Survivor Series

This article is about the professional wrestling pay-per-view event. For the video game named after the event for the Game Boy Advance, see WWE Survivor Series (video game).

Not to be confused with Survivor (franchise).

Survivor Series
The Survivor Series logo. The Survivor Series logo used since 2014
Created by	Vince McMahon
Promotions	WWE
Brands	Raw (2002–2010; 2016–present) SmackDown (2002–2010; 2016–present) ECW (2006–2009)
First event	Survivor Series (1987)
Signature matches	Survivor Series elimination tag team match

Survivor Series is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event held in November by WWE. It is the second longest running pay-per-view event in WWE history (behind WrestleMania) and one of the "Big Four" events, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, as it is one of the original four pay-per-views produced by WWE.

Origins and changes

The Survivor Series 2005 stage setup.

The first Survivor Series, held in 1987, came on the heels of the success of WrestleMania III, as the then-WWF began to see the lucrative potential of the pay-per-view market. The first event capitalized on the big time feud between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant, who wrestled each other at WrestleMania III. Survivor Series was originally created to be a "Thanksgiving tradition" as the first eight Survivor Series events took place on either Thanksgiving Day (1987–1990) or Thanksgiving Eve (1991–1994). Since 1995, the event has been held the Sunday before Thanksgiving (save for the 2005 and 2006 events, which were held after Thanksgiving). On February 11, 2010, WWE stated that Survivor Series would be rebranded, but in June, the event was added back onto WWE's pay-per-view schedule.

With the return of the brand split, the 2016 and 2017 events have focused on direct competition between the two brands, Raw and SmackDown, similar to the Bragging Rights events that WWE held for two years during the first brand split.

Survivor Series matches

The event is traditionally characterized by having tag-team elimination matches, pitting teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. These matches are generally referred to simply as "Survivor Series matches." The WWF had several elimination tag-team matches earlier in 1987, albeit with three-man teams and the feuds loosely related. In an early break from the norm, the 1992 event had only one tag team elimination match. The 1997 event saw the Montreal Screwjob, while the 1998 event was the only one without any elimination tag team matches, instead focusing on an elimination tournament for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. The 2002 Survivor Series is notable for the debut of the Elimination Chamber match.

