Dunn’s Countdown to Survivor Series: Survivor Series 2000

Survivor Series 2000
by J.D. Dunn

November 18, 2000.

Live from Tampa, Fla.

Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

Opening Match, Intergender Tag: T&A & Trish Stratus vs. Crash Holly, Steve Blackman & Molly Holly.
This was during Trish’s managerial career. HOO-AHHH! Blackman actually had a sort of cult following here as a martial arts Hardcore champ. Ross immediately starts hyping the XFL as Trish accidentally lowblows Albert. Molly chases Trish around the ring but runs into Test. Trish can’t do much more than bump around, but she looks good doing it. Test helps Trish from the outside, and Referee Teddy Long is too busy admonishing him to see the hot tag to Blackman. The match breaks down, and Molly winds up sunset flipping Trish for the win at 5:03. *1/4

In the back, Edge and Christian refuse to do the run-in for Kurt Angle because Christian ate some bad chili and came down with mono. Angle says that’s fine because he just wants to know where they’re all going to celebrate after the PPV.

Earlier today, Lo Down was refused admittance to the arena. Well, Singh and Mosh I can understand, but D’Lo?

Elimination Match: K-Kwik, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn & Chyna vs. Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero & Saturn (w/Terri).
Yes, two-thirds of 3 Live Krew got their start in the WWE. Chyna and Eddy were going through break up woes at the time. Chyna does a bad segment with Perry Saturn that has to be disguised by clever cutting. Thankfully, Eddy hits her with the Intercontinental Title to eliminate her at 2:33.

Eddy totally outclasses Road Dogg. And I mean it’s SO obvious that Eddy is carrying this segment. Billy Gunn cleans house on Benoit, Saturn and Malenko (yeah right) and eliminates Eddy with a sleeper drop at 6:01.

Dean and Kwik to a nice little segment before Kwik gets lost. Kwik gets some flashy moves on Benoit before falling victim to a Bridging German Suplex at 7:18. Think of how good Ron Killings might have been if given a chance to hone his craft with real professionals like Malenko and Benoit instead of being pushed as NWA Champion too early.

So now we’re down to the New Age Outlaws, except I don’t remember DX ever wearing Oshkosh B’Gosh overalls. Saturn dominates Roadie and finishes him with a Northern Lights Suplex at 8:49.

The Radicalz take Billy to the floor, but he fights off Benoit and Saturn. Back in, Gunn hits Malenko with the Fameasser to eliminate him at 10:58.

Gunn gets what is politely called a Jackhammer on Malenko. Benoit makes the save and hits the Diving Headbutt, but Billy Gunn summons the power of the ass to kick out. Gunn tries to suplex Benoit, but Saturn trips him up, putting Benoit on top for the win at 12:41. This was indicative of the problems with the WWF in 2001-2002. Gunn’s Superman act was met with mediocre cheers while the fans loved Eddy and Benoit (check out the pop for the Swandive Headbutt). And you could have looked back to 1997, 1998 and 1999 to see other failed pushes for Gunn. The man was a mid-card tag wrestler. Just let him be that. **

Chris Jericho vs. Kane.
This came about because Jericho spilt coffee on Kane. Yes. It’s true. They slug it out, won by Kane of course. Jericho comes back with his springboard dropkick (which misses, but Kane sells it anyway). Back in, Kane catches him in a powerslam for two. Kane takes over and so do the “boring” chants. Kane stomps him down and unties the top turnbuckle. Of course, Jericho blocks, and they try to go dramatic with Jericho desperately clutching Kane’s singlet as Kane pummels him. Jericho desperately crotches Kane on the top. A missile dropkick gets two. A schoolboy gets two more, and Jericho segues to a sloppy Walls of Jericho. You’d think Jericho would learn that Kane is too heavy and long for that move, but he wound up trying it a year later and nearly killing his main event heel push out of the gate. Kane makes the ropes, so Jericho goes for the Lionsault only to get caught in a chokeslam for the loss at 12:33. Well, Kane’s late 2000 heel push was vitally important, so it justified killing the heat Jericho had built up. So vitally important, in fact, that they scrapped his heel run a few months later and had him join a tag team with the Taker with no explanation. Meanwhile, Jericho’s heat was dead by the time he was finally elevated in mid-2001. *3/4

In the Radicalz locker room, Terri tells the Radz that Triple H has arrived. Benoit cackles with glee. Yeah…don’t…don’t let him do that ever again.

