High Road/Low Road 11.17.06: Traditional Survivor Series Matches
Posted by Chad Nevett on 11.17.2006
This year's Survivor Series will feature three traditional Survivor Series Matches. Is this a good idea by the WWE or a bad idea? You decide in this week's High Road/Low Road.
Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road! A brief explanation of the column: Uncle Trunx takes the Low Road (negative view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related "stuff" while Sat takes the High Road (positive view).
Special Note: Also, if you can get to the Assembly Hall in Melksham, UK on Sunday, check out CSF "No Holds Barred". This is a great promotion, and once again, Trunx will be there in person. Buy him a real ale and he'll go high road on you!
The Results for the Champion of Champions Match:
High Road: 21%
Low Road: 79%
E-Mails:
These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.
Matt Short Writes:
I'm going high road on the Women's Tournament and it's mainly because I think that the WWE actually made the right choice this time in determining a new champion. Sat is right on the money in saying that with the tournament the winner is viewed as completely deserving of the title. It's mainly the reason why I've always been a mark for tournament events like King of the Ring and recently the Indy Ted Petty Invitational. When you take the best in a division and put them against each other in a series of matches, that's pretty damn exciting if you ask me. At the same time, this will really only work if all the competitors in the tournament are actually capable of putting on a good match every time they're out there. And sadly most of the Divas are barely competent in the ring, thus the overall quality of matches is going to be way down. That was probably the biggest problem with the Diva's Tournament: it was too long. If a tournament is meant to highlight the best while they compete for the prize, it should actually involve the very best that can be offered. They didn't really need weeks of matches when it was perfectly obvious that this was going to lead to a PPV showdown between Mickie James and Lita. A shorter tournament or even a four way match would have worked just as well I think.
But the important thing is this: the tournament was meant to add credibility to the Women's Title. After Trish left they could have easily just had a singles match the next night on Raw and be done with it. Winning the belt at the end is all well and good, but being able to win it in a tournament shows that they perhaps put at least some effort in building up the title and the women who are going to be competing for it. I am also very glad that it was decided that for the finals they were allowed to wrestle a real match. Granted, all the choices were very gimmicky regardless. I am glad though that they didn't go the route of having the belt decided in a Bra and Panties-Brass Knuckles On A Pole-Donkey Punch Match (????). This tournament isn't going to be something that's going to be remembered with the biggest events of professional wrestling, but at least they tried to give the belt some respect and highlight it in this way
Uncle Trunx:
I want to see a Bra and Panties-Brass Knuckles On A Pole-Donkey Punch Match!
Seriously, my view is that a tournament is only as good as the competitors, and this tournament only had two or three people good enough to win it involved. So sadly, it didn't add respectability to the belt, it just took up TV time with awful matches.
Freddy Neuwendyke Writes:
I would have voted High Road had this match been done 5 years ago during the Invasion and with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Tazz, and Goldberg or Sting. Back then it would have seemed like a legit competition once and for all to prove who was the best wrestler. Those men were the standard bearers for their respective companies. John Cena, Big Show and Booker T just reeks of desperation. Big Show is a broken down old has been, Booker T has been curtain jerking too long, and John Cena is loved or hated depending on which side of the arena you're sitting in. The Champion of Champions match went down as either a last ditch effort to bolster sagging buy rates or yet another chance for Vince to stroke his ego at the expense of his latest whipping boy ECW.
Sat: I do agree with that it reeks of desperation, but it is something that we haven't seen. I also agree with that this match happened because of low buy rates. However, the match was as good as it could have been. I went into the match expecting the worst and the match turned out to be decent.
Uncle Trunx: I went into the match expecting the worst and my expectations were met. It's a great shame to use up the first ever match between all 3 champions on such a lackluster affair.
Bobby D. Writes:
Wow, do you guys have some great debate topics. I really enjoy this column. I had to struggle to make a decision on this topic. I think I'm going to go High Road, but just barely. I can see why people would go Low Road on this. The match itself was horrible by all accounts. It should have been on a bigger and better show than Cyber Sunday and the finish with Mr. ex-Brittney made the match lose luster. That said, there were some positive things here. First, the fact that His Majesty won. I know a lot of people (including me) thought whichever belt was up for grabs that champion would win, but at the same time I couldn't say I'd be totally shocked if the ‘E had given Hulk Cena multiple titles since they think he's this generations sliced bread. I mean the ‘E has made no qualms letting everyone know SmackDown is the "b" show and many times an afterthought. (Which is sad since SmackDown is far and away the better show.) – side note: if one looks back at intra-brand match-ups SmackDown gets the upper-hand more times than people think (i.e. Booker winning the intra-brand Battle Royal, SD's Kurt Angle over RAW's HBK, and SD's Undertaker over RAW's Orton at WM21, Randy Orton as SD's sole survivor at the intra-brad Survivor Series) The outcome for this match was the best for all 3 shows. SmackDown was this winner so they have bragging rights which is good for the "b" show. ECW didn't take the loss which would have killed any credibility for a "new" promotion, and RAW being the "a" show could take a loss without too much of a letdown.
