Original Survivor Series Plan

by Jack Windham
November 28, 2008

The original plans for the Survivor Series did not call for Edge to walk away with the WWE Heavyweight Championship.

Original Survivor Series Plans

The original plans for the Survivor Series involved Vladimir Kozlov challenging Triple H for the WWE Heavyweight Championship.

Somewhere along the way, Jeff Hardy was added to the match and a returning Edge ended up walking away with the title.

That's quite a big difference from point A to point B, isn't it?

Let's take a look at how much of a change the original plans went through.

Adding Jeff Hardy

Despite pushing Vladimir Kozlov pretty strongly over the last few months, the company did not have enough faith in him being able to produce an entertaining match with Triple H.

After seeing the match, it looked like WWE made the wise decision.

The audience absolutely hated the portion of the match at the Survivor Series where Vladimir Kozlov and Triple H were working a submission style match.

Old school wrestling fans probably didn't hate the style, but the arena was obviously filled with wrestling fans who haven't been watching since the 1980s.

It was the right style to utilize for Vladimir Kozlov and Triple H. It just wasn't the right style to utilize for this particular audience.

With their lack of faith in Vladimir Kozlov, management decided to add Jeff Hardy to the match.

Not only does Jeff Hardy make the match more marketable, he can also do the majority of the selling for Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov.

Jeff Hardy's Chances

Despite what many people want to believe, Jeff Hardy did not have much of a chance of winning the WWE Heavyweight Championship at the Survivor Series.

He was simply added to the match because of management's lack of faith in Vladimir Kozlov.

More than likely, Jeff Hardy would have been the one to have taken the pinfall loss to Triple H so that Vladimir Kozlov didn't look weak.

When management made the last decision to put the title on Edge, Jeff Hardy was deemed unnecessary in the match.

Instead, they decided to go with a controversial storyline where Jeff Hardy was found unconscious in a hotel.

In the end, though, that might have worked out better for Jeff Hardy since he didn't have to take another pinfall loss.

Plus, it appears as if he's headed into a title program with Edge soon.

Closing Thoughts

If and when WWE decide to put the title on Jeff Hardy, the setup will be a lot more special than what you saw going into the Survivor Series.