World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event
The 1998 Survivor Series (marketed as Survivor Series: Deadly Game) was the 12th annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; WWE as of 2002). It took place on November 15, 1998, at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Fourteen professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card, a noticeably higher number than most pay-per-view events because the main focus of the card was a tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. It was the first tournament held with the WWF Championship on the line in ten years, the last being at WrestleMania IV. Both tournaments were 14-man tournaments instead of the regular 8 or 16-man tournaments. Aside from the tournament, two other championship matches occurred: the first defense of the WWF Women's Championship since it had been reactivated and a triple threat tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship.
This event was also the first Survivor Series not to include any Survivor Series elimination matches, although the notion of survival is apparent in the knockout tournament. 
The event was the first ever Survivor Series which did not feature Bret Hart as he left in controversial fashion following the previous year's event.
Production.
Background.
Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every November by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1987. In what has become the second longest running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble, and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically pits teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. The 1998 event, however, did not feature such match, and was the first of only three times a Survivor Series match did not occur at the titular event—the second in 2002, and the third in 2022. In place of the traditional Survivor Series match, for this event, was a 14-man single elimination tournament for the vacant WWF Championship called "Deadly Game". The 1998 event was the 12th event in the Survivor Series chronology and was subtitled "Deadly Game" for the aforementioned tournament. The event was scheduled to be held on November 15, 1998, at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Storylines.
Survivor Series consisted of professional wrestling matches involving wrestlers from pre-existing feuds and storylines that played out on "Raw is War" — WWF's primary television program. Wrestlers portrayed a hero or a villain as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. 
Main storyline.
The major storyline involved the WWF Championship, which had been vacant since September after the events of where the Undertaker and Kane both pinned then champion Steve Austin at the same time in a match for the WWF championship.
In March, Stone Cold Steve Austin had won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV, and in the months that followed company owner Vince McMahon had been scheming to get the title off of him as he did not feel Austin was suitable for the company's image. 
Austin would eventually lose the title in a First Blood match against Kane at King of the Ring in June after Kane's (Kayfabe) half-brother, The Undertaker, struck Austin with a chair to save Kane from hurting himself despite the two being in a feud dating from Kane's debut in 1997. Kane's reign did not last long, however, as Austin coerced him into a rematch for the title the next night on the Raw episode following the pay-per-view and defeated him to regain the WWF Championship. 
Austin and Undertaker then began a brief but strained alliance shortly thereafter that resulted in a brief 15 day WWF Tag Team Championship reign before a title match was signed between the two for SummerSlam in August. However, shortly before the event it was revealed that Undertaker and Kane had been in cahoots all along. After Austin retained the title at SummerSlam, it was revealed that the brothers had also made a deal with McMahon to try and ensure Austin lost the championship. This led to the match at Breakdown, which was signed as a triple threat match but became a de facto handicap match; McMahon added a stipulation that Undertaker and Kane could not score a fall against each other and could only do so against Austin. Austin would go on to lose the match and the championship, with Undertaker and Kane both pinning him simultaneously. 
After Breakdown, McMahon held a ceremony to award the WWF Championship but before he could name Undertaker or Kane the champion, Austin crashed the ceremony to attack McMahon. McMahon, furious at the brothers for failing to protect him from Austin, decided to leave the title vacant and booked a special match at . Not only would Undertaker and Kane wrestle for the vacant title against their will, McMahon ordered Austin to serve as the referee so he would have the “indignity” of being forced to count a fall and crown a new champion. Austin told McMahon he would not raise anyone's hand but his in victory, leading McMahon to threaten him with termination if he did not perform his duties properly. Austin called McMahon's bluff, attacking both Undertaker and Kane and counting them out, and then declared himself the winner and champion. McMahon then made good on his threat to fire Austin.
Since the Undertaker-Kane match had not resolved anything and the title was still vacant, it was decided that a tournament would be set up to decide the champion at Survivor Series. Fourteen wrestlers were signed to take part in what was referred to as the “Deadly Game”, with the last man standing winning the WWF Championship at the end of the night.
Other storylines.
Despite being fired, Austin was at "Raw Is War" the night after Judgment Day and held McMahon hostage at gunpoint, though when Austin went to fire his gun it turned out to be a joke gun, with a sign saying "BANG! 3:16" on it; Austin left the ring when McMahon soiled himself, having given him a piece of paper. Austin revealed the following week that the paper was a five-year contract that guaranteed him a championship match and most shockingly of all, the contract had been signed by Mr. McMahon's son Shane, who had his owner rights suspended by his father and was demoted to a referee.
