wrestling / TV Reports
The 2004 Survivor Series Breakdown 11.14.04
I’m J.D. and I’m back from the dead, chillin’ at the beach down at club med.
For those of you that think I’m nothing but a Scott Keith ripoff, well you have new ammunition. I now have a fire story too. I won’t go into here, but that was the reason for the RAWtopsy and SD Breakdown absence. In short, Raw was really good, Smackdown sucked due to massive amounts of Mae Young.
But…YOU made up for it. Yes YOU — the man in the lower left of my screen with the “411mania rules” sign. You sir, are about to rock, and I salute you.
All four guys are legal and there are no eliminations, so it’s the first person to score a fall. Chavo pairs off with Kidman while Rey and Spike go at it. Spike takes out Rey, and the heels doubleteam Chavo. Kidman doublecrosses Spike with a dropkick but gets sent to the floor by Rey. Rey and Chavo go at it with Rey getting a huracanrana. He armdrags Chavo out and gets jumped from behind by Spike. Spike tosses Rey out, so Chavo comes back in. Chavo and Spike take each other out with clotheslines. Rey and Kidman go at it on the apron. Rey ranas Kidman to the floor, drawing a “Holy Shit” chant from the crowd. Chavo tosses Rey out onto Kidman, then planchas both men. Spike gloats and tries the same thing, but everyone ducks out of the way. Kidman and Chavo wind up alone in the ring. Kidman begs for mercy, but Chavo takes it to him with a backdrop. He delivers a backdrop suplex, but Spike breaks up the count. Spike atomic drops him and gets two off a clothesline before Rey breaks it up. Rey takes the “Hennig Bump” off a corner whip. Spike tosses him to the outside and goes up. Chavo catches Spike. Kidman joins in, and they get the old Edge & Christian Electric Chair superplex. Rey tries to capitalize by covering, but Kidman breaks it up. Kidman spikes him with the Rydien Bomb and goes up. Chavo knocks him to the floor before the SSP. Spike spears Chavo out and goes for the Dudley Dog on Rey. Rey counters by tossing him to the ropes. 619! Rey goes for the springboard, but Kidman catches him and pulls him off. Chavo gets the Gorybomb. Kidman breaks up the count with a legdrop, but Rey takes him out. Chavo is out, so Spike rolls into the cover for the win at 9:03. Wall-to-wall action, but no real flow because they were squeezing 20 minutes of match into less than 10. Still a fun opener, though. ***
Christian has new theme music by Waterproof Blonde. Plus, he has new WHIP ASS~! warm-ups. They fight over a hammerlock and then feign some amateur stuff. Benjamin kips up out of a wristlock and takes Christian down with a flying shoulderblock. Christian slaps him in the face. Benjamin rams Christian’s head into the mat. Christian tosses him, but Benjamin skins the cat back up and springboards into a neckbreaker for two. Nice! Christian beats him down in the corner and reminds him that he’s Captain Charisma. Benjamin lands on his feet off a monkey flip and flapjacks Christian. They head outside where Tomko distracts Benjamin long enough for Christian to knock him off the apron. Christian beats Benjamin down and gets a shout out from his Cleveland peeps. Benjamin comes back with a desperation crossbody. Christian rips at his face and goes to a chinlock. Christian tosses Benjamin to the outside. Tomko rams Benjamin into the apron and tosses him back in. Christian gets two. Christian plants Benjamin with an inverted tornado DDT. It gets two. Christian jaw jacks with him and slaps him around. Benjamin reverses a whip, and Christian takes the “Bret Bump” to the turnbuckle. Benjamin ducks a clothesline and sticks a Russian Leg Sweep for two. A jackknife hold gets two. Christian tries for the reverse neckbreaker, but Benjamin counters to a reverse slingshot suplex! Tully Blanchard eat your heart out. Benjamin misses a charge, and Christian gets the Implant DDT for a close, close two. Tomko tosses in the belt and distracts the ref. The ref sees Christian with the belt and yanks it away from him, enabling Benjamin to hit the flying crossbody. ONE, TWO, THRE-NOOO!! Tomko hits Benjamin with a big boot as the ref was removing the belt from the ring. ONE, TWO, THRE–NOOO!!!! Benjamin goes for the T-Bone, but Tomko interferes. Benjamin takes Tomko out with the leg whip. Christian goes for the Unprettier, but Benjamin leaps over him and finishes with the T-Bone suplex at 13:23. Damned if this match didn’t steal the show! ***1/2
The faces get individual entrances. Show has his ankle taped up. Cena goes after Jesus and Carlito, chasing them all the way to the parking lot. If Jesus wants to be a tough guy, he might want to tuck in his watch fob. Carlito and Jesus carjack some poor girl and drive away, eliminating Carlito. And the match hasn’t even started! Show yanks Jindrak into the ring and the match finally starts. Show slaps Jindrak around like a strawberry bitch. Van Dam tags in and gets his stepover spinkick. Eddy comes in with the slingshot senton. Van Dam hits Rolling Thunder for two. Eddy gets two off a belly-to-belly. Reigns senses things aren’t going so well, so he runs in. Eddy takes Reigns and Jindrak out with a headscissors/armdrag. Angle jumps him from behind to finally turn the tide. Reigns works Eddy’s back with a series of backbreakers. Jindrak comes in for a Full Nelson. Big “Eddy!” chant. The heels do a good job of making quick tags and wearing Eddy down. Tazz and Cole argue over whether Angle has ever done a Butterfly Suplex. Eddy counters a Jindrak chinlock to a jawbreaker, but Angle cuts off the tag. Jindrak grabs a reverse bearhug on Eddy. Eddy elbows out and ranas Jindrak. HOT TAG TO RVD! Angle tags in and takes a reverse thrust kick. RVD goes up for the Five Star. Jindrak tries to pull Angle to safety, so RVD hits him with the Frog Splash instead. Angle take the opportunity to schoolboy RVD, grab a handful of ropes, and get the pin at 8:48.
