WWE Survivor Series 2008 Review

From November 23, 2009.

After being absent from the WWE for over three months, John Cena makes his grand return in his hometown of Boston to take on Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Survivor Series 2008.

Match 1: Traditional Survivor Series Elimination - Team HBK (Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Cryme Tyme, & The Great Khali w/ Ranjin Singh) vs. Team JBL (John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Kane, MVP, John Morrison, & The Miz)
The opening match of the night was the first of three Traditional Survivor Series Elimination matches with Team HBK taking on Team JBL. I loved the fact that this opened the show and I love the fact that Michaels and Mysterio are on the same team. The match itself never really slowed down but it never really got out of first gear. The ending came when Michaels hit the Sweet Chin Music on John Morrison after JBL got counted out.
Winners: Team HBK
Rating: **3/4

Match 2: Traditional Survivor Series Elimination - Team Raw (Beth Phoenix w/ Santino Marella, Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Candice Michelle, & Jillian Hall) vs. Team SmackDown (Michelle McCool, Victoria, Maria, Maryse, & Natalya)
The second Traditional Survivor Series Elimination match was the Divas match and it really killed the momentum the opening match started. Team Raw eventually won after Beth Phoenix hit her finisher on Maryse.
Winners: Team Raw
Rating: *1/4

Match 3: Casket - The Big Show vs. The Undertaker
After having a phenomenal Last Man Standing match at Cyber Sunday, the two follow up with a Casket match here at Survivor Series. The Big Show and The Undertaker usually have great chemistry but you wouldn't know it by watching this match. The match itself was very slow and like the opening match, never really got out of first gear. The finish came when a second casket was brought out and The Undertaker threw The Big Show into it.
Winner: The Undertaker
Rating: **

Match 4: Team Batista (Batista, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy, & R-Truth) vs. Team Orton (Randy Orton, Shelton Benjamin, William Regal w/ Layla, Cody Rhodes w/ Manu, & Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas)
In Randy Orton's return to wrestling on PPV, he brought his team to take on the team of Batista. There really isn't much to say about this match other than it was interesting to see the crowd cheer for Orton and boo Batista. Team Orton eventually won after Orton hit the RKO on Batista.
Winners: Team Orton
Rating: **1/4

Match 5: WWE Championship - Triple H (c) vs. Vladimir Kozlov vs. Edge
In a match supposed to be featured with Jeff Hardy, Hardy was apparently unable to compete after being found uncounscious in a staircase. Because of this, the match was changed into a singles match between Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov and this match sucked the life out of the arena. Anything the two did was slow and boring, to make matters worse, the two wrestled for over 12 minutes. Finally, Vickie came out to announce that Edge is back and there, the real match began! After Edge appeared, Hardy shows up to try and take out Edge but fails after getting taken down by Edge. Edge then scored a pin fall to win the WWE Championship in dramatic fashion. That was simply a terrible match which later transpired into an amazing finish.
Winner: Edge
Rating: 3/4*

Match 6: World Heavyweight Championship - Chris Jericho (c) vs. John Cena
The final match of the night was John Cena returning to take on Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship. After a nicely done video package and an always awesome Jericho entrance, Cena returns to a huge reaction from the Boston crowd. Michael Cole said that Cena had the problems of "ring rust" and he was indeed correct. Cena's move seemed very out of place and you can tell he didn't want to take any risks as he and Jericho held the match on the mat with lots and lots of submission moves. The match then began to pick up the pace in the last 5 minutes where Cena finally hit the FU on Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Championship in front of his hometown. It was a decent match that started off extremely slow but then the two turned on the switch and they put on a nice performance to leave the fans happy.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: ***

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
The 22nd Survior Series was a huge letdown and easily could have been a much better show. The WWE Championship match, the Divas match, and the Casket match were all given way too much time and really killed the crowd. There is no reason to let Kozlov wrestle in a one on one match on PPV when he is just so inexperienced. The highlights of the show were Edge returning and Cena/Jericho. However, these two things aren't enough to give you a reason to watch this show. You might have a little bit of fun with this show but overall, it was a huge letdown.
Rating: 5/10