WWE Survivor Series (2014) took place on Sunday, November 23, 2014 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the twenty-eighth annual Survivor Series event. WWE offered the event free to new subscribers of the WWE Network.
It's that moment that you've been waiting for. Post-PPV reactions, results, and afterthoughts on the event where WWE and the man known as Sting broke the Internet. Without further adieu, "It's showtime, folks!"
Pre-Show: Fandango (w/ Rosa Mendes) def. Justin Gabriel
The kick-off show saw the repackaging of Fandango as a salsa dancer with Rosa Mendes as his valet. I can dig this. There's no reason to give up on this guy yet, especially as WWE were mostly to blame for killing his momentum in the past when he got over all on his own. I wish he would cook up a better finisher (John Morrison's Moonlight Drive maybe?) instead of that Diving Leg Drop if he expects to not have hip/back problems when he gets more mileage in the ring.
Even though Fandango came out the winner, I thought Justin Gabriel looked strong in this match. I really wish WWE would have given that guy a serious singles push when they had the opportunity. He truly shines as an enhancement talent on both the main roster and down on NXT.
Pre-Show: Bad News Barrett Returns
Shouldn't they brought him back during the UK tour? That would've made a LOT more damn sense. If they are implying that he could be the future GM or RAW/Smackdown! then I wouldn't mind that in the least.Pre-Show: Jack Swagger (w/ Jeb Coulter) def. Cesaro
A quick, mat-based match. Once again, Cesaro is reduced to a pre-show filler match. To say that Swagger was allegedly "injured" that took him out from representing Team Cena, he was booked on Main Event earlier this week and now on the night of the actual PPV? Gotta love WWE's booking sometimes, geez...
WWE Tag Team Championship - Four Corners Tag Team Match - The Miz and Damien "Mizdow" Sandow def. Dust Brothers (Goldust & Stardust), The Usos (Jimmy & Jey), and Los Matadores (w/ El Torito)
I personally felt like the live crowd ruined this match for the most part. They were too preoccupied with chanting for Mizdow that they didn't care about the fact that this match was actual not that bad. All four of these teams are capable and legitimate tag teams on their own right, but the crowd was heavily invested into Mizdow's antics. Mizdow didn't do next to anything in this match, but he managed to sneak by with the win regardless while the other three tag teams worked the majority of the match.This title change brings a bit of new life into the struggling tag team division, but I rather see a solo push for Sandow. The guy deserves much more than this piss-poor comedy relief act. And he definitely doesn't deserve to be playing second fiddle to The Miz.
Classic Survivor Series Match - Team Nattie (Natalya, Alicia Fox, Naomi, and Emma) def. Team Paige (Paige, Summer Rae, Cameron, and Layla) in a FULL sweep
I was thinking that Paige would end up as the final member on her team and pull a Randy Orton Survivor Series moment and floor everyone on the opposing team, but I can live with her losing.I don't believe that WWE were trying to "bury" her either. Paige needs her jets to be cooled a bit for the time being. If they keep pushing her at the rate they were after her debut, she would run out of things to accomplish and aspire to in WWE - if she hasn't already. She already won the NXT Women's Championship once and won the WWE Divas Championship on multiple occasions. She has plenty of years left in her - she's still very young and very new to the company. They don't have to race to do everything with her right off the bat. She still has many years in her to become an even better wrestler than she already is.
There's a few things between the lines that most fans didn't notice with this match.
- Naomi was the one who eliminated both Cameron and Paige, looking the strongest out of everyone in this match.
- Emma and Cameron wrestled the longest duration in a high-profile PPV in what seems like forever. For Emma, it's been since NXT ArRIVAL, for Cameron, it has been since her feud with Naomi during the summer.
- Despite her few botches, Cameron is actually improving.
- Summer Rae and Page are teasing a potential pairing/team-up. They have been encouraging this on social media throughout the evening.
- Alicia Fox worked the ENTIRE match as a babyface. I'm still very skeptical on how effective this could be. I rather her just be batshit crazy like Dean Ambrose, Stardust, and Goldust are supposedly are.
- Tyson Kidd completely turned off his whole "douchebag husband" act during this match and let Natalya shine on her own.
- This was the LONGEST Divas match in a very long time for the WWE Divas. This allowed all of the Divas in this match to showcase their ability and personalities more than they allowed to on a regular basis.
