Survivor Series 2013

The build is here.

Survivor Series comes to you from Boston. 

Joey and Regal is your announce team.

(Dark: Sydal/Tatsu d. Pac/Generico)

The show opens with Austin’s glass breaking, he comes to the ring, Michaels and Bret appear on the video wall.  This is the championship committee, they don’t appear on television, both because a little goes a long way with authority figures and because their real world deals don’t support more than the slightest number of appearances.  Any TVs they do are “live” via satellite that can all be taped the same day for the run of several months.  Bret will do one tomorrow for RAW.

Michaels appeared to open Summer Slam, Bret will open the Rumble. 

Austin’s here to tell us about “fight for your right to 30” because the underlying idea of the championship committee is they’re a little grumpy about life being too easy for the current wrestlers (they don’t beat us over the head with it, but if you’re going to have babyface authority figures they need to present some type of obstacle, and because retired athletes always play the “back in my day” card) and Austin’s the only one who can get away with the thirty year old Beastie Boys reference. 

At the Rumble (and before) will be play in matches to get a spot at WM 30, the biggest show, of course, in wrestling history (quick note, there is no way we’re giving it away for free on the Network, no way in the world) and therefore it shouldn’t be easy to get a spot.

The loser of tonight’s IC match will have to fight for his right to 30.  The loser of Swagger/Claudio will have to fight for his right to 30.  Two former champions return to fight for their right – former IC Champ Matt Sydal, former tag champ The Leviathan Dave Batista.  Win or lose tonight – Dos Caras, Jr. will fight for his right to 30 – and will do so by taking on a Triple Crown Winner who volunteered, volunteered to earn his spot – Rey Mysterio, Jr.

Rey’s been gone for months, his target return was 30 – but he makes a surprise appearance now, just coming out to the top of the ramp to wave.  Tomorrow on RAW he starts calling out Dos Caras with the desire to expose who Caras is to Vickie. 

That ends the segment.  More “fight for your right” matches to come. 

1.       Wyatt Family (Harper/Virgil w/Bray) d. Defiance (Orton/Cody w/Bernard)

-There are two reveals coming in this match; important for every Wyatt match is we tell the story that Bray controls the rest of the family.  Here, Bernard gets involved more than Bray does, surprising the announce because there are “relaxed rules” in WWF tags and this seems like an obvious spot – but he stays on the rocking chair, Harper and Virgil (in masks always) look to Bray, but he keeps rocking.

The spot that gets delayed is Cody vs. Virgil – and pretty quickly Cody gets freaked out, something’s not quite right, he’s particularly bothered by Virgil, enough that after a particularly telling spot (a move that’s a signature from someone who maybe Cody knows) he bails out on the side of the ring with Bray – who leaps from the chair to take him out, then tosses him back to the ring for the easy pin from Virgil.

Bernard hits the ring and the brawl is on – John Cena, last seen carried off by the Wyatts runs down for what would seemingly be a save, but he is motioned to stop by Bray – who then hands Cena a mask, Cena puts it on, enters the ring, and joins the Wyatt Family in beating down Defiance (including, of course, his old partner, Orton, with whom he’s had virtually no interaction over the years). 3 masked Wyatts led by Bray stand tall over Defiance. 

2.       Dos Caras, Jr. (w/Vickie and Ricardo) d. Joe Hennig

Caras is in a foul mood after finding he is stuck in a play in match against Mysterio at the Rumble, he takes that out on Curt Hennig’s kid, for whom creative doesn’t have much after this match.  Caras as asshole to Vickie is secondary story of the match, so we can ready for the next program.

3.       Usos (Jimmy/Jey) d. Ryback/Rowan

4.       Roman Reigns Uso d. Miz

Uso time; they wound up in the middle of the Clique v. Underground feud that spun of from Nemeth/Christian, they clean up the effluvia here.  Jimmy and Jey go over Ryback and the debuting Rowan; Miz is in full chickenshit mode and shows that Reigns is still green – but his athleticism is too much, and he goes over with the Superman punch.  The three Usos hit their dance when its all over.

5.       Jack Swagger (w/Heyman and Bellas) d. Claudio Castagnoli

The “Hey Movement” continues to grow – Claudio points at Swagger “hey” points at Heyman “hey” – points at himself “hey” – hits his uppercuts “hey” “hey “hey” – does his giant swing “heyyyyyyy….heyyyyyyyy……heyyyyyy”.  This is a complete screwjob, the Bellas do the ref distraction, Heyman hands Swagger a foreign object – it’s a full on, no question screwjob.

Claudio is able to shrug that off postmatch and get the hey chant going again.  Hard to  bother Claudio. 

6.       Tags: The Shield (Black/Langston) d. KTFO (Henry/PAUL)

7.       IC: Dean Ambrose d. Ka$h Kingston

The Shield wins both of these match, unsurprisingly – the tag match goes pretty quickly, Kingston gets a couple of death defying spots in before going down.  All three members of the Shield hit their pose postmatch – it’s interrupted by the Usos, who come down halfway, Reigns telling the other two “not yet, we wait” – and that confrontation is again postponed.

8.       WWF Title: Bryan Danielson draw CM Punk

No finish in the main event of what is largely a one match show.  I would have bundled Survivor Series with the Rumble for purchase this year for this reason, this show’s designed to be a little disappointing and that show ain’t. 

Recall, at the beginning of Summer Slam, Bret announced a 30 minute time limit for all matches going forward?  That gets teased occasionally, whenever we’ve gotten to 20 minutes, the Fink has said “ten minute time limit remaining” – but hasn’t been used until here. 

Punk opens this match by offering a smirking handshake, a ROH reference, Danielson accepts it and then they immediately start throwing punches.  They do the best brawling style of match they can do – when the time limit expires, both men look for “5 more minutes” but a decision to grant that never comes – as Lesnar and Swagger come to the ring and kill them both dead.

It’s Lesnar’s first appearance since dropping the belt at Summer Slam, so that gets the expected pop – and they destroy Danielson/Punk, which gets the reaction it gets. 

Show ends with Swagger grabbing the belt, holding it over his head while posing with The Bellas as Lesnar looks on. 

Back next month with the build for Rumble 2014 – your main event (revealed tomorrow on RAW) is probably not a surprise, Montreal Match 3, a four way tornado submission match where the winner becomes the champ and the loser leaves town.

Danielson v. Punk v. Lesnar v. Swagger