WWE Survivor Series 2020: Star ratings for every match

WWE Survivor Series 2020 is in the books. Some of the matches were average and a few were below average. Some, like the contest featuring both Tag Team Champions and the bout between McIntyre/Reigns, were entertaining. It was going to be hard to live up to the energy from last year's show as NXT's involvement added a new layer.

We also saw the ascension of the likes of Keith Lee and Shayna Baszler. But fast forward a year, and both of those former NXT Champions were a part of RAW's teams this year. There were seven matches in total booked for WWE Survivor Series so that one brand could definitively claim victory. It ended up being RAW winning by a score of four wins to three.

WWE Survivor Series wasn't a bad pay-per-view or a great one. It primarily felt like an average WWE offering with a few good moments mixed in. While the build for the Men's five-on-five Elimination match was great, it seemed as if a little more thought could have gone into it.

One instance that hurt WWE Survivor Series this year was when the company had Corey Graves and Byron Saxton back on commentary together. When they both called SmackDown, it was tiresome due to the bickering and Graves' bullying of Saxton. WWE gave us a diverse dichotomy in terms of the matches so here are the star ratings for the contests from the 2020 WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.

#7 Pre-Show Battle Royal at WWE Survivor Series - 2.5 stars

The Miz was victorious in the dual-branded battle royal.

It was hard to get too invested into this match because WWE announced the bout for the pay-per-view two days prior. While it did allow several talented stars a contest on the card, it was booked as the usual type of battle royal.

There were the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, The Miz, John Morrison, Murphy, the Mysterios, Apollo Crews, Chad Gable, and others in the match. It came down to Gable, The Miz, and Dominik Mysterio. Gable once again showed off his impressive in-ring acumen but was eliminated by Dominik Mysterio. It wasn't the victory he thought he earned as the Miz was ruled to have not been eliminated. The A-Lister returned to the ring to pick up the win for himself and RAW.

All in all, there wasn't anything bad or remarkable about this battle royal. It utilized a finish we see all too much with someone not really being eliminated and returning for the win. Due to the sameness relative to most of the other battle royals, it was just a 2.5-star contest at WWE Survivor Series.

#6 Men's five-on-five Elimination match at WWE Survivor Series - Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown - 3 stars

Sometimes, teams at WWE Survivor Series look even. Sometimes they do not. SmackDown's Team looked completely overmatched on paper and that is exactly how WWE booked things to play out. Most fans were critical and confused as to why Big E was not added to this match because WWE could be giving him a singles push in the near future. But since this was the outcome that was booked, it makes sense not to bury him before his push begins.

A good swerve at WWE Survivor Series this year was for the first elimination. Seth Rollins essentially sacrificed himself to be eliminated by Sheamus. He is taking time off from WWE following the event since his fiance is pregnant, so it was an easy way to write him off of TV.

Prior to the WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view, the main storyline of Team RAW was it's inability to co-exist. AJ Styles tried to keep the peace but too many cooks were in the kitchen for this team. While the issues appeared a few times throughout the match, it ended up not mattering at all.

Each member of Team RAW had an elimination, with Otis and Jey Uso as the final two members of Team SmackDown. Otis actually looked pretty good and his direction as a more serious character should bode well for his future. Uso was the final member of the Blue brand's team and there was a point where it looked like he might notch a few eliminations, like Riddle and/or Sheamus.

It didn't happen and Team RAW swept the entire match at this year's WWE Survivor Series. One highlight of the bout was a small moment in the scheme of things but it was still entertaining. When Riddle and Kevin Owens were in the ring, Owens continually targeted Riddle's bare feet. He even delivered a head butt to the shoeless opponent. Sometimes it's the small things like this in WWE that outweigh the huge moments. It seemed like the match went as we thought it would. There wasn't the storytelling of one vs. three and coming back to win so it was merely worth 3 stars. At last year's WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view, the teams were booked evenly with NXT and SmackDown having the final two participants.

#5 RAW Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits at WWE Survivor Series - 3.5 stars

Heading into WWE Survivor Series, this had the potential to steal the show. Both teams are great in their own rights and are among the better duos in recent WWE history. The main difference is that The New Day has owned the WWE tag division while The Street Profits have a little more size on their side.

The action was fast-paced with each team getting the upper hand at different points. Neither team dominated the action for the most of the match but they appeared to be on the same level. Since there were only seven contests on the 2020 WWE Survivor Series card, they had the time to build to a good climax. Each team ripped out some different moves with Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford picking up the win after a Blockbuster.

It was a huge win going forward for the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. If you looked at the 2020 WWE Survivor Series card and tried to predict which matches should go to either brand, it was hard to gauge.

This ended up being one of the three wins for the Blue brand, but in the ring, they looked like mirror images of each other. Dawkins and Ford have been Champions prior to WrestleMania 36 so how much longer will they hold gold? Was this win meant to prolong their reign or was it the last hurrah going forward? Did this signify a new arrival of a big player in WWE?

#4 United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn at WWE Survivor Series - 1.5 stars

In this author's opinion, this was the worst match of the night for WWE Survivor Series. It didn't have much potential on paper heading into the show but the highlights leading up to it were always provided by Sami Zayn. He did his best to truly sell this match for WWE Survivor Series and the true representation of each title in this match. He even showed up on the pre-show to deliver one last promo about the lack of respect he was receiving. And he was 100% right.

