Survivor Series (1996)

The 1996 Survivor Series was the 10th annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was presented by Milton Bradley's Karate Fighters, and took place on November 17, 1996, at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. The event is notable for seeing the debut of Dwayne Johnson, who wrestled under the name of Rocky Maivia in this event, and would later become known as The Rock.

Survivor Series
Promotional poster featuring Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Sycho Sid, and Stone Cold Steve Austin
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	November 17, 1996
City	New York City, New York
Venue	Madison Square Garden
Attendance	18,647[1]
Tagline(s)	Back to Attack
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous In Your House 11: Buried Alive Next → In Your House 12: It's Time
Survivor Series chronology
← Previous 1995 Next → 1997

The main event was a standard wrestling match for the WWF Championship. Shawn Michaels defended the title against Sycho Sid. Sid won the title by pinning Michaels after hitting him with a television camera and performing a Powerbomb.

The undercard featured Faarooq, Vader, Razor Ramon, and Diesel versus Flash Funk, Savio Vega, Yokozuna, and Jimmy Snuka, who had been inducted into the WWF Hall Of Fame the night before, in a four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match, Bret Hart versus Stone Cold Steve Austin in a standard wrestling match to determine the number one contender to the WWF Championship, Marc Mero, Rocky Maivia, Jake Roberts, and The Stalker versus Crush, Jerry Lawler, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and Goldust in a four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match, The Undertaker versus Mankind in a standard wrestling match and The Godwinns, Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon versus The New Rockers, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog.

Production

Background

Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every November by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1987. In what has become the second longest running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble,^[2] and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring.^[3] The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically pits teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. The 1996 event was the 10th event in the Survivor Series chronology and was scheduled to be held on November 17, 1996, at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York.^[4]

Storylines

Survivor Series consisted of professional wrestling matches involving wrestlers from pre-existing feuds and storylines that played out on Monday Night Raw — WWF's primary television program. Wrestlers portrayed a hero or a villain as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.^[5]

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times[1]
1F	Aldo Montoya, Bart Gunn, Bob Holly and Jesse James defeated Billy Gunn, Justin Bradshaw, Salvatore Sincere and The Sultan (with The Iron Sheik and Uncle Zebekiah)	4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match1	10:46
2	Doug Furnas, Henry O. Godwinn, Phil Lafon and Phineas I. Godwinn (with Hillbilly Jim) defeated The British Bulldog, Leif Cassidy, Marty Jannetty and Owen Hart (with Clarence Mason)	4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match2	20:41
3	The Undertaker defeated Mankind by pinfall	Singles match Paul Bearer was suspended above the ring in a shark cage.	14:54
4	Jake Roberts, Marc Mero, Rocky Maivia and The Stalker (with Sable) defeated Crush, Goldust, Jerry Lawler and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with Marlena)	4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match3	23:44
5	Bret Hart defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin by pinfall	Singles match to determine the #1 contender to the WWF Championship	28:36
6	Fake Diesel, Faarooq, Fake Razor Ramon and Vader (with Clarence Mason and Jim Cornette) vs. Flash Funk, Jimmy Snuka, Savio Vega and Yokozuna ended in a no contest	4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match4	9:48
7	Sycho Sid defeated Shawn Michaels (c) (with José Lothario) by pinfall	Singles match for the WWF Championship[6]	20:02
(c)  – the champion(s) heading into the match F  – the match was broadcast prior to the pay-per-view on Free for All

Survivor Series elimination matches

^1

Eliminated	Wrestler	Eliminated by	Method	Time[1]
1	Aldo Montoya	The Sultan	Submission	3:55
2	Salvatore Sincere	Bart Gunn	Pinfall	6:55
3	Bob Holly	Justin Bradshaw		8:35
4	Justin Bradshaw	Jesse James		8:46
5	The Sultan			9:44
6	Jesse James	Billy Gunn		9:59
7	Billy Gunn	Bart Gunn		10:46
Sole Survivor:	Bart Gunn

^2

Eliminated	Wrestler	Eliminated by	Method	Time[1]
1	Marty Jannetty	Henry O. Godwinn	Pinfall	8:12
2	Henry O. Godwinn	Owen Hart		8:18
3	Phineas I. Godwinn	The British Bulldog		9:04
4	Leif Cassidy	Phil Lafon		13:43
5	The British Bulldog			17:22
6	Owen Hart	Doug Furnas		20:41
Survivors:	Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon

^3

Eliminated	Wrestler	Eliminated by	Method	Time[1]
1	Jerry Lawler	Jake Roberts	Pinfall	10:01
2	The Stalker	Goldust		12:44
3	Hunter Hearst Helmsley	Marc Mero		19:20
4	Marc Mero	Crush		20:36
5	Jake Roberts			20:54
6	Crush	Rocky Maivia		23:12
7	Goldust			23:44
Sole Survivor:	Rocky Maivia

^4

Eliminated	Wrestler	Eliminated by	Method	Time[1]
1	Savio Vega	Fake Diesel	Pinfall	8:39
2	Fake Razor Ramon	Jimmy Snuka		9:28
3	Faarooq	N/A	Disqualification	9:48
4	Vader
5	Fake Diesel
6	Flash Funk
7	Jimmy Snuka
8	Yokozuna
Survivors:	None

Other on-screen personnel

Commentators Vince McMahon Jim Ross Jerry Lawler Sunny Jim Cornette Carlos Cabrera Hugo Savinovich Interviewers Kevin Kelly Dok Hendrix Todd Pettengill

Ring announcer Howard Finkel Referees Earl Hebner Tim White Jack Doan Harvey Wippleman Mike Chioda

References

1. "Survivor Series 1996". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
2. Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
3. Sullivan, Kevin (November 23, 2010). The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. Gallery Books. p. 124. ISBN 9781439193211. At the time, SummerSlam was one of WWE's "big five" Pay-Per-Views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, and Survivor Series were the others), ...
4. "Survivor Series 1996 official results". World Wrestling Entertainment. November 17, 1996. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
5. "Live & Televised Entertainment of World Wrestling Entertainment". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
6. "WWE Championship Match: Sid def. Shawn Michaels to become new WWE Champion". World Wrestling Entertainment. November 17, 1996. Retrieved January 4, 2011.

Sources

• "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts". Wrestling's Historical Cards. Kappa Publishing. 2007. pp. 96–97.
• hoffco-inc.com - Survivor Series '96 review Archived December 16, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
• 1996 Survivor Series Results

External links

• Official 1996 Survivor Series website