A few years ago Vince McMahon apparently considered
dropping Survivor Series as a concept because of poor pay-per-view sales. Only
a passionate plea from Triple, centring on the event’s legacy and place in
company history, stopped that from happening. Watching this show you’d probably
wonder why he made such a big thing of it. It wasn’t a bad show, but nor was it
an especially great one. And this show, more than any Survivor Series in years,
needed to be a great one, for all the reasons I’ve discussed in the last month
(see here for more).
The twenty-eighth annual Survivor Series began, as WWE
pay-per-views tend to, with a hype video for the evening’s main event. It
focused on the last month of television, with a particular emphasis on the
future. Considering we’d see 55-year-old Sting make his first ever WWE
appearance at the end of the show, that rung a particular kind of hollow. That
said Seth Rollins was most prominently featured, unsubtly reminding us he had
been handpicked by The Authority as the company’s next flagship performer.
The show kicked off with a talky segment. Vince McMahon
brought The Authority and John Cena to the ring Vince promo. The purpose of
this was to fill up the minutes, rather than to do anything productive. Vince
did reveal that if The Authority lost they’d be working at WWE HQ but with no
influence on the careers of performers, but really that wasn’t enough to
justify ten-plus minutes of natter. It’s something that should have been made
clear in the build up to the event.
The first match of the show was the four-way tag title match,
the Usos (wearing a pair of fetching 1800s train driver neckerchiefs), Miz and
Mizdow, and Los Matadores challenging the Dust Brothers. The early minutes were
characterised by Mizdow shtick, which the crowd loved. Both Miz and Stardust
teased tags to Mizdow as the crowd chanted for him, earning themselves some
loud boos when they denied them what they wanted. Beyond that we got tags every
few minutes to give every team a turn in the ring.
The crowd went nuts when Mizdow was finally tagged in by
Miz. He didn't get to do much though: Goldust immediately tagged himself in and
went to work on a matador.
Basically the match was competent but didn’t really pick
up until its closing moments, a real shame considering the fifteen minutes they
had to play with, the capability of everyone involved and the immense
popularity of Mizdow. It’s not unreasonable to think we should have had
something better.
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| This is the most relevant the tag titles have been in a while. |
The closing moments saw the Usos clear the ring and fly
over the top rope onto their foes. Stardust followed up with The Falling Star
(a springboard butt bump) and Los Matadores lobbed El Torito over the top and
then jumped off the turnbuckle. Back in the ring the Dusts and Los Matadores did
a stacked suplex spot from the corner. Jimmy Uso followed up with a splash and
got thrown from the ring by Miz, who then found himself blind tagged by Mizdow,
who got the pinfall and the tag team titles for his team. Miz looked shocked
before celebrating with both belts. Mizdow celebrated empty-handed. He did get
more cheers than 'The Awesome One' though.
Backstage Adam Rose and his bunny had a fight with some
WWE toys to settle their differences. Rose reminded the bunny he was working at
kids’ parties before he found him and basically told him to lose. Despite this
The Bunny won. Then Titus O'Neil and Heath Slater rocked up to save the skit.
They did a little bickering and Rose challenged Slater Gator to a tag match
later on the show. Then he and his worshippers (so-called because he claims
they think of him as a god) left.
Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae and Layla v Natalya (with ‘Mr
Charisma’ Tyson kids), Naomi, Emma, and Alicia Fox was match number two. That
WWE can't be bothered to get a bubble machine, hardly the most expensive bit of
kit, for Emma's entrance says everything you need to know about her standing in
the company.
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| Paige v Natalya is a singles match I'd like on pay-per-view. |
This match was rough in places but it did at least get
time to tell a story and everyone was trying their best. Paige looked
impressive, a good thing considering she was booked to wind up in a four-on-one
position after her team had been picked off by Fox’s team. There was an
attempted tease at Paige making a comeback and sweeping through her opposition
but ultimately it didn’t happen: she lasted a few minutes before falling to a headscissors
driver from Naomi. After the match Kidd leapt on to a turnbuckle in front of
Nattie. Because douchebag husbands, am I right?
