Grilling JR - Survivor Series 2000 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Survivor Series 2000

The 2000 Survivor Series happened on November 19, 2000, at the Ice Palace in Tampa, Florida. The event had 16,533 in the building and another 500 or so in the arena restaurant, which was 14,753 paid, a $778,990 gate and another $114,352 in merchandise.

The show did about 400,000 buys on PPV which was down from the year before and the year after, both of which did about 450,000. That’s a major drop from Summerslam, which did about 570,000.

What do you think caused that fluctuation? When a show does significantly worse numbers than it has in the past, and previous shows, is there a sort of “Come to Jesus” meeting with the boss?

The event was the 14th annual Survivor Series. The tagline for the event was The Rules Have Changed. The poster features Stone Cold on the cover, as he was hot off his return seeking vengeance on those who had attacked him. It was revealed recently that, while Rikishi had supposedly hit Austin with a car, Triple H was the mastermind. That sets up our main event tonight between Austin and Triple H.

Why do you think the Survivor Series has seemed to be the weakest of the “Big Four” PPVs?

News:

WWFE reported strong financial results in the August through October quarter, with net revenues hitting $111,890,000, a 27 percent increase from $88,267,000 during the same quarter last year, but profits were down overall.

In the same time period last year, the operating income (profits) were $14,960,000 but this year they dropped to $9,219,000. There were three major differences that actually made a difference between record profits. The two big ones were the $7,000,000 the company had to pay as its share of the settlement of the Owen Hart lawsuit (insurance paid the other $11,000,000), and another $6,523,000 in costs associated with starting up the XFL (although in comparison to last year, that was offset as a comparison figure by the WWF giving wrestlers during the quarter last year a one-time figure of $6,020,000 in stock options). The third difference was the expenses associated with the operation of WWF New York.

Seeing expenses ranging from the Owen lawsuit to the XFL to the failing WWF New York….does that have any effect on talent who perceive their pay as too low? How do you deal with that and smooth things over?

The business increases included a 34 percent increase in the category of live events, PPV, TV ad sales and TV rights fees, the combination of which accounted for 73 percent of the total business for the quarter. House show revenue increased 28 percent over the same period a year ago, not so much due to increased attendance, as attendance during the quarter stayed relatively consistent (the slight drop of late wasn't noticeable until the last few weeks) but ticket prices were raised, and they increased the number of shows by doubling up on Sundays in non-PPV weeks. PPV revenues were up 35 percent, largely due to the return of Steve Austin drawing an unusually strong buy rate in September and October. Television rights fees were up 165% percent due to signing new international deals and the added revenue coming from the final month of the quarter switching from USA to Viacom with the new deal. That percentage increase for the next quarter should be substantially greater because it would be a full quarter under the new Viacom contract, which is more than five times what the old USA Network contract was for the same cable package.

Television ad sales increased 19 percent, although that figure is misleading because the previous year, there was no Smackdown in much of August which will the network high profile spot, is a big seller.

Merchandise revenue was $30.2 million, up ten percent from the same quarter last year. All aspects of merchandise shows strong growth except licensing, which is suffering from a slowdown in action figures and WWF apparel. Merchandise itself was up 13 percent at the arenas due to the increase in per capita spending and more shows.

Publishing revenue was up 17 percent due to an increase in price of WWF Magazine and the sale of a special magazine on Rock.

Home videos were up 12% and internet revenue was up 56% mainly due to selling more merchandise through the internet.

So basically, the wrestling business is as hot as it could be at this point - right?

Over the previous six months, the company grossed $231,741,000 and profited $31,254,000. Because of the lawsuit and the XFL starting as well as the shortfall in licensing, the profits for the year will apparently fall short of the original $80 million projections. After this statement was released, the stock price held constant at $13.13 per share, which is remaining well on the low end. The company's value would be $945 million on the stock market and the paper worth of the McMahon family's shares would be $728 million.

The stock hovers around $40 a share in 2020 - so it really was a great buy at this time.

Did you do well on any WWE stock?

