PPV Review - Survivor Series 2011

Survivor Series 2011 PPV Review


By Phil Allely

This year’s Survivor Series was built up on the fact that not only would The Rock be returning to the ring, but he would also be teaming up with the man he will face at next year’s Wrestlemania John Cena.

Things opened up reasonably well with John Morrison tackling United States Champion Dolph Ziggler in a high spirited encounter. Ziggler retained, getting a beat down by the ever popular Zack Ryder for his trouble.

Next up the Divas roster got a payday as they manned the ringside area in the Lumberjill match between champ Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres. With a few pieces of outside interference form the Lumberjills this was a nice match –up, Phoenix nailed a top rope Glam Slam to retain her gold.

The ever popular Rock took to the mic and whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Hyping up his match and his hatred for John Cena.

In the only traditional Survivor Series match of the night Team Barrett (Wade Barrett, Junico, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes) faced Team Orton (Randy Orton, Sheamus, Sin Cara, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan). Starting off as a two team brawl this developed nicely into an old school Survivor Series scrap. The teams traded the advantage with eliminations and we even saw a swift change in direction s Cara went down to a legitimate injury (his partners and opponents quickly working around this situation to maintain momentum). The finish proved enjoyable as Orton fell to Barrett’s Wasteland move to allow Rhodes and Barrett the well-deserved win.

After the impact of their previous PPV scrap (where the ring collapsed) the World Heavyweight Title rematch between Big Show and Mark Henry failed to live up to its previous heights. This was unfortunately a more plodding affair and as such the crowd were not in the zone for much of it. Show did make one high impact elbow move off the ropes and he did elicit a Randy Savage chant by doing so. The end came when Henry struck Show below the belt to gain a DQ finish and keep his belt.

CM Punk saw his star rise once again in his WWE Title battle with champ Alberto Del Rio. Punk and Del Rio work very well together and this match showcased that fully. The pair traded near falls trademark moves and high spots before Punk locked in an Anaconda Vice to grab himself the prestigious title.

Rock/Cena versus R-Truth/Miz had its moment. Rock was a man on fire (rolling back the years with ease), with no obvious signs of ring rust he stole the show. Truth and Miz worked hard in their roles, but this was Rock moment and he ran with it. Cena played his part too, working the match in his usual style, but maintaining a level of disregard for Rock and keeping their Mania prospects high in peoples minds. It was Rock who rounded things off here, hitting a perfectly times ‘Peoples Elbow’ on Miz to win.

Survivor Series was a reasonable effort, it would be nice to see more of the traditional SS matches (which offered up some unique teams/combos). CM Punk snared himself the gold once again and will now be the man to beat. Henry/Show looks like it will continue for now. The Cena/Rock story is still a work in progress and has many months left until we see it reach its conclusion. The WWE still need to build new stars and refresh its title scene however.