest masked wrestler in WWF, and while it’s a fairly lighthearted program, Ranallo makes sure to put over that that mask isn’t a lighthearted matter, reminding WWF fans that the loss of his mask was a loss of identity for Pac, he became Neville, he and Claudio left GDI to form Trash – and now Neville is gone, totally gone, and as far as we know will never wrestle again.  Generico goes over in the best match they can have.  Kid Canada enters the ring, Generico clearly had no idea that his best friend was, in fact, Kid Canada, and is clearly quizzical as Canada enters the ring. 

Steen stays in character, talks about welling up with pride as a great wrestler who he understands has spent some time in Quebec has survived in the Tres Bon Mask Challenge.

But – Canada says – you’re not done yet (part of the build was Kid Canada saying that at Survivor Series he would announce what very special masked wrestler would be taking on the winner of Generico/Kalisto at the Rumble)..

Rey Mysterio’s highlight package plays on the video wall.  The Legendary Triple Crown Winning Mysterio will make his return for one night only – to face El Generico at the Royal Rumble!

Generico is super excited, as one would expect – and probably we’re pretty stoked for that matchup too.

5.       Women’s Title: Becky Lynch (w/Anderson/Gallows) d. Charlotte Flair (w/Strong)

-It’s a 6 month build and it’s the blow off; so it’s a clean match, they have the best back and forth match they can have- and it’s Lynch, from the Bullet Club, stopping Charlotte’s attempt to become the first 3 time Women’s champion.  It is a full celebration for the Bullet Club as they retain this title.

6.       Shinsuke Nakamura d. Bobby Roode

-Another Bullet Club vs. Horsemen blowoff – and another win for the Club; once again, just the best back and forth clean match the two can have, with Nakamura getting the pinfall win. 

7.       No DQ: Tyler Black (w/Anderson and Gallows) d. Dean Ambrose

-Black and Ambrose were the heart of the Shield, who had the longest reign for any beltholders in the modern WWF era.  Langston left the group, Black got injured, Ambrose didn’t show the type of loyalty that Black wanted to see (years before it appears real world WWF is doing the same program in reverse) creating distance between the two men that culminated in Ambrose beating Black at WM.  They shook hands – largely these were just harsh words and hard feelings as opposed to something more serious – but Black was, apparently, less conciliatory than he appeared as, in the close of a Summer Slam loss to Devitt and Nakamura, Black turned on Ambrose and joined the Bullet Club.  A shocking…shocking turn of events. 

So there’s no wrestling at all here; it’s just  a fight – Ambrose comes from the crowd, entering like he’d enter as a part of the Shield – Anderson and Gallows meet him up there in an ambush, but Ambrose swats each away with a steel chair, both men taking some type of tumble down the concrete steps.  Ambrose barely breaks stride as he now has Black alone – and they fight hard, it should be a fairly violent fight, only occasionally going in the ring – Black grabs a chain under the ring and punches Ambrose with it, busting him open; Ambrose will bite at Black’s forehead, ripping at his flesh and busting him open.  The finish comes when Nakamura runs in to lay Ambrose out.  Nakamura and Black have no relationship at all – Nakamura didn’t know Black was joining the Bullet Club, and that’s created distance between himself and Devitt.  But here, he shows his loyalty to his squad, hitting Ambrose with the Bomaye, allowing Black to get the fall.

Anderson and Gallows have now recovered, and along with Nakamura and Black they beat Ambrose down and bury him under the Bullet Club flag, signifying that it may be a very, very long time before we see Dean Ambrose again.  Tyler Black extinguishes his longtime partner. 

8.       WWF Tag Titles: Tornado Match: Usos (Roman/Jimmy/Jey) d. New Day (Langston/Kingston/Woods)

-A staple of tag matches for a decade has been mechanisms to permit a lot of guys getting involved (it’s how I can keep guys physically involved when I can’t actually put them in matches) and with the emergence of squads like The Shield, the Wyatts and these two teams, there have been a lot of great 3 on 3 matches in recent years.  This is one of them, it’s a really good match of skills (adding Roman to the IRL mix is a big win) and this one has a very specific storyline.  The Usos are heels who pretend to be babyfaces when Roman is looking – and that leads to Roman believing the New Day are heels, when in fact, they are babyfaces.

That view of the New Day has caused real animosity between Roman and those three guys – so the pivotal spot in this match makes sense.

Jimmy and Jey are lining up Woods for a con-Chair-to (it’s a tornado match, the official is occupied, but not knocked out, for reasons that will be apparent before the end of the night) when, for the first time ever – Roman sees them.  And we know that Roman now knows what’s going on – Jimmy and Jey are the bad guys. 

Roman snatches a chair away from one of them – pauses – pauses – and then turns and lays Woods out with the chair. 

Roman then runs wild on Kingston and Langston – full on superman stuff – he gets the fall – Jimmy and Jey are shocked – what’s happening here – but then Roman signifies that he’s with them. Roman has turned heel, joining the rest of the heel Usos – and they are united as a cocky heel tag threesome. 

