The Most Memorable WWE Survivor Series Matches of All Time
While WrestleMania or the SummerSlam may be WWE’s true marquee shows, many wrestling fans are nostalgic for Survivor Series.
Traditionally, the show has featured some variation of 5-on-5 elimination matches, or memorable championship bouts with high stakes. This year’s edition of the event goes down November 30 in Vancouver, and will once again see two War Games matches as the main events.
While those matches will no doubt be memorable, it may be hard for them to overshadow some of the event’s other most iconic matchups.
1. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Survivor Series 1997)
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in 1997 isn’t just the most famous match in the history of the pay-per-view, but it’s one of the most notorious matches to ever occur in general.
The WWE Champion Hart was bound for World Championship Wrestling at the conclusion of the week, and owner Vince McMahon infamously wanted him to drop the title at the pay-per-view to Michaels. The show was in Montreal, considered to be Hart Family territory, and Bret pushed back and requested to drop it later in the week on TV. McMahon allegedly agreed, but schemed up a plan behind the scenes with Michaels and other company officials to cost Hart the championship in Montreal out of not wanting to risk him leaving with it.
Hart and Michaels agreed to a moment in the match, where Michaels would lock Hart in his patented Sharpshooter, before rolling out of it. Instead, referee Earl Hebner called for the bell while Hart was on it, leading to Michaels winning the match and title. Hart spat in McMahon’s face, and legitimately knocked him out backstage before leaving the company and not returning until 2010.
2. Team Authority vs. Team Cena (Survivor Series 2014)
The stakes were high at Survivor Series in 2014, with John Cena’s team of Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, Big Show, and Ryback putting their careers on the line against Seth Rollins, Rusev, Kane, Luke Harper, and Mark Henry in a traditional 5-on-5 elimination match. Cena’s team was crusading against Triple H’s villainous Authority, a faction that would be removed from power if it lost.
Cena was shockingly eliminated from the match after Big Show turned on him, with Ziggler and Rollins eventually being the last remaining members standing. The two would go on to have an excellent mini-match before Triple H himself got involved to try and help Rollins. Instead, he’d be thwarted by the debut of “The Icon” Sting, making his first appearance in WWE after three decades in the industry. He’d drop Triple H, throw Ziggler on Rollins, and Team Cena would win the match. Sting’s first appearance is a monumental moment in WWE history.
3. Elimination Chamber Debuts (Survivor Series 2002)
The Elimination Chamber is now a staple of WWE programming, but its debut show was one of the most brutal editions of the match to date.
The World Heavyweight Championship was on the line between Triple H, Shawn Michaels, RVD, Booker T, Kane, and Chris Jericho at Survivor Series in 2002. The sheer violence of the match alone makes it stand out, with Triple H legitimately having his larynx crushed by a frog splash attempt from the top of the cage by RVD. But the emotions of the match peaked when Michaels and Triple H were the final two, culminating their months-long feud that saw Michaels return from injury after four years away from the ring. Michaels would hit Triple H with Sweet Chin Music and fall on top of him for the 1-2-3, leading to Madison Square Garden becoming unglued for their new champion.
4. Team WWE vs. The Alliance (Survivor Series 2001)
Few wrestling fans look back on the WCW/ECW “invasion” of the WWE storyline from 2001 fondly. There is no denying, however, the culmination of it produced a classic Survivor Series main event.
Vince McMahon’s Team WWE consisted of The Rock, Kane, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, and Big Show, as it went against Shane and Stephanie McMahon’s Alliance, a team made up of Shane, Booker T, RVD, Kurt Angle, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. The losing team would see their company go out of business, while the winners would live on.
The match is a 45-minute affair built on plenty of dramatics. Vince had promised someone from The Alliance would turn and join Team WWE, and while it was teased it would be Austin, it actually ended up being Angle. The Rock would pin Austin after help from Angle, and WWE survived.
5. Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles (Survivor Series 2017)
Brock Lesnar’s streak of dominance after beating The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30 lasted multiple years, and it set him on a collision course with AJ Styles at Survivor Series in 2017.
Styles was significantly smaller than the towering Lesnar, but their David vs. Goliath dynamic played perfectly in setting Styles up as the underdog. Styles was able to punch up at Lesnar to appear as if he was going to pull off the win, even locking “The Beast Incarnate” in a Calf Crusher that had the Houston crowd in a frenzy, hoping he would tap out.
Lesnar would ultimately power out and hit a vicious F-5 to seal the deal. Still, it’s one of the more memorable bouts in the pay-per-view’s history for how the two got the crowd invested in a relatively cold story coming into the match.
6. The Rock vs. Mankind (Survivor Series 1998)
Mankind’s WWE Championship win in 1999 is one of the most unlikely WWE has ever seen, and it was all set up by the events of Survivor Series 1998.
This main event was the culmination of the “Deadly Game” Tournament set up to crown the new WWE Champion. The event saw 12 matches in one night, with Mankind and The Rock both having to fight through multiple rounds of opponents to reach the finals. Rock was red hot as an up-and-coming main eventer, and Mankind was clearly being manipulated by Vince McMahon’s Corporation faction.
The championship round would see Rock turn on Mankind and the people, joining the villainous group with the help of McMahon in a callback to the previous year’s controversial ending. Mankind was cost the title, and Rock became “The Corporate Champion.”
