Since Survivor Series is one of the biggest events of the year, it should have been easy for WWE to provide some major talking points coming out of this pay-per-view.

Champions clashed for bragging rights. Brand warfare was in effect with Raw vs. SmackDown elimination matches. There was also a 25-man Battle Royal that allowed one person to stand out among the pack.

With plenty opportunities for Superstars to make names for themselves or for WWE to showcase how low on the totem pole any particular wrestler is, impressions can be strong coming out of this event.

Now that the show has finished, let's look back on what transpired and run down some of the biggest takeaways—good or bad—from Survivor Series 2021.

Full Match Results

• Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Damian Priest by disqualification.
• Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair by pinfall.
• Team Raw won the Men's Elimination Match with Seth Rollins as the sole survivor.
• Omos won the 25-man Battle Royal.
• RK-Bro defeated The Usos by pinfall.
• Team Raw won the Women's Elimination Match with Bianca Belair as the sole survivor.
• Roman Reigns defeated Big E by pinfall.

Damian Priest Remains Strong, but Is Better off Babyface

Damian Priest has had an amazing year in WWE, being called up to the main roster, winning nearly every match he's had and capturing the United States Championship.

That same success felt like it would be extended to Survivor Series. While up against a worthy challenge in intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura, The Archer of Infamy should have been able to pull off a victory.

Instead, while he didn't lose in a more traditional sense, he definitely failed to win. After getting too frustrated with Rick Boogs causing distractions, Priest snapped, broke his guitar and utilized it as a weapon to get disqualified.

Essentially, WWE wanted to push this heel turn and keep Priest from looking weak in a true loss.

Maybe that isn't the best course of action, though, in both kayfabe and from a fan perspective.

If Priest is a heel, he's more likely to suffer losses to put over his competition, as well as to fall victim to these disqualifications. That win-loss record will be tarnished in no time.

Also, Priest's done well as one of the more "cool guy" babyfaces. It's rare for that to catch on without seeming like it's forced and he managed to pull it off. Going in a different direction now and making him a heel like any other will probably result in Priest becoming as bland as his new entrance music.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair Is Tried and True

There's always something to be said about how WWE needs to stop repeating matches as often as it does. Doing something fresh and building new stars is crucial to keeping fan interest, rather than constantly airing reruns and rematches.

However, despite how Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair has been done what feels to be a million times, this match proved that they work well enough together that they will seemingly always pull it off.

Think about it in relation to food. You might not want to eat pizza every night of the week, but does it not always taste great when you take that first bite?

After all the complaints that it should have been two others, the crowd still chanted "this is awesome" at this contest.

At a show like Survivor Series that promotes itself as the best of the best against each other, these two are still undoubtedly the top of Raw and SmackDown. Despite the advancements of Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley and others, this was the match with the biggest overall star power.

Now that we've seen this at this event and had our fill for the time being, it should be time for fresher Superstars to take the spotlight at Royal Rumble and the road to WrestleMania 38.

The Curious Case of Seth Rollins as Sole Survivor

By and large, the men's 5-on-5 traditional elimination match was a tough balancing act that WWE managed to pull off rather well.

Looking back on this, almost everyone had a purpose:

• Kevin Owens furthered his heel turn by walking out on Team Raw.
• Finn Balor scored a point for his team by beating Happy Corbin.
• Bobby Lashley kept up his perception of domination by taking out King Woods.
• Both Lashley and Drew McIntyre were kept from properly losing after they were counted out.
• Austin Theory has a bit of a boost to his ego with a pinfall on Sheamus.
• The Celtic Warrior had some babyface fun, but reaffirmed he's a heel by attacking Jeff Hardy, who was up against the odds and eliminated despite putting up a fight.

What's curious, though, is why Seth Rollins walked away the victor.

If this Triple Threat feud with Big E, Owens and Rollins is to continue, wouldn't it have made more sense for The Architect to come up short and blame it on Owens walking out? That way, it also would have opened up an opportunity for Hardy to win so The Charismatic Enigma would be set up as a future challenger to Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship.

