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Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: November 23 2014
Location: Scottrade Center, St Louis, Missouri, USA
Attendance: 12,000
The 28th annual Survivor Series was promoted largely as a one-match show, which is exactly what it proved to be. Fortunately, that one match ended up greatly overachieving, both in terms of quality and significance, and one truly unforgettable development at its conclusion ensured that this match, and as a result the card, will never be forgotten.
The Kick-Off show featured two matches, the first of which saw Fandango unveiled with a slightly altered persona prior to his victory over Justin Gabriel. The one-time ballroom dancer is now a Spanish-esque dancer, complete with new attire and - what? - new music. Oh, and he has Rosa Mendes at his side now. Prediction: the new Fandango will not succeed (hey, his old theme song was the highlight of his act, and made so by the fans). In the other Kick-Off match, Jack Swagger beat Fandango (is his push over already?), which was doubly baffling because Swagger was supposedly originally a part of the main event on Team Cena, but an attack by Seth Rollins put him out of commission for the match. Yet he was fit to compete on the night in a different match?!?
Oh, and "I'm afraid I've got some good news" ... Bad News Barrett returned in a non-wrestling role on the Kick-Off show.
Survivor Series unusually opened with a non-wrestling segment, that being a Vince McMahon promo, who reiterated that The Authority would lose their, erm, Authority if Team Authority (too many Authority references, I know) lost to Team Cena. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon seemed accepting of this, and noted that even if they lost, they would find a way back. That was, until Vince informed them that if they were to lose their power, then the only way they could ever regain control in WWE would be with the agreement of ... John Cena. This announcement really should have been made on the pre-SS Raw or even on SmackDown, because it might have enticed some last-minute subscribers for the WWE Network to watch this card. Nevertheless, a fun way to start the PPV and to increase anticipation for the main event. Vince's proclamation that "You will never forget this night" would end up being proven true, but more on that later.
The opening match on the main card was a four-team clash for the WWE Tag Team Titles, as Goldust and Stardust defended their crowns against The Usos, Los Matadores and the incredibly entertaining team of The Miz and Damien Mizdow. Actually, most of the entertainment is provided by Mizdow, who is superb as Miz's stunt double. Indeed, the most notable parts of this match were Mizdow hamming it up in mimicking Miz's every actions, even minor things like running across the ring. Damien's fantastic work in what originally seemed to be a demeaning role has seen his popularity greatly increase in recent weeks, and so it was fitting that it would be Mizdow who took the winning pinfall over Goldust, capitalising on an Uso splash, to win the Tag Titles. Fans went wild for the title change, and to see Mizdow achieve his biggest triumph since winning one of the Money In The Bank briefcases in July 2013. It appears that this may be the very first step of potential dissension between Miz and Mizdow since Miz tried to steal the limelight, and the glory of winning, following the match. Mizdow is okay with this for now, but that is likely to change. Match quality was okay, although the Dust brothers (or personas) may not be happy at how their title reign fizzled out without much fanfare on their part.
Next up was an 8-Diva tag match, an unexpected addition to the card considering that there would be a Divas Title bout later on. There isn't much to say for this one - it generally flew by without that much to show for it - so I'll simply note that Team Fox (Alicia Fox, Emma, Naomi and Natalya) hit a clean sweep over Team Paige (Paige, Cameron, Layla and Summer Rae), and that Paige tried to leave before suffering the final defeat. How has Paige's promising and eagerly-anticipated run in WWE come to this?
