WWE Survivor Series 1999 Review

The 13th Survivor Series event took place at a time when World Wrestling Entertainment was thriving as a business thanks to superstars like Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind, Triple H, The Undertaker and many more becoming household names. Everything was going well until a major injury shocked the wrestling business.

I was at this event at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. I was so excited for it mainly because the Austin vs. Rock vs. Triple H was a first time ever happening in a PPV setting and I was hoping for a classic match. We didn’t know that Austin was going to miss the show. We’ll get to that in the review.

There was some backstage news at the time because WWE was going through a transition with the creative team. Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara were the head writers under Vince McMahon for a few years before this. They jumped to WCW in October 1999. This was around the time when Brian Gewirtz, who was a WWE writer for about 15 years, joined the team as well as some others. The Russo/Ferrara style was known “Crash TV” with a lot of short matches. That era did continue a bit through the end of 1999 and into 2000, but as 2000 went on they really focused on the in-ring action a lot more.

This show brought with it a lot of change, but one thing that was consistent during this period is that WWE was kicking WCW’s ass in the Monday Night Wars. Things were going so well that WWE started Smackdown in August 1999, so there was even more content for WWE fans to digest. Considering that business was booming, it was easy to see why the company was so keen on doing even more.

—

WWE Survivor Series
Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan
November 14, 1999

The show started with a video package setting up the main event of Survivor Series with Triple H defending the WWE World Title against The Rock and Steve Austin. Vince McMahon, who was more of a face owner by this point, was announced as the special referee.

There was a shot of the sold out Joe Louis Arena with a lot of signs in the crowd as the pyro went off. The announce team of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler welcomed us to the show.

The Godfather made his entrance with the ho’s to remind us that pimpin’ ain’t easy. What a great role model. His partners were D’Lo Brown and the Headbangers with all four of them wearing Godfather like pimp outfits.

Bubba Ray did his stuttering gimmick to ask Godfather if they were would be offered any ho’s. The ho’s rejected them. The stuttering thing from Bubba was originally from his ECW days, but it didn’t last that long in this WWE run.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Godfather, D’Lo Brown and The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) vs. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) and The Acolytes (Faarooq and Bradshaw)

Pre-match notes: The Dudleys were new to the company as a heel team. The Godfather’s team were faces.

Bubba with a shoulder tackle on Mosh and Mosh came back with a back body drop. Running butt splash in the corner by Mosh, but Bubba came back with a clothesline. D-Von tagged in and Thrasher nailed a clothesline for two followed by a hip toss. Hard clothesline by D-Von knocked down Thrasher. Bradshaw in for the heels and Thrasher hit a dropkick. Thrasher missed a corner charge, so Bradshaw nailed him with a Clothesline From Hell to beat him.

Thrasher eliminated by Bradshaw

Double shoulder block by the Acolytes on Mosh. Faarooq missed a corner charge on Mosh, but was able to regain control. Mosh nailed a running splash on the back of D-Von. Bubba tagged in and the Dudleys hit 3D to eliminate Mosh.

Mosh eliminated by Bubba Ray Dudley

Two faces left against four heels. Brown with a body slam into a leg drop combo on Bubba. Bradshaw was mad about Brown punching him so he nailed Brown in the back with a chair shot and then a stiff chair shot to the head of Bubba. Ouch. Nasty. Bradshaw was disqualified.

Bradshaw eliminated by disqualification

D-Von argued with Faarooq. When D-Von tried to cover, Faarooq dropped a leg drop on his hand. They ended up throwing punches even though they were partners. Both D-Von and Faarooq were both counted out.

Faarooq and D-Von Dudley eliminated by countout

Bubba got a nearfall. He got up first when he took a stiff chair shot to the head? That’s weird. Bubba with a sidewalk slam on Brown for two. Brown hit his Sky High spinebuster for a two count. Bubba countered a hurricanrana attempt into a top rope Powerbomb for just two. They did a double clothesline spot, so both guys were down. Godfather got the hot tag with clotheslines, a body slam and leg drop. Corner clothesline by Godfather. Brown tagged in with the frog splash for the pinfall win at the 9:36 mark.

Bubba Ray Dudley eliminated by D-Lo Brown

Survivors: The Godfather & D-Lo Brown

Post match, the faces danced with the girls. Even referee Tim White danced with them because old white guys dancing is always good for comedy.

