THE NEGATIVES:
Mark Henry/Big Show Finish
The match was good, in my opinion, and seeing Big Show gingerly go up to the top rope for an elbow drop was exciting to say the least. Had Henry or Big Show went over clean, this match would certainly be in the plus category, but another fluky finish ruined it for me. I don’t see Big Show as a future Champion. I don’t think he needs one last run and his position with the company should be a given at this point. Mark Henry needs further development and decisive victories right now. You already gave us one screwy finish on the last pay per view, so why do it again? Let Henry get the victory with three finishers in a row if that’s what it takes, but let him win clean. They didn’t do that and I was left disappointed. The post-match attack by Big Show definitely added an interesting element to the story and I’m curious to how they follow up with it. A broken leg would typically sideline a wrestler long than a month, so Henry shouldn’t be ready in time for TLC. Does that give WWE a way to get the title off of Henry at that pay per view? Maybe he wins despite the injury. I’d be okay with that and it would make up for last night’s unsettling finish. Either way, I’m too high on Mark Henry as Champion right now. He needs the clean victory over Big Show and soon.
Dolph Ziggler Losing In 5-on-5 Match
Why couldn’t Ziggler have stayed in the traditional Survivor Series match until the end? You had Swagger and Hunico to eliminate first for the heels, Barrett could have still gotten the pin, and Cody Rhodes could have still looked the best during that match. Nothing would have changed, other than the fact that Dolph would now have TWO things to brag about on Raw tonight. I shouldn’t be surprised and I somewhat expected that WWE would have Dolph lose in one of his two matches, but I don’t agree with it. Just being one of the final members of Team Barrett remaining at the end would have been a huge feat for the United States Champion. It’s a subtle thing that could have made a big difference in his continued elevation. When it comes to Dolph Ziggler, I’m a believer. I just wanted to see his being in two PPV matches back-to-back mean something more, rather than WWE use it as a scapegoat again to make him look weak in one of them.
The Finish
No, not just because John Cena didn’t turn heel. I knew that was a long shot and I hyped myself up on thinking that was a possibility more than it actually was. I will be looking at the Cena heel turn (or lack, thereof) more in depth later this week in my “Cashbox” column, but for now, let’s look at the other reasons I didn’t like last night’s finish to Survivor Series. Rock wins with the People’s Elbow. What!? It was too late for WWE to make Miz and Truth look like credible threats with any legitimate chance of winning. They screwed that up a long time ago. But they couldn’t have made them look any worse or any weaker by having one of them lose to a simple elbow drop. It was as anti-climactic as you could have ever imagined the finish being with The Rock and John Cena being in the match. I would have let that slide had the post-match confrontation between Rock and Cena been better. But it was nothing more than pointing out the obvious: John Cena was hated by the live crowd and The Rock was loved. The Rock leaves Cena laying and boom, we’re done. I didn’t have to have Cena turn heel to enjoy the finish, but I needed more than that. Much more. The Rock isn’t expected at Raw tonight and who knows how long we’ll have to wait for a return now. John Cena looked ridiculous, Miz and Truth looked rediculous, but the one guy who won’t be around for weeks or months looked better than ever. I’m not Vince McMahon, but that surely can’t be the way he imagined it coming out of his last big event of 2011. Maybe it is and that’s even worse.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Survivor Series last night all the way up until the last 5 minutes of it. There were a couple of things I would have done different, but everything would have been acceptable and satisfying if they had handled the finish better. Unfortunately, we did it to ourselves. We hyped up the possibilities too much and were left disappointed as a result. What could WWE have done besides turn Cena heel to please us? I’m not sure, but it certainly wasn’t that.
Chris Cash can be reached at wzchriscash@yahoo.com or on Twitter @RealityofChris.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
