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Welcome back, all!

These are my reactions to what used to be one of the WWE’s more enjoyable gimmick PPV’s. I’m speaking, of course, about Survivor Series. I love the old-style Survivor Series matches, but as time has gone on the company has drifted away from traditional five vs. five elimination matches and turned it increasingly into a generic PPV. I think there was at least one year where they had no traditional five-on-five match at all.

Well, we’ll see how tonight goes soon enough.

I’m doing this PPV a bit differently than I handled last month’s PPV, Cyber Sunday. Instead of trying to blog about each match as I watch it, I’m just doing this all after the fact. So it’s not so much live thoughts as reflections. Ready? OK.

Match 1: C.M. Punk vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz for the ECW Title

Well, ECW gets the first match of the night. That’s not as bad as being buried in the first hour, I guess. Nice to see Miz involved in the title picture; he gave good match last month with some moves that surprised me at his ring ability, when given his shot at Cyber Sunday.

The whole “Miz and Morrison team up against Punk” concept is such a retread, but they broke with it somewhat early by having Miz play the opportunist card against Morrison. Of course, the real reason he was in the match was to have someone for Punk to pin while building up the feud between Punk and Morrison for that big, ultimate showdown at WrestleMania next April.

Punk pinning Miz keeps Morrison looking like a bigger threat, though that’s kind of like watching a fire from behind fire glass: there’s not a lot of danger to it.

Again, I was impressed by Miz’s work ethic in-ring. He hit some nice high-flying moves that frankly I never thought he was capable of until recently. Seems like the kid’s really trying to make the most of his opportunity.

WINNER: C.M. Punk retains the ECW title
RATING: 7.6 (out of 10)

Publish!

Because the alleged names are already out there, with some hesitancy and regret, Pro Wrestling Views has decided to list the names that the New York Daily News is speculating are the 10 WWE superstars suspended for violating the company’s anti-drug policy.

We applaud WWE for acting quickly to take corrective action, however painful it might be. We also hope that these 10 superstars are not guilty of what has been alleged or, if they are, that they get the help they need to get healthy and get their lives in order. Lord knows, the last thing anyone wants is to see anymore WWE tragedies play out in real life… let’s keep the drama in the ring!

Here goes. According to the New York Daily News, the following WWE superstars have been suspended:

From RAW:
1) Randy Orton
2) Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy)
3) King Booker (Robert Huffman)
4) Anthony Carelli (Santino Marella)
5) Darren Matthews (William Regal)
6) Charlie Haas

From ECW:
7) ECW Champion John Hennigan (John Morrison)

From SMACKDOWN:
Adam Copeland (Edge)
9) Shane Helms (Gregory Helms)
10) Chavo Guerrero

From WWE Corporate:
11) Mike Bucci (Bucci is a talent development manager)

Clearly, the Raw roster will be the hardest hit. The suspensions, if this list is accurate, will play havoc with Raw storylines. Orton had been scheduled for an extended feud with WWE Champion John Cena. King Booker was to have been the main feud for Triple H, who is just returned from an extended injury absence.

Mr. Kennedy was at one point scheduled to be Mr. McMahon’s “bastard child,” a recent storyline launched less than a month ago, according to PWTorch.com. William Regal was just named RAW General Manager. Santino Marrella has been a popular newcomer in the middle of a heel turn, and Charlie Haas has been a solid contributor in Raw’s tag-team division.

While ECW was the cleanest, they are the only division to be losing a sitting champion, if the list of suspensions the New York Daily News is reporting is true: John Morrison, previously known as Johnny Nitro, has been a popular heel champ who was in the middle of a program with C.M. Punk.

The impact is minimal for Smackdown; Edge has been out on injury, as has Gregory Helms. Chavo Guerrero was set for an extended feud with Rey Mysterio, just returning from an injury absence; that program will now be cut short, although Tuesday’s Smackdown taping was in the can for Friday’s broadcast prior to the suspensions being handed down.

While the mess left by these suspensions will require minimal cleanup on ECW and Smackdown, Raw will look a shadow of its former self with six superstars suddenly missing.

Mike Bucci, a talent development guy for the company, could perhaps get the shortest shrift of all 11 named so far, since he doesn’t have an onscreen role or fan base.

Terms of the suspensions were not announced; it is unclear if the releases are permanent or temporary, with or without pay.

Let’s trudge through this, hope the last of the big names have been revealed, and that nothing like this recurs any time soon; it’s a lot more fun to report on the story lines than the headlines.

NOTE: WWE has announced that, effective November 1, any superstars who are released for violating the company’s health policy will have their identities publicly revealed. Let’s hope there are no occasions going forward that would prompt that new policy to be exercised. This whole mess just makes me want to pack up and go on a month-long getaway to Rio Las Vegas.