WWE Survivor Series (November 2006)

Original Airdate: November 26, 2006

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, and John Bradshaw Layfield

Opening Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Spirit Squad (Kenny, Johnny, Nicky, and Mikey) v Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Sgt. Slaughter, and Ron Simmons: Simmons is subbing for Roddy Piper. Interesting note from JR, as he mentioned that this is only Flair's second ever Survivor Series Elimination Match. Mikey starts with Simmons, but gets knocked around. He tries to work a headlock, but Ron easily powers out of that one, and executes a powerslam. That brings the rest of the Squad in, but Simmons cleans house. He gets tripped up by Mitch, and chases him to the outside, but ends up getting counted out in the process at 1:45. Well, that's a shame. The referee ejects Mitch and Legends corner man Arn Anderson as well, and the dust settles on Nicky and Slaughter. Nicky tries to mock with him a salute, but Sarge isn't having it, and a delivers a series of three bodyslams. Clearly, he doesn't have much else in the arsenal anymore, as he quickly passes to Dusty. The Legends take turns working over Nicky, and Slaughter slaps on a cobra clutch, but the Squad save before the third arm drop, and Slaughter gets pinned at 6:29. Unfortunately for Nicky, he's still in a bad way, and Dusty quickly eliminates him with an elbowdrop at 6:57. Mikey rushes in to get the drop on Dusty, and the Squad cut the ring in half. Dream starts no-selling Kenny, and he throws an elbowsmash, but misses a second one in the corner, and Kenny schoolboys him at 8:26. He puts the boots to an incoming Nature Boy, then passes to Mikey to hammer on him some. Flair returns fire with chops in the corner, so Mikey tries a ten-punch, but Ric counters with an inverted atomic drop into a leveraged pin at 9:16. In comes Kenny with a backdrop to setup a pair of elbowdrops, but Flair cradles him at 9:51. That leaves him alone with Johnny, and a slugfest goes Ric's way with chops. Kneebreaker and a chopblock setup the Figure Four, and that's all she wrote at 10:34.
Survivor: Ric Flair
Total junk. I mean, it was laughably bad at points, but the crowd was definitely into it, so it succeeded as an opener. DUD

WWE United States Title Match: Chris Benoit v Chavo Guerrero: Benoit blitzes him right away, and a quick backbreaker is worth two. He turnbuckle smashes his challenger to setup some chops and knees in the corner, but Chavo slugs back, so Benoit punishes him with a snap suplex for two. Bodyslam gets two, but Guerrero reverses another turnbuckle smash, stifles him with some hard chops. Axehandle gets two, and he goes for the Crippler Crossface, but Vickie Guerrero helps Chavo into the ropes. That pisses Benoit off, but luckily for us all, he doesn't go after Vickie on the outside. That poor family's had enough tragedy. Chris with a side suplex for two, but a charge in the corner misses, and Chavo is finally able to string something together. Saito suplex gets two, and he grounds the Crippler in an overhead wristlock. Benoit powers out with a Samoan drop, but runs into a dropkick for two, and Chavo pounds the arm. Short-clothesline, but Benoit counters with a three-alarm rolling German suplex, and he goes up for the flying headbutt. Vickie holds his boot to slow him down, and by the time he's able to shake her off and dive, Chavo rolls out of the way! Guerrero follows up by hammering on the head and neck, and a brainbuster sets up a flying frogsplash for two! Benoit tries sweeping him into a sharpshooter, so Chavo starts pounding at the neck to block, and a schoolboy gets two - only to be countered into the Crossface at 8:23! On the short side, but a good match between the two old friends, and Benoit looked unbelievably crisp here. *** ¼

WWE Women's Title Match: Lita v Mickie James: This is Lita's final match, which is openly acknowledged going in. Mickie smacks her around at the bell, and throws a few knees in the corner, but a turnbuckle smash gets reversed, and Lita takes her to the mat with a monkeyflip into mounted punches. They stumble through a few awkward exchanges, until Mickie tries a headscissors in the corner, but gets dropped on her face, and stomped. Lita ropechokes her, and a short-Russian legsweep is worth two. Headbutt to the... uh... groin gets two, and a snap suplex is worth two. Sleeper looks to finish, but James gets the ropes to force a break. Lita and her giant hardboiled eggs go up for a flying bodypress, but Mickie moves. She goes up herself, but Lita brings her down with a side superplex, so James starts mounting a comeback. Lots of clotheslines, lots of kicks. Fisherwoman's suplex gets two, but another headscissors is again countered by dropping the challenger on her face. Lita capitalizes with the flying moonsault, but James kicks out at two. DDT, but Mickie holds the ropes to block, and hooks a cradle for two. Lita fires back with a small package for two, and they trade rollups for some more near falls - James popping up and grabbing her with a tornado DDT for the title at 8:20. This was looking like another train wreck early on, but they got their act together by the end. *

