WWE Survivor Series 2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s annual review of WWE Survivor Series, which for the third consecutive year was themed around the concept of WarGames! And for the second consecutive year, the WINC staff is here to give you our opinions on all the happenings of WWE's most team-heavy PLE. And yes, we do mean all the happenings — the nice thing about five-match PLE cards is that we can cover pretty much the entire show in one column. That means we're talking women's WarGames, Shinsuke Nakamura's surprise US title win, the standout Intercontinental title match, the re-ignition of hostilities between Damian Priest and Finn Balor, and of course, that good Bloodline drama in the main event.

Of course, just because we're covering everything here, doesn't mean you shouldn't go check out our Survivor Series results page, especially if you haven't seen the show and don't know what happened! If you have, though, and you want to know what we thought about it, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about WWE Survivor Series 2024.

I have to start out by saying I didn't dislike the in-ring work of all of these incredible women who opened the PLE with a spot fest of a WarGames match — and I say "spot fest" lovingly, because I really enjoy matches like that, as a kid from the Attitude Era. However, Saturday night, and honestly all nights we had of shows building up to this match, my issue was with the storytelling. I think we only had a women's WarGames match just because we have to now to match the men's. That doesn't necessarily bother me, especially as a woman myself, but when the storytelling isn't there, it's pretty bad. Now that we've had the first women's WarGames match and years of them to follow, I think it's time to either not do one every year, or build up the stories a lot better to get there in a way that makes sense to make the match more enjoyable – and same for men's stipulations, of course. All of that aside, this match had the potential to create new stories between these women, and it just... Didn't.

Both champions were in the match, WWE Women's Champion Nia Jax and Women's World Champion Liv Morgan, as well as Miss Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton. Stratton had a very brief, fleeting moment where when both champions were down, she went to the trash can she brought into the ring to retrieve her briefcase, but of all people, she let Raquel Rodriguez, who she has no relationship with, distract her. I suppose there's still a story there with Stratton and the briefcase and her impending cash-in, but the story of her and Jax teasing dissension and the awful ways Jax treats her is getting old extremely quickly over on "SmackDown."

Morgan was in the ring with the number one contender to her championship, IYO SKY, and from what I remember in the match, she and SKY didn't go one-on-one at any point. If they did, it certainly wasn't any big spot that was memorable. With no date set for their championship match, that felt like a big missed opportunity. Jax also currently has no contender for her championship, after both Bayley and Naomi lost their chances at the title. Nothing was really teased with her either, not even with any of her teammates for someone to make the jump from "Raw" to "SmackDown" to challenge her. While the women's WarGames match was a great way to start the evening, none of the spots felt extremely memorable this year, outside of course SKY continuing her streak of jumping off the cage while wearing a trash can. While I liked the match, it had absolutely zero implications for any stories on WWE's weekly programs moving forward, and for that, it wasn't my favorite thing on the night.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I one hundred percent did not think a recently-returned Shinsuke Nakamura was defeating "The Mega Star" LA Knight for the United States Championship. I truthfully believed that these two were going into an extended feud of at least three matches – something that Knight has done often and fairly well within his championship reign. I'm happy to admit I was wrong this time around, at least on the Nakamura winning the championship. Things still could go into a series of matches, of course, and I still kind of expect them to. Nakamura picked up a solid victory with a Kinshasa to Knight in a match that wasn't too long, but was just long enough to showcase Nakamura's talent and remind many why he's one of the best to ever do it. His new, darker persona with his dark theme song and face paint really has refreshed him in the WWE scene in such a simple way. "SmackDown" needed some refreshing in its mid-card scene, since the Bloodline story tends to take over the entire show, so I'm hoping Nakamura can bring something new to Friday nights.

I loved this because I've always loved Nakamura, but he's been used so poorly within WWE the last few years, and I was nervous that this feud was going to end up just like the feud he had with Cody Rhodes, where he was just appearing in videos on the tron. I started to gain a little more faith on "SmackDown" when he had a good match against Andrade, then ever-so nonchalantly sprayed Knight with the black mist. Now, my faith in WWE to get Nakamura right this time is even stronger. I'm hoping he holds on to the championship for longer than just a few rematches with Knight where "The Mega Star" takes back the gold. Nakamura deserves a strong run with the championship, and Knight can be built back up to his former white-hot status for any championship at any other time.

Written by Daisy Ruth

In a card with two highly anticipated WarGames matches, it is easy, in theory, for the matches in the middle to fall to the wayside. In practice, however Bron Breakker's Triple Threat Intercontinental Championship defense against Sheamus and Ludwig Kaiser might have been the best match on the card, if not the cleanest.

