Well the final week of November was both noteworthy and so-so for WWE. They started the week with a really good, two match Survivor Series pay-per-view. That event saw the crowning of new tag team champions and a new diva’s champion. More importantly, Survivor Series saw the reign of The Authority come to an end thanks to a star making performance from Dolph Ziggler and a serving of justice from Sting. Yes, Sting finally made his WWE debut and thus ended the quote “greatest superstar to never step foot in a WWE ring.” The franchise of WCW, and longtime TNA performer, stepped inside that WWE ring and dropped Triple H with a Scorpion Death Drop. Some three seconds later, Dolph Ziggler pinned Seth Rollins and the WWE Universe got to sing the Goodbye song to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon who each provided good performances with their reactions. The rest of the week, including NXT sadly, was pretty disappointing.
Before we do anything else, let’s check out the results from the week’s television shows:
Sunday, November 23, 2014
St. Louis, Missouri
- The Miz and Mizdow defeated Goldust & Stardust, The Uso Brothers, and Los Matadores to win the WWE Tag Team Championship in 15:30.
- Natalya, Alicia Fox, Naomi, and Emma beat Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae, and Layla in an elimination match in 14:25.
- Bray Wyatt defeated Dean Ambrose by DQ in 14:00.
- Adam Rose and The Bunny beat Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil in 2:20.
- Nikki Bella beat A.J. Lee in 0:35 to win the Divas Championship.
- John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Big Show, and Erick Rowan beat Seth Rollins Rusev, Mark Henry, Kane, and Luke Harper in 43:05.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Indianapolis, Indiana
- Ryback beat Mark Henry in 1:00.
- Dean Ambrose defeated Luke Harper by DQ in 14:10.
- The Miz and Mizdow defeated Goldust and Stardust in 10:00 to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
- Fandango beat Justin Gabriel in 1:45.
- Brie Bella pinned A.J. Lee in 3:25.
- Tyson Kidd and Natalya beat Adam Rose and The Bunny in 3:05.
- John Cena and Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins, Jamie Noble, and Joey Mercury in 9:35.
What the Hell of the Week: The entire show. Honestly, what the hell was that WWE? Coming off a red hot Survivor Series event that had people buzzing, WWE delivered one of, if not the, worst RAW’s of the year. What a boring, flat, and pointless show. There were a couple of decent matches, but this was about as bad as RAW has been in quite some time. It boggles the mind that they this is what they came up with to follow Survivor Series.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Fort Wayne, Indiana
- The Miz and Mizdow defeated Los Matadores in 5:00.
- Fandango beat Adam Rose in 3:40.
- Natalya defeated Layla in 4:45.
- Dean Ambrose defeated Kane in 8:55.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Orlando, Florida
- Tyler Breeze beat Marcus Louis in 3:15.
- Carmella squashed Blue Pants in 0:50.
- The Lucha Dragons brat Dillinger and Jordan in 3:30.
- Finn Bálor beat Tyson Kidd by DQ in 9:30.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Indianapolis, Indiana
- Jack Swagger beat Curtis Axel
- The Uso Brothers beat Heath Slater and Titus O’Neil
Friday, November 28, 2014
Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Rusev retained his US Title in the 20 man battle royal in 10:10.
- Nikki Bella beat Emma in 1:45 via pinfall.
- Ryback beat Seth Rollins via DQ in 10:10.
- The New Day beat Curtis Axel, Titus O’Neil and Heath Slater in 3:40 via pinfall.
- Dolph Ziggler beat Luke Harper in 7:43 via countout.
Survivor Series was just a week ago, but we won’t have to wait long for WWE’s next special event. TLC airs on WWE Network and Pay-Per-View on Sunday, December 14th. Already, they have announced two matches for the event:
- Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match.
- Ryback vs. Kane in a Chairs Match.
The way things are shaping up, we can expect a match between Erick Rowan and Big Show. That’ll probably be a Tables Match. A rematch between Nikki Bella and AJ Lee is probable. There’s been rumors of a triple threat between Seth Rollins, John Cena, and Randy Orton. We’ll see about that. Other matches I wouldn’t be surprised to see are Miz and Mizdow against The Uso’s, and Gold and Stardust against two members of The New Day. Ziggler and Harper for the Intercontinental Championship should be a lock; hopefully that’ll be a ladder match.
Two championships changed hands at Survivor Series. The Miz and Mizdow captured the Tag Team Championship, dethroning Gold and Stardust, and Nikki Bella won the Diva’s Championship off of AJ Lee after AJ was distracted by a kiss from Brie Bella.
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The Miz & Mizdow – NEW Tag Team Champions
Won November 23, 2014 – Survivor Series
Nikki Bella – NEW Diva’s Champion
Won from AJ Lee, November 23, 2014 – Survivor Series
November 2014 – Week 4
SHOW OF THE WEEK:
- Survivor Series - Survivor Series wins practically by default. It wasn’t a strong card; you knew going in that it was a two match show. The good thing is both of those matches delivered, and one of which was a contender for match of the year, and the other matches on the card were alright as well. RAW sucked, Main Event was merely decent, NXT was lackluster, Superstars was mediocre as always, and Smackdown was okay. Survivor Series though was a really strong event that delivered and was highly memorable. I mean come on, Sting made his WWE debut and dropped Triple H. That’s a major, historical moment.
MATCH OF THE WEEK:
- Team Cena vs. Team Authority (Survivor Series) – There wasn’t even another possible choice this week. This wasn’t just the best match of the week, it was one of the best matches of the year and easily one of the best Survivor Series matches in history. It was of course overbooked to a degree. Big Show surprised no one by knocking John Cena out and then walking out after shaking Triple H’s hand, leaving Dolph Ziggler all alone. Ziggler stole the show. And it was great that WWE put him in the underdog, hero position and not John Cena. The crowd was extremely hot for Ziggler as he battled in a three-on-one situation. This was one of the more dramatic, edge of your seat exciting matches that WWE has produced in quite some time. This was a prime example of great storytelling in a wrestling match where belief can be suspended and the logical flaws allowed to escape. Just a really well done main event. I personally loved every second of it.
PERFORMER OF THE WEEK:
- Dolph Ziggler – If there was no other choice for the above, then there is certainly no other choice for this category. And thus endeth Cesaro’s streak. Ziggler not only had the HUGE heroic performance as the sole survivor for Team Cena, but also quality outings in the main event of both RAW and Smackdown. Now sure, the RAW main event was a bit of a joke, but Ziggler still put on a good show. His match against Luke Harper (who certainly deserves his fair share of credit) on Smackdown was probably the best television match of the week (with Harper’s outing against Ambrose on RAW being a very close second). We’ll see if anything becomes of Ziggler’s big Survivor Series moment, but for now his star has never shone brighter. The “show off” did just that this week.
Here’s hoping next week is a better week for WWE. I’m not very optimistic though. After all, RAW on Monday will be a gimmicked “Cyber Monday” episode. The guest GM for the week will be the Anonymous RAW General Manager (because WWE thinks we all forgot they revealed that to be Hornswoggle) and the WWE Universe will get to pick matches and stipulations via voting on the WWE App. Just like that horrible PPV that used to exist: Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday. On the plus side, once RAW goes off the air, you can turn on the WWE Network and watch the first ever LIVE Stone Cold Steve Austin podcast with his guest, Vince McMahon. There’s already a lot of interest in that, and it should deliver.
Filed under: Wrestling
