IMG Credit: WWE

Survivor Series 2012
Date: November 18, 2012
Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Attendance: 8,500
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

While the main event is easy enough to explain, the other big match on the card is one of the more confusing in recent memory. Originally, the Survivor Series match was scheduled to be Team Mick Foley vs. Team CM Punk. However, Punk was put in the title match instead so Team Punk became Team Ziggler. A series of injuries and storyline changes resulted in the match being completely different than originally announced. It also didn’t help that Ziggler and Foley had almost no interaction on television and no real reason to be angry at each other. Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: 3MB vs. Zack Ryder/Santino Marella

It’s Slater and Mahal (Jinder Mahal, who never did much) here. Ryder starts with Mahal as Matt Striker rips Ryder on commentary. Mahal takes him down with a shoulder block but gets caught in an armdrag. Off to Santino who works on a headlock before it’s off to Slater for another armdrag. Ryder comes back in as the announcers talk about Halloween a good three weeks since it’s been over. McIntyre holds Slater’s belt from the floor to avoids Santino’s dropkick. Tag off to Mahal who gets two off a knee drop.

Back to Slater for some shots in the corner but he gives up the hot tag to Santino for all his usual antics. Heath punches him down and brings Jinder in again for some knee drops off the ropes. Santino misses a double clothesline which gives Slater another near fall. The Band stays on Marella but he backdrops Mahal down, allowing for the lukewarm tag off to Ryder. The Broski Boot connects and everything breaks down. A Rough Ryder connects on Slater but the legal Mahal sneaks in with a full nelson slam for the pin on Zack.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t much to see. It isn’t a bad match or anything but how good can a match be when 3MB is getting a clean pin? That’s not exactly a match that’s going to light the world on fire. Also, you’re trying to get a crowd going for a show, you have Santino Marella, and he doesn’t get the hot tag?

The opening video talks about the history that has taken place at this show, ranging from Undertaker and Rock debuting, Montreal, and Rock and Cena teaming up for the first time ever. We then shift over to the main event hype videos you would expect, focusing on the World Title matches and….nothing else. Seriously Foley vs. Ziggler isn’t mentioned here at all. There is a nice idea of Punk surviving as champion at various amounts of days into his reign.

Team Clay vs. Team Tensai

Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, Sin Cara, Rey Mysterio

Tensai, Primo, Epico, Prime Time Players

This is a bonus match to fill out the card. Clay is a big man who likes to dance, Tensai is formerly known as Albert/A-Train, Epico and Primo are cousins from Puerto Rico, Kidd is a high flier from Canada and the Prime Time Players are Titus O’Neil and Darren Young, a team who used to fight each other on NXT. This was also back when Tensai was all evil but was a total joke by this point, just as he had been all along.

Kidd works on Epico’s arm to start before taking him down into a headlock. Epico is sent to the floor but manages to send Kidd face first into the apron to take over but it’s quickly off to Gabriel. A sunset flip gets two for Justin and he cranks on Epico’s arm as well. Back to Kidd for a headscissors before putting on another armbar. That doesn’t last long as Mysterio comes in with a low dropkick for two.

Young gets the tag and is almost immediately sent face first into the middle buckle, allowing for a tag off to Sin Cara. The masked men hit a combination wheelbarrow slam/X-Factor for two on Young, sending him over to the corner for a tag off to Primo. Cara hits a quick cross body for two and a sunset flip gets the same as this is a very fast paced match. Tensai gets the tag and runs over Cara with a few slams as JBL lists off Tensai’s Japanese accomplishments.

Off to Titus as Sin Cara is in a lot of trouble. Another slam puts Sin down and it’s off to Primo for a camel clutch. Tensai comes back in to work over the downed Cara but goes after the rest of the team instead of covering. Sin Cara gets up for an enziguri, allowing the hot tag to Clay. Brodus cleans house and the Players, Epico and Primo are sent to the floor. Kidd and Gabriel hit stereo dives to take out the cousins followed by Asai moonsaults from Cara and Mysterio to take out the Players.

The monsters are going at it back inside and Clay botches his high collar suplex, making it into more of a lifting downward spiral. Tensai avoids a charge in the corner and shoulders Brodus down, setting up a backsplash for the elimination. Gabriel comes in with some kicks to the side but gets taken down by a big shoulder block. Off to Titus for an abdominal stretch followed by a backbreaker. Back to Tensai for two off a backsplash but he misses a second one, allowing Gabriel to get a quick rollup for the elimination.

Titus comes in to stomp on the spent Gabriel before it’s back to Epico for a chinlock. Epico misses some elbow drops, allowing Gabriel to make the tag off to Tyson. Kidd heads to the apron but gets sent to the floor where Primo gets in a cheap shot. Back inside with Primo now legal but getting forearmed in the face. Cole says Primo has been a general out there.

Back to Titus who crotches himself off a missed big boot, allowing Tyson to kick him in the side of the head, setting up a rolling cradle for the pin and an elimination. Young comes in to keep the pressure on Kidd before it’s back to Epico for some rolling belly to back suplexes. Not that they matter though as Kidd sweeps the legs and puts on the Sharpshooter to get rid of Epico. Cole of course talks about Montreal.

Primo comes in now but gets elbowed in the ribs for his efforts. He comes back with a quick belly to back suplex, only to go up top and dive into a dropkick to the ribs. The hot tag brings in Mysterio who rolls through a sunset flip and kicks Primo in the face for two. A seated senton looks to set up the 619 but Primo moves to the side, only to get caught in La Majistral for the pin. Darren Young is left all alone and it’s finishers a go-go until Rey finishes him with a top rope splash for the win.

Rating: C. The winners were never really in doubt but this was the right way to get a show going. The fast paced stuff worked very well here with all of the smaller guys hitting their dives to wake the crowd up and give them a fun match. It’s no masterpiece or anything but it did exactly what it was supposed to do. A little trivia for you: that loss makes Tensai 0-5 at Survivor Series, good for the worst record ever at the show.

Kaitlyn is on her way to the ring when someone in black attacks her. Kaitlyn fights back to reveal a blonde wig which falls off as the attacker leaves. Eve pops up and acts all shocked even though she’s evil at the moment. The attacker wound up being Aksana in a meaningless story.

Divas Title: Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres

Eve is defending. Kaitlyn jumps her to start and pounds away in the corner before sending Eve out to the floor. The champion is sent into the barricade and apron before heading back inside for some hair pulling. Eve kicks her in the ribs and slams Kaitlyn’s head into the mat over and over for two. Off to the corner for some choking and an elbow to the back gets two on Kaitlyn.

Eve puts on a figure four choke before clotheslining Kaitlyn down for no cover. Kaitlyn pops back up to break up the moonsault, sending Eve out to the floor. Back in and Eve is tossed around by the hair followed by a fireman’s carry gutbuster for two. Eve comes right back by sweeping Kaitlyn’s legs out and finishing her with a swinging neckbreaker.

Rating: D. As is the case with the Divas around this time, there isn’t much to brag about other than the girls looked good in their outfits. Kaitlyn just wasn’t that good in the ring and didn’t get much better in the future. Eve was better but her character had hit a ceiling around this time.

Team Ziggler argues over who is the leader.

Team Foley argues over who will survive. Foley unites them in a BANG BANG chant, save for Orton. Foley: “Randy?” Orton: “I hate you.” Foley: “He’s ready.”

US Title: Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth

Cesaro (known as the Swiss Superman) is defending and asks why Americans are thankful. The only thing he can think of is how great of a champion he is. Truth gets a quick rollup, sunset flip and rolling cradle for two each before thrusting his hips a bit. Cesaro comes back with a headbutt and a clothesline before pounding away on Truth in the corner. Off to an armbar but a USA chant gets Truth to his feet. The champion shoulders him in the corner and puts on a body vice to keep Truth down again.

A knee to the ribs gets two as JBL lists off some facts about Cesaro’s rugby career. Cole brushes him off and starts listing off rugby facts of his own, sending JBL into a hilarious rant about Cole not listening and asking if Cole is a parrot. The gutwrench suplex gets two for Cesaro and an uppercut gets the same. Back to the body vice for a bit before Truth makes his comeback. Some clotheslines take Cesaro down and a spinning kick to the face gets two. A front suplex gets the same for Truth but the ax kick misses and Cesaro Neutralizes him to retain.

Rating: D. Other than JBL’s rant there was nothing to pay attention to here. These kind of title defenses tend to be very dull as someone like Truth isn’t going to take the title off Cesaro. For the life of me I don’t get why Cesaro isn’t a bigger deal than he is today. The guy has everything you would need but he doesn’t get that big push.

We get a clip from Raw of voicemails from AJ (a psychotic Diva who grew obsessed with various wrestlers), saying that she wants to end her relationship with Cena, but she loses control when she sees him. AJ claims that Ziggler hacked her phone and set those up. Ziggler makes fun of Cena’s, ahem, performance issues, drawing out Cena as backup. AJ slapped Ziggler down without Cena doing a thing.

Here’s AJ with some evidence against someone for something. Over the last month Vickie has been trying to prove that AJ is having an affair with Cena (remember that they’re both single at this point) which AJ thinks means Vickie has something to hide. This brings out Vickie, ranting as always about how much power she has and how she’s being disrespected.

AJ has pictures of Vickie eating with various wrestling personalities and this is scandalous! I’ve spent a long time trying to block this storyline out of my head but now I’m remembering how dumb it was. Vickie is shown in a one piece leopard swimsuit dancing with Brodus causing her to shout a lot. Slapping is threatened but they both get fired for touching the other, so here’s Tamina Snuka to destroy AJ on Vickie’s behalf. This story would keep going for WEEKS.

Paul Heyman talks about how Punk is now #8 on the all time list for longest title reign and will be rising up the ranks even further after tonight because he’s the best in the world. Heyman is just awesome at promoting his guys.

We recap Big Show vs. Sheamus. Not much of a story here other than they had a war at Hell in a Cell with both guys kicking out of each others’ finishers in a great match. Tonight is a rematch.

World Heavyweight Championship: Sheamus vs. Big Show

Big Show is defending. It’s another brawl to start with Sheamus pounding away but Big Show gets in a few shots of his own to take over. The big chop misses in the corner and Sheamus gets in some more shots to little avail. Finally Sheamus wakes up and goes after the knees before tying Show up in the ropes for the forearms to the chest. Big Show escapes to the floor but Sheamus dives off the apron to get in even more right hands to the head.

Back in and Sheamus goes up top but Big Show spears him out of the air in a cool looking crash. They head outside again with Show sending Sheamus into the steps. Sheamus is thrown back in and can barely move. Big Show steps on Sheamus’ ribs a few times as the match has slowed way down. A huge elbow drop gets two and we hit the nerve hold. Sheamus fights up quickly but walks into a side slam for two as the match stays in slow motion. Since the slams aren’t working, Show just stands on Sheamus’ head. Sheamus fights up and grabs a sleeper but Big Show throws him off.

Big Show is getting winded so Sheamus pounds away as much as he can, only to miss a charge and go shoulder first into the post. The Final Cut gets two and Show goes to the middle rope, only to be caught in an electric chair of all things for two. They slug it out from their knees and Sheamus takes over, knocking Show down with a running ax handle.

The Brogue Kick and chokeslam are countered and Sheamus gets two off White Noise. Now the fans are getting into this again. Sheamus loads up the Brogue Kick again but takes out the referee by mistake. Four people immediately come out to check on the referee as the replay shows the champion pulling him in the way. Big Show knocks out Sheamus and one of the referees counts a pin to end the match out of nowhere.

Rating: C. The match was slow for the most part and the ending hurts it even worse. This took all the good stuff out of their match at Hell in a Cell and turned it into a dull imitation. This needed to be two monsters firing bombs at each other until neither guy could get up but instead it was your usual Big Show match at about 4 miles per hour.

Post match Show is disqualified and Sheamus lays the alleged thirty one chair shots on him. I never remembered it being that many and that’s because it’s more like eighteen and a Brogue Kick. Big Show crawls to the back as WE WANT ZIGGLER (Mr. Money in the Bank) chants are ignored.

Team Ziggler vs. Team Foley

Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, David Otunga, Damien Sandow, Wade Barrett

The Miz, Kofi Kingston, HELL NO, Randy Orton

So as I said, it was supposed to be Punk vs. Foley over old school vs. new school, but Punk was put in the main event and Ziggler was picked despite having no issue with Foley. The match was originally Punk/Sandow/Miz/Del Rio/Rhodes, but Cody got hurt and Miz felt he didn’t deserve the spot, so Miz was replaced by Barrett and Cody was replaced by Otunga.

Ryback was originally on Team Foley but was moved to the main event and replaced by Miz in a Raw poll. As you can see, the match is a huge mess and almost no one was interested in it for the most part. HELL NO (Kane and Daniel Bryan) are the Tag Team Champions and Kofi is Intercontinental Champion of course. Sandow is an intellectual.

Kofi grabs a quick rollup for two on Otunga to start. David avoids a quick Trouble in Paradise but gets caught by a dive on the floor. Otunga’s trunks are pulled up a bit as Bryan comes in with his kicks. Off to Sandow for the Russian legsweep and the Wind-Up elbow gets two. Bryan fights out of a chinlock and fires off the kicks to the chest to send Sandow out to the floor. Damien says good luck and walks out but Kane will have none of that. Back in and Bryan’s big kick to the head sets up a chokeslam for a fast elimination.

The Tag Team Champions get in an argument for no apparent reason, allowing Ziggler to hit a quick Zig Zag on Kane for the pin. That makes the move look strong if nothing else. Orton and Miz get in a quick fight for some reason but Randy catches a sneaky Ziggler in the slingshot suplex for two. Off to Kofi for the matchup that will not die with Ziggler being launched face first into the buckle for two. Back to Bryan who gets poked in the eye, allowing Dolph to tag in Barrett.

Bryan shouts NO a lot but misses a charge into the corner, setting up Barrett’s big boot in the ropes. Otunga comes in again and the YES Lock goes on almost immediately for the submission. It’s 4-3 with Foley in the lead as Del Rio comes in with a chinlock on Bryan. Back up and Del Rio misses a charge into the corner, allowing Bryan to kick him out to the floor. Kofi gets the not very hot tag and kicks Del Rio down, setting up the Boom Drop for no cover. Instead Ziggler distracts Kofi so Trouble in Paradise misses, but Kofi runs up the corner for a cross body and two.

Wade comes right back with the Bull Hammer for a quick pin, getting us down to 3-3 (Orton/Miz/Bryan vs. Barrett/Ziggler/Del Rio). Orton comes in right away and suplexes Barrett down before cranking on the arm. Miz doesn’t seem interested in a tag but Bryan is glad to come in and work on an arm. A middle rope dropkick gets two and Bryan snaps off even more kicks. Barrett avoids a big one and tags in Del Rio but Alberto has to fight out of a quick YES Lock attempt.

Alberto tries a running enziguri in the corner but hits the arm instead, setting up the cross armbreaker for the elimination. Miz comes in for the first time and scores with some left hands before it’s back to Orton for his traditional stuff. Back to Ziggler who takes over on Randy with a big elbow followed by a chinlock. Orton fights up and launches Ziggler into the air in a nice crash.

A double tag brings in Barrett and Miz with the American connecting with the corner clothesline. The Skull Crushing Finale is countered into a pumphandle attempt (called Wasteland by Cole) but Miz escapes into the Finale for the elimination to tie us up at two. Del Rio comes in next but charges into a DDT for two. Alberto grabs a German suplex for two but gets pulled off the middle rope in a crash. Miz misses the corner clothesline and gets enziguried for an elimination.

That leaves Orton vs. Ziggler/Del Rio with Alberto starting for his pair. Orton fires off some punches but gets caught by a cheap shot, allowing Ziggler to come in and slow things down. Alberto is back in very quickly with a double stomp to the ribs but goes up top, only to dive into a dropkick. Ricardo trips up Orton, earning him Socko down the throat. Ziggler accidentally dropkicks Del Rio and gets sent into the post. A quick RKO takes out Alberto and it’s one on one now with Orton having that evil look in his eyes.

Orton immediately goes into RKO mode but Ziggler holds the ropes and hits the Zig Zag for a quick near fall. So it can beat Kane after he’s taken no damage at all but Orton kicks out at two after twenty minutes? Score one for the Viper. The Fameasser misses and Orton hits the Elevated DDT despite bleeding from the mouth a bit. Orton loads up the Punt but walks into a superkick for the pin.

Rating: C-. Here’s the problem again: the match isn’t bad but there’s no reason for these guys to be fighting each other. Yeah they’ve all feuded with each other at some point in the past, but there’s nothing going on setting up this match. It’s really just ten guys fighting each other with a minor feud here or there. There was no reason to care about this match and that’s exactly how the match felt. Decent match, but the absence of emotion held it back.

We recap the main event. Punk has been champion for a year almost to the day, Ryback got screwed over by referee Brad Maddox inside the Cell and Cena gave Ryback his spot in the Cell due to injury. The solution was a triple threat match.

WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Ryback vs. CM Punk

Punk, with Paul Heyman in his corner, bails to the floor to start and gets chased by both challengers. Ryback finally catches him in the corner but Cena wants to do it himself and pulls Ryback away, allowing Punk to get in shots on both guys. Ryback kicks him in the chest and Cena adds a bulldog before Ryback clotheslines Punk to the floor. It’s the battle of the heroes with Cena pounding away but Ryback escapes the AA and knocks Cena to the outside.

Punk is back in now and scores with a snap suplex on Ryback, but the monster pops right back up and gorilla presses the champion into a fall away slam. Cena comes back in with a belly to belly for two on Ryback before putting on a chinlock. Punk breaks it up with a top rope ax handle and Cena falls to the floor. Another ax handle attempt is caught in midair but Punk takes Ryback down with a neckbreaker. Cena sneaks in with a rollup for two but Punk DDTs him down for two more.

With Cena down, Punk channels his inner Austin Aries and puts on the Last Chancery but Ryback lifts Punk into the air for a powerslam. Cena grabs the ProtoBomb on Ryback but Ryback pops up, leading to a slugout. The shoulder blocks look to take Ryback down but Punk pulls John to the floor and sends him into the steps. Punk’s springboard clothesline gets two on Ryback and we hit the chinlock. Ryback fights up and slams Punk down followed by the Meathook. Cena breaks up the Shell Shock and puts Ryback in the STF but it’s Punk with the Macho Elbow for the save.

Everyone is down now and Punk might have hurt himself on that elbow. He’s up first but can’t hit the GTS on Cena. Punk and Cena slug it out but Ryback clotheslines both guys down to take over again. Ryback sends both guys to the floor for some reason but they double team Ryback down as a result. A double suplex puts Ryback through the table and they head inside for the real showdown.

Punk grabs a GTS out of nowhere for two and Heyman is livid. The AA gets the same result other than Heyman being relieved. Punk comes back with the running knee but the bulldog is countered into the STF. Ryback makes the save and throws Cena into the barricade to put him down. The Meathook and Shell Shock lay out Punk but Cena makes a diving save. The Shell Shock lays out Cena as well……but here are three guys in black to destroy Ryback. They pound away on Ryback and take him to the floor for a TripleBomb through the table. Punk crawls over and pins Cena to retain.

