Survivor Series - Ice Palace, Tampa Florida, November 19th, 2000

The 13th annual Survivor Series! A loaded card with Stone Cold Steve Austin getting his hands on the man truly responsible for his being run over 12 months before as the main selling point. The WWF Championship? Somewhat of an afterthought, but I’ll get to that when we see Kurt Angle later.

The opening video is pretty great with Triple H narrating. He doesn’t have his “cerebral assassin” nickname yet but it isn’t long until Jim Ross tags him with that on commentary. 

There was another match added to the show earlier tonight on Sunday Night Heat but there’s no mention of that yet and we go right into the opening match. There is a nice little bit of story building as JR and King discuss that at the previous six Survivor Series events, the WWF title has changed hands and the event is famous for its controversy. I’ll talk a bit more about that during the title match but Kurt Angle has been painted as the underdog in a big way. 

WWF Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman, Crash Holly and Molly Holly vs. T&A (Test and Albert) and Trish Stratus

This match comes from T&A’s attack on the APA last month. They took out Bradshaw and Faarooq and set up shop in the APA offices effectively stealing their business. Crash Holly was the appointed protector and after trying and failing to take out Test and Albert in hardcore rules matches, the overseer of all things hardcore, Hardcore champion Steve Blackman, stepped in to help Crash out. Molly, another Holly cousin, debuted a couple of weeks ago to counteract Trish’s interference and so here we are tonight.

Molly previously performed in WCW as Miss Madness, one of Randy Savage’s valets, where she took one of the stiffest guitar shots to the head from Jeff Jarrett I have ever seen. It looked like he broke her neck! Her most famous run was as Molly Holly and it’s lovely to see her debut.

The match starts with Crash and Blackman giving Test the run around, but after Trish and Molly get tagged in and Trish gives the Holly cousin the run around she tags in Test where he’s finally able to slow down Crash after a hurricanrana with a big boot and some mounted punches.

Test and Albert flatten Crash with a big double team flat joke and the two tag in and out working him over. 

Trish tags in when Crash is down but her confidence backfires as Molly tags in and lays into her with bodyslams and a snap suplex. Test gets in a cheap shot from the apron and Test and Albert hold Molly back while Trish gets in some cheap shots until Crash and Blackman run around the ring and fight with T&A on the outside leaving it one on one. 

Molly counters into a big sunset flip from the top rope to roll up Trish and win the match for her team! A big win over an established TV character and a good debut but the moment is ruined by Jerry Lawler talking more about Molly’s cleavage spilling out of her top.

Backstage WWF Champion Kurt Angle goes to see Edge and Christian who start to make excuses for not being able to help him out against Undertaker later but Kurt cuts them off - he needs no help, and no one is sure why he’s suddenly so confident.

Earlier today, Lo Down (D’Lo Brown and Chaz) and their new manager Tiger Ali Singh were denied entry to the arena because security didn’t know who they were. This has been their gimmick, getting comically overlooked for interviews etc since forming the partnership. It’s a terrible gimmick which does them no favours but on the plus side this is the first time D’Lo has technically been on two PPVs in a row since Vince Russo left as head writer at the end of last year. 

The Radicals (Chris Benoit, WWF Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn w/Terri and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko) vs. “The One” Billy Gunn, Chyna, Roaddogg and K-Kwik

Roaddogg and K-Kwik rap their entrance which I think is cool but hasn’t aged great. I mentioned it during the preview but K-Kwik AKA R-Truth is ageless and timeless and it's awesome seeing him make his PPV debut. There’s so much story into this one and how these teams formed so I’m going to just trust you’ve all read the Preview.

Billy and Roaddogg have a nice moment before the bell acknowledging their history as The New Age Outlaws, who were legit the most dominant Tag Team of this entire era. 

