Survivor Series (2018)
| Survivor Series (2018) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Promotional poster featuring Seth Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, Brock Lesnar, and AJ Styles prior to Styles and Lynch being removed from the card
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| Theme song(s) |
"Let Me Live / Let Me Die" by Des Rocs[1] | |||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | WWE | |||
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown |
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| Sponsor(s) | WWE Elite Collection[2] | |||
| Date | November 18, 2018 | |||
| Venue | Staples Center | |||
| City | Los Angeles, California | |||
| WWE Network event chronology | ||||
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| Survivor Series chronology | ||||
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Survivor Series (2018) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on November 18, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.[3] It was the thirty-second event promoted under the Survivor Series chronology. The theme of the event was brand supremacy, where all but one match involved wrestlers of the Raw brand facing wrestlers of the SmackDown brand.
Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show. The card was highlighted by two traditional Survivor Series elimination matches: Raw's men's and women's teams were victorious over SmackDown's. In the main event, Raw's Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defeated SmackDown's WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. Also on the card, Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey defeated SmackDown's Charlotte Flair via disqualification and Buddy Murphy retained the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Mustafa Ali in the only title defense on the card, as well as the only non-interpromotional match. Raw won brand supremacy with a clean sweep by defeating SmackDown in all six interpromotional matches on the main card. Team SmackDown was victorious over Team Raw in the 10-on-10 tag team elimination match, but it was not counted as it occurred on the pre-show.
Contents
Production
Background
Like the previous year, the theme of Survivor Series was "brand supremacy", with champions of the Raw brand facing their counterparts of the SmackDown brand in non-title matches: the Universal Champion against the WWE Champion, the Intercontinental Champion against the United States Champion, and the Raw Tag Team Champions against the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. A match featuring the Raw Women's Champion against the SmackDown Women's Champion was also planned but called off due to the SmackDown Women's Champion sustaining a legit injury just days prior to the event. The Raw Women's Champion was instead scheduled to face a former SmackDown Women's Champion. Also, as the WWE Cruiserweight Championship does not have a SmackDown counterpart, it was the only title defended on the show and the only non-interpromotinal match. The card also included three traditional Survivor Series elimination matches. Two pitted five male and female wrestlers from Raw against five male and female wrestlers from SmackDown, respectively, while the third, which was on the pre-show, was a tag team elimination match, pitting five tag teams from Raw against five tag teams from SmackDown.[4][5]
Storylines
The card consisted of eight matches, including one on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands.[6][7] Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.[8][9][10]
At Evolution, Ronda Rousey defeated Nikki Bella to retain the Raw Women's Championship, while Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship.[11] During a backstage interview following her win, Rousey was confronted by Lynch, and an interpromotional non-title match between the two champions was scheduled for Survivor Series the following night on Raw.[12] On the November 12 episode of Raw, Lynch led the SmackDown women's division in an invasion of Raw and applied the Dis-arm-her on Rousey.[13] During the melee, Lynch suffered a legit broken nose and concussion following a punch from Nia Jax. Due to the injury, Lynch was pulled from the Survivor Series match and chose Flair as her replacement.[14]
At Crown Jewel, AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe to retain the WWE Championship, while Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman to win the vacant Universal Championship, setting up a rematch between Styles and Lesnar from the previous year's event.[15] On the final SmackDown before Survivor Series, however, Daniel Bryan defeated Styles to become the WWE Champion, replacing Styles as Lesnar's opponent. After the match, Bryan attacked Styles, turning heel in the process.[14]
During the Crown Jewel pre-show, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Rusev to retain the United States Championship.[16] Following the event, a match between Nakamura and Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins was scheduled for Survivor Series.[15]
At Crown Jewel, The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) retained the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day (represented by Big E and Kofi Kingston),[15] while on the November 5 episode of Raw, AOP (Akam and Rezar) defeated Seth Rollins in a handicap match to become the new Raw Tag Team Champions.[4] A match between the two teams was then scheduled for Survivor Series.[5]
