WWE the second oldest pay-per-view is Survivor Series. The show was established as part of WWE’s original Big Four PPVs, mainly because there was a time when WWE only held four PPVs a year. However, even after the company expanded to holding monthly PPVs throughout the year, the history and prestige of Survivor Series meant that it was still one of the most important PPVs of the year.
Survivor Series’ biggest selling point in several decades was The traditional WWE Survivor Series elimination tag team match. Five, sometimes four, men or women on each team would face an opposing team, with the winner(s) being declared after one team was eliminated entirely by pinfall, submission, countout, or disqualification. In recent years, this match was replaced by WarGames as the exclusive Survivor Series match. As a result, such a match has not been held on PPV since 2021, but it is still worth reflecting on the best matches that made up the PPV classic.
10
Team Andre x Team Hogan
WWE Survivor Series 1987
After the iconic moment of Andre the Giant being defeated by Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III, the Titans continued their rivalry. This rivalry would culminate in the main event of the first Survivor Series, pitting a team chosen by Hogan (Don Muraco, Paul Ordnoff, Ken Patera and Bam Bam Bigelow) against a team chosen by Andre (Butch Reed, King Kong Bundy, “Sweeping” Rick Rude and One Man Gang).
The show was billed as “The Biggest Event Since WrestleMania III,” and it’s easy to see why with a main event of this magnitude. The entire card is packed with traditional Survivor Series matches, but had the main event not been held, such matches likely would not have become such a consistent element of the PPV name. The match is especially highlighted by the final moments between Bam Bam and Andre, with the latter becoming WWE’s first Sole Survivor.
9
Team Kofi x Team Orton
2009 WWE Survivor Series
2009 was Kofi Kingston’s breakout year as a singles competitor. The future WWE Champion would enter his first main event singles feud with Randy Orton. The week before Survivor Series, Kingston’s star-making moment came at Madison Square Garden, as he launched the Boom Drop at The Viper through an announce table. WWE continued Kofi’s effort by not only having him captain a Survivor Series team against Orton’s on the PPV, but also becoming the Sole Survivor by defeating former World Champions Orton and CM Punk within seconds of each other. another in the final moments of the match.
History shows that Survivor Series matches are where stars would be born. Being a Sole Survivor was the surefire formula for landing a Superstar, and that formula worked that night. Kofi Kingston looked like a megastar, and although it took him 10 years to win a world title, the timing made him a credible contender.
8
Team Raw x Team SmackDown
2016 WWE Survivor Series
In 2016, WWE reinstituted the brand split, meaning that the Raw vs. Raw concept SmackDown was back at Survivor Series for the first time in 11 years. The concept came back with a vengeance especially in the traditional men’s match, where both teams featured rivals who reluctantly came together in the name of brand supremacy.
There were two things that made this match so memorable. One was that there was a lot of foreshadowing for the storylines to come, like how Kevin Owens’ rampage with Chris Jericho, inadvertently costing his team an elimination, would open the door to their inevitable split. About that, this match remains one of the best Survivor Series matches because each elimination led to a big moment. Everything mattered. Whether it was James Ellsworth costing Braun Strowman under the ring, or The Shield rallying to defeat AJ Styles, each elimination was meaningful and unforgettable.
7
Team DX vs Team RKO Rated
2006 WWE Survivor Series
After DX prevented interference from Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch from helping Edge win his Steel Cage title match with WWE Champion John Cena on Raw, The Rated-R Superstar recruited The Legend Killer (still carrying a grudge against Triple H for their 2004 rivalry) to eliminate their common enemies. The late summer feud spilled over into the fall and Survivor Series.
That’s it the first time a Survivor Series match was cleanwith Team DX eliminating everyone on Team Rated RKO without any of their teammates being eliminated. On paper, a match booked like this loses suspense if the babyfaces are never in danger, but the match emphasizes being highly entertaining to make up for the lack of drama. Moments like Shawn Michaels asking “who was that?” after eliminating Mike Knox in the first 40 seconds, or when he put his arm around Melina, are still remembered fondly today.
6
Team Orton x Team HHH
2004 WWE Survivor Series
Randy Orton was groomed as Evolution’s golden boy until he won his first world title at SummerSlam, leading Triple H to violently kick him out of one of WWE’s biggest factions the next night, and then win his title the following month. The Survivor Series match had the additional stipulation that the winning team would rule Raw for four weeks.
