Survivor Series (2003 TV Special) User Reviews

WWE Survivor Series 2003

[wrestlingsitewebmaster · 8/10 · 1 October 2005]

This was a very good PPV. Fans were eager to see if 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin would get the losing end and this would result in him having to leave the WWE (not really, he returned to WWE 6 weeks after, after having a short break).

Results from the show:

• Kurt Angle (c), Chris Benoit, Bradshaw, JohnCena and Hardcore Holly defeated Brock Lesnar (c), Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones, A-Train and Big Show in a quality match. Cena and Benoit were the sole survivors.

• Molly Holly defeated Lita to retain the useless Women's title in a fair match.

• Kane defeated Shane McMahon in a good Ambulance match.

• The Basham Brothers defeated Los Guerrero's in a decent scrap.

• Vince McMahon defeated The Undertaker in a classic Buried Alive Match. Kane helped McMahon to defeat Taker so this would set up a Taker vs Kane match at Wrestlemania XX in March 2004.

• Randy Orton (c), Christian, Scott Steiner, Mark Henry and Chris Jericho defeated Shawn Michaels, Booker T, The Dudley Boyz and Rob Van Dam to end Austin's run with Raw. Orton was the sole survivor.

• Goldberg pinned Triple H in an abysmal match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

Overall Grade - B

The best p.p.v. from WWE this year.

[davidpenzer · 9/10 · 21 May 2004]

The card looked excellent from the beginning and it didn't disappoint. Fantastic booking and surprising endings. I'm really impressed.

Match 1: Angle, Holly, Bradshaw, Cena, & Benoit vs. Lesnar, Jones, A-Train, Morgan & Big Show. Elimination Match.

• Great opener! Jones, Morgan, A-Train etc may not be the greatest wrestlers but they work well in a team and their size is impressive. Smart move by WWE; the three worst wrestlers – Holly, Bradshaw and A-Train are eliminated in less than a minute. This is a very intense match and all seven remaining wrestlers look good. Team Lesnar dominates in the beginning due to their size advantage, but when Team Angle fights back and Lesnar taps out, Big Show is left alone against Benoit and Cena. In the end Cena pins Show after the FU. Survivors: Benoit and Cena (who would become World and US Champions at WrestleMania XX).

Match Rating: 4/5

Backstage we see Stone Cold and Vince McMahon in a funny segment.

Match 2: Lita vs Molly Women's Championship

• Enjoyable enough match. The Molly Go Round looks impressive. Lita kicks out of it but only moments after Molly manages to get the pin on Lita after a drop toe hold onto the turnbuckle when the turnbuckle cover was removed. A little weird finish but a good match.

Match Rating: 3/5

Match 3: Kane vs. Shane McMahon

• If they wanted to build up Kane as a monster heel then why the hell does he have to go through a two month feud with Shane? Kane should have squashed Shane in quick fashion and then continue to the World Title picture. This long lasting feud has only made him look weak. Usual Shane McMahon stuff here; lots of sick bumps, but not much actual wrestling. Very predictable too. Shane bugs the hell out of me, but he was seemingly over with the crowd.

Match Rating: 3/5

Backstage Brock Lesnar is interviewed. He looks like a monster but talks like a mouse. Goldberg interrupts. The beginning of a new feud? Interesting.

Coach interviews Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who is boring as hell but manages to draw some cheap pop from the Dallas crowd. Eric Bischoff comes out and talks smack and is thrown out of the ring by Cuban. Then Randy Orton sneaks up from behind and nails the RKO on Cuban. Thank goodness...

Match 4: The Basham Brothers (with Shaniqua) vs. Los Guerreros. WWE Tag Team Championship.

• Amazing tag match. Los Guerreros is by far the best tag team in WWE. Very fast-paced match with many highlights, like a top-rope frankensteiner from Eddie. Seeing Shaniqua getting spanked is hilarious. Bashams retain the belts after a roll-up on a distracted Chavo. The beginning of a break up between Eddie and Chavo.

Match Rating: 4/5

Match 5: HBK, Booker, RVD, Bubba and D-Von Dudley vs. Jericho, Orton, Henry, Steiner & Christian. Elimination Match. Stone Colds career on the line.

