Review for WWE 30 Years of Survivor Series

Survivor Series is the second PPV WWE created after Wrestlemania and has become an annual Thanksgiving tradition.

Originally, the whole concept was to feature elimination-style tag team matches with teams of five against each other. This was slowly phased out with fewer of these matches and more singles or championship matches. Over the last thirty years there have been many moments and matches worth remembering and this set is a look at these.

The first disk is a countdown of the Top 30 Moments. My issue with this is threefold:

1.) Each moment appears at random with no explanation about whether this was voted by fans/superstars or how it was
created.
2.) Each moment has little or no context to explain why it was important.
3.) Each moment last barely a few minutes with the whole thing clocking in at just a little over an hour?

The moments are:

30: Survivor Series 1987: The Debut event. Of course this is important, but why? Tell me? At this point I thought it was going to be going chronologically.

29: Survivor Series 2005: Orton wins for Smackdown against Raw. I guess not in regards to chronologically. This was a great match and I can understand why it was important, but again what is the context of it.

28: Survivor Series 1999: Kurt Angle debut. A great moment obviously and it is at this point that I will only presume that the list is literally pulling 30 things out of a hat.

27: Survivor Series 2015: Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose. This was to crown a new WWE Champion and was a great match
and a great moment followed by Sheamus' Money in the Bank cash-in.

26: Survivor Series 2008: John Cena re-debuts and defeats Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship. The issue everyone has with this is that by winning it was almost a slap in the face of Chris Jericho and all his hard work he put in while he was away. Sad considering it is actually a really good match.

25: Survivor Series 2009: Team Kingston vs. Team Orton. This was a great 5 on 5 Elimination match and certainly one of the best matches. Kofi is great throughout and shame they did not go full ahead with a main event push for him.

24: Survivor Series 1994: The Badguys vs. The Teamsters. This is really only notable for the breakup of HBK and Diesel though the match is pretty good too.

23: Survivor Series 1990: Debut of The Undertaker. If this was a proper countdown I would be screaming 'HOW IS THIS SO LOW?' but thankfully it isn't. Amazing moment. Remember it well.

22: Survivor Series 1988: Mr Fuji turns on Demolition. Have no memory of this and definitely be a moment I will check out in full as love Demolition as a team.

21: Survivor Series 2001: Six Pack Women's Championship. I don't understand why this is here beyond it being all about crowning a new Women's champion and of course it is always great to see Trish Stratus. Not her best match though.

20: Survivor Series 2011: CM Punk being announced by Legendary Hall of Famer Howard Finkel before defeating Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship.

19: Survivor Series 2002: Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show. This was a great match with a great swerve at the end with Paul Heyman turning on Brock Lesnar. This match is why everyone is convinced Heyman will do this to Brock at some point.

18: Survivor Series 2007: Hell in a Cell Batista vs. The Undertaker. A great match and one of the best Hell in a Cell's I have seen. Great ending with the appearance of Edge which was just out of nowhere.

17: Survivor Series 2001: The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz in a Cage to unify the WCW and WWE Tag Team Championships. One of the few highlights of the Invasion.

16: Survivor Series 1994: Bob Backlund defeats Bret Hart for WWE Championship. The very definition of a WTF moment with Owen Hart screwing over his brother. It is not a great match by any standards, but the whole emotion
surrounding it and ending was great.

15: Survivor Series 2002: Return of D-Von. Proof that the Draft was stupid. Splitting up Bubba Ray and D-Von didn't work, but when D-Von returned for this match it was amazing.

14: Survivor Series 2000: Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker. This is memorable simply because of the whole 'Fake Angle' angle which was just stupid.

13: Survivor Series 1996: Shawn Michaels vs. Sycho Sid for WWE Championship. This is a good match, but not a great one.

12: Survivor Series 1995: Diesel vs. Bret Hart in No DQ for WWE Championship. Another good match between the two.

11: Survivor Series 1991: Hulk Hogan vs. The Undertaker. Memorable for the finish and I do wish that more had been made of it. It did lead to the fantastic 1992 Royal Rumble for the title though.

10: Survivor Series 2002: Debut of the Elimination Chamber. One of the best concepts for a match that WWE have had in a while. If you have never seen one then I would suggest starting with this one. So many amazing moments and people in this match.

9: Survivor Series 2012: Debut of The Shield. This is how you make an impact. I can't even remember who won the match, but this was just amazing to see.

