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November 17th
On this day in history in ....
1986 - Lance Von Erich & The Dingo Warrior (Ultimate Warrior) defeat Matt Borne & Master Gee (subbing for Buzz Sawyer) to win the World Class Championship Wrestling Tag Team Title in Ft. Worth, Texas.
1996 - WWF's Survivor Series was held in New York City at Madison Square Garden, and was headlined by Sid Vicious defeating Shawn Michaels for the WWF World Heavyweight Title. For a full report on the show, which also saw the WWF television debut of The Rock, go to Page 2!
1998 - Duane Gill, playing his "Gillberg" character (a spoof on Goldberg), defeats Christian for the WWF Light Heavyweight Title in Columbus, Ohio.
2000 - Da Hit Squad defeat Don Montoya & Homicide for the Jersey All Pro Tag Team Titles in Bayonne, New Jersey, the second of five title reigns for the duo.
2002 - WWE's Survivor Series was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City, and featured five separate title changes. Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show:
WWE's Survivor Series (11/17 from New York's Madison Square Garden) was a successful event with two controversial endings. The show set what I believe is a PPV record with a clean sweep of five title changes (they've done four a couple of times). Two of those changes were controversial, in the non-storyline sense. The first was when Brock Lesnar lost the WWE World Title to Big Show when Paul Heyman turned. A very good case could be made that Lesnar needed a long, uninterrupted reign to establish himself as a new major star. His position was already watered down by the decision to create a separate world title for RAW. The loss of the title this soon shows an amazing lack of patience among the people running WWE, even though all logic dictates that he'll get the belt back soon enough. The Heyman turn was something that eventually would have to happen, and should happen, but should have been saved for something like a Wrestlemania. I actually enjoyed the tension between Lesnar and Heyman, and the gimmick of them often arguing, but then working together at match time, was one that could have lasted a long while before the blow off. Why, after all, would Heyman dump the Next Big Thing, a guy who (on WWE TV at least) had never lost via pinfall, for a guy they've treated as a jobber for the past two years and who as recently as the last Smackdown got pulverized by Lesnar?
The other controversial ending was the Shawn Michaels win in the Elimination Chamber for the RAW World Title. One would think this is short term as well due to Heartbreak Kid's back problems. It was also controversial because of his past record of not doing jobs, though doing a return favor for Triple H probably won't be a problem for him. HBK was clearly the emotional and crowd favorite in that match so his win was logical, and thus more popular than his notorious last title win on a Survivor Series.
The split team commentary was very good. The crowd cooled a few times but was mostly hot, and very hot for the key matches and spots.
BUBBA RAY DUDLEY & SPIKE DUDLEY & JEFF HARDY defeated THREE MINUTE WARNING in 14:19 in a Tables Elimination Match. All six brawled at first with TMW getting dumped from the ring. Bubba threw Spike out onto them, but they caught him, so Jeff vaulted high out onto them, nearly killing himself on the bump. They did a couple of wazzup spots, and then the tables began to materialize. Rosey put himself through a table when he charged Spike and missed, but it wasn't an elimination since they used the rules that going through a table on an offensive move doesn't count. I'm sure they'll use the opposite rules next time, just to confuse us. By the way, Rosey plowing through that table looked awesome. Jeff and Rosey then sort of messed up a little spot and the crowd let them know about it. The first elimination came at 4:23 when Spike tried for a Dudley Dog on Rico, but Rosey & Jamal blocked it and plastered Spike through a table in a spot that looked really painful. Rosey & Jamal went to the top but both got crotched. Rosey's crotching may have been the best one of all time. Rico got tossed out and landed on a cameraman. Rosey attacked Jeff and dragged him through the crowd. Bubba laid Rico and Jamal out and chased after Rosey. Rosey was about to put Jeff through a table in the crowd area when Bubba made the save. Jeff then swantoned Rosey through the table from off a ledge for the second elimination at 7:52. Back in the ring, Bubba got jumped and placed on a table. Rico went up to moonsault him through but Jeff caused a crotching again. Bubba tried to superplex Rico through but Jamal moved the table. Jeff did a corkscrew moonsault on Jamal. On the floor, Jeff did his rail run but slipped and clumsily went through a table held by Jamal (ruled an offensive move by the ref, so no elimination). However, Jeff was hurt and got placed on another table and Jamal splashed him through from off the top for the elimination at 10:57 in a major sick looking spot. Jamal went to superplex Bubba through a table but Bubba blocked it and powerbombed Jamal through from off the top for an elimination at 12:08. This left Bubba and Rico, but Jamal & Rosey, though eliminated, attacked Bubba and beat him up before leaving. Rico joined in and it was three-on-one until suddenly, to a huge pop, D-Von Dudley ran in for the save. D-Von destroyed Rosey & Jamal, and they finished it off with a 3D on Rico through a table at 14:19 for the win. There was a big pop as Bubba & D-Von hugged, reuniting the Dudley Boyz, as D-Von is now back on RAW as part of the Big Show trade. Excellent opener.
