John Cena And Edge Return, Win World Titles at WWE Survivor Series

The WWE got a needed infusion of star power as John Cena and Edge both returned to win their brand's respective World titles for the first time in the event's history as part of an unpredictable and lively Survivor Series from Boston Sunday night.

While Cena's return was what the event was marketed around, Edge's return came as a surprise. He entered the HHH/Koslov match as a late third entrant, filling in for Jeff Hardy who was written out of the match in an ill-received storyline angle launched earlier in the day.

As Edge hit a spear on HHH, Hardy emerged from the back and beat on Edge before being taken out by a spear himself. Seconds later, the bearded Edge pinned HHH to once again win the title.

Results and Details:

Most of the show centered around the fake Hardy "incident" in a Boston hotel room, including claiming that CNN, ABC and TMZ had been reporting on it. Of course, this was false. They did an interview with Matt Hardy and the angle was that Jeff was hit in the head with an "object" by someone. He was admitted to the hospital and then released. Of course, this meant he was due to appear later on the show.

John Cena defeated Chris Jericho to become the World Champion. Cena got a big pop coming out and eventually, some boos as his name was announced. They did a close-up of the scar from his neck surgery, adding some realism into the mix...Match started at 10:18 pm...early part of the match focused on Cena favoring his neck and taking caution with not doing any top rope moves.

His "ring rust" and physical condition was brought up repeatedly...Jericho even brought out a full nelson and a modified Walls of Jericho to work on the neck. What a heel!

Crowd is really into Jericho, popping when he hit the Code Breaker. However, they aren't blatantly booing Cena yet, which is a surprise...Jericho escaped an STFU, but Cena caught him with the 2nd FU of the match for the pin and the title. Overall, this was an okay match. Poor Jericho and Batista with their short title reigns.

Edge defeated HHH and Koslov to become the WWE Champion. Before the match, Ross said that Hardy would not be in the match and that it would be HHH vs. Koslov. Ross then said, "It's ironic we're going to show you this video package that features Jeff." Uh huh...the match started at 9:53, meaning this and Cena/Jericho are going long.

Boring chants started at 9:54 as did the "We Want Hardy." Tough crowd...Vickie Guerrero comes out at 10:05 pm and announces "He's here! He's here!" and that this match was a Triple-Threat match after all. Then, out comes a bearded Edge to a huge pop.

After hitting a spear on HHH, Jeff Hardy came running out and attacked Edge, meaning he'll be positioned storyline-wise as the guy that attacked Hardy. As he went after Edge with a chair, Hardy got speared.

Great energy from Hardy leading up to this part...Edge then pinned HHH to win the World title. Great few minutes of action that made up for the 10-or-so minutes of boredom. I don't think Kozlov will be in the World title picture for a while. By the way, Edge is now back with Guerrero. Fun.

Team HBK (Shawn Michaels/Cryme Tyme/Great Khali/Rey Mysterio) defeated Team JBL (JBL/Miz and Morrison/Kane/MVP) when Michaels pinned Morrison after a superkick. Only Cryme Tyme were eliminated from Team HBK. Michaels' left eye was bloodied, as was JBL's mouth. This opened the show.

Beth Phoenix/Mickie James/Jillian Hall/Kelly Kelly/Candice Michelle defeated Michelle McCool/Maria/Maryse/Victoria/Natalya. Match came down to Phoenix and Maryse and it ended with the Glamazon hitting the Glam Slam for the win.

Undertaker defeated Big Show in a casket match. Taker hit a leg drop on one of the announce tables in a big spot...match centered around Show working on Taker away from the casket due to fear...Show attempted to leave the ring area but was blocked by a wall of fire and then a group of druids who brought out another casket near the entrance of the set.

End came when Taker was hitting Show, teasing a fall from the stage and then ran him into the second casket, which was standing and open. Huh? Good match, but weak finish.

Team Orton (Randy Orton/Cody Rhodes/Shelton Benjamin/William Regal/Mark Henry) defeated Team Batista (Batista/Matt Hardy/R-Truth/CM Punk/Kofi Kingston). Good match that built toward Batista being left all alone against Orton, Benjamin, Rhodes and Henry. After eliminating Henry and Benjamin, Batista was about to finish off Rhodes when Orton blind-tagged in. He hit the RKO and Team Orton won. Lots of cheers for the Orton win.

Hardy got pinned by Henry, but absolutely nothing was made out of the fact the ECW Champion got defeated...Regal was eliminated by Punk approximately 10 seconds into the match and Punk was beaten by Rhodes, which seemed pointless to me...The build to a full Orton/Batista program is well underway.

Other Segments and Items of Interest:

-The Colons continued their pursuit of the Bella twins from Smackdown and the Gobbeldy Gooker appeared during the segment. They thought it was Charlie Haas, but it was really the BoogeyMan. What's with this guy anyway?

-Next event is Armageddon on 12/14 from the HSBC Center in Buffalo, NY.

Josh Nason has written and maintained Ropes, Ring and Cage since 2007 and can be reached at [e-mail]. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!