STW - Survivor Series 2006 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Bruce, we're gonna continue to look back at the WWE in 2006 and man what a show this is for so many reasons!

Bruce you got 3 weeks from Cyber Sunday to Survivor Series. With 3 brands...and knowing you have to promote another pay-per-view exactly one week after…

And speaking of that show...which is ECW December to Dismember will be next week here on Something to Wrestle With as we will break it all down for you on our 300th episode!

So if you want to hear all about tune in next week but today we’re going to be talking about just Survivor Series.

The show is coming straight out of Philadelphia. What is the crowd and city’s reputation to continue to get big pay-per-views on a regular basis?

The Raw after Cyber Sunday takes place in Columbus and from the Observer: “For whatever this is worth, an explanation going around is that with Smackdown having so much success the pressure was on the Raw writers to come up with an edgy show, and well, they tried and largely seemed to fail at doing so. This was very reminiscent of a Vince Russo written version of Nitro. I don't think this show in and of itself was a disaster as just an aberration type of show, but you sure wouldn't want to see a second week like it.”

The show features such edgy things as Eugene turning heel on Jim Duggan and beating up him with a 2x4...Eric Bischoff as guest General Manager helping all the heels...Umaga destroying Maria setting up a John Cena save...and probably the most historic portion of the night...Kevin Federline challenging John Cena to a one-on-one match at the New Year’s Day Raw. This is quite the interesting Raw that features a main event of Roddy Piper & Ric Flair defending the Tag Team Titles in a no DQ match against Rated RKO. DX runs out and helps Piper & Flair get the win and then ol’ Eric gets his face pushed into Big Dick Johnson’s ass. Yup. Was the direction to be more edgy at this time compared to Smackdown?

SmackDown is taped right after as the European tour is to begin right after this. It’s announced that Batista will be taking on King Booker for the World Title at Survivor Series and on the show Booker defeats Lashley with help from Sharmell. Was this the prep to move Lashley to ECW?

Kennedy does a heavy angle with Undertaker where he leaves him laying and bloodies him up. Explain to our audience how big a deal is it when Taker does this for someone?

There’s promos between the Guerreros...Chavo & Vickie...and Chris Benoit where they’re talking about Eddie’s estate. Where exactly was this going?

From the Observer: “For Survivor Series, expect to see a lot of TV commercials listing the main event as Raw vs. Smackdown vs. ECW in an elimination match. That was the original main event when the TV commercials were cut, but they actually nixed that idea probably two months back when they decided on the Champion of Champions three-way for Cyber Sunday…”

Was Cyber Sunday the impetus for the change?

It’s reported in the Observer three names who are now mainstays for the WWE were offered developmental deals. Claudio Castagnoli … now Cesaro … TJ Wilson … now Tyson Kidd … and Nattie Neidhart are all about to come aboard. When did you first hear about these 3 and how did they land on your radar?

There’s a lot of talk at the time of Jim Ross and his contract expiring during this period. Why was Jim’s contract always expiring without a new deal it seemed like? Was he not a priority to Vince?

Big Show is taken off the European tour due to his back injuries. How beat up is Show at this time?

Was there ever talk of having Cena vs. Umaga as a singles match at this show instead of the 10 man elimination match?

What is your role on the European tours when you’re doing TV there? Do you fly over just for TV?

Piper goes on the European tour...did that take some convincing?

Wrestlemania 23 tickets go on sale for Ford Field and with literally nothing announced sell almost 50,000 tickets. Was this one of the first signs that WrestleMania was an event that can be sold without a card?

The gross on the tickets from the presale itself makes it the all-time record holder for the largest gate in North American history. How much does Vince revel in this or is it just business as usual?

This is...an interesting note from the Observer. “Nobody has made the connection, but the Smackdown turnaround and Michael Hayes as head writer have gone hand-in-hand. For all

the people who complain about too much of the same, you really now do have two fairly different products.”

What did Michael bring to Smackdown at the time that was missing?

There’s talk in the Observer about Stephanie McMahon wanting Daniel Rodimer on Raw by January of 2007. What was it that Stephanie found in Rodimer that she thought he was ready for prime time?

The card for Survivor Series is announced and there’s some interesting teams and match ups. Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes and Sgt. Slaughter are announced as a team to take on the Spirit Squad...and Team DX of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Hardy Boyz...and CM Punk. Now the rumor and innuendo has always been of the issues between Triple H and CM Punk but here they are teaming very early on in Punk’s run. Was it all bullshit in the beginning or did you see the tension early on?