WWF/E and Headline Media Group, Inc. inked a deal announced on 11/15 to broadcast Smackdown, Metal and XFL football in Canada on the 24-hour sports Score Television Network. Smackdown had never previously aired in Canada (some cable packages did carry UPN affiliates from the U.S. so in some of the cities near the border or with good cable systems, fans did have access to the show). The deal calls for Smackdown to air, which started on 11/16, on Thursday nights both 8-10 p.m. Eastern time, concurrently with UPN, and a replay showing from 11 p.m.-1 a.m., concurrently with the West Coast feed of UPN. Metal will start airing in December, on Saturday at 5 p.m. and a Sunday replay at 6 p.m. The network will also air an XFL game for ten weeks on Sunday nights during the season, along with two playoff games and the first XFL championship game. The contract for Smackdown and Metal are for three-years, with the network having the option to renew it for an additional two years. The XFL contract is for two years. As part of the deal, the WWF will retain all commercial rights and sell the shows themselves, paying a percentage of the ad revenue back to HMG, Inc., almost like an infomercial. The situation with Score is similar to that of UPN, in that it is a struggling network available in 4.6 million Canadian homes, looking for Smackdown and WWF to give it an identity. HMG, Inc. paid an undisclosed rights fee for all three shows, and in return, the WWF spent $1 million to purchase 222,223 shares of stock in HMGI (valued at $4.50 each). The WWF in its contract has the option by the end of February of 2002 to purchase as much as ten percent of HMGI, which would be a total purchase price at the current prices of $23.5 million. An interesting aspect to all this is that Score's agreement with the CRTC is that it can air only sports programming, and WWF, by its own product description as an action-adventure soap opera, doesn't fit into that category

Do you recall the company buying into HMG and working to get programming on The Score? Were there any internal plans to help boost the channel?

Largely due to Raw moving to its network, TNN cracked the top ten cable networks in prime time for the first time in history for the month of October while USA fell from No. 1 to No. 5 in prime time without WWF. TNN averaged a 1.12 rating for the month of October. In October of 1999, the network averaged an 0.81 in prime time. That latter number also showed just how specious what was said for so long by so many ECW supporters about it being the only show on the network to get any kind of a rating. ECW was the highest rated show on TNN almost every Friday night (there was one or two weeks where that wasn't the case), but it drew ratings that were slightly above average for the network for the most part. The funny part of all this is that most of the increase can be attributed to two hours of 5.0 ratings (which is the largest audience ever to watch any show on TNN) by Raw every week, the press release put out by the network touts the increase also because they rebranded the network as The National Network and to the "We've Got Pop" slogan

Did that raise any red flags - when TNN touted their rebranding as cause for success? Or was that just them doing understandable marketing?

In the Sports Rec video charts, WWF had the top four in sales in Rock: The People's Champ; Tables, Ladders and Chairs; Eve of Destruction and Divas from the Caribbean. The latest Austin video is only at No. 6, sandwiched in between ECW censored video at No. 5 and uncensored at No. 7. It's still interesting that the ECW censored video has consistently outsold the uncensored version. The FMW home video is No. 8, the ICP video is No. 10, IFC's Caged Combat debuted on the charts at No. 17 and XPW is at No. 18. It's really embarrassing to see groups like FMW, IFC and XPW and the Juggalos on the charts while WCW hasn't had a video in months, and Pride and New Japan haven't even attempted to market to the American audience and UFC can't make the list even with its higher name profile than IFC. Pride will be attempting to break into the U.S. market with a two-disc DVD/VHS of the May 1, 2000 Pride Grand Prix finals, which will be released in January, which would include the entire 90 minute Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie match. With 11 of the top 20 being WWF videos, it is the fewest WWF videos in the top 20 in years, largely due to the aforementioned smaller companies getting into the game. The only non-wrestling or fighting videos in the top 20 are two NBA home videos and a Rodeo video

WWF Home Video releases were the shit back in the day. Was there a lot of creative input from the office in these? Did Vince watch them before they were released? Did you? Did you have a favorite?

"Access Hollywood" did a WWF special over the weekend which we're told might as well have been written by the WWF itself. It did mention Stephanie McMahon as the head writer of the TV show. It also credited the WWF's recent turnaround not to the popularity of Austin, or the Austin vs. McMahon feud, or the 1997 Survivor Series, or any other angle or personality, but to the admission by Vince that pro wrestling was staged

Why would Access Hollywood give credit to that, of all things? Is that what the company wanted?