• A fantastic match with awesome booking for the finish. When Christian eliminates Bubba, making Shawn Michaels the only man left for Team Stone Cold – against Christian, Jericho and Orton – it turns out to be one hell of a match. Shawn eliminates both Christian and Jericho and dominates Orton, but the referee is out. Shawn's just about to hit the sweet chin music on Orton when Bischoff interferes. Stone Cold takes out Bischoff and gives Orton a stunner for good measure. Both men down. Michaels recovers and goes for the pin, but Batista runs in and gives HBK the sit-down powerbomb while Austin's unaware. Referee recovers. King and J.R. are both screaming "Kick out Shawn, kick out!" Orton gets the pin. Match-of-the-year candidate!

Match Rating: 5/5

Austin has a retirement speech and gets a big pop - as always. This was definitely not expected.

Match 6: Undertaker vs. Vince McMahon. Buried Alive.

• The excitement has already been ruined by all the spoilers. Everyone knows Undertaker will be buried, have some time off and then return as the Lord of Darkness. Only question is who's going to interfere, because we can't have Undertaker beat clean, can we? Not a single grapple here but thankfully the match is short. Taker dominates with punches and more punches until Vince hits a low blow. Taker fights back and is ready to finish Vince off when Kane interferes and buries Undertaker alive! Match was way too high up in the card considering how bad it was. This story could have been told much better.

Match Rating: 1/5

Match 7: Goldberg vs. HHH. World Heavyweight Championship.

• Better than their match at Unforgiven. They do a great job of making Goldberg look like an unstoppable monster here. Goldberg overpowers Triple H until Trips starts working on Goldberg's injured ankle. But in the end Goldberg is the last man standing in the ring, despite outside interference from all Evolution members. Impressive booking. This was good!

Match Rating: 4/5

The Good: The matches went from good to top-notch. Both Elimination Matches were outstanding, the tag match was awesome and the main event did not disappoint. Great stuff here.

The Bad: The Undertaker buried alive story was very unspectacular, considering this was what caused the return of The Dead Man gimmick at WrestleMania XX. A cruiserweight match on the card would have given this p.p.v. a 5/5 rating.

Survivor Series Rating: 4/5

I was ringside for this one

[jsaulfan1 · 19 January 2005]

So, like my topic heading says, I was ringside for this one, and I must say I wasn't all that impressed. I try to catch the WWE live anytime they hit Dallas, Tx (my hometown)and this was not one of the better shows I have seen. I have seen both Raw and Smackdown live several times, but this was my first live pay-per-view, and I was psyched because I thought surely it would be a HUGE show, considering it was pay-per-view and all, but in my honest opinion, it was just average. I have been to several RAW tapings that were far better than this particular Survivor Series.

The buried alive match sucked, and the ambulance match was just OK, but it was kind of neat to see the ambulance and the bulldozer sitting inside of The American Airlines Center, and seeing the wrestlers work off of them.

The rest of the matches were so-so, except for Shaun Michaels performance....that was really good, and he dropped a lot of blood that night. Come to think of it, Vince dropped quite a bit of blood as well, but not as much as Shaun.

I knew right off the bat that Mav's owner Cuban was going to be involved, because we spotted him right away before the show even started walking around talking to fans, so that was no surprise.

I was kind of surprised by Austin's little goodbye speech, but let's be real, how many times has he quit and came back? It was really nothing new, but he seemed to be speaking from the heart, and I could be mistaken, but we were sitting ringside, and I could have sworn at one point I saw a few tears from him before he broke out the beer.

Other than a few decent moments there was really nothing memorable about this pay-per-view for me, I would give it a 5 out of 10....just mediocre. It also didn't help that at the time there were not any really strong story lines going on, nothing to write home about, if you will.

But having said all of that, I still strongly suggest that if anyone ever has the chance to see the WWE live, go for it, it truly is an awesome spectacle to witness live!!!

Meh. Watchable but a pass TBH

[morantjavonte · 5/10 · 14 June 2023]

Survivor Series 2003 Thoughts

Survivor Series 2003 was the 17th annual Survivor Series PPV event produced by the WWE. The event took place on November 16, 2003 in Dallas, Texas at the American Airlines Center. Attendance was at 13,487 with a buy rate being 450,000. This event had many notable stars making their Survivor Series debuts and the last night we would see the Undertaker as the American badass before he would make his deadman gimmick return months later at WrestleMania.

