DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – Survivor Series Review + WM25 Booking Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 7:01 AM EST
THE WRESTLING MENU #288
Welcome one and all to the 288th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.
Is it still Wednesday this time around...??? Yep, phew... I was as worried as a TNA fan fearing the Main Event Mafia may take over there for a moment...
However, TNA fans need not fear. No longer will they have to worry that their TNA Originals will be man-handled by those annoying veterans. The reason; Rhino is here to save the day. Goodness gracious, Rhino should be demoted (if not fired), rather than pushed. Watching him fight any of the Mafia will bore the hell out of me. But more importantly, watching him take away mic time from the improving Joe & A.J will be borderline criminal. Oh well, I guess my viewing of TNA will become even more infrequent now.
On with the show.....
APPETIZERS
Survivor Series Review
For those that cannot recall my previous PPV review columns, this is the key that explains what the final PPV Rating means:
<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F] (Armageddon '04) 50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: No Way Out '07) 55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Unforgiven ‘08) 60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: Cyber Sunday ’08) 65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: Night Of Champions '08) 70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: No Mercy '08) 75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: Royal Rumble '08) 80+: Make sure that the video or DVD is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]
TEAM HBK defeated TEAM JBL: Rey & MVP kick things off, with the face having the better of the action and even teaming up with JTG for some double-teaming. Just prior to the 2 minute mark though, MVP makes the first elimination as JTG heads for the locker-room. A big chop from Khali immediately follows & MVP is also gone! Soon after, Rey flies off the shoulders of the giant Indian to splash Kane into elimination, before Rey & Morrison put together some nice sequences. Shad then cleans house on the ECW tag-team, before the double-teaming wears the big man down & Miz eliminates him with a Reality Check at about the 6 minute mark to make it 3 on 3. The 2 team captains then slug it out with JBL busting open HBK's eye with a big right hand. An impressive couple of minutes wisely pitting HBK & Morrison against each other then occurs with the heel looking to mimic the face veteran. Rey then moves at a mile a minute to eliminate Miz with a 619, but is stopped in his tracks by a rampaging JBL, who then slows the pace down.
After playing the face in peril for a while, Mysterio eventually hits a moonsault which allows him to make the hot tag to HBK. During a sequence at ringside, JBL is counted out and then Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on Morrison to end the bout after 18 minutes. This was a super entertaining opener that genuinely included some terrific sequences, predominantly involving Rey, HBK & Morrison. JBL also looked the best he has for quite some time here, generating some true heel heat and being especially nasty when in the ring. The early eliminations may have been a little too swift for my liking, but it did allow the rest of the participants to do their thing... Well, all but Khali, who hardly moved throughout the entire match! Excellent match and better than I had expected. Match Rating... 8.5
TEAM RAW DIVAS defeated TEAM SMACKDOWN DIVAS: The 2 brand champions begin here with Michelle hitting a couple of nice moves. But when Maryse tags herself in, the SmackDown divas begin to fight amongst each other, and Kelly takes advantage by eliminating Victoria with a hurracanrana. Maryse evens things up soon after by getting rid of Kelly, but when the SmackDown divas once more start to go at it, Mickie eliminates team captain McCool. Maryse then rolls up James, Candice spears Natalya and Maria gets rid of Jillian to tie things up again. Candice then eliminates Maria, only to tap out to an interesting leg-lock submission by Maryse. It is then down to Beth & Maryse, with the 2 going back & forth for a couple of minutes before the Raw champ hits her finisher to win the match at the 10 minute mark. Surprisingly, Maryse was really put over here gaining 3 of her teams 4 eliminations. Other than that, this was pretty average with the match almost always being even in numbers and not even the heavily scripted action always going too smoothly. Match Rating... 6
THE UNDERTAKER defeated THE BIG SHOW in a Casket Match: An immediate tease of Big Show falling into the casket occurs, before the 2 behemoths battle at ringside, where the heel initially has the best of the action. The Undertaker fights back with a monitor shot to the head before leg-dropping his opponent through an announce table! Back in the ring, TBS counters old-school, hits a nice suplex & then rolls 'Taker into the casket. But the heel doesn't want to close the lid (in a storytelling point that totally falls flat), so the phenom comes out guns blazing, even hitting a terrible-looking choke-slam from the 2nd rope. After some more back & forth stuff, The Big Show attempts to destroy the casket & walk off, but is stopped by a fireworks display & druids bringing out a 2nd casket.
