WWE Survivor Series 2011 Results: Match-by-Match Breakdown

Survivor Series is officially in the books, and to no surprise, it was a very newsworthy pay-per-view.

We saw a big title change, some amazing moves and several moments that we'll never forget.

The Rock, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett are all smiling, and John Cena, The Miz, R-Truth and Mark Henry are hanging their heads after rough outings.

Just in case you don't know why, I'm here to provide you with a look at what went down tonight in Madison Square Garden.

Here is my match-by-match breakdown of Survivor Series, including how what took place tonight will affect the WWE going forward.

United States Championship: Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

Result: Dolph Ziggler retains his United States Championship after hitting John Morrison with the Zig Zag.

Most of us expected to see Zack Ryder added to this match to make it a Triple Threat, but unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Given what happened in the ring, though, I can't really complain.

Ziggler and Morrison put on a very good opener that was mostly controlled by Ziggler, whose heel persona really shined through in this bout. The finish came when Ziggler got his knees up when Morrison attempted Starship Pain and then hit the Zig Zag.

After the match, Ziggler cut a promo about how good he was, and out came Zack Ryder to a huge pop from the crowd and hit the Rough Ryder on Ziggler. It would have been nice to see Ryder get an actual match, but it was still fun to see him perform in front of his home crowd.

Assuming Ryder wasn't just used for a cheap pop, it looks like his long-running feud with Ziggler will continue, and I'd expect to see him get a US title match on an episode of Raw or at next month's TLC pay-per-view.

Ziggler is definitely ready to move up the card, so I think it's only a matter of time before Ryder takes the United States title from Ziggler in order for that to happen.

As for Morrison, things don't really look too good for him.

He didn't get much of a baby face reaction, and as far as we know, he hasn't signed a new contract with the WWE. I wouldn't be surprised if this was Morrison's last pay-per-view match, at least for the time being.

Lumberjill Match for Divas Championship: Beth Phoenix vs. Eve Torres

Result: Beth Phoenix hits Eve with a Glam Slam from the top rope for the victory.

What other outcome did you expect?

Beth won the bout with an incredibly impressive top rope Glam Slam, which was awesome to see. But the lumberjill stipulation was completely unnecessary because the Divas on the outside didn't really even get involved in the match.

I wasn't surprised at the result whatsoever, given that this second Eve/Beth was basically just thrown together because the WWE is so thin on Divas, especially on the face side.

Now that Beth has taken care of Kelly Kelly and Eve, I assume she'll be moving on to a feud with the third baby face Diva in that little clique, Alicia Fox.

Much like K2 and Eve, Alicia will probably battle beth for the Divas Championship on a couple of consecutive pay-per-views and be unsuccessful in her attempts to rid beth of the title. That way, the creative team can start building up toward a Beth/Natalya split at the Royal Rumble and have it culminate at Wrestlemania 28.

It's pretty obvious that the Divas division is really weak at the moment, and the only feud worth watching—at least until Kharma comes back—is Beth vs. Natalya.

I think that everything that happens (in the Divas division) before that rivalry will be done specifically to build up to it.

Team Orton vs. Team Barrett

Result: Team Barrett wins after Wade Barrett hits the Wasteland on Randy Orton. Barrett and Cody Rhodes are the sole survivors for their team.

Order of Eliminations: Dolph Ziggler, followed by Sin Cara, Mason Ryan, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Jack Swagger, Hunico and Randy Orton.

This match seemed to lack momentum at the beginning, thanks in large part to a super quick elimination of Dolph Ziggler and what looked like a legitimate injury to Sin Cara that caused him to be "eliminated" (a.k.a. removed) from the match.

The remainder of the bout was essentially the WWE protecting Orton and Sheamus while simultaneously making Rhodes and Barrett look strong.

Ryan, Kingston, Swagger and Hunico largely played secondary roles and were there mainly to make everyone else look better. Sheamus only got eliminated because he was disqualified after refusing to stop dropping knees, and Orton was left to face the final four competitors for Team Barrett alone.

After eliminating Swagger and Hunico—no surprises there—Orton couldn't handle both Barrett and Rhodes, and Barrett hit the Wasteland on Orton for the win.

Finally, I can praise the WWE for doing something right.

Going into the bout, I felt like some combination of Ziggler, Barrett and Rhodes needed to be the sole survivors, and aside from the horrible booking of Ziggler, the WWE did exactly what I wanted them to do.

Rhodes and Barrett needed this win to cement themselves as huge heels on Smackdown, and now, they'll be able to brag about being the best two competitors on the blue brand.

Though this match obviously helped Rhodes, the real big winner here was Barrett.

