Blu-Ray Review: WWE Survivor Series 2015 (The B.O.D. vs. Wyatt Family)

WWE Survivor Series 2015 is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now in the UK. You can order here at WWEDVD.co.uk and all other reputable Home Video stockists. Broadcast live on PPV (and on the WWE Network) from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia USA on 22nd November 2015. The show features The Brothers of Destruction clashing with The Wyatt Family's Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper in the main event. The Blu-Ray edition includes nine other matches featuring the likes of Dean Ambrose, The New Day, The Lucha Dragons, King Barrett, Charlotte, Paige, Sheamus, The Usos, Roman Reigns and Ryback in prominent bouts. Commentary is provided by John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Michael Cole, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Byron Saxton, Booker T & Rich Brennan.

survivor series 2015 blu-ray match card

Match 1 – WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final – Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio w/Zeb Colter

Match 2 – WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final – Dean Ambrose vs. WWE Intercontinental Championship Kevin Owens

Match 3 – Traditional Survivor Series Elimination – Ryback, The Lucha Dragons & The Usos vs. Mr. Money in the Bank Sheamus, 2015 King of the Ring King Barrett & WWE Tag Team The New Day

Match 4 – WWE Diva's Championship – Paige vs. Charlotte ©

Match 5 – Singles – Tyler Breeze w/Summer Rae vs. Dolph Ziggler

Match 6 – Tag Team – The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper) w/Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan vs. The Brothers of Destruction

Match 7 – WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final – Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose 

Match 8 – WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Roman Reigns © vs. Money in the Bank Contract Holder Sheamus

Match 9 – Five on Five Traditional Survivor Series Elimination – The Miz, Bo Dallas, Stardust & The Ascension vs. “The Man That Gravity Forgot” Neville, The Dudley Boyz, Titus O'Neil & Goldust

Match 10 – Tag Team – WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens & Alberto Del Rio w/Zeb Colter vs. Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns

main feature

Survivor Series 2015 kicks off with a solid bout between Roman Reigns and Alberto Del Rio, as the pair battle it out in the Semi-Final of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament. At times it feels like ADR is simply going through the motions, however it is some competent selling from Reigns that manages to drive the clash. A second semi-final bout between Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose is probably of a similar quality, with Owens standing out as the star of the bout as he works hard to lift a initially flat crowd. Despite an excellent finishing stretch, there are still portions of the match that one would expect to have been a lot tighter from workers of this calibre.

The only Traditional Five on Five Elimination contest on the bout begins brightly with King Barrett and Sheamus bringing a different energy to The New Day's pre-match promo. However, the clash with Ryback, The Lucha Dragons and The Usos suffers from some bizarre booking, an off-beat pace and a crowd that doesn't seem to be interested at all. That being said, there are some nice spots peppered throughout the contest. 

The first title match see's Charlotte defending the WWE Diva's Championship in a scrappy fight with Paige, who was in the middle of another ill-advised heel turn. Whilst there are some nice ideas on display, the contest never really comes together, which isn't helped by a flat finish. Dolph Ziggler and Tyler Breeze then run through some decent sequences of action, but a lack of time, character-depth and crowd interaction hurt what feels like another throwaway match.

The main event of the evening has The Undertaker and Kane teaming up once more, as The Brothers of Destruction, as part of the celebration of 25 years of The Undertaker, an idea that dominates the presentation of the bout. Opposite Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper of The Wyatt Family, there are a lot of cool moment that play well off the different characters signature move and mannerisms. The crowd being so into the action makes the match a lot more watchable than perhaps it would've been otherwise. 

To close the show, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose are back to compete over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, in what is a good, little match, which it's difficult not to feel disappointing by. The crowd continue to give a korma reaction to action, but they do wake up for the big post-match angle. 

special features 

From Survivor Series 2016 Kick-Off, there's another Traditional Five on Five Elimination bout, with The Miz, Bo Dallas, Stardust & The Ascension taking on Neville, The Dudley Boyz, Titus O'Neil and Goldust in a very meh kind of match. The wrestling throughout is all completely fine, but with no real drive and a lack of quality booking there's no real reason to check this one out. 

