By Sean Radican, PWTorch Columnist

WWE Survivor Series HOLT Report
November 23, 2008
Boston, Mass.
Report by Sean Radican, Torch columnist

Before the show began, I checked out the merchandise stands and people were buying a ton of items at multiple locations throughout the building. Some of the most popular items appeared to be a new Undertaker t-shirt, Cena's new AWA-themed gear, and Rey Mysterio masks, which looked pretty cool were selling for $50 a pop. The prices on t-shirts have gone up to $30 now instead of the usual $25.

A bunch of video packages played before the show started. Cena actually drew boos whenever he appeared on screen, which was in direct contrast to the reaction he got in the main event.

Lillian Garcia was the first person to come out after a recording played telling everyone in the crowd to be good boys and girls and not record or distribute this event. She was followed by all of the announcers coming out. J.R. and the King got the biggest pops coming out. Michael Cole came out and drew some boos. He looked upset at his reaction from the fan and said "C'mon guys!" Garcia then sang the Star Spangled Banner and she was simply fantastic.

Lilian announced that TMZ.com and ABC.com were reporting that Jeff Hardy was probably not going to be able to wrestle on the PPV. This was really lame and the crowd wasn't buying into the angle at all.

The show began with a dark match that saw THE Brian Kendrick beat Kung Fu Naki with a roll-up. Funaki attempted to deliver a post-match beat down on Kendrick, but Ezekiel made the save and nailed him with a chokeslam. Kendrick then put his jacket back on and danced up the aisle to the back.

HBK got a big reaction coming out for the opening match. I don't know if the cameras caught it, but he did some comical dancing to Cryme Time's music when they came out after him. The crowd seemed pleased with the result of the first match with Khali, HBK, and Rey celebrating in the ring.

Triple H drew a pop from the live crowd during his promo addressing the Hardy situation after the opening match.

The crowd was pretty much dead for the divas and casket matches. The divas match was really awkward and outside of Maryse covering Kelly Kelly's left breast with two hands while pinning her, the in-ring action was forgettable. At one point, the crowd began chanting for Santino, who is quite great, on the outside.

As for the casket match, Undertaker got a big pop coming out, but he and Big Show wrestled such a plodding style of match that nothing got much of a reaction outside of some of the big spots in the match. Taker didn't even get much of a pop when he won the match by tossing show into the backup casket.

The Team Orton vs. Team Batista elimination match was a lot of fun live. Randy Orton was over big with the live crowd, although Batista did get a big pop coming out. The crowd cheered Orton when he pinning Batista clean in the end. Orton has improved leaps and bounds in terms of carrying himself like a star, especially when you watch him in person.

The crowd fell back asleep for the Triple H-Koslov match, which was terrible. The fans chanted for Hardy during the course of the match when they weren't chanting "boring, boring." Once Vicky came out and announced Edge's entry into the match, the crowd woke up and gave him a huge pop. Jeff Hardy also got a big pop coming out, but not as big as Edge's pop. I got the sense that most people found the entire Hardy angle to be more insulting than anything else.

The main event was a lot of fun live. Cena got a huge reaction coming out and Jericho drew heavy boos. The crowd wasn't much into the heat segments, as they had already been exposed to a great deal of rest holds on the night. The crowd really got into the match once Cena began making a comeback. The pop for the title switch was huge and the arena was rocking for the post-match title celebration. While Cena was celebrating, I noticed Jericho watching the replays on the Titan-tron at the top of the ramp before walking to the back.

Lillian Garcia closed the show by thanking the fans for coming out to the show.

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