Background
The event featured eight professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWF script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event.
The largest storyline that had pervaded the WWF in the preceding months was, as mentioned above, The Invasion, which came about due to the actual purchase of World Championship Wrestling by the WWF just prior to WrestleMania X-Seven. The storyline eventually grew into a WWF vs. WCW faction battle, and eventually Extreme Championship Wrestling became a part of the battle by joining forces with WCW to create The Alliance.
On the October 22, 2001 episode of Raw, Vince and Linda McMahon challenged Shane and Stephanie McMahon to a "Winner Take All" match to determine the fate of both companies, with the winning side continuing to stay in business while the losing side would be forced to disband. However, Vince McMahon had to deal with multiple defections to the Alliance side, including Kurt Angle, as well as an increasingly heated feud between two of the WWF's biggest stars, The Rock and Chris Jericho, over the WCW Championship. Vince began spreading rumors to the Alliance that there was a mole within their faction. On an episode of SmackDown! before the Survivor Series, Steve Austin was the last man standing after both factions attacked each other in the ring. After that, Vince appeared on the entrance ramp and shared a smile with Austin, teasing that Austin would be the mole.
Read more about this topic: Survivor Series (2001)
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