Secondly, the fact that they even had a Champion of Champions match was a good thing and the fact that it contained 3 brands and not 2. If it was just the RAW vs. SD a lot of people would be calling for a unified champ and an end to the brand split which I don't want to see. With 3 champions and only 1 title up for grabs that wasn't a possibility.
As for the competitors, okay so it wasn't The Rock vs. Sting or something earth shattering like that, but they made sense. Cena is (unfortunately) the future so putting him in the first ever Champions match was a good idea. Booker is the best heel out there and Show was dominant when he was actually involved in the match. Ok, Show is too beat up to put on anything really good and Cena is terrible, but who else would you have had here? Batista would have made the work-rate even worse, now that the feud with Edge is over nobody is challenging Cena for the title (something the RAW creative team might want to look into,) and ECW being the new kid needed somebody who could be looked at as a dominant threat which Show gives right now over RVD since Show has been a multi-company champ.
Yes, this would have been better if it happened years ago with WWE/WCW/ECW, but that was never going to happen. So if it had to happen now these 3 made sense. Besides how could this be done differently without completely burying one of the brands? So if it had to happen, this wasn't the worst way for it to happen and for that I'll lean High Road.
Sat: I think that the reason that we have been on a good string of topics is that right now there is some good stuff going on. Hopefully, this can continue. It was pretty obvious that whatever title was on the line, that person was going to win. If they had given the title to anybody else, then koas was going to ensue.
Good point about the unified champion. I completely missed that. If it had been RAW vs. SmackDown, then the case could be made that there should be a undisputed champion, but with three brands one person will not get pinned. If this match had happened in 1998 or 1999, it would have been a dream come true.
Uncle Trunx: There is a lot of entertaining stuff going on at the moment and also a lot of stuff which makes me wince. It makes for some entertaining debates, some more so than others. As for the match, the finish was obvious, the involvement of Federline made me want to turn off and the whole thing felt like an opportunity wasted.
Nathan Carter Writes:
LOW road for the champions of champions match. I was so pissed about how they built this match. This could have been something big, something huge but it was all pissed away with a bullshit "poll" by the "fans" and an ending that made me want to kill myself. There is no way in hell that will all the little Cena fans out there the poll would have been 60% for King Bookers WHC and only 20% for Cena's. All the little fans obviously misunderstood the poll and voted for Cena's title cause the WWE kept pushing for the fans to vote for Cena. This was supposed to be one of the biggest matches in WWE history and we get a what a 2 week build. They should have waited until the Royal Rumble to hold this match. It would have been huge then. It would have been better also if The Big Show wasn't the champ because he was laying down for about 75% of the match. If it were Booker, Cena and RVD it would have been so much better. I don't know about you guys but I am seriously debating whether I should stop watching wrestling until all mention of K-Fed is gone. K-Fed makes me sick. He has no talent what so ever. He shouldn't be singing and even though he supposedly cuts better promos than half the roster, he should be no where near the WWE. For some reason because he was married Brittany Spears people think he's important. Wow I never realized that the World Heavyweight Championship did so much damage when you are barely hit with it, like he hit Cena with at the end of the match. I saw that and my face seriously turned beat red I was so mad. Mediocre match, Horrible ending, Horrible build, and please get K-Fed out of the WWE, off of television, ban him from ever getting 100 feet within a microphone, and start flipping burgers like he should be doing.
Sat: I agree with you. I believe the voting was rigged and they wanted King Booker to win. John Cena should have had over 20%. Most likely, we are going to see K-Fed on New Year's eve and that should be the end if it. The first time it was good, second time it was okay, third time it was get off my TV. I personally liked the ending because it kept Cena strong, Booker got the win, and it set up Cena/K-Fed.
Uncle Trunx:
I fear we'll see K Fed at WrestleMania. The voting was rigged, all to set up the end result that they wanted. The end crapped on Booker, as he needed interference to keep his belt.
