Survivor Series '98

Legacy Review

Survivor Series '98

November 15, 1998 from the Kiel Center in St. Louis, MO

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

After multiple controversial finishes in WWF Championship matches over the fall resulting in a vacant title, the focus of this show is the "Deadly Game" tournament to crown a new WWF Champion. Structurally it's exactly the same as the Wrestlemania 4 tournament for the vacant title: a 14 man bracket with two wrestlers getting a bye straight to the second round. Since they were two of the wrestlers involved in the controversial matches it's the Undertaker and Kane getting the bye before facing each other to kick the second round off. What, you didn't expect Mr. McMahon to give Austin a bye did you? Silly person. This is also the one year anniversary of the infamous Montreal Screwjob and don't think WWF is going to let you forget that.

Vince is ringside to open the show with a brand new WWF Championship belt (still the modified Winged Eagle but now with a classic black strap and finally updated with the scratch logo). He's still nursing a broken ankle so the Stooges help him out of his wheelchair. He promises a new champion will be crowned tonight, then handles the introductions for the first match himself.

First Round: WWF Hardcore Champion Mankind def a mystery opponent in :30- Mankind is back on Vince's side and has gone corporate again, wearing a tux and completely clean shaven under the mask. You almost need a chart to keep track of who was and wasn't on Vince's side at any given point in these years. The Hardcore title was created earlier in the month and awarded directly to Mankind by Vince as part of getting him back on board. With the corporate backing Mankind is generally considered to be Vince's choice to win the tournament, and therefore the favorite. After Mankind comes out there's an HBK chant. Were there rumors that Shawn was going to possibly come back here? I don't remember. Vince takes his time buttering up the mystery opponent. Someone who came to WWF in 1990 (Shawn fits). A historic win/loss record. A trailblazing athlete. Stayed for 6 years before seeking out new competition in "dubya C dubya" (not Shawn then). Been sidelined the past two years due to injury and anxious to make a comeback. And here he is......DUANE GILL! Gill had been a jobber in WWF in the early '90s, and was now making his return to give the corporate backed Mankind an easy opening round win. Mankind jumps Gill on the apron and flips him back in the ring. Double underhook DDT, Mankind wraps up a cradle and it's over. Lawler: "Was that a real match?". NR

 

First Round: Al Snow (w/Head) def Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) in 3:31- Oh joy, Debra's here. Is there anyone who actually thought she was hot? She's still going by Debra McMichael in a nod to her WCW run even though she and Mongo had divorced in real life earlier in the year. Snow's got Mr. Socko wrapped around Head's forehead. More on that later. Jump start on the floor. Snow does a leaping cannonball off the steps. Back in Jarrett struggles to lift Snow up, then hits him with a hot shot. Snow does the Flair flip in the corner! He ducks a Jarrett clothesline and hits his own. Neckbreaker over the rope. Jarrett dodges a legdrop off the top rope. Dropkick for 2. Snow crucifix for 2. Cradle exchanges for near falls. Snow turns an attempted spinebuster into a DDT for 2. Atomic drop and both guys collide. Debra gets on the apron and picks Head up. Snow goes over and grabs Jarrett's guitar. Jarrett takes Head. Snow swings the guitar but Jarrett ducks and hits Snow with Head. But apparently not very well, because Snow gets Head back, waffles Jarrett with it, and gets the pin. OK for the time they got. Also we got through a whole Jarrett match without the guitar being broken. *1/4

 

First Round: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin def The Big Boss Man by DQ in 3:20- Boss Man returned from WCW a couple of months prior as Vince's private security goon. Commentary wonders if he's here to win the match or to just hurt Austin to hurt his chances later. Third straight jump start and again on the floor. Boss Man gets run into the steps. We cut to a shot of Vince watching in the back and miss Austin's Thesz Press. Elbow drop for 2. Boss Man hits a blatant low blow and goes into slow beatdown mode. Austin fights out of a chinlock and hits a clothesline. Boss Man counters a backdrop, hits his rope splash and slide punch for 2. Austin goes into corner beatdown mode and stomps a mudhole. Boss Man goes to the floor, gets his nightstick, and whacks Austin with it, drawing a DQ. He continues to beat Austin down with it after the bell. Guess that answers our question. 1/2*

Michael Cole is in the back with a very happy Vince. Cole says Austin has come back from worse beatdowns than this. Vince smiles and says "The night is young".

