Any trepidation that I had going into this pay-per-view was somewhat quelled by the fact that Survivor Series 2014 had two things going for it. It had well built up storylines culminating at this show and it took place in St. Louis, Missouri. This town has one of the best wrestling crowds in the country, if not the world.
I was sure that this wasn’t going to be an abysmal outing, but I wasn’t expecting it to exceed my expectations the way it did.
LOS MATADORES vs. THE MIZ & DAMIEN MIZDOW vs. THE USOS vs. GOLDUST & STARDUST (Fatal 4-Way for the WWE Tag Team Championship): Though this massive feud over the tag titles has felt very stale over the past several weeks, this match had more than enough high spots and entertaining moments to have warranted the buildup. Los Matadores won’t be in any high profile storylines, but their ring work was solid as always. The Rhodes’ brothers are not only working the hell out of their gimmicks, but Goldust is wrestling like he’s found the fountain of youth. The quadruple top rope superplex was a thing of beauty. The Usos have felt a bit stale, but are always strong in these types of matches. The highlight though was seeing how much the crowd was behind Damien ‘Miz’dow and when he made that pin, the entire arena was on their feet. WINNERS: THE MIZ & DAMIEN MIZDOW
PAIGE, CAMERON, SUMMER RAE & LAYLA vs. EMMA, ALICIA FOX, NAOMI & NATALYA: The traditional Survivor Series elimination tag matches have always worked to give screen time to those who maybe haven’t getting that much in a while. It also allows some of the weak links of the division to get face time without exposing the weak links of the division. Layla really surprised me as I thought she may have had a bit of ring rust, but she’s still as solid as she was when she and Michelle McCool ran roughshod over the Divas division several years ago. Emma and Paige had a back and forth that shows clearly why the NXT graduates tend to steal the show. Naomi is long overdue for a Diva’s title run. Even the aforementioned “weak links” didn’t derail this match too badly. WINNERS: EMMA, ALICIA FOX, NAOMI & NATALYA
DEAN AMBROSE vs. BRAY WYATT: I’ve made no bones about my disdain for how the Ambrose/Rollins feud was unceremoniously derailed for this current Ambrose/Wyatt feud. That being said, these gentlemen have brought their A-game with every promo and physical confrontation leading up to this match. This was not going to be a technical match or a thing of beauty. It was what it was meant to be, a brawl. Ring stairs, check. Steel chair, check. Table, well, you know the rest. I’m normally not a fan of matches decided by disqualification at a pay-per-view, but given the modus operandi of both superstars and the intensity of this feud, to use a quote from Celebrity Deathmatch, “I’ll allow it!” WINNER: BRAY WYATT
ADAM ROSE & THE BUNNY vs. HEATH SLATER & TITUS O’NEIL: Let’s be honest, this match should have been on WWE Superstars or Main Event, not on one of the “big four” pay-per-views of the year. It was far from a terrible match; with “Slater Gator” both looking crisp and Rose’s slow heel turn still unraveling nicely. But the Bunny feels so gimmicky that they’re obvious wrestling skill is trumped by the gimmick. A quick finish for a quick match, thankfully. WINNERS: ADAM ROSE & THE BUNNY
NIKKI BELLA vs. AJ LEE (Divas Championship Match): I have, in all my time of watching wrestling, never seen something so deplorable at a major pay-per-view. I take that back, not since the Kevin Nash “Finger Poke of Doom” have I seen such crap during a championship match at a pay-per-view. If the title was going to change hands, could we have at least gotten an actual match? Instead, we get a distraction, a sneak attack and a title change. I get the feeling that this was backstage machinations at work. WINNER: NIKKI BELLA
TEAM AUTHORITY (SETH ROLLINS, KANE, MARK HENRY, RUSEV & LUKE HARPER) vs. TEAM CENA (JOHN CENA, DOLPH ZIGGLER, BIG SHOW, RYBACK & ERIC ROWAN): This traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match had quite the build up over the past several weeks. Vince McMahon himself just last week upped the ante, stating that if Team Authority loses, then Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are removed from power as far as the weekly programs are concerned. Despite their efforts to not be predictable, some pretty obvious things occurred. Big Show’s comeuppance of Mark Henry was expected, and in a way that made the “world’s strongest man” look like a complete chump was also expected. The standoff between Rowan and Harper was curtailed before it erupted into a brawl. The unexpected finally occurred when Cena was not the last man standing for his team and Ziggler was given his “Rocky” moment. This moment was almost robbed when Triple H interfered with the referee’s decision twice. But a hell of a shocker occurred when Sting, a man who has never stepped foot into a WWE arena, put Triple H down and allowed Dolph Ziggler to pick up the win. WINNERS: TEAM CENA
I had misgivings at the mid part of this pay-per-view, but solid ring work and a hell of a main event match places this as one of the better PPVs of this year. How do you rank Survivor Series 2014?