PPV REVIEW: WWF Survivor Series 1997

WWF Survivor Series 1997
Molson Centre, Montreal, Canada

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Survivor Series 1997, a game-changing event which, despite a lackluster undercard, went down as one of the most significant PPVs in pro wrestling history thanks to a little incident known as The Montreal Screwjob. 

Given that my last review of this event was written in 2010 and published a few years later when I started Retro Pro Wrestling, the 25-year anniversary seems like a good time to go back and revisit it all over again.

Besides, I wasn't all that happy with the original Survivor Series '97 review published on this site to begin with. So, without further ado, here's a fresh look at an event that changed the course of the WWF forever.

 

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Hart vs. Michaels II: This Time, It's Personal 

Our show tonight began with a dramatic look back at the iron man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12, followed by sound bites from the two’s scathing, animosity-filled promos in the build-up to their rematch here, a year-and-half later.

It says a lot about the quality of that feud that many of those sound bites have become iconic, as permanently etched in this fan’s mind as Austin’s King of the Ring ‘96 promo or Hulk Hogan declaring a new world order of wrestling at Bash at the Beach that same year.

With the opening video out of the way, Milton Bradley’s Karate Fighters presented the 11th annual Survivor Series before we got pyro galore and sweeping shots of the rabid Montreal crowd.

Our announcers, Jim Ross & Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler were as psyched as the fans for tonight’s event as they put over Hart/Michaels II (or III if you count their Survivor Series '92 match) and then sent it to the ring for our opening bout.

Traditional 4 vs. 4 Survivor Series Match
The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) and The New Blackjacks (Windham & Bradshaw) vs. The Godwins (Henry & Phineas Godwin), Road Dogg Jesse James, and Bad Ass Billy Gunn

Road Dogg Jesse James and Bad Ass Billy Gunn weren’t officially the New Age Outlaws yet, but they were solidifying their status as the most villainous heel tandem in the company at the time.

Tonight, the two stayed out of the ring as much as possible as The Godwins and The New Blackjacks kicked things off in a good, old-fashioned hoss battle.

The first I reviewed this match, I wrote it off as boring. Years later, while I’m not claiming it was a workrate classic or anything, I certainly enjoyed it more the second time around.

After Bradshaw and Windham had spent the first minute or so exchanging the advantage with Henry and Phineas Godwin, it was Henry who was the first to be taken out, putting the good guys up 3 to 4.

Phineas soon evened the score, getting revenge for his partner by eliminating Barry Windham.

After Billy Gunn took out Mosh, the other Headbanger, Thrasher, worked over Phineas’ arm for a lengthy stretch of time.

Although it wasn’t the most exciting part of the match, the arm spot wasn’t so bad that it ruined what was an otherwise perfectly acceptable opener.

As it wore to a finish, Thrasher did away with Phineas by jumping off the top rope and crashing on the pig farmer’s chest.

Not long after, Roadie and Bad Ass took out Bradshaw and Thrasher in quick succession to become the sole survivors and further cement their status as the top team in the division.

Your Winners: Road Dogg Jesse James & Bad Ass Billy Gunn

Remember The Truth Commission? They were up next.

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match
The Truth Commission (Sniper, Recon, The Interrogator, and The Jackyl) vs. The Disciples of Apocalypse (Crush, Chainz, 8-Ball, and Skull)

The big problem with a match like The Truth Commission vs. DOA was that, once the biker gang stepped off their motorcycles they had nothing interesting to offer, while Jackyl’s gang of paramilitary soldiers were never had anything interesting to offer to begin with.

Thus, after Crush, Chainz (Brian ‘Fake Undertaker’ Lee), and the team of Skull & 8-Ball (The Harris Brothers) got done popping the crowd by riding around on their bikes all that was left was a fairly lifeless match that was 80% clobberin’ and 20% sidewalk slams.

Seriously, I think there were more sidewalk slams in this match than you’d see in the entire body of work of The Big Boss Man.

The Interrogator (Kurrgan) established his dominance early on by taking out Chainz (with a sidewalk slam, obviously), only for the biker boys to get their revenge by eliminating The Jackyl first and then Recon (Bull Buchanan) a few minutes later.

After he was eliminated, The Jackyl immediately hopped over to the announce table and spent the rest of the match on commentary where he denied JR’s accusation of being the WWF’s answer to cult leader David Koresh and consistently promised to tell us the truth without actually saying what that truth was.

The battle continued as a two-on-two affair pitting Crush and whichever Harris Brother hadn’t been eliminated against Sniper and the big man, The Interrogator.

To the surprise of no one, it was the latter who was left standing as the sole survivor after Crush eliminated Sniper but then got himself pinned after -you guessed it— another sidewalk slam.

To be fair, this wasn’t completely horrible, but it certainly wasn’t much fun to watch either.

Your Winner and Sole Survivor: The Interrogator

Post-match, The Jackyl claimed that he had won the Survivor Series and lept into the ring to celebrate with his man Kurrgan.

Shawn Michaels is Gonna Win

Whenever the WWF would poll fans on their predictions for a high-profile match, I can’t help but think of the kid from Summerslam 1992 who proudly declared that the British Bulldog would beat Bret Hart ‘whether he wants to or not.’

Tonight, nobody claimed that The Hitman’s opponent had no choice in winning, but the vast majority of the Montreal fans who featured in this show’s “whose going to win?” segment all seemed to be rooting for the Heartbreak Kid despite Bret apparently being The Canadian Hero.

From there, we went to the America Online room where Stone Cold Steve Austin told interviewer Kevin Kelly that despite being concerned about his neck, he was still going to emerge victorious in his upcoming match with Owen Hart.

Austin was as compelling as ever here and ended his promo by leaning over and staring at a laptop running the WWF America Online chat room with such an exaggerated intensity that it made this fan crack up laughing.

A Word With Team USA

Back in the arena, Jim Ross put over tonight’s sponsors, Milton Bradley Karate Fighters, and took us to a clip of some kind of pre-show party to celebrate that sponsorship.

Or at least something like that. To be honest, I’m not sure quite what the event was that we saw. All I know is that the clip featured an overhead crowd shot, Thrasher ramming some poor dude’s face into a cake, and nothing else.

Then, as we prepared for our next match, JR reminded us that Steve Blackman had debuted on Raw as a fan who just so happened to be a martial arts bad ass.