Stacy Keibler appeared at the World, saying she had sent Test on a tour to promote his testicles. Saliva performed a song live.
BILLY KIDMAN beat JAMIE NOBLE to capture the Cruiserweight Title in 7:28. Some good mat stuff with Noble hitting a neckbreaker. Noble hurled Kidman out and nailed him with a tope. The crowd cooled here and didn't pop until near the end, but it was a good match. Kidman dropkicked Noble out of the air and hit a backbreaker. They started trading two counts but the crowd still didn't get that much into it. Kidman went up for his shooting star press, with Nidia pulling Noble to safety. So Kidman then splashed Noble on the floor. Back in the ring they did a series of spots concluding with Noble colliding with Nidia after she slapped Kidman. They traded more twos, including one after Kidman DDT'd Noble off the top. Noble responded by DDT'ing Kidman almost straight down on his head from a top rope position. Kidman recovered and went back up. Nidia tried to stop him so he kicked her away and then hit the shooting star press for the pin and first of five title changes.
Backstage, Kurt Angle told Chris Benoit that if Kidman can win a title, then surely they can regain their tag belts. Angle called himself the team captain and they argued back and forth over it until finally doing the hugging deal again, with Benoit not all that happy about it.
F-VIEW cameras caught Victoria looking in her dressing room mirror. She asked the mirror who is the prettiest diva of them all. The mirror didn't actually say anything, nor did Ultimate Warrior appear in it (remember that angle in WCW?). But Victoria thought the mirror said Trish Stratus is the prettiest, so she went into a rage and smashed the mirror and tore up a cardboard Trish cut-out.
VICTORIA defeated TRISH STRATUS in 7:00 in a hardcore match to capture the WWE Women's Title. This may have been the roughest women's match ever in WWE. Jerry Lawler said Victoria just hasn't been the same since that house fell on her sister. Victoria choked Trish with her ring jacket. She used a broom on Trish. They took some pretty good shots from garbage cans and lids. They then used the kendo sticks for some hard blows. They were really laying them in. Trish tried to set up an ironing board but it wouldn't stand, so she propped it in the corner and rammed Victoria into it. They used the lids and sticks some more. Victoria got a bloody nose. She grabbed a mirror and looked at herself in it, but the mirror didn't get used as a weapon. Trish hit a very bad bulldog. Victoria shot a fire extinguisher off in Trish's face and pinned her with a suplex. Not much finesse, but a very entertaining women's match. I like Victoria's gimmick.
Jonathan Coachman interviewed Eric Bischoff. Bischoff promised the Elimination Chamber would make history, would be better than anything Stephanie could come up with, etc.. Big Show walked by and told Bischoff he was about to prove what a mistake it was to trade him away to Smackdown. Meanwhile, in Lesnar's locker room, Heyman was feigning concern over Lesnar's broken rib and promising to stand by him in the match.
BIG SHOW defeated BROCK LESNAR in 4:19 to capture the WWE World Title. Show threw Lesnar around but Lesnar then tackled him to a big pop. They brawled on the floor. In the ring, Lesnar side suplexed Show. He didn't get him all the way up and Taz, on the mic, said it was because of his broken rib. Lesnar gave Show a German suplex and also didn't get him all the way over. The ref took a great bump when Lesnar accidentally collided with him. Lesnar hit a belly to belly suplex. Heyman tossed in a chair. Lesnar walloped Show with it and hit the F5 (a real good one, too, despite Show's huge size). A second ref ran in to count the pin, but Heyman turned at this point by dragging the ref out and slugging him. Lesnar immediately went after Heyman and chased him, allowing Show to recover and blindside Lesnar with two chairshots to the rib area, followed by a chokeslam on the chair. The original ref revived and counted the first "official" pin on Lesnar in WWE. It was as good as a match with Show can be, and had great heat. Lesnar lost, but was protected. I'm not all that happy with the booking here, but we'll see how it turns out, I guess. Show and Heyman left together and fled in a limo.
