Live from New York, New York (Madison Square Garden)Attendance: 18,647Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler & Jim RossThe British Bulldog, Owen Hart & The New Rockers Vs Phill Lafon & Doug Furnas and The GodwinnsOrder of elimination.Marty Janetty by Henry Godwinn (slop drop)Henry Godwin by Owen Hart (spinning heel kick)Phineas Godwinn by The British Bulldog (running powerslam)Leif Cassidy by Phill Lafon (reverse suplex from the top)The British Bulldog by Phill Lafon (sunset flip)Owen Hart by Doug Furnas (german suplex)Your survivors: Doug Furnas & Phill LafonI can't begin to tell you how surprised I am by how good this match was. I had very little expectations for it and they went out and produced a really good match. The crowd wasn't that into it, but it's not like they didn't try. I do question the decision to give the win to Furnas and Lafon. I didn't see the point other than to surprise people.***1/2The Undertaker Vs Mankind (W/Paul Bearer)Paul Bearer is suspended above the ring in a cage so he can't interfere. The Undertaker descends down the ring in epic fashion. Undertaker ends up winning with a tombstone. As a result, The Undertaker gets time alone with Paul Bearer. The Executioner comes down and saves Paul Bearer. This is another solid match between these two. They've had better, but it was still a good match. They did some pretty hardcore stuff with the limited options they had.***Marc Mero, Barry Windham, Rocky Maivia & Jake 'The Snake' Roberts Vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Goldust, Crush & Jerry LawlerOrder of elimination.Jerry Lawler by Jake Roberts (DDT)Barry Windham by Goldust (curtain call)Triple H by Marc Mero (moonsault)Marc Mero by CrushJake Roberts by Crush (heart punch)Crush by Rocky Maivia (flying cross-body)Goldust by Rocky Maivia (shoulderbreaker)Sole Survivor: Rocky Maivia"There's gonna be the man right there! That blue chipper" That's what Jim Ross said during Rocky's entrance. Boy was Ross ever right about that. You can't ask for a better debut than this one. He'd go through some rough times when the crowd would turn on him, but he looked good here. As far as the match goes, that's a different story. If it wasn't for The Rock's debut, this match would be utterly forgettable.**Bret Hart Vs 'Stone Cold' Steve AustinBoth get big reactions on their way out. Bret wins by countering Austin's Million Dollar Dream. Everyone talks about the amazing submission match between Bret and Austin at Wrestlemania 13, but nobody gives this match the praise it deserves. This is an exhilarating match that completely stole the show. They incorporated a little bit of everything in this one. Austin looked like a star as well. I was close to giving it 5 stars. ****3/4 Farooq, Fake Razor Ramon, Fake Diesel & Vader Vs Savio Vega, Yokozuna, Flash Funk, & Jimmy SnukaOrder of elimination.Savio Vega by Diesel (jackknife powerbomb)Razor Ramon by Jimmy Snuka (big splash from the top)Diesel comes in with a chair and attacks Snuka with it. All hell breaks loose when everybody starts brawling with each other and the referee rules it a double disqualification. This matched seemed a bit rushed. It wasn't horrible, but it was pretty mediocre. The finish just screams "time restraints"*1/2WWF ChampionshipShawn Michaels (C) (W/Jose Lothario) Vs Psycho SidSid drills Jose Lothario in the chest with a camera. Shawn gets distracted by tending to Lothario. Sid drills Shawn in the back of the head with a camera. Sid delivers a powerbomb to win the WWF Championship. I'm a big Psycho Sid fan. He's very charismatic and a real badass. That being said, his wrestling skills are not that good. That's not why we loved Sid. This is one of Sid's best matches. It featured good psychology and excitement. The atmosphere is electric. The crowd was hostile towards Shawn, and booed him loudly while the crowd adored Sid. A title change was needed at this juncture.***1/2This is a very good PPV. The main event is really good, it featured a couple of good undercard matches, and Bret and Austin is a near classic match. I recommend this PPV highly.7/10

1. Jesse James/Aldo Montaya/Bob Holly/Bart Gunn Vs. The Sultan/Salvatore Sincere/Justin Bradshaw/Billy Gunn - It reminds me setting up only for Gunns. - 6/102. Owen Hart/The British Bulldog/New Rockers Vs. Doug Furnas/Phillip Lafon/The Godwinns - Very surprising winners! But Owen sold good. It was his credit. 7.5/10/103. Mankind Vs. The Undertaker - They know it better. But nice done one. 7/104. Hunter Hearst Helmsley/Goldust/Crush/Jerry Lawler Vs. Marc Mero/The Stalker/Rocky Maivia/Jake Roberts - Hehe Crush without his legendary Mullet. Victory and push for Maivia 6.5/105. Stone Cold Vs Bret Hart - Legend versus Newbie with Push, pretty exciting thing. 8/106. Faarooq/Vader/Fake Diesel & Fake Razor Ramon Vs. Savio Vega/Yokozuna/Flash Funk/Jimmy Superboring Snuka - Now that was low: Fake Now-WCW wrestlers, Snuka, Vega and DQ ending with not so good action along. 5/107. WWF Heavyweight Championship: Psycho Sid Vs. Champ-Shawn Michaels 6.5/10

