Alright, so they could not have made the match on television. They announced it on WWE.com, the one traditional Survivor Series match for the event. It will pit The Rhodes Bros., The Usos and a mystery partner against The Shield and The Real Americans. I hope this match gets some build this week, because it has the potential to be awesome. Yes, no story-line based match here, except everyone wanting a shot at the WWE World Tag Team Championships, but you have nine exceptional athletes in one match. Bravo WWE, bravo. Now, the mystery figure is intriguing. I just hope it isn’t someone lame like Santino or Khali to ruin it. It would be a good position for someone to change alliances, face-to-heel, just to add to the excitement.
We had an Arm Wrestling Challenge between John Cena and Alberto del Rio on SmackDown, which of course ended in a brawl with the World Champion staring at the lights. Yawn. Two more long yawns for Diva matches on the blue branded show, and the Award for “Two guys we haven’t seen in a while turn out to STILL be the jobbers we remember them to be” go to Hunico and Camacho as the Great Khali defeats them with ease.
Interestingly, The Wyatts have been attacking everyone, both faces and heels, which only adds to the great characters we have before us. Pure gold. Sadly, the Wyatts success likely means the demise of the Shield, unless they get a new lease on life in the near future.
Kicking off RAW, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon talk about without them, the WWE would be in chaos, as evidenced by last week. Interrupting Randy Orton hits the ring, whining and crying over not being respected because he’s a spoiled brat. Oh wait, this is his real self. He is then interrupted by Brad Maddox and Vickie Guerrero apologizing for the debacle. Maddox throws Vickie under the bus, and they both wind up with matches. Triple H puts Vickie in a match with AJ Lee while Maddox must enter the ring to face Orton. Before Maddox can escape, Kane arrives and escorts him to the ring. Maddox puts up a short fight, but winds up being knocked out after Orton beats him in the head with the microphone.
Odd way to start, Orton is either losing his mind or he is playing up the spoiled brat routine.
It was obvious how this was turning out, as Big E. Langston defeated Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Championship. A somewhat decent match, with Langston easily overpowering the smaller Axel. Axel had some offense in, but the vibe man, the vibe, Axel was there to lose. Poor guy. Langston will make a fine champion, and perhaps end the Curse of the IC Title. Langston can get the crowd behind him, and I believe he will easily become a true main eventer in 2014.
We go from great to lame as all the Divas are in the ring with Jerry Lawler for a country musical chairs. Did I forget to mention the theme tonight is Raw Is Country? Well good because it’s lame, pointless and all to help Florida Georgia Line promote an album. Natalya is eliminated, and then it breaks down into a brawl. Later on, the second Traditional Survivor Series match is announced, a 7-on-7 Diva match. Major yawn.
Orton tells The Shield he wants them to have his back. Orton says he will have theirs. Uhm, Shield is a group of three? Don’t think they need it. Math, Orton… Math.
In a shocker, Big Show and Ryback had a pretty damn good match. I would have thought Ryback was going to be fodder like Axel was for Langston. Ryback took the match to Show, scoring his Meathook and even hoisting Big Show on his shoulders, dropping the big man hard with Shell Shock. Show got the win via the WMD Punch. Again, really good match. Post-match, Orton tried attacking Show, but ate a spear. Backstage, Orton whines that the Shield didn’t come out.
Finally, after months of stagnation, The Miz turned heel by turning on Kofi Kingston during his tag bout against the Real Americans. Nothing special, Miz just ditched Kofi during the match. This was easily in the works as overseas, Miz faced off against Kofi and cut a very heel promo before the match. Maybe now Miz can get back to being good again.
AJ Lee beat Vickie.
Dolph Ziggler has some fun, defeating Damien Sandow in a Broadway Brawl. A lot of guitars and a drum set litter the ring, as the two former push-recipients beat each other senseless in a good match. At one point JBL, obviously drunk, wonders where all the guitars came from and asks Cole if saying “Double J” is legal. That question is answered, as after Ziggler busts a drum over Sandow’s head, the Show Off grabs a guitar, doing an all-too familiar strut, El-Kabongs Sandow over the head. No, Michael Cole did not say “Vintage Jeff Jarrett.”
John Cena and Alberto del Rio talk. Cena not on his game tonight on the mic. Del Rio outclasses him easily.
Xavier Woods, otherwise familiar as Consequences Creed from TNA made his RAW debut as R-Truth’s new tag partner. Gotta have something for him to do. I mean Truth. They easily defeat 3MB, calling themselves Rhinestone Cowboys for the night.
We get some ridiculous musical performance by Florida Ohio Oregon South Dakota Montana Main Georgia Lineup Batter Up Strike Out. Excuse me while I hit the toilet before what should be an EPIC 12-Man Match featuring:
Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, The Rhodes Bros., The Usos vs. The Shield and The Wyatt Family
This match was EPIC. AWESOME. INCREDIBLE. I want to play-by-play this, but I can’t. This match maintained a fast pace with frequent tags, incredible exchanges and probably some of the best in-ring work I have ever seen in a multi-man tag match like this. THIS should have been Survivor Series right here. It is amazing to see how over the Usos are. Really a shame they have not been able to hold the tag titles. Goldust still has it. Hell, he never lost it. Shield and Wyatts brought some tense moment, and wound up working very well as a unit. Punk and Bryan, of course incredible. Bryan murdered Rollins with an overhead German Suplex, Punk nailed Rollins and Ambrose with a neckbreaker/DDT combo. This was a great match. Find a clip of it somewhere if you can.
After Punk pinned Ambrose for the victory, The Real Americans rushed the ring and with the help of the Hounds of Justice and the Wyatts, the faces faced a beatdown until… Rey Mysterio returned and somehow leveled the fight. Yeah, Rey Mysterio is back, and my guess is he is the mystery partner for the Traditional Survivor Series match this Sunday.
So this Sunday, we have:
Alberto del Rio vs. John Cena – World Heavyweight Championship
The Big Show vs. Randy Orton – WWE Championship
CM Punk and Daniel Bryan vs. The Wyatts
The Usos, The Rhodes Bros., and Rey Mysterio (probably) vs. The Real Americans and The Shield
Divas Survivor Series Match
Hopefully more to come this week, and guess what…
Michael Strahan is guest hosting RAW next week.
Comments are closed.