On the Marc Reviews: Survivor Series 1996

Madison Square Garden, New York, NY; November 17, 1996

Commentators: Vince McMahon and Jim Ross

This show is available on the WWE Survivor Series Anthology, Vol. 2 – 1992-1996 DVD.

Vince Russo has started to have a hand in the booking here so things begin to have a little more “Attitude”.

Team Bart: Bart Gunn, “The Real Double J” Jessie James, Aldo Montoya & Bob “Spark Plug” Holly vs. Team Billy: Billy Gunn, The Sultan, Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw & Salvatore Sincere (w/Iron Sheik & Uncle Zebekiah):   This is the Free-for-All not on the WWE Survivor Series Anthology, Vol. 2 – 1992-1996 DVD, but is available on YouTube. The Sultan is Rikishi [Fatu]. The Sultan starts off Aldo Montoya (ECW’s eventual Justin Credible) who no longer has the hair coming out of the top of his mask; they lockup and Sultan uses his weight and tosses Montoya round; Aldo hits a pair of dropkicks and finally a flying forearm knocks the Sultan to the floor. Montoya pescados out onto him; back in the ring, Aldo hits a top-rope crossbody for two. Aldo telegraphs a backdrop and the Sultan piledrives him and slaps on the Camel Clutch and Aldo Montoya is ELIMINATED.

Bob Holly runs in and applies a sleeper into a bulldog for two. Bradshaw sneaks a knee from the apron in and the Sultan gets in a belly-to-belly suplex and applies a reverse facelock. Back from commercial, Sincere flings Bart Gunn to the floor where the Sultan bodyslams him; Sincere hits a baseball slide dropkick. Sincere whips Bart Gunn down by the hair but Bart comes back with a spinning sidewalk slam and gets three. Salvatore Sincere is ELIMINATED.

Bradshaw runs right in and boots Bart in the head; Gunn comes back with a hiptoss and a bodyslam. Bob Holly gets a blind tag and kills Bradshaw with a dropkick for two. Bradshaw hits a big boot and a Russian-leg sweep. Holly low-bridges Bradshaw to the floor; back in the ring, Bradshaw levels Holly with a lariat and gets three. Bob Holly is ELIMINATED.

Jesse James sneaks in and rolls-up Bradshaw for three and he is ELIMINATED in some confusion because Billy Gunn charged in and looked like he broke up the cover.

The Sultan comes in from behind and nails James; he comes back with the Shake, Rattle and Roll punches. Sultan counters a hiptoss with a backbreaker. Sultan tries a bodyslam but Jesse rolls him up into an inside cradle for three and the Sultan is ELIMINATED.

Billy Gunn runs in and attacks future New Age Outlaw Jesse James; Jesse reverses a whip but drops his head for a backdrop so Billy hits a Fameasser, then still called a Rocker Dropper, for three to ELIMINATE Jesse James.

It comes down to the former Smoking Gunns as Billy and Bart square off, for the first time since Billy turned on Bart, to a huge eruption; Billy locks Bart into the ropes and punches away. Bart frees himself and Billy misses a Stinger splash; Bart nails a running forearm and pins his former tag team partner. Billy Gunn is ELIMINATED and Bart Gunn is the sole survivor. 3.5/10 It was just the Free-for-All, so it had jobbers, but it also had a battle between two former tag team champions. It had heat, but due to time constraints, it went very quick with rapid fire eliminations so it wasn’t able to fully “get going” hence the lower score but it was not that bad for a rushed four-on-four survivor match though.