Prior to the next match – still images of the 12 men in WWF history to have won the Hart-Guerrero Memorial Triple Crown

PEDRO MORALES

BRET HART

SHAWN MICHAELS

OWEN HART

STEVE AUSTIN

CACTUS JACK

EDDY GUERRERO

REY MYSTERIO

CHRIS BENOIT

CHRIS JERICHO

EDGE

NICK NEMETH

9.       IC Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) d. Kurt Angle (w/Benjamin)

-An Angle win will get his name engraved on that Triple Crown trophy (like the Stanley Cup) which remains in possession of the most recent winner until it is passed forward (Nemeth’s had it since WM 29) a Lesnar win will mean he’s held the IC for a full year as he moves to the Rumble, and with his first ever win over Angle he adds to the claim that he is, in fact, the Real World’s Champion.

If you don’t know the Lesnar/Angle/Benjamin backstory the Angle highlight package to start the broadcast hopefully filled you in.  This is a deep relationship.

Most of Brock’s matches are No DQ, for obvious reasons, and there’s not any evidence that Angle can give a ton in 2017, but given the nature of the rivalry, with this not being  a blood feud, but instead a competition between two professionals (like a real athletic contest, not like “I will murder your children”) it’s a straight match.

And seeing these guys grapple a little bit, even at this age, is fun – let’s see Angle and Lesnar exchange amateur holds for a couple of minutes knowing it is the last time.

Lesnar largely dominates, Angle fights from underneath – Lesnar hits an F5 and Angle kicks out.  The F5 is a really protected move – so Lesnar sort of goes white when Angle kicks out – Lesnar immediately tries to get him up again, but Angle desperately bangs away at Brock’s bad elbow (Rusev injured Brock’s elbow at the Rumble, Jericho looked to take advantage of it at Mania, Strowman was too green to do so at Summer Slam, but Angle spent some time working out with Brock before that Strowman match, and Angle knows exactly where that weakness is – and here he springs the trap).  Lesnar can’t get Angle up, and Angle moves from that spot into an armbar and – for a moment – it looks like he’s going to win this title. 

He’s not – Lesnar powers out with fury – hits an F5, decides not to go for the pinfall – but instead stares hard at Benjamin on the outside – Benjamin, with whom he goes back all the way to their MTV reality show Camp Angle days – and Lesnar then goes back – hits Kurt with another F5 and pins him.

Benjamin leaps into the ring to tend to Angle – and we see he and Brock stare hard at each other as Lesnar and a celebrating Heyman “Like I said – this is the Real World’s Champion” exit.

10.   WWF Title: Triple Threat Match: Samoa Joe No Contest AJ Styles, Prince Devitt (guest referee-Bryan Danielson)

-One fall to a finish.

-We see the tension between AJ and Danielson, they have been antagonists for over a year

-Devitt and AJ work together, really dominate Joe.

-AJ has a chance to get a pinfall.  Devitt breaks it up.

-That’s the last straw.  AJ shouts and Devitt.  Devitt shouts back.  That tension has built and built and built – and now it explodes and the two just start punching each other, just firing shots.

-That allows Joe to recover and then get the advantage on both of them. 

-Here’s the crucial spot – AJ is going to hit Joe with the flying forearm, Devitt pulls Danielson in front, and he takes hit to the head. 

-Danielson’s knocked out; obviously, he retired because of concussions, and he’s just taken that forearm strike flush.

-The agents come out from the back, they pull Danielson from the ring, a second official takes his place – Danielson doesn’t go to the back, he stays near the ring, shaking his head, talking to the trainer.

-Here’s the finish: there’s been a second ref bump (I know) Nakamura and Black enter, they grab a ladder from under the ring – AJ and Devitt set it up – and that’s going to lead to some huge bump where AJ and Devitt both leap from the ladder atop Joe, crashing down – both men laid atop him – and at the same time the second referee recovers and crawls over to make the pinfall count on AJs behalf….Danielson staggers back into the ring to make the pinfall count on Devitt’s behalf.  Both officials count simultaneously and the match ends.  The Bullet Club entrance song plays. The second official raises AJs hand and Nakamura celebrates while Danielson simultaneously raises Devitt’s hand and Black celebrates. 

-Danielson, still on what would have once been called “queer street” without concern that it was either culturally insensitive nor insufficiently capturing the severity of a concussion, grasps what has happened – the music is cut off – Danielson grabs the title belt and exits the ring.  AJ, Nakamura, Devitt, Black all shouting at each other as the show ends. 

This is the last we’ll see of Danielson until the RAW following the Rumble.

But – tomorrow night – what we’ll learn is that he’s decided that the title is held up. 

To be awarded to the winner of Royal Rumble Warfare – a 20 man pinfall/submission/or over the top battle royal in the main event at the Royal Rumble.

It is the first battle royal in Royal Rumble history.  It is the first Battle Royal ever to determine the WWF Champion. 

And we’ll start talking about it next month