Survivor Series Recap 2013

This past Sunday the WWE held its annual Survivor Series PPV. The show was not their best effort but may have been better then the last few pay per views the company has had. One of the big positives of Survivor Series was the showcase of young talent. We here at Ring Time Pro Wrestling will give you our match my match perspective.

The preshow match of The Miz vs Kofi Kingston was a solid match. The WWE did something during this match that I have grown over the past few events. They showed a commercial during the match. Despite that both performers held their own and hit some nice spots on each other. There was a small story to set this match and Miz seems to be heading back to his natural heel character. The Miz won this match via pin fall but don’t expect this to over between the 2 of them anytime soon.

The opening of the official started with the Traditional Survivor Series match. The Real Americans and The Shield took on the Rhodes Brothers, The Usos and Rey Mysterio. This may have been the match of the night. The match kicked off with Dean Ambrose and Cody Rhodes going at it. The early advantage went to the baby face team as the Real Americans and Ambrose were eliminated, giving Rhodes and company a 5 on 2 advantage.

The last 2 men left on heel team were Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins and this began the Roman Reigns coming out party. If you were not familiar Samoan powerhouse then you got a strong introduction in this match. Reigns eliminated the next opponents being Jimmy Uso and Cody Rhodes with back breaking spears. His partner Rollins was able to take out Jey Uso but was then later eliminated. Roman was left by himself against Rey Mysterio and Goldust. Reigns stepped it up again and hit bone crushing spears on both of those men to be the sole survivor of this match.

It was actually refreshing to see the Intercontinental Championship defended on a PPV during the real show. Big E Langston gave Curtis Axle his rematch for the belt. It was a solid match and Axle is a good worker. I thought this match did a lot for Langston giving him large stage to showcase his talent. The rematch between these two had more emotion and intense. The match ended with Langston retaining his title via pin fall. After match Langston had an in ring interview where he used the Mick Foley panders to the home crowd technique.

Not a lot to say about the Diva’s match. The Total Divas vs The True Divas may have tried to cram too much into the match. There was no need to go 7 on 7 but I guess to promote the reality show all 7 cast members had to be in the match. Lately the main focus has not been to showcase wrestling talent but boost ratings for the E Network on Sunday nights. The match ended with the Natty defeating AJ Lee. If you missed this one they do a rerun on RAW the next night.

The public got a surprise when Ryback came down to the ring and made an open challenge. He wanted to prove he could take on anybody in the locker room. To everybody’s surprise we got the return of the “World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry. Mark looked very good in his first match back from injury. After little back and forth, Mark hit the “World’s Strongest Slam” for the win.

The John Cena return tour made is second pay per view stop at Survivor Series. He faced former champion Alberto Del Rio in a rematch of their bout at Hell in a Cell. The Champion was still showing some signs of pain from the arm injury that kept him out of action for four months. The match had a predictable feel to it. Of course Del Rio attacked Cena’s bad arm and even got in the cross arm breaker. Cena performed the usual “Super Cena” magic and lifted up Del Rio and slammed him down hard. There were a few counters back and forth but the match ended with Cena hitting Del Rio with AA to retain the World Heavyweight title.

The Best teamed with The Beard to take on a group whom actually hold their own in the beard department. The Wyatts represented by Luke Harper and Eric Rowan took on CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. Bray Wyatt was in his boy’s corner but was not a part of the match. The one was definitely a match of the night contender. Punk and Bryan were able to go toe to toe with Bray’s big monsters. There tense moments though out the match and fans were wired this match. Bray actually kept the physical involvement to minimum. This was consistent with Triple H’s message from earlier that there would be no interference in any match that night. Wyatt still became a victim of a Punk dive off the top as he got too close to the ring. The match ended with Punk hitting Harper with the GTS. Bray Wyatt teased coming into the ring to fight Bryan and Punk but thought better of it and walked way. This one is far from over.

Prior to the main event match we saw John Cena talking to The Authority. Then Randy Orton walked in and appeared to be upset by Cena’s presence

The Big Show finally got his hands on Randy Orton. The match for the WWE title did not seem to captivate the crowd as chants of “Boring” were heard during the match. Big Show appeared to have had the match almost won until; Triple H’s theme music hit and The Authority came out to the ramp. That small distraction allowed Orton to hit an unsuspecting Show with a RKO and then a punt to win the match.

After the match The Authority seemed pleased that their guy had won. The crowd in Boston was not so hot on the idea. Then a surprise that no one was expecting as John Cena made his way to the ring. The two champions face off in the ring holding their respective belts in the air as the show goes off. This was a tease for a match that we found out about the next day on RAW. It will take place at the next WWE PPV called TLC. Hopefully the fans will not find that main event boring.

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr