World Wrestling Federation – Survivor Series 2000 – 19th November 2000
After Rikishi’s attempt at a main event heel run was mown down much like he ran over Steve Austin, it was revealed that he had an ‘accomplice’ – a man pulling the strings and delivering the orders. Triple H was that man, and now faces Steve Austin in a No DQ main event with both men looking to end the other’s career. Much like last month, the undercard is a bit of a thrown together affair. There has been some effort made, with Undertaker challenging Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship, Chris Jericho battling Kane in a grudge match and The Rock looking for revenge on Rikishi. The rest of the line-up is pretty superfluous stuff though I’m afraid. We head to Tampa, FL to join Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.
T&A/Trish Stratus vs Steve Blackman/Crash Holly/Molly Holly
I have absolutely no recollection of why this bunch are going at it. It is Molly’s ppv debut, having recently appeared on television as the cousin of Crash and Hardcore. Thankfully JR saves my intro by telling us that the APA left Crash in charge of the office after T&A put them on the shelf at No Mercy. Hence Crash and Molly are defending the honour of the Acolytes this evening. Blackman is still Hardcore Champion and is presumably just here for a fight.
I wonder how Blackman feels about defending Bradshaw’s honour? He out-strikes the cumbersome Albert to get us started. Trish tags wanting a piece of Crash…but soon bails when he tags Molly. SLINGSHOT SOMERSAULT RANA from Crash to Test gets 2! Sadly for little Crash, T&A soon overwhelm him – destroying him with an emphatic double press slam. Pumphandle Slam countered though…and we have tags to Trish and Molly. Test BRUTALLY jerks Molly down by the hair! T&A and Trish put a three-way beating on the female Holly cousin until Blackman and Crash run in to save her. Stratus hits a diving bulldog from the second for 2. Molly hits a diving sunset flip in response, and wins it for her team at 05:03
Rating - * - There were a couple of neat spots, and it was nice to see Molly win on her ppv debut (she was cute as a button). However, this was basically a complete waste of time and existed only to give these characters something to do.
Kurt Angle hangs out with Edge & Christian. Apparently poor Christian is sick (on ppv – again!), so they can’t help him in his match with Undertaker. He doesn’t want to help, and is only there to arrange some post-show celebrations
EARLIER TONIGHT – Tiger Ali Singh and Lo Down are denied entrance to the arena because the security dude has no idea who they are.
Billy Gunn/Chyna/Road Rogg/K-Kwik vs The Radicalz
Hands up if you’d forgotten the irritatingly catchy ‘Get Rowdy’ entrance music for Road Dogg and Killings? This was right after their team debuted, and they did so by defeating Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko. Meanwhile Chyna has issues with Eddie Guerrero, and WWF were moving towards Gunn vs Benoit at the December ppv. Tonight these eight men are thrown together into a traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team bout.