Blackman had jumped into the ring to save Vader from an attack at the hands of The British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, and the duo of Doug Furnas & Philip LaFon.

As a ‘fan,’ Blackman had been arrested, but Vader had apparently bailed him out and then petitioned to have him join Team USA for tonight’s next traditional Survivor Series match.

Before we could get to that, however, Blackman, Vader, and their partners Marc Mero and Goldust stood by for a backstage interview with Michael “I’ve Been in this Company Forever” Cole.

Coming off as though he was struggling to remember his lines, Vader did nothing to endear himself to the Montreal faithful by declaring that he and his teammates were sick of "loud-mouthed, trash-talking Canadians telling us what to do.”

For his part, Steve Blackman insisted that despite being new to the WWF, he was plenty experienced in “every form of martial arts known to man” and was thus looking forward to tonight’s big fight.

Offering a retort, well-known Canadian The British Bulldog promised victory for Team Canada while Doug Furnas claimed that he hates America so much he’d moved out of the country.

Traditional 4 vs. 4 Survivor Series Match
Team USA (Vader, Steve Blackman, Goldust, and Marc Mero w/ Sable) vs. Team Canada (The British Bulldog, Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart, Doug Furnas, and Phillip LaFon)

With Goldust slowly transitioning into his Artist Formerly Known As phase and Marc Mero also becoming a heel due to his wife, Sable overshadowing him everywhere they went, Team USA made their way to the ring to the theme that used to belong to The Patriot but which has since become synonymous with Kurt Angle.

Once their opponents hit the ring, JR took the time to note that only one man representing Team Canada -Phil LaFon- was actually Canadian, with the rest of his team comprising two Americans and an Englishman.

The match itself wasn’t the most spectacular, but with Vader doing most of the work and his teammates providing some interesting moments, it was nonetheless a fun encounter.

Steve Blackman was the first to go when, apparently unfamiliar with the rules of pro wrestling, he went brawling on the outside with Phil LaFon and didn’t bother to answer the referee’s ten count to get back inside.

I mean, that was one way to get the newcomer out of there while still looking like a major badass, but you’d think one of his teammates would have sat him down to explain simple things like the count-out rule, right?

Vader soon evened the odds for his team by destroying Jim Neidhart and then got the upper hand moments later by also doing away with LaFon.

Team USA’s run of luck didn’t last long, however, as Marc Mero was taken out by Furnas.

To be honest, I would have eliminated Mero earlier, not because he wasn’t any good, but simply because the crowd were so hot for Sable that they didn’t really care much about anything else until she was gone.

Down to 2 vs. 2, Vader found that his only remaining teammate, Goldust, didn’t really care about much either. Not only had he not yet stepped in the ring, but when Vader actually tried to tag him in, the former Intercontinental Champion refused.

That left The Mastadon to duke it out with Bulldog and Furnas in an impressive display that was exciting to watch before finally forcing Dusty’s kid into the ring.

Wanting no part of Doug and Davey Boy, Goldust merely walked off and got counted out.

Not long after, Vader eliminated Furnas but was then immediately struck with a ring bell by the Bulldog behind the referee’s back and promptly pinned.

Your Winner and Sole Survivor: The British Bulldog

Despite the crowd cheering him hugely for winning whether he wanted to or not, Davey Boy immediately left the ring and stormed straight to the back.

Hmm, maybe he was bizarre after all. 

Either that, or there was something going on backstage that he was eager to get back for.

Who knows

Not me, that’s who, but what I do know is that Milton Bradley Karate Fighters got another mention as the PPV sponsors had hosted something called the Survivor Series Super Supper Sweepstakes.

Hmm, I wonder if they were also responsible for the Super Summer Sizzler Spectacular or whatever that show ECW did in ‘93 was called.

Lawler and Ross spoke on the phone to the winner of that sweepstake, a giggly young lady called Jaqueline who, as her prize, got to choose Steve Austin as her dinner date.

Mankind Seeks to Avenge Dude Love’s Demise

From there, we got a video package recapping the arrival of Kane at In Your House 18: Badd Blood, The Undertaker’s refusal to fight his brother, and how that led to Kane annihilating Dude Love.

The Dude’s demise brought back Mankind to seek revenge for his own alter-ego, and that took us to an excellent backstage promo from Foley in which he likened Kane to a brick wall and vowed to run right into him.

I swear down, Foley in his prime has to be up there as one of the best promos in the business.

Mankind vs. Kane (w/ Paul Bearer)

You also have to give Mick credit for sacrificing himself in order to put Kane over as a truly dominant force in this match.

Though Mankind certainly got his moments to shine here, he was mostly pulverized by The Big Red Machine.

He took a beating, had the ring steps hurled in his face, and was even sent crashing through a table.

Yet as unstoppable as all this made Kane look, it wasn’t enough to put his opponent away until a tombstone piledriver sealed the deal.

All of this played out beneath red lights which, although they were a little distracting, they did add something unique to a match that was otherwise already entertaining.

Your Winner: Kane

Did any of you send your cable bill proving you’d bought Survivor Series 97 so that you could get a free WWF dog tag?

Me neither, but JR told us they had 3,000 of those bad boys to give away, so I hope somebody did.

Meanwhile, out in the back, Sgt. Slaughter told Michael Cole that they had extra security in place should anything crazy happen in tonight’s main event.

Cole then turned his attention to Vince McMahon and asked him who would win said main event.

Vince lied and said he had no idea.

What a Rush!

Backstage, Doc Hendrix interviewed Ken Shamrock, The Legion of Doom, and Ahmed Johnson about their upcoming match with the Nation of Domination.

Shamrock kicked things off by delivering a promo that was all Jeff Farmer levels of bad in which he basically said he and his men were all business.

Fairing a little better on the mic, Hawk gave the usual Road Warrior promo in which he promised that he and Animal would wipe out the “criminal element” from the WWF.

Fortunately, Hendrix was smart enough to keep the microphone away from Ahmed Johnson.

Traditional 4 vs. 4 Survivor Series Match
The Nation of Domination (Farooq, D’Lo Brown, Kama Mustafa, and Rocky Maivia) vs. Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson, and WWF Tag Team Champions The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal)

A year on from his debut as a perma-grinned babyface, Rocky Maivia wasn’t yet The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment, but he was certainly on his way to becoming a heel worth paying attention to and further established himself by eliminating Hawk in the first two minutes of the match.

