Tuesday 31 December 2013

WWE Survivor Series 2013 Review

The 27th annual Survivor Series took place on Sunday 25th November at the TD Garden in Boston. With not one but two Survivor Series matches taking place, I'm quite looking forward to this event. Let's take a look.

The kick-off show match was between Kofi Kingston and The Miz. This was quite an unusual one ot watch, especially since I didn't watch this til two weeks after the event. I'll get to the reason why in a bit. It was really fast paced to start with multiple pinning attempts and high-flying offense by Kofi. However, like last month when he faced Damien Sandow, his effort was in vain as Miz gets the win when his attempt to hit the skull crushing finale is reversed into a pin. Miz reverses that into a pin for the 3 count. Afterwards, Miz offers his hand and Kofi, forgetting he's the face in this match, slaps him. I enjoyed the match but I found it unusual because it looked like they were turning Miz heel, which is what he seriously needs. However, with an apparently awful TV movie being shown the following week, it got changed into both he and Kofi being really competitive hence them being dicks to each other. Er...ok then.
Winner: The Miz
Predictions: 1 for 1

The first match of the event was the first Survior Series elimination match with the team of Rey Mysterio, The Usos, Cody Rhodes and Goldust taking on The Shield and The Real Americans. I always like these matches so I'm looking forward to it. This match did throw up a lot of surprises, such as Dean Ambrose getting eliminated after a couple of minutes when he gets rolled up by Rhodes when Ambrose is aruging with the referee. Then, Swagger is eliminated after a splash by Jey Uso. Cesaro does the giant swing on both the Usos but he's eliminated by Cody with a sunset flip. This leaves Rollins and Reigns with the difficult task of eliminating 5 guys. Reings makes it easier after eliminating Jimmy Uso with a spear. Then he spears Cody Rhodes to obivilion after Cody hits the CrossRhodes on Rollins, making it 3 on 2. A couple of minutes later, Rollins hits the blackout on Jey Uso to even the odds. Unfortunately, Rollins gets eliminated by a roll up by Mysterio, leaving Reigns to face Goldust and Mysterio. After some back and forth, Reigns eliminates Goldust with another spear. Mysterio comes in and gets Reigns against the ropes then goes for the 619. Unfortunately for him, when he bounces off the ropes for the move, Reigns almost kills him with a spear to win the match and be the sole survivor. I really enjoyed the match as it was a lot of fun to watch. I was quite surprised that the heel team prevailed after going down to 5-on-2. However, it didn't take away from the match and it made Roman Reigns look great.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Predictions: 2 for 2

The next match is for the Intercontinental Championship as Curtis Axel gets his rematch against Big E Langston. The match goes back and forth for a little bit before Axel gains the momentum. Langston starts his comeback after powering out of a chinlock and hitting a few clotheslines. Axel comes close to winning it with a Perfect plex but Langston prevails after getting out of a hangman's facebuster to hit the big ending. The match was pretty good tho it was hard to follow the Survivor Series match. I wasn't a big fan of Langston to begin with but he's growing on me. As for Axel, I really want to like him, especially as I was a fan of his father. However, he seems pretty bland and he needs to show some of the chrisima his father had.
Winner: Big E Langston
Predictions: 3 for 3

Now we get the Divas Survivor Series elimination match with The Bella Twins, Natalya, JoJo, Eva Marie and The Funkadactyls taking on AJ Lee, Askana, Alicia Fox, Summer Rae, Tamina Snuka, Rosa Mendes and Kaitlyn. The match doesn't last anywhere near as long as I thought it would as most of them get eliminated after one move. Alicia Fox gets eliminated after a springboard moonsault by Naomi. Cameron gets eliminated by Rosa bouncing her head off the middle turnbuckle (I'm serious). Rosa gets eliminated by a facebuster by Brie Bella. After a brief dance-off between Summer Rae and Brie, Summer gets eliminated by getting kicked in the face. Eva Marie gets eliminated after Kaitlyn hits her with a press into a knee to the stomach then she eliminates Cameron with the same move. Nikki Bella eliminates Kaitlyn with a missile dropkick but she gets eliminated herself with a spinebuster by Askana. Askana gets eliminated after a backbreaker move by Nikki. After Nikki and Tamina have a brief mini-match, Nikki reluctantly tags in JoJo due to Natalya recovering from a cheap shot by Tamina earlier. Tamina easily dominates JoJo and hits her with a Samoan drop. AJ gets tagged in and pins JoJo to eliminate her. Tamina gets eliminated thanks to a sharpshooter by Natalya and then does the same move to AJ to win the match. Some bits of it weren't bad but some of it was terrible. I get it if JoJo and Eva Marie and Rosa Mendes (to a leeser extent) get eliminated after one move. However, a couple of eliminations were, especially Rosa's, were fucking riduculous. It's a prime example of WWE doing something decent with the Divas division one week then shitting over it the next.
Winners: Nikki Bella and Natalya
Predictions: 4 for 4

