|
”The Doc” Chad Matthews has been a featured writer for LOP since 2004. Initially offering detailed recaps and reviews for WWE's top programs, he transitioned to writing columns in 2010. In addition to his discussion-provoking current event pieces, he has written many acclaimed series about WrestleMania, as well as a popular short story chronicle. The Doc has also penned a book, The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment, published in 2013. It has been called “the best wrestling book I have ever read” and holds a 5-star rating on Amazon, where it peaked at #3 on the wrestling charts. Follow @TheDocLOP QUESTION OF THE DAY: Looking back at the last three years, when would you have pulled the trigger on Brock Lesnar transferring the heat he gained from ending The Streak? Survivor Series 2016 will go down in history as one of the most memorable editions of the November Classic in recent memory for reasons both good and bad; perhaps the kindest thing that can be said about it is that it certainly did feel like a Big 4 pay-per-view, whereas for the majority of the last decade it has felt like a shell of its first-half-of-the-WrestleMania Era self. Let’s begin the discussion of the card with the controversy. Yet again, another major WWE PPV ended in such a way that no doubt has people talking, but most of the conversation centers on a theme that doesn’t extend to how much the people loved the show. At WrestleMania 31, for example, Seth Rollins shocked the world and it was the crescendo to a night near-universally praised by wrestling enthusiasts; there was a huge talking point that kept the chatter about WWE on social media going for days within the context of a program that made fans casual and diehard alike want to watch more. With every Big 4 event since, sans for the rock solid 2016 Royal Rumble, the storm created by the night’s shock-inducing moment has come at the expense of genuine enthusiasm for the overall show. Taker winning cheap at Summerslam ’15, Sheamus winning the title at Survivor Series ’15, Reigns climaxing a 5-hour marathon at WrestleMania 32, Lesnar knocking out Orton at Summerslam ’16, and now a Goldberg squash main-eventing Survivor Series ’16. It is a strange time to be a WWE fan. Less than twenty-four hours removed from Goldberg beating Brock Lesnar in less than two-minutes, I can readily admit that seeing the returning WCW icon demolish the seemingly unbeatable MMA and WWE legend was a huge moment that will be forever etched in the annals of WWE lore. Given Goldberg’s self-professed physical limitations and terribly long layoff, there may not have been a better way to book his rematch with Lesnar than to keep it as short and un-demanding as possible. It was booked in such a way that conventional wisdom would say definitively ended the feud, as Goldberg now sits at a very clean 2-0 in the series, but rumors suggest that the dominant finish was actually utilized to set-up yet another clash between titans at the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania; that it was simply Chapter 1 in a longer-running story. However, two major issues come to mind. The first: are there a ton of people out there dying to see more Lesnar vs. Goldberg matches? The build was strong on television, so a lot of folks like myself were won over, to an extent, on this rematch actually happening in the first place; yet I know that, for me, part of my on-paper-satisfaction with Part 2 of one of the worst WrestleMania headliners of all-time was that it was happening at Survivor Series – an event that needed the boost to put it on-par with its Big 4 compadres. The expectation now shifts, though, to having to endure more Goldberg? A blast from the past for nostalgia’s sake was fine for what it was and it gave Survivor Series an historical shot in the arm, but now we are forced to digest the reality that Goldberg vs. Lesnar might take up WrestleMania Season airtime too? Color me totally disinterested. The second and more obvious concern about Goldberg vs. Lesnar last night was that WWE yet again decided to sacrifice a massive, star-making moment that could have significantly enhanced their ability to draw money in the future on appeasing a niche (yes, niche) segment of wrestling’s past fanbase. Hundreds of thousands of occasional Raw viewers were catered to by simply having the Goldberg-Lesnar match; did they need to be pandered to, as well, by having Goldberg become the “1” in “23-1” on PPV? Gone now is the opportunity to utilize all the heat that Lesnar had built since ending Undertaker’s Streak to, as cliché as it may read, confirm a new superstar as the type who could have been the primary draw for a future historic showdown. The only reason that yours truly was ever OK with the Streak ending was the promise of seeing Lesnar transfer the heat that he got from it to a talent on the rise. So, not only did we see WWE once again try to be more like UFC, utilizing the “surprise, abrupt finish” as a very strange wrestling main-event storytelling device, they essentially rewrote the narrative on their own history; Lesnar beating Undertaker seemed to many like a complete waste three years ago and now even some of its staunchest defenders (like me) have no leg to stand on in defending it because, thanks to Goldberg squashing Lesnar, how can it be viewed today like