 

First Round: WWF European Champion X-Pac and Steven Regal double countout in 8:10- He's a maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Such a maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! This is Regal's initial cup of coffee in WWF with his "real man" gimmick, a run that wouldn't last long due to real life addiction issues he was having at the time. Natural feud here as Regal objected to an American holding the European title. First match tonight with no jump start. Instead Pac gives Regal a crotch chop to pop the crowd. Pac does his flippy maneuvering into a hook kick. Regal takes an upside down bump in the corner. Side suplex and legdrops from Pac. Regal dodges in the corner and hits a European uppercut. He puts on a partial Regal Stretch. After a bit of back and forth counters Regal slingshots Pac into the mat. He puts on some more wear down holds to keep Pac grounded. Gutwrench suplex for 2. Headscissors. Pac counters out into a sort of cloverleaf. He gets back up with kicks and forearms before crashing in the corner again. Regal sets him up top and hits a double underhook superplex! Cover for 2 and back to grounding Pac. A shoulderblock collision wobblelegs both guys. Pac hits the spinning heel kick for 2. He dropkicks Regal into position and does the bronco buster. Suplex. He goes up top. Regal hits the ropes, crotching Pac and sending him down to the floor. Regal follows. Pac hits a suplex on the floor. He starts pounding away on Regal and the bell rings for a double countout. Vince isn't happy. He sends Slaughter out to order overtime. Slaughter tells Fink to announce a 5 minute sudden death overtime. Regal gets back in and the bell rings, but Pac just walks out apparently hurt. The original decision stands, I guess. That whole postmatch bit was a bit of a mess. Solid match though. With more time and a definitive finish it could have been good. **1/4

Vince is furious that Austin is now going to get a bye into the semifinals.

 

First Round: WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock def Goldust in 5:56- JR points out that Shamrock has already won two tournaments this year: King of the Ring and the tournament for the vacant IC title. Shamrock comes out firing. He "ducks" a Goldust flying clothesline. That didn't look right, and must not have been because they turn around, do it again, and this time Goldust hits it. Clothesline out of the corner from Shamrock. High knees and Russian leg sweep for 2. Goldust has a comeback flurry. Shamrock dodges in the corner. Goldust blocks a suplex and hits his own. Shamrock blocks a monkey flip in the corner but runs into a drop toe hold. Goldust tries a powerbomb but Shamrock counters for 2. Bulldog from Goldust. He goes for the Shattered Dreams nut kick but the ref blocks it. Shamrock hits a horrible hurricanrana off the second rope. Belly to belly suplex, ankle lock and it's over. This was all kinds of rough with both guys rarely on the same page. 1/4*

Cole is outside Austin's locker room. He says Austin has refused medial attention and, unsurprisingly, plans to keep going tonight.

 

First Round: The Rock def Triple HThe Big Boss Man in :03- Nice pop for Rock as he continues to get more and more popular. JR makes a point of saying Rock is another guy Vince absolutely positively does not want to see win the championship. Triple H was scheduled to come back from his knee injury tonight, but was apparently sniffing around or was being approached by WCW so Vince was holding him back until that was settled. Imagine how that would have changed things. Trips' DX intro plays but Stooges Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco come out instead mocking his entrance. They announce that Trips didn't show up tonight and therefore won't wrestle. They also say there will not be a forfeit, as Vince has rounded up a last second replacement: the Big Boss Man! JR is furious because he'd already been eliminated. More making up the rules on the fly. The second Boss Man hits the ring Rock Paul Smackages him and gets the pin! He gets the hell out of town while the Stooges are furious. The crowd loves it. NR

 

Quarterfinals: The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def Kane in 7:16- The slow burn double turn between these two is now pretty much complete, with Kane maybe not an all out face but at least a sympathetic tweener, while Taker and Paul Bearer have reunited to start moving Taker more and more to the dark side. Taker jumps before the bell and as usual both guys exchange haymakers. Kane hits a big boot and 360 clotheslines Taker to the floor. Taker drops Kane on the barricade. Back in Taker wraps the arm in the usual old school setup, but nails Kane with a kick instead. Kane hits a powerslam but misses an elbow drop. Taker gets a boot up in the corner and clips Kane's knee. Some knee work follows that has no bearing on the rest of the match. Buckle shot exchange. Kane starts no selling punches. Whip reversal and corner clothesline from Kane. Clothesline off the top rope for 2. Taker ducks a clothesline and goozles. Kane goozle responds, wins the battle and hits his choke slam. Bearer gets on the apron to distract. Taker scoops Kane from behind, hits the Tombstone, Bearer grabs Kane's foot for good measure, and it's over. These two still haven't come close to equaling their good first match at Wrestlemania 14 despite numerous attempts since. 3/4*

