Survivor Series - Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, November 17th 2002

The opening video for this one features on the two World title matches, with Eric Bischoff sounding like he’s swallowed a thesaurus as he describes the Elimination Chamber main event

Special mention of the awesome theme song for this event, Always by Saliva. I’m a BIG fan

We get our first look at the Elimination Chamber structure hanging above the ring in Madison Square Garden. I love this arena, and (spoilers) I love this PPV.  I mentioned at the end of my Preview that the advertised Hurricane and Goldust vs. Lance Storm and William Regal tag team match was moved to Sunday Night Heat so just in the name of completeness, Storm and Regal won that - it only lasted 3:01.

Six man Elimination Tables match

Bubba Ray and Spike Dudley and Jeff Hardy vs. 3-Minute Warning (Rosey and Jamal) and Rico

Howard Finkle trips over his tongue during the Dudley’s ring introduction. That’s not the last botch in this match but we’ll get to that in a bit. This is the only non-title match tonight. The first ever table match in WWE history took place in this same arena and also featured Jeff Hardy and Bubba Ray Dudley. (Royal Rumble 2000)

Jeff takes everyone’s breath away immediately as Bubba throws Spike out onto Rosey and Jamal and then gives Jeff a boost so he can fly up and over the top to crash down on everyone. Great.

The action is thick and fast - Rosey tastes a table first but he ran into it so it doesn't count, and he no-sells it! Spike is the first man actually eliminated as 3-Minute Warning swing him in a reverse powerbomb smashing him face first through a table. That was awesome. 

Rosey and Jeff fight into the crowd and Rosey tries to give Jeff a splash from the top of the security exit through a table. He’s rescued by Jeff Hardy and in a repeat of the finish of the first table match in this same arena at the 200 Rumble, Jeff drives Rosey through the table with a Swanton Bomb from high above! That’s the third table broken and the second elimination!

One of the most famous botches in WWE history takes place as Rico positions Bubba for a moonsault through a table and is left screaming for Jeff - his opponent - to hurry up and stop him and complete the spot. Jeff finally gets there, but Jamal moves the table out of the way so Bubba’s suplex off the top doesn’t eliminate Rico. 

Jeff splashes from the top rope through a table on the outside, which is enough to eliminate him. 

Jamal tries a giant hurricanrana off the top through a table on Bubba but he counters it into a powerbomb which eliminates him and makes this a one on one table match between Bubba and Rico! Another really cool table spot! 

Despite the elimination rules, Jamal ignores the referee and continues to help Rico with a two on one attack, which becomes a three on one when Rosey joins in too. 

To everyone’s shock, D-Von Dudley, dressed in his old Dudley fatigues, runs in to make the save! He’s a Reverend No More! D-Von clears 3-Minute Warning out of the ring and the crowd goes nuts for a 3D through the table on Rico to give Bubba Ray, Spike and Jeff the victory in an awesome match! D-Von Dudley is on Raw and back with his brother, abandoning his religious ways. I’ll get a chance to talk more about the Dudleyz in future but this is a nice moment in front of the New York fans.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship

Jamie Noble © (w/Nidia) vs. Billy Kidman

Noble has been champion since June and has had a lot of good, but short, matches. I have a theory that as soon as Michael Cole starts talking about how long someone has been champion it means they’re about to lose their title. Look out for that in future, see if you agree.

Kidman pinned Noble in a tag team match two weeks ago and in a non-titles singles match on Smackdown this past week. Kidman has new theme music for this match and it’s pretty awesome. 

These two move at 100mphs in the early going but Noble bails to the outside and then catches Kidman with a cheap shot as they re-enter the ring, slowing things down with a swinging neckbreaker.

Nidia cheers on her boyfriend as he focuses on Kidman’s back and when Billy comes back with a spinebuster and sets up his Shooting Star Press, Nidia pulls Jamie to the outside to avoid it. Billy follows with a dive to the outside and comes back in with a slingshot legdrop over the top rope. 

Noble has a really nice reversal into an attempted Tigerbomb but Kidman blocks that. Nidia grabs his foot and slaps the challenger but he avoids Noble’s charge and the champion crashes into his own girlfriend. More counters and Kidman avoids another Tigerbomb but not a second. Kidman kicks out!

Billy blocks an attempted superplex and brings Noble down with a cool looking DDT off the top rope. That feels like the finish but Noble kicks out. 

