WWE Survivor Series Recap: 5 Things That Would've Made a Great Event Even Better

Being one of the thousands in attendance last night at Madison Square Garden, I can honestly say that this year's Survivor Series was the greatest overall event I have ever been at. 

The atmosphere was incredible, the matches were entertaining for the most part and the simple fact that The Rock was standing in a WWE ring ready to wrestle made the entire night come together flawlessly.

Say what you want about the WWE "dropping the ball" or whatever, but coming from a guy that was there, this year's Survivor Series reminded me exactly why I love professional wrestling.

No other event can create that kind of electricity, and the MSG crowd was definitely given an event that they can remember.

Of course, all of my praise doesn't mean that Survivor Series couldn't have been a little better. Just because it was the greatest overall event I've ever attended doesn't mean that it was Curt Henning status. (Get it?)

Anyways, I'll stop the jokes and just throw out five things that I think would have made Survivor Series a damn near perfect night.  

Zack Ryder over JoMo

There's no doubt that the WWE really screwed the pooch by not giving this New York crowd a Zack Ryder match on Sunday.

Even though I respected his use of the Internet to make his own lane, I was never a big Zack Ryder fan...that is, until I entered Madison Square Garden on Sunday. 

I couldn't believe how many people were clamoring for just a short glimpse of Zack Ryder. And when that moment finally occurred, it was the first time of the night that the roof almost exploded off of the arena. 

Even me, the guy who was rooting for Dolph Ziggler, had to stand up with the rest of the crowd and pump my fist like I was in a club at Seaside. Ryder has officially won me over. 

As for John Morrison, I can only say that his star is falling faster and faster than anybody could even imagine. Even when he first came out, the MSG crowd did something that no wrestler ever wants to hear:

Nothing. Maybe a few boos, but most of the crowd did absolutely nothing. 

At this point, although the rumors going around about Morrison's contract expiring and him leaving for possibly TNA may not only be true, it may be the better option for his career right now. It's a shame since I really do enjoy his athletic ability in the ring, but it's clear that he has certainly pissed off the wrong people backstage.

Granted, he did have a U.S. title match at Survivor Series, and Ryder did not, but after losing cleanly to the always-impressive Ziggler, I think we can safely say that Morrison is once again out of luck. 

Meanwhile, a little more Zack Ryder would have meant a lot more love from the crowd, and would have made for an incredibly electric start to the night. 

The Undertaker/Kane/DB Cashes In

Any of these three things would have made for an incredibly memorable MSG moment.

Granted, the Mark Henry-Big Show match was once again a very pleasant surprise, but this is Madison Square Garden we're talking about, and this match was definitely the part of the night where the entire crowd was expecting something shocking to happen. 

Luckily, this match ended up saving itself after the crowd lost interest in the beginning. But after Henry speared Big Show through the wall and Big Show did his finest Randy Savage impression, the MSG crowd was once again on the edge of their seat.

Still, everyone there couldn't help but notice the chants for The Undertaker that were starting up. 

Sure, the return of The Deadman was a very big long shot, even if he did debut at this event 21 years ago.

But a possible Kane appearance certainly wasn't completely hopeless. His return should be soon, and it's a shame we didn't get to see The Big Red Monster come back in a big way on Sunday.

And then finally, there's Daniel Bryan. Once again, he missed out on a huge opportunity to cash in his briefcase last night. The fans certainly wanted it too.

I know he said he would wait until WrestleMania, but come on. I guess you have to compliment Bryan for being patient and sticking to his word though. Still, Henry had one leg to stand on, and had just been through another war with Big Show. 

With the way Bryan has been handled recently by the WWE, they need to push him fast and hard if people want to care about his match at WrestleMania. Even just a tease cash-in last night would have been worth it. 

It's clear after their match on Sunday that the WWE really doesn't have any big surprises up their sleeves, at least for the next month.

Henry and Show are far from being done with each other. Show did come away with the win though, so that means he will definitely get another shot at the strap at TLC.

After that, hopefully we'll finally see things get shaken up a bit on the blue brand. 

Kevin Nash

This is probably the one that surprised me the most on Sunday.

I'm pretty amazed that Kevin Nash didn't return to the arena that first made him a champion. Even if it was just a short, two-minute, backstage interview, it would have been nice to see Diesel keep his hot streak going by cutting another solid promo.

Sure, I know some people obviously paid good money to actually see wrestling and not some old guy with shoe polish in his hair talk at them for a few minutes about his "Kliq" and some incident that happened 100 years ago.

But this is Kevin Nash, a legend who has a very personal history with this arena. Cut out Laurinaitis' little opening speech, maybe a commercial or two, and you easily fit Nash into the equation.

I'm not saying it needed to be done. I'm just saying it would have been really nice to see Big Daddy Cool back in his old stomping grounds, at least for a few minutes.

Mick Foley

Like the previous slide, this is another person that I really thought I would see on Sunday. 

I figured Foley would have something to say about his little run-in with The Rock on Raw last Monday, but like Nash, the hardcore legend was disappointingly absent from the the biggest WWE event in months. 

Hopefully, Foley returns to bless us with his presence again very soon. I seriously doubt he wants to leave again after that horrible segment with Cena, and that much-needed Rock Bottom from The Great One. 

It would have been awesome to see him at The Garden, and like Nash, it would have been one more moment that the fans wouldn't have forgotten any time soon. 

A Better Performance from Cena

When it comes to John Cena, the WWE is in deep, deep trouble. 

Cena was officially a heel at MSG last night. Nobody liked him, at all.

If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed Cena was the biggest bad guy in the WWE right now. 

Hopefully Cena used his shirt as inspiration to get through the night, because not a single person over eight years old wanted him there. 

It was way worse than I could have ever expected, and at this point I don't know if there's much that the WWE can do to save Cena's image. 

So how does Cena respond to all those haters out there? By putting on an incredibly poor performance. 

Sure, he showed off his excellent wrestling skills a little bit in the beginning, but he got nothing but crap for that too. This poor guy really can't win.

I can write a thesis on my opinion of John Cena, so I'm not going to put it all in this slide. But I will mention that Cena did not deserve the treatment he got at Survivor Series. It was a long way from this, that's for sure. 

But to go out and perform the way he did? That was a complete disappointment in my opinion. He basically got a good ol' ass whoopin' from Awesome Truth.

The Rock and his seven-year-old ring rust outshined Cena in every conceivable way. At this point, Cena should just admit defeat and save himself the embarrassment at WrestleMania.

Not a good move by the WWE in my opinion. One FU to The Rock at the end of the night and everything would have changed. Instead, Cena crawled hopelessly out of the ring after a Rock Bottom.

The crowd absolutely exploded, and so did any respect that Cena had left in the wrestling community.

Instead, Cena left The Garden looking like a noob. And The Rock showed that he is still an entire galaxy ahead of his WM opponent in terms of just about everything. 

Thanks for reading guys. I have to admit that even with these things missing, Survivor Series was far from disappointing.

Just seeing a legend like The Rock back in the squared circle was enough for that crowd. Plus, he put on the performance of a lifetime in there. No doubt that The Great One has still got it. 

Make sure you guys comment—I haven't really read other people's opinions yet on what went down last night, so I'd love to hear from you guys.