Analysis: ** It was an okay elimination match. There were some dead parts in the match, but fans were happy with the result. The Dudleys were new to the company, so I thought maybe they would have gone over. I guess WWE wanted to put over the face team instead. I don’t remember the Godfather/Brown team having much success.

There was a video package about Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle, who was making his debut here. Angle bragged about all of his success.

Analysis: Angle wrestled dark matches for months before this, but they are telling the truth that it was his first televised match.

Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Stasiak

Pre-match notes: No reaction for Stasiak. Angle was announced as “the most celebrated real athlete in WW history.”

Angle took down Stasiak a few times early on as he showcased his amateur skills. The crowd was bored, so they chanted for the Red Wings, the Detroit hockey team. Angle with a body slam followed by an overhead belly to belly suplex. Stasiak nailed a clothesline. Sidewalk slam by Stasiak followed by a suplex for two. Back elbow by Stasiak. Angle with a hard clothesline. Angle left the ring, grabbed the microphone: “You do not boo an Olympic gold medallist. I’m the best in the world. I came here for you. You do not boo me!” He went back into the ring and hit a dropkick. Stasiak with a shoulder tackle. Angle got an inside cradle for two. Angle with a powerslam for two. Stasiak put him on his shoulders and slammed him down. Stasiak missed a crossbody block off the top. Angle hit an overhead slam variation that we could come to know as the Olympic Slam. The match went 5:57.

Winner by pinfall: Kurt Angle

Analysis: ** It was basic stuff. I like that I’m able to say that I was at the televised debut of Kurt Angle, who is one of my favorite wrestlers ever. The promo by Angle mid-match was pretty funny because you didn’t see guys doing that very often. You may think that an Olympic gold medalist would be a face, but it was smarter to book him as a heel. I thought Angle did really well here.

There were highlights from Heat earlier in the night when Austin and Rock beat up Triple H, Road Dogg and X-Pac.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Val Venis, Mark Henry, Gangrel and Steve Blackman vs, The British Bulldog and The Mean Street Posse (Rodney, Pete Gas, and Joey Abs)

Analysis: Val led the lower midcard faces while Bulldog led the lower midcard heels. The partners felt random on the face side. Bulldog was the European Champion at the time. He looked too tanned and looking as huge as ever in terms of using PEDs.

Bulldog with a delayed vertical suplex on Venis. Gas threw some weak punches, then he nailed a kick and hit a slingshot that sent Venis into the corner. Gas with a back suplex. Venis with a corcner clothesline and bulldog on Gas. Blackman nailed a dropkick followed by a pump kick to eliminate Gas.

Pete Gas eliminated by Steve Blackman

Rodney got a clothesline on Blackman. Gangrel tagged in and was caught in a pinfall attempt by Rodney for a two count. Abs nailed Gangrel in the back of the head, then hit Rodney with a punch after Gangrel moved. Gangrel hit the Impaler DDT on Rodney to eliminate him.

Rodney eliminated by Gangrel

Analysis: Loved that finisher by Gangrel. That’s my favorite DDT variation.

Gangrel with a double arm suplex on Abs, who was actually a wrestler instead of being a childhood friend of Shane like Gas and Rodney. Abs missed a running attack and was crotched on the middle rope. Henry nailed a running splash to the back of Abs. Splash by Henry gets three to eliminate Abs.

Joey Abs eliminated by Mark Henry

British Bulldog is last man left for his time. Henry tossed Bulldog in the air and he crashed into the mat. Gangrel up top, but Bulldog blocked it and hit a superplex to eliminate him.

Gangrel eliminated by British Bulldog

Blackman hit a snap suplex. Bulldog got out of a pinfall attempt and hit a Perfect Plex to eliminate Blackman.

Steve Black eliminated by British Bulldog

The crowd was dead or much of the match. Bulldog hit a leaping clothesline on both guys. Venis hit an inside cradle for a two count. Bulldog sent Venis out of the ring. Henry with a corner splash, body slam and splash on Bulldog. Venis up top and he hit the Money Shot splash to win for the heels.

British Bulldog eliminated by Val Venis

Survivors: Val Venis & Mark Henry

Analysis: * A boring match that drew no reactions from the crowd. I don’t even remember if there was much of a storyline going into it. Fans just didn’t seem to care about the match that much. I didn’t care either.

