Tim Fiorvanti recaps every match on Sunday's WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view card, which takes place from The Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Senior stats analyst Sean Coyle offers ratings worth a maximum of five points. Criteria for ratings is based on storytelling, in-ring execution, match psychology, timing and innovation -- worth up to one point each.
The following is updated in real time.
5-on-5 women's elimination match: Team Raw def. Team SmackDown (17:30)
[Rosters: Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Nia Jax and Alicia Fox for Raw; Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Natalya, Naomi and Carmella for SmackDown Live.]
Bayley was the first person to enter the ring, and her entrance set the tone for an interesting series of reactions from the crowd. Everything went smoothly for the first nine entrances, before Nikki Bella didn't come out for hers. After about 30 seconds, the camera cut to backstage, where a mystery assailant had laid out Bella. SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan and erstwhile coach Natalya were standing there, and in a pinch, Natalya stepped in for the team. This certainly set the stage for a longer-term story going forward on SmackDown, but it also was a bit disappointing, as there was no continuation to the Charlotte Flair-Bella tension from SmackDown Live
Alternating chants for each team filled the arena in the early stages, with Carmella and Alica Fox opening the match. Carmella hit a nice spinning head scissors to get the first major piece of offense in. We then got a Bayley versus Becky Lynch tease, only for Charlotte to tag herself in, followed shortly by Sasha Banks tagging herself in and a complete breakdown in the middle of the ring.
Nia Jax continued to show her unmatched physicality in dominating several members of the SmackDown team, but immediately upon her tagging out the team lost control. Fox hit a scissors kick on Carmella to gain the first elimination. Alexa Bliss immediately charged into the ring, sent Fox into the ring post and then hit a Bliss Flip from the top rope to eliminate Fox.
Naomi continued to prove her willingness to lay it all out with high-flying moves with a top rope cross-body onto Jax, who was standing on the outside. Even after hitting it, Jax laid her out and, as the Toronto crowd feverishly chanted "10" (as they did Saturday for NXT's Tye Dillinger), Naomi was the next one out, via countout.
With some interference and an assist from Bliss, Natalya earned the first major shocker of the night, when she rolled up Banks for a three count, leaving the match 3-on-3.
Natalya also slapped on the sharpshooter against Charlotte, but immediately ate a massive clothesline from the Raw women's champion and fell to a three-count. Bliss tagged herself in, and she and Lynch had a shoving match before the teammates attempted to line up Jax for a double suplex. But Jax reversed it and suplexed both Bliss and Lynch at the same time. Lynch eventually caught Jax in a Disarmer for the submission fall to eliminate Raw's biggest threat, but Jax laid out Lynch and forced Bliss to tag in. Bliss ate a massive boot from Flair and became the next pinfall victim.
This left Flair and Bayley on one side against Lynch by herself, and the two WWE women's champions had a lengthy back-and-forth. Bayley broke up a pinfall on Flair at the very last minute and then had her own stretch against Lynch, while Flair recovered in the corner. After dodging several attempts for a Disarmer, Bayley caught Lynch with a Bayley-to-Belly suplex to pick up the victory for her team. Flair then laid out Bayley for a perceived affront and immediately shed the last elements of brand loyalty in the most brutal fashion imaginable.
Sole survivors: Bayley and Charlotte.
WWE Intercontinental championship: The Miz (c) def. Sami Zayn by pinfall (14:05)
In the first of two interpromotional title matches, Zayn received a massive reaction from the crowd in his first major event in his home country of Canada since joining the WWE, which included both a sing-along with his entrance theme and "Ole" chants that rang out throughout the match.
It was a bit of a shock to the system to see The Miz up against anyone other than Dolph Ziggler, but the early stages of the match felt familiar for anyone who has watched SmackDown Live over the last few months. Maryse inserted herself by pulling The Miz out of harm's way once, but Zayn scored a creative bit of offense when he jumped up on the ring barrier and hit a moonsault soon after. When Maryse got up in Zayn's face, he used her patented hand taunt, only to eat a chop block from The Miz for his troubles.
The Miz once again used Daniel Bryan's signature offense with a double stomp to the back of Zayn's knees, followed later by running dropkicks in the corner and kicks to Zayn's chest. The match then settled into a familiar pattern; Zayn kept fighting his way back into things, but Miz countered with something sneaky and underhanded to regain the edge. A hobbling tope con hilo over the top rope to The Miz on the outside gave Zayn a brief edge and another big spot to hang his hat on, but several attempts at a Blue Thunder Bomb were stifled and things eventually turned back in The Miz's favor.
Zayn successfully hit the Blue Thunder Bomb for the first true near-fall of the match, but kept favoring his leg. He hit an exploder to set The Miz up for a Helluva Kick, but missed and immediately got put into a Figure Four leg lock in the middle of the ring. The hold was locked in for well over a minute, with Zayn selling it hard, but he eventually turned it over and reversed it to put the pressure back on Miz.
As it has almost every time he has done it, the final kick missed for Miz and Zayn slapped on a Figure Four of his own. As Miz sat in the middle of the ring, seemingly seconds from giving up, the bell started ringing in a moment somewhat reminiscent of the "Montreal Screwjob." It was actually Maryse hitting the bell, though, so as Zayn let go of the hold in apparent celebration, The Miz rolled him up and held the tights to pick up a three count and retain his title.