Breakker, Sheamus, and Kaiser was the third match on the card, shortly after the womens' WarGames match and immediately following LA Knight and Shinsuke Nakamura's United States Championship match. Perhaps the canvas was set for a heightened appreciation of Breakker, Sheamus, and Kaiser's technically pristine wrestling because of the in-ring sloppiness of the last two matches. Where the womens' WarGames match and the United States title defense lacked in clean, precise wrestling, the Intercontinental Championship bout more than made up for in its clear showcase of technique and chemistry between all three participants.

When I say that not one foot was out of place in the Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat, I mean it. Breakker, Sheamus, and Kaiser all showed their skill as they wrestled with expert precision — there were not many, if any, moments where the in-ring illusion was broken because of a weak sell, or a delayed response from one competitor to another. I mean, everything was there: Kaiser pulled out referee Eddie Orengo at just the right moment during Sheamus' near fall to gain gasps and groans of ire from the Vancouver crowd, Sheamus did not waste any time nor effort in his brawl with Kaiser, and Breakker was in the perfect position at the perfect time to deliver a match-ending Spear. Everything fit together in sleek fashion, with Breakker's impressive speed playing amidst Sheamus and Kaiser's impeccable brutality to create a match that combined different styles of wrestling to create a fluid, easy-to-understand match.

That is what makes this match so impressive, especially when placed immediately beside previous two matches. One could easily excuse the clumsiness of the women's WarGames matches to a lack of chemistry or understanding between all ten women — it is really hard to coordinate between ten women who have different experience levels and wrestling styles. One could excuse the lack of synergy in Knight and Nakamura's match to a lack of chemistry between champion and challenger; as Michael Cole noted, Knight could not "get anything going" during his match. Breakker, Sheamus, and Kaiser, however, completely delivered what the women's WarGames and United States Champion matches could not, with multiple people (from completely different wrestling backgrounds, mind you!) involved. This is not to say that the people involved in the preceding two matches should be shamed — again, it is incredibly difficult to communicate among several people, all with different wrestling backgrounds — but instead it is a testament to the hard work and palpable effort that all three men put into this match. They didn't deliver a Match of the Night contender because the other matches were bad; they delivered a Match of the Night contender because they were utterly spectacular.

Bravo.

Written by Angeline Phu

...they want their finish back.

Damian Priest's fight to regain the title of El Campéon from the hands of "The Ring General" GUNTHER was probably one of the least looked-forward-to matches of the night, and unfortunately, there is good reason for that lack of enthusiasm. Priest and GUNTHER's scrap for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship definitely felt like a filler match on the Survivor Series 2024 card, especially when preceded by the Intercontinental Championship's Triple Threat masterclass and just ahead of the highly anticipated men's WarGames match, and a lot of that comes down to the match's sense of deja vu. While Priest and GUNTHER are incredibly talented performers, I swear, Saturday's match used most of — if not the exact same — in-ring spots, the same out-of-ring interference, and the same finish as their SummerSlam 2024 match.

While the build-up to this match was somewhat unique — it was mainly "prime specimen of wrestling" GUNTHER versus "scrappy street rat" Priest, sure, but at least champion was noticeably more insecure than he was four months ago — the match itself was copy and pasted from SummerSlam 2024. If you stripped away the match's identifying features (championship titles, premium live event decor, etc.), and asked someone to just watch the matches back to back, it would be noticeably difficult to tell them apart. Admittedly, you can't expect two wrestlers, however talented they are, to create new movesets in four months' time. That begs the question — why didn't they try harder to differentiate these two matches? Their championship rematch should have more stakes, so why wasn't it a No Disqualification match? The weapons are underneath the ring for WarGames; why wasn't it an Extreme Rules match? Why wasn't there more deliberate action taken to ensure that this match wasn't a carbon copy of their SummerSlam 2024 match, especially when such action was taken (or attempted) in the performance of their feud?

If we're talking about deliberate action, we have to talk about Finn Balor. His match interference is what justifies the SummerSlam 2024, and completely soured the match. Balor came into the match towards the tail end of the contest, with the express intention of harming Priest's championship ambitions. At SummerSlam 2024, Balor put GUNTHER's foot on the rope to cause a rope break, and at Survivor Series 2024, Balor hit Priest with a Coup de Grace — that is the only difference in Balor's contributions. Balor's willingness to directly attack Priest is a result of a shift in their relationship, but we already knew that, so the distinction is pointless at best. It all led to GUNTHER choking out Priest anyway (again, identical to the SummerSlam finish)! Therefore, the Balor interference is, for all intents and purposes, functionally identical between SummerSlam and Survivor Series.

Rematches are often doomed to be boring repeats of their predecessors, but this was an especially bad case of a stale feud. SummerSlam 2024 doesn't just want their finish back — they want their storyline and match back too.

