WWE Survivor Series (November 2011)

Original Airdate: November 20, 2011

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Booker T

Opening WWE United States Title Match: Dolph Ziggler v John Morrison: Ah, nothing like the Garden. Ziggler schools him on the mat after a takedown, and Dolph bails to annoy his challenger. Back in, John gets a takedown of his own into an armbar, but Ziggler fights free, and pounds him into the corner. He works a chinlock, but John escapes, dumps him to the outside, and hits a spiral dive on the floor. Vickie Guerrero distracts him, allowing Ziggler to recover with a neckbreaker on the way back in for two, and he adds an elbowdrop. Dolph works him over, but John reverses a sleeper, and uses a tilt-a-whirl DDT for two when Vickie gets Ziggler into the ropes. The referee ejects her, but the bit worked, and Ziggler cradles for two. A pinfall reversal sequence ends in Ziggler delivering a rocker dropper for two, but Morrison comes back with a boot. Starship Pain, but Ziggler lifts his knees to block, and drops him with a Zig Zag to retain at 10:42. Solid enough, but not especially engaging. * ¼ 

WWE Divas Title Lumberjill Match: Beth Phoenix v Eve Torres: Beth powers her around to start, but Eve manages a takedown for two, and she puts the boots to her. Phoenix bails, so the lumberjills force her back in, where Eve drops her with a neckbreaker to set up a standing moonsault for two. Phoenix tries backdropping her over the top, but Eve lands on the apron, so Natalya trips her up to allow Beth to clobber. Phoenix with a catapult under the bottom rope for two, and she grinds a reverse chinlock on. Eve escapes, and uses a wheelbarrow to send Phoenix into the turnbuckles. Eve with a hangman clothesline, but Phoenix blocks a somersault senton splash by lifting her knees. Glam Slam, but Eve blocks, and gets an octopus hold on. She takes it to the mat into a figure four headscissors, but Phoenix makes the ropes. Natalya distracts her to allow Phoenix a rollup for two, reversed by Eve for two. Eve goes upstairs, but Beth crotches her on the top, and brings her down with a Glam Slam at 4:32. Eve looked really clunky here, but the match was short enough that it didn’t crash too badly. ½*

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Sin Cara, and Mason Ryan v Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, and Hunico: Kofi and Dolph start, and they do a nice reversal sequence, ending in Ziggler delivering a dropkick for one. Kofi tries an SOS, but Ziggler blocks, so Kofi tags Randy in. He immediately delivers an RKO, and Dolph is done at 1:31. No one wants in next, so Randy starts fighting everyone, and it turns into a big bench clearing brawl. Sin Cara ends up hurting himself on a dive in the process, however, and he’s ruled unable to continue at 3:44. Everyone kind of mills around for a while after that, until the dust settles on Orton and Rhodes. Randy dominates him with uppercuts before passing to Mason, who barrels into Cody with a shoulderblock. Ryan goes to town in the corner, and boy, he is a dead ringer for Batista, isn’t he? Rhodes bails and passes to Hunico, who does not fare much better against the beast. No, wait, that’s Brock. Against the animal. There is a difference. Kofi tags in, but gets popped up into the turnbuckles for two, and Wade tags in to chinlock him. Kofi fights free and tags back to Ryan, but Wade gets a tag off to Hunico at the same time. Back to Ryan wrecking him at will, but Cody sneaks a blind tag, and drops Mason for three at 8:49. Sheamus comes in, and he knocks Rhodes around, unloading in the corner and covering for two. A backelbow finds the mark, and he hammers Cody on the ropes for a bit, then snap suplexes him for two. A charge misses, allowing the heels to gang up on Sheamus, and turn the tide. Sheamus ends up on the floor, where Barrett hits him with a clothesline, and he gets a one count off of it on the way back inside. Tag to Hunico for a slingshot dropkick, but Sheamus fights him off with a backdrop, and makes the tag to Kofi. Kingston comes in hot on Barrett, hitting the Boom Drop, and hooking a sunset cradle for two. Swagger distracts him, however, allowing Wade to attack, and deliver the Wasteland at 14:04. Randy charges in to tackle Wade down for mounted punches, but a DDT attempt gets Orton backdropped over the top. Hunico adds a dive for two, and Jack tags in to put the boots to him, as Lawler reminisces about his clean sweep at Survivor Series ‘94. Luckily, he doesn’t mention who his teammates were for that particular one. The heels cut the ring in half on Orton, but he fights free long enough to tag Sheamus. Sheamus runs wild on Jack, and a flying shoulderblock connects, so Hunico tries running in. Sheamus dumps him and hits Jack with a scrap backbreaker, so Rhodes runs in, but Sheamus dispatches him as well. Barrett tries, and also gets dumped, but now Sheamus is boiling, and starts stomping Swagger’s brains in to the point where the referee is forced to disqualify him at 18:26. That leaves Orton alone against four, but Swagger is mush, and Randy easily pins him at 19:31. Cody ends that rally by stomping a mud hole in the corner (Orton’s own home corner, to add insult to injury), but Randy gets fired up, and drops him with a DDT. RKO, so Barrett distracts him to deter it, and Hunico gets the tag. He comes in with a springboard flying bodypress, but Randy is ready with an RKO at 21:36. That was a great elimination. Wade comes in, but Randy greets him with an inverted headlock backbreaker. RKO, but Cody takes the bullet for his partner, and Barrett delivers a Wasteland at 22:07.

