Survivor Series (2001)

Survivor Series (2001)
Promotional poster featuring Lita and Torrie Wilson
Tagline(s)	"Winner Take All!"
Theme song(s)	"Control" by Puddle of Mudd
Information
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Sponsor(s)	Microsoft
Date	November 18, 2001
Attendance	10,142
Venue	Greensboro Coliseum
City	Greensboro, North Carolina
Pay-per-view chronology
Rebellion (2001) Survivor Series (2001) Vengeance (2001)
Survivor Series chronology
Survivor Series (2000) Survivor Series (2001) Survivor Series (2002)

Survivor Series (2001) was the 15th annual Survivor Series pay-per-view professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and presented by Microsoft's Xbox. It took place on November 18, 2001, at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was also the last Survivor Series to be produced under the World Wrestling Federation branding, as the company would be forced to change its name several months later as the result of a verdict in the World Wildlife Fund's lawsuit against the company.

The event marked the end of The Invasion angle, which had dominated WWF storylines since March when Vince McMahon purchased World Championship Wrestling.

Background

The event featured eight professional wrestling matches.

The largest storyline that had pervaded the WWF in the preceding months was, as mentioned above, The Invasion, which came about due to the actual purchase of World Championship Wrestling by the WWF just prior to WrestleMania X-Seven. The storyline eventually grew into a WWF vs. WCW faction battle, and eventually Extreme Championship Wrestling became a part of the battle by joining forces with WCW to create The Alliance.

On the October 22, 2001 episode of Raw, Vince and Linda McMahon challenged Shane and Stephanie McMahon to a "Winner Take All" match to determine the fate of both companies, with the winning side continuing to stay in business while the losing side would be forced to disband. However, Vince McMahon had to deal with multiple defections to the Alliance side, including Kurt Angle, as well as an increasingly heated feud between two of the WWF's biggest stars, The Rock and Chris Jericho, over the WCW Championship. Vince began spreading rumors to the Alliance that there was a mole within their faction. On an episode of SmackDown! before the Survivor Series, Steve Austin was the last man standing after both factions attacked each other in the ring. After that, Vince appeared on the entrance ramp and shared a smile with Austin, teasing that Austin would be the mole.

Aftermath

The next night on Raw, Vince McMahon announced that the WCW Championship held by The Rock had become unbranded due to the dissolution of the Alliance and would be referred to simply as the World Championship. Several Alliance members were allowed to keep their jobs. Christian, The Dudley Boyz, and Rob Van Dam were all were holding championships following the Alliance's loss (Christian was the European Champion, the Dudleys were WWF Tag Team Champions, and Van Dam was the Hardcore Champion). In addition, Stacy Keibler was able to stay employed due to her status as the valet for the Dudleys and Test won a twenty-man battle royal at Survivor Series which earned him immunity from being fired for one calendar year. McMahon also debuted the infamous "Kiss My Ass Club" that night, where he said that an Alliance member- in this case Alliance Commissioner William Regal – would have to literally kiss his ass to keep his job.^[1]

At the very top of the show, Paul Heyman was the first Alliance member fired. Furious over being fired, Heyman lunged at his now-former broadcast partner Jim Ross, who was jeering him from the broadcast booth. The audience delighted in seeing Ross pummel Heyman before he was carted off by security. To replace him, Jerry Lawler was brought back, making his first appearance since his resignation from the company in the end of February after No Way Out. The Alliance co-owners, Shane and Stephanie McMahon, were called to the ring to answer for what they did. While Shane accepted his defeat and walked away, Stephanie tried to plead for her job, but was escorted from the ring by WWF security per orders by the WWF chairman Vince McMahon.^[1]

Based on his actions at the end of the WWF vs. Alliance Survivor Series match, for the majority of Raw Kurt Angle went around the backstage area portraying himself as the man who saved the WWF and wanting to be praised for doing so. Instead of that, Angle drew the ire of several WWF superstars including The Rock, who defeated him later that night. After the match Chris Jericho, who had been feuding with The Rock in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series over the WCW Championship, attacked him to reignite their feud.

Despite his self-congratulating attitude, no one found Angle to be the conquering hero he was portraying himself as and by the end of Raw he was depressed and told Vince McMahon that no one appreciated him. McMahon agreed with Angle and looked for a way to reward him.^[1]

That reward came was about to come in the ring moments later, as McMahon was about to announce the stripping of the WWF Championship from Steve Austin, who had not appeared on the show yet. McMahon's intent was to award it to Kurt Angle as a token of his appreciation for Angle's actions at Survivor Series. However, before he could do so he was interrupted by Ric Flair, who returned to a WWF ring for the first time since January 1993. Flair also received a loud reception from the Raw crowd of Charlotte, Flair's hometown. Flair then happily told McMahon that he "had bet on a winner last night," and said to a surprised McMahon that when Shane and Stephanie sold their shares in the WWF to purchase WCW and ECW, he was the consortium who had bought the shares, and as such, he was co-owner of the WWF and he and McMahon were now partners.

Austin then angrily returned, promptly going to the ring and attacking Angle, and then McMahon when he tried to help, while Flair idly stood by. Austin then became a face for the first time since WrestleMania X-Seven, when he claimed his WWF Championship, and celebrated with beers with Flair in the ring.

Over the coming weeks the WWF decided what to do with the world championship situation, as now there were two world championships in the company. A tournament at Vengeance was conceived, where Austin and Angle would face each other for the WWF Championship and The Rock and Jericho would face each other for the unbranded World Championship. After those two matches, the winners would face off in one final match to unify both championships. Austin defeated Angle to retain while Jericho defeated The Rock to win the World Championship. In the finals Jericho defeated Austin due to outside interference from Booker T to become the first ever WWF Undisputed Champion.^[2]

Production

Vince McMahon was originally supposed to be part of the main event, but was replaced by Big Show due to injury. In addition, a title unification match between WCW Cruiserweight Champion Tajiri and WWF Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac was canceled because X-Pac was injured and unable to compete. To resolve this, the WWF retired the Light Heavyweight Championship shortly after Survivor Series in favor of the Cruiserweight Championship lineage.

Results

Battle royal

Survivor Series elimination match

References

• "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts". Wrestling's Historical Cards. Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 109. 
• hoffco-inc.com – Survivor Series 2001 review
• 2001 Survivor Series Results

External links

• Official 2001 Survivor Series website