Perry and Billy start off and The One easily outclasses Saturn before tagging in Chyna. Little shout out to how awesome The Radicals look in their entirely matching black and yellow ring gear. The Radicals start a fight on the outside distracting the referee allowing Latino Heat to hit his former fiance in the back with his Intercontinental title belt allowing Perry to pin her. Chyna is the first person eliminated. Roaddogg picks up where she left off and gets a near fall on Saturn with a small package but he kicks out and quickly tags out to Eddie. The Radicals work over Roaddogg but when Latino Heat goes to the top rope, Roaddogg stops him and brings him down the hard way with a superplex. 

Billy gets the tag and rushes Eddie but he ducks, sending Gunn into the wrong corner and he’s swarmed by The Radicals. As Eddie taunts Roaddogg and K-Kwik, The One fights off the other three Radicals and jumps Eddie from behind and hits him with a cobra-clutch into a slam which would become his new finisher. It doesn’t have a name yet, but its enough to pin Eddie Guerrero, eliminating him. K-Kwik and Dean Malenko tag in and get a chance to show off their speed in a fast exchange. Malenko tags out and Kwik gets to show off against Chris Benoit with spinning heel kicks and arm drags until he’s captured in a German suplex with a bridge, which eliminates K-Kwik.

It’s now down to the former New Age Outlaws against three Radicals. Roaddogg is isolated and worked over and despite his best efforts with a flurry of punches, Saturn counters him into a Northern Lights suplex with a bridge for the three count. Roaddogg is eliminated leaving Billy Gunn all alone against Benoit, Saturn and Malenko. 

Billy is worked over, including on the outside by Saturn but he counters a back drop attempt by Malenko into a Fameasser for the cover and the victory. Dean Malenko is eliminated. The One tries his best, getting a near fall with a jackhammer suplex but Benoit breaks up that three count. Billy puts up a good effort but the two on one odds are too much and as he goes for a suplex on Benoit, Saturn trips him and holds him by the ankles from the outside allowing Chris Benoit to get the three count. Billy Gunn is eliminated and Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn survive in a fine but unremarkable match. 

Chris Jericho vs. Kane

There’s no video package for this one but there is a good recap of the issues and run ins they’ve had. 

The feud started when Y2J accidentally spilled some coffee on Kane which sounds silly but Kane has since pivoted into attacking Jericho because of a general hatred of “the beautiful people”. Based on the way the women in the crowd squeal when Jericho appears I think he probably qualified in the year 2000. Less so in 2024. 

Kane starts aggressively but Jericho is quick and avoids a corner charge and uses a dropkick to send Kane to the outside followed by a baseball slide and then a dive over the top rope which was messy and looked painful as Jericho caught his foot on the top rope. 

They fight on the outside where Kane takes over throwing Y2J into the security wall and then the ring steps. 

Jericho stops Kane’s attempt to re-enter the ring with a springboard dropkick where I believe Kane was supposed to get tangled in the ropes but he didn’t and just fell to the outside as normal. 

Kane effortlessly catches Jericho’s top rope dive back in the ring and drills him with a running powerslam for a near fall. 

The match breaks down with Kane slowly working over Jericho as JR and King discuss Kane’s mental well being - he has a strong, burning desire to disfigure and rearrange anyone who isn’t a “freak” like him.

Kane exposes one of the top turnbuckle bolts and as he argues with the referee about it, Jericho mounts a come back which is ineffective and Kane effortlessly throws him to the outside and batters him around ringside before military pressing him back into the ring.

Jericho blocks Kane’s flying clothesline attempt by shaking the top rope and that gives him his best chance. He tries for a hurricanrana off the top rope but Kane shoves him back into the ring. He goes for the flying clothesline but Jericho drop kicks him in the chest as he flies off the top. Kane sits up and is back on his feet before Y2J. 

Kane muscles Jericho up into a tombstone attempt but Jericho slips out the back and shoves Kane into the exposed buckle and gets a near fall with a roll up. He then manages to turn the massive Kane over into a Walls of Jericho and sits all the way back and it’s teased Kane might actually submit but he pushes up out of it and crawls to the ropes. Jericho refuses to break it and drags Kane back but Kane muscles free and they grapple as Jericho tries to put the hold back on. 

