Sunday, November 22, 2015

WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

Atlanta



GOLDUST, THE DUDLEY BOYZ, NEVILLE & TITUS O'NEILL vs. STARDUST, THE ASCENSION, THE MIZ & BO DALLAS (18:10): An un-announced pre-show traditional 5 on 5 SS elimination match. Cesaro hurt his shoulder so they randomly put Titus in the match. The Dudley Boyz shouted, "Get the tables!" but never got them. This was not good at all. *

ROMAN REIGNS vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO (14:01): Champion Seth Rollins blew out his knee in Dublin two and a half weeks ago...which led to a tournament to crown a new champ. This was the first semi-final. There were one or two near-falls near the end that were semi-dramatic. I say "semi" because we all knew Roman was winning. Both wrestlers are not good wrestlers nor entertaining so realistically this was as good as a match between them will ever be. **

DEAN AMBROSE vs. KEVIN OWENS (11:19): The second semi-final in the tournament. Owens, for whatever reason, put on great matches with Cesaro and Cena this year...but no one else. Ambrose is at least wild and all over the place...which provides some excitement. This match was about as good as this tournament; not bad, not good, could've been a lot better. **

RYBACK, THE USO'S & THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. THE NEW DAY, SHEAMUS & KING BARRETT (17:33): Another un-announced, traditional, 5 on 5 elimination SS match. The New Day left half-way through which was a let-down. Ryback jumped off the top rope onto everyone. It was okay. **

CHARLOTTE vs. PAIGE (14:15): Super slow! The contract signing for this match was actually the main event on RAW last week. During that segment Paige brought up Charlotte's dead brother, Reid, to mucho internet controversy. Which means there was heat for this that, if done earlier, could have produced more of a build-up to a division that sorely needs it. I'm not sure if Paige or Charlotte are just dull in the ring or if the big house WWE environments don't work with women's wrestling but NXT produces stellar women's matches all year and the WWE does not. Mysteries of the universe, I suppose. 1/2*

TYLER BREEZE vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (6:05): Short, not good. Ziggler should just quit. And everyone said these two were on fire at the house shows. Note to self: if a match is great at the house shows it won't be good on a ppv so don't believe the hype. *

THE UNDERTAKER & KANE vs. BRAY WYATT & LUKE HARPER (10:19): The two should-be-retired guys put a Wyatt through the Spanish announce table. That was the highlight. The crowd loved this...for some reason. I'm not sure who I'm more tired of, the Wyatt family or The Undertaker and Kane. *1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. DEAN AMBROSE (9:02)/ ROMAN REIGNS vs. SHEAMUS (0:34): When Reigns speared Ambrose and pinned him and won the title and it was only 10:35 PM I kind of figured Sheamus would come out. First HHH came out then Reigns speared him. Then Sheamus came out, kicked Reigns in the face and cashed in his MITB contract and only got a 2-count. He kicked Reigns in the head again and pinned him and won the title and shook HHH's hand. The new corporate Rock is Sheamus! There are a lot of problems with this...but I can't stand Reigns so anyone with the title other than him is okay. Sheamus has been booked about as strong as The Miz lately so him all of a sudden as the top guy is weird. I do enjoy the MITB cash-ins but the "corporate champ" angle is twenty-years old and stale. The Ambrose/Reigns match was too short and this show was weak. The ending was exciting, though. It's something. **