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WWE Into WCW? (24/09/02)
Survivor Series Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (21/11/02)
Well, Survivor Series has come and gone again. Damn good show, too. Being more of a traditionalist, I actually prefer the old 4-on-on-4 (or remember when "Teams of 5" would "Strive To Survive?) and so for the past few years (with the exception of last year's Survivor Series, which was awesome) I've been quite disappointed with the Survivor Series shows. Without the elimination matches, they just didn't seem the same and the matches could have taken place at any PPV. And before you say, "You hypocrite" let me explain that this year's Survivor Series packed one hell of a punch, and despite not having the classic elimination matches, it was daringly different by having a Women's Hardcore Match on PPV and the never-before-seen Elimination Chamber, plus there wasn't one bad match on the show. Let's break it down:
Opening Hype (Lesnar/Show, Elimination Chamber)
No matter how hard the WWE try, like most people, I don't care very much for the Big Show/Brock Lesnar feud. Show is overweight, has had too many face and heel turns, and hasn't been on PPV (let alone headlined) in the last 4 months. Plus he's been jobbed out for months to the likes of Jeff Hardy and The Island Boys. However, The Elimination Chamber DID grab my attention and the video package the WWE made for this at the start of the show was great.
After the usual intro from JR and King, a shot of The World and a good look at The Elimination Chamber (man, did it look impressive), it was time for action. 6-man tag-team table elimination action between The Dudley Boyz, Jeff Hardy and 3 Minute Warning (sorry, but that sounds lame). Cue c**k up no 1: During The Island Boys and Rico's entrance, Finkel's microphone seemed to conk out.
The Dudley Boyz & Jeff Hardy Defeated 3 Minute Warning
A decent opener, despite some very obvious botch-ups. In the early stages of the match it was like the participants didn't know what to do to each other next. Rosey went first, after charging at Bubba Ray in the corner. But because he wasn't actually put through the table by Bubba Ray, it didn't count. First to go officially was Spike. Attempting a Dudley Dog, he was grabbed by Rosey and Jamal and flap-jacked through the table (it looked like they were going to power-bomb him, which probably would have hurt less than going through face-first).
Next to go was Rosey, who was driven through the wood by a Senton Bomb from Hardy (the spot was more or less the same as Royal Rumble 2000, with Jeff insanely diving from the entrance way balcony onto his opponent). The first most notable botch came from Rico: On the turnbuckle for a moon-sault, Rico began to dangerously wobble on the ropes yelling an audible "Come on Jeff, God damn it!" It turned out that Jeff was late in getting back to the ring and shaking the rope to knock Rico down. Speaking of "down", Jeff went down off his "run-along-the-security-wall-close-line spot, tripping off the hand of of a fan. Soon after, he was sent packing with an impressive top turnbuckle splash through the table from Jamal.
Back in the ring, it was Bubba Ray versus Jamal and Rico. ANOTHER botched spot occurred when Jamal slipped on the turnbuckle whilst hoisting Bubba up for what looked to be a hurricanrana attempt. But Bubba turned it into a power-bomb of sorts and had Jamal tasting table. Soon, both Island Boys returned to attack Bubba. But D-Von Dudley showed up and evened up the odds somewhat and with Bubba, 3-D'd Rico through a table for the win. Good match. Good conclusion.
Then suddenly, JR and King are cut off and we go to The World where Stacy Keibler says "Hi, guys! It's great". Oh-oh. Another live blunder. Then, we go there properly where Stacy says she's sent Test on a PR tour (yeah, right). Then she introduces Saliva, who play the Survivor Series theme song "Always". This was a very good segment. I like the song, and it was a good idea to mix footage of the hype for the matches into the live performance. We seen build-up for Trish and Victoria, the Triple Threat Tag Match, The Elimination Chamber and Lesnar VS Big Show.
