Survivor Series Rundown

So last night was Survivor Series and on a whim I actually stayed up and watched it.  Now for those of you based in America that might seem a strange statement, but in the UK it means a long night.  It is also probably the first time I have watched a WWE PPV live (that isn’t Wrestlemania) for a long time.  Anyway, below is my thoughts of the whole show, it obviously contains spoilers, so if you haven’t watched it stay away and if you don’t like wrestling please don’t bother, it’s long.

Survivor Series Pre Show

The new and improved Fandango defeats Justin Gabriel

After billing this as Fandango vs a Mystery opponent, just having Justin Gabriel in the ring seemed a bit weird, why not just bill it as Fandango vs Gabriel from the start?  I also don’t see what was new and improved about Fandango, he had a new entrance, Rosa Mendes and a nice shirt, apart from that not much had changed.  In saying all that, Gabriel is one of those guys who makes people look good and even in this short match he achieved that goal.  That leg drop will also take years off Fandango’s career, so he hope he isn’t going to use it on a regular basis.

Bad News Barrett promo

I really like Bad News Barrett, but do hope he eventually moves away from that gimmick.  It’s not a top guy act and as long as he has it, people won’t treat him like one.

Jack Swagger defeats Antonio Cesaro by submission

Cesaro isn’t bad on the mic, but he lacks that something special.  Thankfully for him, he has very special in the ring.  Yet how come Swagger is fit enough to wrestle Cesaro, but not in the main event?  Complete lack of logic from WWE there.  The match was good, as you’d expect from these two, but the commentators paid no attention to it, so it’s hard to see why the audience should care.  I hate the short straw Cesaro regularly draws, but I guess it is hard to say his career will actually be affected by losing on the pre-show.

Vince McMahon Arrives

Nice tease of Vince to finish said pre-show, but I wish WWE would stop insulting audiences by thinking we actually believe the people who own the company turn up two minutes before the PPV starts.

Survivor Series Main Show

Promo with Vince, Triple H, Stephanie and John Cena

A weird start to the show, I don’t think PPV’s should open with promos, particularly ones that include people in the main event.  You should seem them as little as possible, particularly someone like Cena or the crowd get fed up of them.  Basically this should have been on Raw, but it was alright.  Made Stephanie look like the conniving daughter,  although is WWE the only company in the world where being in ‘authority’, means having some control over your employees personal lives?  Cena being in charge of whether they come back seems weird, will that be used in the future?  Or is it just a throw away bit to make it seem unlikely they will ever come back?

Tag Team Chaos – Miz and Damien Mizdow win the tag team titles

This was exactly what I expected from this match, but it was still done well.  Everything broke down into madness and Mizdow got the win.  It was actually really clever keeping him out of the match, apart from the winning pin fall and little touches like him raising his arms slightly after Miz to get the cheers were clever.  Miz also sold the moment brilliantly.  It looks like they are heating up Mizdow for a face run and I really hope WWE don’t go too overboard on it and ruin the fun.

Adam Rose Stuff

Rose and the bunny is em… a story.

Divas Elimination Match – 1 team beat another team

Why does Naomi still come out to Brodus Clay’s music, does she not have her own music?  Paige and Natalya’s quick in ring work at the start of this match could be the Diva’s division, just think about that, because instead we’ve got what we’ve got.  This got a lot longer than I expected, I had also assumed it would work as a buffer match later in the show.  The in ring action was what it was, a couple of those divas could be cogs in a good division (a few others should go back to NXT before they hurt someone).  Sadly, I can’t see that division materialising soon.  Naomi’s finisher was actually kind of cool, although ‘The Rear View’ is a fucking atrocious move, that no one should ever do again.  Kidd is a fantastic heel.

Bray Wyatt beat Dean Ambrose by DQ 

I love the way Ambrose wrestles, little moments, like him refusing to role in the ring when Bray threw him in, make so much sense, why don’t more people do that?  The Be-Mpowered podcast was about wrestling this week (check it out here) and they were discussing how some wrestlers are great at wrestling in character, while others forget their character the second the bell rings.  These two are fantastic at staying in character.  Everything they do rings true.  Saying that, this match was only alright, I think there is a lot more to come from these two.  I didn’t enjoy the finish, but see why they went with it.  It also explains why this match went on when it did on the show.  Also Ambrose setting up the ladder just to stand on it, was a little too much foreshadowing of TLC.