NCHS08JOHNBRYANT Writes:
Yo Yo Yo Pop a 40 and Check your rollie. It's CRYME TYME. Anyway. About the C. of C. match I went Low Road I mean come on. There were definitely better ways to go about this match. I mean giving Show's health problems some doubt I have to give the match some slack but seriously you have the 3 major champions of each brand in a clusterfuck of a match with Fedex (his last name is Federline and he's now Britney's ex hence the name) anyway moving onto my match idea last week and yes I'd change the rule to the buzzer idea Satman had. But which two teams would be in the original? I know one team would definitely be LAX but who would the other team be? I asked Matt LaFave of Getting Over about this match and he said that the 2 matches would cancel out a lot of the extreme spots that the match is known for. Then again who'd wouldn't wanna see Chris Sabin jumping off of the cage to drop kick someone off of the Ultimate X ropes? Heh. Anyway. You guys gimme your thoughts on the 1st tag team to be in the match and your idea of a unique extreme spot for this match.
Sat: Everybody seems to hate the actual match. As I wrote above, the match that they had at Cyber Sunday was the best match that they could have put together. Love the new name for "Fedex". I would love to see Styles/Daniels against LAX. I don't know what it is, but these guys have some great chemistry together.
Uncle Trunx:
FedEx! WWE have to use that if they plan to keep Federline around (which I hope they don't!). As for the team, I'd have Danielson and Joe. As for the spot, I'd have someone set on fire, thrown through a plate glass window and into a pool of sharks with lasers on their heads. Or as an alternative, they could wrestle a match without relying on one ridiculous, dangerous moment to try to get it remembered, just use the whole match to tell a story. Yes, I'm old fashioned. Cope with it!
Tenchi Masaki Writes:
I went Low Road on the Champion of Champions match cuz ultimately the entire premise of the match just wasn't there because of the execution. First off, letting the fans' votes "decide" which belt is on the line automatically meant that person who was defending would retain, and therefore win. Secondly, I call bullshit on the entire vote, cuz if the fans' vote was the true outcome then why was it Booker's World Heavyweight Title on the line and not the WWE Championship held by John Cena? Ratings along tell you RAW is more watched than SD! is, and really wouldn't it make more sense to have the "more important belt" be on the line? Plus, with the IWC mostly anti-Cena...shouldn't that have turned the tide as well? But the big thing for me is that they did this match with almost no valid build-up, did it on a joke of a PPV, not even one of the Big Four, and it was lacking the one stipulation that increases the interest and credibility of a match like this 10-fold: UNIFICATION. If this were a unification bout, immediately the match takes a whole other step forward. Now, anyone really could win the match. Now, anyone really could walk out with all three belts on their shoulders. Now, every near-fall and applied submission hold has more drama hanging in the balance. But no, with the E holding tight to the brand extension there was no way that would have happened. They even could have done the match with no title on the line, but a trophy of some sort, a la the Kevin Nash Open Invitational Over-the-Top X-Division Battle Royal, so you could have some question as to who would walk away with the bragging rights in the end. More so, the overbooking of the finish and future storyline made this match a microcosm of the problem the E really has...their writing and forward thinking flat out sucks. Again the whole reason for this bout was that they are stalling for time for RVD to face Show in December for the ECW strap, Cena has literally no one credible to defend against for the WWE Title, and the Booker/Batista feud is coming to a head at Survivor Series...so let's put them all in there to stall for time in a match that means nothing anyway. And to top it off, let's have the guy we're trying to put over as a real threat and credible champion, a champion of champions even, only get the win cuz of a sloppy run in when the 3rd guy involved was out of the picture. Yeah, that's money. And by the way...WTF??? This is the E's answer to Edge and Orton being out of the title hunt to deal with DX...John Cena feuding with Kevin Federline!? So Kevin Federline is going to get a shot at the WWE Title before Edge or Orton do? By Mephisto's mighty mandible, I'm reliving the days of David Arquette, WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Someone kill it with fire now. Is there no one else the E has left on the entire damn roster? What more do they need to see before they realize all this bullshit with DX and the Intercontinental-midcard-Limbo-Merry-go-round is a detriment to their product? For fuck's sake, next thing you know they'll book Cena into a feud with me while Edge/Orton and DX are feuding over the worthless tag belts for the next 4 months. I stopped watching the E years ago but its shit like this that reminds me to stay away. I have never been so glad to have to work Monday nights like I am at this moment in time.
Sat: I agree that the fans shouldn't have had the choice of picking what title is on the line. As I said above, I think that the voting was rigged. The WWE wanted Booker to win so that they can set up Cena/K-Fed. I don't like the idea of a unification match because it would end Brand Extension. A trophy would be a good idea, but I don't think that the WWE would do it. I agree with you that the WWE is stalling their storylines right now. I don't believe that Cena/K-Fed is for the WWE title, but I could be wrong.
Uncle Trunx: The vote was rigged, the finish was predictable, the match was dire. I really didn't envy you going high road on that one, Sat! My biggest fear at the moment is Federline; world champion. I woke up in a cold sweat, screaming into the darkness at 2am last night thinking about it.
