Matt Roberts
Survivor Series 1998
Survivor Series 2000
Survivor Series 2001
Survivor Series 2002
Survivor Series 2003
The Survivor Series ppv has always been known as the multi-team showcase that pits your favourite WWE superstars either against each other or together as a team. TWM has already given you some takes on the ultimate dream teams and now it is time for the top 5 Survivor Series events overall.
Survivor’s 1998 was built around a one night tournament to crown a new WWE Champion in what was built up as “The Deadly Games” tournament. That night the finals came down to Mick “Mankind” Foley and someone you may have heard of named The Rock. The story leading up to The Rock making his way to the final is that Vince Mcmahon was seemingly doing all he could to prevent this as he didn’t want the brash “People’s Champion” to become WWE Champion. However the end result was the tried and tested wrestling booking method of a swerve – as The Rock held Mankind in the sharpshooter Vince Mcmahon called for the bell just like he did the previous year with Bret Hart only this time in story line fashion to crown The Rock as the new face of the company and this was done in a spectacular heel turn. The heel turn was the best thing for The Rock and his series of match with Mankind over the next few months were some of the most hard hitting bouts to ever be seen in the entire industry and remains one of my personal favourite rivalries to this day.
The Millennium edition of Survivor Series was special to me due to another personal favourite rivalry that took place on the annual November show. Stone Cold Steve Austin returned from a one year lay off after the effects of his at that time near career-ending neck injury to take on Triple H. Triple H was revealed as the supposed “mastermind” behind the plot to run over Austin with a car at the previous year’s show, the angle of which was designed to write Steve Austin out of storylines for the time being. Given how hot Triple H became during the year 2000 whilst Stone Cold was away it was inevitable the two would meet in the ring and the match became more known as another storyline arch than a bout in and of itself. Triple H whilst inside a car was picked up on a pitchfork by Steve Austin and was dumped from about 30 feet in the air. Given that wrestling has always been known for pushing the boundaries and wacky angles, this was another one that at the time fitted perfectly into the story that was being told.
Some will scoff at the 2001 edition of Survivor’s being on any “best of” list but I must confess that even though the Invasion storyline overall was a disaster and the elimination match that saw The Rock pin Steve Austin for the WWE (then WWF) to survive was rather rushed, I can’t help but feel a great deal of joy and nostalgia when I watch not just that match back but the whole event. I’ll admit to absolutely loving the pre-match video for the main event and it remains one of my favourites to this day – check it out guys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Wny05zbWs
Not only that but historically you can point to this event as arguably the birth place of the Hall of Fame career of one Trish Stratus as that is where she won the WWE Women’s title for the first time and went on to improve dramatically in the ring and remains one of WWE’s best Diva’s ever.
This list may not be in chronological order but I have no problems in saying that Survivor Series 2002 is my favourite of all time and highly under-rated too if you ask me. Featuring a fantastic array of bouts I’m astonished to this day it doesn’t get more praise from fans. The first ever Elimination Chamber was undoubtedly the highlight of the show no doubt but there was also Brock Lesnar vs The Big Show, Jamie Noble vs Billy Kidman, Jeff Hardy teaming with Spike and Bubba Ray Dudley vs 3 Minute Warning as a strong undercard. Sure you can point to the Lesnar-Show match as being rather brief but given Lesnar’s rib injury at the time that was necessary. However when Brock picked The Big Show up for the F-5 for the first time the New York City crowd exploded. That’s not to out-do the incredibly emotional end to the evening that was Shawn Michaels becoming the World Heavyweight Champion for the first time since his infamous back injury. The 2002 edition of Survivor Series was a fantastic entry into WWE’s calendar for 2002 which was one of the best year’s the Stamford based grap-group has ever seen on ppv.
In the modern era of professional wrestling building for the biggest show of the year hasn’t always been the runaway priority that it often times should be. However the 2003 edition of Survivor’s was a prime example of how you build to the biggest show of the year. By the end of the show you knew (as much as you can know in wrestling circles anyway) at least two of the main matches for Wrestlemania – The Undertaker vs Kane and Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg. How did you know? Simple, WWE planted the seeds for both bouts during a promo between Brock and Goldberg and Kane helping Vince McMahon defeat The Undertaker in a not often seen Buried Alive match. For me personally the buried alive bout was what stole the show as the match itself is one not all that often viewed and Vince McMahon took a tremendous beating and displayed he is more than willing to take one for the team.
As the 2013 edition of the November tradition takes shape who knows maybe this year I’ll end up adding to my best of list.
Well there you have it guys, Team TWM with their Survivor Series Cards. Do you agree with what they said? Do you think you have a better Top 5 in mind? Then let us know in the comments section below and tell us what you think, and join us next week when the team will be bringing you their Favourite Five Survivor Series Moments as our very special Survivor Series Countdown continues…
