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Survivor Series was actually the WWE's second Pay Per View franchise. Following on the heels of the successful Wrestlemania event, especially #3 during 1987, the WWE held its first annual Survivor Series later that year. The show started off as a series of 5 on 5 elimination style tag team matches. Then, as more Pay Per Views were added, Survivor Series became the blowoff for angles started after SummerSlam to end just before the Royal Rumble to Wrestlemania storylines. Hence why the late 1990's Survivor Series shows became a hot show, particularly as the talent and storylines improved by late 1997. But now, it's just another Pay Per View. With other non-traditional WWE shows receiving added attention (Extreme Rules, Money in the Bank, Hell in a Cell, and TLC), the WWE hasn't focused as much on the classic Survivor Series match up as a gimmick that could sell Pay Per Views. Plus, you see the same wrestlers wrestling each other on RAW over and over again. Throwing 10 or 8 wrestlers in an elimination style match isn't as unique as it used to be. What has made Survivor Series weaker, however, has been the lack of good Main Events to carry the show. Sorry, but Big Show vs. Randy Orton, as seen by the 2 RAW rating drops following the Hell in a Cell Pay Per View, could help create the worst bought Survivor Series Pay Per View of all time. As big of a fan as I am of Alberto Del Rio, the booking behind his character lacks creativity and is confused by multiple heel/face turns... He's just not drawing interest against John Cena and would need a "Match of the Year" to spark his career. Otherwise, Del Rio will continue to be seen as Vince McMahon's overpushed wrestler. It's just not doing it for me this year and I won't be buying this Pay Per View. As a consumer, I'm speaking my mind with my wallet. Nor will I If you haven't noticed, I don't review Pay Per View shows any longer. It's become too expensive insomuch that I'm selective on my purchases based on the cards offered. As you can see by my actual review columns for Royal Rumble 2013, Wrestlemania 29, and SummerSlam 2013, I've avoided all of the other Pay Per Views. Just didn't do it for me. Why should I buy a Pay Per View with Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan when I know that (a) WWE has no intention of making Bryan a long-term champion and (b) Randy Orton isn't motivated to have a Match of the Year candidate with Daniel Bryan (he's trying to make Bryan look bad on purpose)? Anytime I call up my friends whom I've watched Pay Per Views for many years, I always get a "meh" about buying a Pay Per View. I have a family and a house to spend money on... WWE is not getting mine of the card quality is down. And I always spring the extra $10 for the High Definition version, too, but only a few Pay Per Views (the big 3, sadly) have done it for me. I guarantee that I won't be buying Survivor Series 2013, so thus, don't expect a review from yours truly from what looks, on paper, to be a highly disappointing show. And I refuse to steal this show. Now, as for the GO HOME edition of Monday Night RAW or RAW Country, whatever it may be called.... The 6 on 6 Shield/Wyatts vs. Usos/Bryan/Punk/Goldust/Cody Rhodes match that should have been at Survivor Series was on RAW tonight instead. WWE will realize their mistake when the Survivor Series match and the Bryan/Punk vs. Wyatts fails to impress as this RAW match did. RAW ended perfectly last night with a big 6 on 6 brawl yet the WWE refuses to do a unique 6 on 6 battle at Survivor Series 2013. Instead, we'll just have to settle on a 7 on 7 Divas Survivor Series match... Great for us! (sarcasm) Rey Mysterio is the mystery man for the 5 on 5 Survivor Series match. I was expecting it to be Sheamus, but Rey will do. Hard to freakin' believe that I've seen Mysterio wrestle for about 17 years now. I'm an old man... Nice double 619 hit by Mysterio tonight. Once again, the WWE pisses all over the Intercontinental Title. Congrats to Big E Langston, but this was an unannounced, unhyped match for the IC title against Curtis Axel. WWE wonders why the midcard titles have NO HEAT WHATSOEVER... When you don't bother to hype any title defenses at least a week in advance, you'll lose fan interest. There was a time when Intercontinental Title and Tag Title matches were actually draws not just for headlining certain Houseshows, but they were important to many Pay Per Views to do great business. Now, they just serve as placeholders for randomized matches on RAW. What a shame considering how great those titles used to be in helping certain wrestlers mature into World Champions. AJ Lee faints in real life while on the road with the WWE. So what does that hilarious WWE Creative Staff do? Have a Vickie Guerrero angle where she's trying to fake fainting... Har har har, you're hilarious, WWE Creative! Broadway Brawl between Dolph Ziggler vs. Damien Sandow was amusing. What other match can you recite in which a bunch of musical instruments were placed in a ring? Freakin' ridiculous and yet it worked. It was unique enough of a match up that had both Ziggler and Sandow selling the match and danger of instruments