8: Survivor Series 2011: The Rock and John Cena vs. The Miz and R-Truth. A great match, but should and could have been better. Great set up for the Cena/Rock rivalry that would go on for the next year.

7: Survivor Series 1999: Austin run over and Big Show wins title. Definitely emotional and definitely not something they could do again.

6: Survivor Series 2014: Team Cena vs. Team Authority and debut of Sting. Such a great match with some amazing moments, but that ending was just what was needed from the man they call Sting.

5: Survivor Series 2016: Goldberg vs. Lesnar. Wam. Bam. Spear. Jackhammer. Done. That's what impact is all about.

4: Survivor Series 1996: Debut of The Rock as Rocky Maivia. In hindsight we can laugh at people who didn't believe in him when he went on to be the most popular superstar of all time, but just look at him at any point in his 'Rocky Maivia' persona and it was painful to watch at times. His debut was great, but then ringwise I expected it. It was just everything else that didn't work. If you smell what I'm cooking?

3: Survivor Series 2001: Invasion Elimination Match. This was such a mess that you wonder when someone booked this if they understood what they were doing. On Team WWF we had The Rock (Fine) The Undertaker (Yep) Kane (Yep) Chris Jericho (Yep) and Big Show (Yep) representing the WCW/ECW Alliance was Booker T (Fine) Rob Van Dam (Yep) ShaneMcMahon (Ok so he was in charge so it makes sorta sense) and then Stone Cold and Kurt Angle??? To quote Austin...
WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? 

2: Survivor Series 1998: The Rock becomes the Corporate Champion. As great as The Rock was as a face it can't be  described how great he was as a Heel and this run against Mankind and Stone Cold was amazing and cemented him as
The MAN. Watch the whole of this PPV as it was just setup perfectly.

1: Survivor Series 1997: Montreal. What else would it be? I understand why this is here and can understand why (if this was rated on importance) it is number one. However, that is not how this list has been created as far as I can tell. At least they included the 'Bret Screwed Bret' moment.

There is also a 31st moment hidden (appropriately) as an Easter Egg and one that RD Reynolds from the Wrestlecrap website would appreciate.

When it comes to the two disks of matches I am even more befuddled than I was at the 30 moments. 17 Matches are included and of them they include some great matches, but also randomly two of the worst Women's matches I have ever had to relive. None are included from the inaugural event or from 1989 or 1990 (not including the Warrior/Hogan/Santana against the Heel team at the end of the 1990 event is a crime).

None from 1992, 1993 or 1997 not even Shawn Michaels against Bret Hart which they declare is the greatest moment in Survivor Series history- Granted the excuse will be they just featured this in the Dawn of Attitude set. Nothing from 2000 despite including the amazing No DQ match between the returning Stone Cold against Triple H.

I then refuse to believe that there was nothing worth including from any event between 2003 and 2008? This is ludicrous. From 2003 there was the amazing Traditional Five on Five between Chris Jericho and Booker T's team. 2005 had the great Last Man Standing match between Triple H and Ric Flair. Batista against The Undertaker in Hell in a Cell 2007, Chris Jericho against John Cena at 2008. They also don't include anything from 2012 or 2014 when the Team Cena against Team Authority being one of the best Traditional Five on Five matches ever.

They also don't include the debut of the Elimination Chamber at 2002 which is unforgivable.

Matches

Survivor Series 1988
5 on 5 Elimination Match
Hulk Hogan, 'Macho Man' Randy Savage, Hercules, Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim vs. 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase, Akeem, Big Boss Man, King Haku, Red Rooster.
A good match. odd they wouldn't have included the original one from 1987, but still great to see all these big names in the ring and anytime I can see the Megapowers is a good day.

Survivor Series 1991
WWE Championship Match
Hulk Hogan vs. The Undertaker
No issue with this match. It was a great match and one with a fantastic ending. i only wish that they hadn't stripped Taker of the belt and at least allow him to get to the next PPV as champion.

Survivor Series 1994
5 on 5 Elimination Match
The Bad Guys (Razor Ramon, The 123 Kid, The British Bulldog, Fatu and Sione) vs. The Teamsters (Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart and Jeff Jarrett)
This is a great match and one of the best traditional Survivor Series matches. It was here that the rivalry between Shawn Michaels and Diesel came into play and Diesel really broke away as a star.

Survivor Series 1995
NO DQ Match for WWE Championship
Bret 'Hit man' Hart vs. Diesel
I enjoyed this match. It is funny when you think about how lumbering Diesel was later in life, but when he was on his game he could put on a match that was this good against Bret who again puts on a great display.