Team Godwinn: Godwinns & Furnas and LaFon (w/Hillbilly Jim) vs. Team Mason: Owen Hart, British Bulldog & New Rockers (w/Clarence Mason):   Jerry Lawler joins for commentary to be a nuisance. Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon were making their WWF debuts here; Owen and the Bulldog are the tag team champions here. Marty Jannetty starts off with LaFon; Marty slaps him off a clean rope break so LaFon works the arm. Jannetty bounces on the ropes to flip out of a hiptoss and monkey flips LaFon but he lands on his feet and clotheslines Marty for a 360º sell. Leif Cassidy (Al Snow) tags in and they go through a series of reversals until LaFon reverse drop-toe rolls into a leglock. LaFon kicks away and Cassidy catches his leg and twirls it in a Dragon screw. LaFon retreats and tags in Phineas I. Godwinn; they lock up and Phineas knocks Leif him down. Phineas runs into a bodyslam and slaps Phineas in the face and runs; Leif tries another slam but it is reversed. Jannetty gets a knee in from the apron, off the ropes, and Cassidy drops Phineas and tags in Owen and he and the Bulldog snap Godwinn’s legs. Owen stomps and the Rockers choke Phineas drawing Henry into the ring, which just allows more double teaming. Cassidy returns and clotheslines Phineas and drops a leg; Jannetty hits a reverse flying elbow. Marty cuts a comeback off with a faceplant and climbs to the top but gets crotched; Phineas tries a superplex but gets shoved off but then Jannetty misses a second-rope elbow and Phineas tag in Henry O. Godwinn. Jannetty looks to have hurt his knee (legit); Phineas jumps horizontally in the corner to cushion Hank from a corner whip. Leif tries it in the other corner but it, of course, backfires and Jannetty eats the Slop Drop and Marty Jannetty is ELIMINATED.

Owen Hart runs in and nails a surprised Godwinn with a dropkick and gets a pinfall ELIMINATING Henry Godwinn.

Phineas comes in and tosses Owen over the top; Phineas gets a little ‘riled up and wipes out all of the remaining heels. Owen bling tags in the Bulldog, Phineas clotheslines Owen over the top again, but Davey Boy nails him with the Bulldog powerslam to send him packing; Phineas Godwinn is ELIMINATED.

Doug Furnas comes into the ring and he and his tag counterpart the British Bulldog; they run the ropes and the Bulldog sidesteps a dropkick and stomps away. Cassidy tags in and hits a running elbow; the heels distract the referee as does LaFon enabling Cassidy hits a Sambo suplex for two. Furnas powers Leif up into a Batista-like spinebuster but cannot tag, Leif holds the legs and drives him back to his corner. Another blind tag between the Bulldog and Owen sees Owen kill Doug Furnas with a missile dropkick out of nowhere. Owen tries a vertical suplex but Furnas surprises him with an inside cradle for two; Owen angrily clotheslines him back down. Owen hits a fisherman’s suplex for a nearfall; LaFon is drawn into the ring again and allows double teams. Stalling vertical suplex by the Bulldog and tags in Cassidy; Leif hits a running clothesline and a gutbuster. Furnas tags LaFon and he sets up Leif on the turnbuckles backwards and nails a half-nelson superplex and ELIMINATES Leif Cassidy.

The Bulldog comes in and they out counter each other until LaFon wipes him out with a heel-hook kick. LaFon gets a nearfall off a knee and jackknife cradle cover; Owen tags in and catches LaFon with a belly-to-belly suplex off the ropes and follows up with a neckbreaker into a second-rope elbow. Owen clobbers him with the killer enziguri for two. The Bulldog and Owen team up for a double clothesline. LaFon fights back but the Bulldog kicks him square in the balls right in front of the referee. Owen nails Furnas preventing a tag; the Bulldog tags in and he and Owen try another double clothesline but Furnas drags Owen to the floor and LaFon tries a crucifix but segues into a sunset flip for three. The British Bulldog is ELIMINATED.

An angry Bulldog clips LaFon’s leg before he takes his leave of the ring; Owen zeros in on it as he wraps the leg around the ringpost and traps it in the ropes kicks away. Owen Dragon screws the leg and continues to soften the leg ligaments. Owen applies a figure-four lace lock and then the Sharpshooter; Furnas runs in and Owen breaks the hold to cut him off. LaFon hits a reverse mule kick right in Owen’s face; Furnas tags in and runs over Owen. Furnas hits his patented high angle dropkick for a nearfall; he flips Owen over in a belly-to-belly overhead release suplex but Owen gets his foot on the rope to break up the pinfall. Furnas tosses Owen into the turnbuckles chest first and hits a release German suplex sending Owen for a 360º and gets the three count ELIMINATING Owen Hart. The survivors are Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon. 7/10 Good opening match and once it boiled down to Owen/Bulldog versus Furnas/LaFon the real fun began. Japanese style moves by the newcomers and Owen and the Bulldog did not know how to counter them; good auspicious debut for Furnas and LaFon who used this win to get some tag title shots against the Bulldog and Owen.