Al Wilson & Dawn Marie were shown in the crowd, cuddling and watching the show together like two love birds.
EDDIE GUERRERO & CHAVO GUERRERO JR. defeated EDGE & REY MYSTERIO JR, and KURT ANGLE & CHRIS BENOIT in a three way elimination match to capture the Smackdown WWE World Tag Titles in 19:24. Benoit and Mysterio started it off. Mysterio hit a huracanrana. Edge tagged in. Benoit tagged Angle in, but he immediately tagged Chavo. Mysterio and Chavo traded bumps. Mysterio did spinning headscissors on both Angle and Eddie. Angle charged Mysterio but hit the post. Mysterio went to the top but slipped off and landed scarily almost on his head. Angle went to work on Mysterio, scoring some twos. Angle put a long facelock on Mysterio, which briefly killed the crowd. Angle and Benoit fast tagged and kept Mysterio tied up. Mysterio came back after landing standing on a suplex and plastered Angle with a hard kick. Edge hot tagged in and destroyed everyone until Angle & Benoit caught him and did the crossface and ankle lock combo on him. Mysterio made the save for Edge. Angle and Chavo brawled out to the floor where Mysterio did a corkscrew moonsault onto them. Benoit was about to German suplex Edge when Eddie came off the top with a sunset flip. So Eddie sunset flipped Benoit, who held onto Edge and German suplexed him as he was going over. Benoit suplexed Eddie out for a big bump and did more Germans on Edge. Eddie frog splashed Edge. Benoit did the diving headbutt on Eddie. Chavo hit Benoit with one of the title belts and then tossed the belt to Angle. Benoit thought Angle hit him, and they argued, allowing Edge to spear Benoit for the pin at 13:08. Kind of sad to see Angle & Benoit eliminated, but then, all three teams here were popular in their own way. Angle & Benoit, frustrated at their elimination, laid all four rivals out before leaving. They argued with one another on the way out. The Guerreros doubled on Edge and scored several twos. Mysterio hot tagged and the tide turned. Edge vaulted Mysterio up for a huracanrana off the top on Eddie. Mysterio did the 619 on Eddie as well. Mysterio went up for the West Coast Pop but Chavo hit him with one of the belts and Eddie forced Mysterio to tap to the Lasso from El Paso. It was a good match judged by normal standards but not the excellent match we've come to expect from these guys.
Christopher Nowinski came out and claimed to be the only Harvard graduate in the arena. He said New Yorkers are stupid. He added that intelligence isn't something you can buy, the way the Yankees bought all their World Series wins. Matt Hardy came out and disputed Nowinski, claiming New Yorkers could better be classified as losers rather than stupid. He said they not only lack Mattitude, but are sucking the Mattitude out of him so badly that he was in danger of choking like the Knicks. Nowinski and Matt argued back and forth over whether New Yorkers are stupid or losers, finally compromising by agreeing New Yorkers are losers who are stupid, calling them "loopid". At this point, Scott Steiner came out to a massive pop. Matt used Nowinski as a shield, but it was to no avail as Steiner destroyed both with suplexes, dumping them from the ring to excellent crowd heat. Steiner got on the mic and put over New York City, but otherwise said nothing about whether he's going to RAW or Smackdown. It was a great debut for Steiner, who came off looking like a major star.
Terri tried to interview HBK about the Elimination Chamber but they were interrupted by an RNN news report from Randy Orton, giving an update on his rehab.
Coach interviewed HHH, who had Ric Flair with him. HHH called the Chamber a first class ticket to hell but vowed to come out of it the winner because he really is that damn good.
Bischoff came out and put over the rules for the Chamber. He got inside the structure and pointed out all its features. It was a domed cage with chains instead of fencing for the siding. Its base was level with the ring, so if a wrestler got thrown out he would land on steel. There were four plexiglass individual chambers inside. The rules were that four wrestlers chosen by random drawing would enter those chambers, while the remaining two wrestlers would start the match. Every five minutes a wrestler would be released from his chamber, also by random drawing. The last man left would be the new RAW World Champion. It was an interesting structure, with the metal base being the scariest part. The chains instead of fencing looked good but wasn't any rougher than regular fencing. Kind of "gimmicky" but it came out okay as a live match forum.