Bray Wyatt def. Dean Ambrose via DQ
Much like the entirety of this feud, this match was very underwhelming for the most part. I will admit that Ambrose mimicking Wyatt's corner taunt and Wyatt's offense near the end of the match did keep me entertained though.I didn't see what was so "awesome" about Bray Wyatt being buried underneath the wealth of foreign objects and weapons in the ring post-match though. I saw that only as WWE doing cheap and obvious promotion for next month's, Tables, Ladders, and Chairs event. That's one thing I felt like that WWE has bumbled with Bray Wyatt's feuds. This reminds me of his feud with Chris Jericho, where WWE did little to keep you engaged or wanting to care about this feud for the long haul.
Impromptu Tag Team Match: Adam Rose & The Bunny def. Slater Gator (Heath Slater & Titus O'neil)
What the hell, man?Get this shit off of my TV... I understand that WWE is giving us this PPV for free, but that's no excuse to give us the same bullshit that will be recycled on to WWE programming later this week on a PPV.
WWE Divas Championship - Nikki Bella (w/ Brie Bella) def. AJ Lee
In the words of Jim Ross, this over faster than a hiccup. AJ received the "kiss of death" from Brie Bella (I'm sure BOTH CM Punk and Daniel Bryan enjoyed that moment). Nikki Bella promptly knocked her out from behind and hit the Rack Attack to pick up the win.I know the AJ Lee marks are pissed that the match ended like this, but that finish and result makes me think that those alleged rumors about AJ leaving by the end of 2014 could be true. I wanted more out of the Divas title match here, but I can live with this result. AJ's steamrolled through the division enough over the past year, it's about time that she got her just desserts for once. Nikki has improved a lot over the last few months and she deserves to be rewarded for her hard work.
I guess this win for Nikki Bella broke that alleged ruling about no one from the cast of Total Divas could not win the Divas Championship.
In all seriousness though, I think that Brie helping Nikki win was either one of three things: 1) merely payback for AJ taking her out on the past week on RAW and Smackdown! 2) The whole Bella sibling rivalry was a huge swerve and the Bella Twins are reunited as heels. 3) Brie is plotting a future swerve to doublecross Nikki later down the road. Remember Renee Young said that Sunday was the last night of Brie's "contract" as Nikki's assistant.
If WWE were smart, I would have Nikki Bella play a part in getting Authority back into play as we head into WrestleMania season. She could be Authority's trump card and curry Cena's favor into bringing Triple H and Stephanie McMahon into power.
Classic Survivor Series Match - Team Cena (John Cena, The Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, and Ryback)
def. Team Authority (Seth Rollins, United States Champion Rusev, Intercontinental Champion Luke Harper, Corporate Kane, and Mark Henry)
Mark Henry jobs within the first minute to the WMD by The Big Show in an impressive show of force for Team Cena in the opening minute of this bout. I can live with this decision for the fact that Mark Henry is a veteran and he can easily bounce back from a loss like this. Plus, let's not forget that it was the exclamation point that Team Cena needed against the terrifying odds of Team Authority. That being said, I loved how Stephanie and Triple H were standing on the ring apron like they were actually going to fight in this match legally.Ryback was eliminated by the combined efforts of both Seth Rollins and Rusev. I think the thing to take away from this part was how much the crowd popped for the Rusev versus Ryback match-up. It seems like WWE aren't too keen about propelling Ryback to the moon again, but a feud with Rusev would benefit both rising stars' careers. WWE shouldn't have given both Ryback and Rusev THAT much ring-time against each other. I wouldn't have had Ryback get eliminated that early on either. That's a future PPV match I wouldn't mind paying to see.
Rusev eliminated via count-out after putting himself through the announcer's table at ringside after Ziggler rolled out of the way at the last second. I was completely fine with this method to eliminate Rusev. He maintains his undefeated streak without anyone actually pinning him. If I had any complaints, it would be that there weren't enough camera shots of Lana at ringside...
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| Rusev threw Ziggler out of the ring with a F'N Border Toss... |
In the end, it wasn't John Cena who won the big one for Team Cena. It was Dolph Ziggler who pulled out the win when it mattered most, channeling his inner Shawn Michaels, circa Survivor Series 2003. That was an emotional moment for me to see that WWE FINALLY has faith in this guy again - rightfully so.
Sting made his WWE debut (despite this being spoiled via social media more than 24 hrs. ahead of this event) to "save" Team Cena from Team Authority. My Twitter timeline exploded afterwards to the point where I had to walk away from the desktop and just sit on my bed as I watched the end of the PPV without any further distractions.
