WWE Survivor Series 2012 Results: Punk Retains, NXT Invades, Ziggler Survives

The twenty-sixth Survivor Series lived up to the pay-per-views on-and-off standard of featuring a high profile “screwjob.” The crude terms refers to the Montreal Screwjob that saw Bret Hart unknowingly lose in an unscripted scene that changed pro wrestling, and continued last night when three NXT wrestlers kept Ryback from winning the WWE Championship.

WWE Champion CM Punk was victorious in a triple threat match for the title that he has held for a year today. The Second City Saint came out on top of John Cena and Ryback, with assistance from Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns of NXT fame.

This developmental trio was used to not only keep Ryback from winning the title, but also to take him out of the championship picture and allow Punk and Cena to have a rematch at TLC in December. Punk pinned the Cenation Leader last night, but only after Ryback had hit Cena with Shell Shock.

Dolph Ziggler showed the world what he could do by being the sole survivor in the traditional Survivor Series elimination tag match. The showoff lasted longer than the nine other participants, and put away Randy Orton, who has a reputation of being the lasting member in Survivor Series matches.

Big Show retained his World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus, though he lost the match by disqualification. The Giant used a referee as a shield against Sheamus, giving the Celtic Warrior a win, but keeping the title on Big Show.

Antonio Cesaro will continue to reign as the United States Champion after defeating R-Truth. The two put on a fine match, but there was no drama between the two and the bout felt forced.

For the first time in recent years, two consecutive women’s rivalries have started, with Kaitlyn being beaten by Divas Champion Eve Torres in a quality Divas match and AJ Lee being attacked by Tamina Snuka. All four women on last night’s show have the talent to put on entertaining matches, and if they are given the time can rebuild the WWE women’s division.

The night opened with a bonus five-on-five match featuring Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, International Airstrike (Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd) and Brodus Clay facing The Prime Time Players, Primo and Epico and Tensai. Kidd, Gabriel, Mysterio and Cara were victorious, with only Brodus Clay being eliminated from their team.

The surprise match was an interesting choice, since without Clay and Tensai involved it could have been a four-way tag team match to decide a number one contender. It was still a good addition to the card and gave some lower card talent time on the pay-per-view card.

Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal won a match representing 3MB during the YouTube pre-show. The newly formed stable beat Zack Ryder and Santino Marella.