After some poor brawling & a teased fall off the stage, an anti-climactic finish occurs when 'Taker simply Irish-whips his opponent into a standing casket and the force of the blow tips it over and forces the lid shut. Apart from a nice spot or 2, this was extremely standard stuff where nothing much really went right. Whether it is the fact that these 2 have been performing above themselves of late or the casket match is a washed-up gimmick, this simply wasn't very good. And to cap it all off, the feeling that it was eventually building up to something over an extended period of time didn't come to fruition since its duration was a surprisingly short 12 minutes. Match Rating... 5.5
TEAM ORTON defeated TEAM BATISTA: Some dissension between Orton & Rhodes was sold in an earlier backstage segment, but Rhodes' bravado wasn't as surprising as the elimination of Regal after just 15 seconds courtesy of a CM Punk GTS! Kofi & Benjamin then display their athletic wares before the tags come thick & fast as the action goes back & forth for minutes on end. The next elimination doesn't occur until the 8 minute mark when R-Truth is eliminated by Benjamin after a fast-paced sequence. Kofi & Benjamin then continue the momentum until the heels isolate Kingston & he is eliminated by an Orton rope-assisted DDT. Punk is next to go following a Rhodes DDT and it soon becomes 4 on 1 when Hardy is eliminated by the World's Strongest Slam.
Batista then runs through Henry with a spear & Benjamin with a Batista Bomb, but as he sets Rhodes up for his finisher, Orton blind tags himself in and an RKO results in the match being all over in favor of the heel team following 16 minutes of action. A much more conventionally structured traditional survivor Series elimination bout for the most part, the eliminations then flew thick & fast in the last few minutes. Entertaining for the most part, there were some well-constructed sequences, although I'm unsure how memorable it all was at the end of the day. Unfortunately, the eventual short duration didn't really allow the bout to fully play out, but it was still pretty good for what was essentially a midcard match. Match Rating... 7.5
EDGE defeated TRIPLE H & VLADIMIR KOZLOV in a Triple-Threat Match to Win the WWE Championship: Due to being (allegedly) attacked at his hotel earlier in the day, Jeff Hardy did not come out to take part in this title bout. He was sorely missed immediately as the 2 combatants headed straight for the mat to silence a previously hot crowd. Chants of "boring" & "we want Hardy" took all of 2 minutes to kick in as HHH & Kozlov continued to act as if they were Angle & Benoit! Switching to more standard pro-wrestling only helped minutely, with only 1 or 2 moves capturing any attention. A running power-slam gets a 2 count for the Russian as a "TNA" chant sets in amongst resthold after resthold. Kozlov then misses a headbutt in the corner which allows Triple H to hit a pedigree, which he is somehow too tired/hurt to take advantage of!
At this stage, Vicki Guerrero emerges to announce that the bout will be a triple-threat match and Edge comes out to spear Triple H. This prompts Jeff Hardy's entrance (to a huge pop) and he starts swinging with chair-shots that strike all 3 men. He is halted by an Edge spear though and then the ultimate opportunist covers Triple H for the title win after 14 minutes. Oh boy, where do I start? Firstly, H vs Kozlov was the biggest bore this side of watching paint dry! What was Vince thinking? While the chaotic finish was nicely executed and brought the required crowd response, it would have been a whole lot more effective if Edge's presence in Boston had been kept quiet from the internet (my fault for reading this website within 24 hours of a ppv I suppose). And if Jeff was there, why didn't he take part in the match? Coming only a few months after the Jericho Scramble match debacle, WWE is simply heading to the same well too many times of late. Match Rating... 3
JOHN CENA defeated CHRIS JERICHO to Win the World HeavyWeight Title: Cena gets a predominantly favorable home-crowd reaction, before attempting an F-U right off the bat. A subsequent Y2J shoulder-block has Cena reaching for his neck early, setting up the match's main storyline. Following a couple of Cena's usual effective offensive flurries, Jericho well & truly targets his neck hitting a DDT & then pin-pointing the injury with numerous kicks, one of which almost gains a countout victory. Submission holds aimed at the neck are the order of the day next with a Full Nelson being the main weapon. The Walls Of Jericho is then locked on after Cena takes too long to hit "You Can't See Me", but Cena gets to the ropes & then hits an F-U out of nowhere. He is too hurt to take advantage though & only gets a resultant 2 count. A top-rope fame-asser then lifts the crowd (an earlier attempt was aborted when Cena realized that was the move that got him injured), but the champ counters a subsequent F-U attempt and hits the code-breaker out of nowhere for a super close near-fall.
