Survivor Series (2003)

Background

At SummerSlam, Triple H and Goldberg were involved in the 2nd six-man Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship (the first one being the last year at Survivor Series). After Goldberg eliminated three other men in that match, he targeted Triple H. At the end, Goldberg attempted another Spear on Triple H, who countered by hitting Goldberg in the head with a sledgehammer for the win. The next night on Raw, Goldberg chaallenged Triple H one-on-one. Triple H came out and stated that he would defend the World title against Goldberg at the Raw pay-per-view, Unforgiven. Triple H added the stipulation that, should Goldberg lose, he would retire from WWE. At Unforgiven, Goldberg defeated Triple H with the title and his career on the line, when he performed a Jackhammer to win the title. On the September 29 edition of Raw, Triple H made an announcement, offering a bounty of $100,000 to anyone who could successfully "take out" Goldberg. The first person that attempted to take the bounty was Steven Richards, but Goldberg quickly took him out. Many other people tried and failed to take him out including La Résistance, Mark Henry and Tommy Dreamer. It was during a World Heavyweight Championship match between Goldberg and Shawn Michaels on the October 20 edition of Raw, however, that he was taken out. Batista ran-in, dragged Michaels out of the ring and, in storyline, assaulted him. Batista then entered the ring, and proceeded to attack Goldberg. He put a folding chair around Goldberg's ankle, before jumping off the middle rope onto the chair, in storyline, "shattering" Goldberg's ankle. Evolution then made their way to the ring, and gave the $100,000 bounty to Batista. With Goldberg seemingly out of action, Raw Co-General Manager Eric Bischoff looked set to present Triple H with the World Heavyweight Championship on the October 27 edition of Raw. The other Co-General Manager of Raw, Stone Cold Steve Austin came to the ring, however, and announced that Goldberg would be back to face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series. Goldberg got his revenge on Batista on the November 3 edition of Raw as he performed a spear to Batista. He attempted to injure Batista using the same technique that Batista used on Goldberg. Ric Flair tried to intervene, but he too got speared. Austin then announced that Batista and Goldberg would go one-on-one on the November 10 edition of Raw, just six days before Survivor Series. Goldberg looked set to beat Batista, but Triple H interfered, signaling a Disqualification. Triple H got his signature Sledgehammer out from underneath the ring, and looked set to attack Goldberg with it, but Goldberg managed to fight back, and speared Triple H. Goldberg picked up the sledgehammer, and attacked Batista with it, getting the advantage heading into the pay-per-view.

At the previous SmackDown! pay-per-view, No Mercy, Mr. McMahon interfered in a WWE Championship Biker Chain match between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker, helping Lesnar retain the title. Also at the same pay-per-view, Vince defeated his daughter Stephanie McMahon in an "I Quit" match. Due to a pre-match stipulation between the two, Stephanie had to quit her job as SmackDown! General Manager. The following week, on the October 23 edition of SmackDown!, Vince announced Paul Heyman as the new SmackDown! General Manager. In his first act as General Manager, Heyman booked a handicap match, with Undertaker facing Brock Lesnar and The Big Show, with the stipulation that if he won, Undertaker could choose to face any superstar at any event. Heyman put many stipulations in Undertaker's way during the bout, but despite this and taking a huge beating, Undertaker won the contest. As a fallen Undertaker laid in the entryway McMahon began screaming at him, saying that he would never be WWE Champion again as long as he was alive and that he demanded to know what kind of match Undertaker would seek now that he could pick anyone to face at any time. The injured Undertaker told McMahon that he would be competing in a Buried Alive match at Survivor Series. Assuming Undertaker would choose Lesnar as his opponent, McMahon continued to berate him by saying he hoped that Lesnar would bury him "six feet under". Undertaker then snatched the microphone away from the owner of WWE and declared that he would not be facing Lesnar in the match, but instead would face a stunned and angry McMahon. On the October 30 edition of SmackDown!, Heyman announced that he had given Undertaker time off until Survivor Series, which made McMahon very unhappy. McMahon stated that he would "burn down Undertaker's house and order Undertaker's wife to be gang raped" if Heyman didn't do anything about the Buried Alive match. Both Undertaker and Vince were interviewed on the November 6 edition of SmackDown!. In his promo, Undertaker stated that the feud with Vince was personal. He went on to say that McMahon respects nobody and that McMahon disrespects his family. Later in the show, McMahon asked for forgiveness from the fans for his actions over the past few months.

