Background in
New York City,
New York.
Survivor Series is an annual
professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) produced every November by
World Wrestling Entertainment (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, referred to as the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with
King of the Ring until its discontinuation after its 2002 event. The event is traditionally
characterized by having
Survivor Series matches, which are
tag team elimination matches pitting teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. The 2002 event, however, did not feature such match, and was the second of only two times a Survivor Series match did not occur at the titular event—the first was at the
1998 event. In place of the Survivor Series match, the 2002 event included the first-ever
Elimination Chamber match, in addition to an
elimination tables match and a
triple threat elimination tag team match. The 2002 event was the 16th event in the Survivor Series chronology. It was scheduled to be held on November 17, 2002, from
Madison Square Garden in
New York City,
New York. The official theme song of the event was "
Always" by
Saliva. The band performed the song and Chris Jericho's entrance music live from
The World. This was the first Survivor Series to be held under the first
brand extension introduced in March, which split the roster between the
Raw and
SmackDown! brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform; Survivor Series featured wrestlers from both brands. It was also the first Survivor Series held under the WWE name, following the renaming of the company from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May. It was also the first Survivor Series to feature the
World Heavyweight Championship, following its introduction on Raw in September after the
WWE Undisputed Championship became exclusive to SmackDown! and renamed to WWE Championship.
Storylines as
WWE Champion. The event featured seven
professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during, and after the event. All wrestlers were from one of WWE's brands – Raw and SmackDown! – while storylines played out on their weekly television shows,
Raw and
SmackDown!.
World championship matches The main
feud heading into
Survivor Series on the Raw brand was between
Triple H,
Rob Van Dam,
Booker T,
Kane,
Chris Jericho, and
Shawn Michaels over the
World Heavyweight Championship. The feud started on the September 2 episode of
Raw when
Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded Triple H the World Heavyweight Championship in the form of the
Big Gold Belt. Later on that episode, Triple H successfully defended the title over
Ric Flair but lost in a tag team match to both Ric Flair and Rob Van Dam towards the end of the show. On the September 9 episode of
Raw, Rob Van Dam became the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Chris Jericho,
Jeff Hardy, and
Big Show in a
fatal four-way elimination match. On the September 16 episode of
Raw, Van Dam lost the
WWE Intercontinental Championship to Chris Jericho after interference by Triple H. At
Unforgiven, Van Dam faced Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship, which he lost after Ric Flair hit him with the
sledgehammer, allowing Triple H to finish him off with the pedigree, thus retaining the title. On the September 30 episode of
Raw, Triple H defeated
Bubba Ray Dudley to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Later that night, Kane won the Intercontinental Championship from Jericho despite interference from Triple H and Ric Flair. The match was made between Triple H and Kane for
No Mercy in which both Kane's Intercontinental Championship and Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship were at stake. On the October 7 episode of
Raw, Kane successfully singlehandedly defended the
World Tag Team Championship (that he had won on September 23) in a four team
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match as
The Hurricane had been attacked earlier that evening (by Triple H and Ric Flair) and was thus unable to compete. On the October 14 episode of
Raw, Kane and The Hurricane lost the tag titles to
Christian and Jericho. Later that night, Triple H defeated Van Dam in a Canadian
lumberjack strap match after Ric Flair nailed Van Dam from behind with the World title belt while the referee was distracted. At No Mercy, Triple H went on to defeat Kane in the title unification match, winning the Intercontinental Championship and unifying it with the World Heavyweight Championship. On the October 21 episode of
Raw, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff announced that the first ever
Elimination Chamber match would take place at Survivor Series. Bischoff did this, as he wanted the Elimination Chamber match to be better than
SmackDown!'s
Hell in a Cell match at No Mercy. On the October 28 episode of
Raw, Bischoff stated that the Elimination Chamber would be a combination of WWE's
Royal Rumble,
Survivor Series, and
WCW's
War Games matches, in that a countdown timer comes from the Royal Rumble and War Games, the enclosed cage format from War Games, and the elimination process from the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series. Bischoff also added that the match will involve six superstars. On the October 24 episode of
SmackDown!, Big Show was traded to the SmackDown! brand and immediately issued a challenge to Lesnar, who accepted later that night. Later that night, after Lesnar and Undertaker cut promos to one another, Big Show threw The Undertaker off the stage, thus injuring his neck. On the October 31 episode of
SmackDown!, Lesnar faced off against
Rey Mysterio, which ended in a no contest after Big Show interfered and tossed Mysterio into the crowd. Shortly after the match ended, Big Show chokeslammed Lesnar through the announce table. On the November 14 episode of
SmackDown!, Lesnar's manager
Paul Heyman was convinced more than anyone that Lesnar could not win, trying to talk him out of defending the title. Lesnar refused and decided to call Big Show to the ring. As Big Show came out, Lesnar drove him through the steel steps. Moments later, Lesnar took out Big Show with five chair shots then nailed him with the championship belt.
