10 Fascinating WWE Survivor Series 2011 Facts

Finally, The Rock HAS COME BACK....to make people give a damn once more.

2011 Cena Rock Bottomed 686
WWE

If I just wrote "Rock" enough times to fulfill the word quotas in this feature, would you hold it against me? Survivor Series 2011 may have featured four title matches and a classic elimination match, but there was no escaping the fact that the night was all about Rock. Rock Rock Rock. ROCK.

Yes, WWE managed to wrangle The Rock into a main event match with several months to go before his big WrestleMania XXVIII date with John Cena. The two cornerstones of neighboring eras would be teaming up to take on the duo of Cannon and Fodder, perhaps better known as The Miz and R-Truth.

To say that most of the build toward the show was centered on Rock appearing would be like saying most of the ocean water is wet. WWE was banking on the in-ring return of 'The Great One' to drum up some major interest in their product, and for the diminished Survivor Series anthology by proxy.

In all, Survivor Series 2011 wasn't the greatest of shows from a technical standpoint, but there's no denying the special feeling in the air that night in Madison Square Garden. The energetic and vociferous New York crowd came through for what was nominally a one-match show as far as the hype was concerned, but a fun show on the whole.

Here are ten facts about Survivor Series 2011 you may not have known.

10. It's The Most Recent WWE Pay-Per-View To Take Place At The Garden

2011 Cena Rock Bottomed 686
By Rich Mitchell from New York, NY (Madison Square Garden, February 2013) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

It was fitting that Survivor Series 2011 took place inside the hallowed halls of the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Rock had made his televised in-ring debut there 15 years earlier, a fact oft-mentioned in the build to the main event.

If you count the original WrestleMania, then 11 WWE pay-per-views have taken place inside the Garden. It seemed like every two years or so, one of their Big Four would emanate from the venue, up until the mid-2000s. After WrestleMania XX in 2004, only two pay-per-views have taken place there: the 2008 Royal Rumble, and the 2011 Survivor Series. There haven't been any since.

As years have gone by, MSG has become more expensive to rent for events, and it's also quite costly to film inside the building. WWE has been more inclined to go with Brooklyn's Barclays Center, which opened in 2012, and has already held four pay-per-views there (including three SummerSlams).

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.