‘Billy’s first ppv since No Way Out’ – JR. That shows how memorable his match at No Mercy last month was then. It is his first ppv appearance as ‘The One’ though. Saturn starts with him, rather unsuccessfully though, as Chyna and Billy drop him with a double suplex. Chyna tosses Perry around, then kicks him in the balls when he blocks her Handspring Elbow. DDT scores 2 before Malenko dives in to save. Eddie waffles Chyna with his Intercontinental Title belt, leading to her being eliminated at 02:29. Guerrero is getting some serious heat, and he further annoys the crowd by dragging Road Dogg into The Radicalz corner. They try to work on Dogg’s knee but as Guerrero goes for the Frog Splash he crawls up the ropes after him to hit a superplex. Billy Gunn is MAULED by all four opponents – then fights them all off like a super hero. One & Only eliminates Eddie at 06:00. Kwik tags in for the first time, running through an awesome near-miss sequence with Malenko. He puts a heel kick into Benoit’s face too. The Crippler doesn’t like that, and eliminates him with a NECK DROP GERMAN SUPLEX at 07:17. The New Age Outlaws reunion is brief, with Saturn eliminating Road Dogg with a bridging northern lights at 08:48. Billy is left alone, and takes a beating before he at least tricks Saturn into laying Benoit out with a superkick. In the ensuing melee he eliminates Malenko with a Fame Asser at 10:57. Jackhammer gets 2 on Saturn, of course with the Wolverine on hand to break the fall. Benoit goes upstairs for the Flying Wolverine and gets another nearfall. He does pin Gunn moments later (with a little help from Saturn holding Billy’s feet down). Match time was 12:40
Rating - ** - I really don’t enjoy Survivor Series matches when they really don’t give anywhere near enough time for the wrestlers to produce anything of note. This one had it’s moments, such as Eddie’s nuclear heel heat, the K-Kwik exchanges with Malenko and Benoit (leading to Benoit destroying him with that German suplex) etc, but it would sink or swim based on Billy Gunn’s performance as the superhuman babyface, and I’m just not sure he was over enough to pull it off. It was clear WWF were prepping him for another singles push (and put him in the ring with Benoit the following month looking to improve his ring-work), but his babyface pops here always felt forced and obligatory. It never felt like natural babyface heat of the kind someone like Chris Jericho was getting.
Lillian Garcia tries to get an interview with The Rock as he arrives at the arena, but he’s not interested in chatting. The same can’t be said for Chris Jericho, who relays to Michael Cole exactly how fired up he is for his match with Kane
Chris Jericho vs Kane
This feud genuinely started because Jericho spilt coffee on Kane, then made a somewhat sarcastic apology for it. An enraged Kane became jealous of Jericho’s looks and popularity, so pursued him relentless and dished out multiple violent attacks. That includes putting him through a Smackdown announce table with a Chokeslam so vicious that Y2J is still carrying a back injury as a result.
It doesn’t take Kane long to take control, beating Jericho around the ring with a succession of big right hands. Chris is clearly aware he needs to quicken the pace and take to the air – knocking Kane to the floor with a baseball slide…then hitting a HORRIBLE running suicide dive where he gets his legs hooked on the top rope and nearly kills himself. It sort of makes sense that he’s so desperate to hurt Kane that he isn’t even controlling his own body properly. Kane bashes him into the steps, but he’s right back up again, hitting the springboard dropkick to the apron then grabbing those same steps to kick them into the Big Red Machine’s face. He tries a flying crossbody next, but it’s one high-flying move too many and he gets caught in a powerslam. Kane unloads more punches aimed straight at Jericho’s face. An attempt to go after the back fails as Jericho wildly counters a back suplex with some punches…only to be put on the deck anyway with a big boot. HANGMAN GORY SPECIAL! The Monster continues his quest to disfigure Y2J, exposing the metal turnbuckle bolt and coming perilously close to ramming his face into it. Jericho literally CLINGS to Kane’s gear singlet trying to stay up and fight him…but it’s to no avail as he tosses him to the floor. Flying clothesline blocked by the increasingly ragged Jericho only for him to be heaved off the second rope, landing right on his bad back again. Incredibly, he gets up to COUNTER the flying clothesline with a mid-air dropkick. It doesn’t stop Kane being the first man back up though. Jericho to the top, hitting a missile dropkick for 2. He succeeds in shunting Kane into the exposed turnbuckle, and flips the big man into the Walls Of Jericho! But thanks to his bad back and the sheer size of his opponent it’s simply not as effective. Even when Kane counters it Jericho desperately clings to his leg, trying a grapevine or any kind of submission hold – to no avail. Running bulldog scores instead…into the Lionsault! COUNTERED WITH A CHOKESLAM! Kane wins at 12:34
Rating - *** - It’s easy to understand why people didn’t like this feud, and at the time I certainly didn’t. Jericho was SO popular at this point, and whilst Angle and Benoit continued to dine at the the main event table without really breaking through the glass ceiling (even as Champion, at this point it was clear Kurt was not on the same level as Austin, Rock, HHH and Undertaker), he seemed to have been sidelined in midcard feuds. At this point it definitely seemed like they were trying to harness Jericho’s popularity to get Kane over as a heel, rather than do anything to promote Y2J himself. However, such is his quality as an in-ring worker that he succeeded in dragging a hell of a match out of Kane. I thought this was a really under-rated encounter, with a brilliant cat-and-mouse story told throughout. Kane was the dominant behemoth – battering Jericho at every turn, going after his face and his already-injured back with absolutely no mercy. And in response Jericho was a valiant smaller opponent. He altered his strategy to take to the air as much as possible (despite his injury). He was SO desperate to fight Kane that he nearly killed himself, or would literally cling to Kane’s clothes to try to stay on his feet and keep going at it. In the end he didn’t have enough in the tank, with his Walls Of Jericho weakened and his Lionsault countered, he had no weapons left and succumbed to defeat. As I said, it’s easy to criticise the feud, even to this day approaching 14-years later. But I will defend this match, as it really was good.