Survivors: Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes

This had solid action throughout, and never felt like it dragged, or was overstaying its welcome. Survivor Series matches are some of the most reliably fun, even if they aren’t always ‘great.’ **

World Heavyweight Title Match: Mark Henry v Big Show: They measure each other early on, with Show able to overpower him. Henry manages to swipe at the leg to slow that down, and he works a leglock. We’re six minutes in, and those two sentences sum up literally everything. Show fights back with a DDT for two, and he goes for the chokeslam, but Mark counters with a slam for two. A splash gets two, and an elbowdrop gets another two. To the outside, Henry drives him through the barricade with a shoulderblock, and he leaves him out there to take the count, but the challenger beats it in. Henry decides to try a superplex, but Show blocks, and delivers a superkick. That allows Show to get to the top for a flying elbowdrop, but it only gets two. That looked awesome, but it took him forever to get positioned for it. That draws a 'Randy Savage' chant, though I think he meant it as a tribute to Shawn Michaels, given that it immediately followed the superkick. Anyway, Show goes for a knockout punch from there, but Henry kicks him down low to draw a DQ at 13:05. This was super dull before the last couple of minutes. ½*

WWE Title Match: Alberto Del Rio v CM Punk: Punk has Howard Finkel out to do his ring introductions, in a fun touch. Feeling out process to start, dominated by the challenger. Punk delivers a tope, and a flying bodypress gets him two on the way back in. Punk holds a keylock, but Del Rio dumps him into the ropes to escape, and dives onto the challenger with a flurry of fists. Del Rio with a baseball slide on the outside, and a flying bodypress gets him a two count on the way back in. He works an armbar, and a flying kneedrop gets the champion two, but a charge misses, and Del Rio takes a bump to the outside. Punk manages a big boot as Alberto comes blazing back in, and a spinheel kick follows. Punk with a neckbreaker for two, and a knee in the corner leads to a bulldog for two. Punk leaps with a flying clothesline for two, and he’s ready to up the ante to the GTS, but Del Rio counters with a lungblower for two. Punk manages to shoot back with a rollup for two, but another knee in the corner misses, and Del Rio nails him with an enzuigiri for two. Del Rio adds an armbreaker for two, but Punk blocks a superplex. He looks for a flying axehandle, but takes too long doing a Randy Savage tribute, and Del Rio crotches him. That allows Del Rio to unload, but Punk dodges a charge, and a flying elbowdrop gets him two. GTS time, but Del Rio blocks again, and a reversal sequence ends in Del Rio hooking a cross-armbreaker on. Punk escapes, so Del Rio schoolboys for two, but misses a clothesline, and Punk roundhouse kicks him for two. The kick out allows Punk to shift to the anaconda vice, however, and Alberto taps at 17:16. This wasn’t a classic, but it was a solid match, and didn’t overstay its welcome. ** ½ 

Main Event: John Cena and Rock v Miz and R-Truth: Both teams have looked to the cookie. This is Rock’s first match since WrestleMania XX in 2004 (which also took place in this venue). Rock starts with Miz, and dominates. Truth runs in, but Rock tosses him over the top, and hooks Miz in a magistral cradle for two. The heels bail to regroup, and the dust settles on Rock and Truth next. They do some feeling out, dominated by Rock, and he uses a bridging fisherman suplex, but the referee is busy dealing with Cena running in on Miz, and isn’t there to count. Rock chews him out over it, and then passes to him to deal with Miz officially. Cena dominates him (as the crowd shits all over him), and John uses a monkeyflip ahead of a dropkick. Tag to Truth, but Cena brushes him off with his comeback sequence, but instead of the Five Knuckle Shuffle, he gets in Rock’s face. That allows Truth to recover with a clothesline, and the heels immediately capitalize, ganging up on Cena in their corner. The heels cut the ring in half, but Miz wastes time taunting Rock, and gets caught in an STF. Truth saves, but gets hit with the Attitude Adjustment, only for Miz to cut off the hot tag by knocking Rock off the apron. Miz traps Cena in a chinlock from there, as Truth hops to the outside to put the hurt on Rock. The heels go back to working John over, but Truth misses a legdrop, and Rock gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Rock Bottom on Truth, sharpshooter on Miz, and yeah, it hasn’t gotten any better during the off time. Truth saves, so Cena spears him down, but the damage is done. That allows Miz to put the boots to his ass, but he gets caught in a spinebuster, and the People’s Elbow finishes at 21:30. This was a really enjoyable sports entertainment style match, making up for what it lacked in pure workrate with good storytelling and fun moments, but it went on for a bit too long, especially the heat segment. Rock looked like he hadn’t really lost a step, though. * ½ 

BUExperience: Not a major show in terms of great matches, but they made everything seem important, and it felt like a major show. That’s something. Plus, the Garden always ups the ante. Always.

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