Team Authority Pep Talk

Another promo that should have been on Raw, you know, when they are supposed to sell the PPV?  That was classic Triple H, in that it was slightly too long.

Adam Rose and the Bunny beat Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil

Fuck off bunny.  The wrestler known as Adam Rose (and formerly as Leo Kruger) could have been so good.  Instead we get this shit.  I know Heath Slater’s career is based around being a bit useless, but losing to a bunny must be a new low, even for him.  I hope Rose’s heel turn actually sees him being taken seriously and he kicks that bunny in its stupid face.

Jingle All the Way Commercial

Does Jingle All the Way 2 have anything to do with the original?  I mean the original is shit too, but I can see no connection in that commercial.

Roman Reigns via somewhere backst… I mean satellite. 

WWE are doing a good job of making Reigns still seem important, having him pop up on PPV is smart.   I mean he even got to say bitch, that pretty much makes him the top guy.  His return will be interesting.  Is he still the heir elect?  Or has his injury seen that role be moved on?

Team Cena Pep Talk

If WWE aren’t careful, every bit of intimidation that Erik Rowan has will be gone.  I’m also sure that Dolph Ziggler and Cena have not been on the same page since day 1.  This was short and sweet and said what needed to be said, but again should probably have been on Raw.

Nikki Bella beat AJ Lee for the Divas Title

Do WWE divas has nothing better to do but dress up as each other?  Do they have whole wardrobes filled with their rivals clothes for these occasions?  At least this was short, but why did Brie look happy when Nikki won?  Is she turning heel too?  Were we supposed to believe Brie has been waiting this long to gain revenge against AJ for her husband, who presumably in WWE terms (I have no idea about real life) she wasn’t with at the time?  Are they just ditching these two hating each other?  So many questions over something so shit.  I’m pretty sure that all but confirms AJ is leaving.  I hope if she ever returns or wherever she ends up, she gets a better shake of the stick, because that girl can wrestle.

Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt announcement

Announcing PPV matches on PPV, not sure how I feel about that.  Another sign WWE really wants you to buy the Network, I’ll do so, as soon as you introduce it in the UK, cunts.

Team Cena beat Team Authority 

Looking at the people in this match, it is easy to see why people thinks Vince favours big guys…  The second they started geeing up Henry as Show stood emotionless, it was obvious he was heading for an early elimination, we must have seen that at the start of countless Survivor Series matches.  I had no problem with it though, Henry didn’t need to be protected in this match and it put the heels on the back foot early on.  Rusev pinning Ryback was interesting, goes to show which of their monsters WWE are most interested in protecting.  Although it might also have something to do with the fact Ryback gets gassed walking to the ring.

Furthermore, having Rusev basically get himself counted out by trying to destroy Ziggler was smart, it protects Rusev and continues the idea of how much heart Ziggler has.  I think Harper and Rowan should be kept apart for a while after this, Rowan is still very green and Harper has the potential to be something special.  Rollins was made to look great in this match and I genuinely did not see the Big Show turn coming, I mean I know Big Show turns on a near monthly basis, but it never even occurred to me, maybe for that exact reason.  I have no interest in him as a heel, but then again I have no interest in him as a face so it’s a who cares situation all round.

What happened next may be one of my favourite moments in recent WWE history.  I think nearly every WWE article I have ever written has included a moan about Ziggler needing a push.  Last night, he was made to look a star.  They beat the holy shit out of him and he kept kicking out, every time he kicked out it felt like the crowd got a little louder, every time he pinned someone it felt like the crowd got a little bit louder.  My only complaint about it was JBL’s commentary and that is a small thing, but god I wish JR had called that moment.  Sure it eventually took Sting to confirm the victory for him, but Ziggler came out of that match looking like a star.

Overall thoughts

Main event aside, this PPV felt unimportant, despite the fact there were two title changes.  We had a bunny, a lesbian kiss and some matches no one cared about.  The tag match was fun and Wyatt and Ambrose was good until the finish, apart from that it was uninspiring and weak.  The main event did go someway towards making up for that.  While I care little for a Big Show heel turn, Ziggler was made to look like a star, something that has long been needed and we had the debut of Sting, who looks to be heading into a program with Triple H.  It led to a hot finish and WWE needs to capitalise on that tomorrow night.  I have every faith they will balls it up.