Kofi Kingston, Montel Vontavious Porter, Mark Henry, R-Truth, and Christian vs. Legacy, CM Punk, and William Regal in a Survivor-Style match
We continue on through the year of 2009 as we get to Survivor Series and coming off the last month with two PPVs, Punk has been quickly shunted back down to the midcard which is really unfortunate. He was on such a good roll as World Champion and the feud with Taker was pretty good even though he was on the losing end, but for the second year in the row he loses the title and is pushed off to the side even though he was still really hot as a heel. He would transition into a feud with R-Truth which is not to knock Truth, but it feels like a major demotion for Punk and on this team he is clearly behind Legacy as a collective and might even be a bit behind Regal. Since we are coming to the end of 2009, you have to wonder what the plans were for Punk going into 2010 if this feud with Truth was just a placeholder before he moves back up, or if he was just going to be wallowing in the midcard with no plan to have him be a title contender.
On the 10/30 Smackdown, Punk confronted Vince McMahon and Teddy Long saying that he deserved a title shot against Taker and now the Big Show since he wasn’t even a member of Smackdown, and he would instead be given a match against referee Scott Armstrong which he would win in a squash. On the 11/6 Smackdown, Punk faced Truth in a match with Armstrong as the ref and Punk would demand Armstrong count faster for him, but Truth would end up defeating Punk thanks to a fast count from Armstrong and Punk would throw a fit. On the 11/13 Smackdown, Punk cut a promo on the UK fans saying they were weak like the American fans as Truth interrupted him and said the fans didn’t pay to hear Punk preach though Punk would defeat Truth in their rematch, and on the 11/20 Smackdown Punk cut a promo on the fans as he would put a carton of cigarettes, a bottle of medication and a bottle of whiskey into a trash can until Truth interrupted and they brawled with Truth pouring the contents of the trash can onto Punk. The other feuds continued on the others show with Kingston/MVP/Henry against Legacy as was Christian and Regal, and the big moment of the feud was Kingston giving Orton the Boom Drop through a table on the 11/16 RAW in Madison Square Garden. The feuds going into this match were pretty good even if it did feel like a demotion for Punk, but it was clear this was a big showcase for Kingston since he was the captain for his team.
Orton and his team have a tense confrontation backstage as Punk reminded him about what happened on RAW, and Kingston and his team get a big pop from the crowd while Orton and his team were pretty hot as heels. Henry starts off the match with Orton who gets a kick in and he pounds on Henry though Henry reverses a whip into the corner, and he splashes Orton and hits a headbutt as he knocks all of Orton’s partners off the apron. He hooks a bearhug on Orton only for Legacy to get in the ring and break it up while Regal and Punk distract Henry’s partners and the ref, and Orton hits the RKO on Henry which gets the three and Henry is eliminated in quick fashion. Orton rolls outside and regroups with his team before returning to the ring as MVP gets in the ring, and they lock up with Orton backing MVP into his corner as Rhodes tags in and he kicks at MVP before pounding on him. Dibiase tags in and continues to stomp on MVP as he pounds on him until Regal tags in and he rams the knee into MVP repeatedly, and he pounds on MVP and tags Punk who stomps on MVP and hits a snapmare before hooking a submission on. MVP fights to his feet only for Punk to get a kick in though MVP catches him in a belly-to-belly suplex, and Truth tags in and ducks a shot as he fires up on Punk and he hits a hiptoss though Punk reverses a whip into the corner. Truth leaps over him and does a cartwheel as he does a split to duck a shot and he nails Rhodes coming in, and Punk hoists Truth onto his shoulders and hits the Go 2 Sleep which gets the three and Truth is eliminated. Christian comes in and they lock up with Punk trying to force Christian to his corner though Christian escapes, and he hooks a rollup for a two count and nails Punk who reverses a whip and Christian knocks him down for a two count. Punk gets a knee in and hits a slam as Dibiase tags in and he goes up to the middle rope before hitting a double stomp for a two count, and Christian escapes a slam attempt though Dibiase blocks the inverted DDT by pounding on Christian. He hits a powerslam on Christian for a two count and looks for Dream Street though Christian escapes, and he looks for the Killswitch though Dibiase escapes and trips him up as he slingshots him into the corner. Christian gets a kick in and hits a springboard sunset flip which gets the three and Dibiase is eliminated, and Regal comes in and knocks Christian down only for Christian to catch him with a dropkick and Kingston tags in. He pounds on Regal and hits a standing dropkick as he leaps onto Regal in the corner and pounds on him, and he knocks Regal down for a two count as Regal reverses a whip into the corner and he avoids a springboard crossbody. Rhodes tags in and stomps on Kingston repeatedly as he pounds on him on the mat and drops a knee on him, and Regal tags in and he drops a knee on Kingston as they trade blows with Kingston taking control and he hooks a headlock. Regal whips him off and knocks him down as MVP gets a blind tag and Regal hits a modified suplex on Kingston, and MVP hits the running boot on Regal which gets the three and Regal is eliminated as Rhodes goes up top and hits a crossbody on MVP who rolls through for a two count. He hits a snap suplex on Rhodes for a two count and Christian tags in as he kicks at Rhodes in the corner and rams him into the buckle, and he pounds on Rhodes in the corner and goes up to the middle rope only for Rhodes to block the tornado DDT by tossing Christian to the mat. He kicks at Christian for a two count and pounds on him before hooking a submission on as Christian fights to his feet, and he hooks a rollup for a two count and Rhodes hits a clothesline for a two count as Orton tags in and he hits a dropkick on Christian for a two count. Christian tries to battle back only for Orton to kick at him and he stomps on Christian as Rhodes tags in, and he continues to stomp on Christian only to miss the knee as MVP tags in and hits a clothesline and a back elbow on Rhodes. He hits another clothesline on Rhodes who reverses a whip into the corner and MVP leaps over him before hitting a clothesline, and he pounds on Rhodes and hits a facebuster as he hits the Ballin’ Elbow and knocks Orton off the apron. Rhodes ducks a shot and hits Cross Rhodes on MVP which gets the three and MVP is eliminated, and Kingston comes in and hooks a rollup for a two count as he pounds on Rhodes and works the arm. Christian tags in and goes up top as he drops an elbow on the arm and continues to work on it before tagging Kingston, and he hits a springboard axehandle on the arm and hits a snapmare on Rhodes before hitting a big splash for a two count. He hooks a headlock and tags Christian who pounds on Rhodes only for Rhodes to get a kick in and he pounds on him in the corner, and he whips Christian into the other corner and leaps over him only for Christian to hit the Killswitch which gets the three and Rhodes is eliminated. Orton comes in and Christian ducks a shot as he pounds on Orton who sends him into the corner, and he kicks at Christian and drops a knee on him before knocking Kingston off the apron. Christian hooks a small package for a two count as Punk gets in the ring and Christian chases him to the outside, and Christian blocks the RKO and hits the Killswitch for a two count as Punk breaks it up and Christian pounds on him. He sends Punk to the outside only for Orton to avoid a charge as Christian rams his shoulder into the post, and Orton hits the RKO which gets the three and Christian is eliminated as Kingston rolls back into the ring. He challenges Orton who quickly tags Punk and slides out of the ring as Punk prevents Kingston from going outside, and the two men trade blows with Kingston taking control as Punk counters a whip and hoists Kingston onto his shoulders. Kingston slides off and Punk avoids Trouble in Paradise as they have a standoff and Kingston hits a standing dropkick, and he ducks a shot and hits the SOS for a two count as he misses a charge in the corner and Punk pounds on him. He hits a snapmare and kicks Kingston in the back twice for a two count as he hooks a submission on, and Kingston kicks his way out of the hold and catches Punk with a boot to the face only for Punk to hit a powerslam for a two count. He goes back to the submission on Kingston who fights out of the hold only for Punk to get his knees up on a splash attempt, and Punk hits the Falcon Arrow on Kingston for a two count and then he hits the running knee in the corner. Kingston counters the bulldog with a back suplex and goes up top though Punk nails him first and goes up himself, and Kingston blocks a superplex and knocks Punk to the mat only for Punk to get a shot in and he goes back up top. Kingston again blocks the superplex and knocks Punk to the mat as he sets himself on the top rope and hits a crossbody for a two count, and he fires up on Punk and hits a dropkick as he hits a flying clothesline and Orton gets on the apron. Kingston scares him back to the floor and Punk hooks a rollup though Kingston rolls through which gets the three and Punk is eliminated, and Orton quickly slides into the ring only for Kingston to hit Trouble in Paradise which gets the three and Kingston is the sole survivor.
The match itself was pretty good as both teams worked hard and put on a solid Survivor style match. All 10 men got some time to shine aside from Henry who got knocked out in the first minute the match, but the rest of the guys had some good shine for the 20 minutes that they got and everyone looked fairly strong. Obviously, the star of the match was Kingston as he gets the two big eliminations at the end and is the sole survivor, and it was a pretty big upset for him to pin Orton clean though Christian also looked good as well getting two eliminations himself. As for Punk, he was pretty much a non-factor in the match for the most part as he did get a pin on Truth to keep that going, but then he wasn’t involved until the end when he and Kingston went at it at the end and he was kept fairly strong as it took a flash rollup to eliminate him. The crowd was into the match and popped big time for Kingston when he won. Kingston gets the win and is the sole survivor for his team as his feud with Orton isn’t over yet while we wait to see where Punk goes from here.
Final Grade: ***1/4