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Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the Survivor Series 2000.
WWF's Survivor Series (11/19 from the Tampa Ice Palace) was a mix of good and bad. The workrate in most of the matches was strong. Crowd heat was good during the thumb's up matches (poor during the weaker segments). The Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker bout was better than it had any right to be, given Undertaker's physical limitations. Rock vs. Rikishi was solid. And the Steve Austin vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley main event was very good until....well, until the unbelievably horrible ending. Seriously, it was one of those endings so bad that it nearly overrode any positives on the show. It crossed the line from suspension of disbelief to suspension of intellect, and shows the danger in trying to be either too cute or too hardcore, especially trying to be both at the same time. The ending to the Angle vs. Undertaker match was also stupid, reminiscent of 80's WWF kiddie angles that are looked back upon today as a joke. Another danger currently brewing in the WWF is that the alliances being formed make increasingly little sense. HHH allied with Chris Benoit and the Radicalz? They really need to start thinking some of these things through a little more before they start making some of the same mistakes that sent WCW into a tailspin.
CRASH HOLLY & MOLLY HOLLY & STEVE BLACKMAN defeated TEST & ALBERT & TRISH STRATUS in 5:03. A standard opener. Trish kept trying to avoid Molly (formerly Mona in WCW). Crash got manhandled in the wrong corner. Test nearly kicked his head off in one spot. The four guys ended up brawling on the floor. Trish managed to get the upper hand on Molly for a few seconds, but Molly came back and pinned Trish with a sunset flip. Recently wed Jerry Lawler was lusting after the gals big time on commentary, obviously not of the Bob Caudle school of broadcasting.
Backstage, Kurt Angle boasted to Edge & Christian that he wouldn't need their help in his match against Undertaker since he had it all under control.
Tiger Ali Singh & Lo Down (D-Lo Brown & Chaz) tried to get into the backstage area but the guard wouldn't let them in without credentials. Tiger Jeet Singh would have just used his sword to clear a path through the arena.
THE RADICALZ beat ROAD DOGG & CHYNA & BILLY GUNN & K. KWIK in a Survivor Series elimination match in 12:39. Terri was with the Radicalz, and Lawler lusted after her, too. Notice how the Radicalz spell their name with a "z"? Lots of teams substitute a "z" for an "s" to appear non-conformist, but the problem is that so many do so that it's become conformist. Perry Saturn started off against Billy Gunn, who is no longer Mr. Ass. Damn! I won't get to write "ass" a ton of times during my reports anymore. Chyna came in and kicked Saturn and did her handspring elbow. Saturn caught her but she kicked him near the crotch (she actually missed by quite a bit) to escape. The crowd was into Chyna but she got pinned and eliminated at 2:30 after Eddie Guerrero hit her with his IC belt. The Radz did a four-on-one on Gunn until he rallied and pinned Guerrero at 6:00. Kwik made his PPV debut and popped the crowd with some cool moves, including a spinning headscissors, before being pinned by Chris Benoit with a German suplex at 7:16. Saturn suplexed Dogg for the pin at 8:47. At 10:56 Gunn pinned Dean Malenko with the Famouser after Benoit and Saturn got crossed up on the floor. But Benoit scored the final pin at 12:39 when he fell on Gunn (who was going for a suplex) and Saturn held Gunn's leg from outside the ring and Gunn was pinned. Mostly an okay match.
Lilian Garcia tried to interview Rock but he wouldn't speak.
KANE defeated CHRIS JERICHO in 12:33. Jericho went after Kane and dropkicked him from the ring. Jericho did a plancha and could have been seriously hurt when his boot caught the top rope going over but Kane was close enough in to catch him. They brawled some on the floor. Jericho hit a springboard dropkick. Kane dominated for a while with power moves and did a spot when he hung Jericho over his back by holding onto his throat. The announcers kept putting over that Kane was trying to maim Jericho's face, since his own face is maimed. Kane hurled Jericho from the ring with one arm. Kane came off the top but Jericho dropkicked him in mid-air. The crowd started to really get into the match at this point. Jericho hit a missile kick and scored some near falls. Jericho hooked the Walls hold but Kane made the ropes. Jericho went for the lionsault but Kane caught him by the throat, which was a neat spot, and chokeslammed him for the pin. The match was pretty good considering the style clash.
