WWE Survivor Series 2011: Can the Rock Save the Dying PPV by Himself?

Survivor Series is right around the corner, and the biggest story going around about the event is concerning the Rock's return to the ring to team with John Cena.

The two WWE icons will be facing off against Miz and R-Truth in a tag team match. This came as a result of Miz and Truth beating down John Cena's partner, Zack Ryder, prior to a tag team match two weeks ago on Raw.

After Cena fought the two men alone, John Laurenaitis came out and said Cena would get a rematch at SS with a partner of his choosing.

Cena immediately chose The Rock. This past week, the Rock responded in typical Rocky fashion by running down Cena before finally agreeing to help rid the WWE of Miz and Truth.

Survivor Series is one of WWE's big four events, and it is one of the longest-running events the company has going (this will be the 25th anniversary of SS).

In the last two years, the buy rate for the PPV has gone down significantly. 2009 and 2010 saw less than a quarter million buys domestically. This is low for what should be one of their tent-pole events.

With the Rock having his first match in years at Survivor Series, WWE is hoping to increase buys for the event by drawing in old fans and new fans alike.

Rocky is definitely a good draw, no doubt about it, but is he the sole reason someone would pay $50-plus for the PPV? Maybe, maybe not.

He is one of the most popular wrestlers in the history of the business and that could translate to more people tuning in. I am a fan of Rocky and have been since he debuted as Rocky Maivia, so I am going to be watching.

His contributions to the growth of the business are undeniable, but is WWE banking too much on his popularity? The tickets for Survivor Series sold out in 90 minutes, so it is very likely that same enthusiasm shown by fans could translate to more PPV buys.

Vince had his third-quarter earnings call this morning and hyped Rock a little bit, but he made special time to note how fast tickets for the event sold.

WWE is throwing a ton of marketing money and effort behind this event, so I have to wonder if the rest of the show will live up to the hype WWE has created.

Sometimes when WWE touts one match, they leave the others with less development and in the end, the show looks bad because only one match was decent.

This event looks more promising, though. So far, we have the tag match, the WWE title match and the World title match set. The tag team titles probably won't be up for grabs due to Bourne's suspension—unless they decided to strip Air Boom of the belts and have a match at SS to decide the champions.

The US title could end up on the line again since Ziggler lost to Ryder yet again this past Monday, and there is a good chance we will see Cody defend the IC title as well.

I am looking forward to this event, but I hope the night lives up to the hype.

What do you think? Is Rocky enough to make Survivor Series a success?

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