Rating: C+. It’s probably the best match of the night but that’s not saying much at this point. Punk winning was a good idea and set up more stuff down the line which is the best possible outcome. You could feel the wind blowing as Ryback fell down the card though and he wouldn’t really recover. Fairly good match but nowhere near enough to save the show though.

The three men would be revealed as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (DUN DUN DUN!), which Cole tells us during Punk’s celebration to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. Man alive has time been cruel to this show. Watching it live there was some drama, but looking back you have two LONG Survivor Series matches with no real story behind them and two screwjob finishes in title matches. Shield would become a bigger deal but no one knew that at this point. This was a “tune into Raw tomorrow night” show and that’s not good for the Survivor Series.

Ratings Comparison

3MB vs. Zack Ryder/Santino Marella

Original:

Redo: D+

Team Clay vs. Team Tensai

Original: B-

Redo: C

Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn

Original: D-

Redo: D

R-Truth vs. Antonio Cesaro

Original: D

Redo: D

Sheamus vs. Big Show

Original: C-

Redo: C

Team Foley vs. Team Ziggler

Original: C-

Redo: C-

Ryback vs. John Cena vs. CM Punk

Original: B-

Redo: C+

Overall Rating

Original: D+

Redo: D

About the same down the line. It sucked back then and it sucked now. I actually watched most of this show late and while still tired from a flight the first time around but apparently it had more problems than that.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/11/21/survivor-series-2012-a-filler-ppv-disguised-as-a-major-show/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Survivor Series 2012
Date: November 18, 2012
Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indianapolis
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re up to one of the Big Four PPVs and I really don’t care. Seriously, what reason is there for me to care about this show? We have a rematch from last month and a triple threat with Cena involved this time but no Cell. Oh and a Survivor Series match between two teams with captains that have talked all of maybe twice ever since we decided to change the main event after a week. Let’s get to it.

Pre Show: 3MB vs. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder

It’s Slater and Mahal here. Ryder vs. Mahal gets things going as Striker rips on Ryder for being so prominent on Facebook and Twitter. That may indeed be stupid, but if Ryder ever gets out of wrestling, he can legitimately call himself a creator of a successful web series, and that’ll likely get him a job in the real world. Not bad for some social media geek is it? Off to Santino who works on Mahal’s arm before it’s off to Ryder again to beat on Slater. A running elbow in the corner gets two as the announcers talk about music.

McIntyre trips up Santino and the heels take over. That lasts so short of an amount of time that I don’t have anything to type about it before Santino comes in and beats up the band members. Slater gets in a knee to the ribs and 3MB takes over again. A clothesline to the back of the head gets two and it’s chinlock time. Santino dives away from Mahal and there’s the hot tag to Ryder. House is cleaned and the Broski Boot hits Mahal. The Rough Ryder puts Slater down but McIntyre blasts Zack in the back of the head with a cast. A full nelson slam from Mahal gets the pin on Ryder for the pin at 6:11.

Rating: C-. Just a tag match here but having 3MB on my screen is always a good thing anymore. It’s a great example of how a simple repackaging into something different can breathe new life into someone’s career. That’s old school booking and it often gives you the right answer that you’re looking for. Having McIntyre go out there and be called the Chosen One or the guy that was often called the Chosen One for years on end isn’t going to get him anywhere. Changing him into something completely different and repackaging him has given his character more life than anything he’s done since he debuted.

The opening video is the same history deal they’ve done for the last five years or so. Is there any show that does that? They talk about the two world title matches as well, but the Survivor Series isn’t mentioned at all.

David Otunga is replacing Rhodes.

Team Clay vs. Team Tensai

Brodus Clay, Sin Cara, Rey Mysterio, Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel

Tensai, Prime Time Players, Primo, Epico

My goodness they’re USING THE BIG FREAKING ROSTER THEY HAVE. This is a smart move that they never use for some reason. I miss the King’s stupid lines. Apparently the fans got to pick Rosa’s dress tonight. Uh….sure. Kidd and Epico start things off with Kidd taking it down to the mat quickly. Off to an armbar by Kidd before Epico bridges into a backslide. This is some awesome stuff actually. Kidd sends him to the floor but Epico slams him face first into the apron to take over.

Off to Gabriel for some kicks and a legsweep before it’s right back to Kidd. Scratch that as it’s Young vs. Mysterio now as this is hitting a bit of a dull spot. Cara and Mysterio hit a combination wheelbarrow slam/X-Factor for two for Cara. Primo comes in and takes the Tajiri Elbow and a rana to send him into the corner. Primo slams him down and it’s off to the Big Bald. JBL rattles off some NJPW stats for Tensai and it’s off to O’Neal.

That also goes nowhere so it’s off to Epico again for a camel clutch. Cara finally escapes and hits an enziguri before making the tag to Brodus. Everything breaks down and the four tag team guys on the heel team are sent to the floor. Kidd and Gabriel hit stereo suicide dives to take out the Puerto Ricans and the masked guys hit stereo Asai Moonsaults to take out the Players. Awesome sequence there.

This leaves the two monsters left in the ring alone in a match we’ve seen a lot of times before. Clay tries his overhead suplex attempt but it basically turns into a Downward Spiral, which makes me wonder if there’s more to Ryback not being able to Shell Shock Tensai. Brodus misses a splash in the corner and gets shoulder blocked down. The backsplash from Tensai takes out Clay and we’re down to 5-4.

Kidd tries to fire off some kicks but gets run over as well. Off to Titus again with an abdominal stretch to slow things down. A backbreaker from Titus puts Gabriel down and the backsplash from Tensai gets two. A second attempt misses and Justin rolls him up for the pin. Back to O’Neal as we’re down to what this match likely should have been in the first place.

Epico comes in to chop away and hit a butterfly suplex for two on Gabriel. Off to some chinlockery but Epico misses an elbow drop and there’s the hot tag to Kidd. Scratch the hot part as he’s immediately sent to the floor and stomped on by Primo. Back to Titus for more pounding but a big boot misses and O’Neal crotches himself on the top rope, allowing Kidd to hook his spinning sunset flip for the elimination.

Young immediately comes in to stomp away as it’s Cara/Mysterio/Kidd/Gabriel vs. Epico/Primo/Young. Epico comes in and rolls some belly to back suplexes but Kidd sweeps the legs and it’s a Sharpshooter for the elimination. It is Survivor Series after all. Primo comes in now and suplexes Kidd down, only to dive off the top onto some knees.

There’s the hot tag to Rey who speeds things up and kicks Primo in the head for two. The seated senton by Rey gets two and La Magistral leaves Young on his own. There’s the 619, a Swanton from Cara, a top rope Lionsault from Justin, a top rope elbow from Kidd and a top rope splash from Rey to END Young for the win at 18:27.

Rating: B-. Very solid choice for an opener here with everyone looking good to great out there. This is what they should do with the three hour Raw’s: let the small guys go out there and tear the house down for ten minutes or so to fire up the crowd. This worked really well for an opening match and the high flying sequences were all really fun. Good, fun match here which is what the roster is capable of when it doesn’t have stupid writing weighing it down.

Kaitlyn is heading to the ring when some blonde chick attacks her. Oh it’s Aksans in a wig. Eve comes up and pretends to know nothing about this. Kaitlyn shoves her down and makes fun of her.

Divas Title: Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres

Eve is defending after ducking Kaitlyn for a few months now. It’s a catfight to start with Kaitlyn throwing the wig in her face. Kaitlyn pounds away on her as you can see how bad she really is out there. She has no idea what she’s doing for the most part and is doing stuff that looks like she’s imitating wrestling more than anything else. Eve tries to run into the crowd and is thrown into the barricade for her efforts.

Back in and Eve kicks Kaitlyn down to take over. Kaitlyn gets choked in the corner and the champ drops an elbow for two. Off to that triangle choke that Eve uses to fill in some time while giving us some good shots of Eve’s legs. Eve loads up the moonsault but gets shoved down to the apron. Kaitlyn comes back and pounds away some more with a gutbuster getting two. Eve trips her up and hits her spinning neckbreaker out of nowhere to retain at 7:02.

Rating: D-. As usual, Kaitlyn proves she’s just not very good in the ring. She’s built and has a pretty face which is all you need in modern WWE to be a successful Diva, but at the same time it doesn’t mean her matches are any less painful to sit through. Eve is at least competent in the ring but she needs more to work with here.

We get a clip from the preshow where Del Rio and Ziggler argue over the tag match. Team Foley argued too until Foley calmed them down and said he needed all of them to work together.

US Title: Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth

Truth is challenging for no apparent reason at all. Cesaro makes fun of Thanksgiving before the match because Americans have nothing to be thankful for. He makes fun of how bad things are in America compared to Europe and the energy Cesaro has here is good stuff. Truth quickly rolls him up twice for two each and punches him in the head a few times. Cesaro comes back with some punches in the corner of his own as JBL talks about Antonio trying to learn Russian.

Off to a double arm submission attempt followed by a gutwrench to slow Truth down. This is REALLY not the kind of a match they needed to wake up a crowd that is kind of dead so far. The gutwrench suplex gets two and the uppercut gets the same. Back to the freaking gutwrench before Truth fights up and gets two off a spin kick and the same off a Stunner. The ax kick misses and it’s the uppercut and Neutralizer to retain the title at 6:58.

Rating: D. This was a Smackdown match and nothing more. After a match which was literally added to the card tonight and a terrible Divas match, this wasn’t the right idea. Truth had no chance coming into this match and he only had a few moments where he was even on offense. Nothing to see here at all for the most part.

TLC ad which is like an Otunga law ad.

We watch the AJ/Cena/Vickie segment from Raw. THIS IS A FREAKING PAY PER VIEW. WHY ARE WE WATCHING A SEGMENT FROM RAW??? Oh, because here’s AJ for ANOTHER segment in this story that no one cares about BECAUSE IT DOESN’T MATTER. They’re both single but apparently Vickie is just being evil and oh what’s the freaking point. She accuses Vickie of having a secret of her own and here’s Vickie to yell some more.

We get stupid fake Photoshopped images of Vickie and Ricardo Rodriguez sharing burritos. There’s another one of her with JR and one with her and Brodus. They admit this is stupid and stare at each other a bit until AJ says that if either touches the other, they’re fired. SO WHAT ARE WE BUILDING TOWARDS THEN??? Oh apparently it’s Tamina Snuka we’re building to, as she jumps AJ and beats her down. You know, because this feud doesn’t have enough worthless people in it already.

Heyman talks about how Punk is the 8^th longest reigning WWE Champion ever and how he’s the best in the world.

We recap Sheamus vs. Big Show. They had a great match at HIAC where Show won the title off a pair of KO Punches. Tonight is the rematch and Sheamus is MAD.

Smackdown World Title: Sheamus vs. Big Show

Show is defending in case you’re rather stupid. We get some big match intros and we’re ready to go. Sheamus pounds away to start but Show punches him down to take over. The chops in the corner have Sheamus in trouble but he comes back with a shoulder to take out Show’s leg. We go old school to have Show tied up in the ropes where Sheamus pounds away. The ten forearms in the ropes hit but Show rolls to the floor to avoid a Brogue Kick.

Back in and Sheamus tries the top rope shoulder but Show spears him out of the air. This is one of those battle of the giants which is always cool. There’s not much better than two big guys beating on each other. Sheamus gets knocked to the floor for a bit as Show is in full control. Back in and Cole talks about Show winning the world title in the main event of Survivor Series 1999 in, and I quote, one of the greatest Survivor Series matches ever. Does anyone even remember that match? If you don’t, trust me when I say it’s not anything great.

Show works over the arm for some reason before pounding him down even more. This is a slow match but it’s not terrible or anything. Sheamus gets knocked to the floor but comes back in with the slingshot shoulder. Not that it means anything as Show kicks him down and gets two off an elbow. It’s nerve hold time followed by a side slam for two. Sheamus fights up and goes with the classic strategy of choking Show out while on his back.

Sheamus pounds away but misses a charge, sending him shoulder first into the post. Show loads up the Vader Bomb but in the HOKEY SMOKE spot of the match, Sheamus counters into an electric chair drop for two. They slug it out from their knees with Sheamus taking over. A KO Punch misses and there’s a shoulder to take Show down. A double ax does the same followed by Sheamus escaping the chokeslam and hitting White Noise for two. Here comes the Brogue Kick but Show pulls the referee in the way. With the referee being checked on, Show knocks out Sheamus and pins him to retain at 14:40.

Rating: C-. This was nowhere near as good as last month but this was a completely different kind of match. This was more of a regular match with a stupid ending which is designed to do nothing more than keep the feud going. While that’s better than the reasons we got more Sheamus vs. Del Rio (Del Rio wanting more shots), it doesn’t mean we need another match in the feud at all. The match here was slow, although not boring and the fans were getting into it which is a good thing. The ending hurt it more than anything else.

Oh and one more thing: JBL is great on commentary here in the vein of Jesse Ventura. He was cheering for Sheamus at the end because Sheamus earned his praise by being tough during the match. It’s nice to see commentators who can be swayed during the match like that.

Show gets disqualified by another referee and Sheamus wins. Well sure why not. Sheamus destroys Show and his knee with a chair and Brogue Kicks Show while Show is on one knee. Methinks a chairs match is obvious now.

Show literally crawls up the aisle as the fans cheer for Ziggler. He gets on a knee and we go to a Rolling Stones concert ad. According to a live report I read, Show got up and walked to the back like it was fine. You know, because limping is too much to ask for of him.

Team Ziggler vs. Team Foley

Dolph Ziggler, Damien Sandow, David Otunga, Alberto Del Rio, Wade Barrett

Randy Orton, The Miz, HELL NO, Kofi Kingston

If you can figure out why Foley and Ziggler are feuding, you’re smarter than I am because for all I can tell, they’ve spoken about twice ever. Otunga and Kofi get things going with Kingston getting a rollup for two. Trouble in Paradise is teased but David heads to the floor and gets dived on. Off to Bryan for the fans to chant YES a lot but Otunga comes back with a side slam for two.

Sandow comes in for the Wind-Up Elbow for two and it’s off to a chinlock. Bryan fights up and hits a running knee in the corner and some hard kicks to keep Sandow in trouble. Damien starts walking out but Kane throws him back in for a chokeslam and the first elimination. Bryan and Kane argue some more until Kane shoves Bryan to the floor. The distraction allows Ziggler to Zig Zag Kane down for the elimination. That move really does look all that great, especially when Kane is completely fresh.

Miz and Orton get in an argument before Randy gets to fight Dolph. Off to Kofi for another version of a match that is almost always good. A big monkey flip sends Ziggler flying and it’s off to Bryan for more chanting from the fans. Ziggler takes over again and here’s Barrett to kick Bryan in the ribs. Otunga comes in with a shoulder block but gets quickly pulled into the NO Lock for the tap out.

Alberto comes in and hooks a chinlock on Bryan as things slow down for a few seconds. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker puts Bryan down but Daniel comes back, sending Del Rio to the floor. There’s the tag to Kofi but the fans don’t seem that interested at the moment. Trouble in Paradise is broken up but there’s a big spinning cross body off the top for two. Barrett gets the tag and the Winds of Change set up the Bull Hammer to make sure the IC Champion is pinned again.

To recap it’s Barrett/Del Rio/Ziggler vs. Miz/Bryan/Orton. It’s Orton coming in to face Barrett and a suplex puts the Brit down. Orton reaches for a tag but Miz wants nothing to do with it. Instead here’s Bryan to work on the arm and get two off a middle rope missile dropkick (JBL: “THE FLYING GOAT!”). Barrett clotheslines him down and brings in Del Rio as this match continues to take forever. The NO Lock doesn’t work on Alberto so there’s the running enziguri in the corner and the Armbreaker gets the submission from Bryan.

Here’s Miz for the first time and he doesn’t really do much before it’s back to Orton for the circle stomp. Ziggler comes in and gets thrown into the air in a big crashing bump from Orton. There’s the hot tag to Miz who gets a decent reaction from the crowd and sends Ziggler to the floor. The top rope double ax puts Wade down and after escaping the pumphandle slam, Miz gets the elimination on Barrett after the Finale.

A German suplex from Del Rio puts Miz down for two and the corner enziguri eliminates him, making it Orton vs. Del Rio and Ziggler. Del Rio and Orton slug it out and a Ziggler distraction lets Del Rio get a fast two count. Off to Ziggler who does nothing of note and Orton makes his comeback. He stops for an Elevated DDT attempt on Ricardo but Ziggler makes the save. There’s Socko to Ricardo and Ziggler accidentally dropkicks Del Rio. Randy sends Ziggler into the post and RKOs Del Rio to get us down to one on one.

Orton looks over at Ziggler who is pretty much out cold in the corner and it’s time to load up the RKO, but Ziggler holds the ropes and hits the Zig Zag for two. The place is WAY into Orton here and both guys are down. The Fameasser misses and there’s the Elevated DDT. Orton is bleeding from the mouth. He sees the blood and loads up the Punt instead of the RKO. Instead he charges into a superkick and Ziggler gets the 100% clean pin at 23:44.

Rating: C-. The problem here is that it’s long. Well that and the fact that the feuds were all thrown off due to changing the writing or injuries, but we’ll stick to the length here. At the end of the day, this was mainly filling time until the very end. On top of that, I forgot Foley was involved at all in this until the end. They would have been WAY better off by making this Team Orton or Team Kofi, but they had to stick with the feud they set up, even though it was gone.

Fans TOUT IT OUT about who Rock should face at the Rumble.

We recap the triple threat. Punk is champion, Ryback got screwed out of the title, Cena is Cena. That’s all I’ve got, but the recap shows EVERYTHING in this feud, which isn’t really even a feud.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. CM Punk vs. Ryback

Cena has a new shirt focusing on how he’s been around for ten years. Ryback comes out third and most people don’t seem thrilled. Punk immediately bails to the floor and both challengers chase after him. It’s Cena that catches up with him but the challengers get in an argument over who gets to fight him. Ryback boots Punk down and Cena adds a bulldog until we get the big showdown.

Before there’s any contact, it’s time for the dueling chants. Cena tries a quick AA but Ryback escapes and runs him over with a shoulder. Ryback knocks him to the floor and Punk is back in to beat on the bald guy. Punk knocks him down and is immediately gorilla pressed down by Ryback. Cena tries a chinlock on Ryback but Punk breaks it up with a top rope ax handle for some reason.

Ryback takes an ax handle as well but Punk’s attempt at a second one is caught in mid air. Punk gets rammed into the corner but Cena comes back in and walks into a Punk DDT for two. Punk puts Cena in the Last Chancery but Ryback pulls him up and powerslams him down for two. Cena hits the spinning slam on Ryback but it’s completely no sold. Ryback sends him to the floor and Cena is sent into the steps as things continue to not really slow at all here.