Shawn Michaels failed title run came to an end, much to pleasure of the crowd Bret Hart returned to PPV and had a classic with Steve Austin, Mankind and Undertaker's never ending rivalry continued and some young punk named Rocky Maivia made his PPV debut on this entertaining show that marked a return to form by the WWE after some fairly mediocre PPVs throughout 1996. Maybe it was being back in their traditional home of Madison Square Garden that finally bought the best out of them.The night started off with the ECW Tag Team of Doug Furnas and Phil Lafond teaming up with the Godwinns (Phineas and Henry) to defeat Owen Hart, the British Bulldog, Marty Jannetty and Leif Cassidy in a Survivor Series match. The match went a fair while before Jannetty was eliminated by Henry Godwinn, who was almost immediately eliminated by the opportunistic Owen Hart. Phineas was eliminated following a running power slam from the British Bulldog a short time later. Lafon was able to square things up, eliminating Leif Cassidy with a sweet suplex from the second rope. Lafon also eliminated the Bulldog following a schoolboy to leave he and Furnas against Owen Hart. Hart dug deep, but eventually fell to Furnas after a suplex leaving Furnas and Lafon as the Survivors in an entertaining match.The next match saw the never ending feud between Mankind and Undertaker continue. Undertaker had been buried alive in the previous PPV, despite winning his match against Mankind and here he was able to win a standard one on one match. The rivalry had just about run out of puff by this stage. Two guys can only meet a certain number of times before they start going over old ground.Next it was time for another four on four Survivor Series match, and for Rocky Maivia (or as he was later known The Rock) to make his first PPV appearance. And he made quite an impression too, being the sole Survivor as his team, which included Marc Mero, Jake Roberts and Barry Windham (or the stalker as he was now called) defeated Crush, Jerry Lawaler, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Goldust. Roberts pinned Lawler after a fair bit of wrestling. Goldust evened things up a short time time later, pinning Windham, Mero then pinned Helmsley after a Merosault, but was himself eliminated by Crush a short time later. Jake Roberts was the next to go seconds later, leaving the Rock to eliminate Crush after a flying body press and then take out Goldust with shoulderbreaker. This was longer than the opening match, but that doesn't make it better. But at least it wasn't terrible.The next match was one of the greatest wrestling matches in WWE history as the returning Bret Hart faced Stone Cold Steve Austin with the winner to become the No.1 contender for the WWE Title. Hart looked like he'd never been gone. Austin looked as good as he'd looked throughout his WWE run and the crowd was on the edge of their seats as Hart overcame Austin, countering a sleeper into a pinning predicament to win one of the very best matches ever seen at Madison Square Garden.Next up saw what I believe is the only Survivor Series match ever to not have a single survivor. The Team of Vader, Faarooq, the New Diesel and Razor Ramon II fought to a no contest with Flash Funk, Jimmy Snuka, Savio Vega and Yokozuna. Vega was eliminated following a jack knife from the New Diesel, Razor was pinned after a superfly splash from Snukka and the other six guys were simultaneously counted out after brawling. The New Diesel and Razor II were both characters introduced by Jim Ross as part of a rather silly storyline which was quickly abandoned. New Diesel went on to become Kane and have a long, successful career. Razor II didn't work out.This brings us to the main event which saw the turn coat Sycho Sid defeat Shawn Michaels after taking out his manager Jose Lothario as a distraction and then clocking Michaels with a TV camera. Despite the fact Sid was obviously the bad guy in this story, the MSG crowd poured out thunderous approval on Sid. I think, like a lot of us, they were a little sick of Shawn Michaels as Champion and were glad to see someone new and different win the belt. This was not a terrible match either. A real shame that the talented Michaels just never quite worked as a fan favourite champion.One of the best WWE matches of all time, a well done World title change and some fun elimination tag matches added up to make Survivor Series 1996 the best PPV since Wrestlemania 12's one match card. A night to be remembered fondly for anyone who watched WWE wrestling in 1996.

The Survivor Series events from 1992-1995 were pretty average. When I watched Survivor Series 1996 I was pleased because it was a return to form for one of my favourite PPV events of the year.The card was so memorable for so many reasons. Jake "The Snake" Roberts made his first Survivor Series appearance since the 1991 event. The Rock (then known as Rocky Maivia) made his debut and overcome the odds in a heated match. And we also got to see the return of veteran wrestler Jimmy Superfly Snuka.In addition to the elimination matches we got to see Bret Hart battle Steve Austin in a brilliant match and Sycho Sid and Shawn Michaels assembled an awesome encounter for the WWF Championship.