WWE Survivor Series 2017 Retro Review: Lesnar vs. AJ Styles, The Shield vs. The New Day and Every Match Rated

WWE Survivor Series 2017 took place on Sunday, November 19, 2017, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, the same city that hosts Survivor Series: WarGames 2026 on November 28. It was the first Survivor Series fully built around brand supremacy: every match on the main card was Raw against SmackDown, every Raw champion faced his or her SmackDown counterpart in a non-title match, and the brands kept score through the night.

Looking back, it is a very strong show from top to bottom. It has a genuinely great dream match, a hot opener, a very good tag team match and a main event that is better than its reputation, even if the ending is all about Triple H. Here is how every match holds up.

The build

• Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles: the original plan was Lesnar against WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, who had challenged him himself. Then, twelve days before the show, Styles beat Mahal for the WWE Championship on SmackDown in Manchester and took his place. Lesnar and Paul Heyman called Styles the ultimate underdog.
• The men's elimination match: SmackDown, led by Commissioner Shane McMahon, invaded Raw in October. Stephanie McMahon made Raw General Manager Kurt Angle captain of Team Raw and said he would be fired if Raw lost. Two weeks before the show, Triple H returned, Pedigreed Angle's on-screen son Jason Jordan and put himself on the team. John Cena, a free agent at the time, joined Team SmackDown.
• The Shield vs. The New Day: The New Day appeared in the crowd during a Raw tag title match, which cost Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins the titles. With Roman Reigns back from an illness, The Shield challenged them.
• Champion vs. champion: The Miz vs. Baron Corbin, Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair (who had won the SmackDown title from Natalya five days earlier), and Cesaro and Sheamus vs. The Usos, a rematch of the final two teams in the 2016 tag team elimination match.

Match by match

Kickoff: Elias vs. Matt Hardy

Elias came out to sing a song insulting Houston, which drew the reaction he wanted, and the match itself was a simple, sensible TV match. Elias worked over Hardy's shoulder, Hardy hit his usual comeback including a Side Effect, and Elias won with Drift Away after sending Hardy's shoulder into the ring post.

What worked: both men knew their roles. Elias was a rising act and needed a clean win over a recognisable name, and he got it.

What didn't: nothing about it felt like Survivor Series. It was a Raw match on a pre-show, and it would not have been out of place on any Monday night.

Our rating: ★★

Kickoff: Cruiserweight Championship: Enzo Amore (c) vs. Kalisto

The only title defence of the night. Enzo used the ring, the ropes and the apron to cut off Kalisto at every turn, and won after Kalisto went face-first into an exposed turnbuckle, setting up the JawdonZo.

What worked: Kalisto's comeback near the end, when he almost hit the Salida del Sol, had a bit of energy.

What didn't: the cruiserweight division was built for fast, athletic matches, and its champion was far less athletic than the rest of the division. Enzo was a good talker, but this was slow and heel-heavy, and the crowd had no reason to care.

Our rating: ★½

Kickoff: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. Breezango

Breezango did their "Fashion Files" routine before the bell, writing Owens and Zayn up for violations. Owens and Zayn, angry about being left off Team SmackDown, were clearly thinking about Shane McMahon. The match was short and fun, with Breezango getting more offence than expected before Owens pulled Zayn out of the way of Fandango's leg drop and finished him with a pop-up powerbomb.

What worked: Owens and Zayn as a team were excellent in late 2017, and they were the best thing on the pre-show.

What didn't: it only existed to remind people that Owens and Zayn were angry, which paid off later in the main event.

Our rating: ★★½

The Shield vs. The New Day

The show opened with a dream match, and it lived up to it. It was the first match with all three original members of The Shield together since 2014, against one of the most popular teams in WWE, and the Houston crowd was loud from the start.

The New Day isolated Dean Ambrose for long stretches, hitting him with Unicorn Stampedes and a Big E spear through the ropes to the floor. They also pulled off a very creative spot: Kofi Kingston leapt off the top rope over Big E, who was on Xavier Woods' shoulders, for a splash onto Ambrose. Big E then hit a double Midnight Hour on Ambrose and Rollins that looked like the finish until Reigns speared him to break the pin.

From there it became a sprint of big moves and near falls, and The Shield won after a triple powerbomb from the second rope on Kingston, with Ambrose getting the pin.

What worked: almost everything. Six great performers, a match that told the simple story of The New Day's teamwork against The Shield's power, and an ending that gave The Shield their signature move with an extra twist.

What didn't: at 21 minutes it ran a touch long in the middle, and The New Day did most of the creative work while The Shield won.

Our rating: ★★★★

Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (women)

Team Raw: Alicia Fox (captain), Sasha Banks, Bayley, Asuka and Nia Jax. Team SmackDown: Becky Lynch (captain), Naomi, Carmella, Natalya and Tamina.