anything other than a complete waste? A 50-year old has-been, not a 30-year old headliner, was the one for whom The Beast did the honors. Frankly, it’s difficult to stomach that decision. If you would like to hear my extended thoughts on the matter, I plan to let it breathe for another day and then discuss it heavily on “The Doc Says” this Wednesday. It is a shame really. Though I would give Lesnar vs. Goldberg negative fifty stars if forced to rate it, I actually found Survivor Series 2016 to be a really good show and much more akin to this year’s Royal Rumble than any of the aforementioned recent Big 4 events. The night got off to a bit of a slow start with a ho-hum Elimination Match between the Raw and Smackdown women’s divisions (**), but rebounded well with a strong mid-card match between The Miz and Sami Zayn. The Intercontinental Title bout should have probably been the opener; the pacing and spacing of the event as a whole, though, understandably required the traditional Survivor Series tags to be interspersed throughout as they were. They keep finding new ways for Miz to get cheap victories and it’s just flat out working, building for him legitimate heat and making people want to see him lose that much more. A classic strategy has been resurrected with particular verve via Miz and Maryse and it is one of the best things going today (*** ¼). The Elimination Match featuring the tag team divisions was a much better example of how to work the gimmick in a limited timeframe. The women seemed lost and rather uninspired trying to fit all of their stuff into 17-minutes and it is possible that they felt slighted given how far they have come in the last 18 months; they might well have presumed themselves to have moved collectively beyond being treated as mid-carders and had thought themselves worthy of a shot at stealing the show. Conversely, the tag teams are still very much accustomed to working fast and furious with a lot less time expected to come their way from bell-to-bell. The New Day being ousted so quickly set a frenetic tone, then they shifted well to a mid-match melee that thinned the field and ended with a sharp few minutes of action between the final pairings. Should they stick with a card like this in future editions of Survivor Series – and I, for one, hope that they do – then Shesaro et al vs. Usos et al could be considered a modern blueprint for the shorter versions of the time-honored match (*** ¼). Thanks to the stakes involved, I found it much easier to invest in the Cruiserweight Championship match than I probably otherwise would have been had the only thing on the line been the title itself. The prospect of the division logically shifting to Smackdown weighed against taking the title off of Brian Kendrick and moving it to the botch-machine, Kalisto, created a rather compelling dynamic. Thanks to the unique stipulation and thanks to Kalisto, to his credit, having one of his most complete performances to date, the cruiserweights finally added something besides monotony and fading memories of the CWC to a PPV. The Brian Kendrick and Kalisto both produced legitimate near falls that added to the presentation and both the two of them and the division itself came out of the match looking better than it did before. As for the finish, I still have a hard time caring about Baron Corbin (***). Raw vs. Smackdown peaked with the top men’s Elimination Match. I said on “The Doc Says” last week that, if you weren’t buying into this match based on brand supremacy, then surely you could based on the talent and the conflicts between them that had been built in the weeks prior. WWE was smart to deemphasize how much the wrestlers cared about brand supremacy (i.e. Ambrose and Styles being more concerned about their rivalry and upcoming WWE World Title bout at TLC) and focus more on the burgeoning and already established storylines between the various participants. As a result, every single superstar benefitted from his involvement. It was one of the greatest Survivor Series matches of all-time and was more clearly definable stakes away from joining the Team Cena vs. Authority, Team Bischoff vs. Team Austin, and WWE vs. WCW conversation as arguably the gimmick’s quintessential achievement. There was so much noteworthy content and the execution, while not always spot-on, was pretty much awesome considering the 52-minute runtime. I found it to be one of the most complete, thoroughly engaging matches of the year to be frank (**** ½). All in all…it’s a shame that WWE keeps choosing Lesnar matches to main-event so many of these major PPVs because of the “shock factor” – which I maintain is the most overrated element in the WrestleMania Era’s success – over excellent works of art on the 20’X20’ canvas like the Raw vs. Smackdown men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match. Overall, the entirety of the program was enhanced by offering a fairly smooth-running show that did not overstay its welcome; I had no issue with it fading to black at 10:30PM EST and actually found the length to be refreshing after some of these recent monster Big 4 PPVs. Unfortunately, Survivor Series was book-ended by a disappointing effort from the women and more head-scratching creative decisions for the main-event, which stole the thunder from the very good middle portion of the event.
|