Terri enters The Radicalz locker room having just spoken to HHH. There appears to be a plan afoot, as Benoit delivers his best super-villain laugh
William Regal vs Hardcore Holly – WWF European Title Match
Regal continues to get stuck in last-minute ppv title defences against the absolute dregs of the roster. Apparently these guys had some kind of verbal altercation (presumably on Heat), meaning they were hastily added to the main card.
The positive side to putting Regal in the ring with Holly is that both men show no hesitation in laying into each other with some really stiff strikes. Regal goes after Hardcore’s arm (this was after he came back from the broken arm suffered at the hands of a Kurt Angle moonsault), smashing it into the post then twisting it hard with a wristlock. Cross armbreaker cranked in giving Bob a real fight just to make the bottom rope. He falls out of the ring clutching his arm in pain – and when he gets back in the champion craftily kicks him in the nuts then ties him in the ropes to beat on the arm some more. Holly has seen enough, and lays Regal out with his own belt. That’s a DQ victory for Regal at 05:47
Rating - * - A star for Regal’s awesome destruction of Holly’s arm, but much as with the opening contest this was basically filler. I ranted about this during my No Mercy review – but the WWF are asking people to PAY MONEY to watch this show. Do they really feel they are giving those fans value for their hard-earned cash by presenting this? Both workers were trying their hardest but the live audience didn’t care, the announcers didn’t care and barely spoke about the match, and they weren’t even booked to a particularly smart finish. Regal is SO entertaining, you really wonder if there wasn’t something more worthwhile he could have done over the last two ppv’s than working nothing matches with the likes of Mideon and Holly.
Kurt Angle is preparing for his match backstage, when Trish Stratus enters his locker room. She flirts with him, which he doesn’t spot at all and thinks she’s offering him T&A’s help in his title defence. He declines and leaves (second ppv in a row he's misread Trish's advances)
Rikishi vs The Rock
As we saw last month, after weeks of suspense Rikishi was finally revealed as the man who ran Steve Austin over at Survivor Series 1999. He claimed he did it for The Rock, as in Stone Cold’s absence Rock was able to thrive – becoming a globally known name and the top babyface in the WWF. Rock denied the allegations (it turned out to be HHH who instructed Rikishi, not him), but his preparations for a WWF Championship defence against Kurt Angle at No Mercy were significantly damaged. In the end it would be Rikishi, trying to ‘help’ Rock again, who wound up costing him the WWF Title as he inadvertently superkicked him in the face during the climactic sequence – effectively handing Angle the belt. The Rock wants revenge, but has fallen victim to a number of callous assaults by his family member, and enters this match with a damaged sternum as a result of a drive-by sledgehammer assault on Raw followed by a Banzai Drop on Smackdown.