The second most-promoted match on the show was third, and pitted Dean Ambrose against Bray Wyatt, stemming from Bray costing Ambrose a Hell In A Cell match against Seth Rollins at the previous PPV of the same name. Over the previous four weeks, Wyatt had increasingly taunted Ambrose, upping the ante by mocking the fact that Dean's father was supposedly in prison. A deeply personal issue, then, which was likely to boil over into a brawl which would more than likely cause the match to end without a proper outcome. Which is exactly what happened; but I was hoping that we would get a memorable match before the probably-dissatisfying finish. Unfortunately, although we saw some cool spots (like Bray slamming Ambrose with his modified Rock Bottom onto a set of steel stairs) and the action was never boring, it didn't really capture my imagination and give us a great PPV-quality encounter. The disqualification was called when Ambrose used a steel chair on Wyatt (which Bray had brought into the ring), followed by Ambrose burying Wyatt under a table, chairs and a ladder. Can you see where this is going? Actually, you don't need to because WWE quickly announced that they would meet in a TLC match at ... TLC!
I wasn't enthralled by this for a few reasons. Firstly, this was a major PPV card, and in the semi-main event on what truly was a one-match show (as stated earlier), the DQ finish wasn't an exciting prospect (even if I expected it), and it wasn't particularly well-executed or innovative either. Secondly, the post-match scene was too blatant in its intention, and too familiar to a similar scene involving Sheamus, Big Show and chairs at the 2012 Survivor Series (which also set up a match for TLC, albeit under Chairs rules). Finally, the match was announced so quickly that one assumes WWE knew this was going to happen because it didn't take them long at all to announce it (which they obviously did, but we're trying to talk from a storyline standpoint here). So, overall, a match which I was looking forward to ended up being somewhat disappointing. Hopefully, they'll give us the big match we are hoping for at TLC.
If Survivor Series wasn't living up to expectations at this point, the next match won't have helped: a tag team match pitting Adam Rose and The Bunny against Slater Gator (Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil, with a mini alligator sidekick in the form of Hornswoggle). I don't mind comedy matches at all and quite enjoy them, but the idea of a bunny being competitive (even if it obviously is an established wrestler under the rabbit hood) is a bit too much. Especially on a Big-4 PPV, and more so when you consider that The Bunny pinned Heath Slater! Yes, a bunny rabbit pinned a superstar who once pinned Chris Jericho and Edge, as well as one or two others during the Nexus era. It's a good job that the main event of this card did deliver, otherwise bouts like this could have put this card on the level of shows such as December To Dismember 2006. I should point out also that Rose is now a heel, but the Bunny is a babyface and the rabbit apparently doesn't realise that Adam doesn't like him any more. How does this storyline pan out? You tell me, at least if you're trying to suggest that Rose will eventually benefit in some way.
A satellite interview from the injured Roman Reigns (who is definitely getting something approaching red-carpet treatment while he recovers) was followed by AJ Lee defending the Divas Title against Nikki Bella, with her personal servant Brie Bella at ringside. Brie, of course, has been at odds since Nikki betrayed her at SummerSlam, and this match roughly coincided with the end of Brie's storyline run as Nikki's assistant. The match began, and inexplicably Brie climbed on the ring apron to kiss AJ! In the PG era! Shocking! AJ then turned around and was hit with the Rack Attack by Nikki to lose the Divas Title in 35 seconds. Firstly, why did Brie help Nikki after all the personal torment she has received? And, secondly, why did AJ lose the championship so quickly? Who knows how WWE will be able to explain Brie's sudden change of heart, while AJ's rapid-fire title loss strongly hints at her following her real-life husband CM Punk out of the door.
Prior to the main event, then, the 2014 Survivor Series was not a great card at all. Two average matches, one with an unsatisfying DQ finish, a pointless Divas tag match, a comedy tag bout won by a bunny rabbit, and a 35-second Divas Title match. All of which meant that if the main event wasn't much good, then this card would easily have been the worst of the year. Even a good match might not have elevated this above being a poor show. But, of course, WWE gave us a swerve: the final hour of the PPV was entirely devoted to what ended up being a momentous and hugely entertaining main event with the unannounced WWE debut of a true icon.