 

Quarterfinals: Mankind def Al Snow (w/Head) in 3:55- Jump start while TV was showing a replay of their first matches with Snow doing the jumping. Mankind does a Bret bump and Snow hits a clothesline. He dropkicks Mankind to the floor. Mankind gets a chair. Snow cuts him off and uses it. Mankind dodges and Snow whacks the post. Snow tries coming off the barricade but Mankind catches him and drops him face first on the chair! We split screen with the back again and the Stooges are sucking up to Vince about how brilliant it was to steal Socko to get Mankind's head where they wanted it. So that's how Socko ended up as Head's headband! Snow hits an enzuguri. He gets Head and takes a swing but misses. Mankind hits a back suplex. He picks Head up. There's Socko! Mankind takes him back, then punches Head for stealing him! Snow attacks from behind. Mankind hits a counter clothesline. Snow spinebuster for 2. Mankind hits the double underhook DDT. Socko is on! Mandible Claw! That finishes it. Mankind and Socko are reunited and it feels so good. *

 

Quarterfinals: The Rock def Ken Shamrock in 8:20- The longtime rivalry renewed, but with reversed heel/face roles. Rock slugs away at the start for early control. Shamrock hits kicks in the corner. Suplex with floatover for 2. Corner clothesline. Rock pops out with his own clothesline. They go to the floor. Rock gives Shamrock an announce table shot, then steals JR's drink, takes a swig, and spits some at Shamrock! Shamrock whips Rock into the steps and slams him on the floor. Back in Shamrock hits a heel kick. Russian leg sweep for 2. Series of knee strikes from Shamrock. Boss Man makes his way out. Rock fights out of a chinlock. Hurricanrana from Shamrock. Arm takedown and the ankle lock is on! Rock fights and manages to get to the ropes. Double clothesline. Rock slowly drapes an arm over for 2. Spinny DDT. Boss Man gets on the apron. Rock uses the distraction to give Shamrock a low blow. People's Elbow! To a massive crowd reaction. Shamrock kicks out! Great reaction, everybody in the crowd thought that was it. Rock cinches up for the Rock Bottom but Shamrock fights free. Belly to belly suplex. Boss Man is up again and tosses his nightstick in. He was aiming for Shamrock, but Rock intercepts it! He whacks Shamrock with it, and covers for the pin! Another Boss Man mission fails as Rock outsmarts him again. Death, taxes, Rock beats Shamrock. **1/2

The final four are who you'd expect: Austin, Rock, Mankind and Taker, and at this point it really looks like it could go in any direction.

 

WWF Women's Championship: Sable def Jacqueline (c) (w/Marc Mero) in 3:14- The women's title, not seen since Alundra Blayze left with it to WCW, was revived in September with a brand new belt. Jacqueline defeated Sable to win it and they've been feuding ever since with Mero in the middle. Shane McMahon is reffing this match. As punishment for re-signing Austin after Vince fired him, Vince busted Shane down to a "lowly" referee, getting the bottom of all the assignments tonight. Jacqueline has a big mess of blonde hair woven into her own as an extension. I'm pretty sure that's Sable's hair she had cut earlier in the feud. Mero annoys Sable after the bell and Jacqueline attacks from behind. Sable responds with a hip toss and big kick. She hits a TKO! Mero pulls her off the pin. They argue on the floor. Sable grabs him and Sable bombs him on the floor! Again Jacqueline gets Sable from behind. She hits a corner kick back in. Sable backdrops out of a powerbomb. Jacqueline goes for her tornado DDT finisher but Sable counters out of it. Sable bomb! That gets the pin and the title! Huge pop for Sable's win. The match was what you'd expect. Thankfully commentary treated it like a proper match instead of Lawler drooling and shouting "PUPPIES!" all over it. 1/2*

 

