Matt Roberts
Survivor Series is fast approaching and throughout the last several weeks TWM has treated you guys to the likes of Survivor’s dream teams as well as top favourite Survivor Series events and now the TWM staff bring you our take on the top 5 moments in the history of the pay per view. I’ve been a fan of wrestling since 2001 and will admit to often times finding it difficult to try and sit back through past events in WWE history such as the early 1990’s so my list will predominantly concentrate on the mid 1990’s-early part of the millennium and onwards. So here you have it guys my top 5 Survivor Series moments:
The Rock winning the Deadly Games tournament 1998 to become WWE Champion for the very first time
The very first taste I got of the professional wrestling business was back in 2001. My first WWE ppv was Wrestlemania 17 with the main event featuring The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. I was completely new to the business of wrestling but one thing stood out above everything else; well I should say one person. The Rock. I was absolutely blown away by the charisma this guy represented and how incredibly entertaining he was. I talked to a friend of mine who let me borrow a DVD on The Rock (Know Your Role I believe) and when they showcased The Rock becoming WWE Champion for the first time at Survivor’s 1998 even though he was a heel in the process, I cheered like absolute crazy! It mattered not how the result was a blatant rip off of the previous year’s Survivor Series, I was just ecstatic that The Rock was a champion. I may not have seen that moment at the time it happened but I’ve gone back and watched the event as a whole as well as many other Survivor Series moments and to this day it is very hard to top that one.
Brock Lesnar meets Bill Goldberg Survivor Series 2003
As I mentioned in my top 5 Survivor Series events overall the 2003 edition was particularly notable for making several match-ups for Survivor Series 20 ahead of time and this first time meeting was a direct tease of that. Atop their respective brands of Raw and Smackdown at the time Brock Lesnar was in the middle of an interview with Josh Matthews when World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg interrupted the promo simply to introduce himself. It was a brief yet strong tease for a collision between two of the most physical and dominating athletes not just the WWE had ever seen but the wrestling industry as a whole. Goldberg was WCW’s dominating force in the late 1990’s-early stages of the Millennium and fans saw Brock Lesnar as almost a similar archetype to Goldberg during his run with WWE. This was the first time these two were shown on camera and considering the reputation of both men you knew the anticipation for a Wrestlemania bout with the build starting THIS early would be off the charts. Unfortunately that epic build didn’t really occur and the match will remain on one of my lists for least favourite Survivor Series match of all time however this confrontation was a fantastic moment in Survivor Series history.
Brock Lesnar F-5’s The Big Show at Survivor Series 2002
Going in to the WWE Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Big Show at Survivor’s 2002, WWE had effectively and very simply built the match up with 3 questions for the Champion to answer. Can Brock suplex Big Show? Can Brock F-5 Big Show? Can Brock beat Big Show? 3 incredibly simple questions but given Lesnar was coming into the show with an injured rib it seemed like a long shot he was going to be able to suplex and/or F-5 Big Show. On that night Lesnar demonstrated to the world how incredibly strong he is by using several suplex variations such as a German suplex and a belly to belly suplex (yes you read that right a belly to belly suplex on the Big Show.) All this was building up to the moment when Lesnar would hoist Big Show onto his shoulders and delivery what would seemingly be the match winning F-5. No one had ever seen the 500lb giant tossed around the ring like this ever before and when Lesnar hoisted Show up the Madison Square crowd blew up. Not only did Lesnar hit the F-5 but it was perfectly done on the World’s Largest Athlete. It remains not just a Survivor Series classic moment but an all time favourite wrestling moment of mine.
The Rock returns to wrestle at Survivor Series 2011
In case you haven’t noticed from my previous posts surrounding Survivor Series, I’m a huge fan of The Rock. In fact I can quite comfortably say that The Rock is the reason I have such a passion for the professional wrestling industry. So you can imagine how excited I was after several years being away from the ring that The Rock was to return in a match at 2011’s Survivor Series. It didn’t matter to me the kind of match or the opponents, just that he was back. I’ll admit that the match itself wasn’t great, the situation that resulted in it being booked was far from the ideal and the heel opponents massively lacked credibility. However all that mattered that was in 2011 The Rock was going to be wrestling once more. You have to understand that when The Rock left after Wrestlemania 20 in 2004 it seemed highly unlikely he would ever wrestle again. The years went by and this scenario seemed more and more likely. When he finally did make the decision to come back it felt like you were in the presence of genuine wrestling royalty. It would be equally as awesome if Stone Cold Steve Austin ever decides to come back. You don’t get superstars like that in the wrestling industry every day and to have one return and look every bit as sharp as he did all those years ago it was a moment I will never quite forget.
Shawn Michaels wins the first ever Elimination Chamber match to become World Heavyweight Champion
This list is not in chronological order but if it was this moment would be right at the very top. 2002 was only my second year as a full time wrestling fan and seeing as I had limited access to internet at that time and didn’t know many wrestling fans it became difficult for me to find out about the stars of yesteryear. When they announced the return of Shawn Michaels that year at Summerslam my response was Shawn who? You can imagine my surprise when I saw his bout with Triple H at Summerslam and immediately went out of my way to track down as much footage of HBK as I could. That match stands to this day as one of the most incredibly performances I have ever witnessed. Fast forward to Survivor’s 2002 and the Elimination Chamber was wheeled out for the very first time pitting defending World Champion Triple H vs. Kane vs. Booker T vs. RVD vs. Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels. The final two fittingly came down to HBK and HHH in The Showstopper’s first World title opportunity since returning from injury. The finishing sequence saw Triple H hit the pedigree only for Michaels to kick out much to the delight of the New York crowd. Triple H went for another one only to be thwarted and for HBK to hit the match ending Sweet Chin Music to take the World title amidst the most deafening roar of a crowd I have ever heard. Legitimately that crowd went absolutely MENTAL for Michael’s taking the title. The audience were ecstatic and Michaels celebrated hugging the World title with confetti falling down from the ceiling. By far that ranks as one of the most beautiful moments in wrestling history.