We now get an impromptu match with Ryback issuing an open challenge with Mark Henry accepting. Henry uses his impressive strength before Ryback chops him down. Despite Ryback's best efforts, Henry gets the victory after a world's strongest slam. The match was quite short and wasn't anything special but it was good to see Mark Henry back. As for Ryback, I don't know what they're doing with him anymore.
Winner: Mark Henry
Predictions: N/A

Next is the World Heavyweight Championship with Alberto Del Rio challenging John Cena. Much like their match at Hell in a Cell, De Rio keeps his focus on Cena's left elbow, because that worked last time(!) The match goes back and forth and eventually Del Rio wears Cena down with a few armbars. Cena does try to get some momentum a couple of times but Del Rio manages to stop them quite quickly. Del Rio comes close with a German suplex pin but Cena kicks out at 2. Later on, Cena almosts win it with a top rope fameasser. Del Rio goes for the cross armbreaker but cena rolls out of it and applies the STF. Del Rio manages to get a finger on the rope. Del Rio does apply the cross armbreaker but Cena, like every time Del Rio does that move, powers out of it and hits a powerbomb. In the end, Cena hits the AA to retain the Championship. The match wasn't too bad but it might be time for Del Rio to stay away from the title picture for a while.
Winner: John Cena
Predictions: 5 for 5

The penultimate match has Daniel Bryan and CM Punk taking on Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. Whilst I have slight doubts about Rowan and Harper, I am looking forward to this match. Bryan and Punk work on the legs of Rowan but he slows that down when he does a double suplex on them. Harper does a brutal big boot to Punk and this gives him and Rowan the advantage. Punk hits a tornado DDT on Rowan to give him the opportunity to hot tag Bryan and he goes for a top rope hurracarrana on Harper. However, Harper stops that and hits a top rope powerbomb, which would have given him the victory if Punk didn't save the pin. Punk gets thrown out of the ring, taking him out temporarily, and the Wyatts wear down Bryan for a little while. Punk eventually gets tagged in and a few minutes later, ducks a tornado clothesline by Harper to hit him with the GTS to get the victory. I really enjoyed it and I was really impressed with Harper and Rowan throughout the match. If I had a slight gripe, it would have been nice if it was a 3-on-2 tag team match. Otherwise, great match.
Winners: CM Punk and Daniel Bryan
Predictions: 6 for 6

The main event was for the WWE Championship as Big Show challenges Randy Orton. I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to this but I was interested to see how it went. Orton was reluctant to face Show but eventually, he gets to wear him down. Show gets back into it and hits a chokeslam for 2. Orton flees to the outside and when Show goes after to the outside and throws Orton against the ropes, he knocks into the referee. The action continues on the outside and Show hits the KO punch and drags him back into the ring. Triple H, along with Stephanie McMahon and Kane, come out. This gives Orton the opportunity to hit the RKO (outta of nowhere) then a punt to retain the WWE Championship. While they all celebrate, John Cena comes out and has a stare down with Orton. The match was ok to watch although Orton totally misses with the punt to give us a slightly botched ending. As for the end of the show, it turns out the next night that the Championships will be unified at TLC. I don't mind that but I wish that it didn't involve Cena and Orton.
Winner: Randy Orton
Predictions: 7 for 7


I thought that Survivor Series was fun to watch as I enjoyed a lot of the matches. 2013 looks like it will end with an Unified World Champion and I'm looking how that will take us into 2014.

Friday 27 December 2013

WWE Hell in a Cell 2013 Review

WWE Hell in a Cell took place on Sunday 27th October at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Will we finally have a WWE Champion or, through some nerafrious means, still be held in abeyance? Let's take a look.