After a recap of the pre-show and perhaps the most
inconsequential expert panel segment ever we got a video recapping the Bray
Wyatt and Dean Ambrose beef. Condensed down into a couple of minutes in which
Bray’s magical teleporting can be downplayed it didn’t look bad.
The first few minutes of the match was all about Ambrose
countering everything Wyatt tried. 'The Eater of Worlds' eventually turned the
tables with an uppercut as Ambrose vaulted the top rope. Ambrose went back on
offence after a double clothesline on the outside, bulldogging Wyatt, stealing
his upside down corner taunt, and hitting him with a leg drop put. Wyatt fired
back with a Uranage suplex, with Ambrose kicking out of the pin that followed
and performing a top rope elbow on a standing Wyatt. Seconds later Ambrose was
flattened by a loud clothesline.
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| This could have been the match of the night. |
On the outside again Wyatt dropped Ambrose on the ring
steps. When that didn't get him a three count Wyatt grabbed a microphone to
tell Dean they could have ruled the world together because they're special.
Then he grabbed a chair from under the ring. Ambrose grabbed it first, leading
to a standoff with Bray basically telling Dean to go for it and the referee
telling him not to. ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ decided to use the chair, giving Wyatt
a tap to the gut and then Dirty Deeds.
After he'd been disqualified Ambrose got a table from
beneath the ring and elbow dropped Wyatt through it. He then piled chairs and
tables on top of Wyatt and posed on top of it (we’d find out just before the
main event that Wyatt and Ambrose would clash in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs
match at TLC). The crowd gave the post-match shenanigans more of a response than
the match itself. It’s understandable but it still harmed the actual match a
little.
I wasn’t a fan of the finish. DQ finishes are necessary for
prolonging feuds sometimes, I get that. But they shouldn't happen on PPV. Certainly
not in such an openly lazy fashion. It wasn't clear why Ambrose responded so
violently, beyond the fact that everyone seems to do it when Bray tries to
recruit them. It just felt like something slapped together to set up the TLC
match rather than something designed to satisfy the live and home audiences.
Backstage Triple H and Steph gave Team Authority a pep
talk. ‘The Game’ promised them more title matches, money and fame. When Steph
spoke she quickly became desperate, wailing that they couldn't lose. Trips
quickly shushed her and gave every member of the team a reason to win. It was a
good segment with a logical, self-contained story. It did go on a bit though.
Adam Rose and The Bunny versus Slater Gator helped the
show chug towards its conclusion after that. They did a decent job. The match
benefited from not having a lengthy slot to fill. They told a simple story:
Rose got worked over before tagging out to The Bunny, who made short work of
Slater and O'Neil before pinning Slater as Rose held out his hand for a tag.
The Bunny then got carried backstage by the entourage as Rose looked stunned in
the ring.
Roman Reigns was then introduced to speak to the
commentary team via satellite. He made some token mention of how he was getting
stronger and referenced the main event. The most relevant thing he said was
that he’ll be back in a month. We can believe that, apparently.
We were shown Team Cena backstage. Dolph and Ryback spoke
about it being a big night as Rowan played about with a Rubik's cube. Cena said
he'd do everything he could for the team, all of whom were facing unemployment
if they lost (although Cena wasn’t for some reason). Ziggler said he'd do
everything he could to make sure he
survived, which seemed like it was designed to tease him turning on Cena. Show
said they all knew what they signed up for. Ryback said it was feeding time and
he was hungry. Cena said there was one thing left to do. Then Rowan stood up
and said "win." It was laughably bad stuff, basically. Everyone
trotted out stock phrases and swore allegiance to babyfacedom.