The first elimination was a surprise. Bayley rolled up Becky Lynch, the SmackDown captain, within minutes. SmackDown answered through Tamina, who pinned Bayley and then took Jax out with superkicks and a splash off the steps to get her counted out. Naomi rolled up Fox, Banks made Naomi tap to the Bank Statement, and Asuka kicked Carmella in the head after Carmella slapped her.

Natalya then made Banks tap to the Sharpshooter with help from Tamina, leaving Asuka alone against two. She made Tamina tap to an armbar and Natalya tap to the Asuka Lock to win as the sole survivor.

What worked: the last few minutes. Asuka was still unbeaten on the main roster, and the match built to her being left alone and winning anyway. Tamina was used well as SmackDown's muscle.

What didn't: the captain of SmackDown was eliminated with a roll-up in the opening minutes, which said a lot about how WWE saw Lynch at the time, and some of the middle eliminations came too quickly to mean anything.

Our rating: ★★★

The Miz vs. Baron Corbin

The Intercontinental Champion against the United States Champion, with Maryse back at ringside and The Miztourage, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, getting involved. Corbin taunted Maryse, Miz got angry, and Corbin eventually took out The Miztourage himself and won with End of Days. He then told the crowd he had shut everyone up.

What worked: it was short and it made Corbin look strong, which was the point.

What didn't: two good talkers had a match with no real heat, the outside interference added nothing, and the result felt random on a night when the scoreboard was supposed to matter.

Our rating: ★★

Cesaro and Sheamus vs. The Usos

One of the defining tag team rivalries of 2017 got one more chapter. The Usos and The Bar had wrestled each other many times that year, and it showed in how smoothly they worked together. The near falls were the best part: Cesaro locked Jey in a Sharpshooter while Sheamus hit Jimmy with a Brogue Kick, an echo of the 2016 Survivor Series, but Jey crawled to the ropes. The Bar's attempt at a Doomsday Device-style move off the top was reversed into a Samoan drop.

The finish was all Usos: a double superkick on Cesaro, kicks that dropped Sheamus to his knees, a suicide dive by Jimmy and a top-rope splash by Jey for the win.

What worked: fast, crisp and exciting, with real drama in the last five minutes. It is a match that holds up very well.

What didn't: it was one of several matches these teams had that year, and some of the ideas will feel familiar if you watched the others.

Our rating: ★★★½

Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair

A strong singles match between the two women who had been the faces of their brands in 2017. Bliss worked on Flair's ribs, dumped her to the floor twice and had an answer for almost every comeback. Flair fought back with a powerbomb, Bliss kicked out of Natural Selection and moved away from the moonsault, and Flair got her foot on the rope after Bliss' DDT. Flair won with the Figure-Eight.

What worked: Bliss was a better in-ring heel than she often got credit for, and the rib work gave the match a clear story. Flair looked like the star she was.

What didn't: the opponent changed only five days before the show, and the build was thin as a result. It never quite felt like a big match until the last few minutes.

Our rating: ★★★

Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles

This is the match people remember the show for, and it deserves it. Lesnar started like he always did against smaller opponents, throwing Styles across the ring, hitting a big German suplex and a running knee in the corner. Then he missed a second knee, crashed into the turnbuckle, and everything changed.

Styles went after Lesnar's knee with quick strikes and kicks, landed a springboard 450 splash for a close two count, and kept slipping out of the F-5. The best moment came when he turned an F-5 attempt into the Calf Crusher, and for a few seconds it looked like Lesnar might tap. Lesnar broke it by slamming Styles' head into the mat, Styles slipped another F-5 for a Phenomenal Forearm, and then, on his second try at the Forearm, Lesnar caught him in mid-air and finished him with the F-5.

What worked: everything. It was a perfect underdog story. Styles came close enough that the crowd believed, Lesnar was made to look vulnerable without looking weak, and the finish turned Styles' biggest move into his downfall. Lesnar limped to the back afterwards, which told you how hard the fight had been.

What didn't: honestly, very little. Some fans wanted Styles to win, but the loss did not hurt him at all.

Our rating: ★★★★½

Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (men)

Team Raw: Kurt Angle (captain), Braun Strowman, Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe and Triple H. Team SmackDown: Shane McMahon (captain), Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura and John Cena.

Strowman was the star of the first half. He pinned Nakamura and Roode with running powerslams, and Team SmackDown had to work together to put him through an announce table. Cena then eliminated Samoa Joe after Joe and Bálor argued, and hit him with two Attitude Adjustments to get SmackDown on the board. Angle, who had been Cena's opponent in his WWE debut in 2002, took a few moves and then put Cena away with the Angle Slam after a Coup de Grâce from Bálor. Orton caught Bálor with an RKO out of nowhere, and Strowman powerslammed Orton after Owens and Zayn attacked Shane at ringside.

