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WWE's Survivor Series Does Not Survive
February 11, 2010
According to Pwinsider, Vince McMahon announced during WWE’s latest conference call that after 23 years, the Survivor Series pay-per-view has come to an end.
Along with WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble, and Summer Slam, Survivor Series was considered to be one the “big four” PPVs in the WWE calendar.
However, the buy rate for the 2009 edition took a serious nosedive, almost 30 percent less compared to the 2008 edition.
Vince was quoted as saying:
“We think that Survivor Series is obsolete, as far as that title is concerned. It was something that worked many, many years ago, in terms of a creative standpoint, various teams competing. That really is not advantageous as the consumer now looks as what actually they are buying.”
Interestingly enough, last year’s PPV was headlined by a WWE Title match featuring John Cena, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. In fact, not since 2004 has the Survivor Series match headlined the PPV itself.
Therefore, while it could be argued that the Survivor Series concept is obsolete indeed, it could well be argued that WWE themselves pushed it into oblivion.
The lack of compelling feuds, coupled with the decision to base the event around two title matches featuring guys who have already been overexposed on TV, or have won the respective titles enough times to count, certainly played a factor in the sad demise of this famous wrestling event.
During the 2000s, the most famous Survivor Series match remains the polarizing 2001 WWF vs. Alliance (WCW/ECW) match, which attracted criticism for its ending which centred around Kurt Angle, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, rather than any WCW or ECW star.
However, that match was in kayfabe terms one of the biggest in our time, and in reality, the 2001 buy rate bettered several of its future editions.
The second oldest WWE PPV has now comes to its end. WWE cites re-branding as one of the factors that required them to move on from the brand, although SS fit in perfectly with their basis of themed PPVs, such as Elimination Chamber and TLC.
More specialty matches will likely be explored for the themed PPVs, with the most recent WWE Online Survey concerning a prospective War Games or King of the Ring-type tournament.
The War Games inclusion raised my eyebrow, with the possibility of its return being nothing short of tantalizing. Having seen the cage match devolve into disturbing concepts such as the Punjabi Prison match, it would be great to finally see cage matches done right.
As for the King of the Ring deal, I don’t know. It was entertaining back in the day, but now it would not work for me. As shown not too long ago, attempts to bring it back have been mediocre at best, with the winners not really guaranteed anything for it.
What sort of gimmick matches would you like to see rule PPVs? Comment here!
Image Credit: WWE.com