The XFL got lots of publicity with the announcement on 11/16 that they had hired Jesse Ventura as an announcer for the Saturday night NBC games of the week starting the first Saturday in February. It's the same question as to whether Ventura was using his public office for private gain, especially when Ventura again said that it was none of anyone's business what he was making for the job. Within football, it's been heavily criticized, but Ventura does have a football background, as he's assistant coach at a local high school and spent two years as a radio football announcer with the Tampa Bay Bucs and one year with the Minnesota Vikings, being the first pro wrestling announcer of that era to cross over into real sports (Jim Ross was the second, working Atlanta Falcons games in the 90s and one very controversial show doing amateur wrestling where the entire amateur wrestling world freaked out and his voice was actually removed and new commentary was put into the show before it aired). Originally, NBC was predicting the Saturday night XFL games to average a 5.0 rating, but they've downsized their predictions now to 4.5

Two questions...What can you remember about the decision to use Jesse in the XFL?

Also...what happened with the amateur wrestling show you voiced???

Almost as much controversy for the XFL as hiring Ventura was caused by Vince McMahon in an ESPN Magazine interview about the XFL where he noted that the cheerleaders would be part of the announcing crew and would be encouraged to date players (soap opera storylines?). The announcers are going to do the games from the stands next to the cheerleaders. McMahon said, "When the quarterback fumbles or the wide out drops a pass, and we know who he's dating, I want our reporters right back in her face on the sidelines demanding to know" (what they were doing the previous night)." After tons of criticism from that magazine quote, McMahon in a later interview, claimed he was only kidding when he made the first quote

Was he kidding? Looking back, was this approach crippling for the XFL?

According to Vince McMahon's office, the reports that both NBC and Viacom are looking to sell their stock in WWF Entertainment are false

Ever hear anything about this? Would a story like this have been alarming for those in the company?

WWFE Inc. filed a lawsuit on 11/9 against L.Brent Bozell, the Media Research Center, Inc. (Parents Television Council), South Florida attorney James Lewis, PTC Executive Director Mark Honig and any members of the PTC advisory board who were parties to what the lawsuit claimed are unlawful conduct.

The lawsuit has startling similarities to a 1992 lawsuit filed by Titan Sports and Vince McMahon against Phil Mushnick, which was later dropped. The strategic purpose is likely identical, an attempt to quiet an adversary by putting them in the legal position to where they couldn't comment on WWF subject matter. In this case, unlike with Mushnick, whose influence was indirect, the PTC has done serious damage to the WWF in regard to sponsors walking away from the product. This past week there was a claim that one major toy chain (FAO Schwartz) was refusing to carry WWF merchandise aimed at children although others state they had already stopped carrying WWF merchandise before that time. The domino effect in this regard started last year and has continued even as the product itself has gotten far more tame.

James Lewis, the lawyer being sued by the WWFE in the PTC suit, called the suit "hogwash," and said, "It's a very chilling thing to sue lawyers who are trying to adequately defend their clients. I don't think anything we've said in this case has had any effect at all on advertising for the World Wrestling Federation." That quote is so strange, because Lewis appeared on a PTC video that was used as both a fundraiser and to show to sponsors to "inform" them of the product they were sponsoring with the idea of convincing them to pull out. Lewis talked of the possibility of a countersuit. In a story in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, a PTC spokesperson L.Brent Bozell considered the lawsuit itself as libelous

The 38-page lawsuit, filed by Kirkpatrick and Lockhart of Pittsburgh and attorney Jerry McDevitt, states in particular according to a WWF press release that Bozell concocted a false list of advertisers who have pulled their support from Smackdown to create the misleading impression that his tactics have been effective.

Let’s talk about the Parents Television Council. How did things get so sour between them and the WWE? Were there ever any backdoor efforts to mend fences with Brent Bozell?

In only the first day tickets were put on sale for the event, the World Wrestling Federation's Wrestlemania X-Seven has already become the biggest grossing pro wrestling event ever held in the United States.

