PWP Nation’s Tim Bell takes a look at some of the biggest mistakes and missteps in the history of WWE Survivor Series
As we approach this year’s Survivor Series, WWE has a major decision to make on who they’ll be having fill the vacant spot left behind by Seth Rollins after his massive knee injury. I’d argue that the decision is now more important than if Roman Reigns had simply beaten Seth that night, since the Champion will be starting basically with a clean slate heading into the most important months of the WWE calendar.
Taking a look back at previous Survivor Series events, there have been some rather major decisions that I feel were, in retrospect, pretty terrible, and led to some missed opportunities. I’ve pinpointed five choices WWE has made at the Thanksgiving’s week classic that were clear missteps looking back at history, and no, Montreal isn’t one of them.
Here are the ones I identified, ordered by date of occurrence.
Survivor Series 1991 – Taking the WWE Title from The Undertaker after only six days.
Technically, I suppose this wasn’t a Survivor Series decision, but rather a “Tuesday in Texas” decision, but I feel it counts regardless. In 1991, for the first time ever at a Survivor Series event, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was defended, as champion Hulk Hogan put the title on the line against undefeated challenger, The Undertaker. Now, there were definitely some shenanigans involved, but ultimately, The Undertaker walked out with the gold, and even looking back at it today, the moment felt BIG. This made The Undertaker the youngest WWF Champion at the time, and legitimized him as a legitimate monster in the wrestling world.
So, naturally, they made up a new PPV six days later, named Tuesday in Texas, and had Hogan cheat to win the Championship back. It would take six years for The Undertaker to regain the World Championship, and not before having to endure some of the worst feuds of his career along the way. Looking back, it’s not hard to think that even if they weren’t looking to have Taker as Champion for a year or so, giving him a reign even until the next regularly scheduled PPV would have been far more beneficial than the nonsense they went with.
Survivor Series 1999 – The Big Show defeating Triple H and The Rock to win the WWE Title
Originally, the main event of Survivor Series 1999 was Triple H, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Triple Threat match, which certainly could be considered a mega-attraction. Unfortunately, Austin was having neck issues, which led to the infamous Rikishi ambush (“I did it….for The Rock”) and removed Austin from the match earlier in the night. WWE does the right thing and holds back the replacement third participant until the last moment, finally revealing The Big Show as the new challenger.
Problem is, Big Show truly wasn’t on that level at that time. Show himself even admits that he had a ton to learn in his early years in WWF, with many stories of guys like Austin and The Undertaker constantly riding him and pushing him to fulfill his massive potential.
However, at this point, Show wasn’t quite there, and the weak path they had carved out for Show after Survivor Series shows they probably should have crafter a better solution to the Austin situation, as nobody was clamoring for a Big Show/Big Boss Man feud at the top of the card. And a failed/mediocre title reign probably did more harm to Show at this point than good, leaving a sour taste in regards to another potential reign down the line. Sometimes, going with an obvious choice like Rock or Triple H is just the right answer.
Survivor Series 2006 – Not capitalizing on CM Punk’s obvious popularity.
We’re in the business of listening to the audience, right? I don’t usually take that shot at WWE, but in this case, I think it’s clear the audience was being thoroughly ignored. In a traditional Survivor Series match, you had a team with Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and The Hardy Boyz, yet before the match began, the ENTIRE audience was screaming for one man – CM Punk. Now, this was during WWE’s failed attempt at an ECW revival, and Punk was toiling away on the third show, far from the main exposure of RAW or Smackdown.
Now, in full disclosure, the event took place in Philadelphia, a crowd base you’d expect to gravitate towards an up-and-coming talent like Punk at the time, but it wasn’t as if it was Chicago, Also, aren’t crowds like Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and the other wrestling haven’s said to be given more credence by the “powers that be”? So wouldn’t Punks ringing endorsement while surround by so much established talent (all of whom were also very “over” at this point in time. Heck, this was the Hardy’s first appearance together in 4 years) be a clear sign that Punk’s stock was ready to rise? How did WWE capitalize on this obvious momentum?