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Rated-RKO (Edge, Randy Orton, Gregory Helms, Johnny Nitro, and Mike Knox) v Team DX (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, CM Punk, and The Hardy Boyz): Knox is elected to start with HHH, but Hunter is more interested in flirting with hot ass Kelly Kelly at ringside. That pisses Mike off, and Shawn Superkicks him at 0:41. Shit, does that mean Kelly has to leave now, too? Dust settles on Nitro and Michaels, and a criss cross ends in Shawn sliding to the outside to cuddle with Melina. That bit was cuter when he used to do it to Ted DiBiase or Jim Cornette in the mid-90s. Shawn cracks Johnny with chops before passing to Jeff Hardy, and he delivers a quick sling blade. Over to Matt Hardy for some tandem move fun, but Matt gets dropped into the RKO corner, and they work Hardy over - Matt getting busted open hardway from the mouth. Matt fights off Nitro with the Side Effect for the tag to Punk, and he nails Johnny with a bulldog, but the Anaconda Vice is blocked. Matt lends an assist in the corner, however, and the Vice finishes Nitro at 4:57. See, and here I always thought it was the Time Warner/AOL merger that killed Nitro. Edge jumps Punk before he can even get to his feet, however, and Orton comes in with a standing dropkick for two. RKO hits, but Shawn breaks the pin attempt at two. Edge comes in with the Spear, but CM sidesteps, and HHH gets the tag. He takes out the entire remaining heel side, but Edge saves Gregory from the Pedigree with an Edge-o-Matic. That brings Shawn and Jeff in to take Randy and Edge out with stereo planchas, the Matt hits Helms with the Twist of Fate to setup a Swanton from Jeff at 9:26. Faced with having to showdown the entire DX team alone, the tag champions decide to walk, but get dragged back in. Team DX take turns working them over, and a Superkick from Michaels ends Edge's night at 10:39. Orton decides to bail into the crowd, but again gets dragged back, and a Superkick/Pedigree combo finishes at 11:33.
Survivors: Triple H, Shawn Michaels, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy
Well, that was certainly to the point. It's funny that Jerry Lawler, of all people, would question whether or not a team has ever achieved a clean sweep at Survivor Series before, when his own Royals lost in just such a way at the 1995 event. **

First Blood Match: Undertaker v Mr. Kennedy: Kennedy suckers him into a chase at the bell, and even though he's able to unload by having the high ground on the way in, Undertaker no-sells all of it anyway, and tosses his ass over the top. 'Taker follows to hammer him over by the announce positions, and then dumps him into the first row for some headbutts. Undertaker beats him all the way around ringside, but gets reversed into the steps, and Kennedy slugs back. He tries a Thesz-press off of the apron, but Undertaker catches him, and rams his back into the post. Back in, Undertaker delivers a vertical superplex, so Kennedy goes low. Undertaker shrugs that off with a big boot, and uses an exposed turnbuckle to try and bust Kennedy open. Kennedy knocks him back with a mulekick, and he's bleeding from the mouth, but the referee hasn't seen it yet. That allows MVP to run out and clean him up on the outside - only to then throw him right in for Undertaker to continue to pound on! And pound he does, but Kennedy escapes a ten-punch count by dropping him into an exposed buckle. He slugs to try and bust Undertaker open, so MVP comes in with a chair - only to accidentally hit 'Taker! That draws a rather gory bladejob from the Deadman at 9:24. Still bad, but at least it didn't go over twenty minutes this month, and had an actual finish. A shit finish, but a finish nonetheless. DUD