Jericho hits a running bull dog and goes for the Lionault but Kane grabs him by the throat. Jericho punches and punches but can’t break it and Kane spikes Jericho with a massive chokeslam to win a very good match. Amazingly this is Kane’s first victory on PPV since Wrestlemania 2000, and first singles victory since Armageddon 1999. 

WWF European Championship

William Regal © vs. Hardcore Holly

This match was added earlier tonight on Sunday Night Heat after a “verbal altercation” between Regal and Hardcore. I am the biggest William Regal fan. He tries to pick up his Heat promo where it left off about decorum and manners but is once again interrupted by Hardcore Holly. Going for a whole “working man vs. stuck up snob” storyline is actually a good fit for Hardcore being from Alabama. 

This match starts with a fast moving exchange as they trade arm locks and hip tosses until Regal goes to work on Holly’s surgically repaired arm. His arm was broken by an errant moonsault from Kurt Angle back in June and it now has a metal plate in it. Holly is sent shoulder first into the ring post and then wrapped up in a wrist lock. Holly does his best to punch out of it but Regal is a talented striker himself. 

Hardcore tries for a moonsault but Regal steps out of it and wrenches him down to the mat with another armbreaker, pinning him down with his knees and taking a moment to wave to the crowd and then locking him in an armbreaker submission hold. 

Holly does eventually battle back with straight punches and forearm blows and then in frustration goes and gets the European title belt, striking Regal with it right in front of the referee getting himself disqualified. It seems that William’s attempts to reinjure his arm have made him angry enough to not care about the title. 

Regal leaves with a scowl on his face and his European title belt in hand as Holly sells his arm in the ring. 

JR and King spent a lot of this match discussing the monarchy and how much better the US would be under one due to the state of the US election at the time (there was a whole thing with Florida’s votes needing recounted. Kurt Angle mentions it later too). 

The Rock vs. Rikishi

There’s a video package for this one, showing Rikishi’s attempts to drag The Rock’s name through the mud and basically murder him in the run up to this event. Rikishi isn’t as over as you’d think given that in the past month he’s been shown on television literally doing attempted murders on the two biggest babyfaces in the history of the company. 

When The Rock’s music hits he springs to the ring and hits Rikishi with a jumping clothesline and a Samoan drop before going to get a steel chair. The Rock does not care about the match and just wants to hurt Rikishi. The referee stops him from using the chair and the distraction allows Rikishi to hit a superkick and take control which he does with a back elbow and then a huge leg drop which The Rock sells like death after all the abuse his abdomen took last week on Raw and Smackdown.

The Rock’s attempted comebacks with punches are shut down quickly with another super kick and then a massive Samoan drop. Rikishi takes his time aiming all of his kicks right at Rocky’s chest and ribs. 

On the outside, he throws The Rock into the security wall and the ring steps and continues the assault on the mid section but in his whipping Rocky back to the wall he crashes into the referee.

With Tim White down on the outside, Riskihi throws Rocky back into the ring and grabs a sledgehammer from under the ring. The same one he used on him on Raw. 

Rikishi takes aim and prepares to swing with it but The Rock turns around with a right hand and then a Rock Bottom! Rikishi is down but The Rock is too hurt to do anything about it. 

The referee recovers as The Rock slowly crawls into a cover but too much time has passed and Rikishi kicks out. 

Rikishi gets back into the match with a Samoan drop and then a sit down splash on The Rock’s injured chest which everyone assumes will be the end but The Rock kicks out! That draws the biggest “Rocky” chant so far, and they’ve been chanting it a lot already. 

