The WWE event Survivor Series 2012 has come to a close and history has been made.  For quite a while now, the wrestling world has complained that Survivor Series has lost its luster and that the company doesn’t really take any risks in the month of November anymore…something the WWF of old always did.

In fact, Survivor Series used to be a big deal, as far back as the late eighties and as recently as early 2000.  Survivor Series saw the debut of The Undertaker, as well as The Undertaker’s defeating of Hulk Hogan one year later.  The Rock and the Big Show also won belts during the late nineties.  Who could forget 1997, one of the most legendary WWE matches in which Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart in a controversial “screw job” conclusion!

However, fans have noticed that ever since the 2000 era began, few titles ever change hands at Survivor Series, and the tag matches simply don’t pull the weight that they used to.  Simply put, the series lacks the “unique selling points” of the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, and other big profile pay-per-views.

Of course, some of this is due to the fact that in recent years, pro wrestling is a much more interconnected show, with various superstars meeting each other during locker room segments and in various “skits” on camera–whenever they’re not tag teaming or triple-threatening in the ring.  In the old days, McMahon’s creative team always seemed to keep feuds and angles segregated, self-contained one-on-one feuds (and usually the big guy beating up a nameless “jobber” rather than a “main eventer”).  Therefore, when they all did come together at Survivor Series, in those quadruple tag matches, it was something new and exciting–the novelty was there.

Today’s survivor series focuses on creating a mini-main event card, and hopes that its top superstars will be draw enough.  For instance, in 2012, we saw Eve defeat Kaitlyn in the Diva’s Championship match, we also saw Antonio Cesaro defeat R-Truth, and we saw The Big Show defeat Sheamus to retain his World Heavyweight Championship.  Lastly, we saw a triple threat match between CM Punk, Ryback and John Cena, all three top dogs in the league, which ended in CM Punk retaining the title by pinning John Cena.  (Though he receives some help because of the interference of NXT)

Luckily for us old school Survivor Series fans, the event did feature two Survivor Series Classic encounters, with Team Foley (led by the returning legend Mick Foley vs. Team Ziggler, led by Dolph Ziggler.  Ziggler’s team won.  We also saw Brodus Clay and company defeat Tensai.

We’ll see what the WWE comes up with next year!