LAW / Editorial

WWE Survivor Series Review

Sam Pierce / November 19, 2012 - 11:53pm

Not much happened on wrestling pay per views this month. Not to say that TNA Turning Point and WWE Survivor Series weren’t enjoyable. They were both solid wrestling shows but there wasn’t a whole lot of progression on either.

Survivor Series didn’t see much buildup because the main event was changed with just two weeks until the show. WWE felt that fans weren’t excited enough about Team Foley vs. Team Punk so that was changed into Team Foley vs. Team Ziggler, which allowed CM Punk to defend his WWE Championship. This would end up being in a Triple Threat match against John Cena and Ryback. Aside from one spot in that WWE Championship match, I felt like I was watching a special edition episode of Monday Night Raw, rather than a pay per view.

We got a bonus Traditional Survivor Series 5 on 5 Elimination Match to open the show when Sin Cara, Rey Mysterio, Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel and Brodus Clay took on Titus O’Neil, Darren Young, Primo, Epico and Tensai. This bout was given a lot more time than I thought it would and it was great seeing these lower card talents having their time to shine. Cara, Mysterio, Kidd and Gabriel would end up being the survivors in this one.

The World Heavyweight Championship rematch was another solid fight between Sheamus and the Big Show. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending though. Last month at Hell in a Cell, the Big Show defeated Sheamus because he was the better man. This month, he won by fluke because Sheamus was tending to the referee who he accidently Brogue Kicked after Big Show pulled the ref in front of him. Not to mention that WWE did such an obvious plug for next month’s Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay per view, when Sheamus decimated the Big Show with a steel chair after the match. I just feel like a match loses its sense of value when they use it to promote the next meeting between the two like the match you just watched didn’t even matter.

A Traditional Survivor Series 5 on 5 Elimination Match between Team Foley and Team Ziggler didn’t make much sense and had almost zero backstory. But it was a match filled to the brim with talent and that definitely showed in the quality of the bout. The focus of the match going into the event was turned to the Miz when he joined Team Foley on his, supposed, long road to turning face. However, WWE didn’t really do much with him and he was eliminated cleanly as the second last man on his team. Apparently, we saw the beginnings of an Orton heel turn when he rediscovered that violent side in him as he attempted to punt Dolph in the head. However, Ziggler ended up connecting with a super kick, eliminating the final member of Team Foley to become the sole survivor of his own team.

I thought that the ending of the Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship between CM Punk, John Cena and Ryback would’ve been predictable. Punk pins Cena so that Ryback doesn’t look bad two months in a row, right? Well, that did happen to a certain extent. However, it was how Ryback was taken out of the match that made this finish unique. Three members of the NXT roster: Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, raided the ringside area and delivered a brutal assault on Ryback. They even went as far as to send the big man through the Spanish announce table with a devastating power bomb. Right before that happened, Ryback hit his finisher on Cena in the middle of the ring and Punk climbed on top of him for the cover and the win. This could potentially be a really cool storyline in WWE, but I’m afraid it’ll just end up being another Brad Maddox angle because WWE needs excuses for Ryback to lose a match. Whatever happens, this was still an interesting and entertaining way to end an otherwise uneventful pay per view.

Thanks for reading.