I think I would have enjoyed this moment more if The Undertaker appeared and stood in-between Triple H and the Stinger, teasing WrestleMania 31. Instead, it seems like WWE is teasing Triple H vs. Sting for either Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber. I seriously doubt they are going to postpone that until WrestleMania when they have already planned the seeds for Triple H vs. The Rock.
I have to agree with Tommy Dreamer's tweet from last night that said that everyone who is happy about Sting being here automatically loses the ring to complain about the inevitable Triple H vs. Sting match in the near-future.
Closing Thoughts
Unlike most people, I didn't jizz my shorts off the debut of Sting. WWE made it well worth the way. About F'N time, I must say. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the guy or anything, but from the reactions on social media, you would think that people didn't see him in Impact Wrestling prior to this and this was his first wrestling appearance since WCW closed it's doors back in 2001. I'm glad that he finally made his presence known, but I felt his debut took too much away from Dolph Ziggler's big win here tonight as the event came to a close.Apparently, the guy signed a contract with WWE since post-WrestleMania... Would it have killed WWE to build up to this moment with a full-blown storyline instead of a random appearance like this? Instead, I wanted more from this debut than what was offered here. I'm sure long-time Sting fans were pleased just for him to show up in a WWE ring PERIOD, but I tend to want a LOT more out of my storytelling from WWE.
The closing moments of the PPV should have been about Ziggler celebrating his moment in the spotlight with the members of Team Cena who didn't defect over to Team Authority. Sting's debut seemed to completely overshadow that moment and rob Ziggler of the praise he rightfully deserved.
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| Triple H struggles to keep Steph under control like a black girl ready to throw down in a fight... |
This was the first time in like an eternity (at least since WrestleMania XXX) where one of the "Big Five" PPVs felt truly special. And all that it took was WWE actually listening to its fans for once. Oh that and making a FULL-length PPV FREE on the WWE Network. If I may add, the Network showed little to no hiccups during the event, despite the record of random errors and disconnects throughout the week prior.
While the bulk of the WWE Universe acted like this was the best PPV of 2014, I have to disagree with that statement completely. The first 2 hours of this event were mediocre at best (and I'm being VERY generous there...) with too much unnecessary filler and littered with commercials and video packages, while the final hour was an emotional roller coaster, reminiscent of the emotions that went through fans' minds during WrestleMania XXX. Oh the irony...
If I was to give the entire event a grade, I would go with a solid B rating. The final hour is what we love about wrestling - action, drama, storytelling, and some nostalgia, but everything else just weighed the show down in comparison.
When I read some of the comments on my Twitter timeline and across social media, I really have to wonder if WWE is the ONLY company some of you guys warrant your opinions of professional wrestling's current status on. Go out there and watch some Impact Wrestling, who are doing great things right now. Most of their talent (along with FWE's) worked House of Hardcore VII for Tommy Dreamer's promotion. If you're a fan of WRESTLERS instead of ENTERTAINERS then you need to take the time to watch that event. Do yourself a favor and check out Lucha Underground if you haven't already. Trust me, they are doing things that will blow your mind. Last, but not least, give Ring of Honor a freakin' chance. Most of NXT's top prospects (along with the beloved CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Cesaro, and Daniel Bryan - along with NXT Trainer, Sara Del Rey) are ROH alumni, with more of their former top stars, such as Kevin Steen (as Kevin Owens), set to debut by the end of the 2014.
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WWE Monday Night RAW (November 24, 2014) |
The Authority's Farewell Address
RAW opens with Triple H's usual banter of cheap pops and cheap shots to cater to the live crowd while a very emotional Stephanie McMahon continues to play up the "tragedy" of their loss at Survivor Series.The Authority gets one more shot in the gut as they head out of the arena as Daniel Bryan returns to lead the WWE Universe in a "YES" chant to rub the salt into The Authority's open wounds.
Daniel Bryan named as General Manager for tonight's show
The best thing to come out of this segment was the transformation of Corporate Kane to Concessions Kane. I hope Ringside Collectibles will have that figure in stock for 2015...All jokes aside, I felt that naming Daniel Bryan the GM for the night screamed the same situation as Shawn Michaels as commissioner back during the Attitude Era. Both men had career threatening injuries when they were assigned these positions. I can't knock WWE for that as it's a good way to keep Daniel Bryan relevant and in eyes of the fans during his recovery process.