What are the differences in doing TV in America compared to Europe?

The Raw from England is focused on DX doing skits of Wayne’s World, Monty Python, Airplane and Austin Powers and also beating up and outsmarting all the heels...literally all the heels in the company. Is this where you think Hunter and Shawn got a bad rep about that? It’s not like they’re booking this right?

Flair & Piper drop the tag titles to Rated RKO in the main event in England. It’s reported in the Observer that Roddy was in extreme pain during the European tour and it was thought to be a kidney stone but it was actually a mass of tissue near his spine which would later be diagnosed as Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Did you talk to Roddy at TV and how bad was it?

Piper is obviously not going to be able to wrestle but Ron Simmons would be replacing him. Why was Ron chosen for this spot?

Monty Brown is announced as being signed on November 15th. What did you think Monty’s ceiling was?

There’s a meeting between WWE and Pride on November 17th as reported in the Observer. What’s the thought process regarding this meeting?

The go-home Raw features Umaga squashing Sabu...Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro faced off in a ladder match and Hardy retains the IC title...a Dusty Rhodes promo which leads to him beating Nicky of the Spirit Squad...and Lita announces her retirement will take place at the Survivor Series. This really just comes out of nowhere with 6 days before the pay-per-view. Was there hope that she would resign and when she didn’t it was time to move forward with the retirement angle?

At the Smackdown tapings for their go home show MVP beats Kane in a cage match, Kennedy gets blood bathed by Taker and Batista agrees that if he doesn’t beat Booker at Survivor Series he would never get another shot at Booker. Is this just to give it some last minute hype?

Here we are at the show Bruce. This is the 20th edition of this show and really it’s the second longest tradition of WWE right next to WrestleMania. It’s a sell out of 14,400 paying $931,000. The 2005 Survivor Series which was main evented by SmackDown featuring Batista, Bobby Lashley, JBL, Randy Orton & Rey Mysterio defeating Raw of Big Show, Carlito, Chris Masters, Kane & Shawn Michaels in a traditional Survivor Series match. That show drew 400,000 buys while this show drew 383,000 buys. What do you attribute the drop to?

The Observer readers thought the show wasn’t great with 41.8% stating they thought the show was a thumbs down. From Meltzer: “With so many PPV events, they now have to do some themed gimmicked events instead of presenting marquee cards because of the inherent problems they've backed themselves into. WWF• has three brands, with limited headliners. With little upward mobility of wrestlers, that leads to a very limited

variation of PPV main events and far too many shows. That leads to needing ideas like Elimination Chambers, Survivor Series rules and Cyber Sunday gimmicks simply because they don't have enough main event matches to bum through as shows they have to deliver.”

What say you Bruce?

Also from the Observer: “Usually at Survivor Series there are subtle backstage angles to tease something that would build for Royal Rumble, and often for Wrestlemania. This year, most booking is being done on a week-to-week basis. The return of Stephanie McMahon at this point is said to have only slowed up the process. With most booking on a week-to-week basis, very little is planned ahead to build for and there were none of those teases. One company source familiar with the goings on said, "The creative process here is at an all-time high in frustration. I can't imagine that the shows, the creative, the people involved and the players won't undergo some major shake ups through Mania."”

Why do you think there was nothing being built for Rumble or Mania here? Was it Stephanie’s fault?

The show opens with the Spirit Squad taking on Ric Flair, Sgt. Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes & Ron Simmons.

“Ric Flair (57)& Sgt. Slaughter (58) & Dusty Rhodes (61) & Ro n Simmons (47) defeated Mikey & Johnny & Kenny & Nicky of the Spirit Squad in 10:31 with Flair as the lone survivor. Arn Anderson and Mitch were in the respective corners. Crowd was hot for the match but they didn't take advantage of the nostalgia feel, or perhaps couldn't. Everyone was expecting one Anderson spinebuster spot which never happened. l don't know what shape he's in physically. Simmons, who worked in a shirt and pants, worked early and the Spirit Squad did a great job of bumping for him.Anderson rammed Mitch's shoulder into the post, but with Simmons still out there, he was counted out in 1:54. Mitch and Anderson were kicked out from ringside at that point. Slaughter, who didn't seem over at all, put Nicky in the cobra clutch, butJohnny gave Slaughter an enzuigiri and Nicky fell on top for the pin in 6:27. Rhodes, who is really heavy, to a dangerous degree, dropped an elbow on Nicky for the pin in 6: 54. Kenny pinned Rhodes with a schoolboy in 8:25, leaving Flair against Johnny, Kenny and Mikey. Flair pinned Mikey in 9: 13 after an atomic drop with both feet on the middle rope. Flair pinned Kenny in 9:49 with an inside cradle. Flair then beat Johnny in 10:31 with a figure four leglock. Post-match saw the Spirit Squad come back and give Flair a beatdown. Kenny turned the figure four over so Flair was in the vulnerable position, and then Kenny came off the top rope with a legdrop to the back of Flair's neck. There was no attempt at an explanation as to why none of Flair's partners came back out for the save during this beatdown. ** ¼

