Survivor Series - Madison Square Garden, New York New York,  November 17th 1996, 

1995 and early 1996 were all about departures. The WWF was struggling against the mighty WCW and star after star was departing for bigger money elsewhere. The WWF was left with people WCW didn’t want, or who had personal beef with the company and/or its president Eric Bischoff. It was another 18 months or so before the WWF really turned the corner BUT, looking up and down the card of this show and at the sheer volume of future champions, hall of famers and legends, things were starting to shift. This show features the first marquee singles match and the first televised match period of the two biggest stars (in my opinion) in wrestling history. Hulk Hogan had a longer run on top, and John Cena may have made more money when it was all said and done but looking purely at their hottest point and stripping away all the elements which can’t be compared (there was no social media in the late 90s, the internet was in its infancy) Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock are THE biggest names. There’s no right or wrong answer and this point can and is debated regularly but that is my answer.

In the opening video package they focus on the “massive media frenzy” which had engulfed New York City, featuring the Hall of Fame ceremony and a rare shot of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart doing media appearances together

Tonight’s commentary team is Vince McMahon, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Jim Ross (with King presumably ducking out later when he has a match of his own). I’ll keep you all updated on Jim Ross (who Vince calls “Good Ol’ JR” for the first time I can recall) and his heel turn throughout the night.

WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and the British Bulldog (w/Clarence Mason) and The New Rockers (Leif Cassidy and Marty Jannetty)vs. Doug Furnas, Phil Lafon and The Godwins (Henry O. Godwin and Phineas I. Godwin w/Hillbilly Jim)

I have no idea who Philp Lafon and Doug Furnas are but Jim Ross explains they’ve been a tag team for a long time and were a big deal in Japan. I’ll take his word for it. The entire heel team enters together to the British Bulldog’s theme song which I’d imagine is an attempt to get the American audience to boo them.

The Godwins start off and give the New Rockers the run around until a well timed tag to Owen Hart turns the tide. The heel quartet take in and out rapidly and isolate Phineas Godwin in their corner, hammering him with illegal double and triple teams while JR complains that the second referee on the outside is doing a terrible job of controlling this match. He definitely seems like less of a heel on this show so far. 

In other cosmetic news, this arena (MSG) has the entrance aisle in the middle of the hard camera and annoyingly there’s people constantly coming and going through that door. I assume they’re staff. Leif Cassidy has grown his goatee out so he looks a lot more like Al Snow now. There’s some awkward botches in the early going as P.I.G messes up a superplex and tags out to Henry. He throws Marty into the ropes but he immediately crumbles like he’s hurt his knee or ankle. It wasn’t planned but he doesn’t seem to be injured thankfully and from there, Henry hits the Slop Drop to eliminate Marty Jannetty first.

He walks into a spinning heel kick by Owen Hart and Henry is eliminated seconds later. In hindsight I think Marty’s leg was really injured as we can see him leave thanks to the lay out of this arena and he’s very noticeably limping up the aisle and out of the arena. Phineas goes nuts and sends all the heels scampering for cover but gets too focused on Owen Hart and a running Powerslam by the Bulldog eliminates Phineas. Funas and Lafon get a chance to show off their skills; they’re both fast and very strong, really impressive athletes but I have zero memory or connection to them. The action between Furnas and Leif Cassidy is particularly good but the heels use their numbers advantage well and a missile dropkick by Owen Hart puts him in his place. That was a gorgeous dropkick. Furnas is picked over by Bulldog and Owen until he’s able to tag in Lafon. He hits an amazing looking back suplex off the top rope on Leif Cassidy where he turns all the way over and lands on his front. Incredible and that’s enough to eliminate Cassidy. This is a big stage for the debuting Lafon and Furnas and they’ve hit enough big, impressive moves to make a good impression. Lafon fucks an attempted double clothesline by Bulldog and Owen and then catches Bulldog with a small package to eliminate one half of the Tag Team Champions! He’s a sore loser and chop-blocks Lafon on the way out of the ring so Owen zeros in on it and wraps it around the ring post a few times. He locks him up in the Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring which you’d assume will be the end of Lafone but Furnas is quick to break up the hold and save his partner! Lafon hits a gorgeous enziguiri and tags out to Furnas who runs through Owen with a backflip dropkick and a pair of overhead belly to belly suplexes to pin and eliminate Owen Hart! Furnas and Lafon both survived and defeated both Tag Team Champions! What an impressive debut from both an in-ring performance stand point and from a booking standpoint. 

