As Boyz II Men would say, we've come to the end of the road, a massive showdown between the WWF and the Alliance here at the Survivor Series. Tonight's outing is headlined by the Winner Take All main event, where the two sides meet in a match where the loser must disband. That stipulation was a dead giveaway for the result of the match, as no one in their right mind thought there was any chance Vince would allow WCW and ECW to take over his entire programming, even if they were bastardized versions of his former competitors. Considering the astronomical amount of hype the WWF put into selling this show, the card is surprisingly weak, so that's another major warning sign. It seemed like after months of effort, the company was dropping the ball at the worst possible time. The Invasion angle had been a very mixed bag for months, and now it was time to provide closure. Let's see if one of the biggest storylines in company history would end with a bang or a whimper.
- Survivor Series 2001 comes to you from the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina, a very ironic choice of venue given it's history with Jim Crockett Promotions, hosting the first four Starrcades. Jim Ross and Paul Heyman are on the call.
- Our opening contest sees Christian defending the European Championship, which he won about two weeks prior, against Al Snow. This has all the pomp and circumstance of the opening match for an episode of Sunday Night Heat, no disrespect to either guy but this is clearly just filler. In fairness, I think both of them know it too, because they sleepwalk through this one, totally unwilling to do anything interesting. Christian wins with an Unprettier after a very boring six minutes of action.
- Here's something with a bit more heat to it, a grudge match between William Regal and his former assistant, Tajiri. Regal proved how much of a bastard he is by attacking Torrie Wilson in the build, setting up Tajiri for a big revenge quest. Unfortunately, the crowd doesn't really care about seeing them fight and the booking team clearly agrees, giving them just under three minutes to work. Both men try to make the most of that time, throwing some vicious strikes that leads to Regal getting his nose busted up by a kick from Tajiri. The Alliance's Commissioner does pick up the victory with a double underhook powerbomb, before delivering another one to Tajiri after the bell and laying out Torrie again as well. None of this is enough to make the crowd care though, as they just sit in silence throughout the entire post-match angle, which makes it very uncomfortable to watch.
- This show is already in dire need of a pick-me-up, which hopefully the next match can provide. It's the first of two title unification matches, with Test putting the Intercontinental Championship up against Edge's United States Championship. Neither man has much of an association with the gold they're holding, there was just a lot of meaningless shuffling around of belts to set this one up, so it's up to Paul Heyman to try and make it interesting, bringing up the lineages of both titles and how much it would mean if one went away forever. His commentary is more interesting than the bulk of this match, which is really just busy work from both men, with some brawling outside the ring and a very long headlock. The ending sequence is entertaining, as both men trade finisher attempts. Test hits a very snug Spear that locks infinitely better than Edge's version, but it's the future "Rated R Superstar" that stands tall, reversing a full nelson slam attempt into a roll-up for the three count.
- We have finally have something that I was genuinely looking forward to, it's about time, as WCW tag champions the Dudley Boyz face WWF tag champions the Hardy Boyz in a title unification steel cage match. Once again, a lot of belt shuffling to set this one up, as both teams were just holding the other tag straps last month, which is very confusing but just try and ignore it. It's hard to imagine a steel cage match between these two teams being bad, and this certainly wasn't, although it was nothing truly special. The Dudley's valet Stacy Keibler manages to seduce referee Nick Patrick long enough to steal the key to the cage door and slide in a table, which is relevant for the finish. Matt Hardy manages to escape the cage, leaving Jeff by himself. He gets to the top of the cage, needing to just drop to the floor for the win, but sees D-Von laying on the table, and Jeff Hardy law states any incredibly dangerous risk must be taken. He launches himself off the cage, crashing through the table, as D-Von rolled out of the way, allowing Bubba to drape one arm over Jeff's body for the win. I would criticize this finish if it was anyone other than Jeff in that position, but it made perfect sense for him to throw all common sense to the wind, that's just Jeff Hardy. This was a very fun match that was much needed on a show almost entirely devoid of entertainment to this point.
- The Immunity Battle Royal is an interesting concept in theory, with WWF and Alliance guys proving just how much keeping their job meant to them by battling it out in an absolute melee. In execution, it's just a bunch of midcarders bumbling around a ring for seven minutes, that really showcases how weak the Alliance's roster really is, they really have absolutely no threats. That being said, Alliance member Test does win the whole thing, last eliminating Billy Gunn, which I thought was a really stupid booking decision. Yes, I know I just said the Alliance didn't look threatening and having one of their guys score a decisive win might help with that perception, but Test winning makes it painfully obvious that the WWF will be winning the main event. After all, why would Test need immunity from being fired if his guys took full control of the company? Dumb, dumb, dumb.
