SURVIVOR SERIES THIS SUNDAY ON THE WWE NETWORK! GOLDBERG VERSES LESNAR!

By Tarron Coalson

MONDAY NIGHT RAW comes to you from Buffalo, New York this week as it’s basically the last promotional shows before this Sunday’s SURVIVOR SERIES on the WWE Network.

It’ll be a wrestling extravaganza weekend as WWE’s NXT TAKEOVER will start things on Saturday from Toronto as NXT Champ Shinsuke Nakamura will defend his title against Samoa Joe and the NXT Women’s Champ Asuka will defend her title against a returning Mickie James.

Then, on Sunday, at a special start time, 7PM, it’s SURVIVOR SERIES, which will feature RAW verses SMACKDOWN and Goldberg verses Brock Lesnar.

Tonight’s show starts with General Manager Mick Foley and Commissioner Stephanie McMahon in the ring and all of the RAW SURVIVOR SERIES participants on the entrance ramp and Stephanie and Mick trying to pump up the troops!

The first match of the evening is Cesaro & Sheamus verses the WWE Universal Champ Kevin Owens and the US Champ, Roman Reigns (who gets booed loudly). It’s a pretty funny match as despite Stephanie’s warning to work together, Kevin Owens refused to tag Reigns and only did so when it benefited him.

The match featured some nice moves. Cesaro did a cockscrew dive over the top rope. In the end, Sheamus hits a Brogue Kick on Owens but then Reigns spears Sheamus and pulls an unconscious Owens on top of Sheamus for the pin.

Promo follows with Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins and Chris Jericho with Jericho trying to make up with the guys by giving them presents. Yes, scarf’s:)..Rollins tells Jericho that he’s not a scarf guy and Strowman tells Jericho that he wants his scarf. After Jericho tells Strowman that it’s a $750 scarf, he gives in and hands it to Braun, only to have Braun rip it up right in front of Jericho.

Next up is Sami Zayn verses Bo Dallas, who apparently had an altercation “earlier in the day”. It’s quick work here as Zayn suplexes Dallas into the corner and then hits the Helluva Kick for the victory.
After the match, Zayn says that he doesn’t care who he faces at SURVIVOR SERIES, (Ziglar or Miz) the Intercontinental Title is coming home to RAW.

Brian Kendrick, the WWE Cruiserweight Champ is trying to address all the Cruiserweights in the dressing room and assure them that they have nothing to worry about in the SURVIVOR SERIES match against Kalisto for control of the Cruiserweight division. I personally think, there’s no way Kendrick loses but SMACKDOWN couldn’t do any worse than RAW has with the Cruiserweights.

Then the WWE Tag Team champs, The New Day are taking on in a six man match, Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho and Seth Rollins. The formula for this match is pretty simple. When Jericho and Rollins are in, the match is even but when Strowman is in, he rules. The end comes as Jericho throws Xavier Woods into a Strowman powerslam after Strowman has layed out the other New Day members outside the ring.

Dressing Room Promo is up next with Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley, who’s interrupted by the advocate, Paul Heyman, who’s plugging Lesnar verses Goldberg. Afterward, Foley is on his phone asking to have all security possible for the Lesnar/Goldberg face to face meeting later in the evening.

Another promo follows as Sasha Banks and WWE Women’s champ, Charlotte are in the dressing room bickering as well with the announcer’s wondering if they can pull it together for SURVIVOR SERIES.

WWE Cruiserweight Champ Brian Kendrick is up next facing his SURVIVOR SERIES opponent Kalisto’s goof friend, Sin Cara. It featured some good wrestling and the high flying of Sin Cara but ends as Kendrick captures Sin Cara in the Captain’s Hook for the submission.

One of the highlights of the evening is up next as the 10 o’clock hour starts, the face off between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar with Paul Heyman. Eight security guards line the middle of the ring. A couple of questions in my mind are answered as Goldberg finally appears in a muscle shirt rather than full garb from head to toe. Is he smaller? Yes, but still looks pretty good for someone who hasn’t been in ring for 12 years. Do I think he has a chance against Lesnar? Nope…zip, zero, nada.

Anyway, while it’s announced as a Goldberg/Lesnar face off, it’s more Goldberg/Heyman and Heyman plays his role well. He plays the crowd and Goldberg interrupts every time Heyman tries to speak and raises the intensity with Heyman mentions Goldberg’s family.

It ends with Lesnar shoving guards down and then Goldberg taking out the other six and challenging Lesnar to get in the ring. Lesnar teases it but walks out with Heyman, sufficiently wetting the appetite for Sunday’s contest.

The following match pits Charlotte and Sasha Banks tagging together..sort of…against Alicia Fox and Nia Jax. Ok, let’s get one thing straight. Jax is being promoted as the female Braun Strowman, and that’s fine, but she’s not in Charlotte or Sasha’s league, at least not yet.
Nia dominates when she’s in but the end comes as Banks captures Fox in the Banks Statement as Charlotte boots Jax out of the ring. Bayley tries to hug it out afterwards, but Charlotte will have none of that.

Dressing room promo is next with Mick Foley still pumping the RAW 5 for the SURVIVOR SERIES match.

An eight man match is next with Enzo, Big Cass, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson facing the Golden Truth and the Shining Stars. The only redeeming quality was that after Gallows and Anderson hit the Magic Killer on Epico, they teased tagging in Enzo for a rocket laucher finisher but then pin Epico themselves.

Lastly, it’s Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley in ring and they’re joined by SMACKDOWN Commissioner Shane McMahon, who’s on the SMACKDOWN team and General Manager Daniel Bryan and after some back and forth between them, Stephanie says she has a surprise and calls out the RAW team. They surround Shane and Daniel Bryan who tells the RAW team that they didn’t come alone and calls out the SMACKDOWN team to join them.

Predictably, a brawl ensues and the SMACKDOWN team get put out of the ring. After all, it is the RAW show. Tune into the SMACKDOWN column for more SURVIVOR SERIES hype, I’m sure..and SURVIVOR SERIES predictions!