At Super Show-Down, Buddy Murphy defeated Cedric Alexander to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.[17] On the October 31 episode of 205 Live, Mustafa Ali defeated Tony Nese to become the number one contender,[18] and his championship match against Murphy was scheduled for Survivor Series.[19]
On the November 5 episode of Raw, Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin revealed Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, and Drew McIntyre as the first three members of Team Raw's men's team while naming himself as captain, although stating he would not compete due to his managerial position. Kurt Angle interjected, wanting to replace Corbin as captain, so Corbin had Angle face McIntyre where if Angle won, he would have been on the team; however, Angle lost.[4] The following week, Finn Bálor defeated Ziggler in a match and returning Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon rewarded Bálor by adding him to the team. Later, Bobby Lashley won the final spot by defeating Elias. Also that episode, Stephanie promised Strowman another Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar and also a match against Corbin, who had cost Strowman his Universal title match at Crown Jewel (with Strowman choosing the stipulations for either match), if he could lead Raw to another victory over SmackDown and not touch Corbin until after the event.[13] For Team SmackDown's men's team, on the November 6 episode of SmackDown, the brand's Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Paige appointed The Miz and Daniel Bryan as co-captains of Team SmackDown. Miz and Bryan then added Shane to the team, as Shane had won the WWE World Cup at Crown Jewel. Later, Rey Mysterio and Samoa Joe joined the team after defeating Andrade "Cien" Almas and Jeff Hardy, respectively. A brawl then ensued between Joe, Bryan, Miz, and Shane.[5] The following week, Bryan was removed from Team SmackDown; Hardy replaced him after defeating Almas.[14]
On the November 5 episode of Raw, Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin named Alexa Bliss as captain of Team Raw's women's team, but in a non-competing capacity due to injury.[4] The following week, Bliss revealed Mickie James, Nia Jax, Tamina, and Natalya, who was absent, as her first four picks and revealed that the winner of a match between Bayley and Sasha Banks would be the final member. During the match, however, the women's team attacked Bayley and Banks, causing a no-contest ruling, and Bliss said neither would be on the team and then introduced Ruby Riott as the final member.[13] For Team SmackDown's women's team, on the November 6 episode of SmackDown, SmackDown General Manager Paige revealed Asuka, Carmella, Naomi, Sonya Deville, and Charlotte Flair as the members of Team SmackDown, but Flair did not show up;[5] the previous week, Paige asked Flair to be captain, but Flair felt she was not the right person but said she would think about it.[20] Flair was instead named Becky Lynch's replacement to face Ronda Rousey, and the final member of Team SmackDown was not revealed on the final SmackDown before Survivor Series.[14]
On the November 6 episode of SmackDown, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated The New Day (represented by Big E and Kofi Kingston) to become the captains of Team SmackDown in the 10-on-10 tag team elimination match. Immediately after the match, The Usos chose The New Day as their first pick.[5] The following week, The Usos added Sanity (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, and Killian Dain), Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and The Colóns (Primo Colón and Epico Colón) to the team.[14] On the November 12 episode of Raw, a tag team battle royal occurred to determine Team Raw's captains. The team of Bobby Roode and Chad Gable defeated The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson), The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel), Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik, Kalisto, and Lince Dorado), The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor), and the team of Heath Slater and Rhyno to win the captaincy of Team Raw, composed of all of the teams in the battle royal except Slater and Rhyno, who were the first eliminated, and the tag team elimination match was scheduled for the Survivor Series pre-show.[13]
Event
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| English commentators | Michael Cole (Raw) |
| Corey Graves (Raw/SmackDown) | |
| Renee Young (Raw) | |
| Tom Phillips (SmackDown) | |
| Byron Saxton (SmackDown) | |
| Vic Joseph (Cruiserweight title match) | |
| Nigel McGuinness (Cruiserweight title match) | |
| Percy Watson (Cruiserweight title match) | |
| Spanish commentators | Carlos Cabrera |
| Marcelo Rodríguez | |
| German commentators | Carsten Schaefer |
| Calvin Knie | |
| Ring announcers | Greg Hamilton |
| JoJo | |
| Referees | Danilo Anfibio |
| Jason Ayers | |
| Mike Chioda | |
| John Cone | |
| Darrick Moore | |
| Ryan Tran | |
| Rod Zapata | |
| Interviewer | Charly Caruso |
| Pre-show panel | Jonathan Coachman |
| Jerry Lawler | |
| Beth Phoenix | |
| David Otunga | |
| Booker T |
Pre-show