Survivor Series Elimination Match: John Cena, Kane, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam, and Sabu v Big Show, Umaga, Montel Vontavious Porter, Finlay, and Test: Entrances for this one take forever. Cena and Umaga engage in a slugfest to start, with Umaga getting an early advantage, but missing a pair of avalanches. John clotheslines him over the top, so a pissed off Umaga returns sporting a TV monitor, which he uses to up on Cena's whole team - getting disqualified in the process at 0:56. That allows Finlay to take control on Van Dam, and the heels cut the ring in half on RVD - Rob another victim of hardway blood from the mouth tonight. Sabu doing a little 'dance of joy' on the apron as RVD fights off MVP with kicks should really be a .GIF, if it isn't already. Five Star Frogsplash finishes Porter at 5:31. Unfortunately for Van Dam, he immediately eats a big boot from Test at 5:41. Sabu rushes in with a schoolboy, but it only gets two, and Test dumps him to the outside. Lashley stops the assault, however, and Sabu hits a slingshot legdrop on the way back in, then adds a springboard tornado DDT to finish Test at 6:20. He ties a springboard twisting bodypress on Show, but eats a Chokeslam at 6:37. These eliminations are just fast and furious here. Kane comes in to have a chokedown with Show, but Finlay saves his partner with the whappin' stick, and Kane is done via a Chokeslam at 7:26. Cena runs in, but eats a powerslam, and Finlay tags for a legdrop. Short-clothesline follows, and they cut the ring in half on John. Finlay misses a dive off the middle rope to allow the tag to Bobby, however, and Lashley eliminates the Irishman with a spear at 10:30. Cena and Lashley gang up on Show, and a tandem jumping shoulderblock gets one. Bobby sends Show into the turnbuckles with a drop-toehold, and a tandem DDT gets two. Tandem vertical suplex follows, as the referee has lost all control of this one. Cena with the Five Knuckle Shuffle, and the FU finishes at 12:36.
Survivors: John Cena, Bobby Lashley
This would have probably been better had they let it breathe a little, but eight eliminations slammed together in twelve minutes is really rushed for something this high up on the card. *

Main Event: World Heavyweight Title Match: Booker T v Batista: Per the stipulations, if Batista doesn't win the title, he will not get another shot. Also, if Booker is counted out of disqualified, he loses the title along with the match. Batista attacks him in the aisle during the entrances, and beats his ass all the way into the ring. Once there, Batista hits a backelbow for two, and a sloppy vertical suplex sets up the Batista Bomb, but Booker manages to hit the deck, and bail to the outside. He stalls out there, but without the luxury of saving the title by countout, the champ is forced in. Batista is ready by snapping his throat across the top rope, and a backbreaker follows for two. A trio of clotheslines get two, but the challenger walks into a hotshot, and Booker snaps his throat across the bottom rope with a catapult. Superkick gets two, and he hammers his challenger in the corner. A sloppy cross corner whip reversal allows Batista to hit a sidewalk slam for two, and a jackhammer gets two. Batista looks way off tonight, with awkward execution and timing. Swinging scrapbuster gets two, so Sharmell throws some interference in, and Booker superkicks the challenger off the apron. Booker follows out for a smash into the steps, which is worth two as they head back in. Harlem Sidekick gets two, and he locks the challenger's chin for a spell. Batista powers out and hits a belly-to-belly suplex, then adds a pair of clotheslines before whipping Booker into the corner for another clothesline. Big boot knocks the champion out of the ring, and Batista is on his tail for a toss into the steps. Batista with a flying shoulderblock for two on the way back in, and a spinebuster follows for two. Booker manages to fight back with the Book End, but it only gets two. It looks like Booker is yet another victim of hardway mouth bleeding tonight. What is UP with that? Batista Bomb looks to finish, but Booker is in the ropes at two. Sharmell interferes again, so Batista looks to Bomb her too, but Booker saves. He tries to use the title belt, but it backfires, and Batista gets the title he never lost back at 13:58. The match just kind of sputtered along until the unimaginative finish. *

BUExperience: Definitely not a good show, though it’s worth noting that it doesn’t FEEL like a bad show, either. Cyber Sunday was a bad show, and in an aggressive way. This is bad, but everything is to the point, and it feels like things are constantly moving. I mean, can you think of another modern era pay per view where nothing goes over fourteen minutes? Not that it makes this a good choice to check out, but it’s worth at least noting.

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