Survivor Series dates and venues

No	Event	Date	City	Venue	Claimed Attendance	Main Event
1	Survivor Series (1987)	November 26, 1987	Richfield, Ohio	Richfield Coliseum	21,300	André the Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed and Rick Rude vs. Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera and Bam Bam Bigelow in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match
2	Survivor Series (1988)	November 24, 1988			13,500	Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Hercules, Koko B. Ware and Hillbilly Jim vs. Akeem, Big Boss Man, Ted DiBiase, Haku and The Red Rooster in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match
3	Survivor Series (1989)	November 23, 1989	Rosemont, Illinois	Rosemont Horizon	15,294	The Ultimate Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) and Jim Neidhart) vs. The Heenan Family (Bobby Heenan, André the Giant, Haku and Arn Anderson) in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series match
4	Survivor Series (1990)	November 22, 1990	Hartford, Connecticut	Hartford Civic Center	16,000	Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior and Tito Santana vs. Ted DiBiase, Rick Martel, The Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma in a 3-on-5 Grand Finale Survivor Series match
5	Survivor Series (1991)	November 27, 1991	Detroit, Michigan	Joe Louis Arena	17,500	Big Boss Man and The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) vs. Irwin R. Schyster and The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) in a 3-on-3 Survivor Series match
6	Survivor Series (1992)	November 25, 1992	Richfield, Ohio	Richfield Coliseum	17,000	Bret Hart (c) vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
7	Survivor Series (1993)	November 24, 1993	Boston, Massachusetts	Boston Garden	15,509	The All-Americans (Lex Luger, The Undertaker and The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner)) vs. The Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Crush, Ludvig Borga and Quebecer Jacques) in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series match
8	Survivor Series (1994)	November 23, 1994	San Antonio, Texas	Freeman Coliseum	10,000	The Undertaker vs. Yokozuna in a Casket match with special guest referee Chuck Norris
9	Survivor Series (1995)	November 19, 1995	Landover, Maryland	USAir Arena	14,500	Diesel (c) vs. Bret Hart in a No Disqualification match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
10	Survivor Series (1996)	November 17, 1996	New York City, New York	Madison Square Garden	18,647	Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Sycho Sid for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
11	Survivor Series (1997)	November 9, 1997	Montreal, Canada	Molson Centre	20,593	Bret Hart (c) vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
12	Survivor Series (1998)	November 15, 1998	St. Louis, Missouri	Kiel Center	21,179	Mankind vs. The Rock in a tournament final for the vacant WWF Championship
13	Survivor Series (1999)	November 14, 1999	Detroit, Michigan	Joe Louis Arena	18,375	Triple H (c) vs. The Rock vs. Big Show in a Triple Threat match for the WWF Championship
14	Survivor Series (2000)	November 19, 2000	Tampa, Florida	Ice Palace	18,602	Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Triple H in a No Disqualification match
15	Survivor Series (2001)	November 18, 2001	Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Coliseum	10,142	Team WWF (The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane and Big Show) vs. Team Alliance (Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, Booker T and Shane McMahon) in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match
16	Survivor Series (2002)	November 17, 2002	New York City, New York	Madison Square Garden	17,930	Triple H (c) vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kane vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Booker T in the first Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship
17	Survivor Series (2003)	November 16, 2003	Dallas, Texas	American Airlines Center	13,487	Goldberg (c) vs. Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship
18	Survivor Series (2004)	November 14, 2004	Cleveland, Ohio	Gund Arena	7,500	Team Orton (Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Maven) vs. Team Triple H (Triple H, Edge, Batista and Gene Snitsky) in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series match
19	Survivor Series (2005)	November 27, 2005	Detroit, Michigan	Joe Louis Arena	15,000	Team Raw (Shawn Michaels, Kane, Big Show, Carlito and Chris Masters) vs. Team SmackDown (Batista, Rey Mysterio, John Layfield, Bobby Lashley and Randy Orton) in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match
20	Survivor Series (2006)	November 26, 2006	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Wachovia Center	15,400	King Booker (c) vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship
21	Survivor Series (2007)	November 18, 2007	Miami, Florida	American Airlines Arena	12,500	Batista (c) vs. The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship
22	Survivor Series (2008)	November 23, 2008	Boston, Massachusetts	TD Banknorth Garden	12,498	Chris Jericho (c) vs. John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship
23	Survivor Series (2009)	November 22, 2009	Washington, D.C.	Verizon Center	12,500	John Cena (c) vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship
24	Survivor Series (2010)	November 21, 2010	Miami, Florida	American Airlines Arena	8,000	Randy Orton (c) vs. Wade Barrett for the WWE Championship with special guest referee John Cena
25	Survivor Series (2011)	November 20, 2011	New York City, New York	Madison Square Garden	16,479	John Cena and The Rock vs. Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth)
26	Survivor Series (2012)	November 18, 2012	Indianapolis, Indiana	Bankers Life Fieldhouse	8,500	CM Punk (c) vs. John Cena vs. Ryback in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship
27	Survivor Series (2013)	November 24, 2013	Boston, Massachusetts	TD Garden	13,500	Randy Orton (c) vs. Big Show for the WWE Championship
28	Survivor Series (2014)	November 23, 2014	St. Louis, Missouri	Scottrade Center	12,000	Team Cena (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Erick Rowan and Ryback) vs. Team Authority (Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Rusev and Luke Harper) in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match
29	Survivor Series (2015)	November 22, 2015	Atlanta, Georgia	Philips Arena	14,481	Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose in a tournament final for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship
30	Survivor Series (2016)	November 20, 2016	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Air Canada Centre	17,143	Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
31	Survivor Series (2017)	November 19, 2017	Houston, Texas	Toyota Center	14,478	Team Raw (Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe and Triple H) vs. Team SmackDown (Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura and John Cena) in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match
32	Survivor Series (2018)	November 18, 2018	Los Angeles, California	Staples Center	TBA	TBA

Video box set

• WWE Home Video released The Survivor Series Anthology 1987–91 & 1992–96 (Vol 1&2) on DVD on November 3, 2009.

See also

• List of WWE Network events
• List of WWE pay-per-view events

External links

• Survivor Series Official Website