Terri told the Radicalz that HHH was in the arena and would meet with them shortly. Benoit and the others laughed with glee. Jeez, what a weird alliance given that Benoit recently walloped Stephanie.
WILLIAM REGAL defeated HARDCORE HOLLY by DQ in 5:47 to retain the European Title. Regal worked on Holly's bad arm (the one that was broken) while the crowd snoozed. Holly then hit Regal with the belt for the cheap DQ. Very lame.
Trish flirted with Angle, but he didn't get the message. In fact, there were two huge messages staring him in the face and he missed both of them. Trish hinted a willingness to help him in his match but Angle thought she was offering for Test & Albert to help and said it was unnecessary since he had the match in the bag.
ROCK beat RIKISHI in 11:17. Rock charged the ring and was about to use a chair on Rikishi but the ref took it from him. Rock then pounded Rikishi with his fists. Rikishi came back and kept hitting and kicking Rock in the chest, with Rock selling the injury he received there on RAW when Rikishi hit him in the chest with a sledgehammer. Rikishi kept stomping Rock. It was strange seeing Rock in a mid-card match, and the crowd must have thought so as well since they were kind of quiet at first, but then started getting into the match. Rikishi got another sledgehammer but Rock nailed him with a Rock Bottom before he could use it. The ref had been bumped so Rock only scored a two count. Rikishi hit a Samoan drop and actually rubbed his ass in Rock's face. It was really weird seeing a babyface star like Rock take that move. Rock came back and hit a killer lariat which sent Rikishi on a spin bump. Rock hit a spinebuster and a People's Elbow to a huge pop. He was slow covering Rikishi (still selling the chest injury) but got the three count. Afterward, Rikishi laid Rock out and did four Banzai drops on him. Pretty good match.
Raven was shown standing around, looking weird, at WWF New York.
HHH was hanging around with the Radicalz backstage when Mick Foley arrived. Foley said he was making the HHH vs. Austin match a no-DQ bout and banned the Radz from ringside. HHH smirked that Austin would be leaving the arena without the use of his legs.
IVORY defeated LITA in 4:51 to retain the WWF Women's Title. Lita is the most over female wrestler in this country since Wendi Richter's brief run on top in the mid-80's. Lita hurled Ivory around. Ivory then caught Lita hardway with a fist just above the eye and legit busted her open. She juiced big time. Female bloodbaths are not uncommon in Japan but over here it's very rare to see the ladies bleed, though of course it was an accident in this case. Lita hit a spinning headscissors and did a plancha onto both Ivory and Steven Richards. Lita went for a moonsault but Richards pulled Ivory clear. Lita suplexed Ivory and went for another moonsault but Ivory held up the title belt and Lita landed on it and was pinned. The cut above her eye looked really sick and given the amount of blood it no doubt required stitches.
Jonathan Coachman reported that Rock was coughing up blood in his locker room.
Chris Jericho attacked Kane backstage and destroyed with with a chair and a 2x4.
