The Survivor Series used to be one of the most celebrated pay-per-views in WWE, but not anymore. I was thinking about doing a predictions thread, but this show has been built up so poorly, there's so little to look forward that I didn't bother. Since I always do a post-ppv blog, I have no choice. Let's see if Survivor Series could actually be good.
Pre-show:
Team Co-Bro (Santino & Zack Ryder) vs 3MB (Slater & Mahal w/McIntyre)
Not too much to say about this match. I like the attire, teamwork, and overall look of the 3MB. Although they're a cheap knock off of 3 Count from the old WCW, I like this stable. Who's 3 Count? Look them up and educate yourself. The match was pretty standard with Drew McIntyre providing outside interference helping Slater and Mahal get the win. 3MB needed this win because I see their a new stable that looks like it could be big. This win made sense.
Survivor Series:
Classic Survivor Series Elimination Match
Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd & Brodus Clay
Vs
Primetime Players, Primo, Epico, & Tensai
A rematch of the awesome 8 man tag match from RAW, but this time with Tensai and Clay thrown in there. This was a great way kick off the show with a Classic Survivor Series match. Clay and Tensai were the first people eliminated and this allowed the other 8 superstars to showcase their talent to the world. I would've liked the match to go a little bit longer because it didn't have the excitement or high-flying like the match on RAW did, but I guess I can live with it.
Team Mysterio gets the win with Mysterio, Kidd, Gabriel, and Sin Cara as the sole survivors. Good match to kick off the show and set the tone.
Divas Championship Match
Eve (c) vs Kaitlyn
Before the match, Kaitlyn makes her way to the ring and Kaitlyn is attacked by Aksana in a blonde wig. It's funny because Kaitlyn was attacked by an unknown assailant with blonde hair at Night of Champions taking her out of the Divas Championship match. And she was supposedly doing Eve's bidding. That was also TWO MONTHS AGO. It would've made sense if she was attacked again by the assailant a few weeks after Night of Champions but it's NOVEMBER. Kaitlyn fought off Aksana and pushed down Eve who happened to be there at the time. Lazy booking. Moving on.
Unlike the crowd, I actually enjoyed this match. Kaitlyn has come a long way and gets better in the ring each week. I was hoping they would finally pull the trigger and give her the title and see what she can do with it, but then I remembered it was the WWE I was dealing with here. They like to stick with the flavor of the month and right now, it's Eve. Kaitlyn's just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe if they would take the time and actually make this division mean something again, I would be wrong, but Kaitlyn will have to wait for another day for her chance.
United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs R-Truth
Besides CM Punk, Antonio Cesaro is one of the champions I like to watch. Why? He has the look, the build, charisma of a champion and on top of all that, he's a hell of a wrestler. He NEEDS more air time. We barely see him from time to time and he's been doing a good job keeping the US title somewhat relevant, but I need to see more to take him serious. Him just showing up at the pay-per-views to defend his title isn't enough. I want him in a long feud with somebody.
Getting to the match, I expected more from the match too. It was a good match. It was solid and pretty standard, but I felt like the match barely went by 10 minutes and these guys didn't showcase what they could really do. Cesaro retains and continues his Anti-USA character. I expect big things from Cesaro. Then again, it's not up to me.
AJ/Vickie In-ring segment:
This ridiculous storyline continues between AJ and Vickie. AJ comes out looking good in short shorts claiming she has her own proof against Vickie. Vickie comes out and AJ puts up some obviously photoshopped photos of Vickie with people like Jim Ross, Ricardo Rodriguez and Brodus Clay on the titantron. They ramble on at each other until AJ gets jumped by Tamina! Who? Exactly. Tamina tears AJ apart as Vickie laughs and leaves the ring.
I would be more interested in this angle if it was going to lead to a match between AJ and Vickie. These two have been at each others throats for months now and on the so-called fourth biggest pay-per-view of the year, they pass on the opportunity of having AJ get in the ring with Vickie? Obviously it's not going to be an instant classic, but fans of AJ would've loved to see her finally get her hands on Vickie and shut her up.
This scandal SHOULD lead to an AJ/Vickie match down the road with the GM job on the line, but I don't see it happening. It should've been tonight and put an end to this angle. But now, Tamina is probably going to now be some sort of bodyguard for Vickie. If not, what business does she have attacking her?
God knows I'm ready for it to end unless we get some shocking development.
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Big Show (c) vs Sheamus
Rematch of their great match at Hell in a Cell. Now, this match didn't top their Hell in a Cell match, but once again I enjoyed these guys fighting one another. They've got some great chemistry with each other and once again their match didn't disappoint. There weren't submissions or any of that. These two brawlers and they fought. That's what they did. Nothing more, nothing less and I loved it.