Ahmed Johnson then ensured an even playing field by pinning arch-nemesis Farooq, but the Nation leader retaliated by holding Johnson’s legs down while Rocky scored his second elimination on the master of the Pearl River Plunge.

Proving that their never-ending rivalry was far from done, Johnson and Farooq then brawled all the way to the back, ending an exciting first six minutes of the match.

From there, things slowed down considerably and the middle portion of the match seemed to drag on with little in the way of excitement.

It was during this lackluster middle section that Animal took out Kama Mustafa, only to be eliminated himself when Road Dogg and Billy Gunn interfered, blasting the Road Warrior with powder to the eyes and causing him to get counted out.

It was at that point that the match really picked up again. Shamrock snapped, eliminated D’Lo Brown, and then went at it with The Rock in a hot exchange that ended things in fine form.

Shamrock made Rocky tap in the ankle lock to win the match and emerge as the sole survivor.

The opening and closing minutes of this match more than made up for the lag in the middle, ensuring that this was an all-round enjoyable contest.

Your Winner and Sole Survivor: Ken Shamrock

1.55.02 - record attendance.

As Shamrock celebrated his big time win, Jim Ross announced that tonight’s event had set a brand new attendance record.

Prior to the next match, a clip aired to promote the next WWF PPV, D-Generation-X: In Your House 19. That show would see Shamrock capitalize on his big win here, and his overall popularity, by headlining the show as a challenger for the WWF title.

We then took a look back at all the times Stone Cold Steve Austin’s rivalry with Owen Hart, including that awful moment Owen dropped him on his head back at Summerslam ‘97.

The two would meet in a hotly anticipated rematch next.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship
WWF Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart (w/ Team Canada) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Damn, I miss Owen Hart.

Wearing his infamous Owen 3:16 t-shirt, the reigning and defending champion was accompanied to the ring by Neidhart, Smith, Furnas, and LaFon, but shortly after Anvil ate a stunner, those guys left and we got a short but explosive one-on-one encounter.

With the cruel Canadians showing their support for their countryman by yelling “break his neck! Break his neck!” Owen first got his ass whooped by Stone Cold but got a modicum of revenge outside the ring.

There, he choked Austin with a cable, and, when the referee threatened to disqualify him, Hart told him to go ahead and even rang the bell for him.

Of course, the official was having none of that, so it was back to the ring where Stone Cold regained the advantage and captured his second Intercontinental championship with an almighty stunner.

That wasn’t a long match. In fact, it was more of a short version of the main event brawls that would eventually become Austin’s trademark than an actual match, but the crowd and the competitors were both on fire and it made for compelling viewing

Your Winner and New WWF Intercontinental Champion: Owen Hart

Before a final look at Hart/Michaels, JR warned us that their match was going to be very personal and, I quote, “very stiff.”

World Wrestling Federation Championship
WWF Champion Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart vs. WWF European Champion Shawn Michaels

And so, five years after they first headlined a Survivor Series and began their journey to becoming bonafide main eventers, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels would meet one last time in a match that is still talked about today.

Adding an extra sense of suspense and drama to an already historic match, both HBK and The Hitman were filmed walking from their respective dressing rooms to the gorilla position with their allies in tow.

Michaels had HHH, Chyna, and Rick Rude with him while Bulldog and Anvil accompanied Hart.

Once both men were in the ring, they wasted no time in going at it, giving us a wild and out-of-control brawl into the stands and up the entranceway for a full solid ten minutes before the bell even rang.

The in-ring action was equally as enthralling, and though the spot where Michaels held Hart on the mat in a front face lock wasn’t the most exciting moment, it was an obvious call back to their Survivor Series ‘92 encounter.

Bret regained the advantage and began working over the European Champion’s legs, softening him up for the inevitable sharpshooter.

Of course, that move was applied, not by the man who had mastered it and made it so famous, but by Shawn himself.

A moment later, the call was made to “ring the f**king bell” and arguably the most controversial moment in WWF history occurred.

Ladies and gentlemen, we had all just witnessed The Montreal Screwjob.

Your Winner and New WWF Champion: Shawn Michaels

Post-match, the last live shot of Bret Hart on WWF programming for many years saw a bewildered and enraged Hitman spit in the face of chairman Vince McMahon while Michaels acted equally as surprised and annoyed as he grabbed the title and was rushed to the back by Triple H and Gerald Briscoe.

The camera followed him, zoomed in on the Survivor Series logo, and faded to black as Jim Ross wished us a good night.

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Had the show not ended the way it did, Survivor Series 1997 would have probably gone down in history as a largely forgettable show, with only the main event, the IC title match, and arguably the Nation vs. Team Shamrock main event standing out as above average.

Yet that final call to “ring the f**king bell” and that lasting image of The Hitman grozzing right in Vince McMahon’s face would ensure that it didn’t really matter whether the show was any good or not.

Writing this review 25 years after the fact, it’s fair to say that it matters not one jot whether DOA vs. The Truth Commission sucked, or that the red lights in the Kane/Mankind match were distracting. It doesn’t even really matter that the Rock/Shamrock ending was a lot of fun.

All that matters is that Survivor Series ‘97 was an event that altered the course of history, serving as the catalyst for Vince McMahon’s groundbreaking heel turn, Bret Hart’s disappointing WCW run and sad end to his career in WCW and, with the then-new Intercontinental Champion Steve Austin at the helm, the dawning of the WWF’s hottest period of its existence.

Make no mistake about it. The World Wrestling Federation and, indeed, the entire landscape of professional wrestling would never be the same again.

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Other 1997 pro wrestling reviews.