Punk hooks a chinlock on Ryback in the ring but it’s easily broken up. The Meat Hook sets up the Shell Shock but Cena stops Ryback before he can drop Punk. There’s the STF on Ryback, so Punk takes FOREVER going up top and pointing into the air before dropping the Macho Elbow to break it up. Punk and Cena slug it out so Ryback clotheslines them both down at once. Both guys get sent to the floor by the monster where he tries a double Shell Shock on the floor.

Since that would likely kill one of them, Punk escapes and joins forces with Cena for a double suplex to put Ryback through the announce table. Back in the ring and Cena cranks things up with the shoulders and the Shuffle. The AA is countered and the GTS gets two, as does the AA that follows it. Punk fires off kicks and blocks an STF attempt.

The running knee in the corner hits but the bulldog is countered into the STF. Ryback makes the save and kills them both with Meat Hooks. Punk gets Shell Shocked but Cena makes the save at the last second. There’s a Shell Shock for Cena….and here are Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose from FCW to beat up Ryback. Cole says all of their names and they hit a triple powerbomb on Ryback through the other announce table. Punk pins the dead Cena to retain at 17:56.

Rating: B-. The ending was to set up something else in the future of course and to make sure Punk keeps the title until the Rumble so we can have Rock beat Punk after he holds the title for fourteen months or whatever they think we’re going to care about. The lack of a flow here hurt and the crowd wasn’t into this at all for the most part. Seeing three new guys come in was a nice touch though.

Punk celebrates a lot to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. I don’t want to say the show was bad because it wasn’t but there’s nothing here worth watching. We had a match added to the show, a bad Divas match, a worthless match, a match used to set up next month, a match with a feud that doesn’t exist, and a match that was about setting up another feud while advancing towards the Rumble. If that’s not a filler PPV I don’t know what is. The matches that mattered weren’t bad but there’s nothing here that you need to see at all. Not a bad show, just not an interesting one at all.

Results

Team Clay b. Team Tensai – Top Rope Splash to Young

Eve Torres b. Kaitlyn – Spinning Neckbreaker

Antonio Cesaro b. R-Truth – Neutralizer

Sheamus b. Big Show via DQ when Show pulled the referee in the way of a Brogue Kick

Team Ziggler b. Team Foley – Superkick to Orton

CM Punk b. John Cena and Ryback – Punk pinned Cena after a Shell Shock

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Survivor Series 2011
Date: November 20, 2011
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 16,749
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Booker T

Rock and Cena are teaming together before Wrestlemania and Punk is challenging for the Raw World Title. There really isn’t much else to say about the rest of the card. Those two matches are dominating the show and it’s hard to argue that anything else is really important. The show being in Madison Square Garden makes things even better as they’ll be very active all night instead of being in the middle of the road like so many crowds over the years. Let’s get to it.

The whole history thing starts us off again, as always. The rest of the video of course turns to focus on the Rock.

John Laurinitis (the boring corporate figure, better known as Johnny Ace) welcomes us to the show. There’s nothing else to say here.

US Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

Morrison lost FOREVER, then won a match on Raw after Mason Ryan (a worthless power guy) helped, and gets a title match as a result. This was during a bad period where Ziggler had a rock cover of his song which didn’t work at all. Feeling out process to start and the fans want RYDER. This was when Zack Ryder was white hot due to his internet show but WWE decided that he wasn’t important enough to be on the card. That would change but this is Ryder’s hometown and it would make sense to have him in Morrison’s spot here. Ziggler gets taken down by the arm as the announcers talk about Ryder.

The fans now think this is boring so Dolph jumps over John in the corner and hits a dropkick to take over. Off to a headlock by the champion as the fans still want Ryder. Dolph gets thrown to the floor and Morrison hits a big corkscrew dive to take the champ out. Vickie offers an annoying distraction and Ziggler takes over back inside. Ziggler takes Morrison down and nips up in a good athletic display before hooking a near Crossface.

As the fans chant the same thing I’d expect to hear for the entire show, Ziggler stands around a lot. Morrison misses a charge in the corner and Dolph hits a reverse powerslam for two. The sleeper doesn’t go on and Morrison starts speeding things up with clotheslines and a leg lariat. That gets two and so does a rollup with tights for Ziggler. Morrison kicks Dolph in the head for two and a half and they trade sleepers.

The fans seem to be more behind Ziggler but it’s New York so that’s not shocking. John hits a spinning DDT for two as Vickie puts Dolph’s foot on the rope, which earns her an ejection. Morrison misses a running knee and they rapidly trade near falls. The Flying Chuck misses for Morrison and it’s a Fameasser…..for two. Wow I thought that was it. The running knee hits Ziggler in the face but Starship Pain hits Ziggler’s knees. Dolph’s Zig Zag retains the title.

Rating: B-. I dug this match a lot, annoying crowd aside. Sometimes there’s nothing better you can do than throw two talented guys out there for ten minutes and let them have fun. Ziggler is more or less in the same spot he’s in a year later which is annoying but it’s the way of life in the WWE. Morrison would be gone in eight days which you almost knew was coming.

Post match Vickie Guerrero gets our attention as only she can and hands the mic to Ziggler who says he’d hate to have to follow what you just saw. He says it’s not showing off it you can back it up every night. As Ziggler celebrates, here’s Ryder…who is immediately beaten down. Ryder comes back and hits the Rough Ryder to send Ziggler running. They probably should have changed the title here but I’m not sure they knew they wanted to go with Ryder yet or not.

Divas Title: Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix

Beth is defending and this is a lumberjill match. Beth catches a cross body and just drops Eve like she doesn’t care. Eve kicks her down and does her dancing moonsault but Beth rolls to the floor and calls it stupid. Back in and the moonsault hits anyway for two. Eve gets sent to the apron and has to kick away Natalya, allowing the champion to take over.

Off to a reverse chinlock for a bit before Eve counters a wheelbarrow suplex to send Beth into the middle turnbuckle. Eve hits a kick to the face but a rolling flip hits knees. The Glam Slam is countered and Eve hooks a freaky kind of Octopus Hold before shifting to a modified triangle choke. Eve has to chase off some evil chicks but manages to kick Beth in the head. The moonsault gets broken up though and the Glam Slam off the middle rope retains Beth’s title.

Rating: C. Not terrible here and the ending looked awesome. I loved Beth and Natalya’s heel run together as they HATED the stupid Barbie stuff that women like Kelly and Eve were doing because it’s almost embarrassing at times. This particular match started slow but once it picked up it got a lot better.

David Otunga (a wrestler with a real life law degree from Harvard) comes in to annoy Punk and says Cole deserves an apology from some attack by Punk. Punk says let me go become world champion first.

Rock is in the back and he’s got a mic. He talks about MSG (no FINALLY for some reason) and being here in the 70s, watching his grandfather fighting for the World Title. Then in the 80s he hung out with Andre the Giant in the locker room. Then in 1996 he debuted here in the WWF, and despite having a hideous outfit and the worst haircut known to man (his words), the fans chanted his name. That’s correct actually and they didn’t even tell him to die. Rock runs us through his history of catchphrases and title wins, with the most important being him becoming the People’s Champion.

There’s FINALLY and he has to stop for a chant. He does his stupid boots catchphrase before moving on to his partner: John Cena. The fans think Cena sucks but Rock talks about the things that have happened in MSG like Ali vs. Frazier. Then he sings some Frank Sinatra and asks the fans to sing with him. It’s on tonight and that’s about it. This is what the fans wanted and he could have had them say anything he wanted here. That’s what Rock is great at and it worked.

Team Barrett vs. Team Orton

Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Hunico, Dolph Ziggler

Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Mason Ryan, Sin Cara

Ziggler is subbing for an injured Christian. There’s no real reason for most of these guys other than the captains feuding and needing four midcard faces and heels to fill out the teams. Ryan is a muscular Welsh wrestler, Sin Cara is a masked man from Mexico and Hunico is an unmasked wrestler from Mexico. Cody is Intercontinental Champion. Kofi and Bourne are Tag Team Champions here but Bourne is on a Wellness violation. Kofi and Ziggler start things off with Ziggler hitting a quick elbow to take Kofi down. The reverse powerslam is countered and Dolph gets one off a dropkick.

Kofi’s SOS is countered so it’s a forearm to take Dolph down instead. There’s the tag to Orton and an RKO eliminates Ziggler quickly. To be fair he had a match earlier so this isn’t a devastating loss for him. Barrett has a huddle on the floor with his team but Orton wants to fight some more. Back in and it’s most of Team Orton to clear the ring before Kofi and Cara try stereo flip dives. Cara, being the klutz that he is at this point, trips on the top rope and rips his knee apart, putting him in the shelf for the next seven months.

The match stops for a few moments as we’re told Cara is eliminated. We get back to normal and it’s Cody vs. Randy now. Orton grabs the arm and it’s off to Ryan. Prepare for a trainwreck. Ryan hits some very basic stuff including a knee to the chest before Cody bails to the floor. Hunico gets the tag but Ryan has to literally pull him in. Off to Kofi whose trunks actually feature the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (from Ghostbusters. You should know that.).

Kofi misses a charge in the corner and it’s off to Barrett for a chinlock. Back up and it’s a double clothesline to put them both right back down. Double tag brings in Hunico vs. Ryan with the latter hitting a series of backbreakers and a fall away slam. Hunico gets gorilla press dropped into the corner for a tag to Cody. There’s the Disaster kick and the Cross Rhodes (big reaction) for the pin and elimination.

Off to Sheamus vs. Cody now with the Irishman quickly getting annoyed. He pounds Rhodes down in the corner and hits the ten forearms in the ropes, which they tried to name some Irish word. It lasted about two weeks before they realized it speaks for itself pretty well. Cody tries to low bridge Sheamus but Sheamus lands on the apron. Barrett decks the Irishman and Hunico comes in with a springboard dropkick to the knee.

Cole starts talking about Shawn Michaels for no apparent reason as Sheamus takes out Hunico’s knee as well. Off to Kofi who chops Barrett down a lot but gets kicked in the face after having to deal with Swagger. With Barrett mostly dead from the kick, the Wasteland eliminates Kofi. It’s Orton and Sheamus vs. Swagger, Barrett, Hunico and Rhodes.

Orton comes in and tries the Elevated DDT, but Wade drops him to the floor where Hunico hits a suicide dive to take Orton out. Swagger comes in to pound on Orton a bit before Cody comes in for a release gordbuster. That gets two and it’s off to a chinlock for a bit. A bulldog by Cody is easily countered and it’s hot tag to Sheamus. Sheamus pounds on Swagger and hits the top rope shoulder and the Irish Curse. Swagger escapes the High Cross so Sheamus drops knees on his head, drawing a DQ when the referee gets to five. They were really trying to keep Sheamus strong here and that mostly worked.

Before Sheamus leaves, he takes Swagger’s head off with a Brogue Kick. Orton gets the easy pin and it’s 3-1. Rhodes comes in and stomps a spent Orton down in the corner but Orton comes back with some clotheslines. There’s the powerslam to Rhodes followed by the Elevated DDT. Randy has to chase off Barrett so Hunico gets a blind tag. He springboards right into the RKO for the elimination to make it 2-1, but Rhodes distracts Orton into the Wasteland to give Barrett the final pin.

Rating: B. This is your usual good formula based Survivor Series match with Orton and Barrett getting to advance their feud and not having Orton lose any face at all. The rest of the teams didn’t mean much but Kofi is perfect for matches like this: he’s got the resume to make him look like a threat but he never steals anyone’s thunder. Good match.

The Bellas hit on Alberto when Laurinitis comes up. Del Rio isn’t worried about Punk tonight. Laurinitis texts someone.

The ring is reenforced for the next match after Big Show and Henry broke the ring at Vengeance, hence the rematch here.

World Heavyweight Championship: Mark Henry vs. Big Show

Henry is defending. They trade the big dramatic shoves to start and Henry gets shoved to the floor. Back in and Show takes it to the mat which goes a lot better than you would expect it to. If that’s not shocking enough, Show armdrags Henry to the floor. Henry stalls in the corner before going after Show’s knee. Mark lays on the leg a bit and drops some elbows. I think the fans are chanting boring.

A clothesline puts Show down but Show comes back with a DDT for two. Now the fans want Daniel Bryan, who has the Money in the Bank case at this point. Show shoulders Henry down and calls for the chokeslam, but Henry kicks him in the knee and hits the World’s Strongest Slam for two. A splash gets the same and Henry is getting frustrated. Booker sums up what Henry should do: give him another World’s Strongest Slam.

The fans want Undertaker as the guys go to the floor. Show gets posted and then tackled through part of the barricade. That finally gets the fans’ attention on the match instead of on guys who aren’t here. Show barely makes it back into the ring in time but he manages to break up another superplex attempt. He busts out a superkick of all things to knock down Henry and draw an HBK chant.

Big Show goes up top (uh oh) and even though he takes forever, he hits a top rope elbow on Henry…..for two. Why do a huge spot like that if it doesn’t end the match? Now it’s a Randy Savage chant. Show loads up the WMD, but Henry kicks him low for the LAME DQ to retain the title.

Rating: C+. There’s something great about two huge guys beating the tar out of each other and that’s what we got here. Henry was AWESOME in 2011 and made for a great World Champion, which is the last thing most people expected. That elbow was great, but to have the match end the way it did sucked. Show would beat Henry the next month, only to have Bryan cash in and win the title 45 seconds later.

Post match Henry tries to Pillmanize Show’s ankle again but Show gets out of the way and knocks Henry out cold. The fans chant for Bryan to appear and cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase but no one appears. Show wraps the chair around Henry’s ankle instead and drops a leg on the chair to break Henry’s ankle.

Barrett says that the World Title is next for him but Awesome Truth comes in and demands respect. Truth talks about an argument he had with some pigeons. The pigeons said nothing though, because pigeons don’t talk.

The New York National Guard is here.

We recap Punk vs. Del Rio. Del Rio cashed in MITB at Summerslam after Punk won, Cena beat Del Rio at Vengeance, Del Rio won a three way with Punk and Cena in the Cell, tonight is the rematch from Summerslam, if you call that a match.

WWE Championship: CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio

Alberto is defending. Del Rio has Ricardo Rodriguez introduce him, so CM Punk brings out his own ring announcer: HOWARD FINKEL! Round one goes to Punk. Howard waddles out and seems genuinely choked up by the reaction he gets. The fans want ice cream which is a thing Punk said he wanted in his own image. Feeling out process to start as Punk does his headlock so he can call spots to Del Rio.

Now the fans chant for Colt Cabana. Man these guys just won’t stop. Punk cranks on the arm a bit and Alberto hides on the floor. Back in and Punk knees him down in the corner and hits a dropkick to send the champ back to the floor. There’s the suicide dive from Punk and it’s back in to work on the arm. Alberto sends him into the ropes where Ricardo gets in a shot, allowing Del Rio to take over.

Alberto comes in off the top with an elbow to the head for two and it’s off to the arm for the champion. Both guys have arm finishers which isn’t something you often see. Punk fights out of the hold but can’t hook the GTS as Del Rio hooks a DDT on the arm. The champ drops knees on the arm and we hit about the 8^th armbar of the match. Punk breaks that one as well but charges into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two.

CM ducks a charge to send Alberto to the floor and things slow down again. Back in and Punk makes a comeback with a lot of strikes to the head and a neckbreaker for two. The knee in the corner and bulldog get the same but Alberto counters the GTS into a Backstabber for two. A running enziguri in the corner gets a VERY close two on Punk and now it’s Alberto that’s frustrated.

Del Rio loads up a superplex in the corner but Punk knocks him off and loads up the Macho Elbow but gets crotched. Alberto gets in a hard kick to the arm but misses a charge into the post while Punk is still on top. Now the Macho Elbow connects for a big pop but it only gets two. The crowd is really getting into these kickouts now. Punk shouts for the GTS but Alberto counters it for the third time. The armbreaker is escaped but Punk’s high kick misses as well and there’s the armbreaker on full.

After getting as close to tapping as a face is going to, Punk gets his feet in the ropes. Del Rio escapes the GTS for the fourth time because the arm isn’t there. Punk kicks Ricardo in the face and gets rolled up with trunks for two. The high kick gets two for CM so he immediately puts on the Vice and wins Del Rio is in big trouble. He grabs at Punk’s face (realistic, nice) but has to tap and Punk wins the title.

Rating: A. I don’t remember liking this as well the first time but this was a really good match. Del Rio seemed like a real threat to keep the title here as Punk’s arm just wasn’t going to be able to do hit the GTS. The Vice is a little more realistic and I can live with him being able to do that so even the ending is ok.

This was a very solid match, but the problem with the story overall is the title changes happening so rapidly. In short, Del Rio getting two title reigns and Cena getting one out of all this didn’t need to happen. Punk could have won at Summerslam, beaten Del Rio cashing in here, and things would have been much stronger.

Finkel does the “and NEEEEEEEEEEEEEW” WWE Champion call. Punk is the new WWE Champion having won it in the middle of Madison Square Garden and The Fink got to tell the people about it. Is there a cooler moment in wrestling? No, there isn’t.

Punk celebrates for a long time post match. He would hold the title for over a year in the longest reign in over twenty years.

We recap Awesome Truth vs. Rock/Cena. Cena had beaten up both guys before a tag match was made for this show. He was told he could pick ANYONE he wanted as a partner so he picked The Great One. Pay no attention to the PPV ad that played at the end of HIAC and advertised the match before Cena officially picked his partner. Basically the only way Awesome Truth (Miz/R-Truth) can win is to have Rock and Cena implode. Other than that we’re looking at a squash and everyone knows it.

Awesome Truth vs. The Rock/John Cena

Rock is going to start as Cena is off to kiss the widow of Arnold Skaaland who is always in the front row at MSG. Miz gets to face Rock to start and the Great One grabs a quick headlock. Rock snaps off some GREAT armdrags and gets two off La Majistral (it’s an armtrap cradle) on Miz. Awesome Truth huddles on the floor and Cena looks impressed. Truth wants to fight Rock now and Rock says Just Bring It. The fans do the Cena dueling chants before Rock hits a fisherman’s suplex on Truth, but Cena is going after Miz, meaning no count.

Now Miz wants to get back in and he wants it to be with Cena. Given how Rock looked, that’s a wise choice. Cena quickly takes over with snapmares, a monkey flip (!!) and a dropkick. The fans boo him out of the building and tell him he still sucks. Off to Truth who walks into Cena’s finishing sequence but Cena tells Rock that he can’t see Cena. They stare each other down, allowing Truth to nail Cena (Rock saw it coming and didn’t do anything) to give the guys with no chance the advantage.

Truth and Miz take a few turns on Cena before Truth hooks a chinlock. Cena gets thrown to the floor by Truth which gets two back in the ring. Back to a leg choke by Truth as the fans want Rocky. Off to Miz who counters an AA into a short DDT for two. The fans seem to be into Miz as he hits his running clothesline in the corner. Truth hooks a front facelock to kill a few moments and it’s back to Miz who gets two off a clothesline.

