PPV Rewind - WWE Survivor Series (2012)
The 26th annual Survivor Series took place on November 18th, 2012 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The estimated crowd attendance was roughly 8,500 out of a possible 20,000 seat capacity. The pay-per-view buy rate numbers came back to approximately 212,000 buys, versus 281,000 total buys from last year’s event.
The original location for this show was intended for the Consol Energy Center, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. However, due to a scheduling conflict between the WWE and the NFL in relation to the Pittsburgh Steelers home game against the Baltimore Ravens, a change was made to hold the show in Indianapolis Indiana instead.
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The main draw for the event was centred around two match-ups. The WWE Championship match with CM Punk defending his championship against Ryback and John Cena in a Triple Threat Match, and a Traditional Survivor Series Match featuring “Team Foley”, with Mick Foley leading his chosen WWE SuperStars of Daniel Bryan, Kane, Kofi Kingston, The Miz and Randy Orton to do battle against “Team Ziggler”, led by Dolph Ziggler and his partners Alberto Del Rio, Damien Sandow, David Otunga and Wade Barrett.
I will be reviewing each match and summing up how the matches progressed, for good and bad respectively. I will be implanting a simplistic rating system to rate the match based on psychology, spots, crowd participation and in-ring chemistry amongst the participants. The rating scale will be as follows:
5 Stars: Perfection – Excellent in-ring psychology and chemistry amongst all wrestlers involved. The crowd was into the match and on the edge of their seats from bell to bell.
4 Stars: Great – Great in-ring psychology and chemistry, but not quite to perfection and needs a little something extra. Good crowd participation, but left wanting more for their tastes.
3 Stars: Average – Average, run-of-the-mill match that had some decent chemistry or in-ring psychology. The crowd won’t be overly into the match but will pop at certain spots.
2 Stars: Lackluster – Ring Psychology and Chemistry wasn’t there for the wrestlers participating. The crowd was bored with the match and could care less about it.
1 Star: Poor – Little to no ring psychology or chemistry involved. The crowd hated the match and were either quiet or made up their own chance to get through it.
#1 3MB (Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal) vs Santino Marella & Zack Ryder
We have Scott Stanford and Matt Striker providing the commentary for the Survivor Series 2012 pre-Show. Kicking things off with 3MB vs Zack Ryder and Santino Marella. This was an okay match, at best, to kick things off. Comedy spots, as to be expected, with Santino Marella with Heath Slater as they had a little back-and-forth banter. The crowd popped when Santino attempted to use his “Cobra” finisher on Slater but to no avail.
Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal controlled most of the contest, offensively. Working some good tag team spots to keep the advantage going. Santino worked most of the match-up until he was able to execute the “hot tag” to Zack Ryder. Ryder came in at a full head of steam. Taking out 3MB and had everything going for his team.
However, Drew McIntyre interfered and struck Zack Ryder with his cast to nurse his “injured arm”. This allowed for Jinder Mahal to get the cover for the 1,2,3.
This was a decent match to start the show. Nothing too exciting or over-the-top. The crowd popped for Santino and Ryder and did (seemingly) enjoy the little antics that played out toward the end of the contest.
RATING: 2 Stars