He crushes The Rock in a corner, who collapses and he gestures going for a Stink Face - a move which used to draw a lot of cheers and laughs but now gets boos and hatred from the fans. He does it too and Rikishi gives The Rock a Stink Face which shocks me, I was sure he stopped using that move when he went bad guy. It fires The Rock up who comes diving out of the corner with a huge clothesline which sends Rikishi flipping head over heels in that awesome sell he was famous for doing. 

The Rock catches Rikishi with a spinebuster and staggers into position for a People’s Elbow which he hits! The Rock is once again too hurt to immediately go for a cover but even with the delay by the time he crawls into a cover it’s enough to keep Rikishi down for a three count. The Rock wins and rightfully so. 

The Rock staggers to his feet but so does Rikishi and like the sore loser he is, gives The Rock a superkick and drags him to the corner for not one, not two but three Banzai drops. Rikiski punches and knocks down the referees who came to try and stop him and is showered in boos. He can’t leave it there and goes back and gives The Rock a fourth Banzai drop before leaving. The Rock wins the match but not the war. 

Live from WWF New York Raven is standing looking out at the crowd with his hands in his pockets, smiling. That’s nice.

Stone Cold is shown arriving at the arena through the parking lot. Elsewhere Triple H is sitting with The Radicals. Commissioner Foley enters and informs The Game that none of his friends are allowed at ringside. Triple H calmly says that he has no problem with that. Mick then adds a No Disqualification stipulation to the match too and again, Triple H is unbothered. After Mick leaves he comments that Stone Cold will be leaving Survivor Series without the use of his legs. That gets a strong reaction from JR which is always funny. His violently angry outbursts at Triple H during this era became the stuff memes are made of. 

WWF Women’s Championship

Ivory © vs. Lita

Steven Richards isn’t with Ivory when she enters which is a surprise. Ivory was such a natural fit for the Right to Censor group and with her promo skills is already the best member of the team. 

Between this and the women getting the lion’s share of the focus in the opener the WWF women’s division was in the best shape it had been in for a very long time in November 2000. The fans prove my point too with a “Lita” chant.

She’s aggressive with the champion, fighting her in the corner and taking her down with a headscissors off the ropes. Ivory is too busy trying to taunt the fans to go on the attack and is taken down with a clothesline.

Ivory does fight Lita back in the corner with punchs and kicks and Lita is suddenly bleeding from her left eye, which JR and King speculate came from the big elevated heels on Ivory’s boots. The cut opens up and Lita is quickly covered in blood - it seems to be a heavy flow.

Lita does come back with a hurricanrana which plants Ivory high and tight on her head, and then a second one for a near fall.

The fans start to boo and I wasn’t sure why but it’s bcause Steven Richards has snuck down to ringside. 

Lita throws Ivory to the outside and then climbs to the top rope before diving down onto both RtC members. 

Ivory rolls back inside and Lita catches her with a crossbody for another near fall. She climbs to the top rope and takes aim with her moonsault but Steven pulls Ivory by the ankle helping her avoid the contact.

With Lita bleeding and groggy, Richards distracts the referee and Ivory tries a shot with the Women’s title belt but Lita ducks it and takes her down with a slam and then goes for a second moonsault. It’s unclear what happened but Ivory pulled the women’s title belt into Lita’s path driving it into her ribs on the contact from the moonsault allowing Ivory to cover and retain the women’s title in a pretty good but short match. I wonder if it was cut short due to how heavily Lita was bleeding. She’s a mess. 

Richards carries Ivory to the back, holding the women’s title belt up and celebrating on her behalf. 

Lita is helped up by the referee and with blood all over her face she gets a respectful cheer from the crowd for her efforts while King and JR put over how tough she is. Lita was the best. 

As Kane walks around the back he’s attacked from behind by Chris Jericho who runs Kane into a metal shutter and tips a pile of metal pipes onto the Big Red Machine before breaking a 2x4 over his back. Jericho continues the attack until referees break it up. Y2J isn’t done with Kane. 