Rock channels his inner-Ultimate Warrior and sprints to the ring to punch Rikishi senseless. He goes for a chair only for referee Tim White to grab it at the last moment. Rikishi capitalises to superkick Rocky right in the chest – immediately going after the ‘bruised sternum’. All his offence is targeted to that body part, right down to his punches. The Rock buys himself some time by throwing his opponent out of the ring, but then foolishly gives chase even though he can barely catch his breath. Rikishi punishes that error and drops him chest-first over the guardrail. The ref gets bumped and Rikishi instantly goes after a sledgehammer. Rock knocks it out of his hand at the last second, and flattens him with the ROCK BOTTOM! But such is his injured state he couldn’t cover even if Tim White was in position to count the fall. He tries to lay the Smackdown…only for the big Samoan to cut him off with a HEADBUTT TO THE CHEST! SAMOAN DROP! He then delivers a standing Banzai Drop, which gets a desperately close 2-count. A running butt splash flattens Rocky in the corner – in position for the Stinkface (which gets as much heat as Rikishi did at any point in his heel run). It almost seems to revive Rock, who explodes out of the corner with a clothesline. Spinebuster nailed, after which Rock collapses and screams in agony. He gets back to his feet for the PEOPLE’S ELBOW! And he then stays down in pain – desperately crawling towards his fallen opponent. He wins at 11:20!
Rating - *** - The Rock might not be the best pure wrestler ever to grace a ring, but matches like this show just how talented he really is as an entertainer. Rikishi’s heel turn fell flatter than a pancake run over by a truck, but on this night, in the ring with Rock on absolute top form, he looked like a killer. The crowd HATED him. They jeered loudly when he attacked the ribs, and they screamed in disbelief as he dared to give ‘the People’s Champion’ the Stinkface. The pops were MASSIVE every time Rock tried a comeback, and the finish nearly took the roof off the arena. Austin and Rikishi could have drawn similar crowd reactions at No Mercy – but Austin (or whomever booked the match), had absolutely no interest in making Rikishi look good. It was a complete assassination of his heel turn in a single night. Here The Rock was busting his ass to do as much as possible to help him. His sell job on the sternum injury was as good as anything you’ll see. His facial acting was outstanding, his physical movements were right on point, and you really believed he was in agony with every move he executed. A quite brilliant performance from The Rock here, leading to a surprisingly decent match.
Rikishi gets his heat back post-match with a series of Banzai Drops
Raven is at WWF New York, and looks like a total lunatic
Triple H is hanging out with The Radicalz, as Commissioner Foley busts into the room. He informs Hunter than The Radicalz are banned from ringside, and the main event is now No DQ.
Ivory vs Lita – WWF Women’s Title Match
This is somewhat of a grudge match, after Ivory controversially defeated Lita to become Women’s Champion, and recently assaulted her (with the help of the rest of Right To Censor) using the title belt on Smackdown. Lita is coming for some payback…
Lita shoves Ivory into the corner, wailing away on her with some wild punches. An enzi finds the mark, before things get a little sloppy. Ivory inadvertently busts Lita’s eye WIDE open with a misplaced punch, which may then play a part in Lita noticeably botching a backwards roll-up spot. To her credit, Ivory rolls with the metaphorical punches – and repeatedly goes after her opponent’s bloody face. The challenger nearly drops Ivory on her neck with a satellite headscissors…as Steven Richards joins us at ringside. TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE onto both Ivory and Steven! And Lita hits another crossbody block back into the ring for 2. She lines up the Moonsault, only for Richards to drag Ivory out of the way. Ivory grabs the title belt, and as Lita goes for the Moonsault again Ivory GETS THE BELT UP! She retains at 04:49
Rating - ** - Not a particularly pretty or well-executed match, but it’s impossible to deny that the sheer physicality (or sloppiness if you prefer) made this one very watchable. Lita’s facial injury looked really nasty, and made her a very sympathetic figure as she fought to regain her title despite heavy blood loss.
Kane walks backstage, where he is jumped by Chris Jericho – who absolutely batters him with chairs, pipes, 2x4’s and anything else he can find before the referee squad pull him off.