Kidman beat Jamie Noble w/Nidia for the Cruiserweight Title
Despite little fan-fare and a mostly indifferent crowd, this was a very good match. The only botched spot occurred when Noble didn't take a backslide properly. There were some innovative moves in this match: A side-suplex into face-buster from Kidman, a top-rope DDT from Noble and a beautiful top turn-buckle jumping DDT from Kidman. Surprisingly, Kidman beat Noble for the belt, with his Shooting Star Press and left through the crowd.
In an amusing segment, Chris Benoit nearly came to blows with Kurt Angle, but Angle said they were partners, and hugged them. With a goofy grin on his face he said, "Let's get tough". It was PRICELESS.
Then Victoria was in her locker room talking to a mirror (doing the "Mirror, mirror on the wall" thing). She smashed the mirror when she thought the mirror told her that Trish Stratus was prettier, and then ripped the head of a Trish standee (that was cheap advertising, you can buy those stand-ups from the WWE). This was another good segment.
Then, oddly enough there was a video package for the Trish/Victoria Hardcore Match. The last time there was one of those for a women's bout was at No Way Out, before the Trish Stratus/Stephanie Mcmahon match. As usual, the video package was well produced.
Victoria Beat Trish Stratus In A Hardcore Match For The Women's Title
No one really knew what to expect from this match, but in my opinion it was one of the best women's bouts of all time. Victoria began the match by choking Trish with her jacket. Then they fought with a broomstick (there was a good spot where Trish used the broomstick to throw Victoria off the top turnbuckle).
Other high points of the match when Trish reverse-sling-shotted Victoria into a trash-can in the corner, Trish took a bump off the hanging trash-can on the outside, Trish took a brutal trash-can lid shot to the head, Trish beat Victoria down with a kendo-stick, and gave her a trash-can lid shot of her own (which gave Victoria a bloody nose), sending Victoria to the outside. Unfortunately, the finish was another screw-up in the many screw-ups at Survivor Series. Victoria had trouble setting off the fire extinguisher, which made it painfully obvious that Trish was waiting for the next move by Victoria. After a snap-suplex, Victoria was the new Women's champ.
The Big Show Beat Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman For The Undisputed Title
I was only interested in seeing this match to see if Lesnar could indeed F-5 The Big Show. And he did (he also managed to side-suplex and belly-to-belly suplex him). While it was short, I felt it achieved it's objective: Brock showed his power, and Heyman showed his true colours by defecting to Big Show's side (the facial expressions by Heyman after he screwed Brock out of the win were hilarious, but anyone who didn't see this turn coming must be an idiot). Besides, Brock has a broken rib and Big Show matches have a tendency to suck if they go too long. I still don't see Show as a credible, deserving champion though.
Los Guerrero's Beat Edge And Mysterio And Benoit and Angle For The Tag Team Titles
After yet another impressive video package, it was time for the Triple Threat Tag Team Title Match. If it wasn't for the Elimination Chamber Match, this would have been my pick for Match Of The Night. Apart from when Rey landed on his head (during the old opponent-throws-him-onto-turn-buckle routine) and a marginal error between Eddy and Edge towards the end, this was a super smooth encounter.
To the dismay of the fans, Angle and Benoit were the first to go (there was a great sequence where Chavo nailed Benoit with one of the belts, gave it to Angle and Benoit thought Angle had cheap-shotted him). In the match-winning sequence, the belts came into play again when Chavo decked Mysterio and Eddy hooked in the Lasso From El Passo for surprisingly immediate tap-out. Impressive, ad at least the Guerreros are a proper team (uncle and nephew) instead of thrown together like the other teams in the match.
Soon after, we were treated to a bonus segment with Christopher Nowinski running down New Yorker's, calling them "stupid". Then Matt Hardy came out and defended them, before saying that there were "losers". This rather enjoyable "discussion" continued until police sirens sounded and the Poppa Pump video was projected onto the entranceway. I certainly wasn't expecting him to be there (after all, how many times have the WWE played a promo video for someone's big return just get the fans excited and the not have that person show up?)