Tickets for the event which will take place on 4/1 at the Astrodome in Houston were put on sale on 11/11, and by the end of business that day, had sold 48,395 tickets for $2,706,680. With the exception of the WWF's SummerSlam 1992 in London, England at Wembley Stadium, which is believed to have sold well over 50,000 tickets (there are many conflicting stories as to just how quickly tickets sold because it was announced as a sellout publicly on the first day, and then, in England, they were continuing to advertise that tickets were available and selling tickets until the day of the show) the first day they were put on sale, it is believed to be the most tickets ever sold on the first day they were put on sale in the history of pro wrestling.

This is just another example of how hot the company was, right?

Did the company already know it was doing Rock/Austin at this event? Was the Austin heel turn also already decided?

Judge Douglas Long Jr. of Jackson County Circuit Court in Kansas City approved on 11/7 the $18 million settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit of Owen Hart.

The settlement will be broken down to $10 million for widow Martha Hart, $3 million each earmarked for Owen's children Oje and Athena, and $1 million each to parents Stu and Helen. Martha Hart then publicly separated herself from the family on various media interviews, saying she shares nothing with them except the last name, saying Owen was the white sheep in a black family and saying she would never let her children go to the family house. In other statements, she did praise brothers-in-law Bret and Keith along with Stu and Helen for being the only ones who sided with her during the tumultuous legal battle against the WWF.

The WWF agreed to the settlement to end Hart's part of the case, but will try and get back some of the money by legally going after two of the other defendants in the case, Lewmar, Inc., which objected to the settlement because it weakened the company's position in its defense where it believed it has no liability, and Amspec, Inc. Lewmar, Inc. manufactured the harness and shackle that released, causing Owen Hart to fall 78 feet to his death, but it wasn't manufactured for that usage. Amspec, Inc., actually sold the shackle, which was manufactured for sailboats, and not for human beings to be dropped from a ceiling, to the stunt riggers that the WWF had hired. The day before the settlement, Amspec, Inc. filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Van Nuys, CA.

There was a story about Vince personally meeting with Martha and emotions overflowing from her side. Why did Vince want to take such a personal role in these talks?

Was it a sigh of relief to have this situation settled - or was it a punch to the gut to see $18 million go out the window?

Did Martha Hart and the Hart family deserve more, less, or about that much?

.

Event itself:

The show opened with a great opening video montage based on HHH and this full-year plan.

1. Crash Holly (Michael Lockwood) & Molly Holly (Nora Greenwald) & Steve Blackman beat Test (Andrew Martin) & Albert (Matt Bloom) & Trish Stratus (Patricia Stratigias) in 5:02. For some reason, and they did this on Heat as well, they harped on Survivor Series history during the match. It made sense to note that in the past six Survivor Series shows, the WWF title had changed hands, since they were pushing hard the idea all along that Undertaker was winning to make it more of a shock when he didn't. But they also noted the famous 1997 match and Jerry Lawler twice said that Vince didn't screw Bret, but that Bret screwed Bret (they even showed a clip of the finish on Heat). Since Vince didn't do a run-in, which at least would have made bringing that up making sense, one can only speculate what was behind that. Crash did his Irishcarana from his APW days on Test. Test did his killer high kick. It appeared, like on Raw, the pyro fogged the arena late in the match as the shots were hazy. Molly pinned Stratus with a sunset flip off the ropes. *¼

What were your thoughts on the match?

Is T&A an underrated trio?

How did the company keep pyro smoke from fogging up the arena to a significant degree? Was that ever talked about as an issue?

Edge & Christian & Angle did an interview. E&C thought Angle was going to ask for their help against Undertaker, so they did their faking illness, Christian claiming mono, but he said he didn't need it. Angle invited them to a non-alcoholic post-match celebration. They also did a skit where Lo Down and Tiger Ali Singh didn't get any respect when they weren't even allowed backstage. The next night on Raw, they weren’t allowed in either.

The newly reunited Radicalz are in action next against DX.