WWF Championship

Kurt Angle © vs. The Undertaker

There’s a video package for this match which is impressive given that Undertaker only became the number one contender about a week ago. The package focuses mostly on Kurt’s amazing 12 months and the many things he’s achieved in his rookie year - legitimately the best rookie year in history. To break through to the top this quickly in THIS era while swimming with so many sharks? Insane talent.

I mentioned it before but the WWF title has changed hands at the last six Survivor Series and each and every time there was controversy involved. In 1994, Owen Hart threw in the towel preemptively, costing his own brother the WWF title via submission, in 1995 Bret Hart faked a knee injury in order to roll up Diesel and steal the WWF title, in 1996 Psycho Sid used a TV camera as a weapon to defeat Shawn Michaels, in 1997 there was the ol’ Montreal screwjob which saw Shawn literally and figuratively steal the title from Bret Hart, in 1998 there was the finals of the Deadly Game tournament which saw The Rock become the Corporate Champion and of course last year Stone Cold Steve Austin was run over and replaced by subsequent winner The Big Show. That adds to the fact that Kurt Angle has been portrayed as an underdog since the start of his reign. He isn’t the favourite in this match and he even enters first, which is a travesty. He mysteriously has a ton of confidence now that we’re here at the show despite running scared from his challenger in the week running up to the show. 

The Undertaker has a pre-match interview with Michael Cole where he discusses his 10th anniversary and a Decade of Destruction. He doesn’t say much but promises tonight is the end of the line for “Golden Boy”. Kurt’s pre match comments are made in the ring where he talks about letting the fans vote on their favourite Kurt Angle moment, but changing his mind when he realises they’re in Florida and how badly they’ve screwed up voting for the new President (you can google it, but it’s a 24 year old US political drama so do you really care about the details?).

Undertaker makes the rookie mistake of celebrating with the title belt before he’s won it - wrestling superstition means he’s not winning it now. 

I can’t really hear what’s going on over The Undertaker’s trousers as he is wearing his usual black singlet and long black leather coat but has paired them with some snake skin pants. What a fashion statement. 

Kurt stalls and won’t get in the ring, goading Undertaker. Taker gets sick of waiting and gets a steel chair which he passes to Kurt and turns his back offering the WWF Champion a free shot which Kurt takes to start the match.

Kurt hammers Taker down in the corner with lightning fast punches and kicks. He has shown much more of a mean streak since winning the title, and debuted a new finishing move - the ankle lock submission - this past week against Crash Holly.

Taker fights through with a big boot and a big leg drop and then disrespectfully lifts Kurt’s shoulder not waiting to see if he’d have got three.

He follows with a big elbow drop and then does the same thing. Kurt has been made to look like such a geek and it continues here. 

Undertaker does his top rope walking diving punch and this event marks the first time he’d shout “old school” before doing it. 

Kurt does a lap of the ring on the outside, getting a cheap shot in as Taker follows him back inside and uses it to his advantage with another barrage of punches and a German suplex before clotheslining his challenger to the outside. He makes a mistake jumping off the apron after him and is caught and driven spine-first into the ring post. 

The two continue to go back and forth in the ring with Kurt getting more punches and trying to work on the leg but Taker fighting back and taking Kurt down into an armbar submission.

Edge and Christian run down to ringside and distract the referee who misses seeing Kurt tap out. Taker breaks the hold to chase off Edge and Christian and when he goes for a chokeslam on Angle, he takes him down by the leg and resumes his assault on Taker’s leg knee. 

Undertaker fights back but is once again distracted by Edge and Christian so he goes to fight them. The referee follows and while he’s busy ejecting them from ringside, Undertaker plants Kurt with a chokeslam and has victory AGAIN but Kurt kicks out by the time the referee is back.

Kurt gets control back by once again going to the knee and locks in a figure four but Taker rolls over to reverse the pressure and Kurt is forced to crawl to the ropes and break it. 

