{"id":117023,"date":"2022-11-28T16:04:18","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T21:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=117023"},"modified":"2022-11-28T16:04:18","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T21:04:18","slug":"survivor-series-wargames-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/11\/28\/survivor-series-wargames-takeaways\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Count &#8211; Survivor Series: WarGames Takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BOSTON &#8211; TD Bank Garden hosts the 36th annual Survivor Series premium live event in the hallowed halls of Titletown USA.\u00a0Five matches, two championships decided and the main roster debut of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/11\/26\/preview-wwe-survivor-series-wargames-11-26-22\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">WarGames<\/a> twenty years after the debut of its spiritual successor, the Elimination Chamber, Survivor Series hasn\u2019t felt this important since 2016 when the second brand spilt happened.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the event&#8217;s bullet points in this edition of the 3 Count.<\/p>\n<h3>1.) The Women\u2019s Match Effectively Set up Rivalries for Raw<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Becky Lynch returns as the fifth member of Belair\u2019s WarGames team: SmackDown, Nov. 25, 2022\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gJwLJ81NACc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If you think about it, Becky Lynch\u2019s return has given us the audience a lot of possibilities for the future of the Raw Women\u2019s division.<\/p>\n<p>This match effectively told a story that will more than likely highlight a few matchups that would give the Raw viewing audience some fresh rivalries, while rekindling old ones.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Lynch vs Rhea Ripley. A match that we haven\u2019t seen before. It would be a first-time match that could potentially be a feature WrestleMania-worthy match for sure.<\/p>\n<p>Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley<\/p>\n<p>For Judgment Day\u2019s sake, a faction can gain control with title gold. Imperium has the Intercontinental Championship, Damage CTRL has the Women\u2019s Tag Team Championships, Toxic Attraction has the NXT Women\u2019s Championship and The Bloodline with the Undisputed Tag and World Championships and with Triple H\u2019s heavy emphasis on factions, it\u2019s pretty easy for the faction to gain traction with gold in their group ranks.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, as of right now. The only viable option for the red brand to face champion Belair would be Ripley. They hadn\u2019t had a legit one-on-one matchup since Takeover: Portland back in 2020, and have teased various matches and rivalries as well. It would be a good time to get some traction on this rivalry.<\/p>\n<p>Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Cross<\/p>\n<p>This was a pivotal part of the matchup as Alexa Bliss sacrificed herself while Cross was trying to handcuff Bliss. Alexa ultimately handcuffed herself to Nikki to neutralize the advantage between the two teams. The history between the two and the past betrayal shows some true continuity between past storylines and the parties involved.<\/p>\n<h3>2.) Austin Theory Winning Was The ONLY Logical Decision<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Forget the past - Austin Theory is &quot;The Now&quot;: WWE Digital Exclusive, Nov. 26, 2022\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uzKl_kjr_7M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After losing the Money in the Bank, Austin Theory started his recovery phase in this new chapter of his career.<\/p>\n<p>Explaining the rationale of why he cashed in on Seth Rollins, and why not The Bloodline was the best way to establish the Money in the Bank briefcase, maintain the importance of the United States Championship and give the Money in the Bank a hard reset on a near two-decade long tradition.<\/p>\n<p>Theory defeating Lashley and Rollins, despite circumstances of controversy, is still a big win and established him as a top heel for the Raw brand alongside Judgment Day and Damage CTRL.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/11\/15\/longest-wwe-title-reigns-championship\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Pro Wrestling Records: Longest WWE Title Reigns by Championship<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Kick-Out: Smackdown\u2019s Women\u2019s Division is Lackluster<\/h3>\n<p>Smackdown\u2019s Women\u2019s division is in trouble. For the \u201cmoney brand\u201d due to its Fox deal, the Blue Brand outside of Ronda Rousey is severely lacking in notable names on the brand.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing against Shotzi by any means, Shotzi is a talented individual and a great hand. But with Smackdown being on Fox a basic cable network, Smackdown does cater to the casual fan base and Shotzi is indeed a more hardcore indie-based wrestler.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from Ronda and Natalya, not many people really know the likes of Shotzi, Raquel Rodriguez, Xia Li &amp; Lacey Evans, all former NXT mainstays in their own right. However, if you aren\u2019t familiar with the past NXT product, the casual fan wouldn\u2019t understand the importance of them and why they should care, unfortunately.<\/p>\n<p>Granted, the initial brand split in 2016 did have that issue at first but the difference was then having Naomi, Natalya and Nikki Bella who appeared on Total Divas which was WWE&#8217;s attempt at a crossover appealing reality television series.<\/p>\n<p>Smackdown desperately needs a big name to make the people care, as Ronda Rousey being the champion is more of a big fish in a small pond without any viable contenders for Ronda unless a Charlotte Flair returns, or a Sasha Banks return or a Toxic Attraction call up. Until<br \/>\nOne of those things happens, this lack of name value hurts Smackdown like it is, currently.<\/p>\n<h3>3.) The Main Event = Storytelling Personified<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sami Zayn&#039;s emotional ride with The Bloodline: Survivor Series: WarGames (WWE Network Exclusive)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cj0jZ8VyBJc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s crazy to think that in a match that has the Worlds Champion, and three viable contenders for said championship, the central story is based on Sami Zayn.<\/p>\n<p>The writers did a magnificent job of explaining the story and how Sami\u2019s loyalty to The Bloodline is the pivotal factor behind the match. From Roman\u2019s backstage interactions with Jey Uso and Sami himself, to the coating of Kevin Owens a victory for his team, the storyline was a night-long plot point which rewarded the fans for being invested in Sami.<\/p>\n<p>Sami during this story has managed to be rooted for as the biggest face in the company yet to have the empathy of the fans as well due to being a part of a heel faction. The hug from Jey was the satisfying part of the ending, with the \u201cHonorary Uce\u201d finally getting the entire Bloodline on his side. It was a multi-month journey that the fans had to endure and it was paid off as a new chapter in the story with Royal Rumble season coming along and potentially adding a fourth viable championship contender to the main event scene as we await\u00a0 Zayn\u2019s inevitable moment of getting betrayed.<\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0for more on this and other wrestling stories worldwide as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the important news in the wrestling world and provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. Additionally, you can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">WWE Network<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Peacock<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BOSTON &#8211; TD Bank Garden hosts the 36th annual Survivor Series premium live event in the hallowed halls of Titletown USA.\u00a0Five matches, two championships decided and the main roster debut of WarGames twenty years after the debut of its spiritual successor, the Elimination Chamber, Survivor Series hasn\u2019t felt this important since 2016 when the second [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2484,"featured_media":116995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,25,3],"tags":[168,163,1445,762,3041,1284,106,325,1135,8481],"class_list":["post-117023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-raw","category-wwe-universe","tag-alexa-bliss","tag-becky-lynch","tag-bianca-belair","tag-nikki-cross","tag-rhea-ripley","tag-ronda-rousey","tag-sami-zayn","tag-survivor-series","tag-austin-theory","tag-wargames"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2484"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}