[5.0] "Not as bad as I thought it would be, there was some genuinely good moments at the start where things were flowing, a lot of grueling action and brawling. However the 2nd portion of the match was very rough, any energy the match had dissipated. Kane had a cool appearance but that was basically it, and the finish was extremely rough since it took them 10 years to actually fulfill the stipulation. Overall it was still an interesting watch at times though, and an alright match carried by the guys involved. **1/2"
[3.0] "Austin and Taker were mostly carrying this, but the match itself felt more like a boring match with just moments after like the appearance of Kane where everyone really reacted. 3/10 [**]"
[2.0] "A complete bore of a match made even worse by the finish where the guy operating the excavator clearly had no clue what he was doing. The fact that if Austin won he would qualify for the Rumble gave the winner away from the beginning as well."
[4.0] "I remember this being a lot better. I think I was just caught up in the visuals back in 1998. WWF was starting to head a Gothic route and I loved The Undertaker's new persona as the Lord of Darkness. Vince Russo was obsessed with gimmick matches, so we got this. Thanks, Russo. Douche."
[4.0] "On one hand it feels strange to have a PPV match between Austin and Undertaker and rate it just a 4/10, on the other hand, Undertaker's never been the most incredible in-ring performer, and it's a gimmick match. I can't think of a fun buried alive match off the top of my head, and this is a perfect example of why it's a terrible idea with how damn long it took to actually finish burying someone alive. The match itself is nothing more than could be expected. And why the hell did Kane suddenly show up only to do almost nothing?"
[4.0] "It was a alright match. The finish was anticlimactic. It didn't help that backhoe operator seem to be inexperience, and it was clear that Austin was genuinely getting frustrated with the operator. But that is the problem with the Buried alive matches. The finish always feel rather anticlimactic because you watch the person getting slowly buried."
[4.0] "This match was alright throughout but it took what felt like 10 minutes to just bury the guy so it kinda took the drama out of the finish. Imo this is the worst buried alive match in WWE and second worse of the whole stipulation"
[2.0] "Very sloppy brawl. Kane's appearance made no sense to me. I'm not a big fan of buried alive matches honestly. The only good one was Undertaker vs. Mankind and the rest were absolutely horrible. Undertaker and Austin's worst match against each other. [*]"
[4.0] "There was a strong build to this match and on paper this sounds like it should be an epic clash, but in reality it's just time consuming and restrictive and it basically feels like needlessly complicated version of a casket match! It's surprisingly dull where there just isn't a whole lot of action happening and there's a lot of pointless walking and brawling as they go back and forth between the ring and the grave site on the stage. I don't think there's a lack of effort here but this was a very disappointing match, especially considering the strong match they had at Summerslam earlier that year."
[3.0] "Give me a break, why can't Austin have a normal match, Jesus Christ. It's been so long since he actually had a wrestling contest and at this point he's just a first version of Moxley. A lot of brawling, walking around, Kane appearing out of nowhere which didn't make any sense and didn't add anything to the match and an awfuly botched finish with the excevator. Stone Cold's over so the crowd isn't bored, but how long can he get away with that shit?"
[6.0] "Didn't mind this for an over-the-top gimmick match, enjoyed the brawling around the arena and around the dig site, Kane appearing was predictable."
[8.0] "I enjoy buried alive matches more than I probably should, it's a standard brawl between Austin and Undertaker but the graveyard setting gives it a different and unique feel that added to it."
[4.0] "Could have been way better if they hadn't dragged this out for so long. So much walk-and-brawl to fit into 21 and a half minutes. You get the typical Attitude Era no-DQ spots in the middle of it all before Kane shows up to screw Taker again because of course he does. Pretty sure the backhoe full of dirt was botched, on top of that."
[8.0] "I really enjoyed this confrontation. The Buried Alive Match is a good concept in my opinion. For this match we had a lot of brawl, we are typically in the Attitude Era, it's Stone Cold's prime, but it's a shame that the action in the ring is not more provided."
[3.0] "Austin needs to win here go get into the Rumble. Cole has stated 4 or 5 times in the ppv that the tombstone weighs in excess of 3, 000lbs...yeah. Brawl outside to start. They fight into the dirt. Into the ring, Austin gets a Thesz Press and elbow. Austin slams UT on the floor and into the steel stairs. Taker sends Austin into the Spanish announce table. Austin tries a piledriver, but it never works. Into the ring, UT chokes him. Punching and rolling in the dirt follow. Austin nails Undertaker with a piece of railing, and they struggle over the grave. Undertaker falls in. He hits Austin with a burial wreath, and they have a showdown in the grave. Taker grabs a shovel, but Austin beats on him. Austin flees, but gets hit in the knee. They brawl again. Back to ringside, Undertaker wallops him with a chair. Cole notes that the crowd doesn't know what to make of it. Translation "Zzzzzz". Taker rams Austin into the post, and choke slams him back in the ring. UT leads Austin back to the grave and finds a gas can, then tosses Austin into the grave. Cole helpfully points out that it's "six feet deep", even though they are only waste deep in it. Austin fights out and clocks Taker with the GAS CAN OF DOOM, then hits a stunner that knocks him into the grave. Austin heads to the back as Taker crawls out and hides, then an explosion comes out of the grave. Kane beats on Undertaker and tombstones him into the grave. Austin finally returns with a backhoe (I guess he ran down to the Cat rental dealership in the time he was away) which very...slowly...dumps a load of dirt barely going into the hole and the operator can't see a damn thing from the cab and it takes about 5 minutes to end the match. Austin wins and is in the Rumble. One buried alive match is enough."
[2.0] "There was at most 5 minutes of actual fighting in this 20 minute match, and very little of that was actually wrestling, just brawling around the "grave". The finish with the bulldozer was awful and seemed interminable, Kane's appearance added nothing to either the action or the story, and the whole thing just didn't work. It wasn't even clear what the final winning condition was, as Taker had been buried once and got back out before getting a very similar amount of earth on him when Austin got the win. Dumb as hell and duller than that."
[3.0] "This was so disappointing considering the build to the match was fantastic and then the bell rang and we unfortunately got this. The SummerSlam match they had was physical and intense, had a good pace this was just extremely slow with the best part being when they applied dirt to the Undertaker.*1/2"
[3.0] "With such a pre-match build-up and such a mediocre PPV fight. For the most part, it was just a repetitive exchange of blows, I did not see anything super-aggressive that they could bring here, because the Undertaker generally wanted to embalm a living Steve Austin and bury him at the same time. It is a pity that something so terrifying was not applied."
[2.0] "God, this was boring as hell. These two have never really had great matches together. Some are good and most are pretty bad actually. This was possibly the worst and started a string of mediocre at best performances from the two for the most part. Undertaker was battling nagging injuries, this dragged on for too long and was mostly dull. Not good at all (*)"
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