At No Mercy, Eddie Guerrero cost Chyna and Mr. Ass, their tag team match against Right to Censor (Steven Richards and Val Venis). On the October 23 episode of Raw is War, Billy Gunn defeated Venis in a standard wrestling match, despite interference by Right to Censor members. On the October 26 episode of SmackDown!, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko defeated Triple H and Road Dogg in a tag team match after help by Perry Saturn. Later that night, The Rock, Chyna and Billy Gunn defeated Right to Censor in a six-person tag team match. On the October 30 episode of Raw is War, Guerrero defeated Chyna to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship and attacked her after the match, causing Mr. Ass to save her from the beating. Later that night, Billy Gunn lost a match to Steven Richards which meant that he could no longer use the name Mr. Ass.On the November 2 edition of SmackDown!, The Radicalz reunited when Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn helped Chris Benoit in defeating Triple H.On the November 6 episode of Raw is War, D-Generation X also reunited as Triple H, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg and Chyna defeated The Radicalz. Later that night, Triple H turned into a villain as he was revealed to be the mastermind behind Stone Cold Steve Austin's attack and as a result, left DX. On the November 16 episode of SmackDown, Road Dogg and his new partner K-Kwik defeated Malenko and Saturn in a tag team match. After the match, WWF Commissioner Mick Foley announced that DX and K-Kwik would compete against Radicalz in a Survivor Series match.

2. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (Dean Simon) & Perry Saturn (Perry Satullo) & Eddy Guerrero beat Billy Gunn (Monty Sopp) & Road Dogg (Brian James) & K.Kwik (Ron Killings) & Chyna (Joanie Lauer) in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match in 12:43. They got Chyna out quick, with Guerrero hitting her with the IC belt and Saturn pinning her in 2:30. Gunn pinned Guerrero at 6:00 with a bad looking neckbreaker. K.Kwik tagged in for the first time. He worked some great athletic spots with Malenko, moving great but looking very green including blowing one spot. They barely let him in the match, making him look bad in his big show in-ring debut when Benoit pinned him in 7:12 with a german suplex. Saturn pinned Dogg in 8:49 with a Northern Lights suplex. This left Gunn vs. Saturn & Benoit. Saturn and Gunn had some major problems trying to work together and Gunn seemingly blew up by this point. Benoit got a near fall with a diving head-butt. Finally, Gunn went to suplex Benoit into the ring, but Saturn scooped his foot and Benoit fell on Gunn for the pin. Disappointing. *½

Was Benoit getting pushed to the next level here? He would be working, even later this night, with Austin and wrestled him the next night on Raw.

The K-Kwik/Road Dogg duo is almost jarring in 2020. Was that a good pair, do you think?

The next match is between Kane and Chris Jericho - and it all started with a cup of coffee (in the big time?)

On the October 23 episode of Raw is War, Chris Jericho accidentally dropped his coffee on Kane. This angered Kane and he knocked down Jericho through a nearby placed table. On the October 26 episode of SmackDown!, Kane interfered in Jericho's WWF Championship title shot against Kurt Angle and attacked Jericho, causing Angle to retain the title by getting disqualified. Jericho retaliated by costing Kane a WWF Hardcore Championship match against Steve Blackman on the November 6 episode of Raw is War. This eventually set up a match between Kane and Jericho at Survivor Series.

3. Kane (Glen Jacobs) pinned Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine) in 12:34. Jericho did a running dive over the top, but caught his leg on the top rope, to change his trajectory. Luckily, he wasn't injured. Both guys worked hard, but it's a difficult match because of the size difference. Kane brought back the old hangman move from the early 70s. Jericho got near falls with a missile dropkick and a schoolboy, before putting on the walls, seemingly forever. Actually it was closer to a traditional boston crab. Nobody in the building believed the move was going to work on Kane, which really hurt the drama when Kane finally got the rope break. Jericho did a facebuster, which Kane didn't sell well, then went for his lionsault, but after connecting, Kane simply grabbed him by the throat and choke slammed him for the pin. *¾

Did you think Kane and Jericho meshed well?

What can you say about the Chris Jericho run in the WWF at this point? Was he meeting expectations?