Kurt Angle vs Undertaker – WWF Title Match
This event marks Taker’s 10-year anniversary in the WWF. He overcame Kane, Jericho and Benoit to be crowned #1 contender and has done his best to let Kurt know he’s on borrowed time as champion ever since. In response, Angle has shown an aggressive streak and done his best to prove that he’s ‘nobody’s whipping boy’. He does boast a somewhat tainted pinfall victory over the Deadman, but with just a year’s experience in the company, even as WWF Champion you have to consider him a massive underdog going into this one.
Did nobody tell Undertaker that his white snakeskin leather pants look laughable? It’s still the Undertaker of course, but it’s actually difficult to take him seriously. Kurt is so appalled by them he doesn’t want to get in the ring – so Undertaker hands him a chair to incentivise him. Angle obliges him, waffling him with the weapon to get the match started. He goes crazy with punches, until he bends over trying to catch his breath…only for Taker to shake it all off and lay waste to him with some heavy duty striking. Old School ropewalk finds the mark, with very little of Kurt’s offence even making a dent. GERMAN SUPLEX from nowhere! He knocks the Deadman out of the ring and for the first time the ten year veteran seems to acknowledge that Angle is a threat. Alas, Angle gets over-confident and tries to dive off the apron – only to be effortlessly caught then driven repeatedly into the ringpost. The champion goes after the knee, but again it doesn’t have enough impact and Undertaker drops him to the deck with a Fujiwara Armbar. Kurt is tapping, but Edge & Christian are at ringside distracting Earl Hebner. A kick to the knee blocks the Chokeslam before he clings to a kneebar. Finally he is inflicting some serious damage to his imposing challenger, keeping Taker on the deck for the first time in the match. Undertaker vents his frustration by attacking Edge & Christian (who were still at ringside), then planting Angle with the Chokeslam. Now Hebner isn’t in position to count the fall because he’s in the aisle trying to eject Kurt’s buddies! Angle goes to the leg again and repeatedly drives it into the ring apron, then applying a Figure 4 Leglock. Somehow Taker powers out then muscles the champ into a big powerslam for 2. He can’t get Angle away from his legs though, with Kurt hauling him to the edge of the ring for a RINGPOST FIGURE 4! The challenger is struggling to walk, is slow to get to his feet, and lies slumped against the ropes with his chest heaving. His knee gives out as he tries a Tombstone, but the attempt puts such fear into Kurt that he flees the ring and hides under it. Taker drags him out, and tosses him in for the LAST RIDE! It’s over…but Hebner stops counting, because he’s not pinning Kurt. It turns out Angle had deployed a decoy – and he now sneaks out from under the ring and pins Taker using his (hugely ugly) tights at 16:05
Rating - ** - Lets start by pointing out that this was far better than their last ppv match (at Fully Loaded 2000). Undertaker was willing to let Kurt get in more offence, and Angle was really starting to grow as a worker by this point. His assault on the leg was a great thematic device to carry the match, even if Undertaker’s effort to sell it was minimal. In the end what led to me dropping this match down to 2* was the horrible overbooking of it to protect Undertaker. Angle is the champion, but he’s never going to get any credibility if he’s presented as a complete no-hoper against all the actual top guys. He needed interference from three different people to beat The Rock, and now tonight he needed Edge, Christian and one of the most annoying finishes you can imagine to get the job done. These two would go on to have a couple of great matches together in the years to come. But at this point Kurt hadn’t finished his maturity as a performer, whilst Undertaker wasn’t in the best shape and really didn’t have his working boots on.
Undertaker looks on in disbelief as Kurt hastily retreats to the locker room. The decoy Kurt needs medical attention. It was revealed the following evening to be Kurt’s brother, Eric Angle (at that time a developmental talent, although he never made it as a pro-wrestler).