Onto the Blu-Ray exclusives and we start with a fun, back and forth between The Undertaker and Bray Wyatt on the mic from Monday Night RAW #1173, that build towards the PPV well. From the same show there's a contract signing between Charlotte and Paige for their bout, which features some strong mic from Charlotte and an enjoyable ringside brawl. An edition of Miz TV from Thursday Night Smackdown #848 with appearances from the four semi-finalists in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament is highlighted by a comedic appearance from R-Truth. The set rounds off with a fairly straight-forward tag bout from the same show, with Kevin Owens teaming with Alberto Del Rio against Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns.

finally...
blu-ray rating - 5.02

A distinctly average show here. The WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament provides the best action across the disc, but with the four performers involved I think many would expect a lot better quality. The Brothers of Destruction make for a fun main event, but one that ultimately lacks substance. The special features are also a bit of a downer, for not including any of the prelimary tournament matches. A miss opportunity to include the likes of Cesaro vs. Reigns, Owens vs. Neville or Ambrose vs. Ziggler, all of which could have boosted the quality of the content on the disc.

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1172

After Seth Rollins had unfortunately had to vacate the WWE World Heavyweight Championship due to an injury sustained at a live event, would WWE come out swinging with a killer of RAW? Or would the absence of The Architect end up seeing WWE's flagship programme slip in quality after two strong weeks of television. We got The Wyatt Family's eulogy to the Brothers of the Destruction in the main event slot, Cesaro facing off with Sheamus, and Roman Reigns scrapping with The Big Show, both in the first round of a tournament to crown a new champion, and more across the show, but was this week's edition worth staying up til 4am for?

If you had Triple H opening RAW with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on a red velvet plinth in your office pools then you'd have been a happy chappy! Let's be honest, the show was only going to start this way, and with The Game getting roundly cheered by the Manchester Arena (who also started a "Thank You Rollins" chant when the former World Heavyweight Champion was mentioned). Certainly not the strongest opening segment in the world, as Trips called Roman Reigns down to the ring, to put him over (strongly) and offer him Rollins spot as "The Man". Whilst I can leave and take Triple H's big long monologues, this fell apart on the fact that the crowd HATED Roman Reigns (especially when Triple H lay the belt across his shoulder) and mostly cheered Triple H, something which the creative seemingly hadn't bargained on. Not terrible, but certainly needed a bit more thought on how to get this smarky Manchester crowd on board with the direction. 

Match 1 - WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Round 1 - Roman Reigns vs. "The World's Largest Athlete" The Big Show

My absolute highlight of this match was Big Show shouting "I am a giant" and Michael Cole on commentary hollering back "Indeed you are". In fact, the commentary team was full of gems in this one. From Cole losing his shit when Show got a near fall of a jumping splash or asking "Who can forget the Last Man Standing match earlier in the year between these two?"...erm...obviously you think some people will have forgotten...because you're reminding them, right now! While the commentary team was unintentionally making me chuckle, the crowd was pissing me off big time. A Mexican wave followed by "We Are Awesome" chant...no, just no Manchester. Embarrassing. Oh yeah...the match...kind of what you would expect. Show battered Reigns early door, couple of hope spots, Reigns hit a Superman punch out of nowhere and a spear for the win. Not terrible, although Big Show shouting spots should have been editing out seeing as they had the opportunity, but failed to capture the crowd in the way that should have.

Winner - Roman Reigns via pinfall (Spear) in 11 minutes, 50 seconds

Fast-Forward...The first of a handful of video packages looking at The Brothers of Destruction's careers aired, with a look at their WWE debuts at Survivor Series 1990 (teaming with Ted DiBiase & Rhythm & Blues to defeat Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware and the Hart Foundation)  and Bad Blood 1997 (interrupting the Undertaker's Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels) respectively...Before his bout Intercontiental Champion Kevin Owens cut a promo that had the crowd cheering him, until he called them dumb, it really was that easy *slow clap for Manchester*...Owens defeated Titus O'Neil in a short bout, which saved me having to talk too much about how the hell O'Neil managed to get himself into the 16-man World Heavyweight Championship tournament in the first place...Owens strutted around with JBL hat on, looking a fat, white, male Alicia Fox...In an interview with Renee Young, Paige called Charlotte a cunt, really, go check it out if you don't believe me...More Brothers of Destruction highlights, as Undertaker goes over Psycho Sid at WrestleMania XIII and Kane cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Rey Mysterio at Money in the Bank 2010....The crowd singing along with Paige's theme music was probably the best thing they did all night...

