WWE Survivor Series thoughts
The build-up for the main event of Sunday night’s Survivior Series pay-per-view was so well done that you really had the feeling that something big was going to happen.
Unfortunately, it didn’t.
John Cena didn’t turn heel. Wade Barrett didn’t win the WWE title. The Miz didn’t cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase. And neither R-Truth nor David Otunga got involved.
The big swerve was that the scenario that seemed the unlikeliest – WWE champion Randy Orton retaining his championship, thus causing Cena to be fired – was the one that happened.
The problem is that everyone knows that Cena isn’t really going anywhere, so the payoff to this elaborate story line is a stipulation that isn’t going to be honored.
I suppose I’ll have to reserve final judgment until seeing what happens on Raw tonight, to seems to me that WWE missed an opportunity to really shake things up and create a buzz.
Overall, this was an OK pay-per-view. There were some good matches but none that were off the charts.
Here is a match-by-match look at the show:
WWE champion Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett (15:16): Just as he promised, special referee John Cena called the match right down the middle. There was never even a tease that Cena was going to double-cross Orton, except for a split second at the finish. Frustrated that Cena was not counting faster on his pin attempts, Barrett shoved Cena, who responded by shoving Barrett back. That allowed Orton to catch Barrett with an RKO. Orton made the cover and Cena counted one, two (pause) three. The Nexus hit the ring, but Cena and Orton managed to fight them off. Cena then grabbed the WWE championship belt, stared at it for a few seconds and then presented it to Orton. The two longtime rivals briefly hugged, as Orton gave a nod to Cena for calling the match fairly. Cena looked sad as he said his goodbyes to the fans, who gave him a nice ovation for his “farewell.”
World heavyweight champion Kane and Edge wrestled to a draw (12:49): The crowd was dead for most of this match, and I can’t say I blame them. It was slow-paced and consisted mostly of punches and kicks. The quality of Smackdown world title matches has definitely gone down since Kane won the championship. After Edge hit a Spear on Kane, he went for a cover, but his shoulders were also on the mat as the referee counted three. Edge’s music began playing and he was announced as the new champion, but then the referee explained that since both men’s shoulders were on the mat, the match is a draw and the champion retains the title. It was fitting that such a dull match would have an such an unsatisfying finish. This presumably sets up a rematch at next month’s TLC pay-per-view. If that is the case, I would expect that match to be a lot more entertaining because of tables, ladders and chairs gimmick.
Survivor Series elimination match: Rey Mysterio, The Big Show, Kofi Kingston, MVP and Chris Masters defeated Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and Tyler Reks (18:11): Since the show was in Miami, hometown favorite MVP got a huge pop. Unfortunately, he was the first one eliminated. At 5:35, Del Rio tripped MVP while he was attempting a suplex on McIntyre. McIntyre landed on top of MVP, and Del Rio held onto MVP’s legs so that he couldn’t kick out of the pin. After Del Rio eliminated Masters with the cross arm-breaker, he began taunting Big Show and doing these tremendous facial expressions. Big Show responded by knocking him out with one punch. Del Rio, who was not the legal man in the match at that point, was carried to the back. It eventually came down to Mysterio and Big Show against Swagger and McIntyre, and the two fan favorites worked together to eliminate the heels and emerge as survivors. This was an entertaining match, and WWE found a way for Del Rio to be taken out of the bout without taking a fall. (The order of elimination is below).
U.S. champion Daniel Bryan defeated Ted DiBiase Jr. (9:56): These two got the show off to a hot start. DiBiase was more aggressive than usual (a point that was brought up several times in commentary) and he also had a stubbly beard going to give him a bit of an edgier look. That’s good, because DiBiase’s career has been going nowhere and he needs to reinvent himself to some extent. At about the 5:30 mark, Bryan landed awkwardly on a suicide dive and began favoring his shoulder; it was unclear whether he was selling or legitimately injured. Around nine minutes into the action, Bryan delivered an awesome belly-to-back suplex off the top rope for a near fall. The finishing sequence saw DiBiase counter the LeBell Lock by catapulting Bryan into the turnbuckles and then rolling him up, but Bryan rolled through, secured the LeBell Lock and forced DiBiase to tap out. This was a good win for Bryan and a solid showing for DiBiase, who gained more from this loss than he would have from a victory over someone like Goldust. After the match, The Miz (accompanied by Alex Riley) hit Bryan from behind with The Money in the Bank briefcase and proceeded to cut a promo teasing that he would cash in his title shot before the night was over.
Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler defeated Kaval (9:35): This wasn’t smooth all the way through but it was a solid back-and-forth match overall. Around the 5:30 mark, Kaval nailed Ziggler with a brutal-looking stiff kick to the face that bloodied Ziggler’s nose. There was a nice sequence around 6:45, as Kaval went for a spectacular Phoenix Splash, but Ziggler moved. Kaval, however, landed on his feet and got a near fall on a back slide. Ziggler then landed the Zig Zag but only got a two count. About a minute later, Kaval hit an Enziguri off the top for another near fall. After a series of roll-ups and reversals, Ziggler got on top of Kaval and held his tights to get the three count. Kaval looked strong in defeat.
John Morrison defeated Sheamus (11:12): This was the most surprising result of the night, as Morrison scored his biggest victory in quite a while. These two put together an entertaining, hard-hitting match that pitted Morrison’s acrobatics against Sheamus’ power moves. After Sheamus missed a Brogue Kick and got tied up in the ropes, Morrison nailed him with a Flying Chuck and a running knee strike for the victory. It will be interesting to see if this win propels Morrison up the card or if Sheamus ends up getting his win back right away.
WWE tag team champions Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater defeated Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov (5:09): This was pretty much what you would expect. As Marella was preparing to unleash the Cobra, the other Nexus members outside the ring distracted him, and that allowed Slater to hit his jumping neckbreaker finisher for the win.
Natalya defeated WWE Divas co-champions LayCool to win the title (3:35): Michelle McCool and Layla took advantage of the numbers game early, but after they accidentally knocked heads, Natalya applied the Sharpshooter to McCool, who tapped out. LayCool attacked the new champion after the match, and the returning Beth Phoenix came out to make the save. Phoenix hit the Glam Slam on Layla and then celebrated with Natalya. I’m glad to see Natalya get the belt and it’s great to have Phoenix back. It’s time for LayCool (specifically McCool) to drop out of the title scene for a while, but I’m not holding my breath on that happening.
Team Mysterio vs. Team Del Rio order of elimination:
• McIntyre (TDR) pinned MVP (TM), 5:35
• Del Rio (TDR) forced Masters (TM) to submit, 6:43
• Big Show (TM) pinned Rhodes (TDR), 10:57
• Kingston (TM) pinned Reks (TDR), 15:08
• Swagger (TDR) forced Kingston (TM) to submit, 15:54
• Mysterio (TM) pinned Swagger (TDR), 17:33
• Big Show (TM) pinned McIntyre (TDR), 18:11
Comments
nothing bout the cena-cole hug?
Posted by: matt | November 22, 2010 2:22 PM
I actually bought the PPV. I was checking all day to see what your thoughts would be. The only pay off for me will be if Cena goes on an extended break until Mania. That sells it a little bit at least anyway for me. Not sure when HHH's EOD date is but it would be an opportune time for Cena to take a break and let the Game come back in full fury. The Morrison finisher is not one I' m excited about at least the running knee anyway. Smackdown is in need of some star power and Cena heading over there for a run with Taker would be a fresh shot in the arm. Glad Daniel Bryan is getting a solid push as champ. Kane and Edge was a snooze fest. All in all not to bad of a PPV but the main event was short on creativity.
Posted by: Patrick Johnson | November 22, 2010 2:32 PM
Cena calling the match down the middle or not, surprised Orton did'nt RKO Cena anyway.
Posted by: BobbyD | November 22, 2010 2:41 PM
I think what might happen is the Raw gm fires Cena then he goes and start shooting his new movie Blood Brothers and as for the Miz he will most likely cash in his contract at TLC were the champ is most vulnerable .
Posted by: ryan | November 22, 2010 2:47 PM
Recently, WWE PPV has been really dissapointing. WWE does have a habit of making big and important matches ended up with DQ or end up with a draw just so they can expand the fued that nobody cares to the next PPV [take Kane VS Edge fued]
Now I expect more from the John Cena situation, but in the end just like you said the unlikely scenario happens, talk about a huge letdown and I really don't want to pay money to see Kane VS Egde again. Their match last night was boring. The only good things that happen at Survivor Series is the surprise win for Morrison and Natalya win over Lay Cool.
WWE now is getting lame with boring storyline, and that comes from a die hard WWE fan. TNA is recreating something which is the last thing us fans want to see in 2010. God help us.....
Posted by: AIRA | November 22, 2010 3:33 PM
I was woefully disappointed at the end of the PPV last night. Talk about the most vanilla ending they could have possibly written. And to top it off, we had to withstand 15-20 minutes of a painful pity party for Cena.
Although, the saluting the crowd in the ring had to be the worst.
