4 Takeaways From Survivor Series Weekend

– Welcome back to column time with Larry. Following the TNA Bound For Glory PPV, I did a takeaway column that some seemed to enjoy and figured that I would do the same for the Survivor Series Weekend. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your takeaways/future booking plans or whatever from the PPV.

Hire Mickie James: Going into the match, I knew that this was essentially a tryout for Mickie James. If she came back, was in shape, worked hard and had a good match she could easily get a job in the brand split era. James, at 37 and about two years after having a child, looked in phenomenal shape. She looked amazing working CHIKARA King of Trios, she worked very hard and looked as if she belonged with Asuka and I felt that James vs. Asuka was a big success overall. Asuka beats a name that people know, James gave creative a break and opportunity to really get into the Ember Moon push, and if they are smart, you have a new veteran presence for Smackdown. James is in shape, is experienced, is ring and TV ready and is a babyface veteran that can work with Carmella and Alexa Bliss to really get them ready. It makes sense to add depth to the roster and to help bring the young heels along, which needs to be done. Having Carmella and Alexa Bliss working house show loops with James will be great for them, and the crowds know James and should hopefully be invested in the matches. And we all know that if we need to get crazy, James can be a very fun heel to work with Lynch.

We Need More Fancy PPV Entrances: One thing NXT has been doing very well is the big entrance for their top stars, making them appear to be really big stars. And if the company can do this for NXT specials, I want then to do it on more PPV events. WWE is always discussing that they tell stories and make stars. So as long as you’re not doing Michael Bay explosions or James Cameron 3D, I can’t imagine the price is what holds them back from doing them. One thing I always hear about is that fans miss the custom PPV sets, and that was changed due to cost concerns. I think adding a few special entrances for big stars or stars on the rise would make for a nice change of pace on the shows and also make them feel more special. Like at Hell in a Cell, the ladies got the special entrances, and I felt it added a lot to the overall presentation. At Takeover, Roode and Nakamura looked like gigantic stars with how the crowd reacted to their entrances. I think that you need to do anything and everything to make your guys look like stars, and these entrances seem like such a simple way to do this.

The Revival, Ciampa & Gargano Are The Best: I have said it before and will say it again here, for as much as I may love The Young Bucks and other tag teams, The Revival are the best big match tag team and right now the best tag team in wrestling. These guys just get their roles and do everything well. From their look, attitude and work, they are just awesome. They are a beautiful throwback team who can work that style but adapt it to work with the current style with ease. Ciampa & Gargano are the perfect foils for them right now, Gargano is such a fantastic babyface and does so many little things to make you love him. The evolution of Johnny Gargano over the last several years has been quite amazing. I first saw him in CHIKARA teaming with Icarus and Taylor as part of FIST. I thought that he was a perfectly fine pro wrestler, doing some comedy and having good tag team matches. He was serviceable and had upside, but I would be lying if I said I thought he’d be a top guy of any kind. And that’s how WWNLive saw him, as he was a guy that had to fight his way into the promotion via a pre-event FRAY match to prove that he could be part of the shows. He had to fight for the respect of the office, the respect of the “name Japanese performers” that thought little of him, and he finally did that. Between 2010 and 2012, Gargano was a guy that had improved tremendously, going from a guy most thought was just a comedy guy to an excellent tag team performer. But in 2012, he really blossomed as a singles performer, and the top act for EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA. Whether it was in a tag team match in CHIKARA, a multiple man match (vs. Ricochet vs. Akira Tozawa vs. AR Fox), an I Quit match against Chuck Taylor or singles matches with Akira Tozawa, Masato Yoshino, AR Fox or Sami Callihan; 2012 was the year of Gargano. Gargano quickly became everything you wanted in the top guy. He held the Open the Freedom Gate Championship for 873 days, in a title run that never felt boring or labored. He was the babyface that overcame the odds to become the champion, and then the hated heel when he snapped and decided he would do anything to keep his title and the top spot. In the EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA universe, the fans bought him as the top guy, he was booked well as the top guy, and he had previously grabbed the attention of WWE in the past. But I feel the most important thing is not just the quality of the matches that Gargano had, but I want to stress the fact that he grew so much as a singles performer. That is the key for every wrestler trying to make it, you can be good, but if you don’t evolve (for lack of a better term) you die. He proved that he could thrive as a major player; he just needed the chance and he got it. Watching Gargano transform himself from a friend in similar tights to a top guy who constantly delivered was a complete joy for me. We often tend to dwell on watching guys fail, but for the last several years I have done nothing but write about and praise the evolution of Gargano. Johnny Gargano is an excellent pro wrestler. He’s a small guy that can play the sympathetic babyface extremely well, and turn around and play the little weasel heel that you can hate equally as much. Johnny Gargano would be an asset to the WWE developmental program as a seasoned performer, as a man that has worked with great talent, as a man that can add depth to an NXT brand that wants to tour and as a man who has wrestled for 10-years that can help the next generation of talents. Will he make the main roster and find success? That I don’t know, but I do know that he has all of the tools to do so. The takeover match was an excellent tag match, with great near falls, a tremendous crowd and some beautiful call backs to their last match, The underlying tease of Gargano failing again and a possible Ciampa turn was also there, which I loved. It was exactly what it needed to be and I loved it, it checked all the right boxes. The action was great, the story was great, the villains fell and the heroes overcame and it was beautiful. I can watch these two teams feud forever at this rate. I have no clue what The Revival will be on the main roster, but right now they kick all the Asses. There was just so much talent here that if they didn’t deliver, that would have been the surprise. These guys make you love the wrestling.

Dear Wrestling, please stop will all Montreal style re-hashes…: It has nearly been 20-years, and I do not know about you guys, but I am completely sick and tired of any and all finishes that playoff of Montreal. It never adds anything to a match for me, and is just a reminder that WWE, and wrestling as a whole, can’t let it go. It’s in the past and it annoys me whenever I see it. I just want to move on and want to see creative and fun finishes to matches. I have zero issues with Miz using his wife and heel tactics to win, he is an arrogant, in over his head and over confident heel; it works, just leave Monreal in the past

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”