WWE TLC: Who Survived the battle of the brands?

Barnaby Read 10:46 22/11/2016
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  • Who do you think won the brand battle?

    This year’s Survivor Series marked a seminal moment for the WWE as it directly pitted its two lead brands against one another in competition.

    The build-up, when not focused on Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg, across both shows has seen the respective commissioners and general managers ramping up the rivalry and telling their talent just how important brand bragging rights were.

    RAW’s Stephanie McMahon told her top Superstars that their jobs were on the line, brother Shane was thrown into the main traditional Survivor Series match in a bid to sway things in SmackDown Live’s favour.

    Not only that, the Intercontinental title and the fate of the entire Cruiserweight division were also on the line.

    Here, we look at how the pay-per-view unfolded for both brands and which came out in better shape, considering not only outcome but storyline progression, engagement with the fans and out-and-out talent.

    5-ON-5 WOMEN’S TRADITIONAL SURVIVOR SERIES MATCH

    RAW secured a big win thanks to the efforts of Bayley and they dominated this one in every aspect.

    Without Nikki Bella, her feud with Carmella was glaringly absent, while only Becky Lynch showed any sign of dominance from the Blue corner.

    Nia Jaxx was awesome in her destruction and surely she deserves a push, but it was how Charlotte decimated team-mate Bayley that really showed RAW’s strength in depth.

    Their champion taking her frustration out on Bayley stealing the limelight and setting up a feud between the women’s best heel and most popular face was a perfect way to end the opening match.

    WINNER: RAW

    INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE

    The Miz once again stole one, wife Maryse ringing the bell to fool Sami Zayn into thinking he’d taken the title to RAW only for Miz to secure the rollup win.

    SmackDown and Miz retained the title in perfect heel fashion to deny Zayn a famous Survivor Series debut victory. In this case, with a title on the line, you have to look at the end result and a Miz win means a big win for SmackDown.

    WINNER: SmackDown Live

    10-ON-10 TRADITIONAL SURVIVOR SERIES TAG-TEAM ELIMINATION MATCH

    It’s hard to pick a winner from this one as each team involved was superb.

    RAW’s tag-team champions The New Day were the early casualties, giving SmackDown the edge and from there on The Usos and American Alpha in particular were exceptional for the Blue team.

    But the Reds also finally saw the best of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, while Enzo and Cass, Cesaro and Sheamus stepped up in the absence of RAW’s champions.

    The crowd lapped it up and as Cesaro and Sheamus stood victorious it was clear that they stole the show. Like the women’s finale, their win sets up a tantalising prospect of the unlikely duo now challenging for tag-team titles.

    WINNER: RAW

    CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE

    The stakes couldn’t have been higher for RAW’s The Brian Kendrick, the Cruiserweight champion knowing that defeat to Kalisto would not only see him relinquish the title but also see the entire division head to SmackDown Live.

    And Kendrick showed just why he has headed up the division, his skills and charisma on full show in the early goings as Kalisto took on the role of utter submissive underdog for the majority.

    Just as Kalisto got going, Baron Corbin played interference to deny his own SmackDown brand’s cruiserweight claims as Kendrick retained with a disqualification. It was meant to maintain the Corbin-Kalisto feud but did little to excite their already uninspiring rivalry.

    WINNER: RAW

    5-ON-5 MEN’S TRADITIONAL SURVIVOR SERIES MATCH

    Like the tag-team match, it’s hard to pick a winner considering the star names, underlying rivalries and history between old and current friends and foes and the sheer amount of finishers on show.

    But in this, you have to look at which brand comes out looking the stronger having improved their standing in terms of storytelling and among the fans.

    AJ Styles watching Dean Ambrose get eliminated did just that for SmackDown Live ahead of their upcoming TLC PPV, setting off a chain of events that took the match to another level.

    McMahon first put Strowman through a table, before James Ellsworth made the save to eliminate RAW’s giant that caused Strowman to hurl SmackDown’s mascot through a table of his own.

    RAW set up the Kevin Owens-Chris Jericho breakdown admirably, a storyline that will be a huge hit once we have it but largely it was SmackDown that dominated proceedings until the brief Shield reunion sensationally stole the show.

    Hard to call but what this has done for the Ambrose-Styles feud gives it to SmackDown, even more than the Wyatt Family inspired victory.

    WINNER: SmackDown Live

    OVERALL WINNER: RAW – It has always been billed as the superior brand and it still looks that way, but the strength of the Survivor Series card showed just how strong both brands are right now. RAW edges it but the real winner was WWE as a whole.

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