10 Most Shocking Moments from Survivor Series 2019

SmackDown Scores First Point

NXT didn’t get off to the best of starts during an inter-brand tag team Battle Royal that saw the black and yellow eliminated first during the kick-off show, leaving teams from Raw and SmackDown to slug it out in the closing moments of the match.

The Street Profits (representing Raw) looked set to take victory after slowing down Robert Roode, allowing the Profits to dish out some pain to the glorious one’s teammate, Dolph Zigler. In a highlight-reel worthy moment, Montez Ford launched himself up toward the rafters before squashing the “Show Off” with a picture-perfect rotating Frog Splash.

Still, experience would prevail as Roode soon picked himself up and came to Ziggler’s aid, grabbing King Tez and tossing the Street Profit member over the top rope, bringing the all-important first victory of the night to SmackDown.

Lio’s Cruiserweight title defence was a rush!

Lio Rush is back on the ascent following a move back to NXT, where he pinned Drew Gulak to win the cruiserweight championship and has been defending it at a blistering pace ever since. At Survivor Series, the “Man of the Hour” scored NXT’s first point, seeing off Kalisto and Tozawa in a gripping and hard-fought contest.

This was Lio’s biggest platform since his weekly appearances alongside Bobby Lashley on Raw. Now a firm member of the black and yellow brand, the 25-year-old seems to have gone back to the learning tree and it is paying dividends.

Tag Team Turmoil Almost Steals the Show

WWE has become such competitive soil as of late that you are just as likely to see a classic match on the kick-off show, as you are in the main event. Never was fact this better illustrated than when Raw tag team champions, The Viking Raiders defeated NXT’s tag champions, The Undisputed Era and SmackDown’s tag titleholders, The New Day.

The end came shortly after an insane back handspring double clothesline from Ivar of the Viking Raiders, which dropped NXT’s O’Reilly and Fish. With the New Day out of commission, Erik and Ivar then put the icing on the cake with their Viking Experience finisher, providing Raw’s first victory of the night.

Rhea Ripley Fires The Boss

By the time the kick-off show was complete, the score going into the first ever Survivor Series elimination match between Raw, SmackDown, and NXT, was tied 1-1-1.

So, in the first of two traditional Survivor Series matches with a twist, the women from all three brands (Sasha Banks, Carmella, Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke and Lacey Evens for Raw; Charlotte, Natayla, Sarah Logan, Asuka, Kairi Sane for SmackDown; And Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Candice Larae, Toni Storm and Io Sharai for NXT) were all keen to outlast their opponents, but the black and yellow stable would lose two members early on when Sharai and Candice Larae were forced to leave the match following injuries sustained outside of the ring.

Bianca Bellair would seize the opportunity to make a name for herself, much to NXT’s gratitude by eliminating Nikki Cross and Sarah Logan, knocking off an opponent from each opposing brand. Carmella took a beating from Bianca too, before levelling Charlotte with a hurricanrana from the top rope, but this only served to fire Charlotte up, and she soon retaliated against the “Princess of Staten Island,” pinning her as a result of Natural Selection.

Banks eliminated Sane next, then Asuka spat her green mist right into the face of her own teammate Charlotte, allowing Lacy Evans to eliminate ‘Second Nature’. Natalya then eliminated Evans. With Asuka walking out on her own team, NXT looked to enjoy a numbers advantage, but Toni Storm and Bianca Belair we’re dispatched in a flash. Then “The Boss” eliminated Natalya, setting up a must-see clash between Sasha Banks and Rhea Ripley.

Determined to pick up the biggest win of her career to date, Ripley kicked out at the count of two following a flying double knee. The Australian fought back with a submission attempt but quickly found herself reversed into the Bank Statement. It looked like certain victory for Raw until LaRae and Shirai returned to the ring, interfering in support of Team NXT and giving Ripley the opportunity to brutalize Sasha Banks with her Riptide Pumphandle Slam. Ladies and gentlemen, Rhea Ripley has arrived.

Triple Threat Dream Match

Whilst it’s true that this contest was a battle between the brands, a bona-fide dream match pitting three of professional wrestling’s best athletes became the real story here.

Raw’s United States champion, AJ Styles, vs. SmackDown’s Intercontinental champion, Shinsuka Nakamura, vs. NXT’s North American champion, Roderick Strong, looked great on paper, and proved to be a 2019 Match of the Year candidate in reality. Highlights, and there were many, included a flying kick from Nakamura that knocked Strong right off AJ Style’s shoulders.

In the chaotic closing moments, all three men looked to have a fighting chance of picking up the win but when Styles blasted Nakamura with the Phenomenal Forearm, it looked to be over… and it was except that Roderick Strong capitalised by making the pin on the Intercontinental champion, giving NXT the bragging rights once again, and putting a huge spotlight on the North American titleholder.

Cole vs. Dunne: Fight Forever!

In a break from cross-brand competition, two of NXT’s most popular stars clashed for their heavyweight championship just one night removed from the punishing War Games match, where Cole was put through a couple of tables after being slammed from the very top of the cage.

Eager to use those injuries to his advantage at Survivor Series, the former UK champion tortured the NXT titleholder, inflicting untold pain on Cole‘s limbs, but the leader of the Undisputed Era proved hard to kill.