What did you think of this and having Flair beat all 3 really kills the group even with trying to get their heat back doesn’t it?

2. Chris Benoit beat Chavo Guerrero to keep the U.S. title in 8:21. Finish saw Guerrero kick Benoit into Vickie, and then used a schoolboy, but Benoit kicked out. The storyline here is that Chavo didn't care that Vickie was hurt and only cared about winning. Benoit got the crossface for the tap out. The crowd wasn't that into the feud as a whole but ended up into the match at the end. Very physical, but too short. *** ¼

There’s just something about a Benoit and a Guerrero in the ring even if it’s Chavo. But man 8 minutes for this match seems criminal doesn’t it Bruce?

3. Mickie James pinned Lita in 8: 18 to win the women's title. This was Lita's final match in WWF of her six-and-a-half year career. Even though she announced it as her retirement match, the very next day she was being advertised as being open for

indie dates under her real name of Amy Dumas. The crowd gave her zero respect on the way out, although she heeled big on the crowd to make sure they didn't, because it would have ruined the Cryme Tyme angle had the crowd liked her. They gave them time to have a good match and worked out a lot of near falls. At the end it wasn't bad, but the first half was just botched spot after botched spot. After lots of near falls, James got the clean pin with a DDT. After the match, Lita cut a promo saying it's fans like these that make her glad to be getting out, as they showed her no respect for what she's accomplished. As she was heeling on the fans, Cryme Tyme came out with a going out of business sale on her merchandise. She freaked out as they sold a bra, some panties, an empty box of Monistat (for yeast infections- Lita saying they were for a friend) and a vibrator. It ended with a big empty box so big you could stick a fist in it, calling it "Lita's box." The post-match stuff went too long as the final "Lita's box" joke didn't get over at all. * I'/2

Whoo boy Bruce. Two days later on MySpace...yes this is when MySpace was a thing...Lita posted the following: “" .. To say I was disappointed with my final moments with WWE is quite an understatement. It was comforting to read all your comments and e-mails when I got home. I appreciate that you were able to see I did my best in the situation that was handed to me to give you guys an entertaining match and play along and be a professional with the other stuff that went along with my ' big farewell night. . . If that were why l was writing, it'd probably be about 10 pages long and with a bunch of(expletives) and capital letters."

OK Brucey...defend it. Why here like this?

4. HHH & Shawn Michaels & C.M. Punk & Matt & Jeff Hardy beat Edge & Randy Orton & Mike Knox & Gregory Helms & Johnny Nitro in five straight falls in 11:30. HHH allowed Punk to say, "Are you ready" and then endorsed Punk as the new star Of ECW. Knox tried to jump Michaels but he stuck up his leg and superkicked him and pinned him in :40. They made a complete joke out of him because Michaels asked, "Who was that guy?" and "Was he in the match?" There is a funny back story to this. A few weeks back, when the card was put together and when Michaels was told about it, his reaction was, "Who is Mike Knox?" He never watches ECW on television and legitimately had no clue who the guy was and why he would be in a match with him. This turned into an inside joke between HHH and Vince McMahon that snowballed into them using it for the finish on Knox. It buried him, but he hasn't gotten over and there are no plans for him. Matt Hardy snapped Nitro's head on the top rope, and Punk gave Nitro.a uranage and made him tap to the anaconda vise in 4:54. Crowd was really into Punk and genuinely pissed when Orton gave him the RKO, which led to a big pop when Michaels saved. HHH beat up Helms in the ring, setting up Matt to deliver a twist of fate and Jeff to use a swan ton. Matt pinned Helms in 9:23, making it five-on-two on Edge & Orton. Edge & Orton teased walking out, but the faces grabbed them and threw them back into the ring. After Jeff delivered a whisper in the wind to Edge, Michaels pinned Edge after a superkick in 10:35. With Orton alone, he also tried to run off. He was thrown back in, and Michaels gave him a superkick and HHH pinned him with a pedigree. **¾

So much to unpack here. The Michaels kick on Knox and the rib on him that effectively buried him forever. The rub they give to Punk with the DX mic work. The Hardys being a team again...and the heels losing all 5 falls. Break it down Bruce.

5. Mr. Kennedy beat Undertaker in a first blood match in 9: 15. Kennedy undid the padding on two turnbuckles early. They told a story where Undertaker kept pounding Kennedy to the body until Kennedy was bleeding from the mouth. Kennedy delivered a low blow and Undertaker sold it for maybe two seconds and was back on him. He rammed Kennedy's head into the unprotected turnbuckle, but Kennedy didn't bleed. After working the body for a few minutes, Kennedy was bleeding from the mouth outside the ring. MVP ran out with a towel and wiped all the blood off, but then threw Kennedy into the ring back at Undertaker. The finish saw MVP hit the ring with a chair and went to hit Kennedy, but Kennedy moved and he instead hit Undertaker. Undertaker bled heavily and the ref saw it and stopped the match. Kennedy beat down Undertaker for a while after the match. When Kennedy was going to taunt him with the name, Undertaker made his comeback. He made Kennedy pay for the win by giving him one of the sickest chair shots you'll ever see. How a company can hire Chris Nowinski (who has become one of the major experts on concussions, both treated and untreated in sports, after a wrestling concussion on top of all his football concussions left him unable to continue his career), and then allow stuff like that is a hell of a contradiction. I liked the story of the match itself. ***

The chair shot is ROUGH. What say you to Meltzer’s comment on Nowinski?

Undertaker really wanted to get Kennedy over didn’t he?

6. John Cena & Rob Van Dam & Sabu & Kane & Bobby Lashley beat Big Show & Umaga & MVP & Test & Fit Finlay, with Cena and Lashley surviving, in 12:35. They got Umaga out immediately, as he took a TV monitor and hit both Sabu and Van Dam with it for the DQ in :58.  Kane choke slammed MVP and Van Dam pinned him in 5:31 after a frog splash. Test immediately laid out Van Dam with a high kick and pin in 5:40. Lashley speared Test on the floor. Back in the ring, Sabu pinned Test after a swinging DDT in 6:19. Show immediately pinned Sabu with a choke slam in 6:35. The Little Bastard ran in with another shilleleigh and Finlay hit Kane with it as Kane and Show were both snatching each other. Show then choke slammed Kane for the pin in 7:26, leaving Show & Finlay vs. Cena & Lashley. Lashley pinned Finlay after a spear in 10:28. Cena & Lashley did an ugly looking double DDT on Show, and a better looking double suplex . . It was funny at the finish as the crowd cheered Lashley against Show, but not huge, but booed Cena against him. After Lashley distracted Show, Cena got him up in the FU and pinned him.** 1/4

Interesting to see RVD eliminated before Sabu when it’s reported Sabu was in the dog house for falling asleep at Raw the past Monday. What’s up with that? This is all just kind of a mess wouldn’t you say?

7. Batista pinned King Booker in 13:58 to win the World title. Teddy Long came out before the match and announced the title could change hands on a DQ or a count out. This ended up playing no part in the match, and they didn't even work spots where Booker would have a chair, the ref would turn around, and he'd have to put it down. They didn't work well together. It was mostly Batista's offense and his selling. Why they put these two guys out there to fail, when anyone who had seen their previous bouts would have known it was a 75% chance of failure when put on last, is beyond me. The finish saw Booker get the title belt from Shannell. He went for a belt shot, but Batista ducked, kicked Booker in the stomach, and hit him with the belt for the pin. Even though the show ended early, they rushed off the air at the conclusion, really not giving the TV audience the full ability to celebrate with Batista. One thing positive is Batista grabbed the belt and nearly cried, and did a great job of putting it over after the match. Not an awful show, but a lot of strange stuff. Hard to justify it being worth $40. * 1/4

These two just didn’t click so it seems odd to finish with them. Did they have to go last because of the World Title?

What did you think of the show Bruce?