Kidman kicks out of a stiff DDT of his own, one where his feet were elevated on the top rope and rallies with a kick to the head. Nidia does her best to stop the Shooting Star but he kicks her off and then shoves Noble back down to the mat off the ropes to finally connectwith the Shooting Star and pin Jamie Noble for the third time, winning the Cruiserweight Championship! 

Kidman wastes no time, running into the crowd to celebrate with the people. I’m sure winning a title in Madison Square Garden on a Big Four PPV was a huge moment for him and he probably had family in the arena. 

Back in Angle and Benoit’s locker room. Kurt is disgusted and says that if Billy Kidman of all people can win a Championship tonight then they definitely can regain their Tag Team titles. Kurt calls himself the team captain. Benoit fires up for an argument but Kurt refuses to engage - they’re not falling out again, they need to stay united because together no one can beat them. Benoit calms down and agrees, shaking Kurt’s hand. Kurt refuses that - he wants a hug. 

Eric Bischoff’s F-View TV, the hidden cameras continues tonight and catches Victoria asking her mirror who the fairest of them all is? The mirror apparently tells her Trish Stratus is, so she smashes the mirror and then destroys a cut-out of Trish. Why did she even have that? 

Hardcore match for the WWE Women’s Championship

Trish Stratus © vs. Victoria

This has been by some stretch the best women’s feud of all time, with them actually taking the championship and each other seriously and with minimal salacious, sexual scandal. King does his best to ruin that of course.

Victoria attacks Trish right away, choking her with her jacket and whipping her around the ring. Trish ducks the swings with a broom but a trashcan lid is hit right back into her face. The girls are physical, using a trash can and an ironing board. Victoria ends up with a bloody nose somewhere in the brawl. 

Trish goes for the hurricanrana off the top but Victoria blocks it. Trish grab a trash can lid and sits up and blasts the challenger with it and then sends her to the outside with another shot.

Victoria gets a mirror from under the ring to use as a weapon but Trish catches her with a chick kick. Victoria kicks out.

She hits the champion with a kendo stick, Trish botches her Stratusfaction bulldog and lands awkwardly and Victoria kicks out. 

Trish charges with the stick and is taken down and there’s another botch as Victoria struggles to get a fire extinguisher to fire. She does eventually manage and follows up on the blinded champion with a snap suplex to capture the WWE women’s championship in a messy brawl which got a decent reaction from the crowd mostly thanks to the novelty of seeing the women crack each other with weapons.

Victoria clutches the title belt to her chest and cradles it like a baby as she leaves. I like Victoria a lot.

Coach interviews Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff who calls tonight history and the future in one night - he brags about having outdone Stephanie McMahon with his genius Elimnation Chamber. He’s interrupted by Big Show who tells Bischoff he made a huge mistake trading him to Smackdown because he’s about to become the new WWE Champion.

Elsewhere, Paul Heyman clutches the WWE title belt to his chest and says that he’s very nervous - he begged Brock not to pick a fight with him. Nothing has been the same since Hell in a Cell. He’s right - Brock has been drifting towards babyface and ignoring his agent more and more. Paul promises Brock Lesnar that he will do everything in his power to make sure that his client leaves Madison Square Garden as WWE Champion. That’s interesting wording isn’t it?

WWE Championship

Brock Lesnar © (w/Paul Heyman) vs. The Big Show

Brock Lesnar has grown in popularity and I think moving forward from here he is in a position to lean into that and get the crowd behind him fully. Being the underdog against the larger challenger helps for sure. You can see the wheels turning as Brock has spent the last four weeks ignoring his increasingly exasperated agent. Not to get too spoilery and give the ending away here but Big Show did also make a vague reference to getting advice from some unknown party a couple of weeks ago.

Big Show has a bandage on his arm which Michael Cole says is from the assault on Smackdown, maybe from him trying to block Lesnar’s big swinging chair shots? 

Brock gets right in Show’s face and they lock up as soon as the bell rings. The fans break out into a loud “let's go Lesnar!” chant which surprises me but it must delight everyone backstage who wants him to be a big babyface.

Show throws Brock around and, on the outside, runs his spine into the ring post trying to focus on the injured ribs. 

Back in the ring, Brock wows the crowd with a back suplex and then a German suplex! What a freak, but it gets even more impressive with an overhead belly to belly suplex on the 500lbs Big Show! 

The referee gets knocked down and so Paul Heyman slides a steel chair into the ring. Lesnar cracks Big Show in the head and then lifts Big Show for an F5! He drills him and a second referee runs down to count.