Typically, traditional Survivor Series matches exist just for fun or, in the case of Raw vs. SmackDown, “brand supremacy” is at stake. What sets this match apart from previous years is that There are real stakes in this story that would have huge implications for the rest of 2004. Each wrestler is eager to use their respective week-long GM power to sign up for a title match, giving each Superstar something to worry about, even leading to infighting on both teams. Not only do the characters care, but the audience is invested too.
5
Team Raw x Team SmackDown x Team NXT
2019 WWE Survivor Series
2019 was the year the Wednesday Night Wars began. It was the year that WWE’s third brand began airing regularly at the same time and day as newcomer AEW Dynamite. Although the stakes for WWE’s success were not as high as in the Attitude Era, when Eric Bischoff’s WCW beat WWE by 83 weeks, WWE still wanted NXT to appear strong and on par with the more established brands of Raw and SmackDown, leading to his involvement in the Survivor Series brand wars.
On paper, a match with 15 people looks like a mess, but somehow the yellow card for this match made it work. What makes this especially unmissable is Keith Lee’s standout performance, defeating Seth Rollins and almost defeating Roman Reigns at the end of the match. A star was supposedly born (unfortunately, Lee’s career would suffer a downturn), and NXT was respected.
4
Team Bischoff x Team Stone Cold
2003 WWE Survivor Series
When Stone Cold Steve Austin retired from in-ring action, he became sheriff to Eric Bischoff’s general manager, imposing order when Bischoff encouraged chaos on Monday Night Raw. Constant headbutting from authority figures would culminate in the decision that this brand was not big enough for both of them. Therefore, the two captained five men of their choosing, with the stipulation that the captain of the losing team would be fired.
The fate of WWE’s greatest Superstar hung in the balance. It was one thing to see the end of his in-ring career, but with the chance of him leaving television completely, that was enough to keep fans invested. When Batista’s interference helped lone survivor Randy Orton pin Shawn Michaels for the final time, securing Austin’s dismissal, it proved to be one of the most exciting moments of the year. Hearts were visibly broken throughout the crowd.
3
Team Raw x Team Smackdown
2005 WWE Survivor Series
The original WWE brand split was implemented in 2002, but the classic SmackDown vs. Raw would not become a staple of Survivor Series until 2005. The first SmackDown vs. that WWE wanted the traditional Survivor Series match to coincide with this.
Much like the 1987 main event, the success of future Raw vs. SmackDown was completely dependent on the success of this first one. If this match hadn’t been as entertaining as it was, the concept wouldn’t have become an ongoing trend over the next few years and revived for the brand split’s revival in mid-2016. Furthermore, as if the match itself wasn’t entertaining the enough, Sole Survivor Randy Orton’s celebration with the SmackDown roster was interrupted by The Undertaker in one of the best returns in WWE historyopening the door for the Hell in a Cell match.
2
Team Cena vs Team Authority
2014 WWE Survivor Series
The Authority has been running roughshod over WWE programming ever since Triple H turned heel by screwing Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam 2013. Wrestlers, including John Cena (and fans who were tired of authority figures), were fed up to see this. This would lead to Cena joining forces with the equally disheveled Authority employees for a five-on-five match with a double stipulation: if Team Cena won, the Authority would be kicked out of WWE, and if Team Cena lost, their teammates would be fired. .
A match like this exposes the only downside of elimination tags not being more prevalent with WWE pushing WarGames to the forefront as the WWE Universe no longer has performances from stars like Dolph Ziggler. In the past, all it took was an electric Sole Survivor performance to make a new star. It especially helped in this case with the late assist of Sting making his WWE debut.
1
Team WWE vs Team Alliance
2001 WWE Survivor Series
No stakes in a traditional Survivor Series match were higher than that. Here, the fate of several companies was at stake like the best Superstars, WWE had to offer united forces to protect their company against the alliance of ECW and WCW. It was truly a winner-takes-all scenario. The surviving company would survive to fight another day, while the losing team’s companies would go extinct immediately.
The only thing holding this match back was that Rob Van Dam and Booker T were the only two true outsiders in the match, having been closely associated with their respective brands and yet to have made a name for themselves in WWE. It wasn’t the WWE vs WCW/ECW match that fans dreamed of, but the symbolism was there to make it special. It was like a true farewell to the Attitude Erawith the era’s main tropes, like twists and betrayals, prevailing throughout. The best WWE Survivor Series match served as a swan song in its most popular era.