The spinning legdrop gets two for Truth as the crowd is waiting to explode for Rock’s hot tag. Truth goes up for a cross body but Cena rolls through. His AA attempt is countered into a sitout gordbuster for two and it’s back to Miz. Miz hits a pair of boots to the face of Cena but the third is countered into the STF. Truth makes a quick save and Rock is content to stand on the apron. Cena grabs a quick AA on Truth but Miz knocks Rock off the apron to tease the crowd even further.

Truth drops Rock on the barricade to keep him down as Cena gets put in another chinlock. A double flapjack gets two on Cena and it’s back to the front facelock by Truth. Truth’s second legdrop misses There’s the real hot tag to Rock and house is cleaned in a hurry. Miz gets put in the Survivor Series Sharpshooter but Truth saves as everything breaks down. With Cena and Truth on the floor, Miz goes off on Rock but charges into a spinebuster. The People’s Elbow returns and Rock gets the pin on Miz.

Rating: B. What else were you expecting here? This is one that has indeed changed over time as we knew Rock would have a great match with Cena at Wrestlemania. The match itself was formula stuff which is perfectly fine and all that it should have been. Rock making the save was the right call and there’s almost no complaints here. Good match but it didn’t need to happen, which we’ll get to in a bit.

Cena leaves so Rock can have him moment, but Rock calls him back in. Cena’s posing gets booed, Rock’s gets cheered. Rock lays out Cena with a Rock Bottom to end the show.

Overall Rating: A. This is an AWESOME show with a great World Title match and a solid main event. The problem was it didn’t sell that well and it’s really clear why: the main event was a bad idea. The whole idea of Rock vs. Cena at Wrestlemania was that it was Rock’s first match in 8 years. Now it’s Rock’s first match in about five months and for what? Rock and Cena had beaten up both guys one on two leading up to the match. There was no doubt as to who was going to win and nothing was on the line, so why watch the match? There was no reason and not a lot of people did. Still though, great show and worth seeing.

Ratings Comparison

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Beth Phoenix vs. Eve Torres

Original: C

Redo: C

Team Barrett vs. Team Orton

Original: B-

Redo: B

Big Show vs. Mark Henry

Original: B-

Redo: C+

CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio

Original: C+

Redo: A

The Rock/John Cena vs. Awesome Truth

Original: B

Redo: B

Overall Rating

Original: B

Redo: A

The World Title really changed things for me here. Still a great show though.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/20/survivor-series-2011-rock-still-has-it/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Survivor Series 2011
Date: November 20, 2011
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Jerry Lawler

Here we are with Rock’s first match in seven years. He’s teaming with Cena to face Awesome Truth, who have looked like the most thrown on heels that I can think of in a very long time. We also have Punk vs. Del Rio and Show vs. Henry for the world titles. The elimination match (Team Orton vs. Team Barrett) has been built up very well indeed and I’m looking forward to it more than any other match. Let’s get to it.

Johnny Ace opens the show. No real point to this but he’s here anyway.

United States Title: John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler

The fans want Ryder. I mean they REALLY want Ryder. Ziggler takes over to start but a charge in the corner misses to give Johnny NoChance the advantage. They do the always cool slingshot spot, channeling their inner Hennigs. Out to the floor where Morrison hits a huge dive. The fans still want Ryder. Why in the world they’re going with Morrison here I have no idea but they’re doing it and that’s their decision and when Ryder’s pop doesn’t mean as much, it’ll be his fault right?

Vickie time gives Ziggler control back and he cheats like a hashtag heel. Morrison tries to fight back but walks into a reverse suplex for two. Sleeper hold is countered but an O’Connor Roll gets two for Dolph. Flying Chuck gets two. Why is it called that anyway? Sleeper by Dolph is countered into a sleeper by Morrison which draws a LOUD boo from the crowd. Vickie breaks up a cover off a tornado DDT, drawing an ejection for her.

Fameasser gets two for the champ but Morrison starts his comeback. Ah John. If only you actually had a chance of winning this match at all. I mean, it’s pretty clear you’re going but they want to squeeze every drop out of you that they can, even though Ryder is clearly the people’s choice. Starship Pain eats knees and Zig Zag keeps Dolph’s title at 10:40.

Rating: B-. Pretty solid opener, but the constant Ryder chants (not the fans’ fault) took away from it. That and the fact that Morrison was as much of a lame duck as you could ask for. Nothing too bad here and it was fine for an opener, but there wasn’t enough here to make it a great match. Now get the belt on Ryder already.

Vickie comes out and says that Dolph is awesome. Dolph says he is awesome and no one would want to follow that. The fans want Ryder but Dolph says he isn’t here. Cue Ryder who hits a Rough Ryder to blow the roof off the place.

Divas Title: Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix

This is a lumberjill match for no reason whatsoever. Eve jumps into a slam to start but takes over quickly, sending Beth to the floor. Back in a neckbreaker and the standing moonsault get two. We get into the normal set of circumstances with Beth locking in a hold as Eve is in trouble. Eve starts her comeback as this couldn’t be more of a beer break match if they put a freaking stamp on it.

Eve hooks this wicked looking choke which shifts into a triangle choke but it doesn’t work as it’s a new submission hold that looked good so it can’t be the winner early. They exchange rollups for two each and this is still going nowhere. Eve takes her down and sets for the moonsault but Beth goes up top and they fight on the top rope. Beth counters into the Glam Slam off the top for the pin at 4:42.

Rating: C. Better than average Divas match here with a pretty solid ending. That being said, I have zero reason to care about this story at all as it just keeps going with nothing really developing at all in it. The heels are still evil and proclaim dominance but they run from any staredown, which defeats the purpose of being dominant. In short, I don’t care at all.

Punk is warming up when Otunga comes up and says that Punk should apologize to Cole before he competes tonight, on the orders of Johnny Ace. Punk says he’ll think about it after he wins the title.

Rock has a mic and talks about being here when he was 5 years old and hanging out with Andre the Giant (which he repeats) while he watches his dad defend his WWCensored tag titles. He debuted here in November of 96 with the worst haircut ever and a stupid outfit but they chanted his name. That was the beginning of an odyssey and he went through the company, winning everything in sight. He talks about Awesome Truth a bit and this is going WAY too long at about five minutes now. Now Rock starts a song number, asking the fans to sing New York with him. WAY too long here but the fans were into it.

Team Barrett vs. Team Orton

Wade Barrett, Hunico, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes
Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Sin Cara, Mason Ryan, Sheamus

This is the match that I’ve wanted to see more than any other. Ziggler vs. Kofi starts us off after an eternity of entrances. Cara is in white and Rhodes has knee pads. Off to Orton and the RKO ends Ziggler in about 4 seconds. Team Barrett huddles up but Orton jumps them and picks Barrett to beat up. Everything breaks down and Team Orton stands tall. Kofi and Cara try stereo dives but Cara hooks his leg on the ropes and is holding his knee. Great. The fans, again, want Ryder. Cara is eliminated and we’re down to 4-4. I’m not so sure how planned that was, but it looked like he grabbed the rope so maybe it was planned.

Rhodes vs. Orton now and make that Ryan vs. Hunico. I don’t expect these two to be in there that long. Hey I’m right as it’s off to Kofi very quickly. Kofi runs into a slingshot move and goes crotch first into the buckle for two. Wade in now and it’s time for a chinlock. Back to Ryan vs. Hunico and Wales beats up Mexico a bit. Hunico makes a blind tag to Cody who hits the Beautiful Disaster and Cross Rhodes for the pin and a pop plus a chant.

Off to Sheamus vs. Rhodes and Sheamus powers him into the ropes for the pounding forearms which gets counted along with. Get the fans involved in a match, even with something like that, and they’ll love you forever. The referee breaks things up and Cody is able to bring in Barrett who takes over. Off to Hunico and we hear that Sin Cara is trending worldwide. This has been talked about all night by the way but I didn’t feel like bringing it up as it makes my head hurt.

Hot tag brings in Kofi who beats up the Brit because that’s what people do. Boom Drop hits as Cole says he’s emulating Shawn Michaels. Booker: “I never saw Shawn do a Boom Drop.” Barret avoids the kick but walks into a Pendulum Kick, as does Swagger. Wade drops him dead with a big boot though and Wasteland makes it 4-2. Orton comes in but is sent to the floor quickly. Hunico hits a suicide dive and takes over. Could he be more RKO fodder if he tried?

Off to Swags who hasn’t done much in this so far. Rhodes comes in to work on the arm and gets a near fall. Orton manages to throw Rhodes off and both guys are down. There’s the hot tag to Sheamus and one to Swagger as well. The paler one goes up and hits the top rope shoulder. Hunico is sent outside and there’s an Irish Curse for Jack. Barrett breaks the Cross up but is knocked to the floor. Sheamus goes after Swagger and it’s a LAME DQ to make it 4-1. Did I mention they made it a big deal that Orton is a 4 time sole survivor?

Sheamus kicks Swagger in the head before leaving and Orton gets the easy pin to make it 3-1. It’s Hunico, Cody and Barrett left if you’ve lost count. Rhodes comes in to pound him down but Orton fires back with the clotheslines and powerslam. Elevated DDT hits and he loads up the RKO. Barrett distracts as Hunico makes a blind tag. Springboard, RKO, 2-1. Barrett comes in and gets taken down but there’s an RKO to Rhodes. Randy gets too distracted though and Wasteland ends this at 22:18 with Barrett and Rhodes being the sole survivors. Cara has a ruptured patella tendon.

Rating: B-. This was fun but the botch brought things to a complete halt which hurt it a lot. The right guys survived too as they’ve been very hot on Smackdown lately. Randy laying down clean is the right thing to do and he did that here. I have no issues with him pinning Swagger and Hunico, but it’s good that they kept the top heels strong. Fun match, but it wasn’t as good as it was hyped up.

The Bellas hit on Del Rio when Ace comes in. There’s a LOUD Cody chant for this as Ace talks about Del Rio needing to take this seriously. Del Rio says this is the first defense of many in MSG for him.

Don’t be a bully.

We get a long video on Show vs. Henry and the ring breaking last month.

Smackdown World Title: Big Show vs. Mark Henry

The ring has been reinforced. Show shoves him around to start as I think the fans want Bryan. Show busts out a waistlock and armdrag of all things. Henry goes after the knee which is smart strategy since he can take it down with his power game. If Cara is out like he thinks he’ll be, it’s six months recovery. He lays on the knee of Show to waste some time. If they keep this a simple power vs. power match, it should be ok. The fans think this is boring and I can’t say I disagree.

The fans chant for Bryan now and Cole says he’s not here tonight due to the attack Friday. Show fights back with a DDT and calls for the chokeslam but Henry picks him up with the Slam for two. Splash gets two as well. An elbow drop gets two. Fire Henry chant starts up as does an Undertaker chant. Out to the floor and Henry rams him through the barricade and please don’t let it be a lame double countout.

Thankfully they’re both back in and Henry is ticked off. Henry headbutts him on the apron and they load up the superplex. Show breaks it up and hits a superkick of all things to put Henry down. That draws the required HBK chant. And with that, Show goes up to the top rope. He looks SCARED. After about a minute, LUCHA SHOW HITS AN ELBOW OFF THE TOP!!! It only gets two and even the MSG fans are into this now. That draws a Randy Savage chant. Show loads up the punch but Henry ducks and kicks him low for the ULTRA LAME DQ at 13:22.

Rating: B-. Man, this was some insane stuff. The elbow was NUTS and the crowd chanting was better than anything you’ll ever hear in TNA. The ending CRIPPLED this though as it was a fun battle of the big men until then, but that ending just sucked. Let it end by a double countout after the elbow or something, but not like that. It was horrible looking all around.

Post match Henry loads up the Pillmanization but Show moves at the last minute. Now Show sets to Pillmanize Henry’s ankle and drops a leg on it for the injury. Uh, Bryan anyone? No? Well of course not. That would pop the crowd huge and we don’t want that. Legit we don’t want that. It’s the Rock’s show.

Barrett says nothing of note when Awesome Truth interupts him. Barrett makes a Charlie Sheen reference. Oh good grief. Truth and Miz talk about Rock/Cena and Truth talks about seeing pigeons looking at a picture of Rock/Cena. “You know what they said to me? Nothing! They’re pigeons! They can’t talk!” Awesome.

The New York National Guard is here and get recognized. Think that draws a USA chant?

We recap Alberto vs. Punk, which King thinks started at Survivor Series. Del Rio cashed in then won it again at HIAC, so this is Punk’s rematch.

Raw World Title: CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio

Punk has his own ring announcer: The Fink. Punk goes old school ROH with the hoodie. The fans want ice cream. CM grabs a headlock to call some spots and gets two off a shoulder black. Both guys work on the arm with Punk in control at the moment. Del Rio heads to the floor as we hear even more about Twitter. Del Rio heads to the floor twice so Punk hits a suicide dive to take care of him.

Del Rio takes over and Ricardo gets in a shot as well. Punk chases after him but runs into an Alberto kick. Del Rio works the arm which is psychology baby! GTS is countered so Del Rio hits a single arm DDT for two. More arm work and Alberto goes up for another shot to the arm, getting two. He misses a charge and lands on the floor with a thud. Punk takes him down again (while shaking the arm) and they slug it out.

Punk takes over with a springboard clothesline for two. He calls for the GTS and Ricardo has a towel for some reason. The GTS is countered and Del Rio gets a Backstabber for two. The knee in the corner misses and the Del Rio enziguri gets two. A Codebreaker to the arm gets two. They go up and Punk gets crotched so that Del Rio can kick the arm again. He misses a charge though and Del Rio’s arm hits the post. The Macho Elbow hits for two.

GTS and armbreaker are countered but the second armbreaker works to put Punk in real trouble. Punk finally gets his feet on the ropes for the break and sets for the GTS, but he only has one arm. Ricardo interferes but gets kicked down. A big kick sets up the Vice and Punk is champion at 17:03.

Rating: C+. The psychology was pretty solid but Del Rio is such a boring character that I didn’t care in the slightest. Punk winning is a good thing as he was the hottest thing going on Raw for a very long time. Not a classic or anything but it puts the title on the right guy, which is what we needed badly on Raw for the past few weeks.

Fink does the NEW WWE Champion thing post match which brings a legit smile to my face.

We recap Rock/Cena vs. Awesome Truth which starts as a big love letter to Rock. The main event was set for Mania a year ago (essay coming soon) but Awesome Truth wasn’t happy. This is far more about Rock and Cena, as it should be.

John Cena/The Rock vs. Awesome Truth

Gee, who do you think is going to get the most boos? Rock looks great, more muscular that I ever remember seeing him. He starts with Miz as the bell ringer messes up a bit. Cena gives his shirt and a kiss on the cheek to Arnold Skaaland’s widow. Rock cleans house with arm drags and La Majistral for two on Miz. Truth wants him so Rock goes Owen with the wristlock counter.

Rock cleans house again and busts out a fisherman’s suplex to Truth but Cena is fighting Miz so there’s no count. Miz comes in and wants Cena. The fans think Cena can’t wrestle, so they stand around forever. Cena fires off a monkey flip and a dropkick but fans: “You still suck! You still suck! You still suck!” Cena loads up You Can’t See Me but goes to look at Rock instead. Rock sees Truth coming to jump Cena and does nothing at all.

So it’s Cena as Ricky Morton here as he gets beaten down, going into the post. Both heels take turns on him and we head to the floor. Fan: “Tell those pigeons who’s boss Truth!” Miz hits the low DDT for two. There’s the corner clothesline and the fans are either saying he’s awesome or awful. Truth pops Cena and Miz gets two off of it. Booker talks about Rock being selfish and we hear about the summer of 2001 when Rock beat Booker time after time.

Awesome Truth beats down Cena even more as Truth hits a dancing legdrop for two. Hulk Hogan he’s not. He goes up for a cross body but Cena rolls through into an FU attempt. Truth rolls through that and gets two. Cena gets in the shot that he needs and hits an AA out of nowhere on Truth. Miz comes in and takes Rock out though so the heels keep the advantage.

Another dancing legdrop misses and it’s hot tag Rock. He cleans house, hitting the Rock Bottom on Truth and the Sharpshooter is put on Miz. Truth comes in with the Little Jimmy to break it up so Cena spears him down. Great, another guy with the spear. Miz takes over but of course runs his mouth and gets caught by the spinebuster and People’s Elbow for the pin at 21:45.

Rating: B Fine main event tag match here and Rock looked great. That’s the biggest thing here as there was no doubt who was winning here. Now at Mania….I’m not so sure, but that’s another review for another time. Good stuff here and it was exactly what was advertised, which is the right idea here. Not that it means anything, but Rock has been in the ring which is the right thing.

Cena goes to leave but Rock calls him back. They have a pose off and Rock of course is cheered longer and louder. Cena goes to leave but Rock grabs him in a Rock Bottom to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. It’s hard to say this show wasn’t good, but it could have been a lot more. They were intentionally keeping the crowd at a lower key until the very end to pop big for Rock, which is ok, but it makes the rest of the show pretty uninteresting. Some bad finishes really hurt things, but Punk winning the title is great and Rock looked awesome so it’s hard to complain. Good show, but it could have been more.

Results
Dolph Ziggler b. John Morrison – Zig Zag
Beth Phoenix b. Eve Torres – Glam Slam from the top rope
Team Barrett b. Team Orton last eliminating Randy Orton
Big Show b. Mark Henry via DQ when Henry kicked Big Show low
CM Punk b. Alberto Del Rio – Anaconda Vice
The Rock/John Cena b. Awesome Truth – People’s Elbow to Miz

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: June 16, 2005
Location: Giant Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 2,500
Commentators: Tazz, Michael Cole

It’s both a fallout show and one of the last shows before the next pay per view as we are stuck between One Night Stand and Vengeance. Normally Vengeance would not mean anything, but the Draft has shaken things up to the point where some people on this show might be on Vengeance anyway. That makes for an interesting time, as does the lack of a World Champion. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of Chris Benoit being announced as the first Draft pick last week.

Opening sequence.

JBL and the Cabinet are in the ring to get things going with JBL taking credit for One Night Stand being a success. The ECW “wrestlers” need to take their success and go back to delivering his groceries and parking his car. Where JBL goes, the money follows, which Benoit found out last week. Tonight, Benoit can face one of the members of the Cabinet…so here’s Benoit to cut off the catchphrase.

Chris Benoit vs. Doug Basham

Benoit starts with the chops and there’s a hard whip into the corner to make it worse. Basham knees him in the ribs and starts hammering away, including a suplex to set up some posing. The chinlock goes on, followed by a neckbreaker to keep Benoit down. Another neckbreaker is cut off and Benoit baseball slides the leg out. The rolling German suplexes rock Doug but he catches Benoit on top with a superplex. Basham tries a rollup but Benoit reverses into one of his own for the fast pin.

Rating: C-. As usual, the Bashams are fine enough in their role and that is all they should be doing. It isn’t supposed to be some big competitive match as Benoit is one of the best in the company and needs to be established on Smackdown. The match was fine enough, but it was something that came and went as it should have. This would actually be the last match we would see from either of the Bashams and they were fine for what they were, but they were so wasted during the whole Shaniqua deal that their careers were dead in the water for a long time. I’m not sure how much better they could have been, but that was awful.