Michael Cole entered the heel women’s locker room for an interview attempt that didn’t last very long.

Debra, Fabulous Moolah, Mae Young & Tori vs. Ivory, Jacqueline, Terri Runnels & Luna

Pre-match notes: Debra’s team were the faces. Moolah and Mae were in their 70s by this point. Tori was actually a wrestler. At least the heels were all wrestlers except Terri. Ivory was the heel Women’s Champion.

This is a regular tag rather than an elimination tag. Moolah clothesline on Ivory on the floor. Tori tackled Luna. Jacqueline went into the ring with a DDT. Jacqueline and Luna with a double suplex on Tori. Tori nailed a double clothesline on Ivory and Luna. Moolah tagged in with a body slam on Ivory. Double clothesline by Moolah and Mae. Splash by Mooolah was enough to pin Ivory at 1:50.

Winners by pinfall: Debra, Fabulous Moolah, Mae Young & Tori

Analysis: -* That was terrible. At least it was short. At least most of them were hot. At least I don’t have to write about it more.

Post match, Debra argued with Terri and ripped off her top leaving her in a bra as a way to pop the crowd. I was probably cheering that. The faces left the ring while the heels were mad about it. Ivory ended up leaving the ring to brawl with Moolah a bit.

X-Pac was interviewed by Lilian Garcia backstage. X-Pac talked about how he carried Kane for months and he’s better than him. X-Pac said he can whip Kane’s ass while noting that Kane was impotent.

There was a clip from Heat earlier in the night when Kane’s girlfriend Tori said that the word on the street is that X-Pac had a little hose.

X-Pac vs. Kane

Pre-match notes: They were former tag team partners that developed problems. X-Pac was a heel that was part of Degeneration X while Kane was a face.

Kane with some punches, X-Pac nailed a kick and Kane came back with a clothesline. Two handed choke by Kane. When Ken went up top, X-Pac nailed a dropkick that sent Kane to the floor. X-Pac slammed Kane face first into the ring steps. Kane came back with punches, but X-Pac nailed a spinning heel kick. X-Pac set up the bronco buster in the corner, but Kane blocked it with a choke followed by a backbreaker. Kane with a boot to the face. Kane nailed a clothesline off the top rope. Kane nailed a Chokeslam. Road Dogg went down to the ring and pulled Kane out of the ring. Kane punched Dogg and then X-Pac nailed the X-Factor for two. X-Pac jumped off the top, Kane caught him and Triple H went into the ring with a WWE Title shot to the head. That led to the DQ finish at 4:15.

Winner by disqualification: Kane

Post match, the three DX guys worked on Kane. Tori bounced her way down to the ring…I mean ran down to the ring. She turned X-Pac around and X-Pac nailed a spin kick to knock her down. Kane got back, so the DX guys ran away. EMT personnel went into the ring to check on Tori, including “Nurse BB” that became a character soon after this.

Analysis: * A quick match to further this storyline. They continued the rivalry with Tori turning heel on Kane by aligning with X-Pac.

The Rock was interviewed backstage by Michael Cole. He barely said anything when Triple H showed up and they started a brawl. Other people showed up to try to break it up.

One on Four Survivor Series Elimination Match: Big Show vs. Big Boss Man, Prince Albert, Mideon & Viscera

Pre-match notes: Boss Man was a jerk that mocked Big Show for mourning the death of his father. It was a cheap way to make Show more of a face. The scene at the cemetery with Big Boss Man stealing the casket of Big Show’s dad is so bad it’s good.

There was a clip of Big Show beating up Kaientai and the Blue Meanie earlier in the show. They were supposed to be his partners, but he beat them up.

Show unleashed strikes on all of the heels. Chokeslam for Mideon eliminated him.

Mideon eliminated by Big Show

Show grabbed Albert and hit a Chokeslam to eliminate him.

Prince Albert eliminated by Big Show

Show picked up Viscera and hit a body slam. Show picked up Viscera and hit a Chokeslam to eliminate him. That was impressive.

Viscera eliminated by Big Show

Boss Man stood outside the ring while Big Show was inside it. Boss Man just left the ring and ran to the back. The “match” is over at 1:26.

Big Boss Man eliminated by countout

Survivor: Big Show

Analysis: 1/2* It was a chance to put over Big Show, so that’s what they did. Having a short match was a good idea. This was not the last we would see of Big Show on this night.