Match 3 - Singles - Paige vs. Becky Lynch

This should have been another break out moment for the Diva's division...and it wasn't. It would be easy to blame the fact that the two were only given just over five minutes, but for me, that's enough time for a quick and enjoyable TV match. The dynamic was pretty undefined here, in terms of who was supposed to be the heel and the babyface, which meant the crowd had no idea what to do. They clearly wanted to get behind Paige, but how do you get behind someone who's just locked on an abdominal stretch? Either have Paige come out and trash Manchester (a la Bad News Barrett) to get the crowd behind Becky or do it the other way round and have Paige as a babyface for one night in her home country. Whilst the bout was poorly booked, both girls looked a little lost out their at times and it all contributed to what was a decidedly shoddy encounter. Becky Lynch winning with Paige being the Number One contender for the Diva's Championship also made very little sense, even with a handful of tights.

Winner - Becky Lynch via pinfall (Roll-up) in 5 minutes, 5 seconds. 

Fast-Forward... The crowd erupted for the post-match action however, with Paige locking Becky in the P.T.O. on the announce table, before the booed the fuck out of Charlotte for making the save and chanted "We Want Sasha"...A short WrestleMania 31 promo video aired, focused around the tickets going on sale, with your regular mix of excitable people queing up for tickets and such...As The Miz made his way to the ring for another WWE World Heavyweight Championship first round bout, JBL noted that he's more popular in England than Daniel Craig, which is definitely true for any Americans that were sceptical 

Match 4 - WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Round 1 - The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler

The main problem I had with the Tournament matches were that they were just too damn predictable. Take this match for instance, I could have told you what was going to happen move for move and would have been pretty damn close. Miz worked the leg, Ziggler sold the leg, Ziggler escapes the Figure Four Leg Lock, flash win off a Superkick for Ziggler and done. It was perfectly fine, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. Miz has been doing a whole lot on television recently and Ziggler has been treading water in a feud with Tyler Breeze. Neither man did anything that stood out particularly, this was a decidedly average bout, in a tournament that needed to catch the imagination of everyone from the very first match.

Winner - Dolph Ziggler via pinfall (Superkick) in 5 minutes and 1 second

Fast-Forward... More Brothers of Destruction highlights as The Undertaker returned to haunt Randy Orton and destroy most of the Smackdown roster at Survivor Series 2005 and Kane won the WWE Tag Team Championships with Daniel Bryan from Kofi Kingston & R-Truth at Night of Champions 2012....Zeb Colter and United States Champion Alberto Del Rio came out on the ramp for a bit, to berate the crowd and continue to leave me to ask questions as to why WWE creative thought they would have any chemistry...I was cringing throughout Natalya and Naomi's bout, in which Natalya tried to join in with the "We Want Sasha" chants like an annoying Auntie trying to be cool... Rightly the crowd erupted when Sasha put Natalya in the Banks Statement post-match...More Brothers of Destruction highlights as things began to get a bit much, with The Undertaker defeating Edge inside Hell in a Cell at SummerSlam 2008 and Kane ruining Edge & Lita's wedding on RAW #630...Before Sheamus' contest with Cesaro we got shown some interaction between King Barrett and Wayne Rooney (An English footballer, who plays and captains both Manchester United and the England National Team...for anyone who was a bit clueless last night)...

Match 6 - WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament 1st Round - Sheamus with King Barrett vs. Cesaro

The first bout to really attempt to break out of the 1st Round tournament bracket, Cesaro and Sheamus showed the chemistry we've seen out of them time and time again. A hard-hitting clash as one would expect from these two European bruisers, but also featured some quite lovely reversals and sequences, like Cesaro ducking under a Brogue Kick and turning it into a Sharpshooter. The Swiss Superman's selling of an injured arm was spot on throughout and added a lot to his comeback towards the end of the bout, consisting of series of strong European uppercut and dropkick that knocked Sheamus off the top rope to the outside. Obviously, the moment that got everyone talking was Rooney's involvement as he slapped King Barrett at ringside, allowing the distraction that gave Cesaro the win. I thought the whole sequence was incredibly well done, and whilst you could see it coming a mile off, it did give the bout that little sports entertainment flourish that will have people remembering it for much longer than they would have otherwise.

Winner - Cesaro via pinfall (Small package) in 15 minutes, 30 seconds

Fast-Forward...Rooney awkwardly standing next to Cesaro, whilst "Scottish legend" and West Bromwich Albion widget Darren Fletcher stood on like a proud Uncle, was something I never thought I'd get the opportunity to see...Tyler Breeze's backstage interview with Renee Young, whilst being oddly placed in the middle of the entrances for his tournament match with Dean Ambrose, was a lot of fun, with Breeze adding lots of little touches and wealth of depth to the character that many current WWE roster members lack....

