This Day In Wrestling History - November 15

Date: November 15, 1998 (15 years ago)

Feature: WWE's Survivor Series PPV 15 years ago featured The Rock winning the finals of a WWF Title tournament over Mankind, then being revealed to be part of The Corporation with Vince and Shane McMahon. Also in the Final Four of the tournament were Steve Austin, who lost to Foley, and The Undertaker, who lost to The Rock.

Torch Back-Issue: PWTorch Newsletter #521.

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PWTorch Newsletter Cover Story
Headline: The Rock captures WWF Title in tournament
Subheadline:Beats Mankind in finals, then scores huge ratings numbers in first title defense against Austin
By Wade Keller, Torch editor

The Rock beat Mankind in the finals of the Survivor Series tournament to crown a new WWF Champion last Sunday night. Vince McMahon "screwed" Steve Austin in his bid to get past the semi-finals. The next night Austin one-upped McMahon and strong-armed him into a title shot. McMahon then "screwed" Austin once again.

In reality, Rock, Austin, and McMahon came out of the weekend smelling very good. Rock didn't come across as a breakout superstar during the Survivor Series tournament. Compared to Bret Hart's performances in tournament formats before he became perennial WWF Champion in the mid-'90s, Rock was average at best. But from a star-power standpoint, there was no question before, during, or after Survivor Series that Rock is one of the top two or three stars for the next five years for the WWF. By the end of Raw on Monday night, the WWF was all smiles as the Rock vs. Austin rematch was one of the most electrifying 20 minutes of wrestling television of the decade. It compared favorably to the atmosphere surrounding Goldberg's title win over Hogan, but rose above that because the quality of the match was several levels higher. The fan heat was so intense, it validated that Austin and Rock are the new top two stars in the WWF. Shawn who? Bret who?

Realizing how prevalent the Bret Hart swerve finish at Survivor Series had been in recent WWF booking schemes, it wasn't difficult to figure out certain elements of what would happen at Survivor Series. It was considered a given going in that Rock would win the title (especially with the WWF releasing the name of the December PPV, "Rock Bottom," more than a month ago). How he would get there would be the question.

In order to further the current Austin-McMahon storyline, it was vital for McMahon to "screw" Austin in the tournament. It made sense from a business standpoint for McMahon to screw Austin before he met Rock. Why give away Austin vs. Rock if you don't have to? Besides, the entire PPV was built around portraying Mankind in McMahon's parody image of Bret Hart last year. He portrayed Mankind as a pathetic, gullible wrestler who looked up to him as a father-figure. In the Bret Hart documentary which debuted in Canada last week, he talks about how he looked to Vince McMahon as a father-figure for years.

McMahon had been portraying himself as Mankind's best friend leading into the Survivor Series, while all along he was plotting to screw him in the main event so his real chosen one, The Rock, would end up as his Corporate Champion. By drawing some parallels between this year's storyline screwjob and last year's real-life screwjob, McMahon was able to take some steam out of the Bret Hart documentary, making it seem as if it were part of an elaborate ongoing storyline.

The next night on Raw, in a gutsy move that goes against the typical philosophy of the WWF, McMahon gave away a future PPV main event for free on television. McMahon rarely gives away a main event match on television at the start of a feud. Dating back to his days on NBC, he would save his TV matches for the end of feuds when the money was already made at house shows and on PPV. In this case, there was no backfire. What will be remembered as the first major Austin vs. Rock TV match (they've actually wrestled dozens of times at house shows and on Raw before) turned out to be a ratings bonanza. The final five minutes of the match drew a 7.2 rating. WCW in its four minute over-run drew a mere 2.7 for the hot-shotted, heavily-hyped Goldberg vs. Bam Bam Bigelow "match." More important than the rating is the long-term effect. It's likely Austin won't face Rock again until Wrestlemania (Austin will have to win the Royal Rumble to earn his title shot). The memory of the hot Raw match can do nothing but help the buyrate at Wrestlemania since the match was so exciting and memorable.

Survivor Series may mark the symbolic end of the WWF's preoccupation with the Bret Hart controversy that began over a year earlier. In 24 hours, Rock went from rivaling Austin as the most popular WWF wrestler to by far the top heel in the company. The next night on Raw he showed that he has the interview and wrestling ability to handle that top heel spot. Austin is also a big winner as he has a new credible opponent to feud with.

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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