It’s over but Paul Heyman pulls the referee out of the ring! Heyman has double crossed Lesnar and the champion chases his now former agent around the ring. Big Show is up and cracks him with a chairshot to the ribs and then a second to the back. He follows with a chokeslam onto the steel chair and thanks to Paul Heyman, Big Show is the new WWE Champion and the first man to pin Brock Lesnar!

Heyman celebrates with the title belt like he won it, and that’s the real story. Heyman is obsessed with being the manager of the WWE Champion, whoever that champion may be. This was a shocker but in the context of the past few weeks made sense and now Brock can ascend even further as a babyface. 

Backstage, Heyman and Big Show run through the back and get right into a waiting limo, not hanging around for Brock Lesnar to come to his senses and chase after them. 

Before the next match, we also get to see that newly engaged happy couple Al Wilson and Dawn Marie are here tonight in the crowd enjoying Survivor Series. That’s nice. 

Triple Threat Elimination match for the WWE Tag Team Championships

Edge and Rey Mysterio © vs. Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo Guerrero) vs. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit

We’re 3 for 3 in title changes so far tonight. I’d say there’s a good chance of a fourth in this one, but this is only Edge and Rey’s first defence since winning the titles two weeks ago.

Being in MSG means there’s no stage, so Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio’s pyro is on a different stage on the hard camera side which is funnily enough where King and JR are sitting. Rey pops up out of the same stage for his entrance.

There’s a bit of disagreement over who’ll start the match but it ends up being Rey and Benoit. Eddie and Chavo quietly slink away to the apron and don’t want to get involved but once it’s Angle and Edge in the ring, they give them no choice with a tag to Chavo.

The match continues with quick tags in and out until each and every man has been in the ring. Michael Cole has a nice story about how Eddie and Chavo grew up together, very close in age despite technically being uncle and nephew, and used to wrestle invisible opponents as kids and fantasise about winning the tag team titles together. That’s quite sweet.

Rey loses his balance when jumping to the top rope, slipping and landing hard on his head. Kurt is in the ring with him and reacts quickly to cover the mistake. 

The match finally slows down a little with Angle and Benoit isolating Mysterio in their corner, tagging in and out and grinding him down with a long front facelock. It’s not the first or last time it would be the case but Rey looks like he’s having a really hard time with his mask, constantly adjusting it. After a nice string of counters, Rey hits a spinning heel kick and crawls to a tag to Edge. Kurt tries to tag one of the Guerreros but hilariously they both jump off the apron wanting to stay out of the match as long as possible.

Edge picks the pace up and all six men end up in the ring fighting it out. Benoit and Angle work expertly as a team putting Edge in a double submission but Rey rescues him with a springboard to Kurt and a sliding dropkick to Chris. 

Benoit grounds Edge with German suplexes and Eddie dives off the top into a sunset flip, completing the German and getting a double pin in a really cool spot! 

Benoit rallies and sets up a diving headbutt on Edge but Eddie capitalises first with a Frog Splash. Benoit follows with a headbutt anyway and he and Kurt lock Eddie and Edge in stereo submissions.

Chavo hits Benoit in the back with one of the Tag team title belts and then throws it to Kurt as he leaves the ring, meaning Benoit blames his partner assuming Kurt has double crossed him again! Rey interrupts the argument with a dropkick and Edge cuts Benoit in half with a Spear to eliminate Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit at 13:06.

The crowd boo and sore loser Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit hammer all four men with a barrage of suplexes, finishing with an Angle Slam on Edge. The two leave, arguing the whole time. 

Eddie and Chavo move fast and try to take advantage, working over Edge in their corner. Quick tags in and out and plenty of distracting the referee so the illegal man can continue to pour on cheap shots and chokes in the corner. Classic tag team wrestling. 

Rey fights out and gets the tag to Edge who picks up the pace and fights off both Eddie and Chavo, boosting Rey into a spectacular hurricanrana off the top rope. Rey hits the 619 on Eddie and sets up the West Coast Pop but Chavo hits Rey in the back with one of the title belts which leaves him easy prey for the Lasso from El Paso. Eddie wrenches on Mysterio as Edge fights with Chavo on the outside and it gets a submission victory.  Los Guerreros win the WWE Tag Team titles in 19:23 in a great match. 