Kevin Kelly talks with Paul Bearer and Mankind; Paul Bearer complains about being stuck in a cage over the ring tonight. Mankind promises to stomp him like the cockroaches he used to eat for dinner.

Undertaker vs. Mankind (w/Paul Bearer):   Paul Bearer, who betrayed his longtime friend the Undertaker at Summerslam ’96 (full review, click here), will be put in a shark cage suspended over the ring to prevent interference; if the Undertaker wins he gets five minutes with Bearer. The Undertaker makes a grand entrance, descending from the rafters with huge Batman-like wings. Taker is sporting his new Attitude Era look he’d use throughout, except here he has on all black leather, looks kinda weird actually. Undertaker tries to get at Paul Bearer allowing Mankind the advantage; Taker drop-toe holds Mankind and works his hand with a cross-arm breaker. Taker stomps the hand that Mankind uses for the Mandible Claw and then rams it into the steel steps. Taker twists the hand into the tag rope and slams Mankind back in the ring; Taker misses a legdrop. Cactus clothesline sends them to the floor and they battle into the crowd. Undertaker backdrops Mankind over the guardrail sending him back to ringside. Mankind low blows the Undertaker from the apron and then hits a cannonball off the apron to the floor. Back in the ring, Mankind punches away and hits a running knee in the corner. Mankind fires Undertaker into the corner but Taker rebounds with a roaring elbow and tosses Mankind into the buckle. Mankind gets tangled into the ropes where Undertaker bites his Mandible Claw hand. Undertaker drops his head for a backdrop so Mankind kills him with an ECW-style pulling piledriver. Mankind goes for the Mandible Claw but Taker blocks it; big boot but the Undertaker. Taker goes for the Tombstone but Mankind catches him in the Mandible Claw; Undertaker momentums Mankind through the ropes to the floor to break the hold. Taker kicks Mankind backwards into the steel ring barricade and then the Undertaker tosses him into the steps a few times. Taker hits the Ropewalk Forearm; Mankind comes back with a spinning neckbreaker. Mankind goes up as Undertaker sits up and uppercuts Mankind on the top rope; Mankind kicks him off and tries a double axe handle but lands in a goozle. Mankind counters with another Mandible Claw allowing Vince McMahon to finally say “gullet”; Taker struggles but goozles Mankind and powers him up into a chokeslam, breaking the Claw. Mankind suckers Undertaker in and sends him over the top to the floor; Mankind tries the cannonball again but misses. Back in the ring, Taker ties Mankind’s hand in the ropes but Mankind comes back with a sleeper but Taker counters into a back suplex. Mankind finds a classic “white foreign object” and jabs Undertaker with it a few times. Mankind hops up on Taker’s back and continues to stab him but Taker segues into a Tombstone and pins Mankind. Post-match, now Taker gets five minutes with Paul Bearer, whose shark cage is slowly lowering. The Executioner runs into the ring and attacks the Undertaker, saving Paul Bearer, but takes a flying clothesline; Mankind, Paul Bearer and the Executioner evacuate the ringside area. 6/10 Good hard-hitting battle between these two; they were getting comfortable working together so the matches begin to get better and better. This was one of the better ones.

Sunny comes out for some reason oh, it’s just for commentary for the upcoming match. Dok Hendrix talks to Hunter Hearst Helmsley’s team; Hunter still has his fake English accent working here. Jerry Lawler makes fun of Mark Henry for getting injured and needing to be replaced; something that would plague his career.

