1987:
- Andre The Giant, Butch Reed, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang & Rick Rude Vs Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Don Muraco, Ken Patera & Paul Orndorff – 3 ¾* - This was the first time on PPV since their match at Wrestlemania 3 that Hogan and Andre would interact with each other in a match, in a shocking surprise hogans eliminated earlier and Andrés team wins
1988:
1989:
1990:
1991:
1992:
- Bret Hart Vs Shawn Michaels - WWF Championship - 4 ½* - 5 years before the Infamous Screwjob, these men would put on a great match between each other when they were still quite young and up-and-coming in the business for the WWF Championship. Honestly, 1992 is a weird year because many of the top WWF stars would leave the company ushering in a new era of younger stars – and knowing that the future will involve these two is a very good thing.
1995:
1996:
- Bret Hart Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin – 4 ½* - The build up to this match was purely just Austin talking smack about Bret Hart for months on end about how much better the was and how Bret Hart wasn’t that good anymore. This is their first match in their series of matches, and I think it’s on par with their ‘Mania match. Many wrestling fans sometimes will say that this match is better than there Wrestlemania match, which gained a 5 star result from Dave Meltzer.
1997:
- Kane Vs Mankind – 3*
1998:
- The Rock Vs Mankind - Deadly Games Tournament for the WWF Championship Final – 3 ½* - After a gruelling series of tournament matches which featured 14 superstars these two saw each other face off each other in the finals. It’s noticeable for many reasons because not only was it The Rock’s first WWF Championship win, but it also featured a rare double-turn and also the first attempt of a ‘Montreal Screwjob’ re-enactment.
1999:
2000:
- The Rock Vs Rikishi – 3*
- Stone Cold Vs Triple H – 3 ¼* -
2001:
- Edge Vs Test - 3 ½*
- Team Alliance (Stone Cold, Shane McMahon, Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle & Booker T) Vs Team WWF (Chris Jericho, Kane, Big Show, The Rock & The Undertaker) – 4 ½* - This was the end to the Invasion feud, and honestly no one was really disappointed about that – it had plenty of months of build up but it just failed to live up to the hype because the lack of star power from the opposing side (The Alliance). But nonetheless it’s still a very fun match to watch, but most people going into this show knew there was no way Team WWF losing. Watch the unedited promo if you can find it, it will honestly make you so hyped for this match.
2002:
- Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero) Vs Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle Vs Edge & Mysterio (WWE Tag Team Championship Match) – 3 ½* - This match was seen to be the big blow off for the ‘Smackdown Six’. All 6 men in this match were some of the greatest highlights from Smackdown 2002, if you’ve read my other essential match lists with any of these 6 men you can see in 2002 onwards on this list you can see that these 6 men put on great, continuous match with each other. Highly recommend everyone watches this match – or really this whole PPV in general.
- Shawn Michaels Vs Triple H Vs Booker T Vs Chris Jericho Vs Rob Van Dam Vs Kane (Elimination Chamber Match – World Heavyweight Championship) – 4 ¼* - This match is significant for two stand out reasons, one being that it was the first Elimination Chamber Match in WWE history, the other reason being that it was Shawn Michael’s first World Championship reign since 1997. Albeit that the reign lasted less than a month, it is still one of the most memorable moments in Survivor Series and Elimination Chamber history with the celebration of confetti falling from the sky for Shawn.
2003:
- Team Austin (Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Dudley Boys & Rob Van Dam) Vs Team Bischoff (Randy Orton, Christian, Chris Jericho, Mark Henry and Scott Steiner) (If Team Austin wins he can whoop anyone’s ass at anytime. If Team Bischoff wins Austin is fired as Raw General Manager) – 4 ¼* - I really do love this match, and it’s a shame that it’s never talked about. Essentially the stipulation for this match was that if Austin’s team lost he would be fired as Raw General Manager. Shawn Michaels’ ability to get you on the edge of your seat and to root for him and overcome the odds plays a huge factor in this match. The final 10 minutes of this match are honestly some of my favourite moments as a wrestling fan.
2004:
2005:
- Shawn Michaels, Carlito, Chris Masters, Kane & Big Show Vs Batista, Bobby Lashley, JBL, Randy Orton & Rey Mysterio – (Team Raw Vs Team Smackdown) – 3 ½* - This was one of the first times since the brand split that WWE decided to actually see who the dominant brand is. It took 3 years for them to get this idea, I mean not to take shots at WWE but c’mon a little earlier this could’ve been done. This match featured both talents from both brands and is actually one of the last good traditional survivor series tag matches. PSA: Stay for after the match.
2006:
2007:
2008:
2009:
2010:
- John Morrison Vs Sheamus - 3 ¼*
- Dolph Ziggler Vs Kaval (Intercontinental Championship) – 3 ¼* - Kaval had a short run in WWE, but this is definitely his best match.
2011:
- Dolph Ziggler Vs John Morrison (United States Championship) - 3 ½* - Great opening match to this PPV, the hot MSG crowd, the abilities of both wrestlers just help kick this show off in the right way.