7 matches were on the card. It's the end of 2003, the WWE were setting up for the future as many notable upcoming talents were making a name for themselves such as John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton and other veterans like Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were slowly getting the long-time pushes fans been wanting. A major storyline saw Steve Austin putting his Co-GM position on the line by having his own team representing him against Eric Bischoff's team. Austin depsite retiring was still popular with the fans that it was a creative idea to have him as the on-screen GM. Smackdown also had their own traditional survivor series match that put the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar with a large group of large heavyweights against Kurt Angle and his allies. Shane & Vince McMahon battled Kane and Undertaker respectively in personal feuds (both in gimmick matches) and Goldberg defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H.

The Good - Boy did Raw's survivor series match delivered. The action and pace was tremendous. Shawn Michaels of course with his big selling after getting busted open and fighting to his last breath stole the show. Is it really a surprise? Austin in the aftermath thanking everyone and beating up security was a touching moment. The finish of the match of having Batista interfere and giving Orton the victory might be a bit of a bummer to some but it didn't damage anything. Shane McMahon vs. Kane I guess was fun for your regular brawl match. It was a bit of a silly feud just to put Kane over as a now psychotic heel but it was entertaining.

The Meh - Smackdown's survivor series match was a pretty good kickoff. However major damage to the match was some sloppy wrestling. I love John Cena but this was a throwback that he needed to improve upon the years. He was just turned face though not to long before this night because of his popularity which was smart because of how charismatic he was. The match was fun but it wasn't tremendous and some eliminations were insanely fast. I will get to a negative soon though involving two competitors. The World Heavyweight Championship match honestly went through as expected as Goldberg unfortunately didn't really connect well with anyone during his first WWE run. With an injury angle heading into this event (which was obviously set for protection of someone who's limited), the match went almost as predicted.

The Bad - One of the worst performances of the night featured Nathan Jones and Matt Morgan. I think Matt Morgan became a better performer later in his wrestling career when he departed and went to TNA but he wasn't so good here tonight. Nathan Jones couldn't keep up on the pace at all and had about 3 botches and a late selling causing a different camera angle needed. The WWE Tag Team Championship match was forgettable and felt like a regular TV match and the Women's Championship match was very sloppy and the crowd couldn't get into it. Undertaker vs. Vince was just Taker beating the snot out if the boss until the interference from Kane was all set and ready. Luckily it leads us to a great legendary gimmick return months later.

Overall - To be honest, show didn't look that impressive on paper so I had low expectations. I think one match saved this show a lot from being such a bad PPV and that obviously goes to the Raw survivor series match. We also indeed had a bunch of teases set for future feuds and pushes that eventually occurred so it is quite a memorable show.

Score - 5 out of 10: Mediocre

0 = Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time :

1. Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Bradshaw, Chris Benoit, Hardcore Holly & John Cena) vs. Team Lesnar (Brock Lesnar, Matt Morgan, A-Trian, Nathan Jones & Big Show) (Elimination Tag) - 2.5/5

2. Lita vs. Molly Holly: WWE Women's Championship - 1.5/5

3. Shane McMahon vs. Kane (Ambulance Match) - 3/5

4. The Brasham Brothers vs. Los Guerreros: WWE Tag Team Championship - 1.5/5

5. Team Austin (Shawn Michaels, D-Von Dudley, Bubba Ray Dudley, Rob Van Dam & Booker T) vs. Team Bischoff (Chris Jericho, Christian, Mark Henry, Scott Steiner & Randy Orton) (Elimination Tag) - 4.5/5

6. Undertaker vs. Mr. McMahon (Buried Alive Match) - 1/5

7. Goldberg vs. Triple H: World Heavyweight Championship - 2/5

Best Match - Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff

Worst Match - Undertaker vs. Mr. McMahon

Most Memorable Moment - Stone Cold segment after the lost.

Top 5 Performers

1. Shawn Michaels - Outstanding Performance

2. Chris Benoit - Great Performance

3. Chris Jericho - Great Performance

4. Christian - Great Performance

5. Randy Orton - Career Highlight.

One of the best of the year *Spoilers Ahead*

[Yankees26 · 20 March 2004]

Along with Vengeance and Wrestlemania was one of the best PPV's of the year.



