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23) Survivor Series ’90 – When I sit down to do the prep work for the Mr. Monthly PPV series, I start by looking back at the all the matches at each event for that given month and work my way from there. So, upon doing the initial research for the Survivor Series, I came across the 1990 version and scanned the event card. My memory searched back to years ago when I last viewed this event. I read through a recap to re-familiarize myself with the happenings of that evening and the memories came to me. Yeah, this was the worst Survivor Series of all-time and there’s not a damn thing you need to go out of your way to view. 22) Survivor Series ‘06 – As I recall it, this was a show that garnered quite the mixed response from the critics. This event came at the height of my time as a main-page reviewer and I was completely underwhelmed by it. The Survivor Series matches were sped through at such a rapid pace that not one stood out in any meaningful, in-ring way. It just fell flat on every level and had to rely on Batista and Booker T to carry the main-event (and they performed as best as they could, but it was still only a slightly above average match). Such is why this is one of only two editions of this event that will not be represented when I reveal the greatest matches in Survivor Series history. 21) Survivor Series ’93 – Perhaps the most memorable thing about this pretty bad PPV was that Owen Hart delivered the push seen round Canada to his brother Bret. It helped ignite a classic feud that was one of the more memorable storylines of the New Generation era of the early to mid 90’s. Unfortunately, there was really only one match on the entire card that was worth viewing outside of one push after the Hart match. The WWE had become very silly at the point this event took place and this wouldn’t be the only bad PPV they’d produce during that time period. 20) Survivor Series ’99 – Two things were memorable about this night: Kurt Angle’s debut and the Big Show’s first world title win in the WWE. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a truly memorable match on the card. The Survivor Series matches were a joke – so short that it was never believable. Show’s match with Austin and Triple H was pretty much par for the course during that era – loads of interference with a dusty finish. When you buy the anthology, just go ahead and skip 1999. 19) Survivor Series ’91 – The title match between the Undertaker and Hulk Hogan, culminating in the tease of the Hogan-Ric Flair feud (since Flair helped Taker win the WWE title), was memorable. Unfortunately, the memory is dampened by there having never been a follow through. Just one match from this show, the opener where Flair introduced his over the top antics to the WWE audience, made it to the best of list for the Survivor Series historical piece. Frankly, there just was not much to see in terms of in-ring performance. 18) Survivor Series ’00 – For all of you that loved the Attitude era because of what you saw on television, I’ll remind you that what a lot of what you saw on PPV during that era was garbage. For instance, on this night, when most of the Survivor Series matches lasted about 10-minutes or less, where guys feuded over spilled coffee, and when the Undertaker wore snake skin pants with a greenish hue. The redeeming quality is the Triple H vs. Stone Cold match in the main-event, but it went to a no-contest and was pretty much the standard Attitude era brawling style match. 17) Survivor Series ’92 – Despite there being a match that had been building nearly the entire year in the tag match involving Ric Flair (and Razor Ramon) vs. Mr. Perfect and Randy Savage, this was still a one match show involving HBK vs. Bret Hart in their first of several PPV main-events. The Flair match was OK, but the DQ ending put a damper on it. Nothing else was even remotely worth a second viewing, but you should check out the initial Michaels-Hart match for the historical significance. 16) Survivor Series ’88 – I must admit to having only ever seen this event on tape. When I saw it on tape, there had been a lot of editing done so I did not get to see two of the four matches in their entirety. The tag team Survivor Series match was great, but everything else that involved the bigger names in the company at the time just seemed to fall flat. After all the mid-card tag team guys busted their butts for 42-minutes of epic encounter, the top stars just seemed to phone it in. 15) Survivor Series ’97 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada was the site of this unforgettable event. Unfortunately, it was not a PPV to remember because of the in-ring action, but because of arguably the most unforgettable moment in the history of the WWE. The Screwjob was pretty much the only talking point coming out of the Survivor Series that year, but what a talking point it was, huh? I’m not sure there’s anything that I can possibly add to the millions of words already written about it. 14) Survivor Series ’08 – There was a lot of potential with this card, as on paper it looked rock solid if not better. Unfortunately, the combination of a disappointing end to the Taker-Big Show feud, a terrible WWE title match (sans for the surprise ending with Edge returning and Jeff Hardy making a very popular appearance), and an all-around lackluster effort with no standout match really put a damper on the 2008 version of this event. Frankly, it just seemed like everyone was going through the motions, which one could argue that the WWE has done repeatedly with the Survivor Series PPV in recent years and could be pointed to as the culprit for its decline in popularity. 13) Survivor Series ’95 – One traditional Survivor Series match filled with random wrestlers made this just barely more than a one match show. That one match happened to be the classic encounter between Bret Hart and Diesel. In HBK’s book, he says that he was pretty much the only wrestler that could have a good match with Diesel. That was not true, thanks to the Hitman. Hart and Diesel had several good matches during Nash’s WWE tenure, but their No-DQ match was the best of the lot and it elevated the ’95 Survivor Series up this list. 12) Survivor Series ’94 – Sans for a ridiculous match early on the card between Jerry Lawler and Doink (along with their midget friends), this was a damn good show. Highlighted by the submission match where Bob Backlund beat Bret Hart (thanks to interference from Owen) and backed up by a strong undercard, this was one of the better PPVs of the early part of the 90’s. The main-event was a casket match between Undertaker and Yokozuna, which while no means a classic did deliver a memorable ending – perhaps not for good reasons. I’ll never forget Vince McMahon in his signature voice telling the viewing audience that “Undertaker is alive; he’s alive!” as the show went off the air. 11) Survivor Series ’09 – If the November classic ever gets replaced by a new gimmicked event, then we can probably point to this particular edition as the beginning of the end. After what was largely regarded as the poorest build-up for a PPV in recent years, there was talk of the WWE scrapping its second longest running event once the dismal buyrate came in. For what it was, a lot of the matches delivered (four out of a six by my estimate). All three Survivor Series matches were good and the triple threat main-event from Raw was very good. I think it’ll be remembered as a solid event, once people forget the very forgettable hype. 10) Survivor Series ’87 – There were just four matches on the inaugural Survivor Series card, with two of the matches being memorable. The first was memorable because there 20-men surrounding the ring (this was the first 10-tag team Survivor Series match) and it was a heck of a match. The second was memorable because Andre the Giant won a match with Hogan on the other side of the ring as one of his opponents. Wow, was the crowd ever hot for the main-event between Team Hogan and Team Andre. Some truly classic names littered the entire card; a virtual who’s who in wrestling history. Overall, a solid event, but it took two years to really make this event click. 