5 most shocking Survivor Series eliminations

#5 John Cena (Survivor Series 2014)

The 2014 Survivor Series pay-per-view is remembered for the official WWE debut of The Icon Sting, a shocking experience in its own right. But it’s also remembered for the gutsy performance by Dolph Ziggler, who ended up overcoming the odds and helping his team defeat The Authority, winning the match as the sole survivor. Most people thought this would be the star-making performance for Ziggler, who would finally be getting his push to the top, but that fizzled out very quickly and he soon found himself back in the same mid-card spot that he has continued to hold to this day.

The shocking elimination was John Cena. It was Cena’s team going up against The Authority. He was the main star, the top guy on the roster, leading a team of soldiers against the evil corporation… and he lost. His team won, sure, thanks to Ziggler, but Cena, the defender of WWE and the guy who always wins in the end, actually got pinned.

It took The Big Show turning his back on his own teammate to do it, but it was shocking that Cena wouldn’t be the guy defending WWE from the tyranny. It also left Dolph Ziggler alone in a 3-on-1 match for a full 20 minutes before he was able to pull out the miraculous victory. The elimination is even more shocking because if there was no plan to push Ziggler, why not just have him get eliminated and have Cena overcome the odds like always?

About the author

I got my first big break writing for 411Mania back in 2004. I did a small spot in a big weekly piece that was written by one of the site's top writers. I quickly added the duty of being the live recapper for episodes of SmackDown, and in 2005 was given my own weekly column, which I did for a few years. I gave up writing (mostly) to start a family but got back into it, still at 411, a little over 3 years later. For another couple of years, I wrote 2-3 columns per week for the website before finding paid work elsewhere, and eventually wound up at SportsKeeda.

I am also the co-founder of the RBR: Weekly Wrestling Talk podcast, which started in the summer of 2005 and is still going strong today, almost 15 years later. Due to school, work, and family commitments, I left the team in 2011 but still remain a part of the family.

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