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Finally we know which WWE brand is the best after WWE Survivor Series 2020. The important, high-stakes issue is solved for another year.
WWE Survivor Series was one of the best pay-per-views of 2020. The show was filled with great matches, star-making performances for newer talent and some truly surprising moments. The ending of the show with Undertaker’s Farewell was quite an emotional end to the career of one of the greatest WWE wrestlers of all-time. It is proof that the WWE has the talent to put on a truly memorable show from time to time.
As we still trying to figure out why Kane was the only wrestling legend in his wrestling gear to pay tribute to 'Taker, we will distract ourselves and present a list of the top five most surprising moments of WWE Survivor Series 2020:
#5 Team SmackDown is shut out at the Men’s Elimination Match at WWE Survivor Series
The WWE puts a lot of effort into hyping WWE Survivor Series every year. They try hard to convince us that the RAW vs. SmackDown matches have a lot of meaning beyond bragging rights. While it is doubtful many WWE fans actually believe they have any real importance, they usually do a good job of making both brands seem very competitive. That was not the case on Sunday night in the Men’s Elimination WWE Survivor Series match.
Seth Rollins is really taking his Messiah gimmick to heart. It still doesn’t make a lot of sense why he felt the need to take a Brogue Kick to the face from Sheamus. It was a sacrifice, but it is hard to say what exactly was the main motivation for his actions.
It simply got worse and worse for Team SmackDown at WWE Survivor Series. Kevin Owens, King Corbin and Otis were quickly eliminated by different members of Team RAW. Jey Uso tried his best but he was also eliminated, by Keith Lee, to end the match. Each of the five members of Team RAW got to eliminate a member of Team SmackDown at WWE Survivor Series. In the end, it doesn’t make any member of RAW look good. It simply makes Team SmackDown look really bad. Maybe one day Seth Rollins can explain what he was thinking as well.
#4 Street Profits defeat New Day clean at WWE Survivor Series
It is pretty remarkable to think that New Day has been a group since late 2014. In this time, they have won 10 WWE Tag Team Championships, sold a ton of merchandise and even became video game characters in Gears of War. It seems that The New Day will always be the top of the WWE’s tag team division. At WWE Survivor Series, however, we might have finally seen a possible passing of the torch.
The Street Profits have found a way to quickly become one of the most successful tag teams after their NXT call-up in the fall of 2019. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins have done a good job of producing good comedy segments, strong promo work and certainly some excellent matches as well. They didn’t have a lot of significant wins with the very limited tag team main roster.
That seemed to have changed at WWE Survivor Series. In a fast-paced 14 minute match, all four competitor turned in a great performance. Montez Ford played the tag team partner in peril with Angelo Dawkins being an enforcer in the WWE Survivor Series tag team match. It is so very rare to see The New Day lose clean like they did on Sunday night. Does this mean The Street Profits are the face of the tag team division going forward?
#3 Lana is the sole survivor at WWE Survivor Series
If the goal was to make Lana a sympathetic character in recent weeks then the WWE has done a really good job. Watching her get slammed through a table for multiple weeks was sad. Seeing her get bullied by Nia Jax repeatedly was uncomfortable. It all seemed to be setting her up for a big moment at WWE Survivor Series. The surprising thing was how Lana's big moment at WWE Survivor Series actually happened.
The WWE Survivor Series Women’s Elimination match did a very good job of building younger talents in some meaningful ways. Peyton Royce pinned Bayley, the longest-reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion. Liv Morgan held her own against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler for an extended time. It was Bianca Belair who got to shine the brightest as she eliminated Lacey Evans and Shayna Baszler. She even took out Nia Jax and factored into the final, shocking ending.
After coming back from three-to-one odds, Bianca Belair fought Nia Jax outside the ring. She knocked Jax over the ring barrier but didn’t make it back to the ring before the 10 count, disqualifying them both. Lana, who was forced to simply watch a majority of the match from the ring steps, was the only surviving member of Team RAW. She celebrated in the ring as Nia Jax angrily looked on. It was a nice moment for Lana but it also raises questions about what the endgame is for the bullied Lana on WWE RAW.
#2 Roman Reigns defeats Drew McIntyre by cheating at WWE Survivor Series
It was a relief to see Drew McIntyre regain the WWE Championship last week and get a match against WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WWE Survivor Series. We had one of our best baby faces in Drew McIntyre against WWE's best heel in Roman Reigns. How could WWE protect its two best talents on Sunday night? It was time to have Roman Reigns cheat.
The match was the best of the night at WWE Survivor Series. For 25 minutes, they produced a hard hitting affair, featuring some great bumps outside the ring. The final 10 minutes were worked at an incredible pace with some very believable near falls. But Drew McIntyre then went for a Claymore Kick and the kick hit the referee.
This allowed Jey Uso to distract Drew allowing for Roman Reigns to hit McIntyre with a low blow. Roman then put on his Guillotine submission hold and got Drew McIntyre to pass out. Roman Reigns has been a heel for months but usually hasn’t cheated that much to win as he did at WWE Survivor Series. It makes Roman Reigns look desperate and Drew McIntyre strong in defeat. While some fans will not like it, it was a surprising and smart choice for Sunday night's match.
#1 Undertaker gets a perfect farewell at WWE Survivor Series
It says something about professional wrestling that fans expected Undertaker to have his farewell interrupted by another wrestler at WWE Survivor Series on Sunday night. So few wrestlers have a true retirement ceremony and there were expectations that Undertaker would get one last match in the company. The most surprising moment of Undertaker’s farewell was it was an actual farewell to this great character. It was a perfect and emotional moment on Sunday Night.
It was great to see many of The Undertaker's biggest rivals over the years appear to pay tribute to him at WWE Survivor Series. We even had members of his Bone Street Krew show up for the farewell and some had not been on WWE programming in decades.
The Farewell also featured another memorable moment when Vince McMahon appeared in the ring. McMahon seemed quite emotional as he introduced Undertaker one last time.
The introduction of Undertaker was unique and took good advantage of the Thunderdome’s effects, including incorporating Undertaker's signature lightning. But the best moment by far was having a holographic Paul Bearer be next to The Undertaker as he posed one last time.
It would seem this is the actual farewell for The Undertaker. While some will be disappointed he had to finish his career in front of no fans, it was a perfect and sincere ending at WWE Survivor Series. And in the polarized WWE Universe, that might be the biggest surprise of all.
