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WWE Survivor Series 2014 has come and gone!
It was one epic night that was highlighted by Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose and the main event of Team Cena vs. Team Authority to decide if Triple H and Stephanie McMahon will retain their power or if the members of Team Cena will be fired (except for John Cena himself).
Oh, should I mention that a wrestling legend made his WWE debut too?
Click “Next” to check out what the editors of Daily DDT had to say about Survivor Series.
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WWE Survivor Series Kickoff Show
Justin Gabriel vs. Fandango
Result – Fandango wins via pinfall.
Rating – 2.0 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
This was supposed to be the “new and improved” Fandango. He came out with a new valet in Rosa Mendes (Where she’s better suited), new salsa theme music, and new attire. He picked up the win over the jobbing Justin Gabriel.
This new gimmick is not going to get him any further than where he was under the ballroom dancer gimmick. He’ll hang around the low-card, pick up a few wins, and call it a day.
Mike’s Take
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Vince McMahon, The Authority and John Cena Promo
Mike’s Take
I thought this was a reall good setup for the night. I felt like they presented the match in a different way than they did on SmackDown. Even if it didn’t make it more realistic that they would fire Team Cena, it still made it feel like they could work around that stipulation in a way that wouldn’t cheapen this match.
It was also great work from Vince and The Authority, as The Authority have never felt more desperate.
I don’t like big promos to open pay-per-views, but I think this one needed it since most people felt like they ruined the build to the match on SmackDown.
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Gold and Stardust vs. The Usos vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow vs. Los Matadores – Fatal 4-Way for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Result – The Miz and Damien Mizdow win the WWE Tag Team Championship via pinfall.
Rating – 3.2 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
So much of this match was highlighted on the “We want Mizdow” chants. The stars in the match realized this too and played to the crowd’s chants, which was pretty funny.
The first half of this match was pretty average, as the usual tag team match on a PPV seems to be. However, the second half of the match really picked up and it was very exciting.
The dramatic end to the match was awesome! I loved Mizdow tagging himself in and taking credit for the victory. Him and Miz are going to make for very fun Tag Team Champions for however long they stay a team.
Mike’s Take
I really didn’t think we’d see a title change, and I wish we hadn’t.
The title is going to be a prop for however long that they hold it, and that’s never a good thing for a title.
The match was well-booked, and they played the Miz-Mizdow dynamic really well, I just don’t like the treatment of the title.
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Alicia Fox, Emma, Naomi, and Natalya vs. Cameron, Layla, Paige, Summer Rae – Traditional Tag Team Elimination Match
Result – Alicia Fox, Emma, Naomi, and Natalya win 4-0.
Rating – 2 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
I can’t say that this was a terrible match. Was it anything good? Absolutely not.
Seeing the babyfaces win was no surprise. It gave the crowd a cheap reason to cheer and move onto the next match of the night.
Mike’s Take
It makes sense that we would see the babyfaces win in the manner that they did, but as the match was progressing, I really thought Paige was going to go on a run. I just don’t get why they did what they did, Paige didn’t have to win, but she could’ve got an elimination or two.
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Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt
Result – Bray Wyatt wins via disqualification.
Rating – 3.3 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
I loved this match. While the DQ finish was a little unfortunate, it sets up this feud to carry on to TLC and beyond.
Ambrose’s mocking of Wyatt’s corner-of-the-ring thing was awesome and gave me a good laugh.
At the end of the match, Wyatt brought out two chairs and tempted Ambrose to hit him, which Dean promptly did along with putting him through a table, throwing another table on him, and hitting him with more chairs. It was one wild segment that literally left Wyatt buried. What happens next will be intriguing.
Mike’s Take
This was a really good match. The dynamic between both men worked exactly like I thought it would, and it made for a really fun match.
My issue with the match was that it was a carbon copy of what we see every year at Survivor Series. It seems like every year we see a match end in DQ, then tables, ladders, or/and chairs are used to set up a match at TLC. This year, Ambrose used all three, and a TLC Match was announced before the main event.
Team Authority backstage
All the members of Team Authority were gathered in their office. It was cool to see Stephanie get emotional again because it brings something to the match later on. We know they don’t want to lose their jobs, but they still have to show that emotion.
Following that emotion, Triple H unleashed an unbelievably great pep talk and had his men ready to go out there and “fight!”
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Team Cena promo
John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show and Ryback all shared the talking in this one, and did a good job of not getting over-excited, while still selling the real importance of the match, since they are putting something on the line too.
Rowan coming in and saying “win,” like we used to hear him say “run,” was a nice touch.
AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella – Divas Championship Match
Result – Nikki Bella wins the Divas Championship via pinfall (And kiss).
Rating – Huh?
Rob’s Take
When the match began, Brie Bella went up on the apron and kissed AJ Lee, reminiscent to what AJ did to Daniel Bryan before his match at WrestleMania 28 two and a half years ago. Nikki hit the Rack Attack on AJ and won the title.
What the heck just happened?
Mike’s Take
Nikki got the win with Brie Bella providing AJ with the “kiss of death,” and the best part was the commentary.