Steve Austin was interviewed by Kevin Kelly. Triple H showed up to attack him with punches. Triple H spit some liquid in his face. There was a shot of Austin in the parking garage looking for somebody. A car drove into parking lot and ran over Austin. The car ran over Austin with Austin bumping onto the car. JR freaked out on commentary. Austin was out on the cement.

Vince McMahon was shown running in the backstage area. He went into the parking lot calling for help with Stephanie McMahon, Shane and Test were there as well. Vince was freaking out yelling at Jim Dotson the head of security. Jim Ross went back there to see it. Vince yelled at Triple H about what he did. Triple H said he’s not to blame for it and he’s not going to take the blame for it. Vince said Hunter’s going to pay for this. Vince was there to help with Austin because at this point in the story he was more of a face owner of the company. Vince told somebody to get his car so he can go to the hospital. Austin was loaded into the ambulance and he left.

Analysis: That was a big angle that was done to write Austin out of the storylines for the next 11 months. He had a major neck surgery that he needed after being dropped on his neck at SummerSlam 1997. It was a major loss for WWE because he was their top guy, but the roster was so good that they had an awesome year in 2000 as well. As I noted earlier, we had no idea they would write Austin out of the storylines at this point. The storyline paid off leading to No Mercy 2000 with Rikishi turning heel as the guy that drove the car after Triple H told him to do it. Austin had a big match at Survivor Series 2000 with Triple H as well.

Back at ringside, Jerry Lawler noted he was out there by himself and that JR was going to be back in a minute.

Intercontinental Championship: Chyna (w/Miss Kitty) vs. Chris Jericho

Analysis: Chyna was the face champion with Miss Kitty dressing like her and being her valet. Jericho was a heel, but he was cheered quite a bit.

Jericho shoved down Kitty early on and Chyna hit him with a clothesline. Chyna whipped Jericho into the steel steps. She charged at him, he moved and she hit the barricade at ringside. Fans chanted for Jericho as she did a hot shot to send Jericho into the top rope. Running dropkick by Chyna in the corner. Jericho hit a low blow, she no sold it with no effect and she hit a hurricanrana that looked a bit sloppy. Jericho sent Chyna into the ropes and she bumped over the top to the floor. Jericho nailed a springboard cross body block while JR said it was tough to get into this match because of what happened to Austin. Jericho worked on Chyna out of the ring by tossing her into the barricade. Back in the ring, Jericho hit a missile dropkick for a two count. Jericho nailed some kicks as he took control. Chyna fought back with punches as the crowd booed and Jericho came back with a bulldog as the crowd cheered. Jericho nailed a clothesline that sent Chyna over the top to the floor. Jericho left the ring and forced a kiss on Miss Kitty. It led to Kitty jumping on his back, so Jericho gently placed her down. Chyna came back with a spear and sent Jericho into the ring post. Jericho hit a Powerbomb for a two count. Jericho with a Lionsault. Chyna threw some weak kicks. Clothesline by Chyna. She did her springboard elbow in the corner followed by a DDT for two. Referee was bumped, so Jericho hit Chyna in the face with the title. She kicked out at two. That should have been the finish. Chyna came back with a Pedigree for a two count. It looked like Chyna was walking as they set up a spot with Jericho applying the Walls of Jericho submission. She was likely fatigued. Chyna crawled to the ropes to break the hold. Jericho set up Chyna on the top. Kitty distracted the ref, Chyna hit a Pedigree-like move off the top and she pinned Jericho at the 13:34 mark.

Winner by pinfall: Chyna

Analysis: **1/2 It was a competitive match where they did the best they could, but you could see Jericho held back a bit and had to work at a slower pace for Chyna. The finish looked bad in the sense that the move looked worse because it was off the top. The crowd reactions were telling since Jericho was cheered a lot even though he was the heel. I remember being grumpy during this match because I was mad about the Austin thing. I think a lot of fans felt that way too. In his second book, Jericho wrote about how difficult it was to work with Chyna at times due to all of the politics in the company as well. Chyna was dating Triple H, who was a top guy and it led to problems. I wasn’t a huge fan of Chyna getting a big push. It was fine occasionally, but they went a bit too far with it.

