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Triple H, as always, ruins everything.
Survivor Series was a fun show on Sunday night in Houston that allowed some friendly, albeit meaningless competition between the Raw and SmackDown Brand. There was not a bad match and even had a few matches that are clearly in the running for the best WWE matches of the year.
It was almost ruined by the strange booking of the main event’s ending but likely still ranks from as the best of the “Big Four” pay-per-views of the year. I don’t think it is even close.
With all of this in my thoughts, I present my list of the top five most surprising moments of WWE Survivor Series 2017:
#5 Jinder didn’t hinder AJ Styles
You have to feel a little sorry for Jinder Mahal. He held the WWE Championship for nearly six months. While he isn’t the best at what he does, he did produce a great amount of heel heat throughout the lengthy reign. To go from main eventing pay-per-views to a quick video package backstage in such a short time was pretty surprising.
I am sure a lot of us are expecting him to interfere in the AJ Styles’ match. It would have made logical sense for him to do so, set up a potential rematch, and have the added bonus of protecting both brand’s champions going forward. Alas, Jinder was a mere spectator on Sunday night.
#4 Baron Corbin wins clean
Has anyone been a less impressive champion than Baron Corbin? The man who had the worst cash-in in Money in the Bank history was recently on the losing end of many match-ups with perennial jobber Sin Cara. He even went as far to insult The Miz’s wife, Maryse. That sort of action is usually a set-up to a big loss for any superstar.
Then Corbin won the match clean. I cannot deny he needed it but to actually watch him win over The Miz as Baron harassed Maryse, it seemed odd. I guess the WWE is really following the “Be A Star” Manta.
#3 Brock Lesnar has his best match in years
I don’t know about you but I was getting sick of Brock Lesnar matches this year. It became a very predictable pattern recently. He would suplex his opponents across the ring, sell some very limited offence and hit one F5 for a quick victory. This pattern of boring power moves in under ten minutes was getting stale.
As the match began, it seemed the pattern was repeating itself. Imagine my shock as AJ Styles started to hit his offence. Brock even began to sell AJ’s repertoire of high-flying moves. He sold a submission from AJ as well. It was a back and forth encounter that successfully sold that either star could win until the last seconds of the 16-minute match. If Brock truly puts in the effort, you can still see great matches. We finally saw it on Sunday.
#2 John Cena serves no purpose
Whatever one thinks of John Cena you cannot deny his ability to produce a high-quality match or sell his matches as a big deal. Having John Cena on the Smackdown team gave the encounter more credibility. So imagine my surprise to see John Cena’s impact on Sunday be so limited.
John Cena did nothing in the first ten minutes until two of his teammates were eliminated. At that point, he and Randy Orton proceeded to drive Braun Strowman through a table. He then entered the ring and had a couple of minutes of decent wrestling with Kurt Angle. Then Finn Balor and Kurt hit their finishers and he was gone. The Smackdown team had little success in the match itself and it was surprising to see John Cena play such a limited role in its eventual outcome.
#1 Triple H hogs all the glory
Triple H really is a man of many faces in WWE. In NXT, he is deservedly the beloved good guy. He hypes up the crowd before shows, produces fan-friendly moments and constantly gives us excellent NXT Takeover shows. However, main roster Triple H is a glory sucking bad guy. He proved it again at Survivor Series.
I certainly don’t mind have a good heel character but Main Roster Triple H is the worst. The 48-year-old Triple H will come and go for long periods of time and return the conquering hero. At this point in his career, he doesn’t need to win or put the spotlight on himself in any way. However, that is what he did at Survivor Series.
Triple H gave a Pedigree to teammate Kurt Angle so Kurt couldn’t have the honour of beating Shane. He turned around and gave a Pedigree to Shane so he could claim the unneeded glory for his character. Sure it might set-up future matches where he hopefully puts over Kurt Angle and Braun Strowman but on Sunday it put the focus squarely on a wrestler who doesn’t need it. It was still surprising and disappointing to see it after all these years.