1. WWF - Royal Rumble 1997
2. WCW - Souled Out 1997
3. WWF - In Your House 13: Final Four 
4. WCW - Superbrawl VII 
5. WCW - Uncensored 1997 
6. WWF - Wrestlemania 13
7. WCW Spring Stampede 1997
8. WWF - In Your House 14: Revenge of The Taker
9. WWF - In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell
10. WCW - Slamboree 1997
11. WWF - King of the Ring 1997
12. WCW - Great American Bash 1997 
13. WWF - In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede 
14. WCW - Bash at the Beach 1997 
15. WWF - Summerslam 1997
16. WCW - Road Wild 1997
17. WWF - In Your House 17: Ground Zero
18. WCW - Fall Brawl 1997
19. WWF - One Night Only 1997
20. WWF - In Your House 18: Badd Blood
21. WCW - Halloween Havoc 1997
22. WCW - World War 3 1993
23. D-Generation-X: In Your House 19

Other WWF/WWE Survivor Series reviews:

1. WWF Survivor Series 1987
2. WWF Survivor Series 1988
3. WWF Survivor Series 1989
4. WWF Survivor Series 1990
5. WWF Survivor Series 1991
6. WWF Survivor Series 1992
7. WWF Survivor Series 1993
8. WWF Survivor Series 1994
9. WWF Survivor Series 1995
10. WWF Survivor Series 1996
11. WWF Survivor Series 1998
12. WWF Survivor Series 1999
13. WWF Survivor Series 2001
14. WWE Survivor Series 2002
15. WWE Survivor Series 2009
16. Top Ten Matches from the First 10 Survivor Series events

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PPV REVIEW: WWF Armageddon 1999

December 12, 1999
National Car Rental Center, Sunrise, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Since they first launched them back in 1995, The World Wrestling Federation had never really seemed to care too much about their December pay per views.

Whether it was the Bulldog/Diesel fiasco back at In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings or Shawn Michaels taking on Ken Shamrock back at In Your House 19: D-Generation-X, the company's end-of-year offerings always gave you the impression that they'd turned on the autopilot button for the winter and were taking some well-earned downtime before the Royal Rumble.

While you can hardly blame them, that doesn't exactly fill this writer with a lot of confidence going into tonight's show.

Still, at least this one had some historical significance to it.

Apart from a year off in 2001 when in the wake of September 11th, it was changed to Vengence, Armageddon would go onto become the WWF's annual December PPV all the way until 2008.

But did this long-running PPV series get off to a good start?

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Let's head to Sunrise, Florida to find out.

Triple H and Vince McMahon hate each other

The show opened with an eerie video package in which a falsetto choir boy sang over shots of Vince McMahon and Triple H pulling faces to demonstrate the intensity of their various emotions.

This was all put together to remind us, in a somewhat subtle way, that Triple H had drugged Stephanie McMahon and married her - a somewhat dubious start to WWE's longest running partnership to say the least.

Clearly angry that Andrew 'Test' Martin wasn't going to be the man to eventually launch NXT and have five-hour long epic matches at Wrestlemania every year, Vince McMahon had begun a war with Hunter which would hopefully be settled tonight when the two met in no holds barred match.

From there, the cameras panned the arena as a very excited Jim Ross and Jerry 'The King' Lawler welcomed us to the show and took us straight into our first match.

Sixteen Man Tag Team Battle Royal
The Dudley Boyz (D-Von & Bubba Ray Dudley) vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) vs. The Hardys (Matt & Jeff Hardy) vs. The Mean Street Possee (Pete Gas & Rodney) vs. The Acolytes (Farooq & Bradshaw) vs. Too Cool (Scotty Too Hotty & Grandmaster Sexay) vs. The Godfather & 'Sexual Chocolate' Mark Henry

The winner receives a tag team title shot at the Royal Rumble
When one member of a team is eliminated, both have to leave the ring.

Battle royals are rarely all that exciting to watch until the finish, and this one was no exception.

Yes, there's always the novelty of seeing the ring entirely filled with people, but nothing much exciting happens until you get down to the final.

In this instance, it came down to The Hardys vs. The Acolytes who managed to put together a very entertaining finish. At one point, both Bradshaw and Matt Hardy went over the ropes at the same time, leaving Jeff Hardy to battle it out with Farooq.

Hardy sent Farooq sailing over the ropes with a flying headscissors, but the referee was too busy tending to Matt Hardy to see it.

All four men returned to the ring until both Matt and Bradshaw ended up on the apron, at which point Farooq sent Jeff flying through the air to the outside in order to win the match.
Your Winners: The Acolytes

Out in the back, Kurt Angle bragged to Lillian Garcia about still being undefeated in the World Wrestling Federation despite losing a tag team match to The Dudleys on Smackdown.

According to Angle, the loss was all Steve Blackman's fault, and since it was The Lethal Weapon who ate the pin, Kurt's record stayed unblemished.

Kurt Angle vs. Steve Blackman

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, one month after debuting at the 1999 Survivor Series, Kurt Angle, Olympic Hero, future WWF Hall of Famer and one of the greatest of all time found himself in a feud with...Steve Blackman.

Talk about an underwhelming start.

Here, the two locked up in what was a pretty mediocre match that elicited a 'boring' chant from the Florida faithful.

Though I wouldn't go quite as far as to call it boring, I will admit that this one was pretty forgettable.

In fact, the best part of the whole thing was Kurt Angle's over-the-top celebration, acting like he'd just won another gold medal when all he'd done was pin Blackman with a German suplex.
Your Winner: Kurt Angle

Post-match, The Lethal Weapon blasted Angle with a pair of nun-chucks, much to the crowd's delight.

Cole has a crush on B.B

Meanwhile, out in the back, Michael Cole got all tongue-tied and flabberghasted while trying to interview B.B about her upcoming evening gown match.

At one point, she asked him for help with fastening up her dress and poor ol' Cole turned into a gibbering goofball.

World Wrestling Federation Women's Championship Evening Gown Pool Match
WWF Women's Champion Ivory vs. Miss Kitty vs. Jacqueline vs. B.B

Special referees: Mae Young & Fabulous Moolah

#WomensRevolution

Honestly, Ivory and Jacqueline probably deserve their Hall of Fame inductions on the basis of having to suffer the indignity of this match.

That's if you can even call it a match. The four women basically chased each other around a giant paddling pool for three minutes then stripped each other to their bra and panties.

Eventually, Miss Kitty pulled off Ivory's dress to be crowned our new women's champion.

There was nothing sexy, or even entertaining, about it.
Your Winner and NEW WWF Women's Champion: Miss Kitty

Post-match, the new champion celebrated by reminding us that she had promised to get naked. She then proceeded to strip and flash us her boobs, only for Sgt. Slaughter to cover her up with a towel and whisk her backstage.

Not to be outdone, Mae Young claimed that we all wanted to see her naked and started to undress, only for Slaughter to carry her away too.

Admittedly, this fan laughed out loud at the Mae Young bit, but that was only because she played her part with such conviction that you couldn't help but laugh.

He did it for The Rock the fat people

Out in the back, Kevin Kelly interviewed a stern-faced Rikishi Fatu.

