Thoughts on Survivor Series

A quick note. As my wife and I rapidly approach parenthood, getting ready for Max to enter the world coupled with a (possible) new job leaves me with precious little time to devote to my blog posts. In other words, since I don't get paid for it, I don't have hours on end to provide a blow-by-blow analysis of every wrestling show and PPV. When I can go into great detail, I will. But the foreseeable future contains quick reaction pieces like this.

All in all, a great show, one of the better WWE has produced this year. Most amazing to me was that the worst moment of the show lead to the best moment of the show (more on that in a bit).

The opening elimination match had a brisk pace (did it really go about 30 minutes?) good action, and hit all the right notes for all the right feuds. I continue to be bewildered by the burial of MVP (was the Wellness tech he mocked backstage Johnny Ace's Mom?), and I hope we haven't seen the end of Michaels v. Morrison, but it was a solid opener that got the crowd hot. I loved the "outsmart" him spot that lead to JBL's elimination, and with two bad knees, Rey looked better than he has since his return. ***1/4.

The women's match wasn't terrible. Blown spots aplenty to be sure, but they all had clear characters, clear journeys, and the real women's champion won. I'm not the biggest Michelle McCool fan, and I still contend her spot is entirely predicated on her willingness to nail the Undertaker, but she is improving, as is the women's division as a whole (albiet very slowly). That's more than I can say for TNA's ladies. * 1/2.

The casket match. Of the many, many Undertaker/Big Show feuds, this has been the most enjoyable. I'm usually irritated with Poochietaker, but it is astounding that as he gets older, he gets better in the ring. The match had great big spots, didn't go to long, and a pretty cool finish with Show going into the coffin, the coffin falling over, and the lid slamming shut. pretty enjoyable stuff. **3/4.

Team Batista v. Team Orton. Why Bill Regal got a quick exit for the flu while Matt Hardy had to work for 20 minutes with a bad knee I'll never know, but once again a fun, well-paced match. Most of the guys got to shine here, and maybe we'll get a C.M. Punk Intercontinental title reign out of it. I was intrigued that Cody Rhodes got to survive as Orton's modus operandi for this PPV is solo survival, but I suppose it's another stop along the road that leads to Randy being the boss of the Priceless kids. Again, good storytelling. ***.

HHH v. Vladamir Koslov. Ahhh, candidate for worst PPV match of the year not involving Cute Kip. This was atrocious on many levels, and my best friend and I are in agreement that HHH purposefully called that kind of match to highlight how limited Koslov is and end his push once and for all. Craptacular on all levels until the RETURN OF "MACHO MAN" EDGE SAVAGE!!! And his beard!!! No, not Vicky. I was ticked for a moment about the Hardy bait-and-switch, but then I realized this will most likely lead to a four-way at Armageddon, so I'm fine with three of those guys carrying the workload (guess which three?). The match itself was -**, but the last minute was *****.

Jericho v. Cena. Great return for Cena. He got the majority of cheers for once! Interesting psychology, and the crowd was with them all the way. Compare the buzz of the fans for this against the utter silence of HHH/Koslov. Jericho working the neck was good stuff, especially the old school Walls of Jericho while digging the knee into the neck. Great moment, I'm just sorry the Jericho title run ended so soon. But hey, I said the same thing after Cyber Sunday and look how that turned out. ***3/4.

And let's not forget the star of the night: The commentary. All six guys were hysterical, and it was such a nice change from the usual vitriol and on-air feuding we get when six announcers get together. What I really want after listening to last night's show is a announce team of Matt Striker and Jim Ross.

In short, the 22nd Survivor Series was similar to this year's No Mercy: a much better show in execution than it was on paper (though not nearly as good as NM was). The only terrible thing on the show was salvaged at the end, and some fine wrestling was exhibited. It had a definite throwback feel, and a great moment for Cena to close out the show. Get the replay if you haven't seen the show yet.