There was a backstage segment with Triple H and X-Pac asking Shane McMahon where Vince was. Shane said Vince was at the hospital with Austin. Hunter asked Shane if it’s just him and Rock now instead of a triple threat. Shane said he doesn’t know what they’re going to do yet.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty) and The Hollys (Hardcore Holly and Crash Holly) vs. Edge & Christian and The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) (with Terri Runnels)

Pre-match notes: Edge, Christian and The Hardys were faces. E&C became heels in early 2000. Too Cool were heels even though they became big faces early in 2000. The Hollys were also heels. One month earlier at No Mercy, E&C and The Hardys had the match of the year in a tag team ladder match.

Edge started with Scotty and connected with a spin kick. Matt crotched Crash on the top rope, then knocked him down and hit a dive off the top. Sexay nailed a sunset flip into a powerbomb on Matt on the floor. Christian jumped on Sexay on the floor. Jeff was in the ring with Hardcore, who gave Jeff a back body drop over the top to take out everybody on the floor. Christian with a powerslam on Crash. Double team move by the Hollys gave them control against Christian. Clothesline by Hardcore on Christian. Sexay got in there, Lawler was excited for his son and JR mocked the lack of crowd reaction. Bulldog by Sexay on Christian gets a two count. Sexay tried it again, but Christian shoved him into the turnbuckle to crotch him there. Spin kick by Edge on Hardcore and then a Spear. Edge with a Spear on Crash. Edge hit a Spear on Sexay. The other guys were brawling, which led to Edge accidentally hitting a Spear on Matt. Hardcore went into the ring and hit the ROLLUP OF DEATH~! to eliminate Edge.

Edge eliminated by Hardcore Holly

Scotty jumped off the top and hit a DDT on Matt to eliminate him.

Matt Hardy eliminated by Scotty 2 Hotty

Scotty did his WORM move on Jeff to no reaction. Once he was a face, that always drew a huge reaction. Double team Powerbomb spot by Too Cool on Jeff gets a two count. Sexay tossed Jeff across the ring by grabbing him by the hair. Sexay with a missile dropkick to the back of Jeff for a two count. Too Cool with a double team clothesline for a two count. The four heels were cheating against the two faces. There’s not much crowd reaction for this. The Hollys were arguing with eachother. Christian hit low blows on Too Cool as the ref was distracted by Terri. Jeff hit a 450 Splash off the top to eliminate Scotty.

Scotty 2 Hotty eliminated by Jeff Hardy

Double team arm drag by Jeff and Christian on Crash. The announcers were bickering about things with JR saying he was so worried about Austin. Hardcore nailed a dropkick off the top rope while Jeff was trying a move on him. Sexay hit a top rope leg drop to eliminate Jeff.

Jeff Hardy eliminated by Grandmaster Sexay

Christian hit a reverse DDT to eliminate Sexay.

Grandmaster Sexay eliminated by Christian

Christian was left alone to battle against the Hollys. There was almost no crowd reaction to any of this. Crash and Hardcore double teamed Christian for a few minutes. Powerslam by Hardcore on Christian earned him a two count. Crash tagged in and Christian hit the Unprettier to eliminate him.

Crash Holly eliminated by Christian

Hardcore tossed Crash out of the ring, so it’s down to Hardcore vs. Christian. Hardcore countered a victory roll attempt and sat on top to win the match at the 14:27 mark.

Christian eliminated by Hardcore Holly

Survivor: Hardcore Holly

Analysis: ***1/4 That was pretty good although the crowd reactions were weak. These guys were above average in the ring, so no surprise that they could put together a fun match like that after they were given over 15 minutes. I remember Holly got a midcard push after this, so that’s probably why he got the win.

Shane McMahon was backstage saying that Stone Cold did not lose consciousness, but he suffered severe head, neck and back trauma. Shane said there will still be a triple threat match later in the show although it won’t be with Stone Cold.

The New Age Outlaws did their full babyface intro even though they were heel tag team champions. Mankind made his entrance with Al Snow. Mankind said that Steve Austin is one tough son of a bitch and after it’s over they will think of him, but until them they will think of your asses referring to the Outlaws.

Analysis: Smart by Foley to do that. The company had to know that the crowd was dead in the last two matches in part because of the Austin news and it was his way to try to get the crowd into it.