9) Survivor Series ’03 – If ever there was a match that made you overestimate the overall quality of a PPV, it was Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff in 2003. Thanks to a brilliant performance from Shawn Michaels and several other really strong showings (like from Randy Orton), this was quite possibly the greatest Survivor Series match of all-time. Unfortunately, the rest of the card – while heavy on the big names and marquee match-ups – failed to deliver. Goldberg vs. Triple H was a disappointment, as was Vince McMahon vs. Undertaker and Shane McMahon vs. Kane. There wasn’t enough in the mid-card to make up for those fairly pedestrian efforts. 8) Survivor Series ’98 – I’m such a big mark for tournaments that night’s like this one from 1998 will always get a favorable overall ranking from me when I put them in a list. It was an eventful night, with a lot of twists and turns along the way. The early part of the tournament did not offer much in the way of aesthetically pleasing grappling arts, but the semi-final round gave us a lot of great storyline drama. Austin getting screwed. The Rock showing his true colors and becoming the corporate champion. It was a recipe for success. There weren’t many great matches in the tourney, but the overall presentation of the story told during it was classic. 7) Survivor Series ’04 – A good edition of this event, overall. The main-event classic Survivor Series match from Raw was one of only two matches on the night that really stood out and were performed at a level above average, with the other being the IC title match between Shelton Benjamin and Christian. Everything else was just average. Both brands were going through an awkward phase at the time, with SD trying to figure out what direction to take their main-event scene toward and Raw stumbling through the oh-so forgettable Randy Orton initial babyface run. 6) Survivor Series ’07 – Based on the top three matches, you could put this event up against some of the best ever editions of this PPV. Batista and Undertaker had themselves a very good HIAC match, albeit a little bit disappointing given the quality of their previous matches. HBK and Randy Orton had a really strong co-main-event. The only traditional Survivor Series match on the card was quite good, as well. What separates this card from the top 5 editions is that there was nothing else worth watching; and what we did have to watch was below average (Hornswoggle vs. Khali was the biggest pile crap of the year) 5) Survivor Series ’96 – The main-event was very good, the semi-main-event was a great match, there were a couple of good Survivor Series matches, and Undertaker and Mankind had a nice match to add to their collection of good matches from that year. I remember this PPV fondly and cannot believe that it was fourteen years ago that I watched this PPV live (only my third live PPV ever at the time). This was, in many ways, a preview of things to come, as Steve Austin had his biggest match to date (against Bret Hart), Mick Foley had another match that helped usher in a new style of wrestling, and The Rock made his debut as Rocky Maivia against a team captained by Triple H. 4) Survivor Series ’05 – There was a lot to like about this edition of the fall classic. It started off with a good opener in Benoit vs. Booker T, kicked into high gear with a great match between Ric Flair and Triple H, and then was capped off with an excellent traditional Survivor Series match with the Raw vs. SD concept. The ending to the PPV with the Undertaker making his return was not how I would have chosen to close out the event, but sans for an absolutely pathetic match between Teddy Long and Eric Bischoff, this was one of the more well-rounded November PPVs of all-time. 3) Survivor Series ’02 – I very nearly put this at the #1 spot. The only reason I did not is because there just wasn’t a phenomenal match on the card. There were two candidates that year going into the card that looked like match of the year contenders (triple threat tag team match and the original Elimination Chamber), but they faltered just slightly in their execution and knocked this event down just a peg. The WWE had a great year in 2002 with their PPVs and this was no exception. Mention need be given to the opening “elimination table match” that kick started this event; it was quite entertaining. 2) Survivor Series ’89 – It is a very rare, quite possibly one-time occurrence when 80% of the matches from one PPV make it onto a list of the greatest matches in the history of a given event. Yet, that is what this particular edition of the fall classic managed to do. Featuring five four-on-four traditional Survivor Series elimination matches and nothing else but interviews hyping the feuds involved in each, this PPV delivered on so many levels. The backstage segments were great and the matches were quite good. The nice thing about the matches were that the top stars in the WWE at that time were well mixed throughout the card. This was also a rare event of that era to not feature Hulk Hogan in its main-event, instead giving that honor to the Ultimate Warrior. Dare I say this is required viewing material for any young fan to appreciate what the original Survivor Series were like. 1) Survivor Series ’01 – One thing that I’ve noticed while looking back at the Survivor Series is that there’s never really been a truly epic event that fired on all cylinders. Each one has had a lot of things not to like, even if there was plenty to like. Take ’01, for instance, which had two great matches and one very good match, but still had plenty of fluff along the way. The Survivor Series match between Team WWE and Team WCW was awesome, as was the cage match between the Dudley and Hardy Boys, but other than the Test-Edge match that unified the IC/US titles and a decent battle royal to matches later, the rest of the card was completely skippable. Nonetheless, I give credit where credit is due to the ’01 event for being the best of the bunch. ---------------------------------------------------------- The Road to Wrestlemania is Coming
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