By having Punk be the first man eliminated in an ECW Elimination Chamber match the following month, an afterthought in the ECW World Title race, and then having him feud with names like Hardcore Holly and Matt Striker. For all the grief Punk gets nowadays, there was some validity to some of the gripes he vented on during his early WWE years.
Survivor Series 2012 – Not having Ryback defeat CM Punk and John Cena for the WWE Title
I fully expect to be alone on this one, but please, hear me out. When Ryback first showed up on WWE television, I, as did most, saw him as a cheap attempt to recapture some of the Goldberg hype from years past. I especially despised the handicap matches against random jobbers during his build, feeling it did more to hinder Ryback than it did help, since nobody put any stock into those wins outside of the commentary team. And the majority of the WWE Universe seemed to agree, as Ryback wasn’t received very well to begin with.
So, many were confused when Ryback went from a non-title win over then Intercontinental champion The Miz, to confronting WWE Champion CM Punk later in the same night on one episode of RAW. However, a strange thing happened when Ryback was put inside the ring with Punk – the WWE audience took notice of Ryback in a more serious light, and Ryback suddenly became VERY over. Go back and watch those segments if you can find them online, Ryback had a large portion of support, obviously many Punk fans weren’t going to convert, but Ryback was getting what seemed to be a large portion of the John Cena fan base, and I truly believe he would have been accepted as a Champion by a large enough segment of the audience to be successful.
Now, this would have affected Punk’s record modern reign, and they clearly weren’t willing to interrupt that on his march towards eventually dropping the title to The Rock. Also, I’m not complaining that The Shield got their debut out of this decision. I’m mainly saying that the payoff with Rock/Cena wasn’t needed in almost anyone’s eyes, and WWE had a rare opportunity fall into their hands with Ryback, and instead of running with it, they swerved him, and looking back, the decisions made in just a couple months then ruined Ryback for the better part of the following year.
Survivor Series 2014 – Not pushing Dolph Ziggler to the moon after his win over Team Authority
I absolutely loved the main event of last year’s Survivor Series, putting Team Cena against Team Authority. Sure, the stipulation seemed a bit forced, but on that night, this Survivor Series elimination matchup had a real big fight feel, and reminded me of what of what they had tried to accomplish years ago with the Invasion finale at Survivor Series 2001, which fell far short of the goal. However, WWE hit a home run with this matchup last year, only to trip over third base and fall on their face in the months following the event. The turn by Big Show was perhaps the best of his career, not so much because it was unexpected, as he telegraphed the hell out of the move in the moments before.
But the elimination of John Cena shocked everyone for a number of reasons. Many expected the “one against the world” angle in this match, but everyone expected, understandably so, that it would be Cena taking on the world. It was his conflict with The Authority which created the entire match, after all. By allowing it to be Dolph Ziggler on that stage, rather than Cena, it immediately elevated Ziggler to a place that, in my opinion, Ziggler’s never been before.
It felt like the first time that WWE truly was giving Ziggler the ball in a main event situation and depending on him to close that show. Now, perhaps they truly weren’t depending on Ziggler, and were instead depending on Sting’s eventual appearance to keep everyone interested, but make no mistake, Ziggler was the sole survivor in a match that involved John Cena and Seth Rollins, and that positioned him with an opportunity to truly make that leap to the upper tier of WWE.
Instead, Ziggler simply resumed his Intercontinental Title feud with Luke Harper, and while they tore the house down, frankly, we’ve seen Ziggler tear the house down enough already. It was time to see him elevate and become the main eventer so many believe he can be, and he wasn’t given that chance when literally EVERYTHING was positioned for him to succeed in that role. They’ll never have another situation where the WWE Universe will accept Ziggler as a main event talent as they would have had if on RAW the following night after SS, The Authority had aimed some of their venom at Dolph.
Thanks for reading, everyone!