*Spoilers*

1.Smackdown's Ten Man Elimination tag match- Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Hardcore Holly, Bradshaw, and John Cena) vs. Team Lesnar (Brock Lesnar, Big Show, Nathan Jones, Matt Morgan, and A-Train.) Hardcore Holly brawled with Lesnar whipping him into the steel steps. Referee Brian Hebner went to split it up, but Hardcore knocked Hebner down getting himself disqualified. Holly Eliminated. Bradshaw and A-Train started it out. Bradshaw was in the corner when A-Train charged him going for a clothesline, Bradshaw moved out of the way and gave A-Train the clothesline from Hell pinning him. A-Train Eliminated. Big Show came in and Bradshaw got in a few chops before going for the Clothesline from Hell again, but Nathan Jones kicked Bradshaw in the back as he bounced off the ropes and Big Show chokeslammed him pinning him. Bradshaw Eliminated. John Cena came in and was dominated by Team Lesnar for a little while before tagging in Chris Benoit who went to work on Brock Lesnar. Lesnar managed to tag in Big Show who dominated Benoit. Legdrop on Benoit for a near fall. Big Show tagged in Matt Morgan. Benoit did a dropkick on Matt Morgan allowing him to tag in Angle who was on fire! 3 German Suplexes on Morgan, Jones ran in, dropkick to the knee of Jones, Lesnar ran in, scooped up Angle for the F5, Angle countered with another german, dropkick to Big Show knocking him out of the ring, Cena ran in knocking Lesnar over the top rope, Nathan Jones went for the big boot, but accidently hit Matt Morgan, Angle clotheslines Jones over the top rope, Angle Slam on Morgan and pins him! Morgan Eliminated. Jones ran in and grabbed Angle and held him. Big Show went for the clothesline on Angle, but accidently hit Jones, Angle knocks Big Show over the top rope, Ankle Lock on Jones, Jones taps out. Jones Eliminated. Lesnar ran in, scooped up Angle and delivered the F5 pinning Angle. Angle Eliminated. Benoit in going to work on Lesnar's shoulder. Crossface on Lesnar countered it with a roll-up for a near fall. I never see that happen! Benoit locks in the cross face again. Lesnars feet were on the ropes. Just moments later Benoit locked in the cross face again! Brock Lesnar taps out! Lesnar Eliminated. Big Show is the only man left for Team Lesnar against John Cena and Chris Benoit. Benoit with a flying Crossbody from the top rope for a near fall. Blind tag to Cena. Big Show Chokeslams Benoit. Cena hits Big Show with his steel chain while the ref is tending to Benoit, FU to Big Show pins hims. WINNERS: TEAM ANGLE. Very good match overall. Holly, Bradshaw, Angle, A-Train, and Nathan Jones were hardly in the match at all. Holly's elimination made no sense since the match hadn't started so hes was allowed to do what ever he wants. 7.5/10

2.Molly Holly vs. Lita- Molly controls match for the most part. Hits the Molly Go Round from the top rope for a near fall. Lita goes for the moonsault but Molly rolls out of the way. Molly then hits Lita with an exposed turnbuckle for the win. WINNER: MOLLY HOLLY Didn't care very much for this match. Good suprise though by the WWE by having Molly win. I thought for sure Lita would win. 4/10

3.Kane vs. Shane McMahon Ambulance match- Highlights of this match: Elbow Drop by McMahon from the top rope throught the announcers table, Leg Drop by MacMahon through a garbage can and a box on the concrete, Mcmahon backed up an SUV into Kane knocking him through the window! Kane eventually won it with tombstone loading Shane into the Ambulance. WINNER: KANE Kane just wasn't the type of person for this match. Matt Hardy, and RVD would have made much better opponents. It's been just a few months hes been gone and I already miss Shane. 5/10

4.Basham Brothers vs. Los Guererros- Eddie Guererro and Danny Basham start out. I don't remember much about this match, but Chavo got a hot tag, knocked down both Bashams, back body drop on Doug, Danny Irish Wipped Chavo off the ropes, they were going for a double team manuever but jumped over Danny and dropkicked Doug, double clothesline had both men down. At one point Shaniqua tried to interfere and Chavo got her with a clothesline. Eddie went to the top rope and did a frog splash on Shaniqua! Doug Basham was back in the ring now. Chavo hit him with a swinging DDT knocking over Eddie as well. Chavo went to check on Eddie and Danny ran in and rolled up Chavo pinning him. Danny had the tights. Winners: The Basham Brothers Solid match. 6.5/10.