Kelly asked Rikishi why he thought The Hollys had developed such a problem with him since his recent arrival in the WWF. The big man reminded us that Bob and Crash had been mouthing off about his size, and the size of his upcoming tag team partner, Viscera, then claimed to represent "all the fat, healthy people."

Rikishi was pretty compelling here, even if his storyline with Viscera and The Hollys was completely uninteresting.

The Holly Cousins (Bob & Crash Holly) vs. Viscera & Rikishi Fatu

There are some matches which sound pretty dull on paper but then actually surprise you.

This wasn't one of those matches.

The story was that Viscera and Rikishi didn't really get along, but were teaming up because they were both fat. That's literally the whole point of their union.

They tried their best to take out The Holly cousins in what was yet another very mediocre battle, with Rikishi even pulling out his Rikishi Drop. Sadly, it wasn't enough for the win as straight after he hit the move, the Hollys pulled out a fluke pinfall.
Your Winners: The Hollys

Afterwards, Rikishi and Viscera predictably came to blows, with 'Kish kicking Vis out of the ring.

Pretty sure there wasn't a single person in the world who cared about this.

Val seduces Lillian

Out in the back, Lillian Garcia reminded Val Vanis that he had once been the Intercontinental Champion and that tonight, he had the opportunity to become the European Champion.

Val responded by promising to win the title then head over to Europe and seduce all of the continent's most beautiful women.

Proving the bilingual prowess that should serve him well when he went to Spain, The Big Valbowski began speaking Spanish to Lillian and managed to seduce her.

She wrapped her arm around Val's and off they went together. To give Venis his credit, he was very charismatic here and delivered an entertaining segment.

World Wrestling Federation European Championship Triple Threat
WWF European Champion The British Bulldog (w/ The Mean Street Posse) vs. D'Lo Brown vs. Val Venis

Prior to the bell, Jim Ross told us that D'Lo Brown was the only person to hold both the European and Intercontinental Championships at the same time, proving that Jeff Jarrett (who also held that honour) was persona non grata within the WWF.

Since he didn't yet have the authority to book tag team matches, referee Teddy Long sent The Mean Street Posse to the back as soon as they arrived, leaving The British Bulldog to defend his title by himself.

The resulting match was the best thing on the card so far, but that really isn't saying much of anything.

It had some fun spots, like D'Lo Brown's super plancha to the outside and the finish, in which D'Lo hit Bulldog with his frog splash, only for Val to Money Shot them both and win the match.

It was kind of entertaining, but the more I think about it, anything was going to look entertaining compared to the snoozefest the entire undercard had been so far.
Your Winner and NEW WWF European Champion: Val Venis

Out in the back, X-Pac told Kevin Kelly that since Kane had demanded a cage match against him, he (Pac) had a demand of his own.

He demanded that while he could win via pinfall or cage escape, Kane was only allowed to win via pinfall. Apparently, that demand had been accepted by The Big Red Machine.

You know, I'm a huge fan of Sean Waltman, but most of his promos were terrible, this one included.

Steel Cage Match
Kane (w/ Tori) vs. X-Pac

This was the first truly good match on the card and very enjoyable performance from start to finish.

X-Pac was the consummate heel here, getting his DX buddies The New Age Outlaws to break into the cage and hand him a steel chair. He used that before drilling Tori with the X-Factor when she tried to stop him escaping the cage.

Pac then tried escaping again, only this time, Kane left the cage via the door (which had been busted open by The Outlaws), caught his opponent on his shoulders and carried him back into the ring.

Then, he climbed all the way to the top of the cage and came crashing down on X-Pac with a wicked looking clothesline that got the live crowd more excited than they'd been all evening.

One tombstone later and this very fun match was at its end.
Your Winner: Kane

Up next, we got a look at the rivalry between Chris Jericho and Chyna. Those two would duke it out next.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship
WWF Intercontinental Champion Chyna (w/ Miss Kitty) vs. Chris Jericho

Though this match will have its detractors (as all matches do),  it was actually a very good outing for Jericho and Chyna.

The former worked hard to be a complete and utter bastard, at one point snogging Miss Kitty before turning his attention to Chyna's injured thumb and just destroying it.

Meanwhile, the valiant champion fought back with all that she had, resulting in a dramatic and thoroughly engaging contest.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be Chyna's night and she eventually surrendered to the Walls of Jericho.
Your Winner and NEW WWF Intercontinental Champion: Chris Jericho

Out in the back, Jericho bragged to Michael Cole about his new title, only to be interrupted by Chyna.

In a display of true sportswomanship, The Ninth Wonder of the World extended her hand as a mark of respect to Jericho. Y2J accepted it and was baffled when Chyna simply walked away rather than wanting to fight some more.

World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championship
WWF Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg Jesse James & Bad Ass Billy Gunn) vs. The Rock & Sock Connection (Mankind & The Rock)

Nobody involved in this one had the best match of their career here, but it was still a pretty decent effort for what it was.

Not that it started off that way. The only thing that garnered any reaction from the crowd at all was The Rock tagging in, after which it went back to being a generic tag team match for a bit.

Then, Al Snow ran in and things started to pick up. No, I'm not saying Al Snow was the reason things started to get good, more than his arrival was the cue for the wrestlers to start working towards the finish.

Snow was jealous of Mankind's success and partnership with The Rock. He attacked him here but got his ass handed to him by The Rock instead.

Back in the ring, Mankind barely escaped a couple of near falls then, just when it looked like Rock & Sock had won the thing, Al Snow returned to cause the DQ.

It was a smart move. Nobody would have believed The Outlaws getting a clean win over The Rock while nobody wanted to see The Great One saddled with the tag team titles either.

Not the best match ever, but it could have been worse.
Your Winners via DQ: The Rock & Sock Connection

Up next, we got a look back at that terrible feud between The Big Show and The Big Boss Man. You remember the one, right? Where Big Boss Man revealed that Big Boss Man was a "nasty bastard" whose "fake daddy" had died?

Yeah. That would all come to an end tonight.

World Wrestling Federation Championship
WWF Champion The Big Show vs. The Big Boss Man (w/ Prince Albert)

It's only when you watch this back that you realise how badly the WWF screwed up Big Show.

He looked to be in the best shape of his life here, was the WWF Champion, and yet his first PPV title defence was basically a three-minute squash match to end a really terrible feud.

Big Show won with a chokeslam.

Nothing about this was good.
Your Winner and Still WWF champion.

Up next, we took a look at the hatred that had been building between Vince McMahon and his new son-in-law, Triple H.