Two things hurt this match. The first was the constant bickering on commentary between Graves and Saxton. Prior to WWE Survivor Series, the two men have been on different shows. At the event, however, it took away from the match and reminded us why it is great that they are on separate shows. When the commentary takes you out of the contest in a bad way, it hurts the product. That happened here. Michael Cole putting down Zayn also didn't help.

The second thing that hurt this match was that WWE kept it as heel vs. heel. Those are strange dynamics unless they are similar stars. Sami Zayn is a thinking man's performer whereas Bobby Lashley just bashes people into submission. Had WWE pulled off a quick title switch before the show, it would have upped the potential. The Hurt Business was allowed to have all its members at ringside. How was that fair for Zayn? Just because he's a loudmouth doesn't mean it was okay that he entered the match already at a disadvantage.

There was a callback to Zayn suffering vertigo when these two first squared off a couple of years ago. The Intercontinental Champion tried everything he could in order to get an advantage, but in the end, we all knew that Lashley would win at WWE Survivor Series. It was part of why there was little hype for it.

#3 RAW Women's Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks at WWE Survivor Series - 3 stars

Now the Boss has another name to add to her long list of nicknames.

We've seen these two mix it up before and the company even had them fight a few times in 2020 prior to this match at WWE Survivor Series. In terms of in-ring action, nothing set this particular bout apart from the other ones. The main differences were that they both were Champions and faces. They had both battled Bayley and entered WWE Survivor Series on top of their games.

The best sequences involved counters and more counters to submissions. Because both women utilize submission finishers, that made sense. On paper, Asuka should have won this outright. But due to WWE wanting to keep things look close at WWE Survivor Series, she was rolled up by Sasha Banks for the loss. It keeps Asuka still looking strong instead of being outright pinned by The Boss.

When Banks beat Asuka for the RAW Women's title earlier this summer, it was due to outside help and different stipulations. Since the Empress of Tomorrow is one of the top three women in WWE, however, it would have made sense for her to win. But The Boss just won her title and successfully defended it for the first time so they likely wanted to make her look stronger. It wasn't anything ground-breaking but it was one of the better matches on the card.

#2 Women's five-on-five Elimination Match at WWE Survivor Series - Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown - 2.5 stars

Karma certainly played into the finish of the women's elimination match.

For each team at WWE Survivor Series, the company utilized two different avenues of storytelling. Team RAW was about people being named to the team and Lana having to earn her spot. Throughout the entire build, she was bullied by the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions and put through the announce table.

WWE also replaced Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke with Peyton Royce and Lacey Evans. SmackDown saw four women needing to qualify just in order to make the team.

Instead of one team outright dominating at WWE Survivor Series, eliminations happened left and right by both squads. The strangest one was Natalya attempting a new submission and botching that before eliminating Royce. Evans looked good and pulled off a Spanish Fly move from the top rope. She continues to slowly build herself into a better WWE performer every time she's in the ring.

It was an assumption by many fans that the main way things would play out at WWE Survivor Series would be Bianca Belair being alone against Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and Lana. Belair would then be the sole survivor after Jax, Baszler and Lana would get eliminated due to miscommunication. Instead, Bayley of all people was the first person eliminated. That was strange, especially due to her long reign as SmackDown Women's Champion and her representing the Blue brand at WWE Survivor Series last year.

The WWE Women's Tag Team Champions bullied people as usual and even did so to lead to their own demise. They chastised Lana once again and forced her to simply stand on the steps and not tag in. It ended up being hubris that led to their eliminations as Baszler was disqualified for not breaking up a submission while Belair was in the ropes. And then Jax and Belair battled on the outside before both were counted out. It was a way to protect all three women without being eliminated.

The decision to have Lana be the sole survivor is her moment. She's been beaten down week after week yet still came back and won despite attempts to exclude her. It took a lot to have us forget the former babbling heel she was throughout 2019 and 2020 but this was a smart booking decision. She's not going to beat Asuka for the title but she doesn't look like a joke anymore after lasting at WWE Survivor Series.

#1 Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. WWE Champion Drew McIntyre at WWE Survivor Series - 3.5 stars

Reigns is still at the head of the table.

This seemed like a good main event for WWE Survivor Series on a rather average pay-per-view in terms of match quality. On another pay-per-view, like an NXT TakeOver card, it would have likely been a middle-of-the-pack type match. It had some good back-and-forth action with each man attempting to assert his dominance.

The match had some slow pacing early on but that just went on to sell the new methodical approach of The Big Dog. The best sequences were when Roman Reigns dropped Drew McIntyre on to the announce table twice with Samoan Drops. When he saw the WWE Champion get up, he quickly speared him through the barricade behind the announcer's desk.

The other great sequence in the main event of WWE Survivor Series was when each man attempted their finishers but both were countered. Seeing McIntyre pull out a Kimura lock was a pleasant surprise. In the end, it came down to outside interference from Jey Uso. Reigns told Uso to leave after failing to win his match earlier in the night. Instead, he stuck around until the main event. He distracted McIntyre long enough to allow Reigns to land a low blow. He then finished things off with a Super Kick to the WWE Champion.

The Tribal Chief picked up the huge win via a Guillotine Choke. By having McIntyre pass out instead of tap out or get pinned at WWE Survivor Series, it kept him looking strong. The outside interference also protected both stars. If this was a main event of a WrestleMania or a SummerSlam, fans would have hoped for a little more. That being said, this was a good end to the action at WWE Survivor Series.