4. William Regal (Darren Mathews) retained the European title over Hardcore Holly (Robert Howard) in 5:49. This was old style, with Regal working on Holly's formerly broken right arm. He even used an armbar submission, which Holly had to get a rope break. Match had no heat as fans didn't take Holly's legit injury seriously even though what they did made sense old style. New style the match had no chance because the match was seen as filler. Holly went berserk because Regal was trying to re-break his arm, and grabbed the title belt and hit Regal with it for a DQ. The idea didn't get over at all and just came off as a flat finish to a match that went nowhere. 1/2*

Do you agree this match had a bad finish?

Trish Stratus tried to hit on Angle, but he had no clue. Pretty funny, actually.

Next up is a match between the Rock and Heel Rikishi. This has been building out of the angle where Rikishi attacked Stone Cold at last year’s Survivor Series, which he said he did for the Rock.

At No Mercy, Rikishi's interference accidentally cost The Rock, the WWF Championship against Kurt Angle. The next night on Raw is War, Rikishi apologized to Rock for costing him the title and told him that it was just accidental but Rock did not forgive Rikishi. On the October 30 edition of Raw is War, Rikishi attacked Rock after Rock won his #1 contender's match against Chris Jericho. Following the assault, Rikishi revealed that Rock knew about the attack and had given Rikishi, the keys of the truck to run down Stone Cold Steve Austin at previous year's Survivor Series. On the November 2 episode of SmackDown!, Rikishi cost Rock, a title shot for the WWF Championship against Angle. On the November 9 edition of SmackDown!, the WWF Commissioner Mick Foley announced that Rikishi and Rock would wrestle in a match at Survivor Series

5. Rock (Dwayne Johnson) pinned Rikishi (Solofa Fatu) in 11:19. Much better than it figured to be going in, mainly because, like on Smackdown, Rock did a tremendous job selling his chest injury. There was a ref bump early and Rikishi grabbed a sledge hammer. Rock blocked the shot and hit a rock bottom, but ref Tim White was down. Fans were really into the near fall. Rikishi came back working on the chest including a Samoan drop and a sit splash for a near fall. Rikishi even gave Rock the stinky face. Rikishi took a spin bump off a Rock clothesline, then used a spinebuster and a people's elbow. It took White forever to get into position for the count, making it almost a surprise that Rikishi didn't kick out. After the match, Rikishi laid out Rock with four banzai drops. ***

This continues the blood feud between the two.

Did you enjoy the chemistry between Rock and Rikishi?

Was heel Rikishi a success or a failure and why?

Did Rikishi do the Banzai Drop in honor of Yoko?

6. Ivory (Lisa Moretti) retained the WWF womens title pinning Lita (Amy Dumas) in 3:52. By far the worst match on the show. Lita has great moves, but needs a good worker to carry her in a singles match. Ivory is far from that great worker. Match was notable mainly because Lita got potatoed and her left eye was busted and blood was gushing everywhere. Very different for an American womens match. Lita came back doing her spinning headscissors, and Ivory took the bump on her head and was lucky not to be hurt. Ivory also had the handicap of having to wrestle in that terrible outfit. Finish saw Lita hit the moonsault, but landed on the title belt that Ivory had brought in, for the pin. Too many belt shot finishes and this finish also looked much like the Jericho-Kane finish. Lita needed a few stitches to close the cut. 1/4*

Jericho attacked Kane backstage, beating him with anything he could find.

The WWF title is up for grabs next. Undertakers Jim Johnston theme is dubbed in over the actual music which was Kid Rock’s American Bad Ass. They dubbed in motorcycle sound effects too!

7. Angle pinned Undertaker (Mark Calaway) to retain the WWF title in 16:47. Undertaker, with a new ring outfit with pants that looked like something stolen from That 70s guy gimmick, almost looked like those early 70s out of the ring photos of Andre, wearing that 70s funky clothes with the belly and being a giant. They really pushed that at the Survivor Series in 1990, Undertaker beat Hulk Hogan for the WWF title. I think that only served to make people think undertaker is really old. He said "old school" and did his rope walk spot. Angle got beat on for a long time before hitting a german suplex. Outside the ring, Taker rammed Angle's back into the post twice. Edge & Christian came out. Christian was supposed to snap Taker's neck on the to rope, but that spot was totally messed up. Taker beat up both guys and then hit the choke slam on Angle, but E&C had Earl Hebner distracted. Angle went for the figure four but Taker turned it. Taker hit a powerslam for a good near fall. Angle did the figure four around the post. Finish came when Angle went under the ring. Taker pulled him out, or supposedly, as it was his brother dressed up as him. Taker hit the Last Ride on him, but before Hebner counted three, he mysteriously stopped. The real Angle came from the other side of the ring and schoolboyed Taker for the pin. It's one of those finishes you either love or hate. **¾

Coming out of this match, who looked good and who looked bad, if anyone?

