2002 was a great year for wrestling all around. Between the debut of the big gold belt all the way to the first ever elimination chamber. We saw Eric Bischoff make his surprising debut as the RAW general manager, the Katie Vick storyline.... well we can just forget about that one.
Jeff Hardy, Bubba Ray, Spike Dudley VS 3-Minute-Warning (Jamal, Rosie, Rico) Elimination Table Match
Before we start I just wanna say, 3-minute warning was a great concept that died off way too fast without being given a proper chance. Bischoff would interrupt legends, a wedding, and even a group of lesbians by saying they're running too long... about 3 minutes too long, which would be followed by Jamal and Rosie absolutely decimating anyone in the ring.
This match was entertaining all the way through, LOTS OF TABLES. Multiple tables were broken throughout the match before anyone was even eliminated. Spike Dudley was the first eliminated after being put through a table by Jamal and Rosie, a few minutes after Spike was planted through a table Jeff Hardy eliminated Rosey. Eventually 3 Minute Warning would regain the advantage after Jamal eliminated Jeff Hardy leaving Bubba Ray all alone against Jamal and Rico. Bubba Ray eliminated Jamal. As Rico was about to finish off Bubba, we saw the reuniting of The Dudley Boyz, D-Von and Bubba hit a 3D on Rico through a table giving team Bubba the victory.
Jeff Hardy, Bubba Ray, Spike Dudley defeat 3 Minute Warning (14 minutes, 20 seconds) 6/10.
Billy Kidman VS Jamie Noble WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Billy Kidman set his sights on the cruiserweight championship which was held by Jamie Noble. Not much story leading up to this match, Kidman won a number one contendership match the previous week on Smackdown after beating Noble in a non-title match.
Billy Kidman started the match off hot gaining the advantage over Noble, Noble would eventually take over and try his best to ground Kidman. Noble wasn't the most exciting cruiserweight to watch as he focused on rest holds and wearing down Kidman throughout the match. Kidman would regain the advantage despite Nydia (Nobles manager/cousin??) trying to interfere, Kidman shoved Noble off the top rope and hit the shooting star press to become NEW Cruiserweight Champion, ending Nobles 5 month reign.
This match was fine, was never a big fan of Noble or Kidman, but the crowd was behind Kidman all throughout and enjoyed him winning the title. Definitely miss WWE caring about cruiserweights and the title nowadays.
Billy Kidman defeats Jamie Noble to become NEW Cruiserweight Champion (7 minutes, 10 seconds) 4/10
Trish Stratus VS Victoria Hardcore Rules for the WWE Woman's Championship
The story started a month or so back when Victoria revealed that her and Trish were fitness models together and WWE showed interest in both of them. According to Victoria, Trish never let her get her chance. Now it's safe to say that WWE treated the woman like giant pieces of meat but this feud was a nice change of pace, sure Victoria a few weeks back stripped Trish in the ring but it was for a reason instead of just showing puppies. They portrayed Victoria as demented and obviously jealous of Trishs success in WWE.
The match started off hot with Victoria and Trish brawling before Victoria would begin choking Trish with a broom before eventually bashing her head with a trash can lid. Trish would eventually turn it around in her favor by catapulting Victoria into a trash can and a huge Irish whip into an ironing board. As Trish was about to put Victoria away, she was sprayed with a fire extinguisher which led to Victoria hitting a snap suplex to defeat Stratus to become NEW Woman's Champion.
This match was fun, a lot more brutal for woman than expected at the time. We saw kendo sticks, trash can, steel stairs, and the fire extinguisher.
