The 2002 Survivor Series was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. It was the 16th annual Survivor Series and took place on November 17, 2002, from Madison Square Garden (MSG) in the New York City borough of Manhattan, New York. The event centered on WWE's first-ever Elimination Chamber match, a type of roofed steel cage that surrounds the ring and ringside area with no disqualifications and the objective is to eliminate all other opponents either by pinfall or submission. As a result, this was the second Survivor Series to not include the titular Survivor Series match, after the 1998 event.

This was the first Survivor Series held under the WWE name, after the promotion was renamed from World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to WWE in May, and also the first Survivor Series held under the first brand split that was introduced in March. This was also the second Survivor Series held at MSG, after the 1996 event. The official theme song was "Always" by Saliva, who performed the song and Chris Jericho's entrance music live from The World.

The main event from the Raw brand was the first-ever Elimination Chamber match, which was a men's match for the World Heavyweight Championship involving reigning champion Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Kane. Michaels won the match after last eliminating Triple H. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was for the WWE Championship, in which Big Show defeated Brock Lesnar to win the title. The featured match on the undercard was a triple threat elimination tag team match for SmackDown!'s WWE Tag Team Championship involving Edge and Rey Mysterio, Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero), and Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. Los Guerreros won the title after last eliminating Edge and Mysterio.

Production Background

Survivor Series is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced every November by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1987, generally held around Thanksgiving in the United States. 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",Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160) and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs with the addition of King of the Ring in 1993 until it was discontinued as an annual PPV after its 2002 event in June. The 16th Survivor Series event was scheduled to be held on November 17, 2002, from Madison Square Garden (MSG) in the New York City borough of Manhattan, New York. This was the second Survivor Series at MSG, after the 1996 event. 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.

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 2002 event, however, did not feature such match, and was the second time a Survivor Series match did not occur at the titular event, after the 1998 event. In place of the Survivor Series match, the 2002 event included the first-ever Elimination Chamber match—a six-man elimination match inside of a steel structure—in addition to an elimination tables match and a triple threat elimination tag team match.

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

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. This led to Bischoff revealing the six participants for the contest; Triple H, Chris Jericho, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Kane and Shawn Michaels. Later that night, when Triple H took on Kane in a Casket match, Shawn Michaels (who Triple H put out of action after their Unsanctioned Street Fight at SummerSlam) emerged from the casket and assaulted Triple H. To gain further payback, Michaels then nailed him with the Sweet Chin Music, allowing Kane to put Triple H in the casket and close the lid to win the match. On the November 4 episode of Raw, Booker T and Kane defeated Triple H and Jericho in a tag team match after Michaels interfered again. Afterwards, Michaels accepted the offer of being part of the Elimination Chamber match.

The main feud on the SmackDown! brand was between Brock Lesnar and Big Show over the WWE Championship. At No Mercy, Lesnar defeated The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match to retain the title, pinning him after an F-5. 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 The 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 7 episode of SmackDown!, after Lesnar defeated Eddie Guerrero in a non-title match, Big Show attacked Lesnar and slammed him off the stage. 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.