Good & Bad: Survivor Series 2016

Hello and welcome to the second part of my new series, “Good and Bad”.

In this series I’ll take a look at wrestling’s biggest current events and decide what was good or bad about them.

Today we’re looking at Survivor Series 2016. It just happened and the Internet is abuzz. So was it good? Or was it bad?

Bad: The Women’s Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Match
First off, we started off with Nikki Bella being injured backstage and unable to compete. They tried to make it seem like it was due to Carmella, but it was clearly due to Natalya. Now I know the brilliant acting from Nattie and Nikki may have persuaded you otherwise, but don’t let their Academy Award worthy performances fool you. It was Nattie.
The match really never found its pace. Carmella got eliminated first which was disheartening seeing as she is better than Alicia Fox, Naomi and especially Nia Jax.
That brings me to my next point, can the Nia Jax experiment end please? She’s clumsy around the ring, her Leg Drop is incredibly lazy, she just falls on her opponent, and she’s clearly banking off her Samoan Heritage. It’s like she just was bored one day and was like, “I’m gonna call up my cousin Dwayne.” Then *poof* a mediocre wrestler was created.
It was nice that Bayley picked up the decisive win over Becky Lynch, and that Charlotte made her pay for it. This didn’t help what was a mostly disappointing match. And it was mostly disappointing because Nia Jax was so awful in it, and that’s Bad.

Good: The Miz vs Sami Zayn
Now, I know, the finish wasn’t great. That being said, the action was fine all the way through, even making you think that Zayn was gonna take the IC Championship to RAW. Ultimately Maryse interfered and cost him the match, like always, but those are good heel tactics. This at least put Zayn in a much better light with the company and allows for Dolph Ziggler and The Miz to continue their rivalry at TLC, so that’s Good.

Good: The Brian Kendrick vs Kalisto
The in ring action was excellent, you thought either could win throughout the match. At the end of the day that’s good story telling. Kalisto was especially on point. With all his athleticism and ability, Kalisto is prone to missing spots, but he didn’t and that was Good.

Bad: Baron Corbin’s interference
This didn’t really make sense. You ruined a very good match only to once again push a Wrestler that no one cares about. Also it made a lot of sense for the Cruiserweights to come to Smackdown, now they can’t, and that’s Bad.

Bad: The Tag Team Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match
RAW had basically been dominating everything here. It was kind of convoluted and, though The New Day being eliminated early was a cool swerve, the match ultimately hurt Smackdown more than it helped RAW.

Good: Cesaro and Sheamus
These two were excellent. Even in winning the match for RAW they have truly found themselves as a Tag Team. I hope they end up dethroning The New Day, but that’s just me.

Good: The Men’s Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Match
There was a Shield Reunion. Really that was all you need. However, you also had some great Shane-O-Mac spots, a couple of RKO’s out of nowhere and watching Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho’s Bromance unravel was a nice bonus. On top of all that Bray Wyatt went over Roman Reigns to win the match, that almost seemed like a dream. That was all good but let’s just take a second, can anyone confirm that Shane McMahon is alive? Because that spear looked like it killed him.

Speaking of spears…

GOOD: Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar
Yeah that’s right, I said it, it was a GOOD MATCH.
Come at me Internet bitches!
Ok, seriously though. Really think about their match (or lack thereof) for a second. Goldberg is 49 and not in ring shape. If you have him and Brock have an actual full length match, it is going to be more embarrassing than their last encounter at Wrestlemania XX.
Then you add on that Brock Lesnar is incredibly dangerous in the ring. Imagine him hit Goldberg with 20 German Suplexes, that would be devastating. You need to protect Goldberg at all costs. Also, Brock has become very lazy, watching him wrestle is becoming very boring and uneventful.
Finally there is something very important to consider, and that is Goldberg’s Legacy. If Goldberg wrestles a normal match and loses to Brock like everyone wanted and expected, that makes them tied 1-1, then you need a rubber match. That match would most likely take place at Wrestlemania where now you have two full matches showing how much Goldberg has slowed down. By having him lose or wrestle a normal match you hurt Goldberg’s Legacy.
Now, that brings up a valid point in defence of Lesnar. Yes, WWE has spent a long time making Brock Lesnar this huge beast, and this match pretty much ruined that. To that I say, no, it just elevated Goldberg’s Legacy, it didn’t ruin Lesnar. You can make Lesnar relevant again, and very easily. You can’t repair Goldberg’s legacy if you ruin it here, there’s no time.
Plus, I simply loved seeing Goldberg decimate Brock Lesnar, I LOVED IT.
You can hate it all you want, but I’m going to play as Goldberg in WWE 2k17 and do the same thing to Brock Lesnar over and over while I have their match on my phone on loop.

What did you think about Survivor Series 2016? Tell us in the comments below, or message me on Twitter/Instagram @WelpThatsAThing to tell me what a piece of crap I am for liking Goldberg’s Lesnar beat down.