Meltzer wrote, that revived the twin angle from the 1988 Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan match. It was a twin Angle, actually not a twin, but brother Eric Angle, who was pulled from under the ring and took a last ride power bomb from Undertaker, while the real Kurt came from the other side of the ring and won the match. The win was necessary to establish Angle, who hadn't scored any pins over top-flight contenders since winning the title. It was also a much better match than Undertaker and Angle had during their previous PPV meeting, showing just how much in just a few months that Angle has improved into becoming one of the premier all-around performers in the world.

Angle explained the next night on Raw that his brother Eric had hidden under the ring with a plan to surprise him when he won the title match. But the Undertaker heelishly pulled him out from under the ring like a coward and gave him the Last Ride.

Did you like the twin Angle angle?

What about Undertaker’s pants?

Top 5 Ugly Pants

5 High Energy’s Pants

4 Zack Ryders Half Pants Half Shorts

3 Giant Gonzalez Painted Pubes Pants

2 Undertaker’s Rattlesnake Pants (Tonight)

1 Shawn’s Brown 2002 Survivor Series Tights

8. Hardys & Dudleys (Mark Lomonica & Devon Hughes) won a traditional Survivor Series match over Bull Buchanan (Barry Buchanan) & Goodfather (Charles Wright) & Edge (Adam Copeland) & Christian (Jay Reso) in 10:05. Basically a quick decent match, which ended up giving the people what they wanted in the post-match. Val Venis had beaten Jeff Hardy on Heat, but in the building, before the show, which pretty well seemed to figure on Jeff being a winner at the end. Edge pinned Matt in 3:59 with a new move they call the edge-o-matic, which is a neckbreaker, except Edge has his belly to his foe's back, kind of like a two-handed scorpion death drop. Christian eliminated D-Von in 5:10 with the move Tommy Rogers invented that now has a zillion names. Edge accidentally speared Buchanan and Buh Buh pinned Buchanan in 7:32. Christian accidentally splashed Edge and Buh Buh pinned Edge in 8:06. Goodfather pinned Buh Buh with a death valley driver, which is no longer the pimp drop, in 8:40. This left Jeff against Christian and Goodfather. He pinned Christian in 9:39 with a swanton. He then pinned Goodfather after Venis' interference backfired. After the match, the entire RTC came out to attack Jeff. Dudleys and Matt made the save. Matt laid out Buchanan and Richards with the twist of fate and Dudleys laid out Goodfather with the 3-D and they did the wazzup spot on Venis. Matt ended up putting Venis through one table while Buh Buh power bombed Richards off the ropes through a second table. **¾

Jeff Hardy being the sole survivor here seems like a big endorsement from the company. Did you see it that way?

Does the table spot allow the Dudley’s to win a match, even when they didn’t last till the end or technically win?

8. Austin (Steve Williams) went to a no decision with Helmsley (Paul Levesque) in about 25:00. They kept it out of the ring as much as possible, brawling to the entrance way. HHH juiced heavy after being hit with a TV monitor. Austin drank two beers. In the ring, HHH reversed an attempted stunner and hit a neckbreaker. They pushed the bad neck. HHH did another neckbreaker for a near fall. Austin came back with a spinebuster but missed a pointed elbow coming off the ropes. HHH continued to work on the neck until setting up a pedigree on the ring steps, but Austin reversed it, with HHH taking a backdrop through the English language announcers table. Austin pounded the cut and hit the stunner in the middle, but decided against going for the pin. The two ended up backstage where the Radicals all attacked Austin, with them putting the focus on Benoit, while HHH managed to run away and get into his car for the run over spot. However, as HHH went to run him over, Austin disappeared. Austin ended up with a forklift, lifted up the car high in the air, turned it over and dropped HHH to the ground as the show went off the air. There was something about a no DQ match with the stipulation of no outside interference ending with no winner and outside interference, combined with them totalling a car, that came off like Vince Russo booking. After the show went off the air, Austin came back to the ring to drink a few beers for the post-match celebration. ***1/4

What did you think about Austin murdering Triple H? Did the segment work? Why did this make sense from a story perspective?