Undertaker spikes Kurt with an over the shoulder powerslam which Kurt kicks out of and goes back to working on the leg again with elbow drops and wrapping it around the ring post and locking in a figure four around the post for extra pressure. That’s Bret Hart’s old move.

Taker fights back in the ring with a desperation flapjack into the top turnbuckle, but Kurt has some desperation of his own with a low blow. He goes for a Tombstone of his own, but Taker reverses that and wants to use one of his own but Kurt wriggles free over the top rope and goes to the outside before crawling under the ring to get away. 

Taker is having none of it and grabs Kurt by the ankle and pulls him back out and rolls him into the ring. He spikes Kurt with a Last Ride and Earl Hebner starts the count…but stops at two.

He points out that the man on the mat is not Kurt Angle. As Undertaker argues with him, the REAL Kurt Angle comes back from under the ring and rolls him up to win the match and retain his WWF Championship! Kurt Angle used a decoy under the ring to trick The Undertaker and keep his title belt.

The man in the ring is Kurt’s real life brother Eric Angle,

After the match, Kurt is shown running out of the building and into a waiting car and leaving in a hurry. He has no desire to still be around when The Undertaker gets backstage.

The booking of Kurt since winning the title has been very suspect as after playing second fiddle to his manager Stephanie McMahon-Helmsely, he was beaten silly by The Rock and Triple H more than once and shown to be the champion on a fluke. His matches and segments were always in the middle of the show and presented as midcard and even in this match, Undertaker had him beaten four or five times. Kurt is the definition of a lame duck champion and it’s a pity because he’s so incredibly talented. 

The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) and The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) vs. Edge and Christian and WWF Tag Team Champions The Right to Censor (Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather w/Val Venis)

This match has a lot of build! Edge and Christian have been feuding with The Hardyz for what feels like an entire year at this point and were responsible for costing them the tag titles to the Right to Censor. There was even a little bit more build up earlier tonight as on Sunday Night Heat Matt Hardy faced Val Venis and after a ton of outside interference, The Hardyz and Dudleyz were all left laying. 

I feel like I haven’t really done justice to Edge and Christian’s classic promo work and character stuff this year. I’ve mentioned it in passing but they really are great as the sort of surfer doofuses telling people they “reek of suck-itude” and making up works in that same vein. Great stuff.

Bubba Ray Dudley starts with Bull Buchanan and like all these matches they work in fast forward. He goes a couple of near falls very quickly and tags out to D-Von who does the same. Bull gets control with a big boot and he and Goodfather use a little double team offence to get control of the match. Christian tags in but D-Von counters him into a reverse DDT and they’re all already selling like they’ve been wrestling twenty minutes. Matt gets a hot tag and a near fall on Edge and the match breaks down with all eight men brawling and fighting in the ring as The Dudleyz and Hardyz set up a quadruple DDT on all four opponents. The Hardyz peel off their tops but instead of their usual skin they’re wearing Dudleyz camouflage.

They take those off too and get a squeal from the girls. Val Venis shoves Matt Hardy off the top rope allowing Edge to win with his back-wards X-Factor which King giggles and tells us is called the Edge-o-matic. Matt Hardy is eliminated. Edge and Christian try a double team on D-Von and Bubba makes the save but it's not enough to help and Christian hits his Unprettier finisher (unnamed) to eliminate D-von. It’s now Bubba and Jeff against four men. The two most popular members of their respective teams work well together and after Jeff weathers the storm and tags in Bubba, he side steps Edge’s spear sending him into Bull and Bubba pins Buchanan and eliminates him. He doubles up and after a sit down atomic drop on Edge and throwing Christian out of the ring, Bubba quickly pins Edge to eliminate him too. It’s left with Goodfather and Christian against Bubba and Jeff, but Goodfather catches a tired, unaware Bubba with a Death Valley Driver which he used to call the Pimp Drop and Bubba Ray Dudley is eliminated. Jeff goes it alone against two men and side steps Christian sending him to the ring post, slams him and follows with a Swanton Bomb and Jeff Hardy eliminates Christian, leaving this one on one. Jeff avoids the contact of a corner charge and ducks Val Venis’s attempted interference. He hits his own man and Jeff quickly covers to eliminate Goodfather and win the match! Jeff Hardy is the sole survivor. 

