This week in WWE history: Wrestling legends debut, historic specialty match premieres at Survivor Series (November 11-November 17)

WWE continues to move forward and fan excitement is close to being at an all-time high. Survivor Series: WarGames is the next premium live event and Saturday Night's Main Event will return in December.

From there, we will enter the Royal Rumble season, which starts The Road To WrestleMania. That is the most exciting time of the year and we are getting quite close to starting the journey. Needless to say, many fans are getting hyped.

Still, the modern product isn't for everybody. There are some fans who prefer the wrestling they grew up on or even from eras before they were born. For those fans, you're in luck, as Sportskeeda offers a look back at major matches, events, and moments from the company's history.

This week's list will cover four major events that took place between 1996 and 2003. This covers the tail end of The New Generation, the height of The Attitude Era, and even The Ruthless Aggression Era. What went down this week in the company's history?

Below are major matches and moments from this week in WWE history:

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#4. Kurt Angle made his pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series on November 14, 1999

The first entry on this week's list is also one of the oldest. WWE held Survivor Series live from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on November 14, 1999. Over 18,000 fans were in attendance for a show that took place at the height of The Attitude Era.

Survivor Series 1999 wasn't necessarily a show centered around match quality. The main card featured 10 matches total, with a big change to the main event. Triple H, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin were meant to clash over the WWF Title.

Due to Austin suffering a serious injury, The Big Show was a last-minute replacement and went on to win the match and the championship. Perhaps even more interestingly, Survivor Series was the pay-per-view debut of Kurt Angle.

The Olympic Gold Medalist took on and defeated Shawn Stasiak in just under six minutes. He was billed as the only "real" athlete in the company's history, which made many fans angry.

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#3. Kane and Shane McMahon fought at Survivor Series on November 16, 2003

The next entry on this list took place four years later on November 16, 2003. That date featured Survivor Series airing live on-pay-per-view from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas for one of the biggest shows of the year.

Over 13,000 fans were in attendance for the seven-match main card. While the likes of Goldberg, Triple H, The Undertaker, Vince McMahon, Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Lita were some of the stars in action, it was a gimmick bout that stands out in retrospect.

The most memorable match saw Shane McMahon take on Kane. The bout wasn't a standard one, however, as they fought in an Ambulance Match. After around 13 minutes, Kane nailed Shane-O-Mac with a Tombstone Piledriver on the floor. He then proceeded to throw McMahon into an ambulance for the win.

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#2. The Rock made his debut at Survivor Series on November 17, 1996

WWE Survivor Series 1996 turned out to be an extremely important show in wrestling history. The event was held on November 17 and featured around 18,000 fans in attendance. Survivor Series was held at Madison Square Garden.

While the show had a few big matches, the most memorable was a 4-on-4 Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match. Crush, Goldust, Jerry Lawler, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley teamed up to take on Jake Roberts, Marc Mero, The Stalker, and the debuting Rocky Maivia.

The Blue Chipper Rocky Maivia was still a long way from becoming The Rock, but he showed immediate promise. In fact, his team managed to defeat the four heels led by Jerry Lawler in about 23 minutes. From there, he'd go on to eventually become a WrestleMania headliner.

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#1. WWE held their first-ever Elimination Chamber Match at Survivor Series on November 17, 2002

The final entry on this list is another edition of Survivor Series. This time, WWE hosted Survivor Series 2002 on November 17. This event also took place in the famous Madison Square Garden venue.

While Survivor Series had long been known for the Traditional Survivor Series Tag Team Match, this show featured a different gimmick. WWE introduced the Elimination Chamber Match for the first time ever.

Triple H, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Booker T battled it out for almost 40 minutes. In the end, Shawn Michaels defeated Triple H to win the World Heavyweight Championship just months after making his in-ring return following a devastating back injury.