Meltzer said this about the main event:

The rapidly changing world of wrestling changed once again, as a Steve Austin vs. HHH main event at Survivor Series didn't end with a pinfall in the ring, but with a forklift dropping a car, purported to be with HHH inside, theoretically to a Wile E. Coyote like catastrophe (where the victim should be dead, but will, of course live to see another day).

The angle, largely to explain HHH taking some time off to rest his back and hip injuries, kept HHH's unusual streak alive of having done no pinfall jobs in singles matches on PPV to anyone other than the Rock since 1996 in a situation under normal circumstances one would have expected him to lose.

Can you react to those comments? Was Triple H avoiding doing jobs?

Meltzer said this about the show:

Overall, the 11/19 show at the Ice Palace in Tampa was something of a routine show. It was somewhat mixed received, largely with criticism of the ending of the main event, even though generally speaking everyone was impressed with the workrate involved. There were no matches off the page and some of the work was sloppier than usual, but the crowd seemed into most of it. The risks have been toned down, which is overall for the good of everyone concerned. The main event did see Austin put on his best performance since returning (which he topped the next night on Raw), as he was moving well, his offense looked good, he even took some bumps one would figure he wouldn't. With both he and HHH injured, much of the match was brawling outside the ring, but it was intense brawling. It was not the calibre of main event that most WWF PPV shows are noted for, but it wasn't a bad match, and those who were disappointed were probably reacting more to the new wave finish.

Give us your thoughts on the show, overall. Did it live up to the build?

The next night on Raw…

From Orlando opened with the return of Stephanie McMahon. Not only did HHH survive a fall that would have killed just about anyone except The Giant when he fell off the roof of Cobo Arena, but like The Giant in one of wrestling's all-time worst angles, he survived without even breaking any bones. She revealed that she's trying to get pregnant and that HHH has had a change of heart and called Austin out. Austin said he was sorry HHH wasn't dead. Austin was so heelish he made Stephanie cry, except the fans still cheered him. He flipped off the TV screen, as a message to HHH. The nastier he got, the more he was cheered, until he chased her off crying.

You even said on commentary you thought Austin went too far. Yet, the fans ate it up. Did that go as planned, did Austin amp it up, or what do you remember about it?

Questions

Michael asks... Why wasn't Kurt Angle the drive who road over Stone Cold at Survivor Series 1999 to get to the top. It would make sense since he debut.

Fernando asks..What was the worst rib Steve Austin has done to good ol JR?

Matthew asks..Were there any discussions as to The Rock being the driver, especially if the plan for Austin v Rock at Wrestlemania was already being planned? Rock had legit reason to, he could easily pull it off with his heel persona & would be a shock still. Great show!

Matt Guerra asks..How much fun did Stone Cold have getting to destroy vehicles on the job? 

Instagram: A Wrestling Historian asks...Why didn't they just give Austin the win instead of settling a year long revenge storyline with a lame no contest finish? Very disappointing for many fans.

Dustin asks...When was the decision made to have HHH be the mastermind behind Austin being run down? Was this always the plan or a pivot since Rikishi wasn't working? Was anyone else pitched for that spot? 

Ray asks.. How did they shoot that forklift scene? I actually thought Triple H was either severely hurt or even dead. One of the most extreme moments of the Attitude Era don't you think

Caleb asks.. why did the second Kurt Angle thing not go anywhere? What was the point was it just so there was a reason the Undertaker lost?

Jeremy asks..Man this Austin vs Triple H story imo was one of the best. I was hooked from beginning to end. Where does this fued rank with you?

G asks...Whose idea was the finish for the Taker/Angle match? Very well done

Ringside Rant asks..What your favorites look of undertaker ?