Semifinals: Mankind def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 10:27- Austin's favoring his left arm from Boss Man's attack as he comes in. That doesn't stop him from jumping all over Mankind as soon as he gets in the ring though. He pulls Mankind's jacket off. And his shoes! Shoe shot from Austin! The Stooges wheel Vince out to ringside. While that's going on Mankind uses a buckle shot to take over and hits some throat shots. Running corner knee. He gives Austin a shoe shot receipt. Austin's back with a Thesz Press! Elbow drop. He hooks up for the Stunner! Mankind squeaks out and runs halfway to Kansas City. The Stooges stop him, try to calm him down and get him back in the ring. Austin breaks the conference up. He tries to piledrive Mankind in the aisle but Mankind backdrops out. Austin gets tossed over the barricade. He clotheslines Mankind back over it to ringside. Stair shot tradeoff. Mankind covers for 2. He grounds Austin for a bit while we get a quick shot of Vince doing some baseball style play calling. Slugfest. Double clothesline. More slugging. Austin stomps a mudhole in the corner. He goes outside to give Mankind a post shot but Mankind pulls Austin into the post. Mankind gets a chair. Austin kicks it back in his face. Mankind dodges Austin's rope splash. Double underhook DDT on the chair! Austin JUST kicks out! Mankind goes for a piledriver on the chair. Austin backdrops out. Stunner on the chair! Cover. Vince is up and pulls ref Mike Chioda out of the ring! The ankle's healed, it's a Rusev Day miracle. Vince punches Chioda's lights out. The fight continues in the ring with Mankind's dress pants falling down. Fortunately he has his Mankind gear on underneath. Mandible Claw! Austin low blows out! Stunner! Shane McMahon slides in, still in his ref gear. 1....2.....Shane stops counting! He laughs and flips Austin off! Shane's turned! WHAT A SWERVE. Yes, there's some sarcasm there. Shocked the crowd though. Mankind takes Austin out with a clothesline. Brisco comes in and gives Austin as much of a chairshot as he could. Mankind covers and Shane counts the pin. Mankind advances to the final and Austin is out. **3/4

Vince and co. make haste to the back. After he recovers Austin follows. Vince's gang are already in their limo and leaving, so Austin commandeers someone's Ford Explorer and follows. This is the point where all the Austin/Vince stuff, while still good and certainly doing gangbusters business, started to get a bit silly as Vince threw the whole rule book out the window and started resorting to taking Austin out by any means necessary. Plus Russo's constant need for SWERVES. I have a feeling we're not done with that theme tonight.

 

Semifinals: The Rock def The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) by DQ in 8:24- Hey, a jump start. That's unique tonight. Rock pounds away until Taker dodges in the corner. They fumble a bit getting in position and Taker hits some apron elbows. Back and forth on the floor. Rock sells the hell out of a Taker headbutt and teases flopping over the barricade into the first row. Back in Rock gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Taker responds with a back elbow and does some chokes. Rock gets tied up in the ropes and Taker pounds away on him. Rock gets free and backdrops Taker to the floor. Another drink shot from Rock. Taker goes over the barricade and both guys take barricade shots. Bearer hits Rock with his shoe. Who uses a shoe, honestly? Rock dodges a corner elbow. Slugfest. Rock hits a Samoan drop. Hey guess what, Boss Man's coming out. I'm sure you're as shocked as I am. Rock hits a DDT. Setup slam and here comes the People's Elbow. No, Boss Man tries to trip Rock (badly)! Taker drops Rock. Then drops Boss Man for good measure. Goozle. Kane runs in! He choke slams Rock! That's a DQ on Taker. Kane gets his revenge for being eliminated earlier. He and Taker brawl through the crowd back to the back. The final is now set and we are now guaranteed a first time WWF Champion between the Rock and Mankind. *1/2

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The New Age Outlaws (c) def The Headbangers and D'Lo Brown & Mark Henry in 10:10- Quick start with Brown and Gunn. I refuse to call it a jump start just for variety. After some back and forth Brown hits a spinning heel kick. Mosh squashes Brown in the corner, visibly repositions him, then hits a springboard dive to the apron. Everyone runs in as things break down. Brown powerbombs Dogg. More guys keep running in and out and breaking up pins. Is anyone tagging? This is a mess. Now it's Brown and Mosh going at it and more cover break ups happening. Oh, commentary mentions that there's three guys legal in the ring at one time since it's a triple threat match. That explains some of it. Guess they're trying something different. It's not working but that explains it. Henry puts a bear hug on Dogg. Mosh chop blocks him. Dogg stays in peril a long time. After he gets tossed out Brown and Mosh go at it again with Brown hitting a hurricanrana. Dogg and Brown collide and Mosh gets a Russian leg sweep for 2. Dogg tries to fight back but Henry kills him with a clothesline. Mosh counters a Brown powerbomb into a roll up for 2. More Dogg in peril stuff follows. Finally Brown and Mosh take each other out and Dogg tags Gunn. Gunn runs wild until Brown plants him with a spinebuster. Ref Tim White takes forever to start the count for no apparent reason, and Gunn kicks out. More awful timing. Gunn hits Mosh with the fameasser. Henry goes for a splash but Gunn dodges it. The splash hits Mosh and Henry covers for 2. Gunn piledrives Mosh and that gets the pin. Clearly trying out having three guys legal at any one time in a triple threat tag match didn't work, this was a Godawful mess from start to finish. DUD