Match 7 - WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Round 1 - Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze with Summer Rae

Topping off a really pleasing selection of action and certainly the most enjoyable part of the show, this was a cracking TV encounter. Breeze was allowed to shine in his RAW in-ring debut, with some great character touches like moving Summer into the path of an Ambrose suicide dive, and a chance to show off his vicious streak by focusing in on an Ambrose shoulder injury. The shoulder injury for Ambrose off an English-style dropkick was done finely and kicked the match into the next gear. The narrative didn't feel contrived and I reckon it would have been pretty easy to get drawn in, if you had been watching as a channel hopper. More Tyler Breeze and Dean Ambrose on RAW please and thank you.

Winner - Dean Ambrose via pinfall (Roll-Up) in 11 minutes, 5 seconds

Fast-Forward...Another Brothers of Destruction highlights package, this time with The Undertaker jousting Triple H inside Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 28 and Kane setting the Royal Rumble eliminations record during the 2001 event...

Whilst this week's New Day pre-match promo wasn't exactly still a home run, but it was certainly still entertaining. Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods make we want to sit up and listen every time they come on the screen and this was no different, even if the content wasn't quite as coherent as it should have been. The promo basically poked at the plot holes that had arisen out of none of The New Day being involved in the World Heavyweight Championship tournament, despite Big E and Kingston being involved in a Number One contender's tournament two weeks ago and the fact that all three members were part of Seth Rollins' team in last weeks' main event. 

Match 8 - Six Man Tag Team - WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. Neville & The Usos

Another average bout, that was perhaps a little disappointing with the talent that was in this match. There was some nice spots, like The Usos dual superkicks and stereo dives, followed up by a Corkscrew press by Neville to the outside, but the contest as a whole never looked to become anything other than lengthy filler. The finish was done well, with The New Day using all three members to steal a pinfall on Neville, but it strangely took a little bit of the momentum away from The Usos who only returned last week and Neville as the only man in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament in the bout. Continually teasing Neville's Red Arrow finish and not delivering was a little shitty as well.

Winners - The New Day via pinfall in 8 minutes, 43 seconds

Fast-Forward...The New Day's gyrating in victory is still a joy to behold...The final Brothers of Destruction highlight of the evening saw things take a turn with The Wyatt Family taking both men out at Hell in a Cell 2015 and then Monday Night RAW #1170 respectively...

I still haven't gotten my head around the finish to the show. It was so rushed and put out the majority of my interest in the B.O.D. vs. Wyatt Family feud, but it got a massive reaction out of the live crowd. Basically Bray Wyatt said some words about Kane and The Undertaker, the legendary repair returned, the Wyatt Family turned up and The Brothers of Destruction battered them to end the show. It made the Family look shit, as four of them struggled to take out the end-of-the-road duo, and eventually all got took down. I can certainly see why someone would have enjoyed this segment, but in terms of continuing to build interesting in an upcoming Survivor Series match it was a pretty poor close to the show. I'll accept that WWE was backed into a corner with Seth Rollins injury, but they could have done many better things with this main event spot.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.66 - Average-Good TV

It was very clear that this was a WWE scrambling to pull something for the penultimate RAW before one of their biggest PPV's of the year, without a WWE World Heavyweigt Champion and with a house show elsewhere on the same night. Whilst the tournament for the main championship seemed to be picked completely at random, there was two quality match out of the five that were broadcast. Cesaro vs. Sheamus and Ambrose vs. Breeze were both very good television matches, whilst Wayne Rooney's involvement with King Barrett was a lot of fun. The main event segment gets by on having a "surprise" appearance from The Undertaker in Manchester alone, even if the content wasn't quite for me.


Elsewhere the tournament wasn't exactly setting the world on fire, Roman Reigns and The Big Show's being unable to grab the crowd standing out as a particularly weak bout. However, the ropiest contest of the night for me, was Paige and Becky Lynch short bout, that couldn't deliver on expectations, due to a number of mistakes in-ring and with the booking.


This was a bit of a step-back on the previous two weeks and it's a real shame that WWE had to change direction just as the Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins feud was beginning to gain traction on the back of two good episodes of WWE's flagship. I'm willing to be kind on WWE who not a whole lot of time to sort something out for the show and had the added problem of having half a roster elsewhere during the show. Here's hoping we get a return to form for the go-home show for Survivor Series next month.

