I don't know if the WWF actually has a Reset Button or not... but in November, it sure seemed like they laid on something just like one pretty hard.

Realizing the entire WCW Invasion had not lived up to expectations, the Fed used the Survivor Series pay-per-view as an excuse to write the Alliance completely out of storylines. A 10-man Winner Take All match saw the WWF defeat the Alliance in the Survivor Series main event, forcing the Alliance off TV for good.

The next night on RAW, the re-do picked up a ton of steam. Steve Austin, a heel Alliance member, was allowed to remain on TV because he was the WWF Champion. He was re-cast as a babyface, due mainly to overpowering fan response. Kurt Angle, who had been a pro-WWF babyface, was quickly befriended by Vince McMahon for being the key player in the WWF's main event win, and was just as quickly re-cast as a heel. Chris Jericho also finally passed the point of no return on his heel turn, turning on the Rock in mid-match at the PPV and later befriending Vince McMahon, himself.

But the shake-up of the heel/face rosters wasn't the only sign that things were changing in the WWF. Two major returns took place on the post-Survivor Series RAW.

First, Jerry Lawler returned to open the show, unseating Alliance head Paul Heyman on color commentary. Heyman was carried out kicking and screaming as "the King" resumed his post next to Jim Ross. Lawler, now separated from the Kat and in the good graces of the WWF front office, had no trouble putting together a deal for his return. Lawler had worked XWF TV tapings earlier in the month and was committed to future dates for them, but received permission to return to the WWF, instead.

And more notably, that night's show-closing segment saw Ric Flair return to the WWF to announce himself as the 50% co-owner of the WWF in a confrontation with Vince McMahon. Flair said he had purchased both Shane and Stephanie's quarter interests in the company when they were bankrolling the Alliance. Vince and Flair quickly developed an adversarial relationship, and fans began to wonder exactly what having two equal 50/50 owners would mean to storylines...

And it didn't take long before fans got more fodder for their speculation: in a conference call, Linda McMahon re-iterated the "do-over" concept, saying that despite the results of the Survivor Series, plans were still in place for the WWF to split into two separate promotions, possibly still even using the WCW name. She used a (mixed) football metaphor in saying that the Fed had fumbled the initial attempt at the Invasion concept, but were punting and would take another try.

She placed the target date for the new split of the company as "early 2002." Other rumors placed the split as taking place immediately after the Royal Rumble, as Vince McMahon would control one company, while Ric Flair would control the other. Many fans viewed the news with restrained optimism, as the fact that the WWF screwed up the supposed can't-miss Invasion once could not be denied... but the hope that they'd get it right the second time lived on.

Helen Hart passed away early in the morning of November 4; she had slipped back into a coma previous to that, and went quietly...

WWFE, Inc. -- feeling the pressure of a slumping economy -- axed two dozen employees, including a top officer, as part of a cost-cutting move...

Eddie Guerrero was released by the WWF after being arrested on drunk driving charges in Florida; Guerrero had just successfully completed rehab for a pain killer addiction and was getting ready to return to the WWF active roster at the time of the unfortunate incident...

Hulk Hogan headlined two days of TV tapings at Universal Studios in Florida; six hours of XWF TV was taped, featuring stars such as Roddy Piper, Vampiro, Konnan, the Road Warriors, Mark and Reno Mero, Curt Hennig, and others. Hogan had not been scheduled to work a match, but did so against Hennig despite not having any long-term commitment to the promotion. As yet, the XWF has only used the footage as part of a 30 minute infomercial to promote three year-ending house show dates, and plans for the group's future are unknown...

Several key injuries sidelined the more promising members of the Alliance before the faction was silenced for good at Survivor Series: Chris Kanyon went down first with a torn ACL (out for six months); he was followed by Rhyno, who suffered a neck injury (out 8 months, estimated); finally, Mike Awesome suffered a knee injury (out 4-6 months)...

The WWF invaded NBC's "The Weakest Link"; the show was won by Triple H, who proved that even on game shows, he'll refuse to do the job...

Mick Foley basically parted ways with the WWF after spending about a month back on TV in the Commissioner's role; on TV, he cut a promo calling the Commissioner's office "a joke" as his farewell, though backstage, his real reasons for leaving were more complex. Despite rumors, he did leave his on-air role on fairly good terms, and a future return is not out of the question...