This week's High Road/Low Road featuring...
Traditional Survivor Series Matches
High Road:
This year, the WWE will offer three traditional Survivor Series matches. This is a great idea because this is what the Survivor Series is known for. In the past few years, the WWE has offered zero or one traditional Survivor Series matches. I personally did not like that decision because it turned the Survivor Series into a regular pay per view. The Survivor Series doesn't need to be like every other pay per view and kudos to the WWE for offering more traditional Survivor Series matches.
Low Road:
The "traditional" survival matches are ok if used sparingly, but if the PPV is overloaded with them, they become somewhat meaningless. With three of them, I can't help but feel that they'll lose the importance somewhat. As matches to continue to build a feud they do well, but they never resolve a thing, meaning that the PPV inevitably feels somewhat transitional if it's got too many elimination matches.
High Road:
The WWE understood that three brands are going to be at the Survivor Series and it was going to be impossible for them to get everyone of their stars on the pay per view. At SummerSlam, big names like Ken Kennedy, Rob Van Dam, and Carlito were left off the card because there was not enough time. By having the traditional Survivor Series matches, the WWE will be able to get all of their stars onto a pay per view. Hopefully, the WWE can figure out a way to get all of their stars onto the SummerSlam card.
Low Road:
I love seeing more wrestlers on a card, but not at the expense of quality. Survival matches are notorious for either having mass eliminations or seeing people eliminated with moves like clotheslines. This can't benefit the talent which is used in this way; it might be better not to use them at all rather than hurt them like this. A PPV should mean something, these matches mean very little in the great scheme of things.
High Road:
All of the traditional Survivor Series matches that are happening make sense. If the matches had just been thrown together, then I would have had some serious problems. Here's why they make sense.
1) Edge, Orton, Nitro, Helms, & Knox versus DX, Punk, Jeff Hardy, & Matt Hardy.
-DX is feuding with Edge/Orton
-Nitro is feuding with Jeff Hardy
-Helms is feuding with Matt Hardy
-CM Punk is feuding with Mike Knox
-Matt Hardy has had problems with Edge
2) Legends versus The Spirit Squad
-Piper and Flair took the gold from the Spirit Squad. Slaughter and Rhodes have helped Piper and Flair to even the odds.
3) Cena, Kane, Lashley, RVD, & Sabu versus Big Show, Test, Umaga, Finlay, & MVP
-Kane has had problems with Umaga and MVP
-Lashley and Finlay have been feuding for about a year
-Cena is having problems with Umaga and Cena and Show were apart of the Champion of Champions match.
-Lashley, RVD, Sabu, Show, & Test will all be a part of the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember.
Low Road:
Again, these matches will resolve nothing. If any one of those issues is resolved at Survivor series, I'll be very surprised. The PPV will simply set up what happens next and give no closure to any feud; fine for free TV, but not ideal if I'm paying to watch the event.
High Road:
By having traditional Survivor Series matches, we are guaranteed to have brand interaction without a brand looking dominant over the other. At last year's Survivor Series, we saw the RAW versus SmackDown match. I wasn't a big fan of this because of the reasons stated above and it was going to be impossible to do this year because there are three brands. The WWE made the right choice in having traditional Survivor Series matches because people from different brands will face off.
Low Road:
Having people from all 3 brands in each match could be great but I fear that several will be lost in the shuffle. Can you see, for example, Mike Knox or Helms being featured prominently in their match? At least in a singles match, people get to have their moment in the spotlight. With 10 guys all looking to have their moment, some will inevitably be overlooked. Multiply this by three, and I can't help but feel a fair few will lose out.
High Road:
The traditional Survivor Series matches provide the perfect opportunity to join the Hardy Boyz. I have been reading that people wanted the WWE to save this reunion for a better time, but I don't believe that will be a problem. This is just a one night stand; eventually they will get together and that will be there reunion. The WWE made a good move by putting them together in this match and hopefully we will see their real reunion at WrestleMania in a TLC match.
Low Road:
The Hardy reunion should have been saved until it was just the two of them, and built up to with a decent angle. This way, it will be overshadowed by the presence of DX. Who do you think will have the spotlight in that match? I'll bet it won't be the Hardy Boys. It strikes me as a waste of an opportunity. It may only be temporary at the moment, but it'll take some of the shine off when they do reunite more permanently.
Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?
High Road/Low Road Plugs
We are taking the high road on these articles so you should read them...
Special Note: Also, if you can get to the Assembly Hall in Melksham, UK on Sunday, check out CSF "No Holds Barred". This is a great promotion, and once again, Trunx will be there in person. Buy him a real ale and he'll go high road on you!
E-mail us your reasons for taking the High Road or the Low Road and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road at satuncletrunx@gmail.com
