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 The Snowman is a genius Follow @TheDocLOP QUESTIONS OF THE MONTH: What do you think will happen next in the Authority storyline? Were you satisfied with the long-awaited debut of Sting? The following is a case study of WWE’s product for the month of November 2014. Mostly Flowing, Coherent TV Shows November was once a proudly historic month for WWE. Survivor Series debuted in November 1987 to massive fanfare, garnering 7% of the potential pay-per-viewing audience and beginning a special event tradition for the fall season. Two decades worth of memorable happenings followed, including the continuation of the Hogan-Andre feud, the debut of the Undertaker and Rock, the beginning of the Owen vs. Bret storyline, the Montreal Screwjob, the conclusion of the Invasion, the classic Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff, and Raw vs. Smackdown! Since the 2006 edition, however, WWE had rested on its laurels and shoved its collective head up its rear end. Matches announced online, creative efforts that frequently registered less than a 5 on a 10 scale, and the weakened importance on the match type that popularized the namesake combined to make Survivor Series a poor drawing shell of what it used to be, nearly getting cancelled after 2009. 2014 welcomed back the relevance of the Survivor Series. And how refreshing it was. Say what you will about WWE offering the Network for free in November, but doing so raised the profile of the Survivor Series to a level it had not reached since 2005. Be it evidence of a company in desperation mode amidst heavy financial losses or be it the mere equivalent of the NFL Sunday Ticket being reduced in price to put more eyes on its product toward season’s end, “Free Network Month” forced WWE to put its best foot forward in creating a compelling Survivor Series Elimination match. Monday Night Raw, thus, became host to a coherent, engaging, flowing professional wrestling program with very little fluff. As someone who has become a self-professed “DVR viewer” – meaning that I watch Raw on delay and usually fast forward through 50-75% of the show on any given week – it was a change of pace to find myself invested in the matches (because they had meaning) and paying close attention to mid-carders (because they had purpose). The resurgence of Dolph Ziggler was the highlight of the month for me, personally. Those of you that have followed my column for years know that, in 2011, The Show Off organically became my favorite up-and-coming star. So, to see him fall on hard times for the last 18 months and rebound has been reinvigorating to my fandom. John Cena, the target of my ire for half the year, may have been the primary focal point of the Authority’s negative energy, but I consider it a job very well done by WWE to have allowed Ziggler, along with the also resurgent Ryback, to shine, too. When you run up against the firmly established top heels in the company while simultaneously rubbing elbows with the Golden Boy, it makes you look really good by association alone. Ziggler and Ryback made the most of their opportunities throughout the build-up to Survivor Series. There’s something there with both Ziggler and Ryback. Amidst all the talk of the pending Roman Reigns push, you have these two, decade-tenured talents whose reactions from the audience make the former muscle of the Shield’s pops seem paltry. It’s like an explosion versus a fart. They may not be as marketable, but they’re surely more popular. If WWE wants to push them strong into Mania season, they certainly can. It warrants noting that Roman’s one appearance this month was a continuation of the derpy derp plan of turning him into a smiling dufus. If WWE’s aim with Reigns is to strip away all of what made him a badass and reduce him to a whitemeat babyface with little to offer but poorly delivered catchphrases, then they’re succeeding. While he’s cocking that there fist, the people are checking Twitter on their phones. Hey, at least they got his hair right. Anyhow, Survivor Series Elimination matches have always been great showcases of the mid-card divisions. This year’s did an admirable job of elevating the Intercontinental and United States Championships. Don’t look now, but both belts actually carry some legitimate importance. I’d have preferred that the title changes take place on PPV within the context of a one-on-one feud with the gold as the storyline focus. Beggars can’t be choosers, though. Rusev’s victory over Sheamus was executed in unique fashion, prompting prospective Network subscribers to see the title change after Raw on a Network-only exclusive. The US title is now on the shoulder of a fast-rising star. That’s where it belongs. The IC Championship