Undercard matches The other main feud on the card was between three
tag teams,
Kurt Angle and
Chris Benoit,
Edge and
Rey Mysterio, and
Los Guerreros (
Eddie and
Chavo Guerrero), over the
WWE Tag Team Championship. On the October 3 episode of
SmackDown!,
General Manager,
Stephanie McMahon announced an eight team tournament to determine the inaugural WWE Tag Team Champions that would conclude at No Mercy. Los Guerreros defeated
Rikishi and
Mark Henry in the first quarterfinal round. On the October 10 episode of
SmackDown!, in the second quarterfinal round, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit defeated
John Cena and
Billy Kidman while Edge and Rey Mysterio defeated
Brock Lesnar and
Tajiri to advance to the semifinals. On the October 17 episode of
SmackDown!, Edge and Mysterio defeated
Reverend D-Von and
Ron Simmons to advance to the finals. Later, Angle and Benoit advanced to the finals by defeating Los Guerreros. At No Mercy, Angle and Benoit defeated Edge and Mysterio in the finals to become the first WWE Tag Team Champions. On the October 24 episode of
SmackDown!, Edge and Rey Mysterio defeated Los Guerreros in a number one contenders tag match to earn a shot at the tag titles. Later that night, the
WWE Tag Team Champions, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit fought each other in an
Unforgiven rematch, which Benoit won after interference from Los Guerreros. On the October 31 episode of
SmackDown!, both Benoit and Angle cost one another their matches. Angle helped Edge defeat Benoit then later that night, Benoit returned the favor by helping Eddie Guerrero defeat Angle. Afterwards, Angle and Benoit brawled at the Halloween party, ending with Angle delivering an
Angle slam and Benoit bashing the bottle into Angle's head at the same time, knocking each other down. On the November 7 episode of
SmackDown!, Angle and Benoit lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Edge and Mysterio in a
two out of three falls match after Edge pinned Angle in the third and final fall. would face
Trish Stratus for the
WWE Women's Championship Another feud coming from the Raw brand was between
Victoria and
Trish Stratus for the
WWE Women's Championship. At Unforgiven, Trish Stratus had captured her third Women's Championship from Victoria's mentor
Molly Holly (who Trish lost the title to at
King of the Ring). On the September 23 episode of
Raw, Stratus successfully defended the Women's title against both Molly Holly and Victoria in a
triple threat match. Then on the September 30 episode of
Raw, Victoria challenged Stratus for the Women's title in a one-on-one contest but got
disqualified after hitting Stratus with a steel chair. On the October 7 episode of
Raw, after Stratus defeated
Stacy Keibler in a
Bra and Panties/Paddle on a Pole match, Victoria attacked Stratus and performed a
Moonsault on her. Victoria claimed in the interview that back in their days as fitness models, WWE wanted both of them but Trish stole her spot. The two fought again for the Women's Championship at No Mercy with Stratus retaining. For the following four weeks, the two would have many clashes on Raw including on the November 11 episode of
Raw, when Stratus ambushed Victoria following Victoria's attack on
Terri Runnels. It was announced that the title would be put on the line in a hardcore rules match. On the November 7 episode of
SmackDown!,
Billy Kidman and
Torrie Wilson defeated the
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble and
Nidia in a
mixed tag team match after Kidman pinned Noble. The following week on
SmackDown!, Kidman pinned Noble for the second consecutive time in a non-title match, handing Noble, his first singles loss in WWE. This led to a match between the two for the Cruiserweight Championship at Survivor Series. == Event ==