Later in the month, the WWF did lightly promote Foley's appearance on the celebrity edition of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", where Mick made it to the $250,000 before giving up...

With the death of Helen Hart, the rest of the Hart family imploded in November: Diana Hart-Smith published a book that was quickly decried as libelous by Martha Hart. Harsh words were exchanged in the press, and Martha even filed a lawsuit against Diana and her publishers (which would eventually be settled out of court, with the book being pulled off shelves). On the upside, the courts tossed aside charges that Davey Boy Smith had verbally assaulted brother-in-law Bruce Hart...

The WWF announced that the just-completed Divas photo shoot from the Bahamas would be turned into a network TV special for UPN sometime in the first quarter of 2002...

Joanie "Chyna" Lauer was scheduled to make her stage acting debut late in the year, but in November, the production (in suburban Toronto) was cancelled. Lauer more than made up for it by appearing on the cover of Playboy for the second time, on an issue released in November...

"But give us The Man and a closing segment that completely reshapes the company? We roll over like a puppy that wants to keep getting its belly scratched just like that." -- OO on how to make the smart fans love an otherwise tedious show, in regards to the 11/19 RAW, 11/21/01

"Even if the WWF is trying to take a more "attitude" driven approach to TV again, somebody STILL decided that the Yo-Yo Smuggler shorts that Trish wore at Survivor Series were completely inappropriate for prime time cable TV. Bastards." -- OO notices that the WWF remains a bit conservative in regards to certain wardrobe decisions, 11/21/01

"The message here: being forced to kiss a man's bare ass is FUNNY and acceptable for TV viewing, but being utterly relaxed and mind-numbingly cool sends a subversive message to the TV audience." -- OO on the WWF's decision to edit a Rock/RVD promo out of a taped SmackDown! because it made allusions to RVD's marijuana advocacy, 11/26/01

"Honestly, how far away are we from Vince McMahon squeezing out a Cleveland Steamer on some poor schmuck's chest? We've already gotten Regal's golden shower on Big Show, and more base-ass-kissing than I thought I'd ever see..." -- OO registers further displeasure with the omni-present and unfunny "Kiss My Ass" club, 11/28/01

"It's ludicrous, really for Undertaker to give two shits about whether Vince's ass is kissed. Unless somebody on the creative team just REALLY thought they could get MONSTER HEEL HEAT on Undertaker by dubbing him "The American Kiss-Ass," or something. And trust me, that probably won't work. It's more suited for -- I don't know -- a lame pun headline on a second rate wrestling website." -- OO on the dubious motivations for Undertaker's heel turn, after using "American Kiss-Ass" as OO's headline, 11/28/01

WWF Survivor Series (11/18/01) -- The Rock pinned Steve Austin to win a 10-man elimination-style main event match for Team WWF, forcing the Alliance off TV forever; the Rock got an assist from Kurt Angle, who had earlier in the month defected to the Alliance, but then revealed his true WWF colors by attacking Austin with the WWF Title belt to allow the Rock to make the final elimination. In other match results: Christian retained the WWF European Title with a win over Al Snow... William Regal defeated Tajiri... WWF IC Champ Edge defeated WCW US Champ Test to unify the IC and US Titles.... WCW Tag Champs the Dudley Boyz beat WWF Tag Champs the Hardy Boyz to unify the two tag titles... Test won the "Immunity Battle Royal," contested by Alliance and WWF workers all wanting to remain employed regardless of the main event's outcome... Trish Stratus outlasted Jazz, Lita, Ivory, Lita, and Molly to win a six-way match to fill the vacant WWF Women's Title.

The Rock beat Chris Jericho to win the WCW Title (11/01)... Booker T and Test beat the Rock and Chris Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Titles (11/01)... Test beat Edge to win the WWF IC Title (11/5)... Edge beat Kurt Angle to win the WCW US Title (11/12)... the Hardy Boyz beat Booker T and Test to win the WWF Tag Team Titles (11/12)... Edge beat Test to regain the WWF IC Title and unify it with the WCW US Title (11/18)... The Dudley Boyz beat the Hardys Boyz to win the WWF Tag Team Titles and unify them with the WCW Tag Team Titles (11/18)... Trish Stratus won a six-way match to win the vacant WWF Women's Title (11/18).