European Championship: William Regal vs. Hardcore Holly.
Regal berates America for being unable to elect a president. Holly, who is returning from an injury caused by an Angle moonsault, interrupts. Holly was actually on fire from mid-1999 to his injury in mid-2000. After that, the glass ceiling was firmly in place, and so was Sparky. Anyway, this match has no heat as neither man is currently over. Regal works the arm with a cross-armlock. He tries to get some heat with his little wave, but even that doesn’t work. Regal goes low and ties Holly in the ropes for some good, old-fashioned pummelry. Holly escapes and waffles Regal with the European Title for the DQ at 5:47. They put it over as Holly’s desperation to get out of the match before he has his arm broken again, but the announcers spent the whole match putting over JR’s barbecue sauce and the WWF’s European tour, so that excuse seems rather hollow. *

Recap of the Rikishi/Rock feud.

In the back, Trish approaches Kurt Angle and offers to be in his corner, but Kurt doesn’t fully grasp the true meaning of the offer and refuses.

The Rock vs. Rikishi.
So, it was revealed that Rikishi was the one who ran over Steve Austin a year ago at the Survivor Series. He claims that he did it on behalf of the Rock, but it turned out he was working for Triple H all along. Of course, Rocky still didn’t appreciate being fingered as the culprit even if his name was cleared. Rocky sprints down to the ring and hits Rikishi with the Samoan Drop. The ref takes a chair away from him, though, enabling Rikishi to recover and hit a thrust kick. The ‘Keesh takes over from there, and the match kind of grinds to a halt. The ref gets bumped on the outside. Rikishi grabs a sledgehammer from under the ring. See, he really was working for Triple H. Rock blocks and hits a Rock Bottom as the ref starts to recover. Rikishi gets the Samoan Drop and buttdrop for two. Then, he busts out the Stinkface! Yes, he did that to the Rock! Rock avoids a thrust kick and hits a spinebuster. PEOPLE’S ELBOW! And that gets the win at 11:18. Rikishi got shunted back down the card a month later before turning face and falling back down to JTTS status. This was kind of fun thanks to Rock’s willingness to make anyone look good no matter how much they’re going to get buried later on (see also, Jericho, Chris). After the match, Rikishi hits a series of Banzai Drops to try to get his heat back. **3/4

Raven sits in the back of WWF New York, observing all the kids having fun. That pretty much constitutes Raven’s run.

Commissioner Mick Foley walks in on Triple H and the Radicalz and informs him that the Austin vs. Triple H match will now be “no DQ.”

WWF Women’s Title: Ivory vs. Lita.
This was from a time when Lita was incredibly over and not quite as sexy, but she definitely had more money for bras. This is WAY sloppy from the get-go. Lita botches a reverse rollup spot, exposing her pink thong. Ivory hits her with an errant punch that busts open Lita’s eye. Sadly, that’s more blood than Luger had at Bash ’88. JR actually calls it a “hardway right hand” as Steven Richards walks down to root on Ivory. Lita goes for the moonsault, but Richards pulls Ivory to safety and distracts the ref. Ivory misses a belt swing, and Lita gives her a sloppy backdrop. OFF COMES THE SHIRT! Lita hits her moonsault, but Ivory blocks with the belt and gets the win at 4:53. Very sloppy. 1/4*

WWF Heavyweight Title: Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker.
Rule of Thumb #1 that you’re being given the “sugar reign” as champion: your title defense doesn’t go on last. Rule of Thumb #2: you come out before your challenger. Angle gets both here and then stalls forever. Taker, who’s decided to go with the septuagenarian pants tonight, tosses him a chair, WHICH ANGLE USES! Taker no-sells it all and hits his Old School Ropewalk Forearm. Angle clotheslines him over the top and dives out on him, but Taker catches him and rams him into the ringpost. Back in, Taker rides Angle down into a reverse armlock. Angle taps, but Edge and Christian have the ref distracted. Kurt gets out of it and locks in a leglock. Taker fights out of it and goes after Edge & Christian. Back in, Taker with the chokeslam. The ref is kicking Edge & Christian out, so it only gets two. Angle rolls up Taker for two and goes back to the knee. He puts the figure-four on the wrong leg, so Taker is able to reverse it. Angle gets desperate and crawls under the ring. Taker drags him out and gives him the Last Ride. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Referee Earl Hebner stops counting when he realizes that’s not Kurt Angle. The real Kurt Angle sneaks in and schoolboys Taker for the win at 16:04. Rule of Thumb #3: You have to use your look-alike brother Eric and a weak rollup to get a win. Taker wasn’t quite back to 100% yet, and Angle wasn’t quite at the height he would reach so this was not as good as their later matches. **1/4

XFL Cheerleader commercial.

