The 2016 Survivor Series was full of memorable moments that very few saw coming. The 30th edition of the pay-per-view event definitely had some great moments, divisive main event aside.
While the show has been generally well received by most, the show was not without its faults, and there were quite a few.
From the less noticeable, like hot microphones during the six-man cruiserweight tag team match, to the egregious which will be discussed in detail here, let us look at the five biggest disappointments from the Survivor Series.
Honourable Mention – Baron Corbin
For a guy that was taken out of his match due to injury and replaced by Shane McMahon, the Lone Wolf looked awfully healthy in decimating both WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Brian Kendrick and Kalisto, during the Cruiserweight Championship match Sunday.
While Baron Corbin exacting a little bit of revenge on Kalisto, the man that took him out of the spotlight, was sweet for Corbin, it wasn’t so sweet for the fans, as the match between Kendrick and Kalisto was one of the better matches of the evening before the disqualification.
#5 Crowd hijacking
While the phenomenon of crowd hijacking has been brought up quite often recently, it reared its ugly head throughout the weekend. It was truly prevalent, every time nearly 20,000 people insisted on shouting “10!” every time there was a competitor outside the ring.
One can assume this is tied into Tye Dillinger, and while supporting a local favorite is perfectly acceptable, it can be taken too far like it was, on the night of the PPV. This wasn’t the only instance.
While Roman Reigns’ spear to Shane McMahon was brutal and it was clear that McMahon was knocked out as a result of it, chants of “Roman’s fired,” added nothing to the event or the moment and was slightly crass given that McMahon’s condition at that point was unknown.
The Toronto crowd has a reputation for being a WWE hotbed. This was a bad look for them.
#4 No appearance by The Undertaker
After his appearance on this past SmackDown, it seemed almost guaranteed, or at the worst very reasonable, that The Undertaker would make his presence felt in some way during the event he debuted in 26 years ago.
His warning to the Monday Night Raw roster all but cemented that he would make his presence felt in the 5-on-5 match pitting the best from each show. But despite a match, and really an entire event, that could have really benefitted from The Deadman being a part of it, the Man from the Dark Side was nowhere to be found.
The decision is one that is bound to make some people scratch their heads for quite some time. Why give the roster of the red team a warning if there wasn’t going to be a follow-up at the Survivor Series?
#3 Nia Jax and Braun Strowman
Since both being drafted to Monday Night Raw in the summer, Raw broadcasts have included the uncanny Nia Jax and monstrous Braun Strowman easily handling wrestling talent from across the United States, sometimes multiple up-and-comers at the same time, easily triumphing in each encounter.
While they had started competing against members of the main roster in their respective divisions in recent weeks, the Survivor Series was the first real chance to see the two against their peers as opposed to local and enhancement talent. Given the dream match status of the main event, this was the first time that some people even saw Jax or Strowman.
They both fell unceremoniously. When Jax submitted to the reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, it effectively killed any momentum Jax had gained from the matches against local talent, Alicia Fox and Bayley in the recent weeks and months.
Strowman, though incapacitated and left dazed after a splash through the table, courtesy of Shane McMahon, was eliminated due to interference by James Ellsworth grabbing Strowman’s ankles, as the latter was attempting to re-enter the ring.
In effect, the 7-foot-tall, 400-pound mammoth was given one of the first blemishes on his record, by a non-competitor and someone in the match as a “mascot.”
#2 The main event
While many were confident in Goldberg’s abilities heading into the match, even the most confident couldn’t foresee this. The hype videos for the match were longer than the match itself multiple times over. A match that has been teased in ads for WWE 2K, since the early summer and on WWE television since October, was in the history books in less than 90-seconds.
While some reports suggest that Goldberg had suffered an injury heading into the match, Lesnar getting manhandled was a major disappointment as he has been billed as the dominant force in WWE falling only to John Cena, Triple H and in controversial fashion to The Undertaker.
For him to be so thoroughly dominated, in such a short amount of time, by a wrestler who hasn’t been in any type of active combat competition or sports entertainment for more than a decade, is a disappointment to fans everywhere.
Even if not disappointed by the result of the match, the conciseness of the match is a letdown to wrestling fans, who were hoping to finally see a match between these two with neither man already having one foot out the door.
#1 That NXT had the better show
An issue that has arisen a number of times since the WWE Network went online, is the NXT brand outperforming and outshining the main roster brands in TakeOver events held prior to a WWE pay-per-view; and this weekend the issue continued as TakeOver: Canada was by far, the better show this weekend.
While WrestleMania and SummerSlam held their own or were better than the TakeOvers in Dallas and Brooklyn during 2016, that was not the case here, as some lacklustre performances and the short main event overshadowed the good Intercontinental and Cruiserweight championship matches; thereby making the PPV inferior to NXT’s show.
While there is the argument that, talent-wise, there is not much of a difference between the NXT roster and those of Raw and SmackDown, it is no reason, for what is supposed to be a developmental brand, to have the superior show nearly every time the two are put head-to-head.
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