Team Cena (John Cena, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan) against Team Authority (Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Rusev and Luke Harper) was originally just a normal Survivor Series-rules match, until Vince suddenly announced on the November 3 episode of Raw that The Authority would no longer hold their Authority if they lost. A number of storyline pivots, including Rowan and Harper seemingly splitting up for good with Rowan suddenly turning babyface, and Triple H vowing to fire all members of Team Cena if they lost (besides Cena, weirdly), all combined with the Authority's power being at stake to create true anticipation for the main event. That being said, it seemed predictable that either Cena would simply win in Super-Cena fashion (or with help from someone like hometown hero Randy Orton, who didn't end up appearing here to avenge his recent dismissal from The Authority) or that Cena would be defeated due to outside interference (by Brock Lesnar? By the way, not having the WWE World Heavyweight Champion appear at all on a show like this felt very strange). Happily, WWE gave us something different.
The main event started with a bang as Big Show immediately knocked out Mark Henry with a big right hand, to the dismay of the Authority. The bout then progressed slowly, with the camera frequently showing us the reactions of HHH and Stephanie as each elimination changed the potential outcome of the match. Given his recent revival, it was surprising that WWE chose Ryback as the first person to go out from Cena's squad, as a Curb Stomp by Rollins and a superkick from Rusev eliminated The Big Guy, bringing the numbers to 4 vs. 4. Rusev soon took the brawl to ringside where he took out Dolph Ziggler and laid him on an announcer's table, in preparation for an Umaga-style run across the various tables to splash Ziggler through the final desk. Only, Dolph moved, Rusev still went through the wood, and Ziggler made it back into the ring so that Rusev would be vanquished via countout. This was a smart way for WWE to keep Rusev's undefeated streak alive, and to provide an unexpected high spot in the match, impressive considering that it was still only 4 on 3 at this point. By now, the Authority were already beginning to visually crumble, although there would be plenty of developments to come.
The next elimination saw Harper eliminate Rowan with a lariat, which was odd since WWE had seemingly only just begun to start pushing the man in the lamb mask. That being said, Harper being strengthened is understandable considering that he has just become Intercontinental Champion; but why not save the battle of the Wyatt Family members for another show like TLC? This was the only real questionable part (and a minor one, admittedly) of the headline attraction. From here, it was 3 vs. 3, and with Ziggler still down at ringside from the earlier Rusev beating, Cena and Big Show talked strategy in the ring to discuss how they would try to achieve victory.
So imagine the shock when Show, completely out of the blue, knocked Cena out with a WMD Punch! Show then walked out, deliberately taking a countout loss, while Rollins pinned the knocked-out Cena to eliminate him too. Suddenly, the already-intriguing main event had seen a totally unexpected heel turn (even if it was for the frequently-turned giant), and Cena was amazingly not even going to be involved in the finish to the match. Talk about a swerve! The only downside is the potential for yet another Cena vs. Show feud as a result, but on the night this was an adrenaline boost. Especially for The Authority, who brilliantly oversold the magnitude of this attitude adjustment (no pun intended), since the only remaining adversary was the seemingly-injured Ziggler, who had three opponents to defeat if Team Cena were now to triumph, not to mention potential shenanigans by The Authority themselves.
This was doubly interesting because Ziggler, as many fans will know, is a start-stop push recipient. Would WWE really give Dolph the floor in a match of this importance? At worst, WWE would surely at least give Dolph the chance to narrow it down to a one-on-one battle for power.
Michael Cole also did a very commendable job of emphasising Ziggler's weakened condition as he took more physical abuse, and delivered just the right tone and choice of words when Dolph appeared to give some flurries of offence, thereby ensuring that when Ziggler did make a real comeback, that it would shock people and have them cheering Dolph unequivocally. And that's what happened when Ziggler pinned Kane with a Zig Zag, and then rolled up Harper to gain revenge for his IC Title loss. Fans were truly now rallying behind Dolph, who was putting on a Shawn Michaels-esque show in there (okay, maybe a slight notch below HBK, but a super performance nevertheless). So, now it was down to Ziggler vs. Rollins to determine if The Authority would remain in power. Who could have predicted that before the show? Actually, something else was about to blow people's minds.