One match occurred on the two-hour long pre-show, which was the 10-on-10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match pitting Team Raw's tag teams (Bobby Roode and Chad Gable, The Ascension, Lucha House Party, The Revival, and The B-Team) against Team SmackDown's tag teams (The Usos, The New Day, The Colóns, Sanity, and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson); Kalisto and Lince Dorado represented Lucha House Party, Eric Young and Killian Dain represented Sanity, and Big E and Xavier Woods represented New Day. Kalisto suffered a knee injury and the referee allowed Gran Metalik to replace him. The Revival performed Shatter Machine on Primo to eliminate The Colóns. Anderson pinned Dallas with a schoolboy to eliminate The B-Team. Gable and Roode performed their neckbreaker/moonsault combo on Young to eliminate Sanity. Woods, with assistance from Big E, performed a splash on Viktor to eliminate The Ascension. Metalik performed a springboard swanton on Anderson to eliminate Gallows and Anderson. Jey performed the Alley Uce on Dorado to eliminate Lucha House Party. New Day performed UpUpDownDown on Gable to eliminate Roode and Gable. The Revival performed Shatter Machine on Woods to eliminate The New Day. The end came when Jimmy performed the Uso Splash on Dawson to eliminate The Revival and win the match as the lone survivors for Team SmackDown, however, this win did not count in the scoring for the main show.[21]
Also during the pre-show, Naomi was revealed as the captain of Team SmackDown's women's team, and she introduced Mandy Rose as the final member of their team. For Team Raw, a brawl broke out between Natalya and Ruby Riott. Team captain Alexa Bliss then removed the two from the team and replaced them with Sasha Banks and Bayley.[21]
Preliminary matches
The actual show opened with the women's 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match, pitting Team Raw (Nia Jax, Tamina, Mickie James, Sasha Banks, and Bayley, with Alexa Bliss) against Team SmackDown (Naomi, Asuka, Carmella, Sonya Deville, and Mandy Rose, accompanied by R-Truth). Tamina superkicked Naomi to eliminate her. Carmella then surprised Tamina with a schoolgirl to eliminate her. Deville performed a sliding knee on James, and Rose pinned James to eliminate her. Bayley performed the Bayley to Belly on Carmella to eliminate her. Banks made Rose submit to the Bank Statement to eliminate Rose. Bayley and Deville fought to the outside of the ring where both were counted out, eliminating both. Asuka and Banks then brawled. Banks went to the top rope, but was pushed off by Jax, and Asuka made Banks submit to the Asuka Lock to eliminate Banks. Jax then performed three leg drops and a Samoan Drop on Asuka to win the match as the sole survivor for Team Raw, starting the score at 1-0 for Raw.[22]
Next, Raw's Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins faced SmackDown's United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura.Rollins performed three suicide dive and a springboard clothesline for a nearfall.Rollins performed a Ripcord knee for a nearfall.Nakamura performed a Kinshasa for a nearfall. In the end, Rollins scored the win after performing The Stomp on Nakamura, making the score 2-0 for Raw.[22]
Then, Raw Tag Team Champions AOP (Akam and Rezar, with Drake Maverick) faced SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus, with Big Show). In the climax, Sheamus performed the Brogue Kick on Rezar. During the pin, Maverick put Rezar's foot on the bottom rope, voiding the pinfall. Cesaro chased Maverick, who ran into Big Show. Show grabbed him by the throat and held him up on the apron where Maverick soiled himself. The distraction allowed AOP to perform a neckbreaker/powerbomb combo on Sheamus to score another win for Raw, making the score 3-0.[22]
After this was the only non-interpromotional match and only title defense on the show, in which Buddy Murphy defended the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Mustafa Ali. Murphy won the match after performing Murphy's Law on Ali for the pin.[22]
Next was the men's 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match, featuring Team Raw (Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, and Finn Bálor, with Baron Corbin and Lio Rush) against Team SmackDown (The Miz, Shane McMahon, Rey Mysterio, Samoa Joe, and Jeff Hardy). Strowman was going to start the match, but McIntyre quickly tagged himself in. As he mocked Strowman, Joe applied the Coquina Clutch to McIntyre, who broke the hold and performed the Claymore Kick to eliminate Joe. Shane and Ziggler then faced off. Miz tagged himself in. Strowman also tagged in, but McIntyre again quickly tagged himself in and the two began brawling. Team SmackDown then ganged up on them. On the outside of the ring, Shane performed an elbow drop on Strowman through an announce table. Back in the ring, Bálor and Mysterio faced off and Mysterio eliminated Bálor after a 619 and a springboard frog splash. Ziggler and Hardy then faced off and Ziggler was positioned in the corner for Shane to perform a Coast to Coast on him and eliminate Ziggler. Shane also went to perform a Coast to Coast on Lashley, but Strowman, who recovered from earlier, clotheslined Shane in mid-air. Strowman then tagged in and eliminated Hardy, Mysterio, and Miz each with powerslams, and finally Shane with a running powerslam to win the match for Team Raw with himself, McIntyre, and Lashley as the survivors, making the score 4-0 for Raw. Immediately after the match, Corbin attacked Strowman and quickly retreated with McIntyre and Lashley.[22]