Post match the Cabinet beats Benoit down but Undertaker makes the save. Theodore Long comes out to make JBL vs. Undertaker in a No DQ match tonight.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Paul London

Non-title. London charges to the ring and gets kicked in the face for his efforts. Some right hands get London out of trouble but a powerbomb puts him right back in. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker sets up the chinlock for a few moments. London fights up again and hits a leg lariat, only to get crotched on top. Eddie grabs a brainbuster (and nearly drops him) and puts on a Texas Cloverleaf (with a maniacal look) to make London tap.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here, because a champion is the kind of person you squash. They couldn’t have had this be against Akio or have put someone other than London in the same spot last week but that’s what the Cruiserweight Title is for anymore. I’m not sure why they keep it around if this is what it means but that has been the case for years.

Post match Rey Mysterio comes out for the save and uses a chair to get rid of Eddie.

Post break Eddie and Rey are fighting in the garage area, including into a trailer. They slug it out and the door closes with Eddie diving through the door to escape and trap Rey inside.

JBL won’t give Orlando Jordan any help in his US Title match tonight. Jordan points out that he is the only champion in the Cabinet but JBL makes it clear that they work for him. He can’t remember who is Danny and who is Doug though and the Bashams quit.

It’s time for Carlito’s Cabana with no Matt Morgan as he is getting ready for his match against Big Show. That’s for later though, so here are this week’s guests: Booker T. and Sharmell. Booker isn’t happy with Kurt Angle having been sent to Raw because they like beating him up. Carlito likes that idea but would rather talk about something romantic between Booker and Sharmell. Then he mentions Angle going after Sharmell and suggests that she could be sent to Raw without Booker. Sharmell doesn’t like the sound of that and Booker beats him up. They even throw apples at Carlito, which is rather wasteful.

Post break Carlito yells at Morgan, who has to go fight Big Show.

Matt Morgan vs. Big Show

Show wastes no time in taking him into the corner for the big overhand chops. An elbow gives Show two as Carlito comes out. The distraction lets Morgan get in a big boot to put Show on the floor and it’s off to the chinlock. That’s reversed into a suplex and some headbutts put Morgan outside. Show gets sent into the steps and Morgan loads up the announcers’ table but Show is back up. The chokeslam is loaded up but it’s a chair shot from Carlito to draw the DQ.

Rating: D. Carlito continues to be quite the nuisance but at least the match was better than dealing with the stutter again. It’s so sad to see Morgan wasted like that but maybe the partnership with Carlito is coming to an end. The wrestling was barely a thing here as it was all about setting up the ending.

Post match Show shrugs it off and hits the chokeslam to put Morgan through the table. Show stalks Carlito away.

We recap the Undertaker’s return from earlier.

US Title: Hardcore Holly vs. Orlando Jordan

Holly is challenging as I try to figure out the criteria for getting a title shot. Jordan gets stomped into the corner to start as Tazz talks about championship opportunities being few and far between. What is this, Holly’s fourth or so in about a month? Jordan gets in an elbow to the face and a suplex is good for two. A hurricanrana and some clotheslines drop Jordan and a top rope clothesline does it again. The Alabama Slam is broken up so Holly tries a sunset flip but Jordan grabs the rope to retain.

Rating: D. What in the world do they see in Jordan? I don’t remember the last time I saw him do anything memorable and the matches are getting less and less interesting. Holly isn’t exactly thrilling but he completely outshined Jordan here. That being said, it isn’t like it’s all that difficult to do.

Here’s Heidenreich, with a huge (and somewhat eaten) Hershey bar, to read a poem about Hershey chocolate. Cue the Divas to throw Hershey Kisses into the crowd. Jokes are made about how big the bar is but here is MNM to say M&Ms are better than Hersheys. Insults are thrown and the beatdown ensues with MNM standing tall.

Eddie vs. Rey next week.

Undertaker vs. John Bradshaw Layfield

No DQ. Jordan is here with JBL but cue Benoit to take care of him before the bell. Cue the gong and JBL is in trouble. JBL gets aggressive to start and pounds away in the corner….which goes as well as you would expect. An exchange of big boots goes to Undertaker and it’s time to pull on JBL’s arm. Old School connects and the Downward Spiral gets two.

They slug it out on the floor with Undertaker whipping him into the steps but getting reversed into them on a second attempt. Serves him right for being so mean. Undertaker gets crotched on the barricade and we take a break. Back with JBL hitting a flying shoulder (always looks good) for two and getting the same off a swinging neckbreaker. Undertaker gets in a shot to the face to start the slugout so JBL goes to the eyes.

That doesn’t seem to do much as Undertaker boots him in the face and hits the apron legdrop for a bonus. Back in and JBL gets crotched on top and superplexed for two more and they’re both down. Snake Eyes into another big boot gets another two, followed by the chokeslam for the latest near fall.

A low blow gets JBL out of the Tombstone attempt though and the Clothesline From JBL gives him his own two. JBL gets in some right hands in the corner and poses as an idiot. The Last Ride out of the corner is only good for two in a move you don’t see getting kicked out of too often. The Tombstone is loaded up but here’s Randy Orton, as the new Smackdown Draft pick, for the RKO to give JBL the pin.

Rating: C. I know he gets a lot of flack (though I’m not sure how much of it is earned) but JBL can do some perfectly competent brawling and that was the case here. There were a few too many near falls but they didn’t go nuts with the weapons and had a nice enough match. The stipulation was to allow the brawling and the ending so all in all, this wasn’t too bad and the time went by quickly.

Post match Orton says Undertaker got RKOed and he better get used to it because Orton is now on Smackdown. Orton does his pose for a great shot as the shadow goes over the metal set.

Overall Rating: D+. The Draft couldn’t come at a better time because this show has some real weak spots. Look at the middle part of the show: stuttering Matt Morgan (again: bad gimmick), Orlando Jordan vs. Hardcore Holly in a title match, and the Cruiserweight Champion jobbing clean (yes it was to Eddie but they could have put in any cruiserweight and told the same story). That’s quite a run of bad in a row, meaning that it took the Undertaker to get Match Of The Night off of a departing Doug Basham. The ending was good, but dang that midcard needs an overhaul.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: November 15, 2019
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Corey Graves, Michael Cole

We’re actually having a normal night this week as opposed to all of the insanity that it has been in recent weeks. I’m hoping we can get somewhere new with the NXT invasion as last week’s show barely saw anything take place on that front. They still need to hammer in some details of the card and that can be done tonight. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns over Corbin making dog jokes.

Opening sequence.

Here’s Corbin on his carried throne with Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler waiting on him. Corbin talks about the importance of having loyal subjects who appreciate hearing the truth. Last week he told the truth about Roman Reigns being a shell of what he used to be. He decrees himself the captain of Team Smackdown and we get an updated graphic for the team.

Tonight, Ziggler and Roode are going to take Ali and Shorty G.’s spots on the team so Reigns better pull his weight. Ziggler and Roode promise to make it a glorious win and Corbin invites Reigns out here to watch the match. Cue Reigns’ music but the image of the dog turns into a chihuahua……and there’s a dog mascot in a Reigns shirt. Hold on though as Corbin makes the dog kneel and then shake before we go to a commercial.

This was stupid, bad, idiotic, moronic, immature, all Vince’s doing, a waste of my time, a waste of your time, a waste of Miller Time, something that should be banned from television, something that a stupid person would call stupid, dumber than Cameron on Total Divas, not good enough for Russo and EXACTLY the kind of thing that fans mock WWE for doing.

We see CM Punk returning on Backstage.

Shorty G./Mustafa Ali vs. Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode

The winners are on the Survivor Series team. Gable takes Roode down to start and runs him over with a shoulder. Ziggler comes in as Graves makes Space Jam jokes about Gable’s gear. It’s off to Ali to get beaten up in the corner, followed by a shove off the apron and onto the barricade.

Cue Reigns (I guess he was having a piping bowl of soup earlier) as we take a break with Cole shouting RUN SPOT RUN. Back with Ali hitting a superkick and it’s a double tag to Gable and Roode. Gable takes off the stupid looking jersey, making him look more like an indy wrestler with bad fashion sense.

The moonsault gets two but it’s the spinebuster/Zig Zag combination for two with Ali making the save. The ankle lock goes on with Roode having to make a save of his own. Reigns jumps Corbin but gets sent into the announcers’ table. That means a dive from Ali and a spear from Reigns, leaving Gable to hit Rolling Chaos Theory into the 450 to give Ali the pin at 12:04.

Rating: C+. As completely annoying and downright stupid as the dog stuff is (and it’s REALLY stupid), the match was fast paced and fun with Reigns spearing Corbin being rather cathartic. Gable is trying as hard as he can to get around this Shorty stuff but the Space Jam jokes are making it even worse. Terrible ideas, nice match.

We look back at the Fiend attacking Daniel Bryan last week.

It’s time for the Firefly Fun House with bray Wyatt doing some magic. He turns the Universal Title blue and says he’s looking forward to MizTV with Daniel Bryan. He’ll be watching!

Corbin, Ziggler and Roode are in the back and need to make things better. Corbin and the mascot dog leave, because this is apparently going to be a thing.

Drew Gulak vs. Braun Strowman

The B Team is here with Gulak, who has a graphic showing that he would be able to save Team Smackdown. The three of them jump Strowman, who fights them off like the losers they are. Gulak gets powerslammed to end the non-match.

New Day is ready to defend their titles without Xavier Woods, but they’re defending them in his honor.

Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura again try to get Daniel Bryan on their side, especially now that Bray Wyatt is after him. Apparently Cesaro is on their side as well, but Bryan wants to know where Sami went last week when the Fiend attacked. Sami thought Bryan was right behind him and he was going to get Nakamura anyway. Bryan gives them a firm no but suggests recruiting Braun Strowman instead. That sends Sami into a rant about Strowman, who is right behind him. Panic ensues.

Tag Team Titles: New Day vs. Revival

New Day is defending. Kofi gets taken into the wrong corner to start but fights out with a missile dropkick. Wilder is right there with a powerslam though and we take a break. Back with Dawson hitting a swinging neckbreaker but missing a top rope elbow. That’s enough for the tag off to Big E. for a bunch of suplexes.

The Warrior Splash hits knees but Big E. is fine enough to hit the Rock Bottom out of the corner. Wilder gets two off a tornado DDT and everything breaks down with Kofi hitting a missile dropkick. The big dive over the top takes down both Dawson and Wilder but the Midnight Hour is broken up.

Dawson hits a quick DDT for two on Big E., who backdrops both of them to the floor. Kofi’s dive is cut off and he gets sent hard into the post. Big E. gets dropped onto the announcers’ table and it’s the Shatter Machine for two as Kofi springboards in for the save. Cue the Undisputed Era to jump Kofi though and it’s a DQ at 10:25.

Rating: B-. The ending is the perfect call for this one, even if it took over an hour to get to anything NXT tonight. These teams can have a good match in their sleep but it’s also a match I’ve seen so many times that I don’t care about it all that much anymore. At least they got the ending right though and that’s what matters most.

Post match the beatdown is on until the Smackdown locker room runs in for the save.

Heavy Machinery vs. Kevin Tibbs/Kip Stevens

Otis throws Tibbs onto Stevens and there goes the shirt. Stereo vertical suplexes (with a bit of a toast by clinking them together) sets up a running splash to crush Tibbs in the corner. The Caterpillar sets up the Compactor for the pin at 2:16.

We look at Shayna Baszler invading Raw and Smackdown, only to have Bayley jump Shayna on NXT.

Bayley says this is all about her and she can’t wait to crush Nikki Cross’ dreams tonight. Sasha Banks believes in Bayley and knows Cross isn’t winning.

We look at the Wrestlemania ticket on sale party.

Recap of the opening tag match. Next week, it’s a six man tag.

Nikki Cross vs. Bayley

Non-title and if Cross wins, she’s on the Survivor Series team. Of note: Nikki’s entrance was before the break, a look at the on sale party and the recap. They really couldn’t have put that together a bit better so she wasn’t standing in the ring for six minutes? They start fast with Bayley knocking her to the floor….but here’s Shayna Baszler to chase her over the barricade. Some more NXT women show up to throw Bayley back to ringside but Sasha Banks jumps Baszler inside. The Smackdown women come through the crowd (for no apparent reason) and we’ll say the match was thrown out at 30 seconds.

Banks issues a challenge for a Survivor Series preview.

Nikki Cross/Sasha Banks/Carmella/Dana Brooke vs. Rhea Ripley/Tegan Nox/Dakota Kai/Mia Yim

Kai kicks Cross to start so it’s off to Yim, who gets caught in an armbar. Carmella comes in and superkicks Nox off the apron, which is enough to bring Nox in to stomp Carmella down in the corner. Kai and Nox take turns beating on Carmella, until a forearm allows the hot tag to Banks.

Ripley comes in for a rather nice staredown with Banks, who slaps her in the face. Banks gets muscled over with a suplex and everything breaks down, meaning a lot of shouting takes us to a break. Back with Cross hitting a crossbody on Rhea but Nox hits the Shiniest Wizard. Everything breaks down with a parade of kicks to the face. The Purge finishes Nox at 9:24.

Rating: C-. They had a lot of stuff to cram in here and it didn’t really work all that well. It was cool to see some of these women on the main roster though, even if it is just for a single week. The Survivor Series match needed a boost and this is as good of a way as they could go to make that happen.

Post match the brawl is on until the rest of the Smackdown women make the save.

Survivor Series rundown.

It’s time for MizTV with Miz quickly introducing Daniel Bryan. Miz asks about the Fiend attacking Bryan last week but Bryan can’t bring himself to say anything. Miz wants to know what is going on with Bryan, who looks confused about everything going on. Does Bryan not know who he is anymore? Bryan stands up and says he’s been quiet because MizTV sucks, just as it always has.

Miz doesn’t understand the passion that he has, just like these people. It was a mental instability combined with his passion that drove him to do things. Bray Wyatt understands though and that’s what makes him dangerous. Bray is unstable….and the Firefly Fun House starts up. Wyatt says it’s rude to talk about someone when they aren’t there. Being confused is a scary feeling, but maybe Fiend did it to scare Bryan. Or maybe it’s because of what Bryan did. You remember what that is, right Bryan?

It isn’t explained, because we need to look in Bray’s toy box. After throwing out some stuff, including a saw, he finds the Universal Title. If Bryan wants to come play, all he has to do is say that one word. Bryan: “NO!” This turns into an argument with Bray’s friends but if they’re going to fight, it’s going to be for the Universal Title. Bray says yes and starts his own YES chant. That goes on for a long time with Bray’s eyes bugging out. Bray stops and Miz announces the title shot for Survivor Series. Bryan leaves to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This show was a near miracle after one of the worst first thirds of a show that I can remember in a very long time. The rest of the show worked out well enough with some build towards Survivor Series, but the big problem continues to be WWE trying to promote too many things at once.

Since there are only three weeks between Survivor Series and TLC, it’s time to set up Corbin vs. Reigns for that show and for some reason, that needed the first forty minutes of this week’s episode. But maybe the dog joke market is that strong. Anyway, all time horrible start and a pretty great rest of the show doesn’t make for a good mix, but it could have been much worse.

Results

Mustafa Ali/Shorty G. b. Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode – 450 to Ziggler

New Day b. Revival via DQ when the Undisputed Era interfered

Heavy Machinery b. Kip Stevens/Kevin Tibbs – Compactor to Tibbs

Nikki Cross vs. Bayley went to a no contest when Shayna Baszler interfered

Sasha Banks/Dana Brooke/Carmella/Nikki Cross b. Dakota Kai/Tegan Nox/Rhea Ripley/Mia Yim – Purge to Nox

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling

Death Before Dishonor 2019
Date: September 28, 2019
Location: Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman

It’s time for a pay per view from Ring of Honor, which means we could be going all over the spectrum with this one. This company feels like it’s running out of ideas in a hurry but this time around we might get a bright spot as Rush is challenging Matt Taven for the World Title. They can’t be that insane……right? Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: Jeff Cobb vs. Brody King

They trade the power shoves to start but Cobb can’t get his hand all the way up for a test of strength. Brody is nice enough to lower his hands and they roll around without breaking the grip. An exchange of shoulders goes nowhere so Cobb counters a charge with an overhead belly to belly.

King wins a strike off though and kicks Cobb down for a running backsplash before he just stomps away in the corner. Cobb pops back up for a clothesline though and it’s a double clothesline for a double knockdown. They slug it out from their knees and trade some running shots against the ropes. A Boss Man Slam gives King two but Cobb catches him on top with a dropkick.

That means a stalling superplex for one, followed by a standing moonsault for two. King’s hurricanrana puts Cobb on the floor for the suicide dive, setting up the piledriver for a VERY close two as the announcers aren’t sure about the kickout. They trade snap German suplexes but Cobb is right back with the Tour of the Islands for the pin at 12:59.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t a match that required a lot of thinking and that’s a good idea sometimes. The point of this was to have two monsters in there beating each other up and that is exactly what we got. Cobb is someone who could carry the World Title based on matches like this and King gets to show that he is more than just a tag guy. Good match, but it would have been even better on the main show in front of a warmed up crowd and without with more time. Still though, rather entertaining as Cobb tends to be.

The opening video talks about honor being what matters most and shows clips of the matches. Not exactly thrilling, but the HONOR MATTERS stuff lost its impact years ago.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Marty Scurll vs. Colt Cabana

Marty spins out of a wristlock to start but Cabana headscissors his way out of a headlock and we have a standoff. A test of strength goes to the mat with Scurll not being able to break a bridge. Cabana spins out as well and takes him down by the wrist, giving us another standoff. Some mocking of the bird pose annoys Scurll, who charges into a headscissors to put him on the floor.

Back in and Scurll catches him on top with a superplex, followed by a basement dropkick for two. We hit the crossarm choke for a bit but Cabana is up to knock Scurll out of the air. Scurll sends him outside for a superkick off the apron, only to get pulled down with a backbreaker. Back in and Scurll hits a snap German suplex into an enziguri and powerbomb for two. Cabana starts in with the snap jabs and a bionic elbow for a double knockdown.

They slug it out until Scurll knocks him out of the air and hits a piledriver for two. The chickenwing is countered into a failed Billy Goat’s Curse attempt and Marty pulls him into the full chickenwing. Cabana knocks him down though and hits a moonsault for two, followed by the Billy Goat’s Curse. A rope is grabbed so it’s the Chicago Skyline into the Superman pin for two. Scurll is right back with a clothesline though and the Black Plague finishes Cabana at 14:27.

Rating: C+. This could have been a lot worse but I continue to wonder how in the world Scurll hasn’t been the top star in the company for a long time now. He has all the star power you could want and can back it up in the ring. Having him beat Cabana is fine as Cabana is going to be over for the rest of his life. Of course Scurll isn’t going to win the title because he’s not Matt Taven, but I’m sure ROH knows exactly what they’re doing.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Kenny King vs. PCO

King has a bunch of goons and Amy Rose with him. King hits him once and then bails out to the floor and a single kick to the ribs send him back outside. Back in and PCO hits a pop up powerbomb but….takes his jacket off instead of covering. They head outside with King’s head bouncing off a cinder block that he brought out with him. King gets sent into a table and ladder at ringside as well, setting up a backsplash on the ramp.