The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) vs. Mankind & Al Snow

Pre-match notes: The Outlaws were the heels that got cheered for the intro, which I noted. Mankind and Snow were the weird-looking faces.

Gunn nailed a neckbreaker on Mankind, who I’ll probably refer to as Foley since it’s Mick Foley. Fans chanted “We Want Head” as Gunn applied a chinlock. Lawler and JR kept arguing about the Austin situation. Dogg accidentally punched Gunn while they were outside the ring. Foley with a running knee into Dogg’s head against the turnbuckle. Clothesline by Foley on Dogg outside the ring followed by a chair to the back. The ref is apparently distracted or blind. Foley and Snow worked on Dogg for a bit, which is backwards from a regular tag match. The announcers talked about Foley’s best selling book a lot during the match. It was a great read that did well. Snow unleashed some headbutts on Dogg and then Dogg came back with some punches. Gunn saved his partner and then all four guys started brawling. Gunn dropped Snow face first onto the announce table followed by a whip into the barricade. Back in the ring, Gunn sent Snow throat first into the bottom rope. Gunn and Dogg worked on Snow for a few minutes. Snow nailed a clothesline to knock down Dogg. Mankind tagged in and nailed some punches on Gunn, then did his own shuffle move that looked awful. Foley was staggered, Gunn hit the Fameasser and Dogg covered for two. Foley low blow to Dogg that the ref missed. Foley double arm DDT on Gunn and Snow nailed the Snow Plow slam on Dogg. The ref was distracted by Snow for some reason, so NAO each kicked Mankind in the balls. Snow hit Gunn in the head with Head and Mankind covered for a two count. Dogg sent Snow into the steps outside the ring. Dogg tripped up Mankind. Gunn hit a piledriver with Dogg jumping off the middle rope, so it was a Spike Piledriver. That got the pinfall win at 13:59.

Winners by pinfall: New Age Outlaws

Analysis: ** Just an okay match that ran a little long. I lost interest in it and if they shaved off a few more minutes then it probably would have been a better match. The finishing sequence looked really sloppy and something may have been botched in there, but I don’t know for sure. To be perfectly honest with you, I had no recollection of this match at all. It was like that with a few of the matches on this show.

There was a replay of Austin’s car bump earlier in the night. It was not him that took the bump, by the way. They had some stunt man take it. Lawler said it was definitely a blonde person driving the car and JR said he can’t confirm that.

Analysis: It ended up being a blonde person because Rikishi had blonde hair nearly a year after this when they said it was him. I remember Billy Gunn was a rumored name for that angle for a long time because WWE wanted to elevate him, but he never got to that level after his summer 1999 feud with The Rock failed.

The Rock made his entrance for the match. He was a huge babyface by this point. The referee in the match is Earl Hebner because Vince McMahon wasn’t there due to being at the hospital with Austin. Triple H was the WWE World Champion and he made his entrance to mostly boos.

The third man in the match is…Big Show…to almost no reaction. Triple H was making angry faces to sell it as bad news. Show was in his first year in WWE and spent most of his time as a heel.

WWE World Championship: Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Big Show

Pre-match notes: Triple H was the heel champion and The Rock was a face. Show was a mix although leaning face.

First pinfall or submission wins the match. Show nailed a boot to the face of each guy followed by a headbutt to Hunter. Rock hit Show in the back. Show knocked down Rock with a back elbow. Show nailed Hunter with a huge chop. Rock and Hunter worked together to knock Show out of the ring. Show was shoved into the ring post by Rock. Hunter and Rock battled on the floor a bit. Show got back into the ring with a boot to the face of Hunter. Show missed a corner charge on Hunter and Rock took Show down with a side Russian legsweep. Rock tossed Hunter out of the ring and hit a People’s Elbow. Triple H broke up the pin attempt. Triple H with a facebuster on Rock and Show nailed a sidewalk slam on Rock. Show dumped Triple H out of the ring. They went up the aisle with Show tossing Triple H on to a guardrail by the entrance. Rock hit a clothesline on Show. Rock hit a punch and Triple H bumped through a table by the entrance area. It was a small bump. Hunter hit Rock with a clothesline as the brawling by the entrance continued. Rock grabbed a fire extinguisher and hit Show in the face with it. Rock hit a suplex on Triple H on the floor. Hunter came back with a low blow uppercut on Show. They were walking back to the ring until Hunter dropped Rock with a back suplex on the floor. Show whipped Hunter into the steel steps at ringside. They kept brawling on the floor with Snow slamming Hunter on the announce table. Rock hit Show in the head with the ring bell. Hunter and Rock double teamed Show with a suplex through the Spanish announce table.

