Survivor Series 2011
United States Championship: Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison - ***1/4
Divas Championship: Beth Phoenix vs. Eve - **
Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Orton vs. Team Barrett - ***
World Heavyweight Championship: Mark Henry vs. The Big Show - **3/4
WWE Championship: Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk - ****
The Rock & John Cena vs. Awesome Truth - **3/4
This was a solid event. Ziggler/Morrison was a good opener, Beth/Eve had an awesome finish, 5-on-5 was killed by the awkwardness of Sin Cara's injury and never quite recovered, but was still watchable enough. I loved Kofi's ring attire, which was his logo but with the color and design of the stay puft marshmallow man. A nice NY reference.
Henry/Big Show is not as good as the Vengeance match, but still one of the better big man matches. Considering that the two competitors have a combined age of 80 years and combined weight of almost 900 pounds, it's still an impressive achievement. Big Show's top rope elbow is amazing. Had this been a nodq match, the match could have continued after the lowblow, attempt at the chair shot, knockout, and Show's retribution, and we might had a good finish to a blowoff.
I choose to look at this match as the last in the series. After all, it began with chair on the foot, and ended that way. That their last match was the 5 1/2 minute chairs match, that ended flatly with a KO, was a huge disappointment.
Del Rio/Punk was just a flawless match. There's really nothing negative to comment on. No silly stips, no reliance on interference. I love how they just went out and wrestled. It was very back and forth, and the match had a great finishing stretch. It was awesome how Punk hit a bit move, went for a pin, and when Del Rio kicked out, Punk caught him in the anaconda vice. It was just a smart, entertaining match with a great end. Was it just me, or was Del Rio working on both of Punk's arms, or did I just lose track? Because there was a nice spot when Punk was going for the bulldog, but then switched sides, and I thought it might have been because he didn't want to do it with the injured arm, but I wasn't sure which that was.
I never realized that in the buildup, Punk was saying that he wanted to win the WWE Title to bring back its prestige. In the buildup and the extra on the DVD, he actually says it's been passed around like a hot potato, he's going to restore its meaning, and he's going to be a fighting champion.
I guess they had a long run planned, since Punk has defended against ADR, Miz and ADR in the TLC match, Ziggler, Elimination Chamber, Jericho twice, Henry thrice, and he's been champion since November. Mission accomplished, because the title feels important, and it'll feel really important when someone beats him.
Rock/Cena vs. Awesome Truth is just...bland. I know it was special, but to me, it just didn't feel special. There was nothing about the match other than who Cena's partner was that felt at all important. Rock looks and performs amazingly. I like how in the first minute or so, they let him hit huge armdrags, that funny pin, etc, to really establish that there is no rust. And there is none. He could have been wrestling this entire time.
But the match is so standard. Cena gets beat down forever, Rock gets the hot tag, fights off Miz, spinebuster, people's elbow, done. Aside from the return of The Rock, the quality of this match was for RAW. They could have done this at No Way Out or hell, the RAW before WM. Not the main event of Survivor Series.
Still, a solid event with no bad matches to speak of.