Survivor Series 1996
WWE Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Sycho Sid
Not as good as the match they later had at Royal Rumble 1997, but still a great match and both work well together.

Survivor Series 1998
Finals for WWE Championship
The Rock vs. Mankind
I love everything about this match from beginning to end. If you lived through it, you had no idea what was going to happen and the thought of recreating Montreal was just fantastic and lead to one of the best heel turns of all time.

Survivor Series 1999
Triple Threat for WWE Championship
Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Big Show
If I'm honest, I didn't really like this match. I think it's important as part of the change of the guard with Big Show showing finally why he was a big deal, but the match I wanted 'Austin/Triple H/Rock' was really what I wanted to see. A good match, just not a great one.

Survivor Series 2001
Steel Cage Match to Unify WWE and WCW Tag Team Championships
The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz
One of the few highlights of the Invasion was this match between two of the best tag teams at the tiem or indeed of all time. Both are simply fantastic and there are some amazing and crazy moves from both teams. Possibly one of the most insane swantons from Jeff Hardy of all time.

Survivor Series 2001
Six-Pack Challenge for WWE Women's Championship
Trish Stratus vs. Lita vs. Jacqueline vs. Molly Holly vs. Jazz vs. Ivory
This was a good match. Not a great match and Trish and the others have had better ones. However, the emotion and the meaning of the victory made the match mean a lot more and always great to see Trish in the ring.

Survivor Series 2002
WWE Championship Match
Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show
Great match. Great swerve. Great moments. I think this is one of the few matches I really looked forward to reliving. When you consider how dominant Lesnar is now it is scary to look back over ten years ago and see a younger Brock just as strong, just as dominant.

Survivor Series 2009
5 on 5 Elimination Match
Team Orton (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, CM Punk and William Regal) vs. Team Kingston (Kofi Kingston,
MVP, Mark Henry, R-Truth and Christian)
I enjoy most Survivor Series matches just because of the concept and this one is probably one of the best of these matches. The final pinfalls are great and Kofi Kingston is just fantastic throughout. I still cannot believe that they never pulled the trigger on a Main Event/World Title run with him at the time as he clearly deserved it.

Survivor Series 2010
WWE Divas Championship Match
Lay-Cool vs. Natalya
Why? No seriously Why? This wasn't a great PPV with only really the Orton/Barrett match with Cena as referee a notable one, but why include this match which lasted (I kid you not) less than four minutes? Why?

Survivor Series 2011
Lumberjill Match for WWE Divas Championship
Beth Phoenix vs. Eve Torres
Why? Is this so WWE can show all the Divas that were on the roster, without actually featuring them? This is an awful match. I can understand them wanting to include other women's matches, but this is not one I would have gone with. (At least it lasted longer than the last one... not by much though)

Survivor Series 2011
The Rock and John Cena vs. The Miz and R-Truth
I loved the dynamic of this match. It should have been an elimination match, but the two teams worked well together
and it is surprising to remember when The Miz was a main eventer. I enjoyed everything about the match and it had
some great moments.

Survivor Series 2013
5 on 5 Elimination Match
The Shield and The Real Americans vs. Cody Rhodes, Goldust, Rey Mysterio and The Usos
This was a good match and I enjoyed all of this. With the reforming of The Shield hopefully they can recapture some
of this magic they had as a team which was lost somewhat when they split up. This had some great moments and one of
the few times when I was happy that Roman Reigns won a match.

Survivor Series 2015
Finals for WWE Championship
Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose
This is a fantastic match. Both of these guys put everything into this match and I don't know whether the actual ending should have happened, however I can't deny that it was a great moment and despite not liking it at the time I definitely enjoyed this in retrospect.

Survivor Series 2016
Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
AMAZING! That is all I can say. I think anything more than a 3 minute match would be a waste of what the myth of Goldberg was all about. If he had had a 10-15 minute match against Lesnar it would have been sluggish and brutal (akin to their infamously bad Wrestlemania 20 match). Instead it was explosive, impactful and just AMAZING!

Apart from those two Women's matches there is nothing else on here that is unwatchable. The list is a little messy for my liking and it does feel as though some more thought could have been made into the order and why they are on there. It would have been nice for more input from people to explain why they are important or on here at all.

That being said, the moments were enjoyable to relive and the matches for the most part great to watch I just feel there were far too many missing and maybe if they had an extra disk they could have included a few more that definitely deserved to be on here. This is an event that has survived for 30 years and will no doubt survive thirty more.