Now, towards the end, Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick and Show pulls the referee in and he takes the hit. The other referees come out and check on the downed referee. The bell hasn't rung and Show knocks Sheamus out. One of the referees leave the group and counts the fall. Show wins and the officials start arguing with the one who counted the fall down. One of the referees goes to the announcer and changes the call and says Show has been disqualified. Sheamus wins by DQ, but Show still remains the Champion. The controversy was that since the bell never rang, the match was never over. Show took advantage and won, but because he pulled the referee into the brogue kick, he was disqualified.
This isn't over yet. Show was arguing with the referee and Sheamus took advantage and beat him down with a steel chair. This feud isn't over, and I'm not too upset with that. Their storyline isn't exactly a work of art, but it's been better than what either man has done in months. They both bring the best out of each other and I'm not mad with it.
Classic Survivor Series Elimination Match
Team Foley: Randy Orton, The Miz, Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, & Kane
Vs
Team Ziggler: Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Damien Sandow, Wade Barrett, & David Otunga
Despite the poor build and constant changes in the team lineups, this match was pretty damn entertaining. Mick Foley still looked out of place, but I digress.
The match was simply great. I won't get into the entire match, but I'll tell you that all the superstars really gave it all they had. The Miz shined in his first match as a true face character and did a good job at that as the fans loved him. It came down to Orton and Ziggler and here's where it got weird. Orotn dropped Ziggler with that DDT that he always does and didn't pin him. Instead, he backed up and tried going for his punt and ran into a Ziggler superkick. And that was game over. Ziggler beats Orton continues to keep himself relevant and not fall into obscurity. This was HUGE for him.
The 5-on-5 match was very good, it wasn't too long and wasn't too short. It was back and forth, with great pace and near falls. Well done.The ending was weird. It should've probably ended earlier than it did, but still good. I feel like and Orton character change is coming soon. The look on his face was....something new. I want to see if they're going to capitalize on it, or just forget about like they do with most things these days.
Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship
CM Punk (c) vs John Cena vs Ryback
So, it's all come down to this. CM Punk defending the WWE Championship against John Cena and Ryback. The Main Event of the evening and let me say, it didn't disappoint at all. Well, the match was ok. Nothing spectacular, but it was the ending that's going to have people talking.
Let me backtrack, the match wasn't that bad. It wasn't what I expected. They exceeded my expectations. There were a quite a few spots in this thing. Ryback showed he could hang with the big boys in Punk and Cena in the Main Event match of the night. THE spot of the night, of course, is Punk and Cena double suplexing Ryback through the announce table. It's been so long since we've seen somebody go through the announce table and when Punk and Cena started tearing it apart, the crowd went crazy. With Ryback out, Cena and Punk wrestle for a little while like they always do, kicking out of finishers and whatnot until Ryback got back in there. Now, get ready for this one.
Ryback shellshocked Punk, but Cena broke it up. He shellshocked Cena and as he was going for the pin, these three guys dressed in black posing as security guards mauled Ryback relentlessly. The attack resembled how Nexus attacked John Cena 2 years ago if people remember that. These guys were revealed as popular Indy wrestlers Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. People who follow the Indy scene know who these guys are. It took a while to see their faces cause they were all over Ryback, but when they stopped and we saw it clearer, I won't lie, I got excited. Probably cause I knew two out of those three guys and know what they can do. I've been waiting for Ambrose to debut for some time now.
But getting back to the match, these three triple teamed Ryback and drive him through the Spanish announce table! They stared at him and Punk crawled over to Cena and picks up the win! I loved the ending. It keeps people guessing and makes me want to watch RAW tomorrow to see if they'll expand on this. I know I've got some questions:
Why did these guys even attack Ryback?
Why didn't these guys go after John Cena?
Why did these guys wait until the ref counted to three to leave?
Are Punk and Heyman behind this, or did these three guys act on their own like Maddox supposedly did?
Ryback is 0-2 in the Main Event, but he isn't the one getting pinned so his "Monster" appeal isn't dwindling. Like I said in the Hell in a Cell blog, to take down a Monster, you need numbers, you can't get it done on your own, unless you're an even bigger Monster. Cena doesn't lose anything cause he's Cena. Punk stays the Champion and looks strong. Ryback isn't ready to be a Champion, but he's got a place in the upper mid-card/Main Event scene.
I really want to see what happens on RAW. Are Punk and Heyman linked with Maddox, Ambrose, Reigns, and Rollins or do these Indy guys have something against Ryback? Either way, the WWE Championship scene keeps on getting more and more interesting. Now, if only WWE would put that much time and effort into the rest of the roster and give us intrigue like that with all their titles, their product would be a lot more watchable and interesting.
But let's not get it twisted, just because the ending of the match was really cool, Survivor Series as a whole was average at best. I'll give it 6/10. If the Main Event was anything less than that, the score would be a lot lower, but the ending of the WWE Championship match bumped it up a little.
Feel free to Comment.
By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete
