{"id":2819,"date":"2014-11-22T21:56:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T21:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2819"},"modified":"2014-11-22T23:17:50","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T23:17:50","slug":"survivor-series-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2819","title":{"rendered":"Survivor Series 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Survivor Series<\/em> 2014 is an unusual pay-per-view, because to all intents and purposes it isn’t one. \u00a0You\u00a0can<\/em> order it on PPV if you really want to, but it’s being offered as the centrepiece of a free try-out month for the WWE Network, which the\u00a0WWE is still bound and determined to get you to subscribe for,\u00a0being pretty much committed to the idea by\u00a0this point. \u00a0So it’s a freebie – no doubt explaining the ludicrously flimsy undercard.<\/p>\n

That’s except for viewers in the UK, where the Network was\u00a0announced<\/em> as launching at the start of the month, only to be delayed without explanation at the last\u00a0moment. \u00a0The story is apparently that they still haven’t managed to sort things out with BSkyB; the most recent contract\u00a0did<\/em><\/span> allow for the Network launching, but not until the originally scheduled date at the start of\u00a0next year. \u00a0The WWE could have launched a UK version without\u00a0the Sky-exclusive programming, but…<\/p>\n

So here we are, with the UK being the only country in the world asked to pay full price for a\u00a0free show. \u00a0Will anyone\u00a0in the UK actually be watching this show legitimately? \u00a0It seems almost unimaginable.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Elimination Match: Team Cena (John Cena,\u00a0Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Ryback & Erick Rowan) v\u00a0The Authority (Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Rusev & Luke Harper).<\/strong> \u00a0It’s pretty much a one-match show, and this is the one match. \u00a0A\u00a0rather tortuous back story involves this starting off as a challenge between Cena and the Authority, with Vince\u00a0McMahon then showing up to randomly add the stipulation that if Cena’s team wins, the Authority are removed from power. \u00a0The idea is apparently meant to be that he wants them to prove they deserve to be in control, or something. \u00a0You’d have thought that in these circumstances Triple H might step into the ring to fight on his own behalf, but no, apparently he’d rather\u00a0round out his usual followers with some big guys from the mid card.<\/p>\n

At the last minute, Triple H\u00a0added a second stipulation that if his team wins, he’s going to fire everyone on Cena’s team. \u00a0That seems to pretty much guarantee that Cena’s team have to win, because the roster depth right now simply won’t sustain keeping all five of these guys off television for any significant period of time.<\/p>\n

But frankly, getting the Authority out of power\u00a0would be\u00a0an excellent move anyway. \u00a0One of the company’s biggest problems right now is that the product feels very stale. \u00a0And one of the easiest ways of freshening it up is to get rid of the goddamn heel management, something which has been a regular feature for donkey’s years now. \u00a0These storylines ought to end with the babyfaces vanquishing the baddies and restoring sanity to the company. \u00a0In the WWE they just never end. \u00a0So in fact, one of the simplest ways of making the product look new is to change the landscape by\u00a0restoring a neutral authority figure and\u00a0getting the emphasis back on to the actual wrestlers.<\/p>\n

If the Authority team actually wins\u2026 well, let’s just hope they’ve got a better idea for where to go with that direction than I have, because I’m drawing a blank.<\/p>\n

The actual match ought to be perfectly decent; there are\u00a0plenty of good workers in here to carry the big lugs. The presence on the babyface team of Erick Rowan, formerly of the Wyatt Family, is a bit odd; the Family broke up without much in the way of explanation a few weeks ago,\u00a0but quite why Rowan has suddenly decided to align himself with the goodies is, shall we say, not fully explored. \u00a0I suppose it’s possible he could turn on the babyfaces – there was a storyline\u00a0about the Authority scaring off or injuring potential team members that basically led to Cena having to take anyone who was willing – but that would put him back with former partner Luke Harper on the heel side, and\u00a0it doesn’t seem as if that’s the plan.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Bray Wyatt v Dean Ambrose.<\/strong> \u00a0Meanwhile,\u00a0their former\u00a0cult mentor Bray Wyatt is trying to recruit Dean\u00a0Ambrose as his new acolyte, on the reasoning that\u00a0Ambrose is plainly crazy and much be\u00a0in\u00a0need of his guidance. \u00a0You can see his point, but Ambrose isn’t interested. \u00a0Wyatt’s stories are in danger of falling into an overfamiliar pattern – tries to recruit babyface, babyface says no,\u00a0series of matches follow\u00a0during which Wyatt keeps trying to recruit without success. \u00a0There’s talk that he’s going to debut a new team here (possibly the Ascension from NXT), in which case this may end up being a backdrop\u00a0to that angle. \u00a0Otherwise, I imagine they’ll have a pretty decent match (though Wyatt’s PPV efforts have been\u00a0patch). \u00a0Since it’s the first match in the feud and they’ll presumably want it to run longer, I imagine\u00a0Wyatt wins.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0WWE Divas Title: AJ Lee\u00a0\u00a9 v Nikki Bella.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Last month, Nikki beat her sister Brie in a “loser must be the winner’s\u00a0slave for 30 days” stip match, which period expires on Monday. \u00a0Nikki’s\u00a0mini-feud with AJ over the Divas Title has largely played out\u00a0as a backdrop to that; Nikki\u00a0uses Brie to advance her schemes against AJ, and AJ, being an antihero, is only marginally sympathetic to Brie’s position at best. \u00a0That being so, the likely finishes here are (a) Brie costs Nikki the match, and (b)\u00a0big swerve as Brie helps Nikki win the match. \u00a0Option (b)\u00a0actually makes a certain amount of sense even if Brie doesn’t turn: AJ’s been no help to Brie, and if\u00a0Nikki is the champion then by getting revenge on Nikki, Brie kills two birds with one stone. \u00a0Nonetheless, my guess is that AJ retains. \u00a0This is such an empty card that I can only assume they’re getting a fair amount of time, which\u00a0is untested territory where Nikki is concerned.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0WWE Tag Team Titles – Fatal Fourway: Goldust & Stardust\u00a0\u00a9 v Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso v Diego & Fernando v. The Miz & Damien Mizdow.<\/strong> \u00a0Basically random four-way for the tag titles, from the “giving these people something to do” school of booking. \u00a0Miz and Mizdow actually have the most momentum here in terms of crowd reaction, with the schtick of\u00a0the former Damien Sandow loyalling shadowing his new employer and mimicking everything he does, to the point of wrestling along with\u00a0his matches against invisible opponents.<\/p>\n

If there’s going to be a title change here, it pretty much has to\u00a0be to the Mizzes. \u00a0The Usos have had the titles before and there’s no point trading them back. \u00a0The Matadores are an undercard comedy gimmick with a novelty midget (and boy, if I’m bored with that stuff, imagine how he must feel). \u00a0The Dust Brothers don’t feel like they’ve run their course as champions just yet, but they are admittedly short on babyface challengers. \u00a0I probably wouldn’t do a title change here, but I could see a case for one.<\/p>\n

Match quality should be decent;\u00a0everyone in here is good in their roles, and the Matadores are\u00a0fine wrestlers\u00a0on the rare occasions when they’re given the chance.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Elimination Match: Natalya, Naomi, Emma & Alicia Fox v Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae & Layla.<\/strong> \u00a0Random\u00a0women’s elimination match, basically an excuse to get some of these people on the show. \u00a0It’ll be fast, it won’t be good. \u00a0It doesn’t matter who wins and I don’t care.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Pre-show match: Fandango v ?.<\/strong> \u00a0Yes, really, that’s the card, and we’re down to the pre-show already. \u00a0Fandango is apparently being repackaged and relaunched,\u00a0and so he will be wrestling somebody or other on the pre-show to display the latest version of being a wrestling ballroom dancer. \u00a0(The “?” probably isn’t anyone interesting. \u00a0It’s probably just\u00a0company whipping boy Heath Slater.) \u00a0God knows they could do with breathing life into some undercard characters, but\u00a0one wonders whether it’s too late for any version of the Fandango gimmick.<\/p>\n

Worth getting?<\/strong>\u00a0 If you can get it for free, sure!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Survivor Series 2014 is an unusual pay-per-view, because to all intents and purposes it isn’t one. \u00a0You\u00a0can order it on PPV if you really want to, but it’s being offered as the centrepiece of a free try-out month for the WWE Network, which the\u00a0WWE is still bound and determined to get you to subscribe for,\u00a0being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2819"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2821,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2819\/revisions\/2821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}