It's pretty clear that the creative team is firmly behind him at this point, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he wound up holding the World Heavyweight Championship in the not-so-distant future.

The "Barrett Barrage" is here, and Rhodes is coming, too.

World Heavyweight Championship: The Big Show vs. Mark Henry

Result: Mark Henry hits The Big Show with a blatant low blow and gets himself disqualified. Big Show wins the match because of the DQ, but Henry remains World Heavyweight Champion.

We didn't get a clean finish between Big Show and Henry at Vengeance, and we didn't get one at Survivor Series either.

But I'm really not shocked.

Henry has been booked like a monster since moving over to the Smackdown brand earlier this year, and Big Show has been booked in much the same way since returning from "injury" last month. So, the creative team was going to make sure that neither guy lost clean here.

The match was at least watchable for a bout that featured two behemoths, and it even featured Big Show hitting a huge top rope elbow drop that made Madison Square Garden break out in "Randy Savage" chants.

I actually want more between Henry and Show, and I think we'll get it.

With two straight shady finishes between these two, expect to see them battle at next month's TLC pay-per-view in what should be the blowoff match to their feud.

The only reason why that match might not happen is because Show laid a brutal beatdown on Henry after the match, and in a case of karma, Show destroyed Henry's ankle much like Henry did to Show back during the summer.

Thus, we could see an angle where Henry is injured and will be forced to relinquish the World Heavyweight Championship. That way, the WWE could pick up on this feud later in 2012.

I'm torn about the possibility of that happening, though. Despite the fact that it would help elevate some younger Smackdown talent to the main event scene, it would also completely kill Henry's momentum.

I can't wait to see what goes down between Henry and Show at this week's TV tapings.

WWE Championship: Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk

Result: CM Punk defeats Alberto Del Rio via Anaconda Vise. Punk is the new WWE Champion.

Going into this match, Del Rio had won two straight pay-per-view matches while Punk had lost four.

Yet, the only way we really expected that trend to continue was if Del Rio won dirty. That didn't happen, though, as Punk made ADR tap out to the Anaconda Vise to win the WWE Championship.

I think that officially puts the nail in Del Rio's main event coffin.

He was booked like a complete joke during his first WWE Championship reign that lasted just five weeks, and his second (and most recent) one was marred by dirty finishes in his only two successful title defenses.

Though I give the WWE a little credit for making Del Rio look slightly less cowardly in his Survivor Series match with Punk, he still looked like complete crap overall and is likely going to make his way back to the upper mid-card.

Punk and Del Rio will undoubtedly meet again in a rematch at TLC next month, but there's not a chance in hell that Del Rio goes over there. He has had two chances to carry the WWE title so far, and thanks in large part to horrendous booking, he failed both times.

Like I said, this feud between Punk and Del Rio isn't over—Del Rio still gets his rematch—but for all intents and purposes, Del Rio's run as a WWE title contender is.

As for Punk, he's back where he belongs as the WWE Champion and the face of Monday Night Raw.

Unless WWE officials decide to have Punk lose the WWE title at some point over the next few months and then win it back at Wrestlemania 28, then I think we could definitely see him holding the belt all the way until the grandaddy of them all.

The only question is: Who will be his next challenger after Del Rio? 

The Rock and John Cena vs. the Miz and R-Truth

Result: The Rock and John Cena defeat The Miz and R-Truth after The Rock hits Miz with the People's Elbow.

You know, going into this match, I really thought that we could see The Miz and Truth win because Rock and Cena wouldn't be able to work with each other.

So much for that.

Though the match was pretty competitive and thankfully wasn't a total squash of Miz and Truth, the WWE disappointed me with its predictable outcome: The Rock and Cena winning with a cleaning finish.

There was a real opportunity here for the WWE to do something special--most notably, turning Cena heel--and instead, the WWE wound up having a part-timer pin one of Raw's top heels.

I don't like it. At all.

It would have made for better (and more entertaining) future story lines if The Rock and Cena's hatred for each other would have taken over and caused one to screw the other out of the victory.

Instead, we got an ending that most of us saw coming from a mile away. The Rock got his big pop and his victory, and Cena got his heat and his victory.

But I just don't understand how the WWE can completely ignore the fans in this situation.

The Madison Square Garden crowd despised Cena, booing his every move and even starting to cheer for The Miz. So, why do you not capitalize on that? Why do you do nothing?

Ah, whatever. I guess I'm done complaining.

It looks like The Rock will be gone until the build for Wrestlemania, and Cena's probably headed for some further feuding with The Miz, R-Truth or both of them.

Yay.