One WWE Match You MUST Watch From Every Year 1984-2024
21. 2003 - Team Austin Vs Team Bischoff, Survivor Series
2003 wasn't a banner year for...anything in WWE, but no character felt more like a shadow of his former self than Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Not exactly unable to bump but seemingly unwilling to take beatings from the main roster regulars of the day, Austin wanted to have his cake and eat it too as an autocratic authority figure whilst punishing heel Eric Bischoff for basically doing the same thing. The on-the-nose physical comedy and lame exchanges might have made Vince McMahon cackle, but ratings suggested that 'The Rattlesnake' wasn't exactly top priority anymore.
Then, for one night, the magic of the work made it so.
With Austin's job on the line, a Survivor Series match with nothing else going for it bordered on an all-time pay-per-view classic. Much of that was down to Shawn Michaels' epic struggle for the babyfaces, soaked in blood and sweat as he was for the final third. 'HBK' had been returning to his old form for most of his post-2002 comeback, but this was confirmation that he was still just about peerless within the WWE system.
As the man that put the bullet in Austin's heart (...for a month) and broke Michaels', an upcoming Randy Orton had his best night too. Great action, good booking, and a heartfelt goodbye from a legend felt like a WWE trying to push forward in an era where the opposite was permanently true.