2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

The fatal 4way tag match was fine, but part of me is wondering how Mizdow is botched when he eventually turns on Miz. He's finally gotten over in the biggest way yet, but it's by imitating another guy. How is the character kept interesting without that schtick? Enjoy it while it lasts, Mizdow.

The Divas elimination match was painful to watch. About two-thirds of the division flat out sucks ass. I guess it's time for Paige to be cooled off, even if she is more over than most of the Divas in that match. It's the way The E does things: no logic.

I have nothing to say about the Rose/Bunny stuff.

Wyatt and Ambrose did fine work, but in a way it's a slight letdown because it ended up just being a big promo for the rematch at TLC.

As for AJ dropping the belt, I'm not surprised. Something fresh needed to happen. But I was shocked at how the change went down. Not going to complain about Brie-on-AJ action, but I don't buy the logic of the story. Suddenly Brie is okay with Nikki being an uber-bitch and helps her win the title? The only, only way that it makes sense is that Brie has a plan for getting Nikki to defend the belt against her later.

The main event has got to be one of the best Survivor Series matches I've seen in a long time. I wasn't that high on the main event on paper. Figured it would be another SuperCena love fest. Boy, was I wrong. For one, having Ziggler emerge as the sole survivor was fantastic. The guy is really getting his due right now, and it's great to watch. Logically, we should have expected it. Of all the guys who have sided against The Authority in the weeks leading up, he got his ass handed to him the worst of the bunch. But SuperCena involvement skews everything. It made Ziggler's triumph seem more of a surprise than it should have been. And The E is perpetually trolling us with Ryback. He's hot, then he's not, then he's hot again, then he's not. I guarantee you he was built simply to have a stronger looking Team Cena, and now he'll toil in midcard obscurity again. Otherwise, I can't wrap my head around why he was booked so strong and jobbed so hard.

As for Sting ... I marked out so hard I damn near had a stroke. As a teenager in the '90s, I was more of a WCW guy, so Sting was always a big part of my Monday night viewing. This is why I don't read rumors and spoilers before big shows. I want to be surprised more than I want to be smart.

I don't know what to make of the Cena clause in the contract. Why would Cena ever want to bring back The Authority? Another story thread that makes no sense unless it eventually leads somewhere. And with The E, abandoned story line threads are always a strong possibility.

 

One other thought on the Cena bringing back the Authority thing. Maybe he loses again by getting screwed out of the belt against Lesnar, then Heyman says that he gets no more title shots. Lesnar then wreaks havoc on everyone.

Then Cena, in a desperate move, calls up the Authority to say that only he can bring Lesnar down, but he needs them to force Heyman to make the match, and that he's willing to let them back into power.

 

First of all, Erick Rowan's theme is pretty great. Alright, now let's get to the match . Started off really well, especially with Henry taking the early job and adding some super early tension to the match. I was quite shocked to see Ryback be the second person eliminated in the match. Especially considering a large chunk of the build-up towards this match was seeing who would land the Big Guy on their team. But they made the Authority cheat to get him out, so there wasn't a huge blemish in that regard. The match kind of dragged for just a bit after Ryback got eliminated.

I did enjoy the chaos that followed before the Rusev elimination. The way Rusev was eliminated was questionable. I don't get why the referee would start the count on Rusev and Ziggler after Rusev would fall flat. Seemed weird. Maybe I'm being nitpicky. Decent way to protect Rusev. It all went up from there, though. Rowan looked pretty good for the chances he was given. Big Show turn fell SUPER flat. Makes sense given just how inconsistent Show's morals have been in his career. This match made Dolph Ziggler look like a million bucks. He had SEVERAL elongated face in peril scenarios where he was able to overcome everything. He kicked out of so much. I don't think anyone saw Ziggler being the sole survivor. And the way it was done was excellent. Now the WWE have to not drop the ball on Ziggler. They have to follow up on this huge performance they created for Ziggler. Triple H pulling out all the stops felt really reminiscent to the triple threat at WrestleMania 30. I actually joked with someone and said "watch them try to whip out the crooked ref" stuff with Scott Armstrong. And they did. As expected, a good amount of overbooking, but to my surprise (and mostly due to Ziggler's underdog status) did not really diminish the main event and actually added more intrigue than expected.

And of course, the debut of Sting. Such an iconic moment, and I'm seeing so many "I don't care for Sting but that was awesome!". Pretty sure we all know it would have been cool. Everyone was expecting Randy Orton, which would have made more sense, but this was still too cool not to pass up.

There was a lot more to get invested in than I expected. Some Attitude Era-y inspired stuff, but still a very iconic main event.

 

I think there is a pretty easy way out of it for them, in that Sting could demand that they be reinstated so that he can fight Triple H at Pay Per View X. Although, as everyone else says, I think a heel turn by Cena would be the most awesome way for them to come back.

 

What's more surprising to you:

Seeing Sting in a WWE ring or having Bret Hart come back to the WWE, and forgive Shawn Michaels?

 

Sting in a WWE ring. Guy was a WCW/TNA LIFER. Just never saw him siding with McMahon -- given his morality and such.

rb

 

Bret-Shawn but only because the Sting appearance seemed all but a given due to his working with the company for the video game. Now, had he just flat out appeared last night, with no prior mentions, it would have been a bigger shock but I think you forget just how shocking it was to have Hart back in the WWE.

 

There were already two elimination matches on the card. Three would have been a bit much, IMHO.

It is going to continue as they've already announced a match at TLC.

Henry really hasn't been known to sell anything, but did a great job last night.

It was a good way to keep him from getting pinned, which still hasn't happened, so I was OK with all of that.

Short of a Stone Cold sighting, who could have kept things in order? The match played out well, and it was great when things were totally chaotic.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing, exciting or surprising about Show turning on Cena, even though it did lead to Cena being eliminated. And having Cole play it up as he was doing it for his family was just stupid, because they've already done that several months ago when they threatened to "fire" Show. Just dumb.

Technically, it was three -- Kane, Harper and Rollins. I'm surprised they elevated him again, especially since he had been in the doghouse for the longest time.

He was the captain. Of course he was going to come back out.

 

I think it's interesting he never came back out when Triple H went haywire on Dolph. Coupled with his absences and lack of assistance for his teammates in the weeks leading up, he was an AWFUL captain.

 

Bret-Shawn, because none of that was expected.

Sting, like schie said, has been working with the WWE for a while now, even if it wasn't in an in-ring or TV role. That said, none of that lessened the impact of him being there last night.

 

Then what stopped the other members of Team Authority from running to the ring when Sting came out?

 

Well, three of them were unconscious. The other two (Henry and Rusev) were members of the team by proxy, not key figures like Kane or Rollins are in The Authority. Cena was the captain of his team and all of a sudden he can't be SuperCena and come to the rescue of his lone remaining teammate while four men pummel him into the mat with two referees outcold?