WWE returns to Madison Square Garden tonight for the 25th anniversary of one of it's primary A-show PPV's WWE Survivor Series, headlined by The Rock's first match in seven and a half years, teaming up with the most popular superstar in the company and his opponent at next year's Wrestlemania, John Cena. The build up to the PPV as a whole hasn't been too bad and at least we have six solid matches that have been booked ahead of time and each have their own story to tell. This is nice to see as there'll be a helluva lot of casual fans buying this PPV to see The Rock and John Cena team, so the storylines need to be strong on the other bouts to retain them as viewers. In some ways the number of buys the PPV has tonight is irrelevant except to see what drawing power The Rock has after such a long time away. But what will be interesting to see is how many of those are kept for the PPV's ahead. Reports going in to the PPV tells us to expect Twitter to become a big part of the presentation tonight which comes on the backs of claims that Vince McMahon is seriously considering setting up his own Twitter account. Good lord. If Twitter is supposed to be a tool to sell more PPV's and bring a wider audience to the product, why the hell bother doing it during the PPV itself? Those who have wanted to watch the show have already bought it and those who don't, haven't. Twitter isn't going to change anything now. With that said, here's the run down on the card and some predictions;
WWE U.S. ChampionshipDolph Ziggler (c) vs. John Morrison Is this bye bye for Morrison? As we have reported, he is not currently listed for action at the upcoming tour of Japan and his last scheduled WWE booking is a week tomorrow on RAW. So unless something has changed in the last few days and he has signed an extension, he is about to head into his last week working for the company he has been with for the best part of the last decade. With that in mind, his duty is probably to put over Ziggler clean here. I think this is why the originally teased U.S. title match between Ziggler and Zack Ryder didn't happen and that match has probably been delayed to next month to give Dolph a convenient win here. Should be a good match depending on how much time they are given and I hope they keep Ziggler as strong as they can as he could be one of the biggest stars of 2012 if they book him correctly. Zack Ryder is bound to interfere too... he has said as much on Twitter. Prediction: Ziggler wins clean and retains.
Divas Championship - Lumberjill Match Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Eve Torres It's a sorry state of affairs for the Divas division when not enough members of the female roster are trusted for a Survivor Series elimination match and instead are confined to surrounding the ring like useless statues whilst the WWE has to re-book the same woman's title match they had on their last PPV. I mean it could only be that or Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly for the 1,000th time... but Eve is a few notches better than Kelly so this should at least be a watchable match. I saw Pheonix carry Torres to a *** star match at the recent RAW house show I attended in Newcastle and I expect the same match to be played out here (except obviously the interference from those outside). Beth is an incredible worker, especially on house shows when she is given the time to interact with the crowd and get heat on her for the match. Beth is the only credible champion they have in the company with the one exception of Natalya and hopefully at some point the idea is to turn Natalya face to feud with Phoenix, possibly in the build up to a Wrestlemania encounter for the title. But it may be a little early for the turn tonight, so I think with the help of Natalya, Pheonix will get the victory and retain. Prediction: Phoenix wins
5-on-5 Traditional Elimination Survivor Series MatchTeam Orton (Randy Orton, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan, Sin Cara) vs. Team Barrett (Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Hunico) As a traditional Survivor Series fan, I wish there was more of these matches on the card. Though I guess I think that almost every year. There's plenty of ways to elevate stars with the Survivor Series concept and a mid-carder could be elevated by booking him to eliminate two or three opponents in a match or come back from the dead in an incredible feat of survival. Dolph Ziggler for one could be made a huge star here, especially if he defeats Morrison earlier in the night and then say defeats Kingston & Ryan in this bout and survives close to the end. I expect Hunico and Sin Cara to be eliminated fairly early. I expect the end to come down to Randy Orton and Sheamus against three opponents, probably Barrett, Rhodes & Swagger... with Orton and Sheamus picking them off to victory. An injured Christian said on SmackDown he will be at the event, so expect him to do commentary. They may do something with Rhodes confronting Booker T... starting their feud. Prediction: Orton & Sheamus survive.
WWE ChampionshipAlberto Del Rio (c) vs. CM Punk The build up to this match has been shoddy and I always hate it when the WWE's main title is overshadowed by another main event. WWE haven't really known how to build up to this match but Del Rio and Punk always put on a good show together and there's a big chance this will be the match of the night. Despite tweaking his character into something much more conventional CM Punk is so over these days that there's definitely an argument to be made that he deserves a lengthy run with the title but the long term plan has been to have Del Rio as champion for as long as they decide what their Wrestlemania program is going to be. They know they have The Rock vs. John Cena but they haven't yet worked out whether they want the match to be for the title and until they decide that Del Rio stays as champion. Tonight's match should be a good one as they both want to prove that they can be in the title picture at the biggest show of the year and hopefully they are given some time. I imagine a DQ finish, much like they have done at house shows, is on the cards leading to one of the Tables, Ladders or Chairs rematch stips at next month's PPV. Prediction: Del Rio retains but doesn't win.
WWE World TitleMark Henry (c) vs. Big Show The match at Vengeance between these two was surprisingly good but was made even better by the fact that they had the memorable spot where the ring broke. A pinfall for either seems to be demanded tonight and obviously the big question is going to be the tease over whether Daniel Bryan cashes in his Money in the Bank after the beat down on SmackDown. It's obvious Bryan and Henry are going to feud but the question at this point is whether it's going to be at Wrestlemania or blown off sooner. They have definitely teased Bryan cashing in his title sooner and one thing is they can't keep doing that for six months so perhaps they are going to go with the storyline where Bryan cashes in prematurely and doesn't get the victory? That may well happen tonight... and that would truly put over Henry as an unstoppable champion. But I think it'll be another tease. Prediction: Mark Henry wins... Bryan teases cashing in but doesn't.
The Rock & John Cena vs. The Miz & R-Truth Well the build-up could definitely have been handled better and there's actually no logical reason storyline or Wrestlemania 28 build-up wise for The Rock & Cena to team together tonight (it frightens me that they are going to ruin next year's main event and make us tired of the feud before April) but here we are. Never Before and Never Again. Well at least until two weeks before Wrestlemania when they need a RAW main event and they make it The Rock & Cena vs. two other main eventers feuding. The match itself should be just fine but obviously The Miz and R-Truth have zero chance of winning. The Rock & Cena will win... there'll be a stare down... neither will turn heel/face.... Cena will probably get the upper hand (considering The Rock used The Rock Bottom's on RAW). Maybe Mick Foley will get involved. Prediction: The Rock & Cena win and they stare down. Check back for our full review of the show on Monday.