JR and King are about to start introducing the Elimination Chamber match when the Harvard Fight Song plays and Raw’s Christopher Nowinski heads down to the ring. He gives the New Yorkers a lecture about how street smarts are not the same as real smarts, which is what he has. He begins ripping on the local sports teams which gets the crowd booing him.

He is interrupted by Smackdown’s Matt Hardy. Tonight’s Matt facts are that he keeps the room at a toasty 75 degrees fahrenheit, and that he only drinks low fat chocolate milk. Good to know. Matt Hardy looks like he’s about to stand up for New York. He says New Yorkers are NOT stupid. They are in fact, losers. That is very different. Not only does no one in this building have any Mattitude, they’re sucking the Mattitude out of him! Nowinski and Hardy agree that they’re both right and the people in New York are in fact stupid losers. King actually breaks character to agree with JR that this segment needs to hurry up and end. They get their wish when the debuting Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner interrupts! 

The enormously muscular former WCW Champion is here and hasn’t declared if he’s on Raw or Smackdown yet. There is a trend of people who were considered washed up in WCW two years earlier showing up in WWE and acting like they’re a hot property - the big bad booty daddy was 40 years old here.

The fans loudly chant for Steiner as Freakzilla (he has a lot of nicknames) effortlessly throws Matt and Chris around and finishes by pressing Matt up and over the top rope onto Nowinski on the floor, followed by a bunch of push-ups. He loudly screams “gimmie the fuckin’ mic!” loud enough for the cameras to pick up and gives a shout out to his freaks in New York City. Holla if ya hear me indeed.

Scott Steiner has quite the legacy both in and out of the ring. He will be a big part of both the Royal Rumble and No Way Out PPVs so I’ll save some of it for those shows but Freakzilla had a fiery temper and, looking at his physique, you can imagine that allegations of steroid abuse have followed him everywhere he’s gone. 

This also feels like a good spot to talk about the Anthology CD - I had that CD and it’s fantastic. A three disk set going through the past and present of WWE (at the time) with multiple bangers and a couple of original hits. One of those was Saliva’s King of my World which Jericho has used as his theme song on the past two episodes of Raw, and which Saliva performed live at this PPV (at The World in Times Square with the audio moved across to the arena, which is quite cool). Here’s the music video along with a truncated version of the song itself which was on Raw a couple of weeks ago

The Elimination Chamber ominously lowers inside the arena as Terri gets some last minute comments from Shawn Michaels. His promo is cut off by a Randy Orton RNN breaking news injury update! He gives a wink and a thank you to the sexy flight attendant who got him an extra pillow so he didn’t make his injury worse. I love this gimmick.

Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Triple H © (w/Ric Flair) vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Kane vs. Booker T vs. World Tag Team Champion Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam 

Fantastic video package, made even better by Saliva. This is the third of their songs to be used as a PPV theme song and isn’t the last. For fun, I’ve also included the video that was on Raw which focused more specifically on Triple H and Shawn Michaels feud. 

The men involved in this match have said that whoever designed this Chamber had clearly never wrestled themselves. It is a brutal, unforgiving structure with zero give and no comfortable place to land, creating a lot of real life injuries, bumps, cuts and scrapes. It was finally redesigned into something a little safer in 2016.

Before the participants are introduced, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff comes down to the ring and gives us a guided tour of the Elimination Chamber, explaining the rules. Two men will start in the ring with the other four locked in pods in the corners. Every five minutes, another man will be released into the match until all six men are legal. Pinfall can only occur via pinfall or submission. It’s straight forward enough, and the simplicity is kind of genius. 

I mentioned on Raw that it was the final appearance of the old World Tag Team title belts which had been used since 1987. When Chris Jericho enters here he’s wearing the new design of the title belt. I do like these championships too but I’ll miss the other ones.

It's Jericho, Booker T, Kane and finally Shawn Michaels entering first and being locked away in the pods which leaves Triple H and Rob Van Dam as the men to start this first-ever match. I’ll also take a moment to talk about Shawn’s appearance here - after Summerslam he thought he’d be off TV for a while so he cut his hair short into a little bob and sat on the couch eating cookies with his son. It means he’s left here with silly hair and a little bit of a belly. His brown tights are also pretty hideous - he put faith in someone else to make that gear for him and it was either a serious error of judgement or they weren’t finished in time, depending on who you believe. 