Posted by: M | November 22, 2010 4:00 PM
Hey Kev, do you think the Jeff Hardy heel turn has had any effect on the progression of this John Cena-Nexus storyline? Like you, I was hoping for a full fledged heel turn because he desperately needs it to become an intriguing character again. But the timing and execution of these two storylines, while very different in build, both reached a similar turning point. Each company had the opportunity to turn the top babyface, and TNA pull the trigger. WWE has not, and it looks like they have no plans to do so. It just comes off as "firing" Cena being the easy way out for WWE.
Posted by: Pat Coyne | November 22, 2010 4:02 PM
cant wait to watch raw tonite to see if cena will be there,
Posted by: darryl smiler long | November 22, 2010 4:02 PM
Perhaps they are going to use Cena's "firing" as the catalyst to a heel turn? Or Wade will offer him a way out, with a hefty price, on Raw tonight.
Any chance McCool could kayfabe marry Cena before raw and be fired in his place? It would be a "Cena"...
Posted by: John Basedow | November 22, 2010 4:06 PM
A couple of things Eck...
As I was looking around for some live blogging of SS, I found a report that Triple H is ready to return to TV "at any time." Could Cena's "firing" be a way to give Cena some time off to go make another movie or something and bring Triple HH back for a program with Orton?
And if Cena really is gone for a bit, who takes on Wade Barrett and the Nexus?
Posted by: Caps Nut | November 22, 2010 4:24 PM
Cena should come back in a mask as The Yellow Dog!
Posted by: The Stalker | November 22, 2010 4:42 PM
I actually thought 2/3 of this PPV was pretty good. A really strong middle card and terrible last hour or so.
Both World Title matches were pretty poor and the main event was an overwhelming disappointment with a pay off that just doesn't deliver.
But the Bryan/DiBiase, Sheamus/Morrison and Kaval/Ziggler were all really good matches with all six guys pulling out all the stops.
I even enjoyed the Divas match for once, nice pop for Natalya winning and Beth returning.
I honestly reckon if we had seen the big Cena heel turn that we all hoped for we would be calling this one of the better PPV's of the year.
Posted by: G | November 22, 2010 4:48 PM
I am probably the only person who thought that John Cena would actually call this match right down the middle and count out Wade Barrett's shoulders for the three count. The Build-up was great and WWE Knew what it was doing.I'm sure the buy rates for The Survivor Series was greater than the last three Pay Per Views.This is what really mattered.
I think that Cena will take some time off.I hear that he willbe making a movie.I enjoyed watching his farewell walk around the arena.
I also believe that beginning tonight, that the Miz and randy orton will begin a program.
Posted by: keith bennett | November 22, 2010 4:56 PM
2 Grat things came out of Last Nights Show. Orton Retains( nobody believed that would happen) and it looks as though FINALLY John Morrison is getting RESPECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Baron
Posted by: Chris | November 22, 2010 5:10 PM
Perhaps Cena turns heel tonight and is also revealed as the RAW General Manager.
Posted by: Aaron Goldstein | November 22, 2010 5:16 PM
Sounds like fans paid a lot of money to watch an episode of Raw.
Posted by: ANon | November 22, 2010 6:09 PM
I personally would extend the program between Morrison & Sheamus out for a couple of months to build up Morrison's credibility.
However, with HHH coming back soon, I don't see that happening.
Posted by: Jack Windham | November 22, 2010 6:25 PM
Maybe it will be an old school inspired angle where Cena will return in a mask, ala Mr R, Dirty Yellow Dog, The Midnight Rider or Charlie Brown from outta Town...I am sure that is just wishful thinking on my part...
Posted by: Tyler from Charlotte | November 22, 2010 6:31 PM
Kev-
How about Matt Striker exclaiming "Cena is free!" after Orton won the match and having to be corrected by Cole? I mean how much more Matt Striker do we have to put up with already?
Posted by: Jared | November 22, 2010 6:31 PM
To be honest Kevin, I think this is a perfect summary of Survivor Series. It was mediocre and nothing more. WWE needs to pull its act together with this PPV. It's supposed to be one of the "Big 4" but they treat it like any other PPV. But anyway, in my opinion, like I said it was mediocre at best. For me, the stand out match was either Bryan and DiBiase or Ziggler and Kaval. I was unhappy that Kaval didn't win, but maybe soon. Also, the Edge and Kane match, after the bad build up, I kind of expected this match to be the worst on the card, the Diva's Title match was better but that's because Natalya finally won the strap and Laycool are no longer "Champions". After Orton retained the belt and Cena was "fired", I really wanted Miz to cash in there and then. To me, it would have made sense. Miz cut an amazing promo after the US Title match that it seemed fitting that he cash it in. But once again, we must wait for Miz to cash in and wait for WWE to pull the trigger on Miz. Overall, this event deserves a 6/10 from me.
