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!
Agreed on this one…