Former WWE superstar Mike Knox recently appeared on Sportskeeda’s UnSKripted, where he discussed his role in the Team DX vs. Team RKO match at the 2006 Survivor Series.
It was Team DX (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy & CM Punk) vs Team Rated-RKO (Edge, Randy Orton, Johnny Nitro, Gregory Helms & Mike Knox) is a traditional Survivor Series match. Knox was involved in the match as a result of his ongoing feud at the time with CM Punk.
Mike Knox revealed several details about the match, and how it was like a “kick to the rib” deal for him.
“Oh, man! That’s another one of those kick in the ribs deals, you know, I was still young. I was in ECW. I was so excited to be at Survivor Series. So, same thing. When I thought I was going to ECW, I was like; they are going to let me run wild! No!”
Well, it turns out, Michael Hayes burst Knox’s bubble beforehand by informing him that he’ll be the very first elimination from the match – yet still Mike was hopeful of a few minutes to shine with some of WWE’s top stars.
“So, Michaels Hayes comes, you know, ‘Hey, man, sorry, like, you’re going to be eliminated first, and I was like, ‘Well, okay.’ But, there was a but, right? You’re going to give me eight minutes, ten minutes, like, let me get some steam on somebody, and there could be something cool that I want to do. Let the people know because I’m ECW, and you guys don’t promote ECW even though we’ve been around for a year. The main roster guys don’t really know who I am. You know what I mean? I’m an ECW guy. You know, we kind of filmed on the same days, but we’re just, I don’t know, we’re just different.”
Even that wasn’t to be, although Hayes went on to explain that he still wanted to give Knox a moment that fans would remember him by.
“So he comes and says, ‘Well, you can do that. You can go out there and do four minutes or whatever and just be completely forgotten, but everybody, or you have a moment. One of those moments people remember, and they ask you about what part of your career, and I’m just like, ‘I want that.’ This is going to be so cool. He’s like, okay. You’re going to get superkicked in one second, and you’re out. And I’m like, ‘Ohhh!’ I was like, ‘That’s not the moment I wanted.”
The match went ahead as planned, with Knox distracted by his then girlfriend Kelly Kelly he turned around to eat a Sweet Chin Music for the pinfall in just a few moments, being the first eliminated. Knox team also lost the match, Team DX taking the victory without a single elimination.
Knox revealed that before and after that match he and Shawn had never really spoken before, explaining that there was a clear divide backstage between ECW and WWE stars.
“After he hit me with that kick or whatever, we had never said one word to each other. Like before that, before that day, like I said, ECW is ECW. And he is RAW, top of the line, man. So, we didn’t really talk much, and then after that, we didn’t talk much either. But I always remember that night, and I kind of had that against them for a long time. They did that and whatever because you could have done it a little differently. Helped a brother out, maybe? They decided to go another way. They decided it was best for business at that time, or it made somebody laugh. It must have popped somebody.”
The card also included Mickie James retaining the WWE Women’s Championship against Lita, Mr Kennedy defeating The Undertaker in a first blood match and the main event in which Batista became the new World Heavyweight Champion in a ‘Last Chance’ match against King Booker.