Survivor Series 2008 Thoughts
Survivor Series 2008 was the 22nd annual Survivor Series PPV event produced by the WWE. It took place on November 23, 2008, at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. With attendance was at 12,498. The buyrate was at 319,000 which for consecutive year was lower than the previous year's event. This was the first Survivor Series of the PG Era and the first Survivor Series to be broadcast in HD.
6 matches were held on the card. The main event featured the returning John Cena, who was out since August after suffering an injury in a match against Batista. He faced Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship. Cena was not suppose to be back due to an injury but everyone knows Cena ain't human so this was a big story of him returning in his hometown to face Y2J who was having his best wrestling year yet. Triple H was set to face both Jeff Hardy & Vladimir Kozlov but unfortunately he ended up only facing the later (for most of the match) as Jeff Hardy was physicaly unable to wrestle after being found unconscious at his hotel the previous night. Unfortunately this was put into storyline as well as Jeff was still having his drug issues. We had 3 traditional survivor series matches and a casket match set for the night as well.
The Good - Well both of the men survivor series matches were good. I liked the second one that featured Batista's team against Orton's team. I think the pace was excellent for eliminations and a clever win for the heel team of survivors. This was the time they were building up Orton as a lead of a stable of new generation stars (later named Legacy). The opening was good too although one funny thing about it was the lack of use for the Great Khali who was a survivor along with Shawn Michaels & Rey Mysterio who did most of the action for the match. The main event was good. It was kind of slow too as Cena was getting the ring rust off but it was a good closure to the show and is memorable for Cena winning the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career. The two had a better match a month later at Armageddon.
The Meh - Surprisingly the divas Smackdown vs. Raw survivor series match was pretty decent. It didn't seem so rushed like a lot of the divas matches back then. Sadly this was a dark period for women in WWE so it wasn't really something to care much about either. The casket match featuring the Undertaker against Big Show was disappointing. It was way too slow paced. They attempted to push Big Show (again) as this giant monster heel that can take out anyone with a huge punch and it was not interesting. I will say this was Undertaker's weakest feud during his last 3 years as a full-time competitor.
The Bad - The WWE Championship match was a dud as expected with Triple H suppose to be carrying an awful performer like Vladimir Kozlov. Not even the angle of Edge returning to win the belt could save it. The crowd didn't care for it since the start with numerous chants of "boring, TNA & Hardy" and who could blame them when you were expecting someone who was clearly not main event level to headline a PPV.
Overall - Not much of a memorable show. Matches I would say were interesting to keep eyes on but nothing really interesting that would blow anyones mind off kicked in. The crowd was also not that great even when the hometown guy was in action so I say the atmosphere was low too. Not recommended at all.
Score - 5 out of 10: Mediocre
0 = Terrible 1 = Bad/Lackluster 2 = Decent 3 = Good 4 = Awesome 5 = One of the Best of all Time
1. Team HBK (Shawn Michaels, Shad, JTG, Great Khali & Rey Mysterio) vs. Team JBL (JBL, MVP, John Morrison, The Miz & Kane) (Elimination Tag) - 3/5
2. Team Raw (Beth Punk, Candice Michelle, Jillian Hall, Kelly Kelly & Mickie James) vs. Team Smackdown ( Michelle McCool, Maryse, Maria, Natalya & Victoria) (Elimination Tag) - 2/5
3. Big Show vs. Undertaker (Casket Match) - 2/5
4. Team Batista (Batista, Kofi Kingston, CM Phoenix, Matt Hardy & R-Truth) vs. Team Orton (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry, Shelton Benjamin & William Regal) (Elimination Tag) - 3.5/5
5. Triple H vs. Vladimir Kozlov (vs. Edge): WWE Championship - 0/5
6. John Cena vs. Chris Jericho: World Heavyweight Championship - 3/5
Best Match - Team Batista vs. Team Randy Orton
Worst Match - Triple H vs. Vladimir Kozlov
Most Memorable Moment - Edge's return and victory.
