WWE Survivor Series 2012 Review

Match 1: Traditional Survivor Series Elimination - Team Clay (Brodus Clay, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, & Rey Mysterio) vs. Team Tensai (Tensai, Primo, Epico, Titus O’Neil, & Darren Young)
Good to see that these types of matches are still alive for the Survivor Series events and this match is a perfect way to kick off the night. Grading these matches does become a tad bit of a challenge considering there are so many eliminations, so many wrestlers, and a lot of action to take into consideration. With that being said, action was fun and the crowd loved seeing the faces get a pretty easy win against the heels as Sin Cara, Gabriel, Kidd, & Mysterio all hit their finishers on Darren Young to secure a kickoff win. All the pins came at a nice pace and everyone played their roles nicely. Just a bit confusing to see where exactly Mysterio’s career is headed and why he is always tossed in such random matches. It’s almost as if this is his new role in the company. Either way, fun little match to get the show started on the right foot and emphasize what exactly this show is.
Winners: Team Clay
Rating: **¾

Match 2: Divas Championship - Eve © vs. Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn was ambushed earlier by Aksana and managed to counter her attack and get the better of Aksana who wore a wig. Kaitlyn comes down to the ring with the wig looking steamed and ready to take on Eve. Match didn’t really feel like she wanted to destroy Eve but it is a Divas match after all. Kaitlyn looked pretty dominant but Eve finds a way to get the pin and victory in a matter of minutes. Eve plays a good heel and while I like Kaitlyn, it is too early for her to win the title.
Winner: Eve
Rating: *

Match 3: United States Championship - Antonio Cesaro © vs. R-Truth
Another filler match to get us warmed up for the final three matches. Crowd isn’t really much behind both guys and seemingly, the commentators aren’t either. They argued for a good portion of the match as the two continued to wrestle in front of the Indianapolis crowd. Cesaro has a style I love to watch but doesn’t really bring out a WWE crowd to its feet, Truth has an interesting style but they don’t seem to clash too well. This allows much of the match to be handled in a different manner. Cesaro hit’s a Neutralizer to get a big win.
Winner: Antonio Cesaro
Rating: **

Match 4: World Heavyweight Championship - The Big Show © vs. Sheamus
This is the rematch from the Hell in a Cell PPV in which Show captured the World Heavyweight Championship once more. However, it is a little more personal this time around with Show beating down Sheamus’ good friend, William Regal. A strange way to get this feud going but either way, the two do have oddly good chemistry and are looking to hit another one out of the park. As expected, action starts slowly with Big Show getting a huge advantage with the size card being too much for Sheamus to handle. However, the pace changes once Sheamus lands a huge electric chair on Show. The match really picks up here and after nearly getting the pin on Show for the win, Sheamus wants to end it with a Brogue Kick. Show manages to pull the referee into the kick. Sheamus neglects The Big Show in concern of the referee which allows Show to knock Sheamus out for the tainted victory with a different referee in to make the count. The referee quickly reverses the decision into Sheamus’ favor for the disqualification win. Irate, Sheamus destroys Big Show with the chair before hitting him with one final Brogue Kick on the walkway. Great match that exceeded expectations. Again, the chemistry is here and the crowd involvement played a huge role. Every big move made sense and the crowd reacted to every single one. A bit frustrating to see an opportunity for them to end the feud on a bigger PPV like Survivor Series but it just opens doors to a bigger conclusion at TLC with some sort of gimmick.
Winner: Sheamus
Rating: ***½

Match 5: Traditional Survivor Series Elimination - Team Foley (Daniel Bryan, Kane, Randy Orton, The Miz & Kofi Kingston) vs. Team Ziggler (Dolph Ziggler, Damien Sandow, David Otunga, Alberto Del Rio, & Wade Barrett)
Was really disappointed upon finding out about the big change to this match. How cool would it have been had this match main evented the show? It would be the first Traditional Survivor Series match as the main event since 2005. Supposed to be CM Punk leading a team against the team of Mick Foley is now Team Ziggler with Wade Barrett taking over Punk’s spot against Mick Foley’s team. With that being said, it does subtract much of the heat that the match was able to gain when it was made on Raw. One of my bigger gripes with this match is that it lacks intertwining storylines. This is generally a good spot to further feuds or even start some, but I didn’t feel like anything of that nature occurred aside from maybe Orton and Ziggler. Action was average and enough to keep the crowd engaged through the better part of the match. They sorted out the eliminations correctly which didn’t allow the match to drag which can certainly become a huge issue in a match like this. Orton & Miz were the two final competitors against Ziggler, Barrett, & Del Rio. This is the best scenario one could ask for, especially taking into consideration that Miz is looking for a face turn. After Miz gets things going, he eventually got eliminated for Orton to finish the job as his last opponent would be Dolph Ziggler. Orton looks to punt the hell out of Ziggler to once again become a Sole Survivor until Ziggler knocks Orton out with a nasty kick to get the huge win. While this was a fun match, there was still many dull moments and many missed opportunities. The ending is what everyone will remember and for good reason, Ziggler’s win was somewhat surprising and a huge feather added to his cap.
Winners: Team Ziggler
Rating: ***¼

Match 6: WWE Championship - CM Punk © vs. John Cena vs. Ryback
Triple threat championship matches have sort of become a stable for Survivor Series. JBL also noted that John Cena is undefeated at this event, a pretty amazing statistic that adds drama to the match. Also, if Punk wins, he will be the WWE Champion for an entire year, the first to hit this feat since John Cena in 2007. This match felt more like Punk vs. Cena with Ryback lingering in the background. While I am sure this is not what the WWE wants, it most certainly seems like what the crowd wants. First half of the match was very slow and only set the table for what should be a big second half. The course of the match finally makes a big change once Cena and Punk team up for a quick second to take Ryback out of the equation by suplexing him through one of the announcers table. It is literally Punk and Cena wrestling to the delight of the crowd while Ryback sits out until finally putting himself back into the match. He lands his finisher to both guys and is ambushed by three guys dressed in black who Michael Cole identifies as wrestlers from NXT. They set Ryback through the other announcers table and Punk capitalizes on the situation at hand by pinning Cena. The best in the world has done it, 365 days. Many things coming out of this match that will likely affect the road to WrestleMania. What exactly were the intentions of the three guys? Was Punk involved? Where does Cena go from here? How much longer will Punk be champion for? The idea of a PPV is to solve questions but that is obviously a dated route for the WWE. Questions only lead to bigger questions and this is a great example. The ambush was done nicely and makes Punk seem more of a weasel than before. Does it detract from the match? Sure, but there was not much interest invested from the crowd to begin with. Punk’s journey started at Survivor Series 2011 in New York against Alberto Del Rio and continues to grow one year later.
Winner: CM Punk
Rating: ***

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Really wish the WWE would make a bigger deal out of this event but it seems like the December TLC event continually overshadows this. With that being said, the emphasis on the two main events was cool but the execution was not enough to give anyone a recommendation for this event. Many missed opportunities detracted my viewing experience.
Rating: 6/10