The secondary feud from Raw brand heading into the event was between the two Co-General Managers on Raw, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff. Bischoff had control of the brand since July 15, 2002, but on April 28, 2003 (the night after the Backlash pay per view), he was forced to share his General Manager duties with Austin. Their feud over who had the most power as General Manager continued on Raw throughout the Summer of 2003. On the July 21 edition of Raw, Linda McMahon put a restriction on Steve Austin, saying that he could not physically assault the other Raw superstars unless Austin was physically provoked. On the October 20 edition of Raw, Bischoff proposed that he and Austin should face off in a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series match, with both selecting teams of five and the stipulation being if Austin's team were to win, then the restriction that Linda McMahon had put on Austin previously would be null and void; however, if Bischoff's team were to win, Austin would step down as Co-General Manager of Raw. Austin promptly accepted the challenge, with Bischoff announcing the first two members of his team as Scott Steiner and Chris Jericho. Later in the night, Booker T was announced as the first member of Austin's Survivor Series team. The following week, Rob Van Dam, Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley were named as members of Austin's team. For Team Bischoff, Christian and Mark Henry were announced as members as well. On the November 3 edition of Raw, both Austin and Bischoff announced their final members to join their respective team; Shawn Michaels accepted Austin's invitation to join his team and Bischoff announced as Randy Orton the last member to join his team. The on and off feud between five members from Team Austin and Team Bischoff originally began during the Summer of 2001, when Rob Van Dam, The Dudley Boyz, and Booker T, who were a part of The Alliance) fought with Christian and Chris Jericho, who were a part of the then-known WWF Team. They all were involved in the Invasion storyline until the storyline ended in November 2001 at the Survivor Series event when The Rock, who fought for Team WWF, won the 5-on-5 Winner Takes All match, thus putting the Alliance out of business. During the Summer and Fall of 2002, Booker T (from Team Austin), along with Goldust, had fought Jericho and Christian (from Team Bischoff) in singles and tag team matches. They also fought for the World Tag Team Championship held by Jericho and Christian at the time until December 2002 at Armageddon when they dropped the titles to Booker T and Goldust in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match. After Armageddon, Jericho along with Christian entered a feud with Shawn Michaels (from Team Austin), after Jericho claimed that he was the next Shawn Michaels. On the January 13, 2003 edition of Raw, Jericho won a battle royal to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble match, choosing number two in order to start the match with Michaels, who had already been named number one. At the Royal Rumble, Jericho, with the help of Christian, eliminated Michaels. Moments later during the Rumble match, Michaels retaliated by assaulting Jericho, which allowed Test to eliminate Jericho. The following two months, the feud between Jericho and Michaels continued to escalate leading up to their match at WrestleMania XIX. During that event, Michaels defeated Jericho when he countered Jericho's suplex into a Roll-up that gave Michaels a successful pinfall, thus the victory. On the July 21, 2003 edition of Raw, Jericho defeated Michaels in a rematch with the help of then Evolution member Randy Orton (from Team Bischoff). At Unforgiven on September 21, Orton defeated Michaels in the first of many high profile matches billed as "Legend versus Legend Killer", with the help of his stablemate and mentor Ric Flair. The feud between Christian and Rob Van Dam (from Team Austin) originally started after Christian became the three-time WWE Intercontinental Champion by defeating Booker T at an untelevised house show. At Unforgiven, Christian successfully defended the Intercontinental title against both RVD and Jericho in a Triple Threat match when he pinned RVD. Then in the following two matches in one week, Christian defended the title against RVD including on the September 29, 2003 edition of Raw, when he lost the title to RVD in a Ladder match. On that same episode of Raw, Scott Steiner (from Team Bischoff) turned heel by belly to belly suplexing Stacy Keibler after Keibler accidentally cost Steiner and Test the World Tag Team Championship against the Dudley boyz (from Team Austin). While Steiner and Test teamed together, with Keibler their reluctant manager, Steiner would feud with RVD and the Dudley boyz respectively in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series. During the Summer of 2003, Mark Henry (from Team Bischoff) returned to WWE television on the Raw roster, where he found some success as a member of "Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises," led by Theodore Long. During that time, Henry was involved in a brief program with World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg when Triple H put a bounty on Goldberg. This was followed by a brief rivalry that he had with Michaels, before he engaged in a feud with Booker T, who returned to Raw from a nagging back injury. On the November 10 episode of Raw, Team Austin and Team Bischoff were scheduled four matches with Team Austin gaining 4-0 victories in one night. In a tag team match, the Dudley Boyz defeated Steiner and Henry via disqualification, while in three singles matches, RVD defeated Christian, Booker T defeated Jericho, and Michaels defeated Orton to get the greater advantage heading into the event.