Is WWE actually going to follow up on Rollins winning in a meaningful way, or was this just the company wanting to give a big star like him the victory for the sake of name value?

Omos Rightfully Continued the Battle Royal Winner Trope

While it doesn't apply to the Royal Rumble, which is more about underdogs overcoming the obstacle, a general rule of thumb for battle royal style matches is that the biggest man in the fight more than often wins.

Behemoths like Andre the Giant made victories in these matches a staple of their careers and Omos carried on that legacy tonight.

A one-man wrecking crew, Omos took out half the competition with 12 eliminations to win this match, even against other giants like Shanky and Commander Azeez.

To stand tall both literally and figuratively on a big event like Survivor Series is a surefire highlight for Omos to help further the narrative of how unstoppable he can be.

The spotlight might have temporarily been on Pizza Hut for their promotional sponsorship of this match, but the big takeaway is the big man himself hasn't slowed down since dropping the Raw Tag Team Championship.

Randy Orton Is Mr. Survivor Series

Shawn Michaels took on the moniker Mr. WrestleMania, while The Undertaker became synonymous with that event for his streak. In many ways, Randy Orton should be called Mr. Survivor Series due to his incredibly impressive statistics for this event.

Orton broke a record this week by surpassing Kane's 176 matches on pay-per-views and will soon beat The Big Red Machine's record of most Raw matches, too. It's fitting it was Survivor Series that The Viper reached this accolade, as he's the king of it.

His first go-around was Survivor Series 2003 wherein he was the sole survivor for his team. This became a trend, as he's been a winning survivor more than anyone else in company history.

He's appeared in more Survivor Series elimination matches than anyone else and he's undefeated in WWE Championship matches, retaining the title three times.

Now, he can add a successful tag team title defense, too, as he once again scored the win for his team.

What Was Accomplished with the Women's Elimination Match?

By the time the 5-on-5 women's elimination match went down, it's worth questioning what was accomplished.

Did anyone other than Bianca Belair come out of this looking strong? Arguably, Toni Storm had that going for her with her first two eliminations, but by being the first out of Team SmackDown, she was easy to forget about by the end.

Even someone like Rhea Ripley was just another person to take out, rather than someone to get a spotlight.

Sasha Banks was one of the many count-out eliminations, since WWE must have felt as though that's the easiest and best way to keep people strong tonight. Is the feud with Shotzi so strong that that was necessary to make a focal point?

Shayna Baszler was on a tear a few weeks back and doesn't have the same momentum anymore, despite her random pin over The Nightmare.

By the end of this, the crowd had chanted for CM Punk, booed Liv Morgan's elimination, and the end result was just The EST winning a match that likely will lead nowhere, as she's already had enough shots at Lynch. Using this to run that back again is ill-advised, particularly when Morgan's supposed to be at the forefront as challenger right now.

Had Storm or Morgan won, at least it would have served a bigger purpose. It's hard to imagine Belair won this for anything other than to offset having lost her title at SummerSlam.

Teases for Roman Reigns' Future Overshadowed the Main Event

The main event between Big E and Roman Reigns was a solid match where the WWE champion put up a good fight, but it overall felt overshadowed by two bigger looming threats.

It was mentioned that Brock Lesnar's suspension has been lifted, setting up his inevitable return as something that could have theoretically happened at the end of this show. It wouldn't have made much sense, but it's guaranteed some fans were then expecting his surprise.

Even more so was the presence (or lack thereof) surrounding The Rock, who was promoted heavily tonight despite not showing up. Teases for his future match with Reigns were bountiful and the crowd couldn't help but to chant for him, only to be disappointed that nothing happened.

It's a shame Big E's attempt to gain bragging rights with a massive victory over The Tribal Chief pales in comparison to the possibility that two wrestlers of other eras could return. It just goes to show how few mega stars WWE has properly made in the past decade or so.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.