Steiner got a huge response from thr crowd, and sent Hardy and Nowinski packing (he executed his trademark suplex on Nowinski and press-slammed Hardy to the floor onto Nowinski). Then he asked for the "F*****g mic!" That's Scott Steiner all right. Then he uttered the famous "freaks, hook-up" line that you all know by now.
Shortly after, Terri got an interview with Shawn Michaels, but HBK was cut off by a "RNN" news bulletin. In another hilarious promo vid, Randy Orton claimed that his injury was not affected by the long flight to New York, largely thanks to "a sexy flight attendant called Sherri" who "gave an extra pillow".
Then there was more hype for The Elimination Chamber. The amount of times HHH got in that video package was ridiculous. I know he was the champion, but there were 5 shots in succession of him and then odd shots here and there for everyone else. If you didn't know any better, you'd think that he was fighting himself!
Eric Bischoff hit the ring and explained the rules. Two men would start in the ring while the others would be locked in their chambers. Every 5 minutes, a chamber is unlocked and that man can enter the match. Elimination is by pinfall or submission. "Easy E" wallowed in self-glory as he walked around the chamber (while impressive looking, it looked very painful for all involved).
Jericho made his entrance to Saliva's "King Of The World" song. That song just doesn't go as an entrance theme. Then it was Booker T, Kane, HBK and the two men who would start the match, RVD and HHH.
Shawn Michaels Won The World Title In The Elimination Match Featuring Triple H, Rob Van Dam, Kane, Chris Jericho, and Booker T
This was the match of the night and quite possibly of the year (thanks to RVD and HBK who bumped like crazy on the steel floor and around the chamber). The match delivered near-falls, bloodshed, bumps and excitement. Triple H got busted up early on. Also early on in the match, RVD hit Rolling Thunder on Triple H on the steel floor surrounding the ring. Ouch! He also hit Triple H with a risky senton from the chamber to the floor. In another great spot, Y2J grabbed him and tried to pull him into the chamber!
Jericho came out of his chamber to face RVD. Jericho went for RVD, but Van Dam leapt onto the wall and dived back at him. Booker T was the next to be unlocked and he soon faced off with RVD. Before long, RVD hit a crazy Frog Splash on Triple H from the roof of one of the chambers. He landed with his knees, which wasn't a good sign. Booker T then eliminated him with a missile drop kick. RVD the first man to go? Maybe he did get a genuine knee injury, or maybe the WWE don't want to push him to the moon. Either way, the fans were annoyed.
Next to come in was Kane. In a dangerous (but impressive) move, he sent Jericho through the glass of the chamber headfirst. Jericho was soon busted open, but recovered enough to get a low blow on Booker T and lion-sault him for the pin.
Of course, next came Shawn Michaels. He went for Jericho and Kane and nailed Kane with a flying forearm. A HBK Sweet Chin Music kick, a HHH Pedigree and a Y2J Lionsault soon eliminated Kane. Predictably, Jericho and HHH doubled up on HBK, and Shawn got busted open quite badly. However, he soon managed to super-kick Jericho out a Walls Of Jericho by HHH.
It was left with HHH and HBK. Outside the ring, Michaels was sling-shotted through the glass of another chamber, in a bump slightly more impressive than Y2J's. Michaels got his own back by sling-shotting HHH into the wall (I thought the wall was going to break, as it already had earlier in the brawl between RVD and HHH). Michaels showed he has no fear when he executed a diving elbow-drop off the top of a chamber.
Triple H soon recovered and Pedigree'd Shawn to the mat. But Michaels escaped at 2, countered a second Pedigree attempt into a backdrop and hit his Sweet Chin Music for the three count. I honestly thought that Triple H was going to retain his title, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I now know that Triple H suffered a neck injury early in the match, which explains his lethargic movement at some points in the match.
Michaels celebrated his win, wrapping up a superb PPV, the best since Summerslam. The question is: What next for HBK? I think, that there's a good chance he'll defend his belt at future PPV's. If he was willing to do all of that at Survivor Series (and at Summerslam) then I don't see why a title reign isn't out of the question.