Ryback def. Mark Henry
This was over rather quickly. It wasn't as fast as Henry's elimination during the Survivor Series main event, but damn. When Mark Henry loses momentum, he falls HARD.
Intercontinental Championship Match - Luke Harper (c) def. Dean Ambrose via DQ
It was rather strange to see Dean Ambrose receive a title match over Dolph Ziggler, but I'm not the one writing this shit. We all knew in the back of our heads thatLarry The Cable Guy & Santino promote Jingle All The Way 2
Get this shit off of my TV. How can you do a sequel to that movie without Arnold? It's not going to be the same!I haven't been that happy to see Goldust and Stardust in my life...
WWE Tag Team Championship Match - The Miz & Mizdow (c) def. Dust Brothers (Goldust & Stardust) to retain
Mizdow gets more offense in this match, but it ends up with The Miz stealing Mizdow's thunder for the team to retain. If they have the tag titles by the end of 2014, I'm going to be shocked. It's obvious that they are going to implode from Mizdow being more over with the crowd than The Miz.Fandango (w/ Rosa Mendes) def. Justin Gabriel
This was merely a rehash of their match from last night's pre-show bout before Survivor Series. I still say they need to consider changing Fandango's finisher before he has back/spinal issues like Hulk Hogan when he starts to have a lot of mileage in the ring.The Big Show Explains His Actions
The Big Show goes completely bipolar (or rather tri-polar) in this segment until Erick Rowan (who is dubbed "Upside Down Sheamus" by The Big Show) comes out to express his disgust with bullies.I guess this is how WWE is going to keep both The Big Show and Erick Rowan relevant...
Brie Bella (w/ Divas Champion Nikki Bella) def. AJ Lee
I guess everyone forgot that tonight is the last day that Brie is under "contract" as Nikki's assistant. I won't lie that I enjoyed AJ on the mic tonight though. If they actually take the time to plot this out carefully, WWE could actually have something good here. This is a feud that should have happened when AJ Lee first dropped her "pipebomb" back in 2013 that belittled the cast of Total Divas. We can finally address the elephant in the room about that show, their conflicting fan-bases, and how AJ Lee is the only Diva who seems to segregate (read: alienate) herself from anything to do with that show.AJ won quote of the night with that line about "talent isn't sexually transmitted."
I love how AJ's fanbase tends to think quite the opposite, when she was trained by her previous boyfriend, Jay Lethal. (Grins) Now who's the hypocrite?
Tyson Kidd & Natalya def. Adam Rose & The Bunny
Ugh... How many times do I have to endure this bullshit? I just want Adam Rose to beat the shit out of the Bunny and revert back to Leo Kruger for my viewing pleasure.Ryback Checks In With Concession Kane At Work
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| Ryback: "Hey Kane, you forgot your NUTS!!" |
This resulted in the mandatory food fight of the evening at Kane's new job.
I want my Concession Kane action figure with action condiments, dammit.
I want my Concession Kane action figure with action condiments, dammit.
3-on-2 Handicap Match - John Cena & Dolph Ziggler def. J & J Security (Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury) and Seth Rollins
I wouldn't even call this a "match" by a stretch. Rollins bailed at the first sign of trouble and left Noble and Mercury to fall victim to the Attitude Adjustment and Zig-Zag (after a Super Kick that would make Shawn Michaels blush) from Cena and Ziggler. With the heels laid out, Daniel Bryan came out join them as RAW closed out...
That is until the return of the Anonymous RAW General Manager. (Sighs) Apparently, WWE wants us to forget that Hornswoggle was in control of that gimmick the last time. The Anonymous RAW GM is said to be in control for next week's RAW on Cyber Monday.
Closing Remarks
Going into Monday Night RAW, I was excited on how WWE would follow up the events from Survivor Series. Instead of carrying that momentum and excitement into RAW, WWE dropped the ball (literally and figuratively) and went back to their same ol' shit style of creative direction and booking.To say that WWE had everyone amped up after Survivor Series, they really dropped the ball here with this post-Survivor Series RAW broadcast.
Much like Survivor Series, I'll give this show a grade rating as well: C- Unlike Survivor Series, this show wasn't a pleasure to watch.
Hey, WWE, when are you going to address the elephant in the room known as Brock Lesnar and the missing WWE World Heavyweight Championship?