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| But who's side is Brie Bella on?! |
The penultimate bout saw Nikki Bella challenge Divas
champion AJ Lee for the title. I say bout like they actually wrestled. Which
isn’t true. After the opening bell Brie Bella clambered onto the apron holding
the Divas title belt. AJ confronted her and Brie kissed her. Then Nikki punched
the champ in the back of the head, dropped her with a Rack Attack, and pinned
her to win the strap. Brie clapped and joined Nikki in her celebrations,
setting up the next stage of the overly long Bella sisters saga for the
following evening's RAW.
Everyone in the main event was treated to individual
entrances, for no other reason than it fills up the minutes and WWE had minutes
to spare. I noticed during Ziggler's entrance that he's no longer doing his hip
wiggle. Maybe Nikki Bella complained about him stealing her bit?
This was the match that WWE had concentrated on the most
in the weeks before the show, the match that they were counting on to draw
people in. While I hadn’t agreed with their decision to not promote a balanced
card that could give people numerous reasons to sign up to the Network (if they
live in a country where they can, of course) I did at least understand it from
a storyline perspective. Creative felt the need to freshen things up and do a
big, enticing stipulation that they would allow them to promise a brand new
day.
While it wasn’t the best Survivors match I’ve ever seen
it also wasn’t the worst. It was given a tonne of time to tell a story and
every elimination was made to mean something. It was the best thing on the show
and easily as good as it needed to be.
I won’t attempt to cover everything that happened.
Instead here are some edited highlights…
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| Solid booking, this. |
Mark Henry was eliminated immediately with a WMD from Big
Show. It was a good call, getting someone out of the way early, eliciting a big
reaction from the audience, and positioning 'The World's Largest Athlete' as a
huge obstacle to overcome. There was a loud reaction for a Rowan and Harper
standoff, which was promising. Rollins got enormous heat when he tagged himself
in on Harper.
Rusev and Ryback got a loud response when they squared
off too. Surprisingly Ryback was booked to get the best of the Bulgarian before
a shmoz broke out, culminating in Rollins Curb Stomping Ryback and Rusev
pinning him. Ziggler tagged in for the first time shortly after that and spent
the next several minutes getting worked over. That culminated with Rusev power
bombing him onto a gaggle of match participants at ringside and trying to
splash him through the Spanish announce table. Ziggler rolled out of the way
and got back into the ring just before the ten count, avoiding a count out
elimination. Rusev wasn’t so lucky: he was thrown out from the match when he
was unable to return.
Back in the ring Ziggler finally tagged out to Cena, who
quickly hit Kane with an AA. Rollins dashed in and Curb Stomped him before he
could manage a cover though. Rowan and Harper got their moment in the sun shortly
thereafter. The crowd reacted to it again. WWE could do a lot worse than Harper
versus Rowan singles match at TLC, a good thing considering that’s probably
their plan. Following interference from Kane and a flying knee from Rollins,
Harper got a discuss clothesline on his former teammate to send him to the back.
Then the first major shock happened. As Ziggler lay
unconscious on the outside Show and Cena squared off with Harper, Kane and
Rollins… and Show lamped Cena with his WMD. Rollins immediately went for the
cover and got the pin, shockingly eliminating Cena from the match. Yep, Big
Show turned again. It’s impossible to be surprised at this point. I wrote
before the show that a turn from ‘The World’s Largest Athlete’ wouldn’t be a
surprise because his career has been characterised by turns back and forth. We’re
at the point here it means nothing.
That said there was at least a reason to it here beyond “Hey,
we need some more heels on the roster.” Show saw the tide turning against his
team and reasoned that if he laid out Cena and got himself counted out he’d be
handing The Authority a victory and they’d waive his firing.
Show’s betrayal (which I really wish Jim Ross had been
around to call) left Ziggler alone to face Kane, Harper and Rollins. He was
triple teamed for the next few minutes before getting a flash super kick and a
Zig Zag on Kane to eliminate him. More punishment came his way at the hands of
Luke Harper. ‘The Show Off’ took a suicide dive and a sitdown power bomb before
getting a flash rollup for another elimination.
