The Survivor Series card looked promising and it didn't fail to deliver. It kicked off with a great cruiserweight match. Here is the review:
Match 1: Fatal 4 Way Cruiserweight Championship
Match Rating: 4/5
Snitsky confronts Heidenreich backstage and says he likes Heidenreich poems. Hilarious segment. Words can't do it justice.
Match 2: Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian. Intercontinental Championship.
Match Rating: 4/5
Kurt Angle meets Edge and Eugene backstage. I'm not even going to try to do this segment justice. Awesome!
Match 3: Angle, Reigns, Jindrak and Carlito vs. Eddie, Big Show, RVD and Cena. Elimination Match.
Match Rating: 3/5
Maven is interviewed by Coach, who doesn't think he deserves to main event. Maven doesn't get any time to answer because Snitsky comes from behind and destroys him. Snitsky looks and acts like a complete psycho. Another funny segment here.
Match 4: Heidenreich vs. The Undertaker
Match Rating: 2/5
Bischoff interview backstage. The Bisch looks better in his new haircut. Can we hope Booker T loses a Hair vs. Hair match too?
Match 5: Lita vs. Trish. Women's Championship.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 6: Booker T vs. John Bradshaw Layfield. WWE Championship.
Match Rating: 3/5
Match 7: Orton, Jericho, Maven & Benoit vs. Triple H, Snitsky, Batista & Edge. Elimination Match.
Match Rating: 4/5
The Good: A very solid show with Shelton/Christian as a stand out. Match was close to a 5/5 rating and definitely a match of the year contender. No failing matches, Survivor Series had a good mixture of everything. And last but not least, the backstage segments were hilarious.
The Bad: Undertaker/Heidenreich lasted too long. I was hoping for a new WWE Champion. The Elimination Matches (and the p.p.v. itself) were not quite as good as last year, but that's almost too much to ask for.
Survivor Series Rating: 4/5
Match 1: Fatal 4 Way Cruiserweight Championship
- A very good way to open the show. It doesn't contain anything we haven't seen before but the smoothness of the grapples and reversals and the well executed high-flying spots make this a very entertaining opener. Like every other 4 way match, there are always two wrestlers recovering on the outside, but I'll let it pass this time. Unfortunately Michaels Cole tries his best to ruin the match with his awful commentary; First he incorrectly notes that Chavo and Rey are friends. Then he says Chavo was ROBBED of the title, when Kidman breaks his cover so Spike can get the pin! What the f#ck?
Match Rating: 4/5
Snitsky confronts Heidenreich backstage and says he likes Heidenreich poems. Hilarious segment. Words can't do it justice.
Match 2: Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian. Intercontinental Championship.
- Nice mat wrestling to start. Shelton outwrestles Christian and shows some nice new moves. Very well built up match where every move make sense in context to the match. Shelton is a total boredom on the mic but I'm willing to accept him as a face only because of this bout. Fantastic performance by both men. It looked predictable and uninteresting on paper but turns out to be one hell of an exiting match. Tomko gets involved but Benjamin fights him off. In a nice booked finish, Benjamin hits the best Exploder Slam (T-bone suplex) I've ever seen for the three-count. Wrestling-wise this is a five star match.
Match Rating: 4/5
Kurt Angle meets Edge and Eugene backstage. I'm not even going to try to do this segment justice. Awesome!
Match 3: Angle, Reigns, Jindrak and Carlito vs. Eddie, Big Show, RVD and Cena. Elimination Match.
- Cena chases away Carlito to the back so it starts off with four men against three. Eddie's team clearly dominates this match. Reigns and Jindrak are quickly eliminated. With Angle left alone against Cena, Eddie and Show the result is obvious. Not exiting at all, but the booking is logical and every elimination match cannot end with only one survivor.
Match Rating: 3/5
Maven is interviewed by Coach, who doesn't think he deserves to main event. Maven doesn't get any time to answer because Snitsky comes from behind and destroys him. Snitsky looks and acts like a complete psycho. Another funny segment here.
Match 4: Heidenreich vs. The Undertaker
- Heidenreich's music hits. Heil Boredom! My brother predicts that the first one to pull off a wrestling move will win the match. Could be a long night. Surprisingly good start to this bout. It's going back and forth with no botched moves. Good booking makes the match about as exiting as a match between these two can get. A little too long though. Undertaker wins with the usual.
Match Rating: 2/5
Bischoff interview backstage. The Bisch looks better in his new haircut. Can we hope Booker T loses a Hair vs. Hair match too?
Match 5: Lita vs. Trish. Women's Championship.
- Match ends in one minute when Lita gets disqualified for using a chair. A story was told to this match as we actually saw a match promo before it started (how many times do we see a promo for a women's match?). Hard to rate.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 6: Booker T vs. John Bradshaw Layfield. WWE Championship.
- Match starts off great. Booker's offense looks more intense than usual and the crowd responds with a "Booker T" chant. I like how Orlando Jordan is used in this match. Booker goes for some classic WCW finishers like the Missile Dropkick and the Harlem Hangover. Nice. Jordan gets involved after the usual referee bump and in the end Bradshaw gets the pin after hitting Booker with the belt in 14:40. Overbooked, yes, but exiting and perfect match length. Bradshaw's best title defense?
Match Rating: 3/5
Match 7: Orton, Jericho, Maven & Benoit vs. Triple H, Snitsky, Batista & Edge. Elimination Match.
- Angle: The winning team gets control of Raw for one month. Interesting indeed. Maven is unable to wrestle due to Snitsky's beatdown. All seven men are tagged in early. Match fires up when Benoit takes out Triple H's team but eventually falls victim to the Pedigree. Benoit eliminated. Snitsky almost gets into a fight with Batista and Triple H. I really like the idea of the heel team having disagreements with each other. Batista is the next one to be eliminated and then Snitsky, via disqualification, when he uses a steel chair on a returning Maven. HHH then pins Maven and Edge takes out Jericho with The Spear, making Orton the only man left on his team. Orton gets way too much offense in for my liking. He eliminates Edge with an RKO when Edge accidentally spears HHH. And after reversing a Pedigree, Orton hits another RKO to pick up the win for his team. Certainly not a perfect match, but very entertaining and that's the reason we watch wrestling, right?
Match Rating: 4/5
The Good: A very solid show with Shelton/Christian as a stand out. Match was close to a 5/5 rating and definitely a match of the year contender. No failing matches, Survivor Series had a good mixture of everything. And last but not least, the backstage segments were hilarious.
The Bad: Undertaker/Heidenreich lasted too long. I was hoping for a new WWE Champion. The Elimination Matches (and the p.p.v. itself) were not quite as good as last year, but that's almost too much to ask for.
Survivor Series Rating: 4/5