- The WWF Women's Championship was essentially deactivated earlier in the year when Chyna stopped appearing on programming, and I guess the company never thought it necessary to bring the belt back at any point over the last six or so months. It does make it's grand return here, being contested for in a six-pack challenge. Representing the WWF are Trish Stratus, Lita and Jacqueline, while representing the Alliance are Mighty Molly, Ivory and the debuting Jazz, who had a short tenure in ECW but is completely unknown to this crowd. You would think that making a debut on a Big Four pay-per-view would mean the company saw something in Jazz, but she doesn't get much of a spotlight in this match. The WWF are instead giving the big push to Trish, who pins Ivory with the Stratusfaction. Women's wrestling wouldn't really be a priority for this company for well over a decade, but this was at least the start of something better, especially for Trish, who would quickly grow into her role as leader of the women's division.
- Main event time, as Team WWF, featuring The Rock, Chris Jericho, the Brothers of Destruction and Big Show take on Team Alliance, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Shane McMahon and recent defector Kurt Angle. Kurt betraying the WWF was extraordinarily stupid, given he'd been engaged in a blood feud with Austin for months, had no history with WCW and beefed with ECW over the infamous Raven crucifixion angle. Big Show and Shane are the first to fall, as both men take a whole bunch of finishers. RVD takes out Kane with a diving thrust kick, a very weak move for this monster to be going down to, and Undertaker, the real star of the two brothers, goes absolutely wild on all four members of the Alliance. He does fall to a Stunner, leaving Rock and Jericho, who have continued feuding over the WCW title, the only two men left. This is where the match really starts to pick up, as the stakes get much higher and the in-ring action picks up. Rock and Jericho even the odds, eliminating Booker and RVD after some very good wrestling. Angle curiously submits rather easily to Rock's Sharpshooter, which commentary mentions but doesn't dwell on, that's good foreshadowing. Austin manages to take out Jericho after over-powering him on the mat, giving us the final two, Rock versus Austin one more time. But before we can get there, Jericho lays Rock out with the Breakdown, which I still can't think of as anything other than the Skull Crushing Finale. I guess the rationale here is that Jericho never wanted to work with The Rock, and now he sees his opportunity to jump ship, figuring Shane and Stephanie would be willing to give him a job if he gets them in power. His master plan fails, however, when Rock kicks out, and before he can do anymore damage, Undertaker comes out to even the numbers game. We're now down to just Rock and Austin, and they do what they do best, brawling around ringside. After some fracas with the referees and both men hitting the other's finisher, Austin connects on a Stunner. With every official down, Kurt Angle runs back down to the ring and shows his true colors, blasting Austin with his own title belt. Vince had been talking about a mole in the Alliance, and it was Kurt all along, which is very obvious, as again, he had no reason to be a part of WCW and ECW. The Rock Bottom connects and JR goes wild, screaming about the demise of the Alliance while Paul Heyman is at a loss for words after the three count is made.
- I thought this was a solid main event, one of the better elimination matches I've seen, which makes sense given the talent involved. I saw a comment from one fan reviewing this match, who noted that the best elimination tag matches have one terrific performance to really hook the crowd, like Shawn Michaels in 2003 or Dolph Ziggler in 2014. I can definitely agree with that sentiment, even though this match was fun, a lot of it wasn't very memorable outside of the big story beats and the emotion just wasn't there for the first half of it. It doesn't help that the result is painfully obvious, both in hindsight and at the time, and Vince coming out to celebrate at the end was unnecessary, this was about the wrestlers competing to save their jobs, they should have the spotlight at the end of the show.
6/10
As you can probably tell from my review, I was not a huge fan of this show, and I contemplated giving it a significantly worse final score. The undercard is pointless outside of the cage match, which was good but not a classic. I liked the main event, but it's definitely not my favorite traditional Survivor Series match or anything. I did ultimately decide to give this a higher score than I felt it deserved, as it was built around one match and that match delivered. I would recommend watching the main event if you're interested in the Invasion angle and have been following it with me, but it is easily skippable if you don't care about the storyline. This was definitely more of a whimper than I was hoping for, and does sort of justify the hate the entire angle has received.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Vengeance 2001, where the WCW and WWF Championships are unified in a one night mini-tournament. See you soon.
- Henry
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