Survivor Series 2012 Review

The 26th annual Survivor Series took place from Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. So what happened?

Was Sheamus able to conquer The Big Show?

Did Team Foley outlast Team Ziggler?

And did CM Punk survive the clutches of both John Cena and Ryback to retain his WWE Championship?

All of these questions, as well as some of my thoughts on the pay-per-view, are answered after the jump.


Bonus 5-on-5 Survivor Series Match: Brodus Clay, Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio vs. Tensai, Primo, Epico, Darren Young and Titus O'Neill

We kicked things off with an unannounced traditional Survivor Series tag match. And although this was a little add-on, we could have done without this bonus.

The match started out slow, sped up with a couple of nice high-flying spots and then slowed again into a lackluster finish. 

Mysterio, Cara, Kidd and Gabriel turned out as the survivors and victors of this match, bombarding Young with an array of top rope maneuvers. 

(Photo credit: WWE.com)

A decent start that really had no rhyme or reason in terms of character/storyline progression. It did, however, spark some solid momentum for the rest of the pay-per-view.

Grade: C

Divas Championship: Eve (c) vs. Kaityln

To be completely honest, I thought Kaitlyn was going to upend Eve to capture the Divas Championship. I was wrong but I was not surprised by the quality of the match.

It wasn't the worst and it wasn't the best. More importantly, the match served its purpose.

Short and sweet with little to no botches.

Eve retains with her neck-breaker.

Grade: C-

United States Championship: Antonio Cesaro (c) vs. R-Truth

Antonio Cesaro has fallen into an unfortunate trend of late-- his matches are boring.

I like Cesaro as a worker and I do think he has a bright future ahead of him as a top heel, but he needs to keep up the tempo and keep the mat wrestling to a minimum for his matches to catch on. (He also needs a new gimmick.)

Anyway, this United States title contest was something off of Raw. No high points, no excitement, no bueno. The U.S. champ retains in a forgetful match.

This is the same thing we've been seeing for a couple of months for Cesaro.

Grade: D-

AJ Lee-Vickie Guerrero Segment

Coming into tonight's event, AJ promised she was in possession of some incriminating evidence against (insert really long administrative title here) Vickie Guerrero.

The evidence was a series of photoshopped pictures of Vickie with Ricardo Rodriguez, J.R. and Brodus Clay. Tamina Snuka later attacked AJ and left Vickie laughing in the ring.

Unless we get something else from Tamina, this made no sense and took away some valuable time from the remaining matches.

World Heavyweight Championship: The Big Show (c) vs. Sheamus

Show and Sheamus delivered with a rather pleasant match compared to what was given to us earlier in the night. 

We had a couple of nice spots that displayed each guy's brute strength. The highlight of the match came when Sheamus lifted carried Show on his shoulders and into a backdrop. This, luckily, got the crowd going.

Sheamus picked up the win via disqualification. Show pushed referee Scott Armstrong into Sheamus' Brogue Kick, causing the extra officials to rule against the World champ. Show retained and was later embarrassed by a post-match beatdown from the Celtic Warrior.

(Photo credit: WWE.com)

A screwy ending to a very solid match that did exhibit some good storytelling.

Grade: B-

Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series Match: Team Foley vs. Team Ziggler

It wasn't the most exciting 5-on-5 in recent memory, but this match was certainly well-worked.

Here's the order of the eliminations:

1. Damien Sandow (pinned by Kane)
2. Kane (pinned by Ziggler)
3. David Otunga (submitted to Bryan)
4. Kofi Kingston (pinned by Barrett)
5. Daniel Bryan (submitted to Del Rio)
6. Wade Barrett (pinned by The Miz)
7. The Miz (pinned By Del Rio)
8. Alberto Del Rio (pinned by orton)
9. Randy Orton (pinned by Ziggler)

The match finished with a nice back-and-forth from Ziggler and Orton. After missing on a punt kick to the head, Orton received ZIggler's version of a Sweet Chin Music. Ziggler picked up the pinfall and was the sole survivor.

Smart booking by creative here. Ziggler definitely needed some more credibility and momentum being that he is still in possession of the Money in the Bank briefcase.

Grade: B

WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. John Cena vs. Ryback

Three of the company's biggest stars put on a great main event tonight.

Triple threats usually go one of two ways. They either flop or pop. Thankfully, this one did the latter.

We saw some great work from Punk, a low-key showing from Cena and some actual vulnerability from Ryback.

The match ended with the mauling of Ryback by three NXT members-- Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. Just as Ryback went for the pin on Cena post-shell shock, the three young guns attacked. 

They rolled Ryback out of the ring and delivered a power bomb to Ryback through the Spanish announce table.

Dean Ambrose during the assault on Ryback. (Photo credit: WWE.com)

Punk retained after covering a shell shocked Cena.

An overall great match with a very different and intriguing ending.

Grade: A-

Overall, this was a pay-per-view that relied heavily on its second half. As the bottom of the card failed to impress, the Triple Threat Match, Team Foley/Team Ziggler Match and the World Title Match all did their respective jobs.

The biggest takeaway, obviously, is the shocking interference from Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns. The main event, as well as the interference, turned this pay-per-view around.

Overall grade: B-

For more in-depth coverage results, visit the Survivor Series page at WWE.com.