IHAO on ... WWE Survivor Series 2014 - Part 2

Finally it seems that the Network is working again.  That is great news for the WWE if they can turn all that traffic into profits.  The show itself had a huge media exposure on twitter, tumblr, facebook, and whatever else, and that is huge news for marketing future shows.  So let's see what I missed out on ...

Traditional Survivor Series Match: Team Authority v. Team Cena

Ok, so the story of this match is pretty excellent.  If Team Authority wins, they are going to fire everyone but John Cena.  All of the guys backing up Cena are potentially losing their jobs just by being with him.  And Cena won't be fired because he is just a cash cow, so he gets to continue to work and watch those who stood with him against a bad guy regime lose everything.  But, if Team Cena wins, then Triple H and Stephanie will be reduced to paperwork and desk jobs, to never have any influence on the "careers or personal lives" of anyone in the WWE again ... unless Cena gives them the power back.  The build up has been a little weird, but ultimately, this is an exciting storyline.  On top of that, a good Survivor Series match, which is an elimination tag match, really does some great storytelling.  So I'm going in more excited than I thought I'd be for this match.

Bullet points thoughts as I watch:

• It is crazy to me how much I love Eric Rowan and Luke Harper

• Ziggler is way taller than I always think of him being, he's the same height as Cena and a little taller than Ryback.
• This match has an enormous feel to it, a legitimately big feeling to it, which is exciting
• Amazing, Mark "the worst wrestler in the ring" Henry knocked out immediately by Big Show.
• "Feed Me More" chants make me a happy mark!
• Vertical stall suplex on Luke Harper by Ryback!!!
• Rusev v. Ryback is a cool stand off.  I want to see a full match of them, absolutely.
• Boo, Ryback out!!  Sure, they had to have a bunch of cheating to do it, including the now VERY powerfully booked Curb Stomp, so it isn't like he looked weak, but I'm sad to see the Big Guy out of the match already.
• Big Slow's offense doesn't look good, but he still sells well.
• Interesting history, both John Cena and Dolph Ziggler have amazing Survivor Series records: John Cena is 8-1, and Dolph Ziggler is 5-1.  Things look good for Team Cena
• The crowd LOVES Ziggler.  Biggest pops are for him and Ryback.
• After a long segment of everyone beats up Ziggler, we get another shenanigans round as everyone does finishers and big moves ... ugh, and then we get the "throw the dude on the pile of dudes" again ... and then again.  I've come to hate that spot and the flying shove an enormous amount.
• Rusev out by count-out to continue to protect him, but it was a pretty nice spot.
• Golly, this ref is letting Team Authority to cheat a LOT.  Rollins flies in all the time with attacks, but the ref just lets it happen.  I don't quite understand the logic here, because he isn't even the Authority's ref.
• Heel turn for Big Show.  Big Show loves his job, and that is what his story has always been.  Good storytelling, even if it is shenanigans.
• CENA OUT?!  Well, that's nice.  But this story is crazy.  It is now Ziggler all by himself for Team Cena, versus Luke Harper, Corporate Kane, and Seth Rollins.  Doesn't look good for Ziggles.
• Ziggler gets Kane out, which makes sense as Ziggler has beaten Kane a whole bunch.  Luke Harper and Seth Rollins left.
• Ziggler's gimmick is less "Show Off" and more "Bump Around and Die Constantly, But Won't Stay Down"
• Roll-up on Harper, Ziggler v. Rollins.  The two workhorses of this match, because MAN has Ziggler been working hard.
• More shenanigans right when Ziggler had it won.  Ref can't call you for cheating if you pull him out of the ring ... though I doubt he would have, considering he hasn't all night.
• Another Zig Zag, HHH kills another ref.  HHH v. Ziggler is a match I'd love to see.
• Pedigree to Ziggler.  Ziggler dead for real.  Evil Authority ref out to make the count.

• Sting showed up to help Ziggler and stop HHH!  Probably because Dolph's been doing the Stinger Splash for the past few months.  Sting hates authority.  Also has new music.  I miss his old theme.  Cool to see him, though.
• The crowd is not as hot for Sting as I thought they would be, but that's probably because the young kids don't know him, so the older fans are explaining it to them.  
• There we go, took a few minutes, but then colossal "this is awesome" chants finally.  Sting v. HHH, Mania?  Probably.  Give me a few more Sting matches before that, and I think I'm sold.
• HHH sold the Scorpion Death Drop like a champ, and I love that about HHH in his spot in his career now.
• Sting puts Ziggler on top of Rollins, and Team Cena wins.

That is a LOT of shenanigans.  And a kind of too long match, but I liked a lot of it.  It was a one-hour long extravaganza, and Ziggler was given a huge rub.

Verdict - Enormously important, lots of big feelings, but shenanigans galore, so a little tiresome, but overall enjoyable.  Also, look at Steph, she is perfect here!

So how did this whole PPV go?  I liked it.  It had great story and not great matches, but great story is better than bad story.  It also teased the future, and I like the future it teased.  I'm happy.  And I haven't felt that positively about the WWE in months.  Kudos on your free PPV, WWE.  I think you just may have gotten some new subscriptors.  Subscriptions?  Whatever.

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Well, it is Thanksgiving week.  And I want to thank all of you guys for reading IHAO.  I'm going to be taking the rest of this week off, but next week I have a lot of things lined up: John Wick review, Rosewater review, House of Cards review, and a special article I got with all the help of you guys.  December is going to have a LOT of neat stuff, including a special AMA 3, lots of Christmas reviews, and all sorts of other neat stuff.  So really, thank you all.  And here's to the future of I Have an Opinion.