Posted by: James | November 22, 2010 6:37 PM
Hm, good action on this show. The ending is a bit disappointing but then again I will see where things lead.
I think the biggest disappointment of the night for me would have to be Team Mysterio winning. I've really had enough of Rey Mysterio. He gets painted all the time as the "ultimate underdog", despite the fact that he seemingly never loses. He doesn't put young talent over (see: Ziggler, Dolph) and it's all so lame. I can't buy his offense against full-sized opponents.
Posted by: King Tony | November 22, 2010 6:48 PM
Kev - Do you there is any chance this could all end in a Barrett v Undertaker match at Wrestlemania? It's often been said that if 'Taker is to lose at a Wrestlemania, it should be to a young guy with a big upside. We may just have that guy here, and there could be some intrigue about who will win. They might even use it as part of an explanation for Nexus getting involved in the Buried Alive match?
Posted by: David | November 22, 2010 7:28 PM
The way everything was shaping up for the main event, I was kind of expecting R-Truth to turn heel and interfere some kind of way. I'm guessing when Vince "wakes up from his coma", he will reinstate Cena. The lights going on and off a few time throughout the night confused me. I didn't know if it was a technical error or something tied in to Kane and Edge match, or some Undertaker promo, even thought he will be out for awhile.
Posted by: Duane | November 22, 2010 7:44 PM
well said yet a again writers mess up again
Posted by: Anonymous | November 22, 2010 8:57 PM
WADE IS a B**** he got what he deserved but im still sad that cena got fired though alot of people dnt like him i liked him and respected him he deserves that he kept his word, hes a man of respect you dont have to like him just respect him I KNOW HES COMING BACK and hes going after barrret
RANDY ORTON IS MY FAV SUPERSTAR
AND SO IS CENA you need to know how to respect jc is awesome you dont have to agree but you have to respect and live with it!!!
RKO & ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT XDD
Posted by: rkorkorko | November 22, 2010 8:58 PM
what little talent any of the nexus may have is masked by their petty, cheating, pantywaist actions. even a little GIRL knows better than to do what they pull! who are they to have so much power? ya know, even though vickie g. gets under my skin, she's the only one with enough b*lls to make the nexus back off. turn HER loose on the cowerdly bunch. & boo hoo, if they don't gang up on others & win, then they cry that it wasn't fair. boo hoo! it's way past old & i know of so many people who suport the wwe that are sick of the dominaring nexus & the underhander stunts. better re-think their importance before you loose a lot of viewers. john cena got screwed! but i believe he may have been ready to go....on his own terms & in his own time.he should have the opportunity to redeam himself against nexus. he should beat the pants off wade barret & take nexus down 1-by-1. the nexus should ALWAYS be ban from ringside during ANY match. & now, attacking the champ on the way to the ring, PREDICTABLE. bottom line-break up the nexus! they make the magority sick! oh, by the way....i could sit @ the announcers table & do a better job than the ultimate PUNK!SOOOO thankful his little ring is no more. that was ALMOST as sickening as nexus. also, it's time to pull the plug on the secret gm. & miz....u suck, every time you thi...you KNOW you will get beat you tuck tail & send your little buddy in the ring to get spanked...how awesome is that! and please don't EVER let la-cool have a mike!to shamus, you're good. don't wimp out & cheat like nexus, you don't need to. why not have the whole wwe raw & smackdown roster teach the nexus what is't really all about. beat them down! stick up for wwe & not all stand around like whipped pups & let those jokes walk all over you!
Posted by: sss | November 22, 2010 11:29 PM
Hey KE,
I was really excited about Morrison's win. Glad that he got a push. I hope it lasts. Being a huge Shawn Michaels fan, I feel that Morrison has got what it takes to be the next HBK. I hope the push doesn't end here.
What are your thoughts KE?
Posted by: Jay Menon | November 23, 2010 1:05 AM
Where is Bill Goldberg. Is he coming back. What Nexus is doing or accomplish. I would like to see these guys having a match with no interference at all. I have been fan for a long time, but this group has not show me quality, one on one match. Until the win a match on their own they will earn my respect, but until the do it? Dolph the same thing one on one match without the help of VIckie Guerrero EXCUSEME STOP interfering . That is all I have to say.
Posted by: alchemyst 4 ever | November 24, 2010 2:49 PM
My view from Australia is that both Raw and Smackdown are suffering badly from the absence of genuine stars. Both shows desperately need an injection of the tough guy, not these softies like the Nexus crew, Coady Rhodes etc. Where is Batista, Triple H? Let's poach back Goldberg, and pray for a comeback of Steve Austin and Sean Michaels. Get back the grunt!!
Posted by: Simon Flint | November 24, 2010 5:32 PM