The Kick-Off Show match was between Damien Sandow and Kofi Kingston. Whilst I like Sandow, I'm not a really big fan of Kingston. He is a very good athlete and quite fun to watch. However, he's been doing the same shit for years and he is in danger of not ever living up to his potential. Anyway, Kofi does his usual high-flying offense however, Sandow gets the win after hitting the You're Welcome. This was a decent match. Shame it was a bit short.
Winner: Damien Sandow
Predictions: 0 for 1

The first match of the PPV is a triple threat match for the WWE Tag Team Championships with Cody Rhodes and Goldust facing The Usos and Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. I was expecting this to be a fun match to start the event and I wasn't disappointed. It was done at a nice, fast pace between all the competitors and there was a lot to like about this: the sportsmanship between the Usos and the Rhodes; and Goldust getting to his corner only to realise that Cody had been taken out by Rollins. Cody almost wins it with a moonsault, and Jimmy Uso does a blind tag to Cody and proceeds to destroy Rollins and hits a Samoan drop for a nearfall. There was an awesome bit where Cody superplexes Rollins to the outside, crashing into the rest of the competitors. The end comes when Rollins gets hit with a right hand by Goldust followed by a CrossRhodes by Cody to get the pinfall and retain the Championships. The last few PPVs have started with an enjoyable, fun match and it didn't disappoint here.
Winners: Cody Rhodes and Goldust
Predictions: 1 for 2

After a segment in which Erick Rowan and Luke Harper dismantle The Miz and Kane coming in and taking out all of them, we get an intergender tag team match between Fandango and Summer Rae and The Great Khali and Natalya. Yeah...I feel sorry for Natalya, Summer Rae and Fandango in this match. Khali, whilst he can't wrestle and has the mobility of a crippled elephant, is popular with the fans so I can see why WWE keeps using him. However, it does sadden me that it's at the expense of a lot of talented wrestlers on both the main and the development rosters. Anyway, this match doesn't last long as Summer bounces Natalya off the ropes followed by a roll up (the Divas kryptonite) to get her team the victory. The bits with the women wasn't that bad as Summer is quite a decent wrestler and Natalya made her look good. I just didn't like the ending as I'm getting annoyed with Divas matches ending with just a roll up.
Winners: Fandango and Summer Rae
Predictions: N/A

The United States Championship is on the line as Big E Langston (worst ex-bodyguard ever) challenges Dean Ambrose. This was an interesting match to watch. I forgot how quick Langston is for his size and I loved Ambrose's ring psychology. Ambrose tries a sleeper a couple of times but Langston manages to power out of them. Langston gets back the momentum and Ambrose decides to go "fuck this!" and leave. Langston gets him back in and a few moments later, spears him to the floor while he was on ring apron. Ambrose gets counted out and afterwards, Langston hits the big ending. Whilst I wasn't a big fan of the finish, I quite enjoyed the match and I can see them having more matches in the future.
Winner: Big E Langston
Predictions: N/A

We now get our first Hell in a Cell match as CM Punk faces Paul Heyman and Ryback. This match did not go the way that I thought it would. Heyman uses a crane to get to the top of the cell and stay there, making this effectively an one-on-one match. The match doesn't go long before Punk grabs a kendo stick, which turns out to be a bad idea as Ryback stops him from using it and uses it instead. The match goes back and forth and Punk tries a springboard clothesline but he's caught by Ryback and gets hit with a powerslam. Later on, Ryback gets put through a table thanks to a Macho Man elbow drop. Punk then hits Ryback with a kendo stick then the GTS to get the win. Afterwards, Punk climbs the cell to face Heyman and proceeds to fuck him up with a kendo stick then hits the GTS, leaving Punk standing tall. The match wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. I thought that Heyman's way of avoiding the match was quite ingenuious, although he should have thought of a back up plan if Ryback lost. Otherwise, I honestly glad this feud is over. I was looking forward to this feud when it started but I couldn't get past Punk's reasoning for some of what he did.
Winner: CM Punk
Predictions: 2 for 3

We get another tag team match with Los Matadores take on The Real Americans. The Real Americans work on Diego for most of the match, including Cesaro doing the giant swing on him for almost 40 seconds. Eventually, Fernando gets tagged in and beats up Swagger. Swagger applies the anklelock but it's not enough as Los Matadores hit a move where one does a reverse STO while the other grabs the back of the head and drives it into the mat at the same time to get the pinfall over Swagger. Afterwards, El Torito hits a hurracarrana on Cesaro, headbutts Colter then a crossbody on Swagger. The match wasn't anything special except for, like the last PPV, the giant swing by Cesaro.
Winners: Los Matadores
Predictions: 3 for 4