Written by Angeline Phu

Questions and doubts loomed over the cohesion of The Original Bloodline going into WarGames as the "Wise Man" Paul Heyman brought CM Punk into the fold. An alien element in the familial unit, little was known of Punk's intentions going into the bout, teaming with someone he hadn't really historically got along with. But what had been made clear was that this had been a bargain struck with Heyman, promising that their alliance is due to recur somewhere down the line, and sowing a seed of doubt within the mind of "The Original Tribal Chief."

Survivor Series saw a continuation in that vein, with Reigns notably ignorant of his temporary ally as they entered the cage with one another ahead of Jey Uso's entrance. That in itself was a sight to behold, Reigns coming out second to his former "Right Hand Man" and allowing him the spotlight, ascending the double-cage to orchestrate a crowd full of "YEET" chants. It told of an allowance from Reigns to step out of the spotlight, something scarcely seen from his character over recent years, and communicated the level of hard-earned respect from the brothers-turned-rivals-turned-brothers once more. The New Bloodline made use of their Jacob Fatu-earned advantage as the bout gained steam, Solo Sikoa deliberately choosing Fatu as the man to reduce The Usos' advantage over Bronson Reed and Tama Tonga.

By the time Sikoa was in the ring, his team had sustained their dominance and he was allowed to pick the bones, locking Reigns out of the bout and spurring on perhaps the most over-the-top way of bringing the main character into the fold. Reigns climbed the cage, hit a plancha off the top rope as he ran through the entirety of the group. But once again the relationship between Punk and Reigns came to the fore, Reigns inadvertently hitting Punk with a spear that almost looked to have cost them the bout. Alas, Punk affirmed his desire to win – a plot for revenge against Sikoa for hurting Heyman – as he pulled Reigns from a Tsunami off of the top of the cage through a table, and that appeared to endear them as allies if only for a bit. Ultimately, it was Heyman bellowing towards them that directed them at their common foe, much-needed tutelage from the "Wise Man" Punk wants shared custody of, and each of the members of Team Reigns hit their respective finishers on Sikoa while acknowledging their "Tribal Chief."

That included Punk, turning to face Reigns as he hit the GTS, naturally putting Sikoa in the path of the winning spear. To the disappointment of some, Reigns, Punk, and Heyman didn't hold hands skipping over the horizon. But Punk and Reigns did finally shake hands as Heyman gleamed on, giving a somewhat happy if short-lived ending to this chapter. There is obviously much further to go in the wider Bloodline lore, and Sikoa does still have the ulufala, but this was the war it promised to be and created an interesting question: What is this favor that Heyman now owes CM Punk?

Written by Max Everett

While there were a lot of good things happening on the WWE Survivor Series broadcast, by the end I found myself thinking more about the things that didn't happen.

Even though I would love to see Paul Levesque move away from the five-match card thing he's been doing, in theory I have no problem with the idea that not every star or every title is on every show. However, I do think there's such a thing as using your time wisely, and I also think there's some real cognitive dissonance going on around the Bloodline story. Yes, I would have loved to see a second women's match or a tag title match added to a show that probably could have stood to trim some time from a match or three, but what was more worrisome to me on this occasion was the total absence of Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes.

Don't get me wrong, saving their title match for Saturday Night's Main Event makes sense, because you know the men's WarGames match is main-eventing Survivor Series no matter what. But I'm baffled by them not getting anything more on this card than a video package. Not only did the show take place in Owens' home country of Canada (where many Vancouver fans would likely have bought tickets expecting him to appear) but his storyline with Cody is intricately tied with Roman Reigns and The Bloodline. Owens turned on Rhodes entirely over Cody's brief alliance with Reigns; he hospitalized his good friend Randy Orton when Orton appeared to side with Rhodes and not with Owens. And yet on this show, Owens' longest-running friend and tag team partner, Sami Zayn, spent the evening teaming with Reigns in the main event — and not just teaming with him, but fist-bumping him, giving him hugs, treating him like family. This is Owens' oldest and strongest relationship in wrestling doing the thing he hates Cody for doing (less than two years after Zayn chose Owens over The Bloodline and the two of them went to war against Reigns and the Usos, Sami's WarGames partners) and he's just nowhere to be found?

Again, I understand that you can't do everything on the same show. But give me something. A promo segment, a backstage segment, some kind of acknowledgement that the main event WarGames storyline intersects with Owens vs. Rhodes. Hell, you couldn't at least bring out Seth Rollins at some point to acknowledge his history with just about everyone involved in the men's WarGames match? There are other people and other stories with deep roots in the Bloodline Saga, and while the end of the main event was somewhat cathartic, there's no true satisfaction without the inclusion of these other characters. I'm sure we'll probably get all of this stuff, or at least most of it, at some point down the road, but that didn't stop its absence from bringing down my mood a bit on Saturday night.

Written by Miles Schneiderman