Top 5 Performers
1. John Cena - Good Performance
2. Chris Jericho - Good Performance
3. Randy Orton - Good Performance
4. Shawn Michaels - Good Performance
5. Rey Mysterio - Good Performance.
Survivor Series 2008 was the 22nd annual Survivor Series PPV event produced by the WWE. It took place on November 23, 2008, at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. With attendance was at 12,498. The buyrate was at 319,000 which for consecutive year was lower than the previous year's event. This was the first Survivor Series of the PG Era and the first Survivor Series to be broadcast in HD.
6 matches were held on the card. The main event featured the returning John Cena, who was out since August after suffering an injury in a match against Batista. He faced Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship. Cena was not suppose to be back due to an injury but everyone knows Cena ain't human so this was a big story of him returning in his hometown to face Y2J who was having his best wrestling year yet. Triple H was set to face both Jeff Hardy & Vladimir Kozlov but unfortunately he ended up only facing the later (for most of the match) as Jeff Hardy was physicaly unable to wrestle after being found unconscious at his hotel the previous night. Unfortunately this was put into storyline as well as Jeff was still having his drug issues. We had 3 traditional survivor series matches and a casket match set for the night as well.
The Good - Well both of the men survivor series matches were good. I liked the second one that featured Batista's team against Orton's team. I think the pace was excellent for eliminations and a clever win for the heel team of survivors. This was the time they were building up Orton as a lead of a stable of new generation stars (later named Legacy). The opening was good too although one funny thing about it was the lack of use for the Great Khali who was a survivor along with Shawn Michaels & Rey Mysterio who did most of the action for the match. The main event was good. It was kind of slow too as Cena was getting the ring rust off but it was a good closure to the show and is memorable for Cena winning the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career. The two had a better match a month later at Armageddon.
The Meh - Surprisingly the divas Smackdown vs. Raw survivor series match was pretty decent. It didn't seem so rushed like a lot of the divas matches back then. Sadly this was a dark period for women in WWE so it wasn't really something to care much about either. The casket match featuring the Undertaker against Big Show was disappointing. It was way too slow paced. They attempted to push Big Show (again) as this giant monster heel that can take out anyone with a huge punch and it was not interesting. I will say this was Undertaker's weakest feud during his last 3 years as a full-time competitor.
The Bad - The WWE Championship match was a dud as expected with Triple H suppose to be carrying an awful performer like Vladimir Kozlov. Not even the angle of Edge returning to win the belt could save it. The crowd didn't care for it since the start with numerous chants of "boring, TNA & Hardy" and who could blame them when you were expecting someone who was clearly not main event level to headline a PPV.
Overall - Not much of a memorable show. Matches I would say were interesting to keep eyes on but nothing really interesting that would blow anyones mind off kicked in. The crowd was also not that great even when the hometown guy was in action so I say the atmosphere was low too. Not recommended at all.
Score - 5 out of 10: Mediocre
0 = Terrible 1 = Bad/Lackluster 2 = Decent 3 = Good 4 = Awesome 5 = One of the Best of all Time
1. Team HBK (Shawn Michaels, Shad, JTG, Great Khali & Rey Mysterio) vs. Team JBL (JBL, MVP, John Morrison, The Miz & Kane) (Elimination Tag) - 3/5
2. Team Raw (Beth Punk, Candice Michelle, Jillian Hall, Kelly Kelly & Mickie James) vs. Team Smackdown ( Michelle McCool, Maryse, Maria, Natalya & Victoria) (Elimination Tag) - 2/5
3. Big Show vs. Undertaker (Casket Match) - 2/5
4. Team Batista (Batista, Kofi Kingston, CM Phoenix, Matt Hardy & R-Truth) vs. Team Orton (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry, Shelton Benjamin & William Regal) (Elimination Tag) - 3.5/5
5. Triple H vs. Vladimir Kozlov (vs. Edge): WWE Championship - 0/5
6. John Cena vs. Chris Jericho: World Heavyweight Championship - 3/5
Best Match - Team Batista vs. Team Randy Orton
Worst Match - Triple H vs. Vladimir Kozlov
Most Memorable Moment - Edge's return and victory.
Top 5 Performers
1. John Cena - Good Performance
2. Chris Jericho - Good Performance
3. Randy Orton - Good Performance
4. Shawn Michaels - Good Performance
5. Rey Mysterio - Good Performance.