 

Tournament Final for the Vacant WWF Championship: The Rock def Mankind in 17:17- During entrances we cut to the back and see that both Vince and Shane McMahon have returned to the arena (how hard can a limo do a 180 turn?) and are telling Boss Man they want to take care of this one themselves. Boss Man leaves. NO jump start! LOCKUP! Both guys are cautious early on. JR says we'll be with this one to its conclusion. Lawler: "You *will* see all of this PPV!". Nice little shot at WCW's recent Halloween Havoc incident where the show ran long and the TV feed was cut off in the middle of the main event. Rock gets the early edge and hits a clothesline for 2. They go out and brawl in the aisle a bit. Back in Mankind grounds Rock with a chinlock. While that's going on Vince and Shane make their way out to the ring. Rock back suplexes out and they go to the floor again. Rock suplexes Mankind on the floor, then stalks the McMahons. Mankind tries to jump but Rock was ready for him. They brawl into the crowd. Funny bit where Rock tries to use a trash can and it comes apart and falls out of his hands. The second try works. Mankind gets backdropped back over the barricade. Now Rock kills some time with a chinlock while the McMahons do some planning between themselves. Knee to the gut from Mankind. Cactus Clothesline! It's chair time. Mankind hits Rock with it. He picks up the steps. Rock hits them with the chair! Chair headshot to Mankind. Rock rolls him in and covers for 2. Mankind gets a sneaky style (copyright Rocky Romero) low blow. Rock gets set up on the floor. Cactus Elbow! Rock gets draped over the announce table and JR has a fit. Mankind legdrops Rock off the table! It completely missed but still works. Cover for 2. Slugfest. Rock gets backdropped back out to the floor but Mankind quickly gets him back in. Rock DDT. Again Mankind tosses Rock out. He sets up on the second rope. Rock dodges and Mankind crashes through the Spanish announce table! Savinovich managed to stay upright this time. Setup slam back in. Elbow pad off. People's Elbow! Mankind kicks out! Double underhook DDT! No cover. Instead, Mankind pulls Socko out. Claw! Rock stays in it a while and Hebner does the arm drops. Rock fights back up. Rock Bottom! Both guys are down. Rock drapes his arm over for 2. Sharpshooter! Vince calls for the bell and it rings! Rock wins his first ever WWF Championship! Huge pop. Vince gets in the ring with the belt. He and Rock look at each other........and hug! The crowd starts getting what's going on and turns. WHAT A SWERVE. It turns out all of Vince's hatred of the Rock, all of Boss Man's apparent bumbling in Rock's matches tonight, it was all a RUSE. Getting Mankind corporate again was also only a means to his Rock ends. And there was no way they were getting out of the night without referencing Montreal. Even with all the swerviness this was the best match of the night, which is admittedly a very low bar. ***1/4

Vince gets a mic to gloat. "Vince McMahon didn't screw the people, the people screwed the people!". He calls the people "as gullible as Mankind". Double turn complete. He also brags about screwing Austin, then cements Rock's turn by telling the fans that Rock hates them. Mankind is confused, he never submitted so why did he lose? Vince says let me explain by Rock hitting you from behind with the belt. Rock Bottom. Shane officially declares Rock to be the Corporate Champion. Austin's back! He charges the ring! Rock tries to stomp him down while the McMahons get the hell out of town. Stunner! Austin tosses Rock out. Stunner to Mankind because he's still Austin. Austin gives Rock a few more shots on his way out. I think it's pretty clear the Wrestlemania main event has been penciled in. The question is, how do we get there? Well for one, Rock and Mankind are far from done with each other.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- This has always been a very divisive show. Clearly the wrestling quality is nothing to write home about, which is always a risk with a large one night tournament. It would have helped if the tournament matches had some more match and wrestling style variety. Outside maybe Regal/Pac they were all the heavy brawling, lots of fighting on the floor style that was prevalent during this era. Like much of the Attitude Era, it's much more about the story than the wrestling. In that this show mostly succeeds, though like I noted on the Austin side it was starting to get a bit on the silly side. It's also not at all a standalone show, in order to fully appreciate all the storytelling done here you need to be familiar with most of what's been going on in WWF the past at least 6 months. It'd be like jumping into the MCU at like Age of Ultron without having seen anything prior, and like the MCU at that point there's still a lot to come.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-