In the penultimate match, Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey faced SmackDown's Charlotte Flair. The two avoided each other's finishing submission holds. The two brawled throughout the match. The climax came when Rousey went to attack Flair outside of the ring, but was struck by Flair with a kendo stick, turning heel and causing Rousey to win by disqualification, moving the score to 5-0 for Raw. After the match, Flair continued to beat down Rousey with kendo sticks. In the ring, Flair performed Natural Selection on Rousey on a chair and put Rousey's neck in the chair and stomped on it.[22]
Main event
In the main event, Raw's Universal Champion Brock Lesnar faced SmackDown's WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. At the start of the match, Bryan taunted Lesnar. Lesnar chased Bryan around the ring. He finally got a hold of Bryan and performed several suplexes on him. Lesnar performed an F-5 on Bryan, but during the pin, Lesnar intentionally broke the fall himself. As Lesnar went to pick Bryan up, Bryan began kicking Lesnar. Lesnar got Bryan up for another F-5 and accidentally hit the referee while executing the move. Bryan used the opportunity to perform a low blow on Lesnar while the ref was down. Bryan hit Lesnar with a Running knee for a nearfall . The two fought to the outside of the ring. Bryan targeted Lesnar's knee by slamming it into the ring post. Back in the ring, Lesnar attempted another F-5, but his knee gave out and Bryan performed the Yes Lock submission, but Lesnar managed to escaped. Bryan got Lesnar into a triangle hold, but Lesnar powered out and performed the F-5 on Bryan to win the match, with Raw winning brand supremacy with a clean sweep over SmackDown at 6-0 (as long as you don't count the pre-show).[22]
Enzo Amore hijacking incident
Former WWE wrestler Enzo Amore was spotted during the event wearing a disguised wig and hoodie in the background. At the beginning of the AOP and The Bar match, when it became clear that it was Amore, he started making a scene, standing on his chair, dancing and cutting a promo. While the WWE did not acknowledge his presence, Amore was then escorted out of the building by security and was banned from reentering the building. Reports also stated that Amore had bumped into a woman, causing her to get knocked over, injuring the fan in the process.[23]
This incident came hours after he released a new album called Rosemary’s Baby Pt. 1: Happy Birthday featuring a song that seems to include lyrics about his ex-girlfriend and current WWE wrestler Liv Morgan.[24]
Results
Survivor Series elimination matches
| Elimination | Wrestlers | Team | Eliminated by | Elimination method | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Colóns | SmackDown | Dash Wilder | Shatter Machine on Primo Colón | – |
| 2 | The B-Team | Raw | Karl Anderson | Schoolboy on Bo Dallas | 5:15 |
| 3 | Sanity | SmackDown | Bobby Roode | Neckbreaker/Moonsault combination on Eric Young | 6:45 |
| 4 | The Ascension | Raw | Big E | Assisted splash on Viktor | 9:00 |
| 5 | Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson | SmackDown | Gran Metalik | Springboard Swanton on Karl Anderson | 11:05 |
| 6 | Lucha House Party | Raw | Jey Uso | Alley Uce on Lince Dorado | – |
| 7 | Bobby Roode and Chad Gable | Raw | Big E | UpUpDownDown on Chad Gable | – |
| 8 | The New Day | SmackDown | Dash Wilder | Shatter Machine on Xavier Woods | – |
| 9 | The Revival | Raw | Jimmy Uso | Uso Splash on Scott Dawson | 22:20 |
| Survivor(s): | Team SmackDown (The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso)) | ||||
| Elimination | Wrestler | Team | Eliminated by | Elimination method | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naomi | SmackDown | Tamina | Superkick | 1:20 |
| 2 | Tamina | Raw | Carmella | Schoolgirl | 1:31 |
| 3 | Mickie James | Raw | Mandy Rose | Sliding knee by Sonya Deville | 6:50 |
| 4 | Carmella | SmackDown | Bayley | Bayley to Belly | 8:20 |
| 5 | Mandy Rose | SmackDown | Sasha Banks | Bank Statement | 9:55 |
| 6 | Bayley | Raw | N/A | Double countout | 14:45 |
| Sonya Deville | SmackDown | ||||
| 8 | Sasha Banks | Raw | Asuka | Asuka Lock | 18:45 |
| 9 | Asuka | SmackDown | Nia Jax | Samoan Drop | 18:50 |
| Survivor(s): | Team Raw (Nia Jax) | ||||
| Elimination | Wrestler | Team | Eliminated by | Elimination method | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samoa Joe | SmackDown | Drew McIntyre | Claymore Kick | 0:35 |
| 2 | Finn Bálor | Raw | Rey Mysterio | 619 followed by a springboard Frog Splash | 12:10 |
| 3 | Dolph Ziggler | Raw | Shane McMahon | Coast to Coast | 18:10 |
| 4 | Jeff Hardy | SmackDown | Braun Strowman | Powerslam | 20:45 |
| 5 | Rey Mysterio | SmackDown | Braun Strowman | Powerslam | 21:10 |
| 6 | The Miz | SmackDown | Braun Strowman | Powerslam | 22:25 |
| 7 | Shane McMahon | SmackDown | Braun Strowman | Running powerslam | 24:00 |
| Survivor(s): | Team Raw (Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, and Bobby Lashley) | ||||
Footnotes
- ↑ Kalisto was injured during the match and the referee allowed Metalik to take his place.
References
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