No Holds Barred Match
Triple H vs. Vince McMahon

If Vince wins, Triple H's marriage to Stephanie is annulled. If Hunter wins, he gets a WWF title shot.

With his daughter's freedom on the line, Vince McMahon really went for Triple H, but was no match for his powerful opponent, even when he started to use the trolly full of weapons that Mankind helpfully brought to the ring in the early going.

Watching this, you got what they were going for:

A dramatic, epic battle for the ages that tugged at the emotions and had you on the edge of your seat, rooting for Vince to give Triple H what was coming to him.

Instead, all that you got was 30 minutes of Hunter beating McMahon to a pulp and Vince occasionally getting a shot or two in.

At one point, they left the arena and Triple H tried to run his opponent over with a car. Vince escaped with his life, then the two climbed all the way to to the top of some big tower by the entrance and HHH knocked Vince off it. Those were the only two high points of the match, and even they couldn't stop the majority of this match from boring the arse off everyone who would ever watch it until the end of time.

At the finish, Triple H looked to finish off Vince with his sledgehammer but McMahon countered with a low blow, grabbed the sledgehammer and looked to seal Helmsley's fate.

Instead, Stephanie Mcmahon -who had been watching from the front row- stepped into the ring and begged her Dad to let her to the honours. Yet alas, the younger McMahon couldn't bring herself to do it. HHH snatched the hammer from her and laid out Vince for the win.
Your Winner: Triple H

Post-match, Helmsley lifted the sledgehammer aloft as though to bring it crashing down on Stephanie's skull. The heiress to the WWF empire stared down The Game then smiled a wicked, evil smile and embraced him, celebrating with her husband, the once and future King of Kings, as Armageddon 1999 went off the air.

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And so it turned out that tonight wasn't important just because it was the start of a PPV series that would run for nigh on a decade, but because it marked the start of The McMahon-Helmsley Era, the reign of WWE's power couple that is still wielding control over their empire some 20 years later.

Not that such historical events make up for Armageddon being a pretty lousy show.

Yes, there were some great moments in the cage match, the Intercontinental match and, to a lesser extent, the tag team title match, but there was far too much stuff here that just bored your writer -and the Florida crowd- to tears. If that's not proof that the company were still in the habit of going on autopilot in December, I don't know what is.

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1999 events reviewed so far

• WCW Souled Out 1999
• WWF Royal Rumble 1999
• WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre - In Your House 27
• WCW Superbrawl IX
• WCW Uncensored 1999
• WWF Wrestlemania 15
• WWF Backlash 1999
• WWF No Mercy UK 1999
• WWF Over the Edge 1999
• King of the Ring 1999
• WCW Great American Bash 1999
• WCW Bash at the Beach 1999
• WWF Fully Loaded 1999
• WCW Road Wild 1999
• WWF Summerslam 1999
• WCW Fall Brawl 1999
• WWF Rebellion 1999
• WWF No Mercy 1999
• WCW Halloween Havoc 1999
• WWF Survivor Series 1999
• WCW Mayhem 1999

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PPV REVIEW: WWF Survivor Series 1999

November 14, 1999,
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

I've been a wrestling fan for most of my life, but in the late 1990s, as I approached 16 years old, I started to discover that going out with girls and skateboarding was more fun than staying home and watching professional wrestling.

From late 1999 until sometime in the year 2000, I slowly but surely drifted away from it altogether. By the time I was 17, I was no longer watching any wrestling at all, and wouldn't do so again for about seven or eight years.

As such, it's around this time on my journey to documenting every WWE PPV from Wrestlemania 1 to 30 that my memory of what was going on in pro wrestling at the time starts to get a little sketchy.

Sure, I was still kind of watching (I think I dropped off altogether after Wrestlemania 2000), but I wasn't watching with the kind of intense enthusiasm that I used to, and I honestly don't recall if I ever saw Survivor Series 1999 back in the day.

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If I did, I certainly wasn't paying enough attention to it as I don't recall a single thing about it.

But hey, that's actually a lot of fun because it means I'm watching this one as if its the first time I've ever seen it, something I haven't been able to do since we first started covering WCW PPVs a few years ago.

With that being said, I'm eager to dive into it, so let's head to the Joe Louis Arena and see what went down at Survivor Series 1999.

Who will survive tonight?

Our show began with a dramatic and compelling video package which told us that tonight, we'd see Triple H defending the WWF title in a triple threat match against Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, with Vince McMahon as the special guest referee.

This led us to our usual warm welcome from Jim Ross and Jerry 'The King' Lawler, the latter of whom told us that tonight's show was going to be even more memorable than Survivor Series 1997.

With that, it was onto our opening match

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match
The Godfather (w/ The Hos), D'Lo Brown and The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) vs. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Vo Dudley) and The Acolytes (Farooq & Bradshaw)

See what I mean about forgetting stuff? I had no idea The Headbangers got back together in late 1999 after that whole 'Chaz Warrington - Wife Beater' mess.

Here, Mosh and Trasher joined D'Lo Brown in dressing up like pimps, which The Godfather found hysterical.

True fact - if you put an afro wig on Mosh, he looks eerily like Carlito Colon.

The Dudley Boyz made their entrance next, but Godfather refused to give them any of his hos, preferring instead to lock up with them and The Acolytes.

Farooq and Bradshaw were able to co-exist with Bubba Ray and D-Von long enough for them to eliminate both headbangers, but that was about all they could handle.

Bradshaw grabbed a chair and walloped both D'Lo Brown and his own partner, Bubba. That was enough to get him disqualified. Farooq and D-Von then came to blows and basically walked off fighting one another, leaving Bubba Ray at the mercy of Farooq's former Nation of Domination underlings, Godfather an D'Lo Brown.
Your Winners and Survivors: The Godfather and D'Lo Brown

Post-match, Godfather, D'Lo, and referee Tim White got down and funky with The Hos.

Kurt Angle - Olympic Hero

Oh yeah, now I remember this show, it was the in-ring debut of Kurt Angle.

Before the Olympic Gold Medalist stepped into the ring, we got a video package in which he bragged about all of his achievements. Just in listing all of his medals and championships, Angle sounded like a bona fide heel.

Shawn Stasiak vs. Kurt Angle

Though they'd change their minds later in his career, the fans did not care at all for Angle as he locked up with Shawn Stasiak in what was a decent, though not very spectacular, match.