Jericho next clotheslines Cena time after time to earn heel heat, but it is also a predictable lead-up to the STF-U being applied. Jericho is able to escape that, but falls victim to an F-U soon after for another title change after 21 minutes. A good solid main-event whose strengths and weaknesses were almost one and the same. The progression in storytelling was excellent, but it also resulted in the match being a little too (for want of a better word) episodic in nature. Furthermore, the psychological touches exhibited by especially Cena were terrific, yet one can't help but feel that they were in a sense a deliberate mask of sorts for the fact that Cena was not at his very best here, which is understandable since it is his first match back after a serious injury. So when all is said & done, this was definitely above-average and made the best out of the situation they were in. Match Rating... 8
PPV RATING (38.5/60) = 64
Looking at the key, I have basically given the 2008 version of ‘Survivor Series’ a 'C+' grade & said that it was ‘worth a watch'. I think that is pretty much spot on with regards to grade & comment, although something like a 61 or 62 may have been more apt numerically. Maybe it was the excellent opener which resulted in me being a little disappointed as the night wore on or maybe it was something else, but I have the overall feeling that this show should have been a great deal better that it ended up being. It's tough to say right now & it will be interesting how this card ages, since I am unsure how many things will stick in one's memory. And while I may be in the minority here, coming out of the ppv with 2 World Champions who have not even wrestled for months leaves a little sour taste for mine.
Booking WrestleMania 25
Make no bones about it, booking the grand-daddy of all wrestling pay-per-views is never an easy task 4 months before it actually occurs. But I attempted to do it almost to the day last year, so I thought "why shouldn't I embarrass myself again?" This year is as difficult as any other year to forecast what is going to occur and I am unsure if the recent title changes at Survivor Series shed more light on the situation or make it even more difficult to guess what is in the minds of WWE personnel.
I have always thought that 9 is probably the best number of matches for a WrestleMania these days... Especially considering the event will last all of 4 hours. 10 may be a tad too much to allow for backstage shenanigans & proper entrances, while 8 seems one too little unless one of the matches is turned into a 'Best Of 3 Falls' bout or something like that. For neatness sake, I have attempted to break the card down into halves. The first half listed in the 'Main' section is what I believe to be the 5 bouts that will arguably (for want of better wording) sell the card to a large extent. But then take a look at the other 4 matches I have booked in the 'Dessert' section & you will hopefully see some semblance of depth in the card I have put together.
MAIN - The 5 Main Attractions
JOHN CENA vs BATISTA for the World HeavyWeight Title: You would have to think that Raw's half of the double main-event will contain 2 (or all 3) of Cena, Batista & Orton. At the moment, Orton would best be included so as to have a definitive face and a definitive heel. But you can't help but feel that the seeds are already being planted to change both Cena's & Batista's characters in the upcoming months. It is possible that the bout would still be a face vs face match with both men exhibiting tweener characteristics, however I would personally prefer something else; Batista to absolutely snap & go psycho heel.
Seriously, this has been such a long time coming that I'm almost starting to believe that it is not going to occur! The thing is, we all know Batista will be a natural at it. And while he definitely does have his fans (including younger ones), his heel turn would have much less of an effect on overall business when compared to any hypothetical Cena heel turn. While their SummerSlam bout disappointed some, I don't think the build up to it was all that well put together and I would hope that both WWE creative and the wrestlers themselves will have learnt enough from that match to resolve the issues some 7 month later on the biggest stage of them all.
EDGE vs TRIPLE H vs THE UNDERTAKER in a Triple-Threat Match for the WWE Championship: I think personal preference here could point towards Triple H vs The Undertaker in a singles bout, but when everything is taken into account, then I believe Edge has well and truly earned his position in such a high profile match. There is no way that WWE would go with Edge vs 'Taker 2 years in a row, so that would suggest Edge vs HHH. I am certain many fans would prefer that, leaving The Undertaker to wrestle against John Cena in a dream match for many. But I just can't help but feel WWE do not want to do that match-up just yet.