Event

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a Sunday Night Heat match was aired, which saw Tajiri (with Akio and Sakoda) retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Jamie Noble. Tajiri pinned Noble after a Buzzsaw Kick.

Preliminary matches

The first match of the event was the Survivor Series match with Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, John Cena, Hardcore Holly, and Bradshaw) against Team Lesnar (WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, United States Champion The Big Show, Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones and A-Train). Holly was eliminated as he was disqualified for pushing the referee while attacking Lesnar before the match. A-Train was then eliminated by Bradshaw after a Clothesline From Hell. Bradshaw was then eliminated after a Chokeslam by Big Show. Matt Morgan was eliminated by Angle after an Angle Slam. Jones was eliminate by Angle after he submitted to the Ankle Lock. Angle was eliminated by Lesnar after an F-5. Lesnar was eliminated by Benoit after he submitted to the Crippler Crossface. Big Show was eliminated after a chain shot and an FU by John Cena, leaving Cena and Benoit as the survivors.

The next match was for the WWE Women's Championship between Molly Holly and Lita. After Lita missed a Litasault, Molly executed the Molly-Go-Round for a near-fall. Molly performed a drop toe hold on Lita into an exposed turnbuckle and pinned her to retain the title.

The third match was an Ambulance match between Shane McMahon and Kane. The match started on the outside, where Shane was thrown into the steel steps by Kane. Mid-way in the match, Shane executed a Leap of Faith through a broadcast table on Kane. Shane hit Kane with a kendo stick and tackled Kane through a security booth with an SUV. Shane executed a Coast-To-Coast off the roof of the ambulance on Kane. In the end, Kane executed a Tombstone Piledriver on the floor on Shane and threw him into the ambulance to win the match.

The fourth match was between The Basham Brothers (Doug and Danny) and Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo) for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The match started on the outside. Los Guerreros attacked Shaniqua, who tried to interfere. After Chavo accidentally attacked Eddie, Danny pinned Chavo with a roll-up to win the match for his team.

Main event matches

The fifth match was the second Survivor Series match with Team Bischoff (Chris Jericho, Christian, Randy Orton, Scott Steiner and Mark Henry) against Team Austin (Shawn Michaels, Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam, Booker T and World Tag Team Champions Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley). Steiner was eliminated by Booker after a Book-end. Booker was eliminated by Henry after a World's Strongest Slam. Henry was eliminated by Van Dam after a 3-D from Bubba Ray and D-Von and Five-Star Frog splash. Van Dam was eliminated by Orton after an RKO. D-Von was eliminated by Jericho after a Flashback. Bubba Ray was eliminated by Christian after an Unprettier. Christian was eliminated by Michaels after Sweet Chin Music. Jericho was eliminated after Michaels countered the Walls of Jericho into a Cradle. After the referee was knocked down and Austin brawled with Bschoff in the entrance way, Batista interfered and executed a Batista Bomb on Michaels. Orton pinned Michaels to win the match, leaving Orton as the sole survivor and meaning Austin lost his position as Co-General Manager of Raw.

The match that followed was the Buried Alive match between The Undertaker and Mr. McMahon. Undertaker punched McMahon, resulting in McMahon bleeding. Undertaker hit McMahon in the head with one of the shovels. After Undertaker assaulted McMahon, he carried him to the grave site. McMahon hit the Undertaker with a shovel, which resulted in Undertaker falling to the grave site, but he pulled McMahon into it. Undertaker climbed to a front loader but an explosion knocked him out. Kane interfered, attacked Undertaker and threw him into the grave. McMahon operated the front loader and dumped all the dirt from it to win the match.

The final match of the night was between Goldberg and Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. In the match, Triple H focused on Goldberg's injured ankle. Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista all interfered on behalf of Triple H; however, Goldberg hit Flair, Orton and Batista with a sledgehammer, which was brought in by Triple H. The match came to an end when Goldberg executed a Spear and Jackhammer on Triple H to retain the title.

Survivor Series elimination matches

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