Team Mero: Marc Mero, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, The Stalker & Rocky Maivia (w/Sable) vs. Team Helmsley: Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Crush & Goldust (w/Marlena):   Helmsley is the IC champion, defeating Mero; Jim Ross is getting into fights with Sunny on commentary working on his slightly heel-tweaked character, a Vince Russo idea. The Stalker is Barry Windham, originally was supposed to be a heel and work with Mero, stalking Sable; Mero put the kibosh on that so he debuted as a babyface, he’s dressed like Windham Dudley here. Jake is replacing the injured Mark Henry and tosses Revelations the snake into the ring scaring all of the heels. Mero starts with Lawler, no wait; The Stalker starts off with Lawler and… hold on Helmsley tagged in; so the Stalker brings Mero back in and Helmsley runs away. Goldust and Mero finally start off and Mero hiptosses Goldust as JR and Sunny speculate on the whereabouts of Mr. Perfect, Helmsley’s manager; (real) answer: he went to WCW. Back body drop by Mero and an armbar is applied; Goldust blocks another hiptoss and schoolboys Goldust for two. Stalker tags in and they run the ropes and Stalker hits a flying lariat. Helmsley tags in and the commentators refer to the Stalker as Barry Windham, so I will as well. Windham tags in Mero so Hunter quickly tags in Crush. Mero arm wringers Crush to tag in Rocky Maivia who makes his debut here; what’s with the debuts tonight? Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon, the Undertaker… six years ago… anyway, the future most electrifying man in sports entertainment maintains arm wringer. Lawler tags in and shoulderblocks Maivia down but he no-sells and nips-up; Rocky double leapfrogs and hits a dropkick and then uppercuts the King over the top rope. Wow, I don’t think the Rock uses even one of those moves anymore. Helmsley tags in and here’s a future main event; Hunter chops in the corner and pummels him in the corner. Hunter vertical suplexes Rocky and Goldust tags in and drops an elbow. Goldust tosses him into the top rope and clotheslines him; Crush tags in and hits a backbreaker. Lawler tags in and drops a fist; Helmsley continues the punishment on Rocky, whose poufy afro makes him look like Darren Young. Rocky comes back with a backdrop and tags in Jake the Snake; Jake hammers everyone and backdrops Helmsley and hits the short-clothesline. Hunter counters the DDT driving Roberts into the corner. Lawler tags in and punches away; Jake misses a swing and the King mocks Jake’s drinking habits. Lawler tries to slam him but Jake slips over and nails the DDT for three; Jerry Lawler is ELIMINATED.

Goldust comes in and attacks Jake on the canvas; Crush adds a hotshot assist and Helmsley takes a free shot as well. Goldust applies a reverse chinlock. Jake counters with a jawjacker and the Stalker returns. Windham hits a float-over vertical suplex for two. Windham sets Goldust up for the superplex but Goldust punches him off and then misses a second-rope axe handle. Crush nails Windham from the apron and he stumbles into Goldust’s Curtain Call for three and Barry “The Stalker” Windham is ELIMINATED.

Mero charges in and hits a running knee lift; Goldust comes back with a lariat and Hunter tags in. Helmsley drops a knee and a backbreaker; Crush tags in and head-butts Mero’s ribs. Jim Ross gets in a few jailbird jokes in on him; Crush drops a leg for two. Goldust rakes Mero’s face and hits a running clothesline for two. The heels work over Mero and Crush hits his tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a nearfall. Hunter tags in and applies an abdominal stretch… forever. Mero finally hiptosses free and sunset flips Hunter; after about twenty seconds of fighting the flip, Helmsley tags in Goldust, then falls into the sunset flip, allowing Goldust to nail Mero from behind. Hunter returns and Mero hits a flying head scissors; Helmsley tosses Mero to the floor. Jake stumbles in to provide some sort of distraction allowing Mero to recover and hit Helmsley with a moonsault press for three. Hunter Hearst Helmsley is ELIMINATED.

Mero decides to continue to fight in lieu of tagging out; Crush comes in and nails him from behind. Mero manages a running dropkick and sends Crush to the floor. Mero tries a somersault pescado but Goldust pushes Crush out of the way and Mero splats on the floor. Crush tosses Mero back into the ring and hits the heart punch for three to ELIMINATE Marc Mero.

Jake Roberts quickly rushes in and attacks Crush with snap jabs; Crush ducks the short-clothesline and hits another heart punch to ELIMINATE Jake Roberts.

Maivia is alone two-on-one; the fans chant “Rocky”, Sunny complains that the fans are chanting for a rookie, Jim Ross says it won’t be the last time, well it will be for at least two more years. Crush suckers him into a test of strength and then boots him in the gut. Maivia sneaks in an inside cradle and a slam; Goldust comes in and gets nailed as well. The numbers finally overwhelm Rocky… for about three seconds as he counters a double clothesline with a double crossbody. Goldust gets tossed to the floor and Rocky battles with Crush; Goldust returns and nails Rocky with a low blow, right in front of the referee. All three commentators are beginning to complain about the shitty officiating here; Goldust and Crush have been double teaming Rocky since Jake was eliminated. A heel miscommunication sees Goldust accidentally get nailed with the heart punch. Rocky ELIMINATES a bewildered Crush with a crossbody.