With all that said, the best option to fall back on is this triple-threat match-up. With Edge playing the clear heel, both H & 'Taker can remain faces which what I believe WWE would prefer. Obviously, one or both would have to adjust their character a little, but that would be very easy for HHH and could even be a minor experiment towards a future full-blown heel turn. Any limitations from the triple-threat situation should be well and truly overcome by the experience and versatility of these 3 and the unpredictability factor should be huge.
RANDY ORTON vs 'STONE COLD' STEVE AUSTIN: As I was perusing the currently rostered WWE superstars on wwe.com, it came to my attention that 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin is actually listed as a member of Raw! I don't believe that to be a recent addition or anything, but I suppose it sort of says something. Seriously, Austin isn't getting any younger and there is only so long that he can wait for his injuries to heal to any great extent. I think WrestleMania 25 may very well be the last opportunity for that "1 last match" for the Rattlesnake.
Looking at potential opponents, I think 4 could be considered; Edge, Jericho, JBL & Orton. But to me, one stands out; The Legend Killer. A match, and possibly even a win, against Austin could be that last piece of the puzzle to really put Randy over as a main-event heel. And with his experience in working against veterans in the past, then I actually think this could be a strong bout whose build-up would practically write itself.
CM PUNK vs REY MYSTERIO vs EVAN BOURNE vs MR. KENNEDY vs KANE vs THE BRIAN KENDRICK vs SHELTON BENJAMIN vs SANTINO MARELLA in a 'Money In The Bank' Ladder Match: I know... I know... I have 8 participants listed here, but it's more a substitute-like situation in case any of the wrestlers get injured (or in the case of Kennedy & Bourne, they are not ready to return to action just yet). Of course, cases could also be made for the likes of Kofi Kingston, R-Truth & The Miz here. I excluded Jeff Hardy from proceedings, because I think the unpredictability factor would be thrown out the window if he is involved in the match.
CM Punk should defend his win from earlier this year, while I also think Mysterio & Kane could add upper-card prestige to the bout. The remainder of the participants would obviously add entertainment value in one shape or another. While it may not look like a stellar bout on paper, it's the Money In The Bank match... So you just know it will be all kinds of entertaining come the night. As for the winner; I guess it comes down to Punk or Rey, although that may depend on WWE's thoughts of Kennedy at the time.
THE HARDY BOYZ vs CHRIS JERICHO & CHRISTIAN with the Wrestler Earning the Pinfall gaining a shot at the Title of his choice at 'Backlash': IF Christian does make his way back to WWE, everyone is automatically presuming he will become involved in a feud between Edge & Jeff Hardy. While I think he could initially play a role in that, I think it would only serve to be a link to oppose Jeff and not to form an allegiance with Edge. Many also forget the allegiance that Christian once had with Chris Jericho and I somehow feel that Y2J could become involved in such a feud since it is likely that his true main-event run will come to an end before the year is out.
I would add the stipulation above for a few reasons. Firstly, it obviously makes the match seem more important, and secondly, it could distract attention away from a slightly weaker than usual 'Money In The Bank' Ladder Match. However, the main reason would be just to add that little bit of intrigue and edge to not only the bout, but to the characters themselves. This would especially be effective with Jeff's recent character traits and I think Matt could also be served well by some ambition. On the heel side of things, could Y2J trust Christian after all these years? Oh and one last thing; This match would tear the house down!
DESSERT - The 4 To Add Depth
SHAWN MICHAELS vs JOHN MORRISON: HBK is tough to place on this card in my opinion. I still can't help but get the feeling that his feud of the year against Y2J should have been aborted a couple of months earlier than it eventually was, just so the payoff match could have taken place in Houston on this card. That seems unlikely now and pretty much every other match-up for Michaels has already been done in the past.
In all honesty, I don't actually think this will be a bout to take place at WrestleMania 25 because the teasing of this feud has started way too early. It is more likely that these 2 will wrestle against each other at the Royal Rumble, or even at next month's Armageddon. However, I think Morrison has done his time and the opportunity to give him a good push may be too much to pass up. For that reason, he could also be a chance to win the 'Money In The Bank' Ladder Match if he was involved in that. But this bout could still occur at 'Mania and with a careful building up of such a feud could be an absolute corker come the night, while also establishing Morrison as an upper-midcarder.