Triple H tastes the steel first, backdropped over the top rope and lands hard on the metal grating. I bet that hurt like hell. The door bursts open when RVD slams Triple H into the chain wall, but he stays in the Chamber, bleeding already and we’re only 90 seconds into the match! An awesome Rolling Thunder up and over the top from the inside of the ring out landing hard on Triple H’s prone body. Awesome.

After more battles including Jericho reaching up through the fence to grab RVD’s leg as he clambers up the pod, Chris Jericho is the next man released and he immediately goes on the attack as he and The Game double team Rob Van Dam. Things slow down a little and I’m sure Triple H regrets blading so early into a 40 minute match. It makes me wonder if he didn’t blade and was legitimately cut open on the outside of the Chamber.

RVD is pummelled by Triple H and Jericho, running his back into the fence wall over and over and over. 

Booker T is the next man into the match and he quickly goes on the attack, sending Jericho and Triple H out of the ring and performing the Spinarooni! Booker T and RVD could team up to even the odds against the two villains but babyfaces have pride and honour but are also stupid so they start to fight each other instead. Booker as the fresh man has a big advantage and wins the exchange, as he does against Triple H with a Scissors Kick. RVD takes advantage and climbs all the way to the top of one of the pods. He can barely stand up straight and dives onto Triple H with a Five Star Frog Splash! Triple H was way too close to the corner and Van Dam’s leg came down across Triple H’s throat, crushing his trachea. He deserves a lot of credit for continuing with the match.

Booker T capitalises and with RVD in pain from that crash landing, follows with a cover and eliminates Van Dam at 13:37. The crowd boos the elimination, and again when Booker covers Triple H but he gets his foot on the ropes to stop himself being eliminated too. 

The countdown and light show begins and Kane is the third man released to join the match.

The Big Red Machine has no problem beating up Jericho and Booker. Triple H stays out of everyone’s way which is fair given that he started the match and is legit injured. Kane launches Jericho hard into one of the bullet proof pods and the plastic cracks and smashes with him landing inside. He comes up bleeding, obviously. 

Jericho gives Booker a low blow and Kane follows up with a chokeslam. He goes to fight Triple H and Jericho gives a Lionsault to Booker T to eliminate him from the match too at 17:40. Kane goes right after the bleeding Jericho and slams him from the outside in. 

Shawn Michaels is the fourth and final man released into this match, 20 minutes in but runs into a brick wall named Kane and isn’t able to build much steam before he’s just another body, down and selling. Kane spikes him with a chokeslam followed by one to Triple H and a final one to Jericho.

He tries to Tombstone Triple H but walks into a Sweet Chin Music. Then a Pedigree. Then a Lionsault. It took three finishing moves but Kane is eliminated at 22:53. 

Jericho furiously goes on the attack after Michaels, running him out of the ring and into the chain fence wall. Jericho and Triple H work together to make HBK bleed, just like both of them. 

Michaels fights back but his attempted piledriver on the metal is countered. He hits a desperate moonsault on a standing Jericho for a close near and kicks out of the Lionsault which gets a big pop from the crowd who are solidly behind Michaels.

Jericho has HBK pinned but Triple H actually breaks up the cover - he wants to be the one to pin and eliminate Michaels. Things turn ugly and their back and forth ends with Jericho locking Triple H in the Walls of Jericho. The Game fights and powers to the ropes but it’s Shawn Michaels with a Sweet Chin Music to Jericho that breaks the hold and eliminates Jericho at 30:43. We’re down to a one on one brawl between the bloody DX founders. 

Triple H hammers Michaels and much like their Summerslam match, Shawn is left to just sell the beating. He’s run into the chain fence, and a slingshot sends him crashing through the bulletproof pod glass. Triple H gets cocky and tries for a Pedigree outside the ring but Michaels blocks it and runs Triple H into the steel and then back in the ring, prepares to drop an elbow from the top of one of the pods which connects! 

Triple H blocks the follow up superkick and spins him into a Pedigree but is far too hurt to get to a cover and by the time he crawls over, Shawn Michaels kicks out! 

He goes for a second but Michaels backdrops and charges in with a Sweet Chin Music, collapsing into the cover. Shawn Michaels pins Triple H for the final elimination at 39:20 and is the new World Heavyweight Champion! 

Incredible match, incredible performances from everyone. I remember watching this when I was a teenager and jumping around my bedroom with my little brother, overjoyed that the Showstopper pulled off a miracle. 

An exhausted and bloody Michaels celebrates with HIS World title belt as confetti rains from the roof of Madison Square Garden.