We get an advert for XFL cheerleaders…inexplicably set to the English national anthem
Goodfather/Bull Buchanan/Edge/Christian vs Hardy Boyz/Dudley Boyz
This is our second traditional Survivor Series elimination match, and the Tag Championship will very much take centre stage. Right To Censor are the team currently in possession, with Edge & Christian, the Hardyz and the Dudleyz all keen to get their hands on the belts again. Can the Hardyz and the Dudleyz co-exist as a team? Will E&C get along with a team that they, presumably, would like to face for the belts? Jeff comes in carrying an injury sustained during a Sunday Night Heat match…
The Dudleyz take turns working Buchanan, until Goodfather comes to the aid of his partner. All eight men pile in for a fight – with the babyface team grabbing the heels for a QUADRUPLE DDT! Matt and Jeff peel off their shirts to reveal some Dudleyz-influenced camouflage, then hit Edge with Poetry In Motion. Val Venis hangs Matt over the ropes, bouncing him back into the Edge-O-Matic – eliminating him at 03:59. Christian hits the Unprettier on D-Von to put him out of the match at 05:08. Jeff is straight in the ring with a slingshot Arabian press for 2…before Christian hurls his injured ribs straight into the ringpost. Bubba Ray takes it to all four opponents, giving Edge and Goodfather some NASTY trips outside the ring. Edge inadvertently spears Bull, allowing Bubba to eliminate him at 07:03. Edge is eliminated after a Bubba Bomb at 08:01, and we’re down to 2-on-2 with one representative from each team remaining. Goodfather eliminates Bubba with a DVD at 08:43. Jeff is really hurting, but somehow heads upstairs for the SWANTON BOMB on Christian. We’re down to Goodfather and Jeff at 09:41. Ho Train misses…and Val accidentally knocks Goodfather down from the apron. Hardy covers, and gets the unlikely victory at 10:05
Rating - * - A couple of decent spots, and a solid underdog performance from Jeff Hardy, but you really can’t pack this many men and this many eliminations into a ten-minute match and make it any good. This could have been a decent match with even a half-decent time allowance, but all we got here was a frenzied procession of eliminations. Even the crowd had stopped popping by the end because they simply couldn’t keep up with what was going on.
Right To Censor put a post-match beating on Jeff, bringing the Dudleyz and Matt Hardy back to the ring to make a belated save. Venis and Richards are put through tables for good measure.
Steve Austin makes his way to the ring for the main event. As does HHH, but not before a final team-talk with The Radicalz…
Triple H vs Steve Austin – No DQ Match
Stone Cold got a measure of revenge on Rikishi at No Mercy, when he beat him to a bloody pulp and was mere seconds away from murdering him before the ‘police’ got involved. But Rikishi insisted he had an accomplice; someone to gain from Austin’s absence from the WWF. He implied it was The Rock (who, after all, became the top babyface in Austin’s absence), but it was all an evil scheme. The man giving the orders was Triple H. He wanted Stone Cold out of the picture, and recruited the big Samoan to be his wheelman. In the Rattlesnake’s absence, HHH would go on to become a multi-time WWF Champion, marry Stephanie McMahon and establish himself as a mainstay at the very pinnacle of the World Wrestling Federation's hot period. He finally revealed himself in a bloody sledgehammer ambush weeks ago on Raw…but now has to face the consequences as he faces a furious Steve Austin in a no-rules environment. Will Austin get his revenge? And what is HHH’s plan involving The Radicalz ? They are banned from ringside but still seem poised to make an impact...