- CM Punk Vs Alberto Del Rio (WWE Championship) - 3 ½* - The start of Punks 434 Day WWE Championship reign. The Madison Square Garden crowd absolutely loved Punk on this night – and he repays the favour by celebrating with the crowd after the match.
- John Cena & The Rock Vs The Awesome Truth (R-Truth & The Miz) – 3 ½* - In early 2011, The Rock returned to WWE after 6 ½ years to host Wrestlemania 27 and to also start his feud/build to his match with Cena at Wrestlemania 28. For a strange reason, John Cena decided to choose Rock as his tag team partner at Survivor Series. To make sure the Rock didn’t have any ring rust before he returned for his big fight with Cena at Wrestlemania 28 they set him up in a tag-team match where he would team with Cena and face the top heels on Raw – The Miz & R-Truth. It was almost like Rock hadn’t left WWE because he didn’t miss a beat and the crowd still absolutely adored him.
2012:
- Alberto Del Rio, Damien Sandow, David Otunga, Dolph Ziggler & Wade Barrett Vs Daniel Bryan, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton & The Miz – 3 ½* - This match was originally ‘Team Punk Vs Team Foley’ but within a week got changed to ‘Team Ziggler Vs Team Foley’. Many people within WWE saw that Ziggler was a star and that’s one of the reasons this match ended the way it did – as Ziggler being the soul survivor for his team and yet again stealing the show.
- CM Punk Vs Ryback Vs John Cena (WWE Championship) – 3* - Punk would go on to win this match and remain champions for 365 days, a full calendar year; also this match features the debut of The Shield – 3 men who will be very involved in this list after this match.
2013:
- The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) & The Real Americans (Jack Swagger & Cesaro) Vs The Uso’s, Cody Rhodes, Goldust & Rey Mysterio – 3 ½* - This was the match that really helped show the audience that Roman Reigns was going to be the breakout star of The Shield as he singlehandedly eliminates almost all members of the opposition team and becomes the sole survivor. Really goes to show how much The Shield have done since joining WWE one year before this.
2014:
- Bray Wyatt Vs Dean Ambrose – 3 ½*
- Team Cena (Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, John Cena, Ryback & The Big Show Vs Team Authority (Kane, Luke Harper, Mark Henry, Rusev & Seth Rollins) (If Cena wins the Authority is gone. If Authority wins, Cena’s team is fired.) – 4 ½* - It’s strange in terms of backstage WWE, a lot of people didn’t really see Ziggler as a ‘big-star player’ in 2014; he was moved away from the World Championships and pushed to more mid-card feuds for the Intercontinental Championships. However, to much peoples surprise he ‘stole the show’ yet again and was the soul survivor for his team; This match was perfectly built up to make all members of opposing sides and it’s hard to argue that this isn’t one of the best Traditional Survivor Series Tag-Team Matches of all time. It should also be added that this match features the debut of the legendary – Sting.
2015:
- Brothers of Destruction (Undertaker & Kane) Vs The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper) – 3 ½* - This was Undertaker's 25 anniversary at Survivor Series, not the greatest match, but still good to see him and his brother face the evil team of the Wyatt's.
- Dean Ambrose Vs Roman Reigns (WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament - Final Match) - 3 ½* - If you’ve my essential lists for both Rollins and Ambrose you’d probably would’ve noticed A LOT of Ambrose Vs Rollins matches, but this is actually the first time that the other member of The Shield (Roman) would face off against Dean. It was set up perfect with Rollins unfortunate injury, a tournament was made to award the WWE Championship which saw these two meeting in the final. If you stay for an extra few minutes after this match there’s an altercation with Triple H which leads to Sheamus cashing in on the winner of this match.
2016:
- Noam Dar, Rich Swann & TJ Perkins Vs Ariya Daivari, Drew Gulak & Tony Nese - Survivor Series 2016 - 3*
- The Miz Vs Sami Zayn - 3 1/4*
- Team Raw (The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston), Enzo Amore & Big Cass, The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows), The Shining Stars (Epico & Primo), Cesaro & Sheamus Vs Team Smackdown (American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan), Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango), The Uso's (Jey & Jimmy), The Hype Bros (Mojo Rowley & Zack Ryder), Heath Slater & Rhyno - 4 1/4*
- Brian Kendrick Vs Kalisto - 3 1/4*
- Team Smackdown (AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton & Shane McMahon) Vs Team Raw (Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) - 4 1/2
Honourable Mentions: If you see a match missing here please comment/privately message and I’ll add it to this section
- The Undertaker Vs Hulk Hogan (WWF Championship) – Survivor Series 1991 - Undertaker’s first WWF Championship win
- The Undertaker Vs Yokozuna – Survivor Series 1994 - The rematch from their earlier match that year from Royal Rumble.
- Kurt Angle Vs Shawn Stasiak – Survivor Series 1999 - Kurt Angle’s debut
- Goldberg Vs Brock Lesnar - Survivor Series 2016
