Survivor Series Observations
Survivor Series: The stars shone bright, deep in the heart of Texas
Nov 20, 2017, 2:22 pm
Survivor Series closed with an eventful Men’s 5-on-5 match. Photo by WWE.com
Toyota Center was the home for Survivor Series last night, and the talent showed just why this event is considered one of “the big four”.
There were some fun matches on the pre-show, but once the main card got started, there was no slowing down.
The Shield took on The New Day in a match between the two most important factions of this generation. Of course, Kofi and The New Day made jokes about “neutering” The Hounds of Justice, but The Shield got the last laugh when they Triple Power Bombed him from the middle rope to win the match. Everything considered, this match lived up to its hype. Could it have been better? Probably, but it did its job setting up the rest of the show.
The first of the two 5-on-5 matches saw the Raw women’s team defeat that of SmackDown. From Becky Lynch being the first wrestler eliminated to Tamina coming out looking like the strongest woman on the blue team, this match was full of surprises. The big star of this match was, of course, Asuka. The Empress of Tomorrow submitted both the former SmackDown champion, Natalya, and the woman who contributed to three eliminations, Tamina, for her team to win the match.
Baron Corbin’s victory over The Miz was the first win for SmackDown Live for the night. Afterwards, he mocked Miz and the fans saying that he shut all of them up.
The Bar and The Usos faced off in another clash of champions. Personally, this match was one of the ones I was looking forward to the most. These two tag teams have developed great characters and have, without a doubt, earned their respective Tag Team Championships. The false finishes sold the match, and the ultimate payoff was the diving tag by The Usos that sealed their win.
Charlotte took on Alexa Bliss in the match between the two women’s champions. Bliss attempted to go for the Twisted Bliss, but she would miss and end up submitting to Charlotte. This win gave SmackDown the lead over Raw three wins to two.
That score, and considering who he was facing, made it obvious AJ Styles was going to lose his match against Brock Lesnar. That being said, this match delivered. Of course, Lesnar dominated the early parts, but Styles saw an opening and completely took over. Unfortunately for him, he went to the cookie jar one time too many, as he was caught midair by Lesnar who, then, put him over his shoulders and hit him with an F5 to win the match.
Survivor Series closed with the Traditional Men’s 5-on-5 match. Entrance after entrance, the crowd erupted for the participants of this match. They kept fans on the edge by teasing them with different face-offs. Strowman eliminated both Nakamura and Roode and things got rolling for the Raw team. The tension between partners like Samoa Joe and Finn Balor, or Angle and Triple H, caused them to get in each other’s way. Eventually, Shane McMahon was the final competitor left for SmackDown. He faced the tough task of trying to win against Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Braun Strowman. Triple H got frustrated with Angle’s inability to put away McMahon, so he hit him with a Pedigree and placed McMahon on top of him. Once Angle was eliminated, Triple H took matters into his own hands and eliminated McMahon to win the match for Team Raw. His partner, Braun Strowman, was not impressed with Triple H's actions. Strowman hit him with two Running PowerSlams to close out the show. After Survivor Series was off air, Stephanie McMahon came out to help her husband back up after Strowman’s attack. To the delight of the crowd, Triple H could not stand up straight, and eventually crashed into a teleprompter.
Highlight of the night
Braun Strowman was not having any of Triple H’s shenanigans. Him Powerslaming his teammate was awesome. Triple H’s commitment after the show, though, was the moment that went viral. His commitment to sell Strowman’s attack led to him throwing himself into a teleprompter. It was truly memorable.
Survivor Series proved to be a good show. Although there was never a real moment where it felt like it peaked, there was more than enough to remember this show by. What sticks out the most to me is how much this proves to fans the brand split that started in 2016 is still working. Matches like The Bar vs The Usos, or Charlotte vs Alexa Bliss showed us how far these entertainers have come since then. The Usos would have never grown their “Uso Penitentiary” characters without the brand split. The Bar would never exist, period. Alexa Bliss’ rise probably does not happen as quickly as it did without the brand split. The fact of the matter is, having two brands has allowed the two shows to develop new stars, and those new stars helped Survivor Series feel as important as it did.
Monday Night Raw will be live from Toyota Center tonight. If you haven’t bought tickets, you should. The post Pay-Per-View Raw’s always deliver, tonight should be no exception.
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Astros keep doing this, and it’s getting hard to ignore
Jun 25, 2025, 10:01 pm
While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.
The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.
Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.
As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.
The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.
VanVleet signs extension
Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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