The faces complain about Angle using the ropes. Eddy returns the favor, cradling Jindrak and putting his feet on the ropes to eliminate him at 9:13.
Reigns and Show go next. Reigns clips his knee but falls victim to the chokeslam at 10:32. This is getting a little silly.
Angle grabs the Anklelock on Show. Show reverses it, tossing Angle to the outside. Angle is about to take the easy way out, walking to the back. RVD returns and chases Angle back to the ring. FU, Frogsplash, pin. Angle is eliminated, and the faces get some much-needed catharsis. (12:26) It was going along just fine until the goofy eliminations kicked in. 13 minutes for a four-on-four match?! **3/4
Staredown to start. Taker lays in some soupbones and chases the ref out of the ring. Taker charges into an elbow but gets a big boot. Taker drops a pair of elbows for two. Taker works the shoulder with a keylock. He tosses Heidenreich into the turnbuckle and goes up for “Old School.” Heyman distracts the ref so Heidenreich can counter with a low blow. Heidenreich crotches Taker into the ringpost. Heidenreich punches away at Taker and yells, “Taker, I can beat you!” Damn, he is crazy. Taker no-sells the punches and rams a forearm into Heidenreich’s throat. He follows it up with a guillotine legdrop on the apron. That gets two. Taker finally gets the Old School forearm. Taker gets two from the Flatliner. Taker charges but crotches himself on a big boot attempt. Heidenreich knocks him off the apron into the ring barrier. Heidenreich gets a boot and walks around for a while. He slaps on a chinlock. Taker elbows out but takes a clothesline for two. Taker punches back, but Heidenreich floors him with a flying clothesline. Heidenreich misses an elbow. Taker counters a suplex to one of his own as we get more “stunned silence” from the crowd. Taker no-sells a kick, but Heidenreich tosses him to the outside. Taker hangs him off the top rope and goes up. Taker delivers the flying clothesline. ONE, TWO, THR-KICKOUT! Taker clotheslines him in the corner. Snake eyes, big boot, legdrop. ONE, TWO, TH-no. Taker goes for the chokeslam, but Heidenreich counters with a knee. Heidenreich catches Taker with a sidewalk slam for a nearfall. He argues with the ref. Heidenreich goes up for a series of punches. Taker no-sells and counters to the Last Ride. ONE, TWO, THRE–Heidenreich grabs the bottom rope. Crowd thought that was it. Taker counters a sleeper to a backdrop suplex. They tease a double countdown, but Taker gets up at nine. Taker gets the flying clothesline and a chokeslam. Tombstone and we’re done at 15:54. Taker looks all awed at Heidenreich’s performance to “give him the rub.” Kinda late for that. The guy’s so slow they should call him Sid Viscous. I was actually expecting “Worst Match of the Year” so this was a pleasant surprise. *1/2
Lita takes her down and smacks her bitch up. They head to the outside. Lita drop toeholds her into a chair. Lita grabs a chair and “hits” Trish in the head with it for the DQ at 1:22. Lita snaps Shamrock style and puts Trish in a rear naked choke. The referees pull Lita off her and send her to the back. Trish freaks out at the sight of her own blood. JR and Lawler think her nose might be broken. Gee, if only she knew a plastic surgeon. It’s not fair to rate this. [NR]
Trash talk to start. Booker chops him down but ducks his head for a backdrop and gets forearmed. Booker counters a hiptosess to a clothesline. He follows up with a hook kick. JBL bails and jumps Booker when they get back in the ring. JBL delivers a forearm to the middle of Booker’s back. Booker comes back with a backdrop and clotheslines JBL over the top rope. They brawl near the Raw announce table, but it’s just a tease. OJ takes a cheapshot at Booker behind the ref’s back. JBL goes to the Cobra Clutch. MOVESET~! JBL drops a trio of elbows and gets two. Booker elbows out of a sleeper but runs right into a back elbow. Bradshaw goes up, but Booker catches him. SUPERPLEX! Booker only gets two. JBL desperately tosses Booker to the outside. Orlando jumps Booker, but Booker tosses him into the ringpost. Bradshaw follows them out only to get a BOOKEND ON THE OUTSIDE. Booker takes OJ out with the scissors kick and tosses JBL back in. MISSILE DROPKICK! ONE, TWO, THRE-JBL grabs the bottom rope. Booker sets JBL up with a sideslam and goes up. Jordan distracts Booker long enough for Bradshaw to avoid the Harlem Hangover. JBL gets two and goes back to the sleeper. Booker comes back with a series of clotheslines and a