That left Shane alone against Angle, Strowman and Triple H. With Angle's Ankle Lock locked on Shane, Triple H Pedigreed his own captain and put Shane on top for the pin. Then he Pedigreed Shane and won the match for Raw. A confused Strowman grabbed Triple H by the throat after the bell and later powerslammed him twice.

What worked: Strowman was booked like a monster and the crowd loved him. Angle vs. Cena was a nice moment, Orton's RKO on Bálor was well timed, and the match moved at a good pace for over 30 minutes.

What didn't: the last five minutes made the story about Triple H instead of Strowman or Angle. Turning on his own captain made little sense, since Raw won either way. The Owens and Zayn interference also felt like it belonged to another story.

Our rating: ★★★½

Our verdict

Survivor Series 2017 is a very good show. The opener and Lesnar vs. Styles both still hold up as excellent matches, the tag team match is excellent, and the main event works for most of its length. The weak spots are short pre-show matches and a forgettable Miz vs. Corbin match, which is a small price to pay. The scoreboard concept also worked better than you might expect, giving most matches a little extra weight.

If you only have time for a few, watch The Shield vs. The New Day, The Usos vs. The Bar and Lesnar vs. Styles.

Overall: ★★★★ (4 out of 5)

Star ratings for every match

What happened next

• Raw won brand supremacy 4-3, and Angle kept his job. The next night on Raw, Roman Reigns beat The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship, completing the Grand Slam.
• Strowman's feud with Kane led to a triple threat with Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the 2018 Royal Rumble, which Lesnar won.
• Styles kept the WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal at Clash of Champions in December.
• The Riott Squad debuted on SmackDown and Paige returned on Raw with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, and in December WWE announced the first women's Royal Rumble match.
• A year later, Survivor Series 2018 kept the brand supremacy format. Read our Survivor Series 2018 retro review.

More retro reviews

Other classic shows we have revisited, rated out of 5:

• Survivor Series 2018: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), Lesnar vs. Bryan and Rousey vs. Flair
• Survivor Series 2019: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Raw vs. SmackDown vs. NXT and a star-making night for Keith Lee
• Survivor Series 2020: ★★★ (3 out of 5), Reigns vs. McIntyre and The Undertaker's Final Farewell
• WrestleMania 30: ★★★★½ (4.5 out of 5), Daniel Bryan's night in New Orleans
• WrestleMania 31: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Seth Rollins' heist and Sting vs. Triple H
• Survivor Series 2021: ★★★ (3 out of 5), the last Raw vs. SmackDown Survivor Series, with Lynch vs. Flair and Reigns vs. Big E
• Survivor Series: WarGames 2022: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), the first WarGames Survivor Series and Sami Zayn's big night
• Survivor Series: WarGames 2023: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Randy Orton's return and CM Punk's comeback in Chicago
• Survivor Series: WarGames 2024: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), Reigns and CM Punk on the same side in Vancouver
• Survivor Series: WarGames 2025: ★★★ (3 out of 5), the first stadium Survivor Series and John Cena's last PLE match
• WrestleMania XL: ★★★★½ (4.5 out of 5), two nights in Philadelphia, The Rock and the end of the Bloodline story
• WrestleMania 39: ★★★★½ (4.5 out of 5), two nights in Hollywood and Reigns vs. Rhodes, part one
• Crown Jewel 2025: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Cena vs. AJ Styles in Perth
• SummerSlam 2025: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), the first two-night SummerSlam and John Cena's last one
• Money in the Bank 2016: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Cena vs. AJ, a great ladder match and Reigns vs. Rollins
• Crown Jewel 2021: ★★★★ (4 out of 5), Hell in a Cell and a loaded card
• WrestleMania 41: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), Cena's farewell year and a Heyman story in Las Vegas
• WrestlePalooza 2025: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), the first WWE show on ESPN, with Lesnar vs. Cena
• Crown Jewel 2022: ★★★½ (3.5 out of 5), Reigns vs. Logan Paul and a Last Woman Standing match
• Crown Jewel 2024: ★★½ (2.5 out of 5), the first Crown Jewel Championships
• Crown Jewel 2023: ★★½ (2.5 out of 5), Rollins vs. McIntyre and Reigns vs. LA Knight
• Crown Jewel 2019: ★★ (2 out of 5), celebrities and the first women's match in Saudi Arabia
• Crown Jewel 2018: ★½ (1.5 out of 5), the first one, and the World Cup

See them all on our Retro Reviews page, every sole survivor in our Survivor Series sole survivors list, and the card for Houston in our Survivor Series: WarGames 2026 guide.