Birmingham, England’s own “Bruiserweght” received a shock to the system when he failed to put the champ away with the Bitter End. Then, already bleeding from the mouth, Dunne’s attempt at a moonsault ended badly when Cole kicked him square in the face.

Dunne then had his vertebrae jarred by a vicious Panama Sunset, executed on the unforgiving ring edge. It seemed that neither man came to Chicago to quit, but when the smoke cleared, Adam Cole retained his NXT championship. Following the epic triple threat match was no mean feat, but these warriors arguably surpassed it.

The Fiend Sees Red

WWE suffered a chilling nightmare on Halloween night in Saudi Arabia, when Bray Wyatt’s unhinged alter-ego “The Fiend” pinned Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship. Could Daniel Bryan pin this monster for the title in his first high profile defence? Would the YES man even survive his encounter with pro wrestling’s most frightening persona?

Bryan took a major pummelling in the opening minutes of the match but, true to form, hung in there and showed impressive guts, getting himself back in the game with a series of strikes, even smelling victory following a devastating running knee to the face. By this point, the crowd were well and truly behind their ethical hero, but goodwill is no use when slapped with the mandible claw. The Fiend retains and the nightmares of his opponents look set to continue for some time to come, but this was a great showing for Daniel Bryan, who has shown once again that he is in the upper echelon of WWE superstars.

Keith Lee Dents the Shield

The traditional men’s Survivor Series elimination match between Raw (Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet), SmackDown (Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, King Corbin, Shorty G, Mustafa Ali) and NXT (Walter, Damien Priest, Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle) served to show, much like in the women’s match earlier in the night, that WWE has compiled an incredibly rich depth of pro wrestling talent. Having each brand go to war has freshened up the company’s output and given many stars a chance to become superstars.

Action between Randy Orton and Tommaso Ciampa had the crowd’s attention, but an unexpected elimination of the Viper by Matt Riddle had those same fans on the edge of their seats. Further snap eliminations followed, but whilst many of those left were bigger guys, that didn’t stop Ricochet from making an impact, that is until he was removed by King Corbin, who soon cost Team SmackDown a participant when he got in Ali’s face, which gave Raw’s Seth Rollins a chance to put Ali away.

With power going to his head, Corbin then clashed with partner Roman Reigns, but this time the King of the Ring’s bullying behaviour earned himself an elimination from Ciampa, albeit courtesy of “The Big Dog.”

Raw and SmackDown formed a temporary pact as the match drew closer to a finish, with the two remaining Shield members attempting to level Ciampa with a powerbomb through the announcers table, but Keith Lee made an impressive save. Ciampa was eventually knocked off by Roman Reigns, leaving one man from each brand to go at it.

Still seen as a relative newcomer, NXT’s Keith Lee certainly didn’t fly to Chicago for third place, and showed flashes of brilliance at Survivor Series, reversing a curb stomp and, surprisingly, eliminating Rollins. Of course, taking out two Shield members in one night would be a step too far, but for a second, it looked entirely possible, until Roman Reigns speared Team SmackDown to victory. Hats off to Keith Lee for breaking down the Shield, but this yard still belongs to the Big Dog.

Brock Won’t Stay Down

Lucha legend, Rey Mysterio has been such a thorn in the side of Brock Lesnar in recent weeks, that the Beast Incarnate ditched SmackDown in favor of Raw, in order to get his huge hands on his smaller enemy. Here, the WWE Champion received a negative reaction as he faced the popular Mysterio under no-holds-barred rules.

As the match began, Rey Rey headed straight under the ring and produced a lead pipe, but Brock cut him off at the pass and made him pay, sending the luchador sailing over the Spanish announcer’s desk.

The Beast then suplexed Rey on to the remaining table debris. The Beast looked to have Rey in serious trouble and so the challenger’s son, Dominik headed to the ring ready to throw in the towel, but he was attacked for his trouble instead. Rey made the save and for a very pleasurable few moments, father and son teamed up to flatten Brock Lesnar, even dishing out a double 6-1-9, but the former UFC champ sucked it up and scored a dominating victory by way of an F-5. 

NXT Reigns Supreme

In the final match of Survivor Series 2019, the female world champions duked it out as Raw women’s champion, Becky Lynch, SmackDown’s champion, Bayley, and NXT’s champion, Shayna Baszler, closed out arguably WWE’s best pay-per-view of the year so far.

Whilst the match itself had a slow build, and it’s fair to say that crowd fatigue was beginning to set in as a result of such a thrilling show, all three women delivered some seriously hard-hitting action of their own. In the end, the fight spilled to the outside, allowing the “Queen of Spades” to plant Becky Lynch over the announcers table. With “The Man” now out, Shayna caught Bayley in her Kirifuda Clutch, but the former “Hug Life” star escaped, and attempted to pin Baszler following a flying elbowdrop. This was not to be however, as Baszler caught the descending Bayley back into her clutch one more time, and picked up a submission victory via tap out.

Feeling frustration at the thought of losing without ever being beaten, Becky Lynch attacked Baszler after the bell. The “Lass Kicker” then sent the NXT champ crashing through the table with a legdrop from the ring rail.

With a final score of NXT: 4, SmackDown: 2, and Raw: 1, the real story of the night was the emergence of NXT. No longer can this division be seen as a developmental brand. Stars like Keith Lee, Rhea Ripley, and Shayna Baszler have now arrived, and the future of the WWE universe looks all the brighter for it.