KURT ANGLE beat UNDERTAKER in 16:15 to retain the WWF World Title. This was way better than the poor match these two had a few months ago. Angle didn't have Stephanie in his corner since she still has the "flu". He kept stalling and didn't want to get in the ring with Undertaker. UT finally gave Angle a chair to coax him into fighting. Angle used it on UT. Basically they brawled, each scoring some twos, but it was mostly pretty good with UT moving faster than usual. UT bumped out but he caught Angle when he came off the apron and posted him. Angle kept working on UT's leg. There were huge "Angle sucks" chants throughout the match. UT put Angle in an armbar submission and he tapped but the ref didn't see it since Edge & Christian ran out and distracted him. UT attacked Edge & Christian. He returned to the ring and chokeslammed Angle but the ref was slow getting back to the ring and Angle kicked out. UT got several more two counts with Angle kicking out and Jim Ross put Angle over as being tough, which was a good idea since they've overdone the idea that he's a pansy to the point that a lot of fans don't take him seriously. Angle locked the figure four on UT, and also hooked it around the ring post a la Bret Hart. Angle escaped from a tombstone piledriver attempt. Angle crawled under the ring but UT dragged him out and gave him the Last Ride for the attempted pin (actually it was two Last Rides as the first one didn't quite come off) but after counting two, referee Earl Hebner stopped the count because he noticed that the guy being pinned wasn't Angle. Instead, it was some guy who looked like Angle and was dressed like him. Boy, I'll bet that was deja vu for Hebner. Anyway, Angle then came up from the other side of the ring and surprised UT with a schoolboy and got the pin using the tights. A silly ending. Angle fled from the arena and drove off in his car at high speed. This broke the streak of six Survivor Series PPV's where the WWF Title had changed hands, including the famous Montreal title change.
THE HARDYS & THE DUDLEYS beat GOODFATHER & BULL BUCHANAN & EDGE & CHRISTIAN in a Survivor Series elimination match in 10:04. There was very little heat despite the talent involved. They did one spot where the Hardys & Dudleys did a quadruple DDT on their foes. Edge pinned Matt Hardy with a move Lawler called the Edge-A-Matic at 3:58 after interference from Val Venis. Christian pinned D-Von with a tomokaze at 5:07. Buh Buh Ray cleaned house and pinned Buchanan after Edge accidentally speared him at 7:31. Christian then accidentally splashed Edge and he was pinned by Buh Buh at 7:58. At 8:39 Goodfather pinned Buh Buh with a Death Valley Driver. At 9:38 Jeff Hardy pinned Christian with a swanton. The heat finally picked up. Jeff won the match at 10:04, pinning Goodfather when Val accidentally lariated him. A lot of heel incompetence in this match. They tried to make up for it by attacking Jeff afterward and Val did the Money Shot on him but the faces all made the save and both Val and Steven Richards were put through tables.
STEVE AUSTIN (presumably) defeated HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY in a no-DQ match in 25:00. Austin flipped HHH off and the match was on. It was a solid brawl throughout. Austin pounded HHH and worked on his back. HHH bailed out and Austin followed. They brawled up the aisle and around a tech area in the back. They fought back to ringside and Austin took a bump on the Spanish announcers' table. Austin hit HHH with a monitor and he juiced a gusher. Austin had a beer and then hit HHH with the cooler and the empty beer can. Water got all over the mat and Austin nearly slipped in it. He told JR to clean it up. Back in the ring, HHH blocked a stunner and hit a neckbreaker. The heat was very strong by this point. They went back out and HHH was about to Pedigree Austin on the stairs but Austin backdropped him through the main announcers' desk. Once again returning to the ring, Austin gave HHH a stunner. He placed HHH's leg through a chair and was going to stomp it (JR mentioned the time he did that to Brian Pillman) but instead he switched it to HHH's neck. JR freaked out that this could break HHH's neck but the ref got rid of the chair before Austin could carry out his plan. HHH revived and brawled with Austin up the aisle and backstage where (surprise!) the Radicalz attacked Austin since Foley had banned them from ringside but said nothing about interfering backstage. As a bunch of refs tried to pull the Radz off Austin, HHH staggered out to the parking lot and got in his car. Benoit then tried to lure Austin out, where HHH planned to run him over again. But Austin instead got in a forklift and unexpectedly came up on HHH's car from the side. He lifted the car high as HHH pleaded with him to stop, and then dropped the car, which flipped over and landed upside down, totally smashing the roof of the car in. In real life this would have killed anyone in the car, and was thus as moronic as the incident where Paul Wight fell off the roof of the arena a few years ago, or where one of the Road Warriors fell off the Titantron, or where the dumpster was dropped on Big Bossman's car. In other words, it was an idiotic angle, so hardcore that it was childish. The match and show simply ended, with no winner officially declared, though I guess with HHH smashed up in an upside down crushed vehicle, Austin won.
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