At one point, they ignored him altogether and chanted for the Detroit Red Wings before booing the Olympic Gold Medalist. When he took to the microphone to demand they stop boing they, of course, booed louder.

Angle showed plenty of promise here, but there was nothing about this rather average match that made you suspect he'd go on to become one of the sports all-time greats.

Predictably, he won the match thanks to the Angle Slam.
Your Winner: Kurt Angle

Earlier, on Heat, Triple H had tried to lure The Rock and Austin into a beat down at the hands of his recently reunited DX buddies X-Pac and Road Dogg, but that had backfired. Rock had fought off the DX men while Austin kicked HHH's ass.

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match

Val Venis, Mark Henry, Gangrel and Steve Blackman vs. WWF European Champion The British Bulldog and The Mean Street Posse (Pete Gas, Rodney, and The Mean Street Posse)

Poor British Bulldog - one minute he's competing for the world title, the next he's in a match which screams "we didn't have anything else for these people to do" with The Mean Street Posse as his partners.

Honestly, I think the look on Davey Boy's face in this picture says it all, don't you?

Also, I have no idea who the heels were supposed to be here. I think it was all of them. I also think it doesn't even matter because nobody seemed to care about this match.

Val Venis' team made light work of The Posse before Bulldog got his revenge by taking out Gangrel and Steve Blackman. Yet just when you thought he might go all the way, he got splashed by both Venis and Mark Henry and lost the match.

Seriously, poor Bulldog.
Your Winners and Survivors: Mark Henry and Val Venis

Out in the back, Michael Cole stupidly stormed into the women's locker room for an interview without boring to check if they were decent. The ladies, particularly Ivory and Jacqueline made fun of him for it and teased him mercilessly while Terri scurried around trying to hide her boobs and Luna looked on.

Now, it was only back at Unforgiven 1999 that Luna, Jacqueline and Ivory were at war with one another, but apparently, they'd patched things up and would be competing tonight.

Eight-Woman Sudden Death Tag Team Match
Mae  Young, The Fabulous Moolah, Tori and Debra vs. WWF Women's Champion Ivory, Jacqueline, Luna Vachon and Terri Runnels

This was like a traditional Survivor Series match just fought under 'one fall to a finish' rules because nobody wanted to see a match featuring The Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young drag on to the usual lengths of an elimination match.


Naturally, this was just the kind of sloppy mess you'd expect it to be.

Thankfully, it ended quickly when the barely mobile Moolah pinned women's champion Ivory while Debra ripped Terri Runnel's top off for good measure.
Your Winners: Mae Young, The Fabulous Moolah, Tori and Debra

Post-match, Moolah stole Ivory's title then tried to beat her up some more until everybody pulled them off each other.

X-Pac is Ready for Kane

Out in the back, Lillian Garcia asked X-Pac if he was ready to face "a very angry and very determined Kane."

Now playing the heel after the recent D-Generation-X reunion, Pac insisted that he'd been the one carrying The Big Red Machine during their tag team run together before calling Kane impotent and sexually frustrated.

X-Pac acted like he really couldn't care less about fighting Kane and, as a heel, it was an attitude that really worked for him.

X-Pac vs. Kane

And so the big pay off to the X-Pac/Kane story that had been playing out for most of the year came to a head in a short yet enjoyable little match in which The Big Red Machine looked to counter his opponent's quickness with brute strength.

It was an effective approach which not only made for entertaining viewing but also seemed to have helped Kane win the match despite interference from Road Dogg.

In the end, Kane lifted X-Pac up for a tombstone, but Triple H ran in and blasted him with the WWF title for the DQ.
Your Winner via disqualification: Kane

Post-match, Hunter and Road Dogg set Kane up in the corner for an X-Pac bronco buster. Tori ran in to try and save her boyfriend Kane but when she grabbed 'Pac, he turned around and kicked her without realising who it was.

Instantly showing shock and remorse, X-Pac fled with his DX buddies in tow.

A Backstage Brawl

Out in the back, Michael Cole tried to interview The Rock, but Triple H came along and got in Rocky's face. The two then got into a big brawl which had to be broken up by Sgt. Slaughter and a bunch of officials.

Handicap Survivor Series Elimination Match
Prince Albert, Mideon, Viscera, and WWF Hardcore Champion The Big Boss Man vs. The Big Show

As the combatants were making their way to the ring, we were shown clips of Big Boss Man interrupting the funeral of Big Show's dad and stealing the casket.

"If we never see that footage again, it'll be too soon," said Jim Ross, echoing the thoughts of every wrestling fan who had to sit through that angle.

Ross also told us that Big Show had been assigned Kai En Tai and The Blue Meanie as partners, but had beaten them up so that he could take out Boss Man and Boss Man's partners by himself.

And take them out he did, in about 30 seconds. Show destroyed Mideon and Prince Albert with chokeslams in no time at all, then, in the sole highlight of the entire thing, lifted Viscera up for a huge, and hugely impressive, body slam. One chokeslam later and he was gone too.

Boss Man then ran off and got counted out but, rather than celebrate, Show chased after him.

That barely qualified as a match, but it was still fun to see Big Show going crazy and destroying people. That should have been his thing the whole time.
Your Winner: The Big Show

Out in the back, Kevin Kelly tried to interview Stone Cold Steve Austin but Triple H appeared once again appeared and struck Austin before running off. Stone Cold gave chase, then we cut to what was clearly a pre-recorded segment in which Austin was wandering around in a parking lot looking for Hunter. Cue a car with lights at full beam smashing through the parking lot gates and running down the Texas Rattlesnake.

After cutting to a reaction from Jr and King, Ross actually left the announce table and went backstage to check on Austin. Stephanie McMahon and Test were already there looking over him, as was an irate Vince McMahon. Later, Shane McMahon and Sgt. Slaughter also showed up as EMTs prepared Stone Cold to be placed on a stretcher.

Triple H and DX then showed up and McMahon tore them a new one, blaming them for having Austin run down. Hunter denied having anything to do with it and of, course, he was right. Later, a certain someone would reveal that they were the ones driving the car and that, yes, they did it for The Rock.

Austin was finally taken away on a stretcher now be out for some time, in kayfabe selling the fact that he'd just been run over by car but in reality recovering from injuries he'd accrued thanks to the wild and violent nature of all the main event matches he'd had over the past two years.

Though the actual angle and reveal of Austin's assailant would be derided later, this whole segment was pretty dramatic and engaging stuff.

