WWE Survivor Series (November 2004)

Original Airdate: November 14, 2004

From Cleveland, Ohio; Your Hosts are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, and Tazz

Opening WWE Cruiserweight Title Fatal Four-Way Match: Spike Dudley v Rey Mysterio v Chavo Guerrero v Billy Kidman: No tags, and the first fall wins. Big brawl to start, with Spike pairing off with Rey while Chavo battles Kidman. Spike puts Rey down quickly, and teams up with Kidman on Guerrero, but gets turned on. Kidman goes to polish off Rey, but a powerbomb gets countered into a facebuster, and Rey is left to trade off with Chavo. They do their usual reversal sequence stuff, until Dudley jumps them, and Rey puts Kidman on the floor with a well executed rana. He tries a wheelbarrow bulldog on Chavo, but gets tossed out to block - landing on Kidman with a seated senton. That leads to a dog pile on the outside, with Spike getting the worst of it. Back in, Chavo hits Billy with a side suplex for two, but runs into an inverted atomic drop from Spike for two. Spike corner whips Mysterio for two, and tosses him out of the ring in dramatic fashion. Back in, Spike tries the Dudley Dog, but gets countered into the 619. West Coast Pop is broken up by Kidman, allowing Chavo to nail Spike with the Gory Bomb, but Kidman breaks that up, too - only for Rey to headscissor Kidman out, and Spike to cover Chavo for the pin at 9:03. Good opener, because it was fast paced, and basically just a collection of spots to get the crowd going. * ½

WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Shelton Benjamin v Christian: Shelton works a standing hammerlock, but gets reversed, and Christian takes him down in a front-facelock. They trade reversals on the mat for a bit, until Benjamin wins a criss cross with a diving shoulderblock, then adds a springboard somersault neckbreaker for two. Flapjack sets up an Oklahoma roll for two, but Christian bails to the outside to dodge a superkick, and a distraction from Tyson Tomko allows Christian to slam the champion into the rail out there. Back in, Christian chokes him down for a while, but nearly gets pinned off of a bodypress. Christian cuts off a comeback with a neckbreaker, however, and grounds him with a chinlock. Shelton fights up, so Christian dumps him to the floor for Tomko to abuse, and gets a two count out of the deal. An inverted tornado DDT is worth two, but a whip into the corner is reversed (with authority!), and Shelton starts throwing clotheslines. Diving forearm leads to a Russian legsweep for two, followed by a somersault cradle for two. Christian tries regrouping with an inverted DDT, but Benjamin counters into an inverted slingshot suplex for two. That looked fantastic! Corner splash misses, however, and Christian capitalizes with the Impaler for two. Tomko passes him the title belt, but it ends up backfiring on him, and Shelton adds a flying clothesline for two - only to run into a big boot from Tyson. That gets a dramatic two count that everyone was totally buying as the finish, so Christian goes for the Unprettier - only to get countered into the T-Bone at 13:25. Had some awkward moments, but really came together towards the end. Very solid, overall. ** ¼

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Kurt Angle, Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak, and Carlito v Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Big Show, and Rob Van Dam: Cena goes after Carlito before the bell, and chases him to the back - Carlito eliminated before the match even begins. Meanwhile, everyone else stands around with their dicks in their hands as that plays out. Finally, with that excitement out of the way, the rest of the teams decide to brawl, and the dust settles on Jindrak and Show. Show tosses him around for a bit, and passes to Van Dam to spinheel kick him. Tag to Eddie for a slingshot somersault senton, which RVD punctuates with Rolling Thunder for two. Eddie with a belly-to-belly suplex for two, and a headscissors, but he runs into a cheap shot from Angle. Kurt abuses him in the heel corner, and Reigns takes in for a two-alarm no-release backbreaker into a sidewalk slam for two. Mark adds a backelbow for two, and slaps on a full-nelson, as the heels cut the ring in half on Guerrero. You know, if they think Roman needs something else to get him over, they should dig ol' Luther up, and have him come in to feud with him over who the real Reigns is. Hell, they can even offer it to him as a settlement deal for the lawsuit he just filed against them. Come on, do I have to think of EVERYTHING?!? Eddie manages to fight Jindrak off long enough to finally tag Van Dam in, and Rob starts throwing kicks at Kurt - but gets distracted by the other heels, and rolled up at 8:45. Why spend six minutes beating on Guerrero, only to job RVD out in thirty seconds? Speaking of Guerrero, he returns the favor by schoolboying Jindrak out at 9:10. The dust settles on Show and Angle, but Kurt wants no part of him, and elects Reigns to take his place. Reigns hammers him in the corner, and targets Show's bad ankle - but walks into a Chokeslam at 10:20. That leaves Kurt alone, and Show tries another Chokeslam, but Angle counters into the Anklelock. Show escapes, however, so Kurt decides to walk out, but RVD comes back to force him back in. FU from Cena sets up the Frogsplash from Eddie, and we're out at 12:26.
Survivors: Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Big Show
This was weird in that it both felt way too short, and like it took forever. **

The Undertaker v Heidenreich: Slugfest to start, won by Undertaker. He goes after the arm to setup the ropewalk forearm, but Heidenreich blows him low to block, and he beats 'Taker up on the floor for a bit. Undertaker manages a guillotine legdrop on the way back in, however, and he completes the ropewalk forearm. Reverse STO gets two, but a big boot in the corner misses - 'Taker overshooting it so badly, he nearly gives himself a vasectomy in the process. That gets Heidenreich two, and a kick to the face is worth two. Glad to see he's busting out the good stuff for pay per view. Chinlock, but Undertaker escapes, so Heidenreich clotheslines him, and drops a pair of elbows. This match is dragging badly, and I have no idea why they were booked to go this long to begin with. Like, even on paper, this does not read as anything that should go over eight minutes. But that was a common issue with Undertaker matches in 2004. Undertaker with a flying clothesline for two, and the snake-eyes sets up a big boot/legdrop combo for two. Chokeslam, but Heidenreich uses a knee to block, and hits a scrapbuster for two. He makes the mistake of trying a ten-punch, and takes the Last Ride, but Heidenreich grabs the ropes at two. Undertaker with a side suplex, and the jumping clothesline. Chokeslam, and the Tombstone finishes at 15:58. Why the felt the need to book Undertaker in such long matches during this period is still beyond me. Five to ten minutes - in, out, and DONE! ¾*