The World Heavyweight Championship is on the line as Alberto Del Rio is challenged by a returning John Cena. Del Rio, understandably, goes for the tricep that was injured and keeps Cena down for most of the early going of the match. Cena does his comeback which is ended by Del Rio reversing an AA into a backstabber. Both guys go for their finishers which are stopped, but Del Rio applies the cross armbreaker but Cena rolls out of it and applies the STF. Del Rio does get to the ropes and does properly apply the cross armbreaker. However, Cena gets out of it by reversing into a powerbomb. Cena does hit the AA to get the win and become the new World Heavyweight Championship.

Even though it was obvious that Cena would win this, I quite enjoyed the match. I would say that this would give the chance for Cena to feud with some of the guys who are hovering round the Championship. However, I watched this a couple of weeks after it happened and I know that that turns out to be a momentual crock of shit. The next night, Damien Sandow practically destroys Cena's arm, cashes in his MITB briefcase and then proceeds to lose. Whilst I thought that it might be lead to a feud between the two, that was shat on the next week as Cena beats him in a tag match then goes to have a rematch with Del Rio. This is the biggest beef that I have with John Cena. I'm getting sick and tired of Cena always being the underdog and overcoming the odds at the first attempt. Sandow stops short of tearing Cena's arm off and Cena just brushes it off and wins without too much of a problem. This has been happening for years and it's getting to a point where it's getting ridiculous.
Winner: John Cena
Predictions: 4 for 5

The penultimate match is for the Divas Championship as AJ Lee once again faces Brie Bella. I was quite interested to see how this would turn out as Brie has been improving over the last few months. It was technical to begin with and AJ wears Brie down with a headlock/leg scissors combo. Brie sends AJ into the turnbuckle and makes a comeback. Brie applies a half Boston crab and Tamina Snuka goes up on the ring apron to distract the referee. Nikki Bella stops that by pulling Tamina's leg, sending her crashing to the floor and they fight on the outside. Brie accidentally knees Nikki and this gives AJ the opportunity to apply the black widow to get the win. Whilst it was short, I enjoyed the match. I generally enjoy Divas matches but WWE seem to give them decent matches one week then shits over the good stuff they created the next week.
Winner: AJ Lee
Predictions: 4 for 6

The main event is a Hell in a Cell match for the abeyant WWE Championship between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. Both guys use their cell to thier advantage, crashing their opponent into the cell and the steel steps. Michaels kept on asking if one of them wanted to quit when they get hit with a big move, which was a bit weird. The match is back and forth throughout. Bryan applies the LeBell Yes No lock and Orton manages to get out of it. Later on, Bryan decides to throw a shit load of chairs into the ring and that backfires as Orton stops Bryan from using one and proceeds to use them himself, including superplexing Bryan onto them. Triple H then comes out and argues with Michaels. This prevents him from counting a pin attempt by Orton and it leads to all three of them arguing. Orton tries for the RKO but Bryan pushes him into Michaels, knocking him down. Triple H then enters into the cell while Bryan runs the running knee to Orton. Bryan tries to get Michaels back up and Triple H and tosses him away. Bryan responds by hitting Triple H with the running knee. Michaels doesn't take that well and hits Bryan with the sweet chin music. Orton, after getting tips from Edge's manual "How to be the Ultimate Opportunist", covers Bryan. Michaels reluctantly does the count and Randy Orton is the new WWE Champion. It was a fun match to watch and, while it's hard to believe that Michaels would go down after a minor collision, the ending made sense as it makes Bryan look strong and cements the Authority's position. I suspect that Bryan will not be in the title picture til at least the Royal Rumble, so it will interesting to see what they do with him in that time.
Winner: Randy Orton
Predictions: 4 for 7


I thought that Hell in a Cell was quite an enjoyable event to watch. I just don't like 2 WWE Pay-Per-Views in one month. With Bound for Glory happening as well, there were 3 Pay-Per-Views in October and, like last year, I suffered a little burnout and decided to watch them in my own time. Sorry for the delay and next stop, Survivor Series.