I usually feel that commentary misses out on bringing up certain points in history that could enhance a match, for whatever reason, but they didn’t miss it here. Brie’s husband is Daniel Bryan, who AJ infamously provided with a “kiss of death” at WrestleMania XXVIII.
They also didn’t miss the smile on Brie’s face when her sister held up the title. They covered all the bases in this one and didn’t miss a beat. It’s something we rarely get from them and it was very refreshing.
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Team Cena vs. Team Authority – If the Authority loses, they are out of power. If Team Cena loses, everyone on the team but John Cena is fired.
Result – Team Cena wins via pinfall. The Authority no longer has power.
Rating – 5 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
This entire main event was absolutely incredible.
The match started with Big Show immediately knocking out Mark Henry and pinning him. Later though, Show turned on John Cena and eliminated him. His status as a heel will be very interesting from this point forward.
We saw Luke Harper and Erick Rowan battle it out a few times. It wasn’t anything thrilling, but it was cool to see since they used to be allies.
Seth Rollins had a huge role throughout the match, coming into the match illegally and taking out members of Team Cena so they could get the upper-hand. This worked against Ryback and Erick Rowan.
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Eventually, it was down to Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper, Seth Rollins, and Kane. Ziggler ended up taking out both Harper and Kane to end up one-on-one with Rollins. The fun was nowhere close to being over.
Ziggler and Rollins had a long, entertaining battle with each other. Then, when Triple H and the security saw that Rollins was in trouble, they started taking out the referees so Dolph couldn’t secure the pinfall. The Game even hit the Pedigree on Ziggler.
As things seemed to be swaying back the Authority’s way…
It was absolutely surreal seeing Sting on a WWE show. I couldn’t believe what I was watching! Fans who have been waiting for over thirteen years to see this happen finally got their wish; it was quite frankly, awesome!
Sting took out HHH, helped Dolph pin Rollins, and took away the Authority’s power.
I will gladly watch Sting vs. Triple H at WrestleMania 31!
Mike’s Take
Wow, this match was absolutely perfect.
The early KO finish on Henry was brilliant, immediately putting The Authority in trouble, and putting them in a tough position.
I didn’t like seeing Ryback eliminated next. Though it was by cheating, so were all of the losses that killed his momentum in late 2012. Coincidentally, Seth Rollins is no stranger to being involved in those finishes.
The elimination of Rusev was great, and they did a great job of protecting him in this one.
FanSided
Erick Rowan got cheered like a babyface and looked resilient before they were finally able to keep him down.
The turn of Big Show and elimination of John Cena was truly masterful booking. Though it is nothing new to see Show turn, the elimination of Cena was shocking. Even if he did get eliminated, I didn’t expect to see it until the closing moments. Plus, with Show walking off, leaving Dolph Ziggler in a 3-on-1, it actually made me think that Team Cena would lose, which I never seriously considered before.
Nobody can pull off an exciting comeback like Ziggler though.
The elimination of Kane was not too shocking, as Kane didn’t need to be protected, but that left Rollins and Luke Harper, who I expected to be protected, against the oft-mistreated Ziggler.
Ziggler’s elimination of Harper was another that was treated with great care, and wasn’t taken lightly by those who booked the match.
What followed was an awesome match in itself between Ziggler and Rollins. The back-and-forth they had was awesome, leading up to the final moments.
When Ziggler finally hit Rollins with a Zig Zag, the referee counted to two, but The Authority removed him from the ring, with Triple H providing a decisive beatdown. Another referee came down, but he suffered the same fate.
This time Triple H climbed in the ring and finished Ziggler off himself. He threw Rollins across Ziggler and called for crooked referee Scott Armstrong. Armstrong came running down. “1…2…”
The crowd exploded as Armstrong stopped his count, and all eyes turned to the debut of Sting.
Sting came down and had a long staredown with Triple H, as the crowd chanted “This is awesome.”
Triple H made the first move, but it wasn’t long before he took a Scorpion Death Drop.
Sting threw Ziggler on top of Rollins and walked out, as the original referee counted to three.
Ziggler celebrated and The Authority melted down to end the show.
Perfect. Absolutely perfect. In my eyes, the only person who could fairly complain about their booking was Henry, but it was an important part of the match, and somebody was going to lose out. Outside of him, I think everybody looked strong.
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Final Thoughts
Rob’s Take
The main event was awesome, there’s no doubting that one bit. Seeing Sting on a WWE show was stunning; it didn’t matter if we knew this was possibly coming.
The rest of the night wasn’t anything special. While I enjoyed the Ambrose-Wyatt match, the DQ ending put a little bit of a damper on it.
I’m looking forward to seeing what develops following this PPV. Big Show’s alliance with Triple H will be interesting to view looking forward. There’s some parts that I don’t understand with it, but I guess we’ll find out more tonight.
Mike’s Take
I don’t think this was a great overall show in the sense that people won’t be watching this one for years, but not every PPV can stand out like that. The main goal for every PPV should be to provide strong, definitive endings, or keep stories going in the best way possible to lead to a strong, definitive ending, and I think Survivor Series did that in spades.
The other thing that PPVs should do is make people itching to see what happens on Raw, as storylines get set to continue, or start fresh, and this show accomplished that as well.