Analysis: That was a big spot that woke up the crowd a bit. The crowd wasn’t into it that much before that.

Rock and Hunter went brawling into the crowd. That lasted for a couple of minutes and they got back to the ringside area. Show was still down by the table. Rock accidentally hit a clothesline on the referee when he got in the way. Triple H went for the Pedigree, Rock flipped out of it and did a slingshot. Rock Bottom by Rock, he covered and there was no referee. Shane McMahon went down to the ring in a referee shirt and he counted a two count. Rock hit another Rock Bottom, he covered, Shane counted and Show pulled Shane out of the ring. Show beat up Rock outside the ring. Back in the ring, Show tossed Hunter across the ring. Show tossed Rock into the steel steps. Hunter grabbed the WWE Title, Shane stopped him from using it and Hunter hit a Pedigree on Shane the referee. Rock with a DDT on Hunter and Show took down Rock with a forearm. Show elbow drop on Hunter. Billy Gunn, Road Dogg and X-Pac went into the ring to beat up Show and Rock. Vince McMahon walked down to the ring to a huge ovation. Show nailed a Chokeslam on Gunn. Vince hit Hunter with a title shot to the head. Show hit a Chokeslam on Triple H and Vince counted the pin, which meant Big Show won the WWE World Title at the 16:13 mark.

Winner by pinfall and New WWE World Champion: Big Show

JR yelled about how Vince screwed Triple H out of the WWE Title.

Analysis: **3/4 They had a decent match with Show being booked strong as the unbeatable giant that just kept coming back no matter what the other two guys threw at him. The interference was too much by the end. I liked the double suplex through the table spot. It worked well in terms of turning the match up another level and making it more interesting. After Show got back into it, he was a major force. The story was that Vince screwed a guy out of the WWE Title for the third straight year after costing Bret Hart in a real-life situation two years earlier and Mankind in the storyline one year earlier. The difference this time is that Vince was a face screwing a heel.

Post match, Show was crying about winning the title. Vince checked on Shane. Hunter’s boys helped him to the back. The Rock was angry about it. Show was crying while JR mentioned Show buried his father on Thursday. Lawler said this was the most unpredictable Survivor Series ever. Show was on his knees expressing his joy in winning the WWE Title for the first time.

Analysis: They tried to put this over as some huge babyface title win for Show, but the fans really didn’t have a connection with him. The crowd was dead for a lot of his offense. They only cared when The Rock was on offense.

The show ended with Big Show celebrating the WWE Title win.

The show had a run time of 2 hours and 38 minutes.

—

FINAL THOUGHTS

– This show left a sour taste in my mouth because of the Austin storyline. We didn’t know it was going to happen and looking back at all these years later, it upset me that WWE would advertise him knowing that he was unable to wrestle. Card subject to change at all times, I guess.

– The first half of this show was awful. It did get better in the second half, but not that much.

– Big Show’s title run lasted 50 days. I think with Austin on the shelf, WWE felt like they had to elevate Show so that somebody to get that near main event level. The crowd didn’t seem to care about him enough no matter how hard WWE tried.

– The only Survivor Series elimination match that I liked was the second one featuring the tag teams. Like I mentioned earlier, they were all good enough in the ring to put on an entertaining match.

– I forgot how dead the crowd was during this event. There was a lot of energy early, then the Austin angle took place and the crowd went mild after that.

Show rating (out of 10): 4

It was a below-average show. The absence of Austin was certainly felt by the end of the night. It hurt the crowd’s reactions all night long. We wanted Austin and we got Big Show instead. Not a fair trade off.

OPINIONS

Best Match: Too Cool and The Hollys vs. Edge & Christian and The Hardy Boyz

Worst Match: Debra, Fabulous Moolah, Mae Young & Tori vs. Ivory, Jacqueline, Terri Runnels & Luna

Most Memorable Moment: Steve Austin getting run over by a car in the parking lot.

That’s all for me. Check out the full list of my WWE PPV Review archive right here. Thanks for reading.

My contact info is below.

John Canton

Email mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter @johnreport