The Swanton onto the apron hits King but PCO goes chest first into the edge of the table. PCO sets up some chairs on the floor before loading up the dive, only to go a bit nuts because the electrocution he uses to charge himself up has fried his brain (just go with it). That means he dives to the wrong side of the ring and completely crashes, leaving King to get up and wonder what happened.

King goes after him instead of taking the countout and puts the ladder around PCO’s head for a ram into the post. Here’s another ladder to be laid on top of the other, with King slamming PCO onto the pile. The big corkscrew dive crushes PCO against the ladders and they’re both down. Since it hasn’t gone on long enough, let’s pull the mats back but PCO is back up.

Rose slaps him in the face and runs away, allowing King to try a running sunset bomb to the floor, but he doesn’t rotate enough and PCO lands on King’s head for a terrifying crash. King is alive enough to come back in for two and even suplex PCO into the corner. And now, let’s pour water over PCO and electrocute him with a cattle prod…..which wakes him up enough to chokeslam King for the pin.

Rating: D. This is the first time where PCO felt ridiculous. This was a bunch of violent brawling with nothing in particular as far as a story or anything tying it together, plus the rather nutty electrocution deal. It’s very out of place in a more realistic company, though I think I’ll take that over the same uninteresting characters over and over.

We recap Angelina Love vs. Kelly Klein for the Women’s Title. Love showed up earlier this year and has been running through various people, albeit with some assistance from the Allure. Tonight she has to beat the champ and prove herself.

Women of Honor Title: Angelina Love vs. Kelly Klein

Klein is defending and Love has Mandy Leon in her corner. They grapple around the ropes to start with Klein taking her to the mat. A neckbreaker gets Love out of trouble but Klein is right back with a side slam. Klein drops her face first onto the buckle and Love needs a breather on the floor.

That means the dive off the apron to take out both Love and Leon but love sends her hard into the barricade. A suplex makes it even worse for Klein but she avoids a charge to get a breather. Back in and Klein hits a belly to back suplex for two, only to have Love hit the Downward Spiral into the Koji Clutch.

The rope is reached so Love gets up, earning herself a super fall away slam right back down. Love’s cutter gets two so it’s time for the slugout. Klein grabs K Power for two but Leon slips in the hairspray for the blinding. The Botox Injection gives Love two so Leon grabs the hairspray, which hits Love by mistake. Klein spears an invading Leon but another Botox Injection gives Love the pin and the title at 9:06.

Rating: D+. It’s just not interesting. I don’t know how many other ways I can say the same thing about the Women of Honor but it’s the same problem it has been for years. They’re trying and the wrestling can be completely competent but it’s more of the same every time: matches and titles come and go with nothing that gets my attention. Having a new version of the Beautiful People, as in a stable from over ten years ago, doesn’t get my interest up and this wasn’t the match to turn things around.

Post match Mandy Leon pulls the title out of Cary Silkin’s hands and hands it to Love. They load up the makeup but the lights go out and it’s Maria Manic appearing for the save. Allure and security are both beaten down.

We recap Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham. They have been friends for a long time but Gresham is getting frustrated and acting heelish so Jay is going to try and straighten him out a bit. Lethal has never lost to Gresham.

Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham

Lethal doesn’t think much of Gresham not offering a handshake but Gresham has to show off what a jerk he has become. They go to the wristlocks (of course) to start with Gresham taking him down and stomping on the arm. That gives us a standoff so Gresham headlocks him down, only to have Lethal shake out for another standoff. Gresham can’t get the Octopus so Lethal rolls him up for two instead.

They hit the mat and it’s another standoff as Gresham can’t outwrestle him yet. The stalemates continue until Lethal sends him to the apron for a baseball slide to take the knee out. Back in and Lethal dropkicks him right back to the floor, setting up the freaking suicide dive. Back in again and it’s Lethal hitting the cartwheel dropkick for two as Gresham is in trouble for the first time.

It’s too early for the Figure Four so Gresham’s knee is fine enough for a standing Lionsault, though the knee is still a little banged up. Gresham takes him down by the arm and cranks back on it while also pulling on the leg for a bonus. A keylock goes on but Lethal drives him into the ropes for another break. Lethal’s arm is banged up but it’s fine enough to hit a powerslam and now the Figure Four goes on.

They roll to the ropes and then out to the floor with the crash being the only thing that breaks the hold. Gresham’s chair is taken away so they stop to yell at each other about who caused their losing streak. The slugout starts on the floor and winds up in the ring with the Lethal Injection being broken up with a kick to the arm. Since the Injection isn’t working, Lethal goes with an RKO for two instead.

The Figure Four goes on again and is broken in another hurry so it’s another Lethal Injection attempt. This time it’s countered into a backslide for two, so Lethal tries it AGAIN, this time to have his arm go out. Lethal counters la majistral into a cradle for two but Gresham unloads with strikes to the head. The Octopus goes on and Gresham cranks WAY back on the arm for the tap at 17:21.

Rating: B+. I REALLY liked this one as Lethal was his usual great self but Gresham was fired up and needed to prove himself. Couple that with giving him a target like the arm and there was almost no way Gresham could lose here. It was a heck of a performance too as Lethal was giving it all he had but fell short in the end. They played a great chess game with Lethal having to protect the arm but going for the win with the Injection but eventually giving out after Gresham worked over the arm as much as he could. This was great and one of the best things I’ve seen from ROH in a long time.

Post match, respect is shown.

We recap Silas Young/Vinny Marseglia vs. the Bouncers, with Young taking the place of an absent TK O’Ryan. The Kingdom has gone after the Bouncers for weeks now, including burning Beer City Bruiser with a cigar and pulling out his tooth. Tonight it’s a Bar Room Brawl, meaning anything goes.

Bouncers vs. Silas Young/Vinny Marseglia

Anything goes and Josh Woods is on commentary. The Bruiser jumps Marseglia from behind during his entrance and we start in a hurry. Milonas comes in to crush Young with a crossbody and Bruiser adds a cannonball off the apron. The Bouncers clean house and it’s Marseglia getting chokeslammed onto the apron. Here’s a pool cue but Bruiser hits the post by mistake, leaving Milonas to get stomped down in the corner.

Milonas gets zip tied to the top rope so Marseglia can hit a cutter on Bruiser as the beatdown is on. A Side Effect puts Bruiser on the floor and it’s already time for a table. Milonas gets sick of waiting and rips the zip tie off and it’s time to crush some villains. Marseglia gets backdropped onto Young and it’s a swinging side slam/running boot to the head to make it even worse.

Just for fun, it’s time to bring in a spare turnbuckle but Marseglia takes it away and hits Milonas in the head to draw some blood. The broken cue is driven into the cut until Bruiser makes a rather late save. Young cuts off what looked to be a Vader Bomb with a crotching….and Marseglia pulls out some darts. Yes DARTS, like you throw at a dart board, which he throws into Bruiser’s back. Milonas is back up with some chair shots, including crushing Young in the corner in said chair.

A Boss Man Slam gets two on Marseglia as we see how crushed the chair really is. It’s Young making the save with a fresh chair and Marseglia Swantons Milonas through a table at ringside in the huge crash. Bruiser Death Valley Drivers Young onto the apron, which is enough to get Woods to carry him to the back. A superplex drives Marseglia through two open chairs for two more and a DDT onto a chair finally puts Marseglia away at 14:24.

Rating: B-. The darts thing aside (seriously, egads man), this was the kind of brawl that it needed to be and the Bouncers getting a big win is the right call. It’s not like the Kingdom lost here so Marseglia losing isn’t that big of a deal. The Bouncers have grown on me by leaps and bounds in recent months and while they have a firm ceiling above them, this was a hard hitting brawl and right up their alley.

Come to various shows!

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TV Title: Shane Taylor vs. Flip Gordon vs. Tracy Williams vs. Dragon Lee

Taylor is defending, it’s one fall to a finish and PJ Black is on commentary. Lee is a surprise bonus challenger. Gordon and Williams slug it out to start and head to the floor, leaving Lee to bounce off of Shane. A hurricanrana sends Taylor outside so it’s Gordon taking his place, only to get dropkicked back down. Now it’s Williams coming in and getting dropkicked down as well, leaving Lee to hit the Tranquilo pose.

That’s broken up and it’s Gordon vs. Williams all over again. Williams gets the better of it and grabs a dragon sleeper with Shane making a fast save. Lee sends Shane into the corner for a slingshot kick to the face, only to miss a dropkick to Williams’ head. We haven’t had a dive in a bit so Lee takes out Williams and Gordon at the same time with a big crash.

Taylor cannonballs off the apron to take everyone out at once for the big knockdown. Back in and Gordon hits a tornado DDT on Taylor but Williams DDTs Gordon onto the top turnbuckle. Lee comes back in and starts throwing some suplexes but Taylor isn’t about to get taken down with a hurricanrana. Gordon and Williams get in a fight over a chair, allowing Gordon to knock him down. That’s about it though as Gordon walks into Greetings From 216 to retain Shane’s title at 8:26.

Rating: C. They did well enough here, though it wasn’t anything great. The problem here is Shane has been so dominant and there isn’t a feud for him anywhere. It’s just one match after another and while he is kind of awesome, there is only so much that he can do without a reason to watch him. Gordon vs. Williams has been good, but it’s been done to death at this point, which is often a problem around here.

Post match Lee stares Taylor down to set up the next match.

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Tag Team Titles: Lifeblood vs. Briscoes

Mark Haskins/Bandido are challenging for Lifeblood here and there is no need for a recap. Basically Lifeblood won a bunch of matches and they earned a title shot. Works for me. Haskins’ wife is in the front row as well. We get handshakes before the bell and it’s Mark and Haskins (oh that’s going to be annoying) going to the mat to start. Some grappling gives us a standoff which quickly breaks down into a slugout. With that going nowhere, they tag out to bring in Jay and Bandido.

Jay can’t do much so it’s Mark and Mark coming in again instead. Haskins takes him down in a hurry for a basement dropkick but it’s right back to Jay for a heck of a clothesline. Mark dropkicks his brother through the ropes by mistake and everything breaks down in a hurry. Bandido kicks Mark in the face up against the barricade but the Briscoes are right back with stereo kicks to the face.

Haskins gets posted right in front of the post and one of the regular chairs (as in it doesn’t fold) is thrown inside. Even with the different style, it’s fine enough for Mark to hit the big flip dive to take out the other three, including his brother. It’s time to bring out a table but Mark has to suplex Bandido inside instead of through the table. With that out of the way, we actually get back down to the regular tag team stuff, with Jay working on Bandido’s back.

Bandido gets a boot up in the corner though and it’s a double tag to the Marks. A Downward Spiral/DDT combination puts both champs down and it’s a Falcon Arrow into a frog splash for two on Mark. We even get a tag back to Jay for the neckbreaker on Bandido. Jay and Haskins trade running boots to the face and it’s a double knockdown. A brainbuster plants Bandido but it’s Haskins with the Sharpshooter on Mark.

The 21 Plex takes Jay down but the Brothers grab each other for the double save. Bandido superplexes Jay into a top rope double stomp to give Haskins two with Mark making another save. Mark clotheslines the heck out of Haskins for two more and the Jay Driller drops Haskins on his head….but he kicks out anyway. The crowd didn’t even react to the kickout because it was so ridiculous. Bandido breaks up the Doomsday Device so Jay gives him Death Valley Driver. Another Jay Driller to Haskins retains the title at 20:18.

Rating: B. This took some time to get going and the switching from tagging to brawling was a little odd, but at least they had a heck of a fight for a long time. Haskins and Bandido looked great here, but there is only so much that can be done with the Briscoes these days. They have been do ridiculous dominant with the titles that there is nothing left for them to do. That has been the case for about five years now and I don’t see them getting away from the belts anytime soon.

Post match freaking Bully Ray comes out to beat up Bandido and Haskins because we are still doing this. Tracy Williams runs in for the save but Flip Gordon comes in to take him down. Bully goes after Haskins’ wife and gets slapped so Haskins the husband is powerbombed through a table. This went on WAY too long.

We recap Matt Taven vs. Rush for the World Title. Rush is unstoppable but Taven beat him in a big match in Mexico. Then Rush started teasing a run at the World Title over the summer and it’s time for Taven to face another monster after beating several of them.

Ring of Honor World Title: Rush vs. Matt Taven

Taven is defending but Rush one ups him in a white suit. They slug it out at the bell with both of them hitting some hard kicks to the head. It’s already time to go outside with Rush being sent into the barricade and then the timekeeper’s table. A backdrop puts Taven down on the ramp and there’s a whip to even the count of trips into the barricade.

Rush looks over at his family in the front row but gets suplexed over the top and back to the floor for a nasty crash. Taven hits ANOTHER suicide dive (people come on with that already) and the Flight of the Conqueror to really rock Rush. Back in and some strikes to the head give Taven two, followed by a DDT for the same. Rush fights back and pulls off a piece of the barricade to toss into Taven’s….well everything really.

Some fish hooking ensues as Taven is in some sudden trouble. Rush slams him onto the timekeeper’s table, freaking Coleman out in a bad way. Back in and Rush hammers away, setting up Tranquilo to really pop the crowd. A missile dropkick connects, only to have Taven avoid the Swanton.

Rush is fine enough to hit something like a Jay Driller for two but Taven grabs the Climax for two of his own. A German suplex sends Taven into the corner but he’s up with a spear to cut off the Bull’s Horns. Three straight running knees to the head rock Rush so Taven goes up, only to get caught in the Tree of Woe. A pair of Bulls’ Horns gives us a new champion at 16:14.

Rating: B. They did what they needed to do here as Taven died as champion (though he was getting better near the end) and Rush was the hottest thing in the company. He survived Taven’s best here and beat him so what more do you want? This was a solid main event and gave us the ending it needed so I’m rather pleased.

Taven eventually shakes his hand and Rush celebrates with his dad and Dragon Lee (brother) to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. Again: when ROH stops the angles and just gets down to the wrestling, they can have a heck of a show. It would be nice if people came to see them, but at least they can do something like this. What we had here was a slow starts and then a bunch of good stuff in a row, making this one of the better ROH shows I’ve seen in a long time. Above all else I cared about what was going on and I couldn’t begin to tell you the last time that was the case. Heck of a show here and worth seeing if you’re an ROH fan. I’m sure there are some of them left out there.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Survivor Series 2010
Date: November 21, 2010
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Matt Striker

On the other side of the company, the Smackdown main event is Kane defending his Smackdown World Title against Edge. Kane cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase an hour or so after winning it to take the title from Rey Mysterio. He would then turn heel on Undertaker and defeat him in multiple pay per view matches. The next challenger is Edge, who gets his first shot tonight. Let’s get to it.

The usual opening video is the video that opens us. The idea tonight is Cena not wanting to compromise his integrity and give the title to Barrett when he doesn’t deserve it, but he doesn’t want to quit. A song about being what you believe makes for appropriate background music.

US Title: Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase

DiBiase is challenging here because he wants to win his first singles title. Simple but effective I guess. Bryan has Rise of the Valkyries as his new music here but the lack of beard hurts. Maryse is with Ted here too and is rocking a beige dress. Bryan speeds things up to start and there go the lights. Daniel dropkicks DiBiase to the apron but as he goes to get Ted, Bryan gets suplexed out to the floor in a cool bump.

Back in and Bryan fires off the kicks. DiBiase hooks a chinlock to slow the champ down followed by a backbreaker and dropkick for two. Back to the chinlock as the fans are way into Bryan here. This one doesn’t last as long as Bryan fights up and speeds up the pace. There’s the moonsault out of the corner and a dropkick to send DiBiase to the floor. Bryan hits the suicide dive to the floor but he comes up favoring his shoulder.

They head back in and Bryan hits a missile dropkick for two and it’s time for more kicks. The LeBell (YES) Lock can’t go on because of the bad shoulder though and DiBiase clotheslines him down. Dream Street from DiBiase is countered twice so Ted hits a sitout spinebuster for two. DiBiase’s superplex is countered a belly to back superplex by Bryan but he still can’t get the LeBell Lock. A rollup gets two for Ted and Bryan grabs the arm for the LeBell Lock to retain.

Rating: C+. This felt like an extended Smackdown match but that’s not a bad thing. Bryan was still a pretty big underdog in a lot of his matches at this point but wins like this were exactly what he needed. DiBiase never got over in this role or really in any other either. He’s a guy who would never do a ton in WWE as he was in his father’s shadow and it crippled his career. A simple name change could have done wonders for him.

As Bryan poses on the stage, Miz and Alex Riley (NXT season 2 rookie and Miz’s lackey) jump him with Miz’s Money in the Bank case. Miz and Riley get in the ring but the lights go out again. Miz talks about how he’s from Cleveland and doesn’t like the Miami Heat that much. He compares Barrett to LeBron James because neither will ever be a World Champion. The fans chant for the Heat and Miz says he’ll cash in soon. That’s true actually.

We recap Sheamus vs. Morrison. Sheamus is a bully, Morrison is sick of him and that’s about it.

Sheamus says Morrison is jealous of him for being a former and future World Champion because Morrison never will reach that level.

Sheamus vs. John Morrison

Jerry tells a story of a guy in high school that kept taking everyone’s lunch money and picking on everyone he could but no one ever stood up to him. Striker: “Was his name Judas?” Jerry: “Actually it was Jerry Lawler.” Your lesson for the day kids: beat up other kids and treat them like trash and you could be a multiple time World Champion, get a job on national TV every week and get into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Cole says Morrison described this match as a tank against a fighter jet. Cole: “Of course Morrison the jet and Sheamus the tank.” Thanks Michael. Morrison starts fast and dropkicks Sheamus to the floor followed by a corkscrew dive to take the pale one out. Sheamus sends him into the barricade and runs Morrison over with an ax handle.

Back in and we hit the chinlock as the fans aren’t all that into Sheamus. A backbreaker gets two for Sheamus and it’s back to a chinlock again, although this one has an armbar added as a bonus feature. Sheamus hits the ten forearms to the chest from a seated position instead of in the ropes. It’s always cool to see the evolution of a move like that. Sheamus puts him on the top and pounds away again but Morrison slugs Sheamus down to the mat. A cross body gets rolled through for two for Sheamus and John is in trouble.

The Brogue Kick misses and Morrison enziguris him down. Morrison is all fired up and hits some clotheslines for two but it’s hard to keep Sheamus off his feat. Irish Curse stops the momentum but it only gets two again. The High Cross is countered into a Russian legsweep to give Johnny a near fall. Sheamus goes after the knee to stop Morrison again. This match really is as back and forth as it sounds. No one has had an extended advantage for the most part.