Rocky Maivia battles Goldust but he is weakened by the heart punch so Rocky is able to hoist him up for the shoulder breaker for three. Goldust is ELIMINATED and Rocky Maivia is the sole-survivor. 2.5/10 Meh match with a lot of guys who did not seem to mesh well; Rocky would become the midcard John Cena of 1997 getting booed out of buildings yet continuously shoved down everyone’s throats. A perfectly timed heel turn saved his career and possibly the WWF in the early 2000’s. Hunter here was still quite boring but was slowly learning how to carry a match; his perfectly timed run with Shawn Michaels in 1997 as D-Generation X boosted his career as well so Hunter, Rocky and some other guy on this card would go on to kick start the WWF’s super popularity into the millennium and keep the WWE afloat well into the 2000’s.

Bret Hart took some time off following WrestleMania XII (full review, click here) and returned to find the WWF had changed a little bit; Bret is going to challenge the rapidly skyrocketing Steve Austin tonight. Todd Pettingill talks to Austin who promises an ass whippin’ instead of clichés. Bret offers his rebuttal and calls MSG holy ground; Bret Hart is looking for respect and will get it from Austin tonight.

Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin:   The winner here gets a WWF title shot at the next PPV; Jim Ross gets a few shots in on the old WWF New Generation. Austin gives Bret the two finger salute and they lock up in the corner; Austin gets in Bret’s face so he shoves him. They battle in the corner again and then fight over a waist lock. Austin takes control with an arm wringer; Bret nips-up and reverses the hold. Austin reverses it and then Bret reverses again; Austin tries a top wristlock and Bret takes him down. Bret drives the knee into the hammerlock. Good mat wrestling here by these two in the early going; Austin rolls free and drop-toehold into a chinlock that Bret instantly reverses into a hammerlock and Steve is right back where he started. Austin gets an elbow in and drops elbows and a short clothesline; Bret reverses a double reverse chinlock and puts him in an overhand wristlock. Austin catches him in a stungun and then chokes Bret in the ropes; under-the-bottom-rope slingshot hangman by Austin. Elbow off the apron sends Bret to the floor, back in the ring; Austin applies a reverse chinlock, working Bret’s neck. Bret fights free and a slugfest erupts; Austin, of course, wins that battle as Bret crumples into the corner. Bret gets a clothesline out of the corner and applies an inverted atomic drop and a running clothesline puts Austin down. Bret gets a roll-up for two and follows up with the Russian leg sweep; Bret tries a bulldog but Austin fires him off into the corner chest first. Austin sets up a superplex but Bret tosses him off the top rope and drops a top-rope driving elbow, it gets two. Bret tries his pendulum backbreaker but Austin rakes the eyes mid-move, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that countered on Bret before. To the floor, Austin and Bret battle and Austin rams his lower back into the ringpost. Austin tosses Bret through the security railing and they brawl into the crowd; Bret tosses Austin into another portion of the ring barrier and it collapses as well. Austin tries to retreat to the other side of the ring but Bret catches him with a forearm off the apron. Austin grabs Bret’s legs and slingshots him over the Spanish announce table; Austin punches away under the announce table, returns to the ring to break the count, and then slams Bret onto the table and drops off the apron with an elbow onto him. Austin brings Bret back into the ring via vertical suplex; Austin drives an elbow off the second rope for a nearfall. Austin gets frustrated and rakes his face with his bootlaces; Austin flips off the crowd to piss them off, sort of as a faint “let’s go Austin” chant starts. Austin gets a rope-assisted abdominal stretch; referee Tim White eventually catches him and forces a break. Another fisticuffs battle erupts and Bret wins this fight and the crowd explodes. Bret delivers a receipt for the earlier stungun and gets a nearfall off a cradle so he piledrives Austin; Bret only gets two. Bret now delivers the pendulum backbreaker but Bret goes to the top and Austin counters him and pummels him atop the turnbuckles. Austin hooks Bret into a top-rope superplex but Bret sneaks in quick cradle for a close nearfall. Bret walks right into a Stone Cold Stunner; Austin drags Bret into the center of the ring, and gets about four nearfalls, frustrating Austin. Steve applies a Texas Cloverleaf but Bret makes the ropes, Austin breaks on four. Austin flings Bret into the corner but his leg gives out and he falls sideways, scissoring himself around the ringpost, Austin gets a nearfall off that move. Austin applies an inverted bow-and-arrow but Bret reverses into a Sharpshooter attempt however, Austin grabs the ropes. Bret applies a sleeper hold; Austin counters with a jawjacker. Austin applies the Million Dollar Dream; Bret walks up the turnbuckles and flips over, Austin refuses to relinquish the hold, so the referee counts three and Austin is pinned. Bret gets the title shot against either, Shawn Michaels or Sycho Sid, at In Your House 12: It’s Time. 9/10 Great match that started off slow with the wrestling counter exhibition and built to a crescendo with Bret using his rig savvy to eek a victory against the younger, overaggressive Austin. These two had great chemistry together and brought each other to higher levels; Bret returned to respectability and Austin to main event status.