World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Championship
WWF Intercontinental Champion Chyna (w/ Miss Kitty) vs. Chris Jericho

After all the drama of the 'Austin Got Run Over' angle, we went straight into what was easily the best match on the show so far by a long, long shot.

Chris Jericho held nothing back as he absolutely brutalised Chyna both inside an outside of the ring, but The Ninth Wonder of the World refused to give up and eventually scored the win thanks to a top rope pedigree.

OK, so the actual pedigree didn't look all that great, but the spectacle of it, particularly coming at the end of what was an absolutely thrilling match, made it work.

The crowd loved it, I loved it, and if you watch it, I'm sure you'll love it too.
Your Winner and Still Intercontinental Champion: Chyna

Out in the back, Triple H and X-Pac burst into the McMahon family locker room looking for Vince McMahon.

Shane revealed that Vince had gone to the hospital with Austin before yelling at DX for the terrible crime they'd committed.

Hunter and X-Pac swore down that although they were setting him up, they weren't setting him up to get run over. Helmsley then revealed the real reason he was looking for Vince - to confirm that now Austin was out of action, the main event would just a singles match against The Rock, rather than a triple threat.

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match
Too Cool (Scotty Too Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay) and The Hollys (Crash and Hardcore Holly) vs. Edge, Christian, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy (w/ Terri Runnels)

Last month, at No mercy 1999, Edge, Christian and The Hardys had waged a war on each other in an instant classic tag team ladder match.

Now, they were on the same side, taking the fight to Too Cool and The Hollys in a match which slowly got worse the longer it went on.

Things started off pretty well, with all eight men battling back and forth before Edge and Matt Hardy got eliminated in quick succession.

It was that point on that things started to disintegrate, with only a rare 450 splash from Jeff Hardy breaking up the monotony in a big way.

Eventually, Hardy was gone too, leaving Christian to put up a valiant effort until he lost to Bob Holly.

That could have been a great match. As it was, everybody seemed to get lost and confused about halfway through so it never got any better than being fairly good.
Your Winner and Sole Survivor: Hardcore Holly

Out in the back, Shane McMahon told us that he'd spoken with Vince on the telephone.

The news?

Austin had not lost consciousness, which was a good sign but had suffered severe head, neck, and back trauma.

The other news?

We would still have a triple threat match tonight, just not with Austin.

Shane never told us who the replacement would be, but we'd no doubt find that out later.

World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championship
WWF Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws vs. Mankind & Al Snow

The New Age Outlaws were technically the heels here but still did their usual opening spiel anyway.

Meanwhile, Al Snow and Mankind had been paired up on screen because Mankind made fun of Snow a lot in his book.

Together, both teams tried hard to put on a good match but for some reason, it just fell flat.

The Outlaws had been doing the "Road Dogg Plays Face-in-Peril" format for so long that they apparently didn't know how to do anything else, so we still had a long string of Roadie getting his ass whooped before the tables turned and Snow played face-in-peril for his team.

The result was a messy brawl that failed to make much of an impression. In fact, the best part of the match was the commentary.

At one point, Jim Ross was completely deadpan when he said "Mankind gave Al snow head on Smackdown"

"How dare you say that!" quipped Lawler.

It was hilarious.

In the end, the Outlaws won thanks to a spike piledriver.
Your Winners and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws

World Wrestling Federation Championship Triple Threat Match
WWF Champion Triple H vs. The Rock vs. The Big Show

With no extra special reveal or anything like that, Big Show made his way to the ring to take Steve Austin's place in what turned out to be a fantastic main event.

Brawling through the crowds, around the ring and yes, between the ropes, all three men worked hard to pull off some awesome spots. Plus, the fact that this was a good five or ten minutes shorter than your average 20 minute plus main event meant that it was never allowed to drag on.

As such, we got a really fun battle with nary a dull moment in sight.

Towards the finish, Earl Hebner got taken out so Shane McMahon came down to referee, but Triple H pedigreed him into oblivion. DX came in for a run in, but they got taken out by Big Show.

Finally, Vince McMahon came down and planted Hunter with the WWF title. Big Show made the cover and won the WWF title for the first time.
Your Winner and NEW WWF Champion: The Big Show

And so, nine months after he had helped Vince McMahon in his match against Steve Austin back at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, Big Show had finally had the favour returned. McMahon had helped the former Giant win his first WWF Championship and the big guy couldn't be happier, practically crying as he held the title aloft to end the show on a high note.

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I may not have remembered anything about Survivor Series 1999 when I first sat down to watch it, but now that we're done, I can tell you that there are a few things I'll always remember.

I'll always remember everybody dressing up as pimps in the opening match. I'll always remember Jeff Hardy busting out that sweet 450 splash, Stone Cold getting run over, and Big Show winning his first WWF title.

I'll also remember how despite much of the in-ring action being rather subpar, the Chyna/Jericho match and the main event more than made up for it.

Oh, and the debut of some guy called Kurt Freakin Angle.

All in all a decent outing, though by no means one of the best of the year.

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1999 events reviewed so far

• WCW Souled Out 1999
• WWF Royal Rumble 1999
• WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre - In Your House 27
• WCW Superbrawl IX
• WCW Uncensored 1999
• WWF Wrestlemania 15
• WWF Backlash 1999
• WWF No Mercy UK 1999
• WWF Over the Edge 1999
• King of the Ring 1999
• WCW Great American Bash 1999
• WCW Bash at the Beach 1999
• WWF Fully Loaded 1999
• WCW Road Wild 1999
• WWF Summerslam 1999
• WCW Fall Brawl 1999
• WWF Rebellion 1999
• WWF No Mercy 1999
• WCW Halloween Havoc 1999

Other WWF Survivor Series reviews: 

1. WWF Survivor Series 1987
2. WWF Survivor Series 1988
3. WWF Survivor Series 1989
4. WWF Survivor Series 1990
5. WWF Survivor Series 1991
6. WWF Survivor Series 1992
7. WWF Survivor Series 1993
8. WWF Survivor Series 1994
9. WWF Survivor Series 1995
10. WWF Survivor Series 1996
11. WWF Survivor Series 1997
12. WWF Survivor Series 1998
13. WWE Survivor Series 2009
14. Top Ten Matches from the First 10 Survivor Series events

Be the first to catch the latest Retro Pro Wrestling reviews by following on Facebook or Twitter @RetroPWrestling.

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