Victoria defeat Trish Stratus to become NEW WWE Woman's Champion (7 minutes, 4 seconds) 5/10
Brock Lesnar VS Big Show for the WWE Undisputed Championship
Brock Lesnar won the title at SummerSlam that year by defeating The Rock and would continue to dominate all the way up until now. Brock was just getting out of his feud with The Undertaker after defeating him in an extremely brutal Hell In A Cell match at No Mercy that year before his next challenger would appear. Big Show was recently traded to Smackdown from RAW due to his conflicts with RAW GM Eric Bischoff. Big Show made an instant impact by throwing Undertaker off the stage through tables and electrical equipment on Smackdown. Show would go through a few people before finally setting his eyes on Lesnar by attacking him from behind and putting him on a stretcher. Paul Heyman expressed his disinterest in Lesnar taking on Big Show but Brock wasn't afraid of anyone.
The match started off with Big Show going to work on Lesnars injured ribs before Brock would eventually take the big man down with a huge takedown. Show regained control by targeting the broken ribs of Lesnar, but Brock still showed tremendous strength by throwing Show around the ring. After multiple german suplexes and an F-5 Brock had the match won before Paul Heyman pulled the ref from the ring, thus turning on Lesnar. Brock would chase Heyman down before running into a big chokeslam from Big Show which resulted in Big Show becoming NEW WWE Undisputed Champion.
This match was quick which was surprising, I enjoyed it for what it was and definitely thought Heyman turning on Brock was surprising. This was one of the few times Big Show actually felt like a monster and I was all here for it. Would rate it higher but the match was only 4 minutes long so not much to judge on.
Big Show defeats Brock Lesnar to become NEW WWE Undisputed Champion (4 mintues, 23 seconds) 4/10
Los Guerreros VS Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit VS Edge & Rey Mysterio 3 way elimination for the WWE Tag Team Championship
The story started a little bit back when Angle & Benoit defeated Edge and Mysterio for the titles at No Mercy, Angle & Benoit had a lot of tension and could not seem to get a long. Their tension would eventually lead to a few singles matches against each other which were phenomenal. Mysterio & Edge would get there rematch against Angle & Benoit in a 2 out of 3 falls match on Smackdown where they regained the gold after Benoit accidentally hit Angle with the diving headbutt. Stephanie McMahon announced the 3 way match on Smackdown after Los Guerreros won a match against Mysterio and Edge the previous week.
The match started off technical between Benoit & Mysterio before Rey would eventually turn to his high flying style taking down Benoit before tagging in Edge. Angle would come in and dominate most the match before tagging Benoit back in, it took awhile for Los Guerreros to get involved but when they did the action heated up. Benoit would lock Edge in the crippler crossface while Angle had Eddie in the Ankle Lock, Chavo broke up the crossface on Edge by hitting Benoit in the back with the Tag title, Benoit immediately blamed Angle for hitting him after Chavo tossed the title to Angle. Benoit and Angle started to push each other before Mysterio broke it up with a huge flying dropkick. Edge hits a spear on Benoit shortly after Rey took down Angle and Benoit and eliminated Benoit & Angle from the match. Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit despite being eliminated started to attack everyone else in the match before finally leaving. Eddie and Chavo got the upperhand over Edge right away before the crowd willed Edge to make the hot tag to Mysterio, Rey came in hot laying out both Guerrero's and continued the assualt before Chavo blindsided Rey with the championship, this would lead to Eddie locking in the Cloverleaf and forcing Rey Mysterio to tap out and become NEW Tag Team Champions.
This match was amazing from start to finish, definitely the best match of the night so far. All teams did an awesome job at captivating the audience with there moves and sequences. Los Guerrero's were the least expected to win and ended up pulling it out after cheating multiple times. I mean hey, what can you expect? It's the Guerrero's
Los Guerrero's defeat Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio & Edge to become NEW WWE Tag Team Champions (19 minutes, 26 seconds) 8/10
HUGE RETURN
After the amazing three way tag match we were interrupted by Chris Nowinski who came out to drag the New York crowd before Matt Hardy would come out to stop him. Matt started off by telling Chris that New Yorkers are not stupid which got a huge reaction before Hardy would then call them losers, Hardy then went on to bash the city as well with Nowinski before we hear sirens with a visual of flashing lights.