WWE Brothers of Destruction DVD Review

WWE's Brothers of Destruction is out now on DVD (There's a Blu Ray version too), available from www.wwedvd.co.uk. The single disc set features a number of matches featuring The Undertaker and Kane as a tag team, during their 2001 and 2006/08 runs, featuring matches against the likes of Edge & Christian, John Morrison & The Miz, The Dudley Boyz, Mr. Kennedy and MVP.

A rather curious addition to the WWE Home Video library, this single disc look at Kane and The Undertaker's on-off tag team, whilst skirting around their numerous feuds in between. The set kicks off with a No Disqualification match against Edge & Christian from an April 2001 episode of Smackdown. This is a decent start to the set, showcasing Kane's selling ability as he works the Demon in Peril role nicely whilst Edge & Christian take turns picking apart Kane's injured arm. It's a shame that this is a TV bout, as it leads to a lot of over booking to build towards BOD's match with The Two Man Power Trip at Backlash 2001, as there is a lot of chemistry between the two teams that goes to waste in closing stages. 

Three months later on Raw and it's a Tables Match against The Dudley Boyz. Whilst the crowd is red hot throughout the bout, this match doesn't offer much, with the tables stipulation really adding nothing to the match. After showing promise early on with some nice brawling between the four, the bout is too short to really present anything of merit. Highlights include Jim Ross calling a table "a chair", some hilarious selling of a big boot by Bubba Ray Dudley and a horrendously timed finish. 

On the following week's episode of Smackdown, it's Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo who are next in line to feel the Brother's wrath, this time with the WCW World Tag Titles on the line. This match pretty much sums up everything that was wrong with the Invasion angle, as whilst no one would attempt to argue that O'Haire and Palumbo were anywhere near Kane and Undertaker in terms of star power, they are made to look like complete chumps for the majority of the match. This, of course, makes this a rather dull affair, with nothing particularly standing out. 

The first and only PPV bout on the disc rounds of the look at the pair's 2001 run as they face Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon in a Steel Cage bout at SummerSlam to unify the WCW and WWF Tag Team Titles. This match really should have been simply Undertaker vs. Diamond Dallas Page, as that is essentially what the bout spends it's time trying to set up in a rather convuluted way. Whilst there is a handful of nice spots like Kane's Powerbomb to Kanyon into the corner of the cage and a top rope Chokeslam from Taker, this is once again a rather onsided bout with no real drama, and a crowd that sits on it's hands for most of the action. 

After a short video package, it's onto the duo's 2006 run as they battle Mr. Kennedy and MVP on a December episode of Smackdown. Another dominant performance from the Brothers as the two build towards a pair of Gimmick matches against their opponents at the Armageddon PPV. The match itself is dull as dishwater, with a shoddy TV finish, the only highlight is a sick looking DDT from Kennedy to Kane on the outside after the match, before it all goes a bit nuts with a hearse. 

A February 2008 episode of Smackdown saw the pair take on the duo of Mark Henry and Big Daddy V. If that match sounds appealing to you, you should probably stop reading this blog. If I were to tell you that the bout goes over ten minutes and you still think it sounds like a good idea, you should probably stop watching wrestling. The bout takes what feels like an age to settle into anything resembling a flow and despite a nice spot involving a Henry bearhug to Kane, the bout falls apart when BOD are tasked with a "Double Chokeslam" to Big Daddy V, which essentially involves the big man taking a back bump. 

Luckily, the set manages to end on a high note with an April 2008 jaunt to ECW to face John Morrison and The Miz. This is a decent slice of tag team action, with some of the best psychology of the set as Miz and Morrison pick apart Kane's injured leg, with almost every piece of offence focused on the injured body part, not to mention Kane once again proving a fantastic seller. Throw in all of BOD's signature moves and you have a decent little match, that whilst never threatening to become a classic if a great relief after sitting through the Mark Henry & Big Daddy V bout. Also Mike Adamle is on commentary, Mike Fucking Adamle!

Finally...

This DVD was a frustrating watch, as whilst it does a good job of showcasing Kane and Undertaker as a dominant tag team that doesn't make the matches particularly interesting to watch on their own merit. The first and last matches are probably the only ones that I would say I enjoyed from this stand point and even then I wouldn't tell anyone to go out of their way to see them. It also feels like a missed opportunity to only have the pairs match against The Rock and Steve Austin and their six man tag alongside Daniel Bryan against The Shield from Raw in 1998 and 2013 respectively as Blu-Ray exclusives, as these are surely the pairs best matches as a tag team. If you catch it in the bargain section, maybe give it a look, but honestly you won't be missing out on anything if you don't.