The two men achieved big moves, with both coming agonisingly close to winning the match for their team, and with The Authority almost about to suffer a heart attack with each close call for Ziggler. And Dolph would hit the move that began the finishing sequence as he dropped Rollins with the Zig Zag, only for Triple H to drag the referee out of the ring. As Michael Cole perfectly condemned the actions of the WWE higher-ups, HHH and J&J Security pummelled Ziggler, ending with a HHH Pedigree on Ziggler and The Game lifting Rollins' arm onto Dolph. In a nice touch of continuity, it was the Authority's occasional "crooked referee" (to quote Cole) Scott Armstrong who was signalled in to deliver the one, two ...
Suddenly, the lights went out to the sound of unfamiliar music which ended with the sound of a crow. A crow?!? Fans popped huge because they not only knew that something was about to deny the victory for The Authority, but if one put two-and-two together, this might just be signalling the arrival of ... no way. Surely not. Really?
Yes, really (to quote The Miz): it was him ...
STING!
To a even bigger cheer, the big screen showed the face of Sting and, as HHH looked on with that "Oh, sh--" expression, the Icon himself walked out from the entrance way. Sting was here! In a WWE arena! For the first time ever! Michael Cole once again perfectly captured the moment with the extremely passionate call:
"OH MY GOD! IT'S STING!!!"
Sting slowly marched to the ring (with a different theme to his WCW music, notably), confronted a stood-still HHH, and dropped him with a punch to the ribs and a Scorpion Deathdrop. Fans were ecstatic, and digesting the historical significance of this moment: after more than 25 years, finally, FINALLY (to quote another wrestler in The Rock), the man they call Sting had officially arrived as a character in WWE. Sure, he appeared on a Network special and is on WWE 2K15, but this truly marked the WWE debut of Sting. A moment that would never be forgotten, and another milestone in a pretty memorable year for WWE, what with the end of The Streak and the whole Daniel Bryan thing.
But wait! The match wasn't over yet, even if Sting's involvement was. Before he left, Sting had draped Dolph's arm over Rollins (who was still down from the earlier Zig Zag, incredibly), and with the original referee back in the ring, the official slowly counted the three that created another massive pop, for Ziggler had won the match against all odds - unquestionably his biggest career win under the circumstances - and The Authority was now out of power! Cena celebrated with Ziggler afterwards, and the crowd serenaded HHH and Stephanie (who was world-class in selling her frustration and sadness at the match outcome) with the "Goodbye" song as the show went off the air.
Wow. Wow! Not only was the one match a good one, it was exceptional: the booking was fantastic, like creating an epic fight scene to culminate a movie, which had many different layers, told various stories, and culminated with a star-making win, a result that everyone wanted, and a debut that made headlines around the world. When people say that Twitter exploded, they are talking about moments like this because I know from checking my timeline that the social media world went bonkers due to the WWE debut of The Stinger. A classic main event, the match of the year in my view, and a moment that will stand as one of the most historic in recent memory for WWE (I was going to see the most historic, but The Undertaker's loss at WrestleMania XXX takes that honour in my opinion). Incredible. Now, the questions will be whether WWE can maintain Ziggler's red-hot momentum, and how The Authority will find their way back into a position of power within WWE (which they surely will). And, of course, it will be fascinating to see developments involving Sting, who it appears has arrived to set up a showdown with HHH (why else would he interfere?), possibly at WrestleMania 31.
So, what for the first two-thirds was a PPV of very low standards ended up becoming one of the most historic shows in recent memory. The one-match card will now be remembered as an unmitigated success because that one match delivered massively. The rating below is achieved via the main event, and would have been a good few points lower otherwise. WWE seems to have rehabilitated the legacy of the Survivor Series with this instalment, which will always be remembered for the night that Dolph Ziggler became a main eventer (for now, anyway) and The Authority lost their Authority but, more than anything, for the WWE debut of the one and only Icon himself, Sting.
Who says WWE needs to have Brock Lesnar on its PPV shows, anyway?
Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent
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