Road to Survivor Series 2011, Part 1

Summer Slam is here.

The RAW after Summer Slam begins with the Spanish announce team walking out during Joey’s opening desk piece; they’re leaving in protest of Underground attacking Rey Mysterio the night before.  Underground then comes to the ring to spike the football – they’ve got all the belts, they wiped out the locker room last night, GDI is gone and at Survivor Series in MSG, Steve Regal will officially be named the new Commissioner of the WWF.  Underground is establishing a permanent control over the entire sport. 

They’re interrupted by Bret – he’s pissed.  He’s been betrayed – he and Regal were in this together, they were doing what was best for the WWF.  But what Underground did last night wasn’t best for the WWF, Rey Mysterio will not be wrestling at Madison Square Garden, he will not be wrestling at WWF 100; he will not be wrestling at Wrestlemania 28. 

Regal says they don’t need him; they don’t need anybody from the back – once Regal takes over WWF will become all Underground; the men in this ring will show they are the best wrestlers in the world.

Nemeth tells Bret he needs to go home – take the next couple of months off, come back at Survivor Series to hand over the job to Regal and then sail off into permanent retirement.  Sheamus and Barrett then surround Bret – Nemeth saying that he really should think very carefully about his next move.

Surrounded by 18 men, Bret exits the ring, goes up the ramp, and we don’t see him again in this build.

Who we do see are the Spanish announcers, as they become the mouthpiece for Mistico and his crew in the build. 

WWF Championship: Nick Nemeth v. Mistico

The primary elements of this program (1) whenever you see Mistico he’s in a suit wearing the mask and he’s surrounded by another dozen luchadores, all similarly attired.  Underground’s got a ton of guys, Mistico needs as many.  Ideally they are actual workers, but since they’re masked, they can basically be anyone.  Two of Mistico’s guys actually wind up on the card, we’ll get to that in a second (2) we’re going to hit the Hispanic button hard; in the build to Summer Slam was a lot of discussion about how Rey v. Mistico at MSG was a dream match for entire nations of people – and when Rey got curbstomped by Underground it’s Mistico (with the heretofore not utilized in an angle Spanish announce team as his voice) representing all of lucha libre against the affront.  Nemeth can do his best sneer and Regal can, pretty hypocritically, talk about how Senator McMahon’s support of the Dream Act has resulted in all of these undocumented wrestlers.  Border control, Regal says, should be our nation’s most important priority. Regal waves an American flag, tries to start a U-S-A chant.  

Mistico’s only going to wrestle once in the build, against Tyson Kidd, just enough to get in his stuff and get out of the ring. 

Opening Tag: Mark Henry/Santino v. Hunico/Mase

Tag Titles: Empire v. Opening Tag Winners

Two other matches come out of this program; two of Mistico’s guys are a tag act, Hunico and Mase (Mase is, unfortunately, Mason Ryan, both guys are masked) they get programmed over Douchebags – and also programmed over Douchebags (it’s a big group) are two of the guys from the back who Underground beat up at the close of Summer Slam – Mark Henry and Santino.  They become united in their new common enemy, and when both teams go over the bottom end of Underground – the match is made to open the PPV (there’s a size similarity among the guys that maybe makes some sense, the match won’t be good, but you could see the obvious spots).

The winners will then go on to meet Empire for the straps later in the evening; Empire pulled the Killer Bees mask switch at Summer Slam and continue to do that as we get to Survivor Series.  The takeaway from that is Empire are undeserving champs, only succeeding due to numbers and chicanery – and it plugs a hole we have for this show, when the only member of Empire who actually works is Barrett.  Meaning the actual body under the second mask is going to be Jinder Mahal, who doesn’t otherwise exist, but he’ll be pretending to be Gabriel or Riley. 

IC Title: Sheamus v. Nitro

The other title match is the IC; Sheamus is now nicknamed the CliqueKiller; he ended Edge’s career at Mania, and has apparently ended Christian’s career at Summer Slam, both with the toss into the ringpost.  So this is Nitro, getting his rematch from the Mania loss – Nitro and Miz do the angry version of the Clique for this program; they’ve been disrespected, they’ve been attacked – and now it’s time to crack some skulls.  Sheamus, backed by McIntyre in the build, couldn’t be cockier – they are ending careers now, and Nitro’s is next.  They have a mock funeral for Edge and Christian, goofing on the other former Clique members “here lies Diesel, died in the ring, no one noticed for five minutes” “here lies Razor, wait, he might really be dead, let’s skip that one” – let’s say it ends with Nitro and Miz popping out of coffins and getting the upper hand. 

That’s half the card.  4 singles matches left.

CM Punk v. John Cena

The Rock v. Dos Caras, Jr.

Ikea Death Match: @TruthKills v. Ka$h Kingston

Randy Orton v. Cody Rhodes

I'll be back soon with part 2