10-on-10 tag team elimination match: Team Raw def. Team SmackDown Live (18:55)
[Rosters: The New Day, Sheamus and Cesaro, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, and The Shining Stars for Raw; Heath Slater and Rhyno, The Hype Bros, American Alpha, The Usos and Breezango for SmackDown Live.]
Enzo and Cass opened up the second traditional Survivor Series match and got the crowd on their side by name-dropping Tim Hortons. The New Day also got a little bit of time, but used to it to try to get the somewhat hokey "Team Raw Rocks" chant over to mixed results. Team SmackDown was a bit more silent, with Slater and Rhyno walking out first to a big reaction and American Alpha closing out the entrances to a similarly big pop.
Fandango made the quickest of exits when he focused too much on giving out tickets as part of the fashion police and immediately got hit with The New Day's finisher, Midnight Hour, to eliminate Breezango. But it wasn't going to end well for The New Day on this night, as all three members mocked Breezango and allowed Jimmy Uso to hit Kofi Kingston from behind and pin him for the sudden elimination, that did a lot to balance out these seemingly imbalanced squads.
The action slowed for a bit, as most tag team duos took turns getting in some offense. Gallows and Anderson took control back for Team Raw by hitting Zack Ryder with the Magic Killer to eliminate the Hype Bros.
Chad Gable entered the ring for SmackDown and spent a surprisingly long stretch selling, but eventually Jason Jordan tagged in and, in concert, American Alpha hit an Electric Chair and bulldog combo to eliminate Primo and Epico. A complete breakdown led to two of the most popular teams in the WWE -- Slater and Rhyno and Enzo and Cass -- to throw down in the middle of the ring.
Then there were several consecutive spots where guys got thrown onto the assembled crowd outside. Big Cass threw Enzo onto everyone outside of the ring before booting Rhyno onto the crowd. Slater then did a stage dive and Gable did a flip. There was also a crazy sequence where a Cesaro spin got turned into a crazy roll followed by a deadlift German suplex by Gable, but the tide quickly turned against SmackDown.
A Magic Killer on Jordan led to American Alpha's elimination, and things seemed bleak for Team SmackDown with only Slater and Rhyno and The Usos left until Team Raw started falling apart. A gore on Gallows eliminated him and Karl Anderson, but Enzo and Cass quickly hit Air Enzo on Rhyno to get Team SmackDown down to their last tag team. The Usos dispatched Enzo and Cass, though, with a superkick and a Samoan splash, and it left the unlikely pairing of Cesaro and Sheamus to take on The Usos for the honor of sole survivors
Both teams fought for a lengthy stretch, with Sheamus hitting a crazy avalanche White Noise off the top rope only to eat a splash from Jey Uso. Cesaro broke it up and then took control by running all over the ring and hitting uppercuts. A Tequila Sunrise attempt on Cesaro nearly got the win, but Cesaro turned it over and slapped on a sharpshooter to the delight of the Canadian audience (and likely his former tag team partner, Tyson Kidd). It was nearly broken up, but a Brogue Kick save from Sheamus allowed Cesaro to earn the submission final fall for Team Raw.
Sole survivors: Cesaro and Sheamus.
WWE cruiserweight championship: Brian Kendrick (c) def. Kalisto by DQ (12:25)
With no stereotypical "popcorn matches" on this card, the early stages of Kendrick and Kalisto suffered from a good chunk in the crowd heading to the snack bars and restrooms of The Air Canada Centre. Both men tried their best to get the crowd into things early, with Kalisto throwing himself out of the ring and back into it as part of his offense, and Kendrick countering with a suplex and some strikes.
A Sliced Bread miss fed right into a Salida Del Sol miss, but Kendrick took control by trapping Kalisto between the ringpost and steel steps and kicking the steps. Kalisto stumbled back into the ring, but Kendrick went to work and didn't allow for an inch of breathing room as he battered and choked Kalisto all over the ring. He nearly locked in his signature Bully Choke, but Kalisto fought him off.
The crowd seemingly woke up when Kalisto grabbed Kendrick and hit a Spanish Fly from the apron, as both men flipped to the outside with Kendrick taking the worst of it. Kalisto nearly hit a Salida Del Sol from the top rope, but Kendrick reversed it and flipped Kalisto over from his neck to lock in the Bully Choke. Despite rolling it over to get Kalisto away from the ropes, the title challenger finally worked his way toward grabbing the bottom rope to break the hold.
Kalisto eventually took back control with a sequence of five moves that was capped by a rope-aided Salida Del Sol, but Kendrick got his leg on the ropes to save his title. Just as Kalisto seemed to be climbing the ropes to finish off the match, Baron Corbin ran in to get his revenge on Kalisto for taking him out a few weeks ago on SmackDown Live. By attacking Kendrick first, the champion earned the disqualification win as Corbin hit an End of Days on Kalisto and walked up the ramp to bring an otherwise solid match out on a sour note.
5-on-5 men's elimination match: Team SmackDown Live def. Team Raw (53:59)
[Rosters: Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and Seth Rollins for Raw; AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, and Shane McMahon for SmackDown Live.]
For full match recap and ratings, click here.
Goldberg def. Brock Lesnar by pinfall (1:25)
For full match recap and ratings, click here.