He gets no time to enjoy it as Val quickly jumps him and Steven Richards and Bull come back out to beat him up four on on. Matt and The Dudleyz follow and even the odds giving Goodfather a 3D and Val Venis gets the Wazzup headbutt off the top rope. “D-Von - get the tables!” (Bubba shoves Jeff while he’s still selling and he crashes to the corner. Bubba was always a prick and shows zero care for the fact that Jeff Hardy is clearly in pain). D-Von and Matt set up a pair of tables and The Dudleyz powerbomb Steven Richards off the top rope through one, as Matt Hardy drives Val Venis through the other with a leg drop! Jeff Hardy survives and the Right to Censor gets a pair of tables. Big time happy ending. 

As Stone Cold Steve Austin makes his way to the ring through the back, Triple H is elsewhere giving orders to The Radicals. But they aren’t allowed to interfere in this match so what is the plan?

I’ll take a moment to discuss the booking here - Was Triple H always intended to be involved in this storyline, or was he added in when it was realised Rikishi wasn’t quite clicking as the new big bad heel? I’m honestly not sure. There’s been rumours over the years that everyone from Shawn Michaels to Tazz were intended to be the man behind the mystery but in the end, Triple H fit and made sense in a way that was obvious and unsatisfying - Vince literally accused him on last year’s show minutes after the incident happened. 

My personal take is that Triple H made the call to get involved as while he was getting really popular as a babyface and had obvious feuds and stories lined up (his bond with Mick Foley, his reforming of DX, his feud with Benoit, his feud with Kurt Angle) he was always going to be third in the pecking order as a good guy behind Stone Cold and The Rock. Maybe even fourth or fifth behind Undertaker and Chris Jericho. As a heel, he is number one again with only Kurt Angle as challenger, even if there weren’t a lot of fresh matches left for him on that side of the ring. 

No Disqualification match

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Triple H

An awesome video package for this one, one of my favourites.

Triple H enters first to his lyricless, sinister version of My Time. Stone Cold enters slowly and methodically - he is focused and pissed off. Austin goes on the attack quickly with right hands fighting The Game back to the corner and hammering him with punches, running him from pillar to post and driving his head into the turnbuckles.

Triple H gets a little comeback with a thumb to the eye but Austin shrugs off his facebuster to the knee and follows with the Thezz press and more ring hands. Austin is taking his time, battering The Game. He throws him out of the ring and drives him into the security wall and the ring steps and punches and kicks him up the entrance ramp. Much like with Rikishi at No Mercy, Austin is giving out a one-sided beating here! 

At the top of the ramp Austin tries to use a large piece of metal scaffolding as a weapon but Triple H stops that and finally gets some licks in with punches of his own and throwing Austin into the security wall. They fight over the tech area at the top of the ramp and then around the side of the stage. Triple H seems to be leading Austin backstage as JR and King speculate that Triple H has a plan. They disappear through the curtain and it seems like an obvious setup but it must be to Steve too as he fights The Game back through into the arena and towards the entrance ramp.

Triple H counters Austin’s attempt to suplex him on the entrance ramp with one of his own and Austin bounces on the concrete. 

Its so nice after all this time to be back with a Stone Cold PPV main event, him in his ring gear and putting in the time for a classic Austin-style arena wide brawling main event. The last one was at No Mercy 1999, ironically with Triple H.

Triple H has control and leads Austin to ringside and seems like he wants to put him through the announce table but the Rattlesnake fights back and sends Triple H to the ring steps and then fights him into the time keeper area. 

Austin grabs one of the monitors off the announce desk and cracks Triple H in the head with a big smile on his face. Triple H comes up bleeding and Stone Cold continues the punishment with right hand after right hand. He notices his cooler of beer is leaking and that makes him lose his temper and go in with stomps. 

Stone Cold gets a beer out, hits Triple H with the cooler and then takes a seat and enjoys his cold beer which gets a big pop. Jerry Lawler says that you can’t drink on the job and Steve must have heard him as he barks “son of a bitch, i’m thirsty!” He hits Triple H with the can, and then drinks another.

Triple H is a bloody mess as Austin drives his face into the ring steps over and over. Austin promised to give Triple H an ass whipping like he’s never given before and so far he is delivering. 

Austin grabs the ring bell and follows Triple H back into the ring but The Game takes advantage and jumps on Stone Cold with punches as he comes through the ropes. They trade right hands and flurries of punches and Triple H uses a low blow to finally get himself some breathing room! 

Austin counters a run off the ropes into a Stunner attempt but Triple H twists and turns it into a neckbreaker and both men are down. 

Triple H, with blood running down his face, goes to work on Austin’s surgically repaired neck with elbows on the ring apron and driving his head into the ring post. 

Triple H gets the first near fall of the match off a clothesline and when Austin tries to come back Triple H turns it into another neckbreaker for a second and third near fall. 

Austin counters Triple H’s whip into the ropes and comes back with a spine buster, but misses his diving elbow off the middle rope when Triple H rolls clear. 

The fight goes back to the outside and the pair trade punches and run each other into the security wall. 

Triple H tries to Pedigree Stone Cold onto the ringsteps at ringside but Austin counters into a backdrop which sends Triple H crashing violently off the elevated platform through the announce table! 

Austin keeps up the pressure, body slamming Triple H on what’s left of the table and hammering his bloody head with more punches before dragging him back into the ring.

Triple H crawls away, begging for mercy as Austin looks around and asks the fans what to do. Triple H tries a cheap shot and gets stomped brutally in the corner and then finally - finally - dropped with a Stone Cold Stunner right in the middle of the ring. But Austin doesn’t cover. He thinks about it, but he’s not done with Triple H yet. He goes and gets a steel chair instead. 

He teases putting it on Triple H’s leg and snapping his ankle, but then thinks better of that and gets a huge pop when he puts it around The Game’s head and neck instead! He’s going to break Triple H’s neck and the crowd loves it! He takes aim from the middle rope…but Triple H manages to roll free and get out of the ring. 

Austin follows him up the ramp throwing more punches and kicks at him as once again Triple H leads The Rattlesnake backstage to, presumably, the waiting Radicals. 

They fight through the steel and concrete and into the back and Triple H breaks a vending machine when Austin throws him into it so hard the lights all go off. The Radicals pick this moment to jump on Austin and beat him down as Triple H leaves the arena and heads out to the parking lot. Referees swarm the scene and manage to get Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko away while he continues to fight with Chris Benoit.

Outside in the parking lot, the cameras catch Triple H getting into a car and laying in wait.

Benoit goads Austin and gets him to chase him out into the parking lot where The Game is waiting! 

Benoit runs into the path and tries to get Stone Cold to follow….but he doesn’t. Austin disappears.

We can hear Triple H inside the car questioning his whereabouts and sends Benoit back inside to find him. Triple H wants to run over Austin again! 

With Triple H sitting in his car waiting, a crane appears from his side pinning the door shut and lifting the car off the ground! Stone Cold has commandeered some construction equipment and in an awesome scene with lots of back and forth - very well shot as you’d swear Triple H was still in the car right to the bitter end - The Rattlesnake lifts the car with Triple H trapped inside 30 - 40 feet in the air and drops it, flipping and landing on its roof crushing it flat! Stone Cold has done the unthinkable to get his revenge, and given that he was literally trying to run him over again it’s hard not to say Triple H deserved it. 

Here's the recap of the finish which opened Raw is War the next night. it'll be at the start of the next Preview too!