Edge, Christian, The Goodfather & Bull Buchanan (w/Val Venis) vs. The Hardy Boyz & The Dudley Boyz.
D-Von gets caught in the wrong corner early. We get a quadruple DDT spot from the faces. The Hardyz rip off their shirts, revealing Dudley camouflage. Those shirts come off after Poetry in Motion, but Val yanks Matt off the top rope, allowing Edge to debut the Veg-o-Matic at 3:59.

Christian hits the Unprettier shortly after to eliminate D-Von at 5:08.

Jeff gets two off the slingshot moonsault before Bubba tags in and cleans house. Edge accidentally takes out Bull with the spear, and Bubba gets the pin at 7:32.

Bubba hits the Bubba Bomb on Edge and avoids a Christian frogsplash to eliminate Edge at 7:59.

Goodfather jumps Bubba and gives him the DVD at 8:40.

Jeff desperately fights back against Christian and hits a fluke Swanton at 9:38.

Val’s interference backfires, allowing Jeff to fall on top of Goodfather for the win at 10:03. Well, that was short. The Dudz and Matt save Jeff from an RTC beatdown and put them through tables. Too many quick and meaningless eliminations drained this of any fun. *

Steve Austin vs. Triple H.
Triple H paid Rikishi to run over Austin one year earlier to ensure that he wouldn’t lose the title, and then he promptly went out and lost the title to the Big Show. Austin came back about 10 months later and was righteously pissed about it. Big brawl to start, of course, because this is a blood feud. Austin beats him from pillar to post and hits the Thesz Press. Then, they take it outside where Austin beats him to the entrance. More brawling at ringside as Austin whips Hunter into the ringsteps. Triple H gets busted open and takes a beer cooler shot. Back to the ring finally, and we get some week brawling. How can a match this hate-filled, between these two guys, be so boring. Finally, Hunter gets a nice counter of the Stunner with a neckbreaker. Austin comes back with a spinebuster but misses the second-rope elbow. They brawl to the aisle where some irritating drunk bitch gets her mug on camera. Back to the announce position, where Triple H readies for a Pedigree on the steps. Austin counters to a backdrop, putting Hunter through the table. Back in, Triple H begs off, but Austin stomps a mudhole anyway. STUNNER! That would appear to put this match out of its misery, but Austin wants revenge, not a win. He tries to Pillmanize Hunter’s ankle but thinks better about it and sets up his neck! Hunter escapes, and they brawl to the back where The Radicalz attack and have to be restrained by the referees. Hunter makes it out to his rental car where Benoit tries to lead Austin so they can run over him again. Thankfully, Hunter is all mic’d up and he talks to himself, so we have benefit of inner monologue. Austin disappears, making Hunter nervous. And rightly so, because Austin drives in a crane, picks up the car with it, and drops it from about 30 feet in the air onto its top. I guess that’s the end at around 25:00 because Austin just walks off. Don’t worry about Hunter, though, he’d be all right. He’s tough. He’s a wrestler. In fact, I think he appeared the very next night with **gasp** a bandage on his eye. *

The 411: The more I watch of these 2000-2001 PPVs, the more I see the "fingerprints of future failure" all over them. It was clear that, at this point, there were only four stars in the WWF, and any suggestion that the midcard guys (Holly, Jericho, Benoit, Angle or Eddy) should be elevated was ludicrous. Benoit would be forced to play babysitter for Billy Gunn for the next few months while Jericho continued his café olé with Kane. Is it any surprise that by the time they were elevated in 2001 the enthusiasm was gone? Oh, guess which four guys wound up wrestling each other in the two most-hyped matches at WrestleMania X-7. Anyway, this PPV is generally regarded as the point where the WWF stopped being the creative juggernaut it was and the ratings and buyrates would fall off a few months later. It was also, coincidentally (or perhaps not), the first PPV with Stephanie McMahon at the creative helm. None of the matches were very good, with only the Rock versus Rikishi coming remotely close to the "hey, you'll want to see this" threshold. Easy thumbs down here.

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]