Backstage in the locker room, Kevin Kelly interviews Mankind and Paul Bearer. Bearer squeals that he’s not an animal and won’t be going into any cage. Kevin Kelly mentions that if The Undertaker is able to incapacitiate Mankind, the cage will be lowered and Undertaker will get his hands on his former manager. That feels like a new stipulation? Mankind says that he’s going to eat the Undertaker alive. Have a nice day! 

Jerry Lawler has departed the commentary desk after the opening match because has one of his own to get ready for later. I guess now we’ll find out what JR and Vince’s on-screen relationship is.

The Undertaker vs. Mankind

Paul Bearer suspended above the ring inside a cage

Mankind has proven more than once that he does have The Undertaker’s number; he’s beaten him and incapacitated more times than anyone else. They’ve been feuding since the night after Wrestlemania and this is the final blow off. No one has seen The Undertaker since last month so he takes his opportunity to debut a new look! He lowers down from the arena roof, arms outstretched with huge bat wings.

It’s pretty awesome and his new ring gear has gotten rid of the purple and/or grey accents now dressed head to toe in black leather, hair pinned back so we can more clearly see his face and with a black tear drop on his cheek. He looks way more goth! Paul Bearer dives into the cage to escape the Deadman and he’s raised to the roof to dangle helplessly above the ring as Mankind and Undertaker brawl in and out of the ring.

Undertaker hits some new moves like a drop toe hold and a fireman’s carry takeover, moving with a lot more speed and locking in an arm bar on the mat. JR does a good job of putting over how different the Undertaker looks and is acting. It’s a cool evolution and I wonder how the fans in 1996 took to this.

Undertaker focuses on Mankind’s hand, bending his fingers back and slamming them on the ring steps. They fight into the crowd with Mankind trying to get some separation but Undertaker follows and back drops him up and over the barrier back into the ringside. While they fight back into the ring the crowd started booing and a large group were glancing off to the back of the arena so I assume it was a fight or something and someone had to be kicked out of the building. Good.

Mankind ensures a lot of blows and punches and comes back with an amazing looking piledriver. Throughout the match they show Paul Bearer thanks to “the cage cam” and he squeals about the Mandible Claw, which is blocked when Mankind goes for it. They battle back and forth and when Undertaker bounces out of the corner Mankind locks in the Mandible Claw! It drags Undertaker down to the mat and has it locked in for a long, long time but after looking close to the end, Undertaker revives and battles back to his feet. He puts Mankind down with a chokeslam and wraps his arm up in the ropes she can batter his hand some more but Paul Bearer drops some object or weapon down to the ring which Mankind trrives and wails on Undertaker with it. He clambers onto Undertaker’s back so he can drive it nto his forehead but the Deadman stands up and muscles Mankind onto his shoulder, drilling him with a Tombstone. The Undertaker wins a physical match which wasn’t bad but definitely wasn’t as good as their previous battles. 

The Undertaker is about to get his hands on Paul Bearer until the masked Executioner runs down and makes the save, throwing Undertaker into the steel cage. Paul Bearer, Mankind and the Executioner escape together leaving Undertaker unsatisfied in the ring to revel in his victory. 

Before the next match, Sunny is a pleasant surprise coming down to the ring and joining commentary for this next match. Dok Hendrix speaks to the heel team and has some news for us; it’s going to be 4 on 3 as Mark Henry is injured and unable to compete. Hunter Hearst Helmsley takes pleasure in telling them that the four of them will demolish the three of them. The other heels say their catchphrases and it's all pretty meaningless other than that big news. They do point out that HHH was giving eyes to Marlena which might be meaningful down the line.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Crush, Goldust (w/Marlena) and Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. Marc Mero (w/Sable), Rocky Maivia, The Stalker and Jake “The Snake” Roberts

If you can read the above match title you’ll see who is the replacement for Mark Henry in this match right away. Jake was taken off TV for a couple of months as he continued to struggle with his “personal demons”. You might also note that Crush doesn’t have Clarence Mason with him anymore; I’m not sure if that’s a permanent change. The commentary team have a little fun pointing out that Mr. Perfect is no longer with HHH without actually saying it, though Jim Ross does call Hunter “better than Perfect”. JR is still playing a little bit of a heel on this show and spends much of this match bickering with Sunny and calling having a woman at ringside “pointless”. 

All that pre-amble out of the way, this is the debut match of Rocky Maivia. The grandson of “High Chief” Peter Maivia and the son of Rocky Johnson, to those who don’t know it (which is none of you) this is The Rock. JR says that this young man will be the future of the business and man, he was not wrong.

Marc Mero amps up the New York crowd before bringing out Mark Henry’s replacement Jake “The Snake” Roberts! He runs to the ring with his giant python and sends all of the heels scampering for safety. 

Marc Mero and Jerry Lawler kick things off but King wastes time and stalls and keeps his distance until finally…tagging out to Triple H. These matches are also difficult to describe in the early going as each man tags in and out of the ring and takes their moment to show off with a move or two before tagging out. 

Rocky Maivia impresses with a big dropkick and other rookie moves like arm drags and hip tosses and gets a decent cheer from the audience. He’s cut off by Goldust and isolated with Crush, Lawler and HHH taking turns to work over the rookie. 

For history buffs, the first ever in-ring altercation between Triple H and The Rock was a series of punches back and forth in the corner which Rocky won. 

Jake gets tagged in but he’s caught with an illegal double team from Crush and Goldust and then its his turn to be slowly worked over in the heel corner with Lawler taking great pleasure in beating up his long time rival. Lawler taunts for too long and pays for it when Jake counters and spikes him with a DDT to eliminate The King. Goldust works over Jake for a bit but he tags out to The Stalker who has much more luck and throws Goldust around with a really nice float over suplex and an axe handle off the ropes. Barry Windham is one of those names who gets a lot of respect but I’ve never seen much of him. Crush punches him in the back of the head and then Goldust follows up with the Curtain Call to eliminate The Stalker. Mero comes in quickly to follow up and picks up the pace but is shut down by Goldust with a drop toe hold and he tags out to HHH. Helmsley hammers on Mero and thanks to some assistance by Goldust, keeps up the pressure with a knee drop and a back breaker. Triple H’s move set never really evolved. 

Mero withstands a lot beating from mostly Hunter and Goldust until finally things break down. Mero comes off the top rope with a springboard moonsault and pins the Intercontinental Champion, eliminating HHH. Wildman goes for a dive to the outside onto Crush but Goldust shoves his partner clear and he crashes and burns. They miss it during a replay but Crush gives Mero the heart punch and pins and eliminates him there. Jake Roberts is quick  on the attack but gets a heart punch of his own and Jake is eliminated too! That leaves the rookie Rock against Goldust and Crush, two vs. one. The fans rally and chant “rocky” which wasn’t the last time they’d do that! The double team backfires and Rocky avoids Crush’ heart punch, hitting Goldust instead. Rocky Maivia puts down Crush with a running crossbody to eliminate him and, with Goldust hurting from the heart punch, follows up with a shoulder breaker! Rocky Maivia pins Crush and Goldust back to back to be the Sole Survivor in his debut match. Much like earlier with Lafon and Furnas, this was a HUGE debut moment for a newcomer but unlike those two, he has a long and glowing future ahead of him.

Here’s an awesome video for this next match as well as Stone Cold’s prematch promo where the new stipulation is added regarding the WWF Championship. Austin gets a big cheer from the New York crowd for his bad attitude and aggression too. He’s awesome and I’ll never tire of saying it.

Winner is the Number 1 Contender for the WWF Championship

Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Bret Hart has some pre-match comments of his own; Madison Square Garden is holy ground and in his return to the ring cannot go any other way. He promises that when this match is over, Stone Cold WILL respect him. We’ll see about that. Austin doesn’t respect anybody! 

The two get in each other’s face and intimidate but neither man will be intimidated. Austin sticks his fingers in Bret’s face and the Hitman seems a little shaken by the total lack of respect from his opponent. They lock up and grapple, going to the corner and trying to out wrestle each other which is cool to see from Austin. Bret wins the wrestling exchange and puts his focus on Stone Cold’s arm and wrist but high elbows followed by a clothesline and some elbow drops, Austin’s brawling puts him on top of this match.

Jim Ross and Vince McMahon spend the match discussing Bret’s possible ring rust and his legacy as a performer. In his book, Bret says he hated the commentary for this match because he felt like JR and McMahon made him sound like a washed up old man with his best days behind him. I don’t agree but given what was going on at the time backstage, specifically fearing that he’d been replaced by Shawn Michaels as the top guy, I can see why he was defensive about his presentation. He kind of brought that on himself with all his talk of possible retirement lately. 

Austin focuses on Bret’s neck and throat, hanging him up on the ropes and dropping precision elbows and locking in a long sleeper. He has a solid game plan and when Bret mounts his comeback the crowd actually boos him a little! Austin is getting really popular already. His comeback is cut off and Stone Cold tries for a superplex but he’s blocked, shoved back into the ring and Bret comes down with a elbow drop for a near fall. Austin sends Bret to the outside and turns this into more of a brawl on the outside which feels more like his wheel house. He sledges away at Bret’s neck and shoulders and drives his lower back into the ring apron.

Austin is relentless and has controlled most of this match. Bret in an act of desperation tackles Stone Cold into the security wall sending him up and over into the front row and beats on him, driving his head into the barrier and bouncing him back into the ring. Great stuff; nothing fancy but they both wrestle with such intensity and everything looks so good. The spill back out of the ring and Austin wins that exchange, driving Bret into the ring post and then slingshotting him up and over the announce desk, followed by dropping an elbow from the apron onto Bret as he lays on the Spanish announce table. Austin brings the Hitman into the ring the hard way with a suplex and is relentless in following up with more elbow drops. The crowd really gets behind both men at different points and with Stone Cold hammering on the Hitman and locking in an abdominal stretch the crowd is a mess of chanting “lets go Austin” and “lets go Hitman”. The match breaks down and for the third time in this match the pair of them just trade big right hands back and forth but its Bret who comes out on top of it this time. He even returns the favour from earlier and dumps Austin with a hangman across the ropes. Bret goes into his finishing routine with a gorgeous piledriver, a backbreaker and then a pin point elbow but Stone Cold stops it and brings down Bret with a big superplex! Bret kicks out but Austin hits the Stone Cold Stunner! Bret is a little too close to the ropes but the time he takes to drag Bret into the middle of the ring is enough for him to recover and Bret kicks out. Austin turns Bret up and over into the Texas Cloverleaf submission (which is a bit like a Sharpshooter) and Bret just barely makes it to the ropes to break the hold.

Austin wants to make Bret submit in Madison Square Garden. Bret wrestles out of a hold and goes for the Sharpshooter but Stone Cold makes it to the ropes before it's locked in. Bret wraps him up in a sleeper hold but Stone Cold drops him with a jawbreaker; a version of the Stunner. Austin stalks the Hitman and locks in the Million Dollar Dream and that’s his undoing as Bret runs up the ropes and kicks back, up and over and into a pinning situation. Austin won’t release the hold and pays for it with the three count! Bret Hart just barely survives this match with the victory and now a WWF Championship match next month at In Your House 12. 

This was an awesome match from bell to bell and as the commentators hammer home, this feud is FAR from over. Stone Cold looked like a million dollars in this match and every ounce Bret Hart’s equal. Stone Cold takes off, watching Bret as he leaves and talking trash the whole time but that gives Bret the chance to go around the ring hanging out high fives and hand shakes to his adoring fans. I loved ALL of this storyline and this match.

Backstage, Dok Hendrix interviews Sycho Sid and asks the big question; will tonight be the night he finally snaps? Sid screams that we call it snapping but he calls it doing whatever it takes to leave Survivor Series as the new WWF Champion. And of course we now know that whoever wins will be defending that title against Bret Hart next month.

Faarooq (w/Clarence Mason and PG-13), Vader (w/Jim Cornette), “Diesel” and “Razor Ramon” vs. Flash Funk, Savio Vega, Yokozuna and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka

There’s another big debut but this time it’s more of a gimmick debut. Faarooq has ditched the blue gladiator outfit and comes out dressed as a black millitant with his awesome Nation of Domination theme song. This version has PG-13 (a skinny tag team from down south who we saw as jobbers about two years ago on Raw) rapping to the ring about no one can stop the Nation of Domination. It’s a MUCH better look for Faarooq and his entourage will only grow. His partners are the fake Razor Ramon and Diesel. Jim Ross isn’t as complimentary about these guys as he once was but does question why people would boo them considering they’re bigger, stronger and younger than the originals.

Just like earlier tonight, you can see who the mystery partner is above in the match title. This is not a full on comeback and he didn’t stick around after tonight. Flash Funk is a high flyer who dresses like a pimp and has two gorgeous black girls, The Funkettes, to dance with him. He’s pretty cool and kicks off this match against Vader, knocking him out of the ring and flying off the top rope with a moonsault to the floor. Incredible. I feel bad for Vader; he was supposed to be in the main event of this show and still feuding with Michaels over the WWF title but as I discussed at Summerslam HBK wasn’t a fan of Vader and pulled some strings backstage to get Vader’s main event push cancelled. The big men move aside and Vega shows off a little with a spinning heel kick to Faarooq. I’m running out of ways to say “they all just tag in, hit a move and then tag out” but that really is how all these matches start. It settles down with Vega and “Razor Ramon” in the ring and they get Savio in their corner to work him over and isolate him. I wonder how many fans in 1996 noticed that “Diesel” was Isaac Yankem D.D.S? Snuka flies around the ring when tagged in despite his age and actually bodyslams the enormous Vader which doesn’t get as big of a reaction as it deserved from the live crowd. 

Vega gets beaten up a bit and “Diesel” hits him with a Jackknife powerbomb to eliminate him. He tags out to “Razor” who has a hard time with new hall of famer Jimmy Snuka who finishes him off with a bodyslam and Superfly splash to eliminate him too. Diesel rushes the ring with a steel chair, followed by already eliminated Savio Vega with a chair of his own. All eight men spill into the ring and start brawling and the referee has no choice but throw out the match and disqualify EVERYONE, ending this match in a draw or no contest, depending on your POV.

This match is the final time we’ll see Yokozuna. He was such a big part of all of these shows in 1993 and 1994 and I was a fan but his massive weight gain meant he was being used less and less on TV. Sadly Rodney Anoai passed away in 2000 at the age of just 34. He is remembered fondly as the first member of the legendary Anoai family to be WWF Champion, a family which has given us a few more World Champions since including The Rock, Roman Reigns and Jey Uso. Farewell Yoko. 

WWF Championship

Shawn Michaels © (w/Jose Lothario) vs. Sycho Sid

The video package for this one

Sid gets a massive cheer when he comes out which made me smile. The New Yorkers LOVE this guy. Conversely, Michaels gets some boos which only get louder when the match begins. They lock up and HBK uses his speed to keep his distance from the much bigger, stronger Sid. He wriggles free of a Gorilla press and a Powerbomb attempt and bails to the outside to catch his breath. The fans loudly boo him for doing so and after a chop block, Michaels works over the challenger’s leg including with a low dropkick and a long figure four which Sid escapes by rolling to his stomach and grabbing the ropes. The crowd chant for Sid and Michaels has a really hard time keeping his cool; the guy was starting to crack under the pressure of being champion and all of the partying and the constant reminders that WCW was smashing them in the ratings was creeping into his mind. Shawn gains a cocky smirk and looks pretty distrainful of the crowd that has turned on him. 

Sid lands a big boot and on the outside of the ring sends Michaels into the ring barrier and then drops him from a Gorilla press position face-first onto the ring apron. One big move from the much larger Sycho Sid totally turns the tide because he’s so much bigger and stronger; it’s a simple story but it's well told between these two men. 

They go back and forth with Michaels desperately avoiding big move after big move but a big slam puts him in his place. Sid takes a little too long to set up a Powerbomb which gives HBK time to pull him into a small package for a close near fall. Michaels keeps fighting back as JR and Vince hammer home again and again how resilient Shawn Michaels is and what a tough man he is. He is a plucky, never-say-die warrior but the fans are unimpressed and deeper into the match they are even more vocal with their boos for Michaels and cheers for Sid. 

Sid gets frustrated and grabs one of the camera men’s cameras. He’s about to hit Shawn Michaels with it so Jose Lothario jumps up onto the apron so he hits him in the chest with it instead. Shawn capitalises with a Sweet Chin Music but doesn’t go for the cover and leaves the ring to check on Jose instead. It seems like he might be having a heart attack! Shawn Michaels screams for medical help and someone to come and get his mentor but Sid shows no mercy and attacks Michaels, bringing him back into the ring. HBK misses a crossbody on Sid and lands on the referee instead. He gets out of the ring to check on Jose but with no referee to see it, Sid hits him across the back with the TV camera! I wonder if that was planned, or if Michaels got out of the ring too early so they had to get back inside and knock the referee down to complete the spot? With Jose on the outside apparently having a heart attack and Michaels knocked out with a TV camera, Sid drills Shawn Michaels with the Powerbomb. The referee recovers and to thunderous cheers Sycho Sid is the new World Wrestling Federation Champion! 

I enjoyed this match and I love Sid so this made me happy. Shawn Michaels is too focused on Jose Lothario’s health to even notice he’s no longer the champion, going with him as he’s carried to the back and leaving Sid to celebrate in the ring with the WWF title belt to close the show.

This was a great show. Bret vs. Austin was amazing, Undertaker vs. Mankind wasn’t as good as their previous matches but still very good and the main event was good with a shocking big title change. I’m happy with this one!