Dok Hendrix talks to Sycho Sid who plans on snapping, correction… survive, and promises to do anything to win the WWF title tonight.

Capt. Lou Albano wanders out to ringside for commentary, Spanish commentary.

Team Yoko: Yokozuna, Savio Vega, Flash Funk & Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka vs. Team Faarooq: Faarooq, Vader, “Diesel” & “Razor Ramon” (w/Clarence Mason, PG-13 & Jim Cornette):   Cornette joins the commentators seemingly just to fight with Jim Ross. The quotes around Diesel and Razor’s name denote the fake versions Jim Ross “brought” in to the WWF as replacements for Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (Vince Russo idea); Fake Diesel was Glen Jacobs’ final stop before Kane. Faarooq was really early in his Nation of Domination phase, having dropped the “Asad” from his name and the stupid helmet, and had not yet recruited Crush or Savio Vega; D’Lo Brown wasn’t even there yet. Yet another debut here, Flash Funk (2 Cold Scorpio), doing a pimp-lite gimmick. Snuka was a mystery partner, I do not recall if he was replacing anyone on the babyface team or they just brought him back for one more MSG battle, but he looks in pretty decent shape. Flash and Vader start off; Vader pushes him around and hits a short-arm clothesline. Funk runs the ropes and misses a spinning wheel kick by a mile; Vader still sells it, though. Funk hits a crossbody sending both he and Vader to the floor; Flash with a top-rope moonsault press to Vader on the floor, to fires up the crowd. Back in the ring, Vader runs over Flash, and counters a hurracanrana with a powerbomb. Yoko runs in illegally and hammers away and hits a Sambo slam; boy, Yoko was big here, watching these PPVs in order, from his 1992 debut, I finally comprehend Yoko’s extreme weight increases. Faarooq and Savio tag in Vega hits a spinning wheel kick and floors him. Razor tags in, I’m not going to quotation his name every time, and takes some hiptosses and a dropkick. A great wit battle, between Cornette and JR on commentary, Ross: “If I were managing Vader, he’d be the champion by now”, Cornette: “You couldn’t manage a Wendy’s”, Ross: “I could if you lived in town!” Vega tosses Razor into the corner, avoids a boot, mounts the buckles and punches away. Ramon catches Vega in a crappy fall-away slam; Diesel tags in and Funk receives a tag. Diesel misses a big boot but Flash leaps into a clothesline; Diesel presses Flash, he slips down into sunset flip, but Diesel lifts him up into a Tree Slam. Faarooq tags in and drops an elbow; Flash comes back with a reverse mule kick but runs into a spinebuster. Vader comes in and runs over Flash; Savio tags in and fights off all of the heels to free himself from their corner and draws Diesel into his and tags in Snuka. Superfly hits chops in the corner but runs into a knee in the corner; Vader receives a tag but Snuka staggers him with a running head-butt and dropkick. Snuka powers up Vader and bodyslams him. Impressive. Razor tags in but Snuka slides through his legs and tags in Savio; Ramon tags in his “Insiders” partner, Diesel. Vega with another spinning wheel kick; Vader low-bridges Savio to the floor and Faarooq rams him back first into the corner post. Back in the ring Diesel hits a Jackknife to ELIMINATE Savio Vega.

Snuka comes in and head-butts Diesel who tags Razor, Snuka nails him and drops a knee. Jimmy ascends the buckles and drops the Superfly Splash onto Ramon and ELIMINATES “Razor Ramon”.