switch to Luke Harper was a surprise, but it fit the angle. Ziggler’s run as the division’s top challenger and champion wound up being a strange throwback to days when the title and the top guy holding it / vying for it were elevated in unison, so putting the strap on Harper should serve the purpose of keeping the title relevant as either Dolph seeks to regain it or a new challenger emerges. Though the Authority and Team Cena offered Raw a chance to replace the usual filler, it dominated pretty much all of the booking attention. I was largely unimpressed with the Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt saga this month on television. Following the borderline, time-still-needs-to-test-it-to-be-a-full-blown classic Hell in a Cell match between Ambrose and Seth Rollins, which served as the launching pad for Wyatt-Ambrose, I was hoping for something that felt a little more epic. The hype was anything but epic. WWE seemed to be banking completely on Team Cena vs. Team Authority selling the PPV and Network subscriptions, leaving little more than creative scraps for what originally appeared to be a secondary main-event, but wound up being a decidedly mid-card affair. It was akin to the National Football League advertising its Thanksgiving Day line-up on network television with a lavish video production package on the history of the Eagles vs. Cowboys rivalry, yet only including a small line of text to remind people that the Bears and Lions were playing, too. Given the stature of Ambrose and Wyatt in the current WWE hierarchy, that was supremely disappointing. WWE will have to be careful with how they handle Ambrose. He caters to a sect of the fanbase that wants unpredictability and mayhem blended together into a singular package. The Lunatic Fringe has the potential to be a more marketable version of CM Punk, who ascended to the #2 spot in the company. However, his momentum is not going to get stronger just by wrestling matches. WWE can ill afford, in this day and age, to focus so much attention on just one PPV match, even if that one match deserves the lion’s share of it. Ambrose took a step back in November after being Wrestler of the Month in October. It really didn’t need to be that way. The last Raw of November ended the month on a low note. It was nice to see Daniel Bryan participating, but it felt like a holiday / throwaway show that did nothing to promote interest in a PPV that is coming up faster than you can say “Christmas.” Three out of four Raws ain’t bad, right? Survivor Series Review It was advertised as a one (and a half) match show, essentially, and it delivered like a two match show. Wyatt vs. Ambrose was far better than its hype. Unlike the Jericho-Wyatt matches, which were built on similarly uninspired weeks television build-up, Dean and Bray did not try to spend a lot of time accentuating plot points from a story that never caught on, instead opting to brawl their tails off for 12-minutes before switching gears to executing the next phase of the arc for the TLC PPV. You could tell from the crowd in the early going that they were going to have to work hard to win them over. They accomplished their mission well. [*** ½] The Survivor Series Elimination match was excellent and one of the best matches of the year. It felt like a big deal. The opening segment of the night was something typically reserved for Raw, but was not out of place on a show that they basically sold the entire PPV and Network audience on purchasing. It merely reinforced why most of us were watching and added a nice final stipulation. For me, Authority winning was always the likely scenario. The late additions to the stipulation list seemed to swing the vote in favor of Team Cena, but it created drama for fans that are in-the-know because, frankly, Cena and Triple H are two entities in wrestling lore that smarks expect to win. Using Sting to ensure The Authority’s demise was very intriguing. Just seeing him on WWE TV was good for a mark out moment. The fact that Dolph Ziggler was the sole survivor was the icing on a delectable cake for me. It took every dastardly trick in the Authority’s book to keep Ziggler from winning on his own after being the lone grappler against three other guys. The entire match was simply 42-minutes of wildly entertaining, masterfully crafted booking. [**** ½] The highlight of the rest of the show was the Fatal Fourway Tag Team Championship match, won by the red hot duo, The Miz and Damien Mizdow. As has become standard this year, the division was given a good amount of time for their match to play out and they all stepped up. The two new tandems to the title party looked right at home in the spotlight. For the sake of the division, I hope that the champs are short-term solutions capitalizing on a surprise hit of the fall season. I’d hate for a comedy team to tarnish the serious tone that the Usos, Dust Brothers, and others set throughout the year. [***]. AJ got the kiss of death to her title reign thanks to Brie Bella, playing off of Brie’s husband, Daniel Bryan’s WM 28 guffaw. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was a great segment [N/A]. The remainder of the card was garbage. Match of the Month: Team Authority vs. Team Cena at Survivor Series There were actually two candidates. To some of the purists, it’d be almost criminal not to shine the spotlight on Dolph Ziggler, Tyson Kidd, and Cesaro one last time for their Smackdown Intercontinental Championship match. It was the type of exhibition that would’ve made the Smackdown Six proud – a wonderfully random title bout. However, as good as it was, it wasn’t the Survivor Series Elimination match that may well go down as the greatest in Fall Classic lore. Team Cena vs. Team Authority immediately jumped into the conversation for Match of the Year and joined Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff, Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown, and WWE vs. WCW/ECW Alliance as one of the greatest 5-on-5s. Every match, when attempting to rank it against its peers, must first pass the test of time, of course. Intangibly, it would do the match many favors - when putting it into historical focus - if Ziggler used the night as a springboard to main-event stardom (still not buying that, yet) and Sting’s angle with Triple H ended up fondly remembered (jury’s still out). Previous MOTM winners: Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan at Royal Rumble (Jan), Wyatts vs. Shield at Elimination Chamber (Feb), Wyatts vs. Shield on Raw (Mar), Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H at WrestleMania (Apr), Evolution vs. Shield at Extreme Rules (May), John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt at Payback (June), Usos vs. Wyatts at Battleground (July), Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins at Summerslam (Aug), Sheamus vs. Cesaro at Night of Champions (Sept), Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell (Oct) Wrestler of the Month: Dolph Ziggler If you’d have told me a month ago that I’d be listing Dolph Ziggler as the Wrestler of November 2014, I’d have called you a liar, Mean Gene. He was not the runaway winner, as several participants in the Authority vs. Team Cena angle were under consideration. From a kayfabe accomplishment standpoint, it doesn’t get much bigger than knocking the dominant heel stable of the era out of power as the sole survivor of a star-studded Elimination Tag Team match. From a behind-the-scenes perspective, it’s difficult to deny the appeal in a comeback story like his. For reasons not totally clear to date, Ziggler went from on-the-brink of a top 5 spot in the pecking order to fodder for far less talented, far less over characters. Yet, he endured. That’s inspiring! Not surprisingly, the people have rallied behind him, with one of the moments of the month being the reaction he received in the United Kingdom. The brighter spotlight gave the Show Off a showcase to bump Perfectly around the ring as he can without peers, making everyone else look good en route to personal triumph. Previous WOTM winners: Daniel Bryan (Jan), Cesaro (Feb), Bray Wyatt (Mar), Daniel Bryan (Apr), The Shield (May), Seth Rollins (June), Dean Ambrose (July), Seth Rollins (Aug), Rusev (Sept), Dean Ambrose (Oct) December Predictions Looking ahead to the month of December, the TLC PPV is only in the middle of the month, so it will be interesting to see if anything significant pops up during the holidays ala last year’s announcement that Batista was returning in the New Year. Wyatt and Ambrose are already booked for a non-traditional TLC match of the 2012 Shield-Team Hell No/Ryback mold. That’s a feud-ender, typically, but doesn’t feel like it this time. I think the feud will be enhanced by creative’s attention getting back to its usual division. I expect Randy Orton to return and get something going with Seth Rollins, but that could be put on hold until January to give John Cena something to do before renewing his boring rivalry with Brock Lesnar. Cena vs. Rollins is bound to happen at some point and Rollins in a Ladder match defending the MITB briefcase seems likely to me. I foresee Rollins being in the main-event, no matter who he faces. Ziggler vs. Harper would make sense. As for Sting, there's still so many unanswered questions with him that I don't know what to write about. He has arrived and appears to be headed for a match with Triple H, but it may be awhile before anything gets added to that angle.
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