As well as Austin, McMahon seemed to have a new target of hatred. On the November 2 edition of "Raw Is War", McMahon declared to the self-styled People's Champion that because he had a problem with the people, he had a problem with The Rock. He then ordered Rock into an Intercontinental match with Ken Shamrock, with Rock's tournament spot on the line. Shamrock hit him with a chair and thus he won, but only by disqualification and thus lost his tournament spot. Afterwards McMahon had The Rock arrested, much like he had done months before with Austin. The following week McMahon threatened him with expulsion from the company if he could not win a match against former Nation of Domination stable mate Mark Henry. Despite the odds being stacked in his favor with McMahon's entourage at ring side distracting the referee, Shane McMahon ran down after Rock had performed the Rock Bottom, a lifting side slam, on Henry and counted the pinfall to secure Rock's employment and, presumably, earning back his spot in the tournament although this was never specifically mentioned other than McMahon mentioning it on Heat.
While many wrestlers became the target of Vince McMahon's ire, one wrestler returned to being his favorite. With his son ostensibly turning on him, Mankind tried to cheer McMahon up and was treated as a surrogate child. McMahon awarded him a new belt, the WWF Hardcore Championship, as well as giving him a makeover, including a pedicure, haircut and tailored suit, gearing him up to win the tournament. As well as being a Hardcore Champion, Mankind had formed an ad hoc tag team with Al Snow; the humorous duo mocked each other's mascots which they talked to, Mr. Socko and Head. In a tag team match Mr. Socko went missing and it later transpired that Mr. McMahon had wrapped it round Al Snow's Head in order to provoke his wrath. Snow himself had also had several run-ins with Jeff Jarrett, after Jarrett had opened his guitar case only to find Head inside, instead of his trademark weapon.
Family problems were abound elsewhere with the return of Paul Bearer at Judgment Day. Bearer had been at Kane's side ever since his debut the previous October at , but when Kane and Undertaker allied to take down Austin, Kane turned his back on Bearer and allowed Undertaker to beat him. When Bearer returned he seemed to be on Kane's side, but in fact he gave a chair to Undertaker to strike Kane with, revealing on Raw that he had returned to being Undertaker's mentor.
For weeks, vignettes had announced the arrival of Steven Regal under the gimmick of "a man's man". Regal made his debut by attacking the European Champion X-Pac from behind on "Raw is War". Also, a masked man in a SWAT style uniform appeared alongside Mr. McMahon to defend him against Austin's attacks. The enforcer turned out to be the returning Big Boss Man, who after a stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) had taken on the role of personal bodyguard for McMahon.
The two other feuds going into the event were both championship feuds. Marc Mero grew jealous of his valet Sable and the attention she gained, eventually having her fired by defeating her in a match. When she returned as a wrestler in her own right, Mero employed a new valet Jacqueline and the two naturally squared off. Firstly they had a bikini contest, which Sable won by popularity, but was disqualified as her bikini consisted of handprints. The two then had an arm wrestling contest, which ended with Jacqueline cracking the bikini contest trophy over the head of Sable. When Sable revealed the Women's Championship had been reactivated, the two met for a match on Raw, in which Jacqueline won due to Mero holding Sable's legs down. After Sable was further humiliated when Jacqueline cut a piece of her hair and wrapped it into her own hair, Sable demanded a championship match.
The Headbangers had met the New Age Outlaws the previous month and after dominating most of the match, won via disqualification when Road Dogg broke a boombox over Mosh's head. Despite titles not changing hands by disqualification, the Headbangers began to declare themselves champions, coming to the ring with toy replica belts and parodying New Age Outlaws pre-match speeches. With the dissolution of The Nation, D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry stayed together as a tag team and with Brown's feud with X-Pac over the European title, by messing with one D-Generate, he picked an unwitting fight with the Outlaws too.
Event.
First round.
The opening match was part of the tournament and saw Mr. McMahon introduce Mankind and his mystery opponent. After a grandiose introduction, promising a WWF veteran with a record setting win–loss record, jobber Duane Gill came out. The match barely lasted one minute as Mankind knocked Gill to the mat and rolled him up for a pin.
Al Snow's match against Jeff Jarrett began with Snow following Jarret's valet, Debra McMichael. Snow soon entered the ring and took the first advantage, using the ropes to aid him with a neckbreaker but mistiming a flying leg drop. After a succession of reversed pinfalls attempts by both parties and a DDT by Snow, both men were lying on the mat. Debra walked onto the apron with Snow's mannequin head to distract the referee and allow Jarrett to pick it up. Snow himself grabbed Jarrett's guitar and swung for Jarrett, but missed and received Head. Jarrett went to attack him again in the corner but a kick from Snow allowed him to grab the Head and smack into it Jarrett's face, allowing a victory via pinfall when the referee finally looked back. Snow faced Mankind in the quarter-finals.
Big Boss Man met Steve Austin on the walkway