Perhaps my favorite Pay-Per-View of all time has been that of the Survivor Series and it even goes as far as to trump the Royal Rumble for me. From the very beginning, it was just awesome watching some of the most random team-ups go into battle against teams of even more random team-ups. Then throw in the whole elimination aspect of it and it made the night that much more exciting. Sometimes we could see the match go from five-on-five to five-on-one and open up some thrills that many of us as wrestling fans never thought possible. After a handful of years though, things took a turn at the Survivor Series with less and less traditional elimination tag matches appearing on each card. Kind of took the excitement out of it all for me and made it nothing more than another PPV in the long line of them yearly. WWE has brought back a few of my favorite matches here and there, but now the PPV is no more. (Vince McMahon scrapped the PPV concept of Survivor Series after the 2009 PPV had a 25% drop in viewership as compared to the event in 2008.)
Here’s my childhood heart, give it a good DDT or iron claw before you stab it.
The Verizon Center in Washington D.C. was the place to be on November 22, 2009 for what used to be known as the “Thanksgiving Night Tradition, Survivor Series.” A bit thrilled at the fact that there were three whole elimination style tag team matches that made this PPV so great in the first place. One of them was a divas match though pitting Mickie James’ team up against that of Michelle McCool. It’s not a bad match by any stretch of the imagination because all the ladies put their best foot forward, but so many of them just still seem so green in the ring. I won’t go naming names (Michelle McCool), but in time they’ll be up to the caliber of those like Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, and James. One of the other matches on the card was a singles match between Rey Mysterio and the newly (soon-to-be) turned heel Batista. Usually I wouldn’t have cared less about this match because I despise both wrestlers, but Batista has turned a page when he stopped giving a damn about the fans and just started demolishing everything in his way. The match was still a disappointment anyway.
Team Miz versus Team Morrison is the match that I expected to steal the show with some big time performers mixing it up with some brand new talent. Sadly it was only mid-level grade at best because it didn’t appear is if there was a whole lot of effort put forth. Kind of upset by that even though the heel team having multiple survivors is a pleasing result. Our final and last elimination tag pitted Randy Orton’s team against a great combination team led by Kofi Kingston. Considering that just about every wrestler in the match is one of my favorites, it ended up delivering like I hoped it would. Great action throughout the entire match with CM Punk getting a good bit of time in the ring. Let’s not forget that Mark Henry was eliminated rather quickly and that’s a good thing.
The big time matches for this even were two triple threat matches going after the prestigious championships from Raw and SmackDown! The first saw Undertaker step up to the plate against tag team partners Chris Jericho and Big Show. As much as I would have expected this match to be underwhelming; it really wasn’t all that bad. Sure it had a lot of the traditional triple threat match stuff that saw one guy get knocked out for a while letting the other two battle it out, but overall it was pretty decent. Even stranger is that the WWE went two-for-two on triple threat matches at this PPV as the battle between John Cena and DX really ended the night on a positive note. Again it really ended up being a glorified one-on-one match but plenty of near falls made it exciting and kind of tension-filled. Not a bad WWE even though I don’t like what you’re doing with my beloved Survivor Series.
~ Team Miz (The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Sheamus, & Dolph Ziggler) Vs. Team Morrison (John Morrison, Matt Hardy, Finlay, Evan Bourne, & Shelton Benjamin)
~ Rey Mysterio Vs. Batista
~ Team Orton (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase, CM Punk, & William Regal) Vs. Team Kofi (Kofi Kingston, MVP, Mark Henry, Christian, & R-Truth)
~ Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Undertaker (c) Vs. Big Show Vs. Chris Jericho
~ Team Mickie (Mickie James, Melina, Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, & Eve) Vs. Team Michelle (Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, Alicia Fox, Layla, & Jillian)
~ Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: John Cena (c) Vs. Triple H Vs. Shawn Michaels
The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format is nothing more than get it, got it, GOOD! All is perfect here as the WWE knows what they’re doing in the home release side of things.
The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it is also as close to perfection as you can get for a sporting event. All commentary flows through the center speaker while the pyro, music, and crowd noise fills the room.
DX After Their Match – After the match, DX stands up and walks around. Yep, that’s it. (1:10)
Christian Performs A Rap For The Bella Twins – Yes, he does it. Christian raps for the Bella Twins. Wow. (1:32)
Trailers – Jeff Hardy: My Life, My Rules and The Marine II.
Alright alright, so this wasn’t a bad PPV even though I hate that only half of the matches at Survivor Series were of the traditional variety. The two championship bouts were quite excellent and well worth checking out by just about any wrestling fan out there. All three of the elimination tags weren’t too shabby either with Batista/Mysterio being close to the only stinker here. Special features suck but that’s nothing new when it comes to WWE PPV home releases. I’d say pick this one up for sure because it may very well be the last time you’ll ever see Survivor Series again.
You disappoint me Vincent Kennedy McMahon. You disappoint me.
WWE Home Video presents Survivor Series 2009. Featuring: Triple H, Undertaker, Chris Jericho, The Miz, Matt Hardy, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes, William Regal, and many more. Running time: 180 minutes. Rating: PG. Released on DVD: December 22, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