Which left him alone with Seth Rollins. Two counts for
Ziggler off a small package and a DDT brought the crowd to their feet, as did a
buckle bomb from Rollins. A top tope Curb Stomp missed, allowing Ziggler to get
a Fameasser for another rousing two count. Ziggler fought off Mercury and Noble
interference and dropped Rollins with a Zig Zag, only for Tripper to yank the
referee out of the ring. Ziggler fought off more Noble and Mercury interference,
Stephanie fell off the apron onto Triple H, and Rollins got a buckle bomb. A Curb
Stomp missed and Ziggler's pin after a Zig Zag was again broken up by 'The King
of Kings.
Triple H then got into the ring and gave Ziggler a
Pedigree. He dragged Rollins on top of him and then signalled for another new official.
Crooked ref Scott Armstrong came out to count the pin but got distracted two thirds
of the way through by the entrance of Sting.
‘The Stinger’ sauntered to the ring looking every day of
his 55 years then had a staredown with Triple H. It was a long staredown. Like,
a really long staredown. Uncomfortably so, in fact. The crowd chanted
"This is awesome!" They were wrong. Very wrong. It was tedious.
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| He's finally signed. And I don't care. |
Eventually Triple H threw a punch. Sting ducked it and
gave him the Scorpion Death Drop. Then he put Ziggler atop Rollins and a
rejuvenated referee that wasn’t Scott Armstrong counted the pin. Rollins didn't
kick out, even though he and Ziggler had both been selling for over five
minutes. Still, it was great to see Ziggler as the man working the majority of
the match for his team and getting the deciding pinfall fifteen minutes after
Cena had been eliminated. Cena coming out to hug him afterwards could have been
taken as destruction but in this particular instance, with what was on the line
and the way Ziggler had been positioned, it made perfect sense.
Once Ziggler and Cena had headed backstage the crowd
jeered The Authority as they sold the loss in the ring. Stephanie screamed it
wasn't over and then three a fit to take the show off the air. Unfortunately I
think she's probably right. WWE have had too much success with the heel
authority figure shtick over the years to try something new. We'll get
something fresh for a while but they'll return to their comfort zone
eventually.
There are two things we need to ask about Survivor
Series: was it good enough to convince people they should stick with the WWE
Network for at least one more month and was it a satisfying experience in its
own right? My answer to the first question would be no. They were clearly
hoping the debut of Sting and the post-match antics of Wyatt and Ambrose would
be enough to convince people to stick with the Network through TLC but I don’t
think that’s enough. Sting won’t wrestle and while I’m sure Wyatt and Ambrose
are capable of a strong TLC bout that match alone isn’t sufficient reason to
see the show.
The quality of the overall card is what WWE should have
focused on. They were hampered by a few injuries but they still could have put on a
distinctly average show. They didn't. Is an Adam Rose match really something they feel can
help them grow their subscriber numbers? A more balanced card was clearly the
way to go. What they lined up and how poorly it turned out proves that.
Taken on its own merits the show was average. The main
event was, as already stated, as good as it needed to be. Sting debuting will
excite many people. But nothing else on the show was especially memorable, even
the Mizdow title win. There have been worse WWE shows, but few with the stakes
being so high. This was WWE’s chance to convince people that paying $9.99 a
month for a pay-per-view is a great investment, and they failed.
Now let’s see what that plucky young upstart Sting does
on RAW, shall we?
Results summary:
The Miz and Damien Mizdow won the tag team championship
Natalya, Naomi, Emma and Alicia Fox defeated Paige,
Cameron, Summer Rae and Layla
Bray Wyatt defeated Dean Ambrose via disqualification
Adam Rose and The Bunny defeated Slater Gator
Nikki Bella defeated AJ Lee for the Divas championship
Team Cena defeated Team Authority