WWE Women's Title Match: Trish Stratus v Lita: Lita smacks the taste out of her mouth at the bell, and chokes her in the corner for a bit. She takes her down for mounted punches until Trish bails, and Lita follows - hitting her (well, hitting the timekeeper's table, but play along with her) for the DQ at 1:22. Um, yeah. DUD

WWE Title Match: John Bradshaw Layfield v Booker T: Booker tries to wrestle him, but Bradshaw wants to slug it out, so Booker obliges. That does not go well for Bradshaw. Booker's got some kind of Killer Bee's memorial going on with his gear tonight. Criss cross ends in Booker hitting a short-clothesline, and a savate kick puts Bradshaw on the outside - the champ suckering Booker into a chase, and hitting a swinging neckbreaker on the way back in for two. Weird, WCW-like camera work for this match thus far. Booker fires back with a backdrop and a clothesline to put Bradshaw back on the outside, but again gets suckered into following, and this time gets clobbered by Orlando Jordan out there. Inside, that gets Bradshaw two, and he slaps on a cobra clutch, but Booker slugs free, so Bradshaw smacks him with a big boot instead. He adds a series of elbowdrops for two, and grabs a chinlock. He goes up, but Booker brings him down with a superplex for two, then adds a BookEnd on the floor for good measure. Missile dropkick on the way back in for two, and a sidewalk slam sets up the Hangover, but JBL manages to roll out of the way, and cover for two. He tries a sleeper, but Booker quickly escapes with a side suplex, and adds a spinkick. Bicycle kick gets two, but Jordan trips him up to cutoff the axekick, and Bradshaw DDTs him for two. Cross corner whip reversal ends in the referee going down, and Jordan immediately runs in to attack, so Josh Matthews saves. Bradshaw kills him with a Clothesline from Wall Street, however, but the distraction allows Booker the axekick - only for Jordan to pull the referee out at two. Bradshaw then clobbers him with the title belt for the pin at 14:45. No Match of the Year candidate, but a perfectly serviceable title match - albeit hurt by the gross overbooking at the end. ** ¼

Main Event: Survivor Series Elimination Match: Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky v Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Maven: Because nothing says 'main event' quite like Maven! However, he's not even out there, as a result of getting beat up by Snitsky earlier in the show. Edge starts with Benoit, and Chris unloads on him with chops. Speaking of Edge, I was just watching his Hall of Fame speech this weekend, and man, that has to rank as one of the all time best. Edge gets tired of taking chops, and passes to Snitsky, but Orton destroys him. Tag to Jericho, but Snitsky ignores a cross corner whip, and levels Chris with a lariat. Tags to HHH and Orton, and Randy stomps a mud hole in the corner, but walks into a high knee. He lets Batista destroy him proper, and a front-powerslam gets him two. The heels take turns dismantling Orton, but Edge walks into an uppercut, and Benoit gets the tag. He's a nuthouse of fire, unloading suplexes left and right, and he hits both Hunter and Edge simultaneously with a flying headbutt for two. Sharpshooter on HHH, but Snitsky breaks it up, so Chris slaps the Crippler Crossface on Edge instead - Batista saving this time. HHH adds a Pedigree for the road, and Edge pins him at 7:27. Jericho's in, and he unloads on Edge, but runs into a cheap shot from HHH, and Edge executes a swinging neckbreaker. He tags out, but HHH and Snitsky get into a snit over who he intended to tag, and Jericho gets Hunter in the Walls - saved by Batista. Batista slams Jericho with a spinebuster, but gets whacked by Orton while going for the kill, and Jericho pops him with an enzuigiri for the pin at 10:42. Batista destroys Jericho with a lariat as a going away present, however, and the heels go to work. An assist from Orton allows Chris to DDT Snitsky, as a still bloodied Maven makes his way down to join the match. Jericho tags him, and Maven comes in hot, but Snitsky whacks him with a chair - getting himself disqualified at 16:02. However, the damage is done, and Hunter covers Maven at 16:50. Snitsky makes sure to hit Jericho and Orton with the chair as well on his way out, and Edge covers Jericho for two off of it. Annoyed, HHH looks to add a Pedigree, but Jericho backdrops to block, so Edge Spears him for the pin at 18:07. That leaves Orton alone against both HHH and Edge, and Randy is wandering on dream street, but doesn't back down. The heels respond by decimating him in the corner, and they work him over. Edge with a side suplex for two, and HHH with a DDT for two. Orton manages to powerslam Edge, and he adds a schoolboy for two - so HHH cuts him off with a spinebuster. He sets up a Spear with Edge, but Randy ducks, and Edge hits Hunter - Orton RKO'ing Edge at 23:01. That leaves him alone with the big boss, and Orton goes for another RKO, but HHH goes low to block. Pedigree looks to finish, but Orton counters into the RKO for the win at 24:33.
Survivor: Randy Orton
Fun match, with something always going on, very few slow spots, and good booking delivering solid drama. ***

BUExperience: Nothing sucked, and even a couple of solid matches, but certainly no standouts. Overall, a very bland, forgettable show – though not a bad one.

*