[1998-11-15-WWF-Survivor Series] Steve Austin vs Mankind

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is a hard show to do full justice in compilation form because it truly is a case of an entire PPV telling a story. This is the peak of Vince Russo's career and one night where his vision was executed in a way that worked really well for me, with this match being the highlight of the show. It's not that it's even a good match. In fact, it's really a disappointing match. It's more that it's such a rare example of overbooking something to death working. This gets fun when Vince pulls the ref out of the ring and slugs him when he's counting the fall after Austin's stunner on Vince. Shane turning on Austin by doing a two-count and then just stopping really is a classic Attitude Era moment. I think this is the match where Boss Man was supposed to do a run-in and Austin was pissed off because he completely missed it because he was in the back chatting with Undertaker. So Patterson and Brisco ran in and hit Austin with a chair. Vince can suddenly walk! It's a miracle! He takes off running and Austin goes to look for him.

[Strummer]

Shane was just awesome here. Probably the best moment of his on air career

[soup23]

I actually thought the match was better than I remembered and pretty spirited brawl with Austin laying it in better than he had lately since Mick was willing to bump. Of course the cornerstone is the ending with Vince being heeled and Shane flipping Austin off to the shock of the crowd. I love the way they skip to the back afterwards. Splendid stuff to watch. (***1/4)

[PeteF3]

Yeah, this ain't no OTE '98 but it's a perfectly fine match with a good shock ending--actually two shocks, as Vince leaps out of his wheelchair to take out Mike Chioda. It was turning into a cliched spot at this point, but the twist of Vince coming out of his chair was good enough to make up for it. Of course, the Boss Man misses his run-in and we VERY awkwardly transition to a finish involving the Stooges taking out Austin with a fairly weak chairshot, but the point rings clear: Shane and Vince are back together and Austin's out of the tournament.

[Migs]

This was definitely well below their normal standard, although not terrible.

 

I do wonder if they ever explain why Shane signed Austin to a contract only to turn on him? I guess the shock is valuable enough here to overcome that, but of course Russo would go to that well many more times.