Sheamus puts the leg over his shoulder and pulls Morrison forward to the mat in a cool looking move that I haven’t seen before. Half crab does more damage for Sheamus but he slaps Morrison in the face a few times to tick him off. John kicks him down but Starship Pain is broken up with ease. The High Cross is countered again and the Brogue Kick misses, allowing Morrison to hit the Flying Chuck and a running knee to the face for the surprise pin.

Rating: B-. These two always have this freakish chemistry that really doesn’t make a ton of sense but is always there. Morrison’s flying style was a great compliment to the power stuff from Sheamus and as usual the idea of power vs. speed works as well as anything else. Morrison would never hit a level that they were hoping for him to, while Sheamus would go on to win another World Title at Wrestlemania in a few years. You never know what might happen in wrestling, which is why it’s fun to watch.

R-Truth continues to meddle in Cena’s business and offers to interfere in the main event tonight because you can only win by pin or submission. He offers to attack Orton and Cena will be guilt free. Cena yells at him for suggesting it.

Intercontinental Title: Kaval vs. Dolph Ziggler

Kaval is more famous as Low Ki and won NXT Season 2 to get any title shot he wanted. In his first win, he beat Dolph on Smackdown and picked to challenge for this title tonight. You can see the writing on the wall for him from here. A quick elbow gets two so Dolph takes over with a forearm in the corner. There’s the Hennig neck snap and a mini AA for two for Dolph. A handspring elbow takes Dolph down and Kaval pounds away in the corner until a Vickie distraction lets Dolph take him down.

Kaval comes back with a handspring into an awesome kick to the face in the corner. Kaval goes up with his back to the ring, allowing Dolph to put on a sleeper on the top rope for some reason. Dolph gets knocked back and Kaval misses a big flip dive, allowing Dolph to hit the Fameasser for two. The sleeper gets slapped on again (on the mat this time) but Kaval escapes and is launched to the top rope where he springs off and hits a spin kick to the face in ANOTHER awesome looking move. Ziggler misses a charge in the corner and gets rolled up for two before Ziggler gets a rollup of his own with tights to retain.

Rating: C-. Kaval tried here but this crippled whatever he had as far as momentum was going. He would be gone before the end of the year and I can’t say I blame him. The match here was ok enough but the chemistry didn’t click at all. Also, why would you pick a match for the Intercontinental Title when you can pick whatever you want?

Jack Swagger doesn’t like the idea about being on Team Del Rio, because it should be Team Swagger. Jack says some stuff about the Spanish being spoken here because he doesn’t habla Espanol. Rhodes, who is still Dashing at this point (a gimmick where he was obsessed with self grooming and looking great), comes up and makes fun of Swagger’s shoes. Del Rio says that he won a bet about Swagger getting interrupted. This goes nowhere.

Team Del Rio vs. Team Mysterio

Alberto Del Rio, Tyler Reks, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes

Rey Mysterio, Chris Masters, Big Show, MVP, Kofi Kingston

Alberto is the big newcomer here and Mysterio was his first target. Team Mysterio is all in blue for a nice touch. Reks is a decent sized guy with a beard and nothing all that unique about him. Masters is very muscular and that’s about the extent of his character. The fans chant for MVP as he’s the hometown boy.

The captains start things off but there’s no contact as Del Rio tags in Rhodes. We start talking about baseball (Striker: “Rickey Henderson may be the greatest baseball player of all time.” Cole and Lawler: “WHAT???”) as Rey hooks an O’Connor Roll for two on Cody. Cody comes back with a Disaster kick and stomps away in the corner.

Here’s Del Rio again but he gets caught in the corner and hit by a hard running dropkick. Off to MVP who hits a dropkick and ducks an enziguri in the corner. This was right around the time when he was getting good, but he would be gone in less than three weeks. That’s wrestling for you. Here’s Kofi with some bouncing offense but it’s quickly off to Masters. Lawler does his usual talk about the Clowns vs. Kings back in 94 as Reks and McIntyre take turns beating on Masters.

Drew’s middle rope jumps lands on a boot and Masters can tag in MVP. MVP suplexes McIntyre down and hits the Ballin Elbow, only to fall victim to the Ultimate Warrior/Rick Rude ending from Wrestlemania V (MVP suplexes Drew but Alberto hooks MVP’s foot and Drew falls on top for a pin). Masters comes back in again and hits a kind of Jackhammer for two. Del Rio avoids the Masterlock and puts on the Armbreaker for the submission to make it 5-3.

Here’s Big Show as the stopper for his team and Del Rio bails, bringing in Swagger. Jack tries to wrestle him down and is immediately chopped in the chest. A kind of chop block takes Show down and it’s back to Del Rio. Show glares at him again and Alberto tags out to Drew, but before Alberto gets out Show knocks him out cold. With McIntyre down, Show slams Kofi down onto Drew for a two count. Apparently Alberto can’t continue and is eliminated. Cody comes in to face Kingston and Rhodes snaps when he gets hit in the face. He goes on a rant and heads to the floor to check the mirror on the back of his jacket.

Rhodes heads back in and gets hit in the face again. Off to Show who slaps Cody on the back and the KO punch makes it 3-3. It’s Kofi/Rey/Show vs. Reks/Swagger/McIntyre and Reks immediately clotheslines Show down in an impressive move. Swagger comes in to work on the leg and hooks the ankle lock. After nearly tapping, Show crawls over to Rey for the saving tag. Rey speeds things up but Jack kicks his head off for two.

Swagger drills Kofi on the apron before catching Rey’s 619 into the ankle lock. Mysterio rolls through the hold and makes the hot tag to Kofi who cleans house and hits the top rope cross body for two on Reks. Kofi misses a charge in the corner and gets caught in the Tree of Woe. After Kofi gets down, Reks charges into a double boot in the corner for the fast elimination. Swagger comes in almost immediately and catches Trouble in Paradise into the ankle lock to tie things back up.

Back to Big Show who uses that large body of his to run Swagger over a few times before Swagger has to lay down so Rey and Show can do the on the shoulders splash. McIntyre breaks up the big splash though and Rey is down. Rey gets placed on the top rope but headbutts Jack down to the mat. The 619 sets up that splash off Show’s shoulders to make it 2-1. Future Shock is countered and it’s a chokeslam from Show for the final elimination.

Rating: B-. This was a fine Survivor Series match with both teams working well together. I don’t get the point in having Del Rio eliminated that early, but it allows for Rey vs. Del Rio to happen later on. The match wasn’t a classic but it worked well enough for what it was supposed to be. Decent stuff here and the fans were happy with the ending.

Randy Orton talks about how he’s tired of hearing all of the talk about Cena and Barrett, because tonight it’s either the RKO or the Punt to stop Barrett.

Divas Title: Laycool vs. Natalya

Handicap match. Laycool are the co-champions here as both have belts in a story that wasn’t that interesting in the first place. The champs have to tag here and it’s Michelle to start. Natalya takes it to the mat early on and Michelle actually takes over with the amateur stuff. Off to the hometown heel in Layla who distracts the referee so Michelle can pull Natalya onto the floor.

Back in and Natalya suplexes both girls at once but her back is hurt in the process. Michelle blasts her in said back on the floor, but Natalya shoves Michelle over the barricade. They all brawl at ringside for a bit before Natalya and Michelle head into the ring. McCool gets rammed into Layla and the Sharpshooter gives Natalya the title.

Rating: D. Here’s this whole feud in a nutshell: Natalya beat up Layla, then Natalya beat up Michelle, then Natalya beat up both of them at once. This wasn’t much of a match but it’s the kind of breather that you have to give the fans before you get to the big stuff later on. Laycool would be around for a few more months but once they split, they fell off the face of the earth.

Beth Phoenix returns to save Natalya from a double beatdown. This would set up a Divas tables match next month.

We recap Kane vs. Edge. Kane beat Undertaker in the Cell when Paul Bearer shocked no one and turned on the Dead Man. Edge got this shot for being on a hot streak, which is a rare thing in modern wrestling. Edge also kidnapped Bearer and tortured him but hasn’t returned him yet.

Smackdown World Title: Edge vs. Kane

Kane is defending here. Edge wheels out with an empty wheelchair (representing Paul Bearer) to mess with Kane a bit more. Kane tries a quick chokeslam but Edge punches out of it. Kane sends him to the floor and Edge wheels the chair around a bit more to make Kane mad. A baseball slide sends Kane into the barricade before we head back inside where the Canadian takes out the Spaniard’s leg. He wraps the leg around the post and lays on it as the fans aren’t all that interested yet.

Kane gets in an uppercut to take over and slugs away slowly. The champion chokes away and yells about Bearer a bit as the fans still aren’t into the match. To really mix things up, Kane puts on a cravate and yells even more. A low dropkick gets two for the champion and it’s back to the trusty cravate. Edge finally gets up and hits a cross body off the top for two.

Kane slugs him down but Edge dropkicks him out of the air on the top rope clothesline attempt. A side slam gets two for Kane and he goes up again. Edge makes the stop but gets crotched and clotheslined down for two. Something resembling a DDT puts Kane down but Edge’s spear hits boot. There’s the chokeslam for two so Kane tries the Tombstone. Edge slips down the back and spears Kane down for the pin and no title, because all four shoulders were down and it’s a draw.

Rating: F+. The ending until the cover wasn’t bad, but other than that this was dull, slow and horrible. These two just did not work well together at all, so of course they had another title match on PPV. Horrible match here as Kane just stood around and held Edge by the neck for LONG stretches of time. Kane would accidentally kill Paul Bearer soon after this in a stupid segment.

Kane beats up Edge post match. Edge comes back and puts Kane in the wheelchair and sends him through part of the barricade.

Barrett tells Cena if he doesn’t help him tonight, Cena is gone. Cena says he knows what he’s going to do.

Tag Team Titles: Nexus vs. Vladimir Kozlov/Santino Marella

Nexus is represented by Heath Slater (a country boy) and Justin Gabriel (a South African high flier). Slater and Gabriel are the champions here and have the rest of Nexus with them. Santino and Slater start things off and Marella gets to use some of the martial arts that Kozlov has been teaching him. Off to Gabriel and Kozlov who tags himself in. Remember that two years ago, Kozlov was in the World Title match against HHH and now he’s here. That’s quite the fall. Gabriel dives at Kozlov and gets caught in a kind of spinebuster to give the challengers control.

Gabriel gets in a kick to take Kozlov down and Slater drops a knee for two. Back to Justin for a cravate (really popular move tonight) and then a front facelock. Kozlov is about to get to Santino when Slater draws Marella in illegally. That’s some good old school tag stuff there and it’s awesome. Slater hooks a front facelock of his own but it’s a hot tag to Santino. He hits all of his usual stuff and loads up the Cobra, but the other members of Nexus distract him and Slater hits the sleeper drop for the pin to retain.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here that wouldn’t be on Raw on any given week. The Tag Team Titles were absolutely nothing at this point but then again that could go for any show for a good six year stretch or so. The match was fine but it was another breather for the fans, who have had quite a few tonight

Post match the challengers get beaten down again and the Anonymous Raw GM (exactly what it sounds like) says if Nexus interferes in the World Title match, they’re suspended indefinitely.

We recap Orton vs. Barrett. Barrett got the title shot through winning NXT and got Cena to join Nexus through winning at Hell in a Cell. Cena hates it but Barrett made him the guest referee tonight. If he screws Orton over, he won’t be able to live with himself, but if he doesn’t screw Orton over, Barrett will fire him. This gets the music video treatment of course.

Raw World Title: Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton

You can only win by pin or submission. Feeling out process to start with Orton grabbing a headlock. A shoulder puts Barrett down and Orton fires away elbows and uppercuts in the corner. Cena finally does something and it’s correct procedure, but the fans boo because it’s against Orton. He goes the same thing to Barrett and Orton hits a dropkick to take over.

We head to the floor where Barrett hits a kick to the ribs to take over. Orton gets sent into the steps and punched down back in the ring. Barrett covers and gets a fair one count. We hit the chinlock for a good while until Orton fights back with his usual comeback stuff. The backbreaker gets two and Orton glares at Cena. Barrett gets in an uppercut and hits a top rope elbow for two.

Barrett hits his pumphandle slam for two and now Barrett glares at Cena too. This is pretty dull stuff so far. Wasteland is countered and there’s a Boss Man Slam (called a Black Hole Slam by Striker) for another close two. The fans do the usual pro/anti Cena chants as Orton hits the Elevated DDT. Barrett gets in a knee to the head and Wasteland hits but Orton grabs the rope at two. I do love how the idea that Barrett could just win the title on his own is a completely non-factor. Barrett shoves Cena so Cena shoves him back, right into the RKO and the clean pin to fire Cena. Striker: “Cena’s free!” Cole: “Cena’s fired.” Striker: “Oh.”

Rating: D. This barely worked as the focus was entirely on Cena and the match was really dull for the most part. It was someone hitting a move that would be lucky to get two and then glaring at Cena when they didn’t get a pin off of it. Cena was “fired” as a result, but would of course be back on PPV the next month. I don’t think he ever missed a Raw. I like the moment with him counting the pin because that’s him being himself which is the essence of Cena’s character, but the match sucked.

Cena has no idea what to do post match. Nexus runs in and gets beaten down by the Super Best Friends. Cena hands Orton the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. The main events sucked but the first half or so of this was fine. The problem with the main event here is the same problem that brought down the whole Nexus angle: Barrett never won the title. Without that, Nexus and Barrett in particular weren’t really big threats but rather guys that annoyed Cena for a few months until he beat them all. Besides, the next night Miz cashed in and won the title after Cena cost Barrett another title shot. This show isn’t really worth seeing but it’s not horrible.

Ratings Comparison

Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase

Original: B

Redo: C+

John Morrison vs. Sheamus

Original: B

Redo: B-

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kaval

Original: B-

Redo: C-

Team Mysterio vs. Team Del Rio

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Natalya vs. Laycool

Original: D+

Redo: D

Kane vs. Edge

Original: D

Redo: F+

Nexus vs. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov

Original: D

Redo: D+

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Original: D+

Redo: D

Overall Rating

Original: B

Redo: D+

I liked this one WAY better on first viewing. Then again I didn’t know what was coming for Nexus back then.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/19/history-of-survivor-series-count-up-2010-when-did-orton-and-barrett-get-good/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Survivor Series 2010
Date: November 21, 2010
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Matt Striker

Well this has been built up for a good while now. The main thing here is who does Cena side with: Nexus or the forces of good as it’s Free or Fired. I really don’t know what’s coming here so I’m rather excited for this. We also have a decent build to Edge vs. Kane but I don’t think it ends tonight. Kane is a step backwards now but I think he still pulls it out. On paper this is a decent show. Let’s get to it.

We open with the old school run down of the Survivor Series logos and then we shift over to Cena. Wait I’m watching this on the internet so let me get this out of the way: CZENA SUX HE ONLY KNOWZ FIVE MOVEZ! There now that that’s out of the way we can continue. The people in the LD are right: this video on Cena and Barrett is awesome. Oh and Orton is here too.

US Title: Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase

At least Maryse looks hot. Cole is on Bryan for his music this time. Daniel goes for the arm to start which gets reversed. Some submissions master. Nice counter if nothing else and the lights go out for a second. Lawler: I like it when the lights go down. Cole: So do I since I don’t have to look at Bryan. He’s on tonight. DiBiase tries to suplex Bryan to the floor and actually get it in a nice bump.

Challenger controls and hits an elbow from the middle rope to Bryan who is laid on the apron. Think how Taker puts someone for his legdrop. I guess the lights going on for a bit made him channel his inner deadman. Bryan gets some strikes in but DiBiase just pounds him down. Dang Maryse is looking good in a nice little short dress. DiBiase gets a second rope dropkick for two.

Cole jumps down Bryan’s throat again. Apparently Johnny Rodz trained Striker. That explains a lot. Bryan speeds things up but still can’t keep momentum going as DiBiase kicks him in the face. Bryan gets a suicide dive to the floor and may have blown out a shoulder. Not sure if it’s legit or not. There’s the top rope dropkick so he’s doing on enough it seems.

Bryan gets a small package for two but DiBiase gets a clothesline so hard that Bryan backflips for two. Dream Street is countered twice but DiBiase gets a big spinebuster for two. Better match than I was expecting so far. Ted goes way up but gets crotched into a belly to back off the top. Nice job and Bryan’s shoulder is either messed up legit or he’s selling the heck out of it. That gets a nice two and here comes the LeBell Lock but it’s countered into a slingshot. And so much for that as the hold goes on and DiBiase taps.

Rating: B. Solid opener all around here. I don’t think DiBiase was a legit threat for the most part but he was fine for a challenger. This is the kind of thing I’ve been looking for more of with DiBiase giving Bryan a nice challenge but nothing he can’t handle and we got a pretty solid match out of it. What more can you ask for? Nice opener.

As Bryan is celebrating Miz pops him with the MITB case. He and Riley get in the ring and runs down the Heat (remember he’s from Cleveland) which is very true here as the Heat are just doing ok this year and have started badly all things considered. He shifts over to LeBron, saying he should go back to Cleveland. The lights go out again during this. He says he’s tired of carrying the briefcase. It’s a matter of when, not if.

We recap Sheamus vs. Morrison which should be good if their falls count anywhere match was any indication. Basically Morrison says Sheamus is a bully and is protecting Santino from him. Sheamus says he’s a former and future champion and Morrison is jealous.

Sheamus vs. John Morrison

I’ve been looking forward to this one. Morrison starts fast of course and sends Sheamus to the floor with a dropkick, followed by a corkscrew dive over the top to the floor. And so much for that as Sheamus drills him in the head. Striker says he’s enjoying the beating here. All Sheamus for the most part here. Lawler still doesn’t like him.

Lawler talks about the size difference, prompting various jokes. Sheamus is pounding away here and is getting close to that zone of his. Middle rope suplex is blocked though and here comes Johnny Boy. Top rope cross body is rolled through into a powerslam for two. I’ve always been a fan of that counter as it’s simple yet effective. Brogue Kick misses and an enziguri puts both guys down.

Sheamus is up first and we slug it out. Nice job of being an anti-bully by punching the guy in the face. Nice thing to teach the kids there Johnny. He looks all ticked off now and goes on offense. He walks into an Irish Curse for two though. The crowd is into this show so far which is a nice touch. We get our second slingshot into the post of the night and a Russian legsweep gets two on the Irish dude.

Morrison lands on the middle rope off a catapult and Sheamus takes the knee out. Solid back and forth match so far. In a move I’ve never seen before, Sheamus puts Morrison’s leg on his shoulder like he’s going to stun it and then launches him forward just by pulling it forward. That’s a new one on me. Half crab gets Sheamus nowhere. Morrison grabs a rollup for two.

Back to the knee and Morrison is in trouble again. Morrison sends him into the corner but Sheamus gets up before Starship Pain can hit. And there’s the High Cross but it’s countered again and the Flash Kick takes down Sheamus. A running knee gets the three and the WZPC Title is in trouble.

Rating: B. I liked this a lot. Rather solid match for the most part here with both guys getting solid offense in which resulted in me not knowing who was going to win until the end. That’s the sign of a good match and it paid off here. Solid stuff again and these two have a weird chemistry together which isn’t something you can teach. I liked it.