spinkick. He gets two off a bicycle kick. Booker goes for the scissors kick, but OJ trips him up from the outside. Bradshaw spikes Booker with a DDT. ONE, TWO, THR–KICKOUT! Booker accidentally whips Bradshaw into Referee Nick Patrick. Jordan jumps Booker from behind and grabs a chair. Jordan starts to get back in the ring but gets taken out by…Josh Mathews! Bradshaw takes Mathews out with the clothesline. Booker jumps JBL and nails the scissors kick. No ref! Wait! Here’s Charles Robinson! ONE, TWO, THRE–Orlando Jordan pulls Robinson out! Booker slams OJ with the Bookend. Bradshaw recovers and nails Booker with the title as Nick Patrick recovers and counts the three at 14:45. ***
Benoit starts with Edge and smacks him around. Snitsky and Orton tag in. Orton beats him down and poses. Jericho comes in and kicks Snitsky down in the corner. Jericho charges into a clothesline. OH, BABY! Orton and Triple H go at it. Orton stomps a mudhole in the corner but takes a high knee. Batista powerslams Orton and tags Edge. Edge mocks Orton’s pose and stomps him. Hmm. This crowd is remarkably dead. Benoit finally gets them going a bit by taking on all the heels and destroying them with suplexes. Benoit snap suplexes Edge on Triple H and goes up. Swandive headbutt on BOTH Edge and Triple H! Snitsky makes the save. Benoit puts Triple H in the Sharpshooter, but Snitsky saves again. “You kinda look like a baby! Get in my belly!” Benoit settles for the Crippler Crossface on Edge, but falls victim to the Pedigree at 7:27.
Edge tags out, but accidentally tags both both Triple H and Snitsky. Snitsky and Triple argue over who’s legal. This leads to Batista and Snitsky going face-to-face to a HUGE POP. All this while Jericho puts Triple H in the Walls of Jericho. Batista finally realizes what’s going on and makes the save. Jericho goes for the Lionsault, but Flair interferes. The ref catches him and sends Flair to the back. Batista nails Orton and Jericho with a clothesline. He plants Jericho with a spinebuster and readies for the Ax Bomber. Orton grabs Batista from the outside and BLASTS him with the World Title. Jericho hits an enzuigiri to eliminate Batista at 10:39.
Batista hits Jericho with the Ax Bomber as a parting shot. Snitsky goes nuts and chokes Jericho out. Edge tags in but takes the Sleeper Drop for a double KO. Snitsky comes back in and takes on both Jericho and Orton. Edge and Triple H stomp Orton on the outside as Jericho drops Snitsky with the DDT. Jericho tries to make the tag, but Orton is busy getting his ass kicked by the announce table. Maven makes his return and gets the HOT TAG! Maven tosses Edge and Snitsky. He nails Triple H with a flying bulldog, but Snitsky DESTROYS him with a chairshot. The ref sees it and DQ’s Snitsky at 16:02. He gives Orton and Jericho a few parting chairshots as well.
Maven is still out, so Triple H rolls over into the cover to eliminate Maven at 16:49.
Jericho fights valiantly, backdropping out of a Pedigree attempt. Orton’s still recovering, though, so Edge takes Jericho out with the Spear at 18:06
That leaves Orton to fight a 2-on-1 with Edge and Triple H. The heels toy with Orton, slapping him around. Triple H delivers a DDT for two. Edge tags in but takes a powerslam. Edge nearly takes out Triple H on a charge. Orton dropkicks them into one another and cradles Edge for two. Orton turns right into a Triple H spinebuster. Triple H is about to finish him off, but Edge accidentally takes him out with the spear. Wait for it…Wait for it…RKO ON EDGE! ONE, TWO, THREE! Orton eliminates Edge 23:00 in.
Orton tries another RKO, but Triple H goes low behind the ref’s back. Triple H goes for the Pedigree, but Orton reverses to the RKO for the pin at 24:31. The faces run Raw for the next month. Pretty slow going at the opening, but once the booking kicked in it took off. ***3/4
Final Thoughts: Pretty good stuff from the Raw side, at least in terms of long term booking. Benjamin vs. Christian was really fun, making Benjamin look like a future superstar. The faces now need to do something with their newfound power. Something more than haircut matches and title shots. My suggestion – trade Batista and Flair to Smackdown, leaving Triple H all alone to defend his title. Smackdown is screwed as usual, as they seem to be setting up Big Show vs. Bradshaw. Heidenreich is dead in the water, but who really expected him to win? In the end, injuries and inexperience made this a two match show.
Mild thumbs down for Survivor Series 2004.
J.D. Dunn.