Diesel runs in and nails Snuka with a chair and a huge mêlée erupts. Savio gets a chair as does Superfly, the referees disqualify everyone in the ring, almost immediately; for the first time in Survivor Series history, there are no survivors. 1.5/10 Rough match, stupid ending (I believe due to time constraints); the highlights of the match were Funk’s moonsault to the floor, the Superfly Splash, and Jim Ross verses Jim Cornette on commentary.

WWF Heavyweight Championship Shawn Michaels(w/Jose Lothario) vs. Sycho Sid:   Sid has quite the vocal following at the Garden; as usual they don’t care for pretty boys so they boo Shawn. This was supposed to be Vader’s shot and winning the title but I guess the Kliq did not like him very much and was shuttled down the card in favor of Sid. Sid hammers Michaels down and the NYC crowd roars. Shawn explodes sliding through Sid’s legs and hits a crossbody and a headlock takedown. Shawn nips-up out of a head scissors and slaps Sid so he headlock takes Shawn down; Shawn head scissors him so Sid nips-up and slaps Shawn. They start slugging it out and Sid winds up with a press-slam but Shawn lands on his feet; HBK tries a backdrop but that sets Sid up for a powerbomb, Shawn retreats to the floor. Shawn baits Sid to chase him around the ring and Shawn uses his quickness to reverse a few moves and chop block Sid. Shawn works the leg with a step-over knee drop; fans chant “Sycho Sid”. Shawn glares at the crowd as if to say “how DARE you cheer for someone other than me”; he applies a figure-four leglock. Sid reverses and they roll to the ropes and the hold is broken. Shawn uses the ropes to drop knees on Sid’s bad leg. Sid counters by kicking Shawn’s shoulder into the ringpost; Sid kicks away and hits a running stomp. Sid punishes Michaels in the corner but misses a running boot; Shawn basement dropkicks Sid’s knee and continues to work it over. The fans have completely turned on Shawn at this point. Sid chucks Michaels over the top, he tries to skin the cat, but Sid clotheslines him right back over. On the floor, Sid press-slams Shawn into the guard rails; Sid plays to the crowd a little and continues the punishment. I’m sure Sid’s playing to the crowd did not earn him any favors with the Kliq backstage. Back to the ring, Sid hits a running boot in the corner and sledges HBK down. Sid sends Shawn upside down in the corner but Shawn hangs Sid’s throat off the top rope and climbs to the top, but Sid catches him (to a huge eruption) and gives him a backbreaker. Sid continues to dominate tossing Michaels into the turnbuckles, hard. Sid holds Shawn up and continues to lay in the rights; Michaels fires back and bodyslams Sid to a John Cena-like chorus of high pitched cheers and low grumbling boos. Shawn tries a second-rope axe handle but jumps into a big boot. Sid applies a Cobra Clutch as Shawn lunges for the ropes but fades away to the mat for a few nearfalls. Michaels breaks it and fires back but Sid counters Sweet Chin Music with a one-armed chokeslam. Sid is really playing to the crowd, as if he were a babyface, now. Sid tries a powerbomb but Shawn turns it into an inside cradle for two; Michaels runs into a powerslam. Shawn lands the flying forearm but when he nips-up Sid levels him with a clothesline for a nearfall. Sid grabs a camera and stalks Shawn with it; Lothario hops up on the apron so Sid nails him with the camera. Jose collapses to the Garden floor, meanwhile Shawn hits a superkick. Lothario is on the floor holding his chest and Shawn notices him and comes to his aide. Lothario looks as if he is having a heart attack; Shawn sells it as such. Sid drags HBK back in; Michaels tries a second rope crossbody but Sid ducks and Shawn wipes out the referee. Shawn goes back to Jose on the floor. Sid grabs the camera and waffles Shawn with it; Sid pitches Shawn back into the ring, referee saw nothing, Sid powerbombs him and gets three and wins the WWF title to a decent reaction. 7.5/10 Good match, despite the rather questionable heart attack storyline, Sid wins his first WWF title and he celebrates in the ring. Shawn was a great storyteller in the little man verses big man match and this was no different.

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The 411:  The pieces were here for the WWF rise to prominence but the puzzle was not complete. Vince McMahon with the help of Jim Ross and Vince Russo would work on assembling that puzzle correctly throughout 1997 allowing the WWF to take off to mega-stardom in 1998 and on into 2000. Mixed bag for the Series this year; the survivor matches (except the tag one) were all painful but all of the singles matches were excellent.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]