WWE Survivor Series

18th November 2012

Indianapolis, Indiana

Pre-show

Zack Ryder & Santino vs 3MB

'Team CoBro' take on Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal, whilst Drew McIntyre watches from outside the ring. The Three Man Band take the win as Zack Ryder and Santino become more and more of a joke by the second.

Bonus Classic Survivor Series Match

Clay/Kidd/Gabriel/Mysterio/Sin Cara vs Tensai/Young/O'Neil/Epico/Primo

This was a nice surprise! I fully expected Mysterio and Sin Cara to be on the card, possibly against the Prime Time Players, but to include everyone else in the match is a bit of a treat (except for Tensai of course, his matches can never be considered a 'treat'). A couple of really good spots in this match including some double dives to the outside, and also Darren Young getting used for target practice by the high flyers of the opposing team. Kidd, Gabriel, Mysterio and Sin Cara all stand together as the winning team after a flurry of acrobatic offence.

Divas Championship

Eve Torres (c) vs Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn was attacked backstage before the match, much like she was at Night of Champions, but this time she survived the ordeal, discovering that her attacker was Aksana. Eve was close by of course, providing insincere concern before getting shoved to the ground. The match proved to be decent, Eve is getting to be one of the best Divas on the roster. Kaitlyn put up a great fight, that is until Eve literally pulled the rug out from under her feat, causing a violent bump to the outside and giving Eve the opportunity she needed to retain her title.

United States Championship

Antonio Cesaro (c) vs R-Truth

Cesaro wasn't quite ready to give up his title just yet, pinning R-Truth after delivering the Neutraliser. Antonio Cesaro has had a decent run so far, but I think it will only escalate before he eventually loses it, probably, as many have guessed, to a returning Jack Swagger. very entertaining match though, and I'm glad Truth got to be a little more serious for once. Reports from ringside are that Little Jimmy was nowhere to be seen.

We're reminded that wrestling is little more than a violent soap opera when AJ interrupts proceedings to make fun of Vicky Guerrero for a while, only to be attacked by Tamina Snuka. Vicky looks surprised to see her, so is Tamina just trying to make a name for herself? I guess we'll find out on Monday's Raw. 

World Heavyweight Championship

Big Show (c) vs Sheamus

This was the one match on the card I really had no interest in. Could they do something to change my mind? In a word, no. It was a case of 'same old, same old' from the pair, with a very worrying ending to the match... Show gets himself disqualified for using a ref to block the Brogue Kick, obviously annoying Shaemus, causing him to beat on Big Show with a steel chair. And what's the next PPV? TLC. That's right, the wheels have already been set in motion for a rematch, only adding the stipulation of a 'Chairs Match' to the mix, hoping that will make people care enough to sit through it. All WWE have done is help me schedule a pee break a month in advance.

Classic Survivor Series Match

Team Ziggler vs Team Foley

My predictions for this match were that Team Foley would win, Orton would be the Sole Survivor, and Daniel Bryan would be the first to get eliminated. I was wrong on all counts! If a match can surprise you this much then it has to be good. Not only did Ziggler eliminate two of the biggest threats on the opposing team, but he was also the Sole Survivor. I really hope this is the start of a real push for him towards cashing in the Money in The Bank contract.

WWE Championship Triple Threat Match

CM Punk (c) vs John Cena vs Ryback

A decent match, but nothing to write home about. Ryback looked very strong throughout, WWE are clearly wanting to impress upon us the belief that he is almost indestructible. What really was interesting was the ending to the match... After being put through an announce table, Ryback battles back to deliver a Shellshock to CM Punk, before getting Cena up on his shoulders to deliver a Shellshock to him as well. Before Ryback gets a chance to cover him, the ring is invaded by three men dressed all in black, who are seemingly intent on destroying Ryback; Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. While the group are delivering a beating to the monster, including putting him through the one remaining announce table, Punk crawls over the unconscious Cena and gets the victory.

Heyman looks shocked at that attack, but surely he has something to do with it... Is it connected to the conversation he had with Brad Maddox on last weeks Raw? I can see Ambrose and Reigns joining the dark side and being part of a heel stable, but why Rollins? He's currently NXT champion and an enormous face, what are his reasons?

Raw has a lot to answer this week!

WWE Hell in a Cell

28th October 2012

Atlanta, Georgia

I'll admit that I was looking forward to this one, even booked the day off work to watch it. But as it got closer, I started to realise something; I'd heard the PPV itself be referred to as 'Hell in a Cell', but not once did I hear an announcer or commentator actually reference that any of the matches would take place in the cell that the event is named after. Seems strange... Like the cell doesn't even really matter.

