By Jason Powell

Dot Net Members are listening to the 103-minute audio review of WWE Survivor Series that Chris Shore and I recorded late last night. Join us on the ad-free version of the website by signing up for membership now via the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

WWE Survivor Series Hits

The Rock and John Cena vs. Awesome Truth: The match itself was entertaining. It dragged a little when Awesome Truth was getting the better of Cena, particularly because Cena never seemed to be at real risk of losing. The live crowd was savvy and seemed to sense that they were merely building to a hot tag. Rock didn't take many bumps, nor did he need to. Rock clearly showed up prepared. He never ran out of gas, and he didn't look at all like a guy who was coming back after a seven-year layoff. The match itself was a lot of fun considering how lopsided it was, but I did not care for the post-match angle (see the Misses section).

C.M. Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio: This was my favorite match of the night. I bought into the potential match finish teases down the stretch. I thought Del Rio was going to win when he applied the Cross Arm Breaker, and I bought in again when he rolled up Punk and tried to pin him while grabbing a handful of tights. Best of all, I thought Del Rio was going to break the Anaconda Vice when he was clawing at Punk's face, so I was surprised when he eventually tapped out. Great drama and an awesome post-match celebration. Using Howard Finkel as Punk's personal ring announcer at MSG was awesome. Much like WWE's failure to use Jim Ross as a play-by-play voice, I'll never understand why WWE keeps their best ring announcer on the sideline.

Team Orton vs. Team Barrett: Good action throughout the match. I kept waiting for the babyface stars to take over and dominate, so I was pleasantly surprised when Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes went over. Randy Orton is putting over select opponents lately, and that can only help him over the long run. He's no longer treated like the unbeatable force that John Cena has become. His losses obviously elevate his opponents, and keep his feuds fresh. Major bonus points for Cody Rhodes giving in and buying knee pads. He's improved his look a lot over the last couple of weeks and it's helped me view him as having the potential to be more than just the mid-card champion. Meanwhile, I'd like to do horrible things to the person who came up with the Barrett Barrage slogan. I'm all for Barrett getting a push, but I'm already tired of hearing about the barrage. I was also surprised to see Mason Ryan pinned clean. Here's hoping they don't have him avenge the loss by beating Cody tonight on Raw.

Mark Henry vs. Big Show: A minor hit. Sure, the first five minutes of the match were slow, but how can I give a "Miss" to a match that featured Big Show performing a top rope elbow drop? Even the first five minutes weren't as awful as the live crowd made it seem. If anything, I thought WWE did these two a disservice by having this match go on after the fast-paced Survivor Series match. They could have used the Divas match as the buffer to let fans come down from the elimination match. The finish was lame, but I said going in that I was fine with anything that resulted in Henry retaining the title. WWE gave viewers The Rock and a WWE Title change, so they were able to get away with a cheap finish here. That said, I wish they would have used a little more creativity than a kick to the balls for the DQ.

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison: A minor hit for a solid opening match. We've seen better from Ziggler and Morrison, but it's a lot of fun to watch Ziggler continue to take his game to the next level both in the ring and on the mic. He's a future main event player for this company. Dolph is progressing on the mic in ways that John Morrison has failed to pull off.

Beth Phoenix vs. Eve: A minor hit, mostly for the cool Glam Slam off the ropes. I'm not really sure what purpose the lumberjills served aside from providing the ringside fans with a nice view. If nothing else, the match was quick, painless, and had a memorable finish.

Overall show: A strong effort from WWE. I gave minor hits to the first two matches and I'm probably more generous than most when it comes to Henry vs. Show. Obviously, this night was all about The Rock, and he gave viewers more than enough reasons to be happy with their purchase. Throw in Punk winning the WWE Championship in memorable fashion, and a strong elimination match, and this pay-per-view more than delivered. I just hope WWE can keep the momentum going tonight on Raw. The Raw television product has been really disappointing lately. Will this show help get things moving in the right direction or did WWE catch fire for one night thanks in large part to The Rock? The live crowd also deserves recognition for creating one hell of an atmosphere. I can't even imagine how much fun and downright mean that same crowd would have been had they been subjected to one of the lousy Raw shows that led into the pay-per-view.

WWE Survivor Series Misses

Lack of Rock and Cena storyline progression: The announcers tried to portray The Rock hitting the Rock Bottom on John Cena as the first shot fired. The issue I have with that is that we've already seen both men hit their finishers on one another. Thus, the interaction between the two was underwhelming. I wanted storyline advancement and instead felt like I was seeing a replay. I was also hoping that Cena's character would show some sign that the live crowd was getting to him. I realize that's not his style, but that would have been potential foreshadowing to a heel turn or at least given viewers something to talk about coming out of the show. Instead, we're basically at the same place we were with Rock and Cena as we were going in.

Broadcast team: Michael Cole and Booker T continue to annoy me way more than they enhance the matches. In Cole's defense, he's doing a good job with the role he's being asked to play. The problem is that Vince McMahon is trying to reinvent the wheel by having a heel play-by-play voice. Meanwhile, Booker T is all over the place. He endorses heels taking shortcuts, and his now cliche Booker-isms are repetitive and tired.

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