Apparently HHH has a bad back, which Austin may be planning to exploit. Sure enough, he puts a knee into Hunter’s midsection then reels off a series of forearms driven straight to the spine. Helmsley tries to leave, crawling up the aisle seemingly desperate to get to the back. The fight spills into the tech area, and JR starts to speculate that HHH wants Austin in the back so The Radicalz can ambush him. Wisely Stone Cold storms back into the arena, hitting a wild running lariat. The Game hits a suplex on the concrete floor – an early test of how well Austin’s neck is healed. Austin has to go on the defensive, preventing HHH from putting him through the Spanish announce table by flinging him into the steps. He levels him with a TV monitor: swinging it with such force that he topples over in delivering that strike, and it instantly has Helmsley bleeding everywhere. The Rattlesnake is unrelenting – desperately trying to open up the bloody forehead further. We get beer can-enforced punches, face-shots into the steps and more, and it leaves HHH covered in blood. Austin goes for a Stunner, only for it to be COUNTERED into a neckbreaker! Triple H starts attacking the neck in earnest, wrenching it against the post and getting a nearfall with a second neckbreaker. As we pass 14-minutes this is surely the longest that Austin has wrestled in over a year, so this is very much the sternest test of his comeback so far. He puts HHH on his injured back again with a spinebuster, but then misses the diving elbow drop. The impact of that seemingly jars his neck again. HHH sets up a Pedigree on the ring steps…only to have it countered into a BACK DROP THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! STUNNER NAILED! Austin has the match won…but that’s not enough for him. He retrieves a steel chair, and folds it around HHH’s neck! Triple H desperately rolls away, trying to flee up the aisle again. This time he succeeds in luring Stone Cold into the bowels of the building…and sure enough The Radicalz are waiting to pounce. Malenko, Saturn, Guerrero and Benoit mug Austin, beating him senseless as a whole troop of referees and officials try to break it up. Meanwhile HHH is in the parking lot, climbing into a waiting car. Benoit lures Austin into the parking lot…apparently trying to position him right in front of Hunter’s car. HHH’s car is mic’d up for no apparent reason, and we hear him curse in fury as Stone Cold has seemingly vanished. Austin reappears driving a crane, and he scoops HHH’s car up. In what has to be the most ludicrous finish in wrestling history, he hoists the car 20-feet into the air…then DROPS IT! Austin walks off in triumph, and the ppv ends. I’m guessing the match is over thanks to certain death of one of the competitors. I have a time of 25:10, although who knows when it actually ended.
Rating - *** - This is hard to rate. I don’t have the words to express how much I hated the finish, but at the same time, the match that came before it was a really well-executed WWF-style main event which told some interesting stories. The motivations of the two workers was very apparent, with Austin going after HHH’s back then looking to flat-out end his career as payback for the vehicular assault of twelve months earlier. In response HHH worked Austin’s surgically repaired neck, and repeatedly looked to get him to the back where he had his hired goons The Radicalz waiting to help him. It was a really strong back and forth battle – but the retarded attempted murder finish (second month running for one of those) absolutely kills it. What the hell were the creative team (led by Stephanie McMahon at this point I believe) thinking booking this? How can we take any grudge match seriously ever again, when this is the second time Austin has looked to settle score by KILLING his opponent. I know this is the Attitude Era and it’s supposed to be edgy. But these finishes go beyond edgy, and even beyond 'cartoon violence' into the realms of the ridiculous. It’s hard to take it seriously, and if WWF fans are appealing to a more adult market (as they were at this time), then that credibility is absolutely critical. Things actually got worse the following evening at Raw when HHH showed up with a few make-up bruises and some bandages. Yes, they didn’t even keep him off TV for a single show to sell a 20-foot drop, from a crane in a crushed car.
Tape Rating - * - There were a few decent matches, but this was nowhere near good enough for one of WWF’s bigger ppv shows of the year. Traditionally Survivor Series is the least significant of the ‘big four’, and (as I said during my No Mercy review), when you’re asking fans to pay money, you really need to deliver some value for that cash. There was no real quality on this show to speak of at all. Rock/Rikishi and Kane/Jericho were solid midcard matches, but the whole event was basically sold on the strength of the year-in-the-making Austin/HHH showdown, and everything else felt like a distant afterthought. That can work if the match you’re hanging the show on delivers (wait for Armageddon folks), but the finish they booked to Austin/HHH was so bad it puts a sour note on the whole show for me. The last couple of ppvs have been a massive step down in quality from earlier in the year.
Top 3 Matches
3) The Rock vs Rikishi (***)
2) Kane vs Chris Jericho (***)
1) Steve Austin vs Triple H (***)