5. Raw's Ten man elimination tag match: Team Stone Cold (Booker T, RVD, Dudley Boys, and HBK) vs. Team Bischoff (Y2J, Scott Steiner, Mark Henry, Randy Orton, and Christian)- D-Von Dudley and Christian start off. D-Von controls him and tags in RVD. Christian manages to tag in Chris Jericho. Enziguri on RVD for a near fall. Steiner gets tagged in. RVD with a couple of unique kicks on Steiner for near falls. Steiner with a belly to belly from the top rope for a near fall! RVD pokes him in the eye and then tagging in Booker T. Scissors kick on Steiner! Booker T does the Spinaroonie. Spinebuster on Steiner for a near fall as Christian and Randy Orton break up the pin. The rest of Team Stone Cold comes out and they brawl with the guys on Team Bischoff. Steiner with a lowblow and then the Steiner Recliner on Booker T. Stacy Kiebler distracted Steiner and he went out and grabbed her by the hair. THe Dudleys snuck on him and did some sort of double team back breaker move, which JR called a 3D. Book End on Steiner and pinned him. Steiner Eliminated. Mark Henry did a powerslam on Booker T and pinned him. Henry Eliminated. Bubba Ray came in and was overpowered by Henry. Tagged in D-von and they did a 3D! RVD with a frog splash out of nowhere! All 3 jump on Mark Henry and pin him. Henry Elininated. RVD was tagged in and faced Chris Jericho. Jericho tagged in Orton. Its about time he got in the match. He got dominated by Van Dam. RVD went to the top and got knocked off by Y2J. RKO on Van Dam and Orton pinned him. D-von came in and controlled Orton for a while. Y2J got a tag and after a few minutes pinned D-von off a neck breaker. D-von Eliminated. Later Michaels was in and took a clothesline from Jericho and was down. Bubba got a hot tag. Clothesline on Y2J, double Clothesline on Christian and Orton, Sidewalk slam on Jericho, Samoan Drop on Orton, Jericho got a low blow, Christian nailed him with the Unprettier and pinned him. Bubba Ray Eliminated. That left Michaels alone against Christian, Chris Jericho, and Randy Orton. Michaels later got split open, vertical suplex by Jericho for a near fall. Christian ran at him from the corner, Superkick out of nowhere and pinned him. Christian Eliminated. Y2J came and began to control the bleeding HBK. HBK with a DDT for a near fall, which Orton broke up. Michaels knocked Orton over the ropes Orton fell hard on the outside. Y2J went for the Lionsault, but Michaels got his knees up. Jericho went for the Walls of Jericho, Michaels countered with a small package for the pin! Y2J Eliminated, but Y2J didn't leave before hitting Michaels with a chair. Orton covered and he kicked out! Orton went for a cross body but missed and hit the ref. Michaels went for the kick but Bischoff ran in and kicked him. Stone Cold knocked Bischoff out of the ring. Stunner on Orton. Bischoff and Austin brawled on the outside. Batista ran in and powerbombed Michaels and Orton pinned him. WINNERS: TEAM BISCHOFF Easily the best match of the night and a match of the year canidate. 9.5/10

6.Undertaker vs. Mr. Mcmahon- Undertaker dominated the entire match. Kane interfered and helped Vince. Together they buried him alive. WINNER: Vince McMahon Didn't care for this match. 4.5/10

7.Triple H vs. Goldberg- Triple H went after Goldberg ankle throughout the match even hitting him with a chair. Referee Earl Hebner was knocked out. Triple H hit Goldberg with the brass knuckles for a near fall. Triple H knocked out the ref again. Goldberg had a sledge hammer. All of Evolution ran out Goldberg took out all of them with the sledge hammer. Spear on Triple H, then the Jackhammer and pinned him. WINNER: Goldberg.

Decent match. Not as good as their match at Vengeance. 5.5/10

Overall good PPV.