Scott Steiner has finally returned to the WWE after an 8 year absence. Steiner suplexed and obliterated both Hardy and Nowinski to a huge reaction.
Booker T VS Chris Jericho VS Kane VS Shawn Michaels VS HHH VS Rob Van Dam Elimination Chamber World Heavyweight Championship
A few weeks prior to this match Eric Bischoff said after the huge success Stephanie earned from Brock and Taker in Hell In A Cell he has a new match to debut at Survivor Series which had elements of Royal Rumble, Traditional Survivor Series, and WarGames. Bischoff labeled it as Elimination Chamber, the biggest feud leading up to this match was HHH and Shawn Michaels.
The match started off with HHH and RVD while the others were locked in there pods surrounded by steel. RVD looked great against HHH in the get go throwing him outside the ring onto the steel plates and hitting a huge rolling thunder from the ring to HHH on the floor. RVD would climb on top of Jerichos pod to leap onto HHH until Jericho grabbed RVD from underneath allowing HHH to take over. Jericho was the next entrant into the match and went straight for RVD but RVD got the better of Jericho before throwing him on the outside and jumping off the cage onto Jericho. HHH and Jericho would team up on RVD up until Booker T entered the match to help him out. Booker T and RVD would start to go at it before RVD got the advantage. RVD would proceed to climb all the way to the top of one of the pods and hit the Five Star Frog Splash on HHH which ended up hurting RVD enough for Booker T to pin him and eliminate him. Jericho and HHH teamed up again this time taking out Booker T, Kane would enter the match to even the odds and help Booker out. Kane targeted Jericho by throwing him through the plexin glass pod taking him out for now. Jericho would come back and take advantage of an already chokeslammed Booker T with a Lionsault for the elimination. HBK finally entered the match and went after everyone, Shawn hit the Sweet Chin Music on Kane which was followed up by a pedigree from HHH and a Lionsault from Jericho, Jericho eliminated Kane marking his second of the match. Jericho and HHH once again teamed up this time against Michaels, Jericho eventually turned on HHH by locking him in the Walls of Jericho before HBK hit the Sweet Chin Music on Jericho to eliminate him. Blood and bruises everywhere and we have our final two, HHH and Shawn Michaels. Both men beat the hell out of each other throughout, HBK hit the Sweet Chin Music on HHH but HHH kicked out, HHH finally took back over and went for the pedigree on HBK before Michaels reversed it with a Sweet Chin Music, 1....2....3! Shawn Michaels eliminated HHH to become NEW World Heavyweight Champion.
This match was AMAZING, debuting any new match type is either hit or miss especially in this time period but everyone involved gave it there all and absolutely made sure the first Elimination Chamber wasn't the last. The ending between HHH and Shawn Michaels was done to perfection with Shawn not being the strongest but the smartest to beat HHH. Shawn Michaels was the 2nd ever WWE World Champion and despite his reign being kind of lackluster this was a huge moment in his 2nd coming to the WWE.
Shawn Michaels defeats HHH, Chris Jericho, RVD, Kane, Booker T to become NEW World Heavyweight Champion (39 minutes, 21 seconds) 10/10
Wrap Up:
Survivor Series 02 from start to finish was a very solid PPV, I had a great time rewatching this and almost every match delivered big besides Brock and Big Show. I definitely feel this is a top 5 Survivor Series of all time. Time for some Pros and Cons.
PROS:
Dudley Boyz reuniting
Jamie Noble no longer Cruiserweight Champion
Angle, Benoit, Eddie, Chavo, Mysterio, and Edge put on an incredible tag match
Scott Steiner return
HBK wins the World Heavyweight Championship
The Elimination Chamber lives up to the hype
CONS:
Big Show and Lesnar being so short
Paul Heyman turning on Brock
Survivor Series Rating: 8/10
Hope you guys enjoyed my review/thoughts on this PPV, if you haven't seen this Survivor Series I would definitely recommend checking it out, honestly even if you have seen it I would give it another watch.