BETH PHOENIX vs GAIL KIM for the WWE Woman's Title (Possibly a Unified Title): Recent rumors suggest that Gail Kim has indeed signed to return to WWE. However, recent rumors also suggest that she will be debuting on the SmackDown brand, which may make this match-up a little difficult to put together... Unless of course the WWE decide to do away with that silly Divas Title over on SmackDown and unify the 2 Women's Divisions!
When it comes to the Women's matches at WrestleMania, WWE usually reserve the spot in order to sell a few copies of a certain gentlemen's magazine. Well, there are other ways to do that in non-match format, and it is about time the promotion began pitting their 2 best wrestling females against each other on the biggest night of the wrestling year. Not only would Beth & Gail be those 2 ladies come April, but they could arguably be the best 2 women's wrestlers in America right now!
THE BIG SHOW vs THE GREAT KHALI vs VLADIMIR KOZLOV in a Triple-Threat Match: The way I look at it is that there is always going to be giants on the books of a Vince McMahon run wrestling promotion. When it comes to the biggest show of the year, if they must be used, then use as many of them as possible in the one match... Because if you spread them out over a number of bouts, then they are likely to bring down the quality of numerous matches.
These 3 seem the most likely of the giants to be still getting pushed in 4 months time, so they may as well take part in a triple-threat match. Khali can play the outright face that the crowd can get behind, Kozlov the outright heel, while The Big Show can grin his way through character changes as the match progresses! Yeah, it would still be pretty bad, but at least 2 of these guys are bound to be on the card, so I am just trying to be realistic.
JBL, CODY RHODES & TED DIBIASE vs UMAGA, CARLITO & PRIMO: No matter which format it comes in, there is seemingly always one filler bout on a WrestleMania card and with JBL being the highest-placed wrestler without a position thus far on the card, he has to be involved somehow. I would love to have a simple tag-team title match on the card, but we all know what Vince thinks of the tag-team divisions nowadays. So the best compromise is to take both teams that I believe could be the champions at the time and put them together with a singles wrestler each to form a 6 man tag match.
JBL would actually be a half-decent mentor for Rhodes & Dibiase if the Orton partnership leads nowhere and the best I can come up with on the SmackDown face side of the ledger would be Umaga and R-Truth. I suppose it all depends on WWEs grand plan for Umaga upon return, but I'm going to suggest his belated face turn might finally occur this time around. Another situation which may present itself regarding this undercard match is if WWE decide to promote the New Hart Foundation or whatever they are going to call DH Smith & TJ Evans. Then it could become a 6 person intergender bout with Natalya and some other diva involved.
Ok, so there is the WrestleMania 25 card according to me... 4 and a bit months from the grand-daddy of them all. I am certain I will be nowhere near the mark, but it's still fun to begin thinking ahead and seeing just how close we can all get to picking the card a third of the year out. Looking back over my card, it initially seems as if it lacks depth. The usual problem with such a weakness is that the event may be difficult to sell, but I think that in this case, WWE could easily concentrate the majority of their publicity & promotion on the 3 matches I have listed first. And those 3 bouts could very well be worth the price of admission alone. While the rest of my card doesn't exactly look strong, just take a think about how the quality of those matches should turn out. At least 4 of the remaining 6 bouts booked could absolutely tear the house down, even including what may be the best women's title match we will ever see in WWE!
At this stage, I must make an apology to my readers... Or more correctly, my e-mailers. It has been approximately a fortnight since I have had the chance to reply to anyone that has sent me an email concerning one of my columns... And even at that stage, I had a dozen or so emails still pending to reply to. Time has just been really scarce of late and the few hours where I have had the opportunity to write concerning wrestling has been put into writing this and my previous column. Once more, apologies. I don't really know what to say with regards to replying to this particular column. I am obviously not going to stop you from doing so, and I will most likely reply to you at some stage, but unfortunately I cannot guarantee when.
One thing I will say is that if you leave your feedback in my feedback thread in the LOP Forums, then I am definitely more likely to reply to you sooner, so please keep that in mind if you are a forums member. My feedback thread is located at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=159. My email address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. And one last thing; The nature of this column will most likely result in longer responses. Ummm, how else can I put this other than saying it would be greatly appreciated if you could keep the responses as short as possible.
For the above reasons, I am unsure when I will be back with my next column. It is most likely NOT going to be next week, but there is a decent chance that it will be the Wednesday after. As always, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.
