At this point, there’s only so much to say about Sasha Banks vs. Asuka on any given night. As they did during their feud earlier this year, they tore it down. This bout was one of the best matches of the night, but most fans could have told you that without even watching the show. Thankfully, unlike their previous encounters, this match wasn’t marred by shenanigans or overbooking. It was decided with a roll-up out of nowhere that somewhat protected Asuka in defeat. With a win, WWE has demonstrated the strong belief that Banks is one of their top stars. But Asuka’s loss continues her recent slide, as the WWE RAW Women’s Champion hasn’t done anything meaningful in months. Hopefully, someone on the red brand will step up and give her a substantial challenge and, by extension, a compelling story. Meanwhile, as fans could see in the women’s Survivor Series tag team match, Banks has at least one future challenger lined up for her.
A star was born at WWE Survivor Series. Well, technically two superstars got the rub on Sunday night. Bianca Belair excelled in this match and put on a performance that rivaled Keith Lee’s time in the men’s match in 2019. WWE is sitting on a goldmine with Belair, a superstar who has the look, charisma, and in-ring skill to back it up. She has everything any wrestling company could look for, so it’s only a matter of time before she truly breaks out.
Otherwise, Lana was the last woman standing. Some fans thought Belair should have had this spot, and it’s hard to get a read on where Lana is heading. She continues to seemingly be the butt of the joke on WWE RAW every week when Nia Jax slams her through the broadcast table, so it’ll be interesting to see if Lana’s unfortunate streak continues this week. It’s possible that WWE is playing the long game with this story and building Lana up as a big-time babyface in the making. There’s also the very likely possibility that none of this means anything and it’s all a joke that’s meant to make Vince McMahon laugh. There’s just no way to tell at this point.
In the main event, Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre put on an electric match that was worthy of a sell-out crowd at WWE WrestleMania. Instead, they had to settle for the piped-in noise at the WWE ThunderDome. WWE’s top champions didn’t let that stop them, though. This match was a barn-burner between the company’s two premier stars. McIntyre and Reigns exchanged thunderous moves, Earth-shaking blows and heart-stopping near falls. They worked hard to make the fans suspend their disbelief, as many viewers fully expected Reigns to win. But at a few points, a McIntyre victory looked possible, too. The match offered a few incredible sequences, like McIntyre’s counter of a Spear into a Kimura lock. In the end, the right man won, as Reigns took home the victory. But McIntyre couldn’t have looked stronger in defeat.
It took a distraction from Jey Uso, a low blow and a Superman Punch, after a grueling match, to keep McIntyre down. He didn’t eat a pin, either. He merely passed out in Reigns’ Guillotine Choke, so this loss doesn’t really hurt the WWE Champion. Given the beating he took, he was perfectly vulnerable to a cash-in from Mr. Money In The Bank, The Miz. But it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, the real story was the fact that, on this night, Reigns backed up his claim that he’s the head of the table, and McIntyre is the second-best champion (at least for now.)
In his Final Farewell, The Undertaker actually said goodbye. It came after 15 minutes of entrances for people who promptly disappeared when “The Phenom” came to the ring. It came after a long video package and a brief tribute from Vince McMahon himself. Then fans had to sit through The Undertaker’s infamously long walk to the ring. When he finally made it into the squared circle, he uttered about two sentences, and he then took his sweet time walking to the back. Then, he was gone, and the show faded to black.
The Final Farewell fell flat. It’s perfectly okay to love The Undertaker and acknowledge that this segment was underwhelming. Even if you didn’t want, or weren’t expecting, an angle that would set up one last match, it was fair to hope for something that wasn’t…this. The segment ended this show with a dud, whereas Reigns and McIntyre would have been a terrific ending. The valid questioning of whether The Undertaker is actually gone this time further soured this farewell. If this segment is truly the end, then we thank The Undertaker for his legendary career, and it’s a shame he had to go out like this.
For anyone keeping score, WWE RAW technically won the battle of the brands 4-3. If you don’t count the Kickoff show, which featured the battle royal, then the brands tied 3-3. In that case, the fight for brand supremacy was truly meaningless this year, as neither brand proved to be significantly better than the other. That’s the way the cookie crumbles in WWE.
