Okay, I've been thinking about this one
for a few days, and I even started to write up a review of this
year's WWE Survivor Series, but then I thought against it. This
article will hopefully got some way to explaining why this is the
first PPV I haven't reviewed since this year's Wrestlemania.
Firstly, I'd like to say that I don't
think this PPV was as bad as many people have been saying, with the
highlight being the opening bout pitting Goldust, Cody Rhodes, The
Usos & Rey Mysterio against The Shield and The Real Americans in
a Traditional Survivor Series match, and neither did I think the main
event was the worst thing I've seen this year, it told a story and
did the best it could do with what is was given. My problem with this
PPV was the distinct lack of effort that was put in across the board,
from WWE Creative and some members of the roster, in both the build
up and execution of the PPV and if there's no effort being put into
the product, why should I put the effort into writing a 4000 word
review? I'm happy to review a terrible PPV, if there's at least some
effort going into it, but not this.
At no point during the build up was I
made to believe that Alberto Del Rio could defeat John Cena for the
World Heavyweight Championship, with the same being able to be said
about Big Show going after Randy Orton's WWE Championship, these were
stop gap matches until something else came along, and whilst from
time to time that may happen within the WWE, it should never feel
that way when watching the programming. It's the job of the booking
staff or “writers”, alongside the on screen talent, to make me
believe that either man could head out of the PPV with holding the
championship belt. However, after Cena defeated Del Rio on the
previous PPV with an injured arm, how was I meant to buy into the
possibility that Del Rio could defeat a Cena with a slightly less
injured arm? Meanwhile, the focus on television had clearly shifted
off Big Show and on to Randy Orton's relationship with The Authority,
which is weird considering the focus had been on Big Show for months
without Show featuring on a PPV!
The whole PPV seemed to focus and build
towards the final moments, where John Cena came out to stare down
Randy Orton with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon looking on. It was a
big moment and the crowd certainly reacted to it, (although I think
they were expected a match between the two straight away) but there
was one problem...it wasn't advertised! It did nothing to help
towards PPV buys, and whilst it could have contributed to a rise in
the ratings for Raw this week, the PPV buyers should always come
first, in my opinion, especially seeing as it's a much more direct
form of revenue for the company.
The rest of the PPV was a mainly bland
affair, with CM Punk & Daniel Bryan's bout with The Wyatt
Family's Erick Rowan and Luke Harper being the only stand out in the
middle of the pack, a dull Intercontentinal Championship match
between Big E Langston and Curtis Axel that was only ever going to go
one way and Mark Henry answering Ryback's open challenge both failing
to produce anything of warrant, beyond the ill fate of both former
Paul Heyman guys. The Diva's Tag Match wasn't as bad as I imagined it
would be, and there were some nice moments in the match, but it was
clear that most of the women weren't ready for a match like this one.
Okay, in explaining why I haven't
written a review for this PPV, I kind of ended up writing a review of
this PPV, although that was inevitable, I guess. I'm hoping that WWE
begins to pick up it's game again soon and returns to the excitement
of it's run of PPV early in the Summer (Payback/Money in the
Bank/SummerSlam), especially as we get closer to WrestleMania. The
Authority angle is quickly dying a death, as WWE botches another
major angle, it can still be rescued, just about, and I'll be talking
about that in this week's Across The Pond Wrestling LIVE
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