Dot Net Member Greg “GTS” Scurria (@gts1303) attended the WWE Survivor Series event in Houston, Texas at Toyota Center on Sunday and sent the following notes on the live experience.
-I didn’t even know they were having a Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens match until I arrived. There was a big pop for them, but Owens turned the audience pretty quickly.
-The crowd still very sparse 30 minutes before the show. The upper section was trapped off for NXT on Saturday and was still mostly empty at this point.
-They’re advertising The Shield vs. Kane, Sheamus, and Cesaro for Monday and AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal in a Houston Street Fight for Tuesday, most likely as dark matches.
-There was a huge pop for New Day, but HUGE boos for Roman Reigns when he appeared in the hype video. There were big boos anytime Roman did anything during the match. New Day seemed to be trying to get over as heels. It was a great match. The audience was into everything except Roman. I thought the double Big Ending was it, as Roman seemed to come out of nowhere.
-They sold Smackdown t-shirts with #undersiege2017 on the back. There was also a guy in front of me wearing a red Raw t-shirt.
-I had no idea what happened with Alicia Fox during the women’s elimination match. She was sent to the back but nothing was announced to the crowd and it sure didn’t look like a three count. The crowd seemed very confused by the booking of the women’s match, but they were all in on Asuka.
-It was a very pro-Miz crowd during his match with Baron Corbin. One very determined guy kept trying and failing to get a Curtis Axel chant going. It was a better match than I️ expected. Corbin was the first true heel I saw in two nights. The fans do not like him.
-The Usos vs. Sheamus and Cesaro was great. There is no doubt that the Usos are babyfaces at least in Houston. There were lots of “you look stupid” chants for Sheamus.
-Wow. There were nothing but boos for Jason Jordan on the big screen.
-Just like with Drew McIntyre at Takeover, TV does not do justice to Alexa Bliss. Whereas he looked massive, she just looks tiny in person. She had to stand on her tip toes to hit the top rope on an Irish whip. It felt like it took the women’s match a while to get going, but the ending was super hot. Charlotte was the big crowd favorite. They replaced the top layer of the mat after this match.
-It felt like the Raw vs. Smackdown win counter graphic made it super obvious who would win the AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar match. Brock held his knee after the match even when the camera wasn’t on him. Paul Heyman was taking to the the referee during the replay. It seemed like something was not right. He limped and did not putting full weight on it even after the camera went off. It was a fun match and the crowd was definitely into this more than anything else tonight. I really think that the crowd would have lost their minds if AJ had somehow won.
-The main event was a fun Survivor Series match. The crowd wasn’t really sure what to do with the whole Triple H swerve at the end. It was funny that Shane McMahon just stood on the ramp with a chair watching for Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn while Orton got eliminated. Braun was easily the most over guy in the match. The crowd also loved Kurt Angle, Finn Balor, and Bobby Roode. During the match, Strowman crawled from the announce table to just outside the ring, and just laid there forever. Finn accidentally stepped on his face at one point.
-Braun turning on Triple H was super over with the crowd. His facial expressions the whole time were just perfect.
-After the pay-per-view ended, Stephanie McMahon came down and helped up Triple H in the ring. He then did a series of really over the top, Flair-style flops. He would keep trying to do his pose and fall over. He also ran into the Jumbotron on his way out. He had this really goofy look on his face the whole time. It was very out of character with everything he does on television.
-Both nights were great, but i enjoyed NXT more. There was much more of an emotional connection to the matches and the straightforward booking keeps the focus on the wrestlers, unlike the ending of Survivor Series.
-Another big difference I️ noticed is the production. There were always at least 10 guys in black at ringside dealing with cords and cameras. The lighting was much more over the top at Survivor Series, and it was really annoying because there was a light shining right in our faces for over half the matches. There are no lights in the crowd in NXT and that really lets you focus more on the matches.
-My favorite match at Survivor Series was New Day vs. The Shield. The match of the weekend was WarGames just for pure spectacle, but then one I enjoyed the most was probably Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream, which told the best story.
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