10 greatest WWE Survivor series moments ever

Over its 28 year history, Survivor Series has given a plethora of memorable moments for the fans and this year also, people would be looking for something similar from Vince McMahon.The company would be trying to sell the power struggle angle at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri but before we prepare ourselves to witness history being made once again on Sunday, here is a look at some of the best moments that happened at Survivor Series till date.

#10 Undertaker gets his first WWE Championship

Undertaker made his WWE debut back in the 1990 edition of Survivor Series and the very next year, he became the WWE champion by beating none other than hulk Hogan.

Hulk Hogan was ‘the’ guy in professional wrestling throughout the 80s and 90s. Defeating Hogan was a big deal back then and when a one year rookie did that, the roof came off the arena.

It turned out to be the biggest surprise of the pay-per-view and it also completed the transition of Taker into the main event scene as well. This also contributed to Hogan’s eventual departure from WWE and his run in WCW which gave birth to the NWo.

Taker has had many legendary moments throughout his career but this always would rank high up the list since he was still new to the WWE scenario.

#9 Shield is in the town

Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta... Shield. There wouldn’t have been a more impactful debut in Survivor Series than the one Shield made in 2012, and trust me the show has seen a lot of big debuts.

The triple threat match between Ryback, CM Punk and John Cena for the WWE championship main evented the show and it seemed like Ryback was going to strike gold due to his dominance.

However, three young men who wanted to make it big in the business had other plans. Shield came out of nowhere and delivered the triple Power bomb to Ryback.

Shield went on to become one of the best stables in recent history and the demise of the faction gave the fans three superstars who are not touted as the future of WWE.

#8 Brock Lesnars first loss

WWE introduced Brock Lesnar as a beat who was nearly impossible to defeat. Within months of his debut, Lesnar went on to become the WWE champion and beat the lights of Rock, Undertaker and even Hulk Hogan.

He was undefeated when he came into the 2002 edition of Survivor Series and there, he faced the Big Show. For one reason or the other, WWE thought that Show should end the undefeated streak of Lesnar, and end he did.

No one expected Show to win the championship but with some help from Lesnar’s manager Paul Heyman, Show did the unthinkable.

This was also the first face turn of Lesnar and thanks to the split from Heyman; Lesnar’s career took a big blow eventually pulling him down from where he was.

#7 Steve Austin gets run over

There have been a lot of WWE segments that were too real to be scripted, and this one belonged to that long list. In reality, Austin wanted to take some time off in order to heal his ever haunting neck injury which was an after effect of a botched piledriver from Owen Hart.

And since WWE didnt have Seth Rollins back then to write off superstar out of television with curb stomps, they decided to let a car do the honor.

Austin was lured into the backstage by Tripe H and once he was there, a car ran over him. It might not sound like a big thing now but this was a huge moment during the Attitude Era.

#6 Winner takes it all

WWE will be playing their power struggle card once again this week on Survivor Series but the most notable power struggle angle in the history of the pay-per-view has to be the one between WWE and the Alliance.

After WCW folded, McMahon decide to run the invasion angle where the alliance of WCW and ECW led by the lights of Paul Heyman, Stephanie McMahon and Shane McMahon wanted to take over WWE.

The trio lined up a star studded team made up of former ECW and WCW talent including Steve Austin and challenge WWE for a traditional survivor series match with the stipulation, ‘Winner takes it all’.

It was one of the most memorable matches in the pay-per-view’s history and once the smoked cleared, WWE was still standing strong while WCW died once and for all.

#5 Debut of Rock

The 1996 edition of Survivor Series saw the debut of Rocky Maivia. The Announcers introduced him as the first ever third generation superstar in professional wrestling but the fans didn’t seem much keen about the weird looking guy.

They obviously wanted nothing to do with him but the company’s faith was underlined when Rock became the lone Survivor in his debut match by eliminating Goldust.

Anyone who saw Rock’s first match wouldn’t have predicted the eventual stardom that he was going to achieve. On one side, he looked incredibly goofy and on the other side, WWE nicknamed him ‘the blue-chipper’ which was a combination for disaster.

Rock however, overcame all those hurdles and with some change in his character, he went on to become one of the biggest stars that WWE ever produced.

#4 First ever Elimination Chamber match

Even though Eric Bischoff hated Vince McMahon and the WWE, the man knew how to keep personal friction and business away from eachother. And one of the biggest examples of this came in Survivor Series 2002 where Bischoff invented a money maker for WWE and named it the Elimination chamber.

He was the general manager of Raw during that time and Bischoff lined up Rob Van Dam, Kane, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Triple H and Chris Jericho inside the unforgiving steel structure to make sure that it made headlines.

The new idea took off brilliantly with the fans and since WWE didn’t have any problem showing some good old violence back in those days, the Elimination Chamber did its purpose.

Recent editions of the match still try to live up to the benchmark set by the first edition and since the product is PG, it’s hard to complete that mission.

#3 Bret Hart goes through a table

A wrestler going through a table might not sound like a big deal now, but back then it was. Violence and foreign objects was a big No – No in the WWE during that time and on the other side of the business, Paul Heyman was building up his cult hardcore ECW.

Heyman’s product was everything that WWE wasn’t and McMahon wanted to know how the ECW essence would sell in his product.

In pure desperation to get one over WCW, McMahon made Bret Hart go through a table in the 1995 edition of Survivor Series. It did take WWE a lot more years to embrace the ECW style completely but this went down in history as an uncelebrated start to everything.

#2 Undertakers debut

A Majority of the wrestling fans have the impression that WrestleMania was the only playground for Undertaker but the truth is that Survivor Series was equally important to the Phenom’s career.

Before playing host to his first ever championship win back in 1991 against Hulk Hogan, Survivor Series was also the place where Taker made his WWE debut.

He came in as the mystery member in Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar team and guided his team to a dominating win.

What made Taker stand out was his uniqueness, the fans were not used to a character like this at that time and within no time, Taker captured everyone’s imagination. This proved to be the inception of his long and illustrious career that everyone now looks up to.

#1 The Montreal Screwjob

Many would’ve seen this one topping the list because there isn’t another moment in Survivor Series history that could dethrone the Montreal Screwjob. It was one of those great moments in wrestling that made you doubt about reality and kayfabe.

Not only was the moment controversial, but it was also something that changed the way we saw professional wrestling. Till then, fans knew that wrestling was scripted and nothing ground breaking was going to happen.

But after Vince legitimately screwed Bret Hart, Wrestling was ‘the’ most unpredictable thing on television. It’s an episode that has been talked over a million years and doesn’t need any more explanation as every wrestling fan out there knows what is was about and what happened after it.