So what matches would be in the cell?

And there were a couple of other questions to be answered tonight: Would Dolph cash in Money in The Bank? Would Brock Lesnar appear? Would Big Show be able to put on a decent match for once?

Pre-show

A dull question and answer session just so Cena can get a paycheck. Dolph has a pointless run in, will this be all we see of him tonight?

Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio

Starting with this match was not a great idea. The opening bout needs to bring action and excitement. Has anyone ever been excited about a Del Rio match? I'm not a fan of Del Rio in the slightest. I can appreciate his wrestling style, I can appreciate his character, but the guy is just dull. How many times can we see him focus solely on the arm of his opponent before we all chew our own limbs off in frustration? Orton is a decent worker, but that's not enough to get our blood pumping. Orton scored the pinfall in the end with a decent RKO. Let's hope this feud is over.

Team Hell No (c) vs Team Rhodes Scholars

Since when did we start putting 'Team' at the beginning of their names? We know they're a team, stop treating us like children.

It was a good match, if a little lacking in excitement again in places. They've got three of WWE's best and brightest in the ring so it would be difficult for them not to have a decent match. We can tell that this feud is far from over as the match finishes with a disqualification, setting up the inevitable rematch at some point. The main news from the match is the fact that Bryan and Kane seemed to be even further from the same page than usual. How long until they really do go head-to-head?

Kofi Kingston (c) vs The Miz

I would have opened the event with this match. I'm not saying it was brilliant, but it does have that quicker pace, plus a couple of really good spots that get the crowd making some noise; Kofi's diving roll over the steps brought a nice bit of parkour into the mix. Kofi retains the title and I'm looking forward to seeing who he gets next.

Antonio Cesaro (c) vs Justin Gabriel

These two have had a couple of great matches during recent weeks, so I was glad this was added to the card. Cesaro didn't start strongly for me when he came into WWE, but I think he's been gathering momentum over the last couple of months, and ditching Oksana was definitely the right move. Both wrestlers put on a great match whilst the mostly silent but now disrespectful Atlanta crowd chant 'WE WANT RYDER'. Cesaro retained the title and is still the US Champion.

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs Primetime Players

Or should I be calling them 'Team Primetime Players'? Whatever I'm calling them, they lost. Darren Young gets pinned by Rey after a fun match, whilst Sin Cara nurses his head on the outside after landing a move badly.

Shaemus (c) vs Big Show

Was it just me that assumed this would be in the cell? Hmmm... Nevertheless, this was better than expected! I'm not a huge Shaemus fan, but I don't dislike him either. Usually it depends on who he's working with as to whether he has a good match or not and, with Big Show in the opposite corner, I was ready to go for a pee break. Thankfully though, I decided to cross my legs and sit through it, as the match turned out to be pretty good. Of course there was nothing too technical here; there wasn't a single spinning toe hold or shooting star press to be seen. What this match did do is rely on the story telling, and it was a story that was told well. I'm not happy that it ended with Big Show becoming champion, but as far as the match goes, I was happy with how it came across.

Eve Torres (c) vs Layla vs Kaitlyn

I know that nobody cares about the women's matches and, since I didn't get to pee during that last match, now seems like the perfect time. To be fair to these three Divas though, they wrestled a well worked out match, the highlight for me being Eve putting some interesting submission maneuvers on Kaitlyn. Predictably enough Eve retained, but stuck between two big main events, I think they did well at retaining my interest.

CM Punk (c) vs Ryback

11 minutes. That's it. The match everyone was waiting for all night and we get 11 minutes! Not that it wasn't a decent 11 minutes because it was, they carried on doing the storytelling style of match up that Big Show and Shaemus pulled off earlier on in the night, with Heyman constantly stroking Punk's ego from the outside as he throws everything he has at Ryback. Nothing phases Ryback for long and it looks like he might even take the title, that is until the ref delivers a low blow and a very fast count, allowing Punk to retain the title. It finishes with Ryback taking his frustrations out on the ref, before chasing a frightened Punk up to the top of the cage and delivering a Shellshock on the steel.

I think we all knew that the PPV would end with Punk retaining the title, we just didn't know how it was going to happen. I can see why it happened the way it did, but that doesn't mean I have to like it; the finish felt cheap, and the match seems like it might as well never have happened.

No, Dolph didn't cash in Money in the Bank.

No, Brock didn't appear.

And no, this isn't going to be one of the more memorable PPVs of the year.