Knucklehead stuff.

Cena is in the back and here’s R-Truth again to complain about nothing in general. He offers a solution and Cena kind of rolls his eyes. Truth offers to interfere and attack Orton which Cena shoots down. Truth doesn’t believe he’ll be fair. More or less this sounded like a heel turn promo.

Intercontinental Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kaval

Basically this is happening because Kaval got his first win over Ziggler on Smackdown and is using his win of his choice. Cole runs Kaval down of course. Vickie does her usual thing. Kaval has some slightly new tights here. And so does Ziggler. Kaval kicks a lot to start and in other news I’m watching wrestling. A snap mare gets one. Who covers after a freaking snap mare?

Ziggler gets some basic grappling to take down Kaval. Striker wants Vickie and Kaitlyn. He must be hardcore. Handspring into a cross body (think Tajiri) gets two for Kaval. Vickie distracts Kaval and down he goes. The title has never changed hands in Miami. I don’t get the point of those things. They don’t really mean much but they’re better than nothing I guess.

The announcers exchange movie and TV references including Cagney and Lacey as not much is going on here. Kaval takes over with strikes of course, some of which aren’t even strikes. Kaval is the World Warrior apparently. NICE moonsault press gets two. A handspring sets up a BRUTAL kick to the face for two. That was awesome looking.

Warrior’s Way is avoided and Ziggler gets the sleeper on the middle rope. He gets knocked off and Kaval busts out a moonsault into a 450. No worries though as he lands on his feet. Well of course he does. Backslide gets two and a Fameasser (NOT THE ZIG ZAG COLE!) gets two. Both guys down now as this show has been SWEET from a wrestling perspective so far. SWEET enziguri from the top gets two.

They slug it out some more and Ziggler can’t put him away. Kaval goes for a school boy but Ziggler grabs the ropes. A small package for Dolph gets two as this is getting very good very fast. Another rollup from Kaval is reversed into a rollup by Ziggler to retain. Nice pinfall reversal into the ending there. May have been some tights grabbed too.

Rating: B-. This has been a SWEET show from a wrestling perspective as this is the third solid match in a row. When’s the last time you get that from a WWE show? Kaval shouldn’t win a title yet so this is a good ending for it. Ziggler is very good in the ring and has been getting to show us that lately. I liked this as I have every match. Good match again.

Team Del Rio talks about beating Rey and there’s a theme of speaking Spanish here. Del Rio wants to see kids cry. I like this guy!

Team Mysterio vs. Team Del Rio

Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Chris Masters, MVP
Alberto Del Rio, Tyler Reks, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger

The crowd has kind of died which is sad as this has been a very solid show so far. Cole says the heel team is the best groomed team ever. That was a good one. The captains start us off here as I love seeing these matches. It would be nice to not have seen it at Bragging Rights but you get the idea. Cody comes in maybe 10 seconds after we start. Team Rey is all in blue.

Striker says Rickey Henderson might be the best ball player of all time. Just….no. Lawler has to get them back on track. You can tell they’re in trouble when he’s the voice of reason. Beautiful Disaster gets two and here comes Alberto again. Rey takes over and needs to tag. Ah there we go and it’s the hometown boy. Drive By kick in the corner and here comes Kofi.

Lawler talks about his mini clowns and mini kings. Here’s Masters now as Alberto is getting beaten up. Drew jumps into Chris’ boot and MVP is back in to beat up Drew. Ballin hits but we get the Mania 5 Rude/Warrior ending to get rid of MVP. Masters vs. Alberto now as Masters hits a Jackhammer for two. Masterlock can’t go on but Alberto gets a Codebreaker onto the arm and then the armbreaker gets the tap to get us to 5-3.

And here’s Big Show which I think everyone saw coming. Off to Swagger and down he goes to some chops. Swagger takes out the knee and brings in Alberto again. Dang he’s been in a lot. He slaps Show’s head and Show shouts HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? Drew won’t tag in so Alberto tags him in. Show knocks Alberto out anyway for fun. Nice shot as Del Rio just crumbled. Something tells me that’s your ending.

Future Shock can’t hit Show who slams Kofi onto Drew for two. Del Rio is taken out and I’d bet on him coming out to get the win, especially since the announcer said completely eliminated. Kofi slaps Cody who LOSES it, destroying the table and kicking anything in sight. He yells at Chimmel to HOLD UP THE JACKET. There’s a blemish so Kofi slams him again.

Show comes in and grabs his face. Show yells at him and Cody hides, so Show just punches him for the easy pin. Reks is in and hits a big clothesline on Show to take him down for two. Back to Swagger as it’s 5-4 Del Rio but he’s out getting checked on. The heels go after Show’s leg but Show kicks him in the head. And so much for that as Show goes for the chokeslam but it’s reversed into the ankle lock. Has no face ever heard of breaking up a hold???

Show drags Swagger to the corner and gets the tag to Rey who goes nuts on Jackie boy. Big boot takes Rey’s head off though for two. Kofi interferes to put Swagger in 619 position but he grabs the legs into a SICK ankle lock. He can’t crawl to the corner so he swings Jack into 619 position but Swagger tags Reks. Kofi comes in but they can’t get Reks out even with a big top rope cross body.

Kofi misses his running leapfrog into the punches in the corner and winds up in the Tree of Woe. Kofi kicks him out of that and gets the pin to tie us up. Swagger grabs the ankle lock which doesn’t work and neither does the powerbomb. Kofi misses Trouble in Paradise and lands in the ankle lock to make it officially 3-2 with Show and Rey against Swagger Drew and Del Rio even though Del Rio is gone.

Show and Rey go for the Rey diving off Show’s shoulders but Drew gets a shot in and Rey crashes. Swagger vs. Rey with the masked dude getting a top rope rana to set up the 619. There’s the Show’s shoulder splash to get us down to just Drew in the ring. Yep I’d still bet on Del Rio coming back. Future Shock is blocked and the 619 sets up a chokeslam to end it. Apparently that’s it as Del Rio is gone. So I guess Del Rio was eliminated first?

Rating: B-. These are hard to grade but this was pretty fun. The ending was about what I expected but Alberto going out first was really weird and I was completely wrong about him coming back. It’s nice to see one of these at the show that’s supposed to have these matches. Rey and Show winning was kind of predictable but that works fine sometimes. Fun stuff.

Ad for TLC which is literally all stick figures. I liked it.

Randy says nothing special.

Divas Title: Natalya vs. Laycool

Man Michelle looks good in some gold shorts. I can’t imagine Natalya doesn’t get the belt tonight. Actually I could but it involves Beth Phoenix returning soon. Natalya is built. We start with some blonde on blonde action here which is never a bad thing. The announcers point out that both of Laycool are from Florida. That means a total of nothing but whatever.

Heel double teaming puts Natalya out to the floor and has her in trouble. Dang imagine Michelle as your teacher in like 7th grade. Natalya gets a suplex on both girls to send everyone down. They play up the whole this is Natalya’s life thing as she gets beaten down. That would signal foreshadowing and maybe it does as McCool is sent into the crowd. Back in the ring as Natalya sends their heads together and the Sharpshooter to McCool ends it.

Rating: D+. Was anyone really surprised here? This was about what everyone expected it to be and at least the right person won. Not a bad match or anything but a total break between the early stuff and then the real meat of the show which we’re about to get to. This change needed to happen so all is right with the world now. Ok not in the slightest but this was the right result.

Post match Laycool jumps here and I was right as Beth is here to kick their small but shapely figures. She celebrates with Natalya.

We recap Edge vs. Kane which more or less is Edge came back to Smackdown and won a title shot then kidnapped Paul Bearer. That’s about it.

Smackdown World Title: Edge vs. Kane

Champion comes out first here which is a little weird. Pretty decent pop for Edge. Edge brings out an empty wheelchair to keep up the psychological stuff. Edge fires away to start and pulls Kane not quite to the floor. Top rope something jumps into the chokeslam but a spinwheel kick gets Edge out of trouble as well as two. Edge keeps messing with Kane’s mind and it seems to be working.

Edge goes for the knee and controls for the opening few minutes if not more. Edgecution is blocked and Edge gets draped over the top rope and has his head kicked in. Kane keeps asking where Paul is. Apparently the only way for him to find out is for Edge to tell him and it has to be IN THIS MATCH. Why? Striker makes it seem like Bearer will die if he doesn’t do this just right. This isn’t Bash 04 dude.

This crowd is just boring. We get a Craig Pittman reference of all things as King mentions hearing once that “beatings will continue until morale improves.” Edge gets a top rope cross body for two as this is going VERY slowly. Edge gets a shot in for a counter as this is putting me to sleep.

We get some very basic back and forth stuff with nothing behind it at all. The fans just do not care at all here. The Edgecution hits as I’m just waiting for LONG stretches of time between typing anything here due to boredom. Edge sets for the spear but Kane kicks his head off and gets the chokeslam for two. And then Edge hits the spear to win it. The announcers seem to not notice.

And never mind as both sets of shoulders were down so it’s a tie and Kane keeps the title. I smell a TLC match.

Rating: D. Oh sweet goodness this was boring. We had to sit here that whole time for THAT finish? Are you kidding me? We had a tie at Survivor Series. This company makes my head hurt so often at times. I guess that it sets up a big gimmick match at the next PPV, but the downside is that it sets up a big gimmick match at the next PPV.

Post match Kane goes to beat up Edge but Edge counters and puts Kane in the wheelchair which Edge sends through the barricade.

Barrett talks to Cena about Nexus which began in this building. We get it.

Tag Titles: Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater

All of Nexus is out here for this but they don’t talk. Well other than Barrett of course. Slater vs. Santino to start as apparently Vlad has been teaching Santino Sambo. Oh great now he has offense. Nexus looks like they have more unique tights now. Santino gets the first loud chant in a good while. Oh what are you really expecting here? After Vlad gets beaten down for awhile Santino comes in and cleans house but Nexus interferes so Slater can get the pin to retain. It was maybe four minutes long.

Rating: D. This was the next to last match on a major PPV. Do I need to explain why this was a bad idea?

Nexus beats Santino down afterwards and it’s E-MAIL TIME IN SOUTH BEACH BABY!!! It’s just a reminder to not interfere in the title match and if they do they’re all suspended.

We recap Cena vs. Barrett. Cena is stuck in Nexus and if he gets Barrett the title tonight he isn’t fired and is free from Nexus. If Orton retains then Cena is fired. Short and sweet, so of course they take five minutes to set it up. Sweet video though.

Raw World Title: Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Cena comes out first and is all like come on let’s get this over with. Nice pop for Orton but not as big as for Cena. Immediately after the bell rings a fan shouts out YOU FREAKING PIECE OF GARBAGE! Not sure who that was to but dang it’s weird hearing that on a WWE show. The fans chant RKO and we start very, very slowly.

Clean match a few minutes in. This is going to get 15-20 minutes and no one cares about anything but the ending. Cena is being fair so far. They head to the floor with Barret in control. Barrett throws punches for two as Cena counts fairly. This has been about 80% punches and headlocks and we’re almost ten minutes in.

The one thing no one seems to talk about in WWE is the idea of Barrett just being able to beat Orton. If that happens fairly then Cena wins his freedom and Barrett wins fairly. It tells you a lot when a clean ending is a total and complete impossibility. The match doesn’t matter a bit here as it’s just window dressing for the Cena move, whatever that is.

A Barrett elbow gets two. Cena keeps having to explain that it was a two count and the shoulder was up. Barrett sets for Wasteland but Orton gets elbows to the head. And then he gets a Bossman (Black Hole according to Striker) Slam for two. Dueling Cena chants start up. Back in the ring Wasteland hits and Orton grabs the rope. Cena counted fairly.

Barrett gets in his face and Cena looks scared. Barrett shoves him and Cena shoves him into the RKO and counts the three. Hokey smoke. Everyone is stunned, myself included.

Rating: D+. The match sucked but to put it mildly this was all about setting up the ending angle which is going on as I type this. Barrett’s in ring style is something I like. This wasn’t horrible as the crowd carried a lot of it, but this really was pretty weak. It was all about the ending though, and sometimes that’s fine. Not terrible but just there as a backdrop for the ending.

Nexus runs in and it’s the Super Best Friends to take care of them. Cena hands him the title and he poses to his music and leaves. Cena stands in the ring and lays his wristbands down in the middle of the ring and gets a mostly face chant. He hugs Cole and Sign Guy then comes back towards the ring. He points to a camera and walks up the ramp. I feel like an idiot writing every basic thing he does. The little graphic comes on in the corner as he’s about to leave but he goes into the crowd to high five people. He goes all the way around the arena and the camera stays on him, and then he leaves and we fade to black.

Overall Rating: B. There were some boring parts (Kane vs. Edge springs to mind. Scratch that as springing would imply someone doing something quickly in that match) to this but overall I really liked tonight’s show. The wrestling in the first hour to hour and a half is the best WWE has put on TV in a long time. The drama in the main event was certainly there and while I didn’t like the execution of it that well, the point was to make us want to watch to see what happened and that’s what happened.

This show was high on drama and it felt like a major show. Having four good matches to start and some decent ones to finish on helped a lot too. The show felt like it was something you needed to see and with that all hinging on one moment, the extra stuff at the beginning easily make this a good show and well worth checking out if you get the chance. Good show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

NXT UK
Date: November 14,, 2019
Location: Brentwood Centre, Essex, England
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Nigel McGuinness

It’s back to the old ideas around here this week as Tyler Bate faces Kassius Ohno. That could go either way as Ohno is as up and down of a wrestler as you can get. If he’s on, this could be great but if he’s off, it could be a rather long night. Other than that, Xia Brookside gets Kay Lee Ray in a non-title match. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Xia Brookside vs. Kay Lee Ray

Non-title. Ray drives her into the corner to start and gets in a shove to the face for some mind games. A headlock takeover works a bit better for Brookside as the fans look….asleep? Brookside headstands her way out of a headscissors and dances a bit to get on Ray’s nerves. A shot to the face puts Brookside down and the fans aren’t happy with that one.

Brookside’s crossbody is countered with a slam and a gordbuster gives Ray two. It’s too early for the Gory Bomb though and now the fans are getting into things. Brookside hammers away and snaps off a headscissors, setting up a hurricanrana for two. That’s enough for Ray who hits a superkick and plants Brookside with the Gory Bomb for the win at 7:02.

Rating: C. Maybe it’s the smile but it’s so easy to like Brookside. She’s a great underdog but can hang in the ring so it’s not like it’s ridiculous to imagine her pulling off an upset. At the same time though, Ray is turning into a rather strong champion and I’m not sure who could take the title off of her in the near or far future.

We look back at Alexander Wolfe recruiting Ilja Dragunov to Imperium but Dragunov sided with Gallus instead.

We get the second video on Piper, who is a role model for kids who might not feel like they belong due to their size. She was determined to make it to WWE and has proven everyone wrong due to her passion and heart.

Travis Banks vs. Ligero

Rematch after a double pin last month. They chop it out to start and an exchange of kicks to the face gives us a double knockdown. Ligero gets two off a clothesline and it’s off to something like an Octopus. That’s broken up and a standing clothesline just gets on Banks’ nerves. They go to the same double cover that gave us a draw last time before chopping it out again.

Banks knocks him into the ropes and hits a missile dropkick to a seated Ligero for a different visual. Ligero is right back with a Code Red for two but neither can get anywhere off a small package. The Kiwi Crusher gives Banks two so he goes up, only to get caught in a superplex. They head to the apron with Banks hitting a fisherman’s suplex but Ligero is right back with C4L on the floor. With Banks down, cue Joseph Conners to post Ligero. Back in and the Slice of Heaven finishes Ligero at 9:56. Banks did not see what Conners did.

Rating: C+. I wasn’t all that interested in seeing this one again but they had an entertaining match and I was wondering what was going to happen here. That being said, Conners can fall in a hole and never come out because he is one of the least interesting people NXT has put out there in a LONG time. It just isn’t there and that is showing more and more every single time.

Post match Conners beats up Banks as well. Conners grabs a mic and says this was supposed to be him but he has been overlooked. He is sick of the excuses and if he has to suffer, so does everyone else.

Ridge Holland debuts next week.

William Regal was at the NXT UK Performance Center this week when Alexander Wolfe came up to Regal and the NXT UK bosses. Wolfe wanted a match with Ilja Dragunov and didn’t want to hear from Sid Scala. Johnny Saint makes the match for next week.

Kassius Ohno vs. Tyler Bate

The fans start singing about Bate and it’s some standing grappling early on. Bate works on the wristlock but Ohno takes him to the mat for one of his own. That’s broken up and it’s an Octopus hold, only to have Ohno pull him down into a reverse chinlock with Ohno sitting on the mat. Back up and it’s a standoff until Ohno hits some palm strikes, only to throw a closed fist when the referee turns his back for a good heel move.

Back up and Bate is sent into the corner for the Jack Gallagher raised boot, plus a headscissors. Ohno sends him to the apron and then into the post to really take over for the first time. Bate’s shoulder is banged up and Ohno brings him back inside for a backsplash. One heck of a chop has Bate in trouble so Ohno stops to yell at the crowd for a bit.

We hit the cravate with Ohno lifting him up to make it almost like a guillotine. Bate gets dropped down like a Stunner for two and Ohno is rather confident. Some suplex attempts don’t work for Bate until he just muscles Ohno over, followed by the running forearm in the corner. Another suplex lets Bate nip up for the running shooting star and another near fall. The Tyler Driver 97 is countered with a backdrop so hard that Bate lands on his face.

The Cyclone Boot gives Ohno two and frustration is setting in. Ohno hits a headbutt but Bate starts swinging and hits Bop and Bang for two. The Rebound clothesline is blocked with a forearm to the back of Bate’s neck but Ohno misses a moonsault. Bate muscles him up for two off a German suplex and they’re both down.

Ohno gets up with a pump kick so Bate hits the big clothesline to put Ohno on the floor. The big dive is forearmed out of the air and Ohno’s Dream Crusher gets two. Ohno demands that the fans chant his name and takes Bate up top, only to have Bate slip down for a spinning torture rack slam. The Tyler Driver 97 is good for the pin at 24:03.

Rating: B+. The time helped this one and made it feel all the more epic. Bate looks pretty standard when you just look at him but my goodness he can turn it on. Then you have Ohno, who looks like he doesn’t belong anywhere near a ring but has the psychology to make up for his lack of a physique. Heck of a match here as Bate does it again and Ohno surprises me one more time.

Overall Rating: B. That main event is more than enough to make up for what was just an ok show otherwise. Sometimes you need to just go out there and have an awesome match, which is what happened here. They even have the Gallus vs. Imperium battle for down the line, making this a rather nice sign for the future. NXT UK has had some issues with putting on an entertaining show without the top talent and they did it here. Well done indeed.

Results

Kay Lee Ray b. Xia Brookside – Gory Bomb

Travis Banks b. Ligero – Slice of Heaven

Tyler Bate b. Kassius Ohno – Tyler Driver 97

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6