SHAWN MICHAELS defeated TRIPLE H, CHRIS JERICHO, KANE, BOOKER T, and ROB VAN DAM in the Elimination Chamber to capture the RAW World Title in 39:17. Jim Ross mentioned all the wrestlers' Survivor Series records as they entered the ring. HHH's wasn't all that hot. HBK's, of course, included Montreal. The first four, in order, were Jericho, Booker, Kane, and HBK, each of whom entered an individual chamber. It was funny because they were also released from their chambers in that same order, but JR & Lawler kept wondering who the next guy released would be throughout the match. HHH and RVD started off the bout. They immediately started bumping on the steel base floor, which must surely have hurt. There was one comical WCW type blooper when RVD rammed HHH into the door and it flew open, after we had been told they were sealed inside. HHH juiced. RVD hit him with the rolling thunder on the steel. RVD went up on top of Jericho's chamber but Jericho reached through the chains to grab him. RVD still managed to dive off onto HHH. The first five minute mark was reached and Jericho was released from his chamber. RVD quickly moonsaulted him. Jericho vaulted RVD up into the chain caging but RVD grabbed it like Spiderman and came back off onto Jericho. HHH and Jericho joined forces and doubled on RVD, ramming him repeatedly into the caging. HHH gave RVD a DDT. At the end of the second five minutes, Booker was released. He laid HHH and Jericho out with kicks and did the spinaroonie. He then brawled with RVD. Booker flattened HHH with a scissor kick and RVD came off onto him with a frog splash from off a chamber. RVD sold it that his knee went out and Booker immediately missile kicked him and pinned him, so RVD was eliminated at 13:37. Jericho and Booker went at it and traded some good spots. Kane was released. He destroyed everyone, with HHH taking a Flair-style face first bump. Kane mauled Jericho and threw him through the glass on one of the empty chambers. It was a great looking spot. Kane chokeslammed Booker, with Jericho recovering and sneaking in with a lionsault for the pin and elimination on Booker at 17:39. Kane laid HHH out again and pulverized Jericho, who was juicing from the glass shot. An "HBK" chant started as it was nearly time for his release, and when he came out there was a huge pop. HBK cleaned house on everyone until Kane chokeslammed him. Kane then chokeslammed HHH and Jericho. This gave HBK time to recover and he caught Kane with the sweet chin music. HHH pedigreed Kane, followed by Jericho lionsaulting him and Kane was eliminated at 22:51 when Jericho pinned him. HHH and Jericho doubled on HBK, ramming him into the caging and bumping him on the steel. HBK juiced a gusher. HBK tried to piledrive Jericho on the steel but he backdropped HBK for a sick bump. Gotta give credit to HBK for taking this with his bad back. Jericho bulldogged and lionsaulted HBK but only scored two. The crowd by now was really into HBK as the favorite. HBK moonsaulted Jericho for a near fall. HBK put Jericho in his own walls hold but HHH broke it up. HHH gave HBK a DDT. HHH and Jericho argued over who would pin him and they began fighting. Jericho put HHH in the walls. HBK surprised Jericho with the sweet chin music and pinned him at 30:40. This left HHH and HBK. HHH backdropped HBK again on the steel, and then threw him through one of the glass chambers, like happened to Jericho earlier. Huge pop when HBK kicked out at two. They each took more shots into the steel and the chain caging. The crowd was chanting "HBK" like crazy. HBK came off one of the individual chambers with an elbow. HHH blocked the chin music and hit a pedigree, but he was slow to make the cover due to exhaustion and only scored a two count. HHH went for another pedigree but HBK backdropped him and nailed him with the chin music for the pin. Major pop for the HBK win and title change. A long gimmick match with both some weak and strong spots, but mostly good and the grand finale was excellent to end an overall strong PPV show. HHH apparently was legit injured during the match.
Notes: Triple H suffered a throat injury during the main event at Survivor Series when Rob Van Dam hit him with his shin while going for a frog splash off one of the chambers. Triple H was in the trauma unit for the throat injury that night, and in his tights and bloody until Monday afternoon. There was a delay in testing his throat as he was dehydrated from his match and was unable to drink due to concerns of causing an infection in the throat, which forced him to need IV treatment in order to prepare his body for dyes they doctors needed to inject for tests.
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