everywhere. It's not that hard to entertain in a wrestling ring And another character turn for the Miz. I'd agree that he works better as a heel but his brand has been damaged by rushed and inconsistent booking. He should have NEVER been WWE Champion during late 2010 as he was not ready to be World Champion. Since that rushed title reign, the WWE has presented him with multiple losses and confusing character changes. So now, when he turns heel, we're like "meh". I thought Big Show vs. Ryback was a good match and the match helped both wrestlers. For Ryback, he looked good against a larger wrestler. He hit the Shellshocked finisher and got a nice pop for hitting that move. It took an extra effort for Big Show to defeat Ryback but it gave Big Show a decent clean win heading into Survivor Series. The backstage segments with Randy Orton and Stephanie/Triple H were just weird. Didn't understand the on-screen romance and bickering among the lovers. OVERALL - That was a damn good "Go Home" edition of Monday Night RAW before the Survivor Series. Not saying that the Pay Per View will be good but the WWE gave us good matches when they've usually taken it easy the week before in order to rest wrestlers for the big show. I'll go B+ for the grade Onto my bold predictions... MR. TITO'S PHAT SURVIVOR SERIES 2013 PREDICTIONS 7 on 7 Survivor Series Match: Team AJ Lee vs. Total Divas Just announced on RAW tonight... I bet this match runs, at most, 10 minutes. I figure this is the blowoff to end the AJ vs. Total Divas feud, whatever that has become since that "great" speech by AJ Lee that barely carried any momentum. WWE needs to turn to someone else to become AJ Lee's opponent and I'm hoping Mickie James is that person. James was a recent TNA Champion and it would easily bolster AJ Lee for her to defeat James. After all, TNA's women's division actually has better in-ring wrestling than WWE and thus beating Mickie James would be very important to AJ Lee. What SHOULD Happen: AJ Lee's team goes over strong and AJ Lee can move on to someone new rather than wrestling Bella Twins. What WILL Happen: Total Divas will win just to help promote the E! Network television show. 5 on 5 Survivor Series Match: Cody Rhodes/Goldust/Usos & Rey Mysterio vs. Shield/Real Americans If the WWE is really serious about Shield vs. Wyatt Family, the Shield will win here. I was guessing that Sheamus would have been the mystery partner and would have leaned towards the face team winning with Sheamus. Mysterio is just returning and WWE doesn't have a strong push in store for him. What SHOULD Happen: Heels win and Antonio Cesaro looks strong to begin momentum towards a singles program. He's a legitimate star. What WILL Happen: Heels get the win unless the Shield start breaking up as the WWE sees potential in them as singles stars, particularly Roman Reigns. CM Punk/Daniel Bryan vs. Erick Rowan/Luke Harper Congrats Daniel Bryan and CM Punk... Bryan went from 4 straight Pay Per Views of wrestling for the WWE Title to this match. CM Punk wrestled in an extensive and successful program against Paul Heyman to this match... What a shame. Could you imagine if the WWE opted to not only put over both CM Punk (2011) and Daniel Bryan (2013) clean over John Cena but to let them actually win matches during the months that followed with them as WWE Champion? Imagine that? Instead, they are wrestling 2 guys who were in NXT earlier in the year. Nothing against Rowan and Harper, but I'm highly disappointed in how the WWE has pissed away Punk and Bryan's career. What SHOULD Happen: Daniel Bryan and CM Punk win tag match cleanly and get Bray Wyatt alone in the ring. Punk and Bryan destroy Wyatt with their finishers. What WILL Happen: Bray Wyatt will interfere in this match and probably cause Daniel Bryan to get pinned in this match. Either way, Punk/Bryan losing is nothing short of being embarrassing. John Cena(c) vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship WWE is observing Smackdown's recent bounce in ratings and will take notice... Hey look guys, if we actually put good stars on this show, it draws! By the way, for the John Cena haters out there, he's boosted the Smackdown ratings lately... I figure that WWE officials will be curious to see this Cena on Smackdown experiment through and keep the title on Cena for the time being. Plus, if we get Title vs. Title at Wrestlemania 30, Cena must keep the belt. What SHOULD/WILL Happen: John Cena retains. Randy Orton(c) vs. Big Show for the WWE Title Zzzzz... I believe the end game here is to somehow set-up Triple H vs. Big Show for either TLC or Royal Rumble. I'm thinking Rumble as a special attraction match, thus influencing my predictions tonight. Interference will be attempted but fail. Big Show shall overcome. What SHOULD/WILL Happen: Big Show wins and becomes WWE Champion. Sets up Randy Orton vs. Big Show at TLC to set up Triple H vs. Big Show at Royal Rumble 2013. Enjoy the show! Comments and debates are welcome on Twitter. Bring it on. @titowrestling SO JUST CHILL TILL THE NEXT EPISODE! MR. TITO COLUMN ARCHIVES on LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: @titowrestling
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