This year, WWE is holding three big traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team matches.
The entire focus on the show, outside of the completely separate build for Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar, is those three matches. WWE has been focusing on matches other than the traditional style ones for years now, and this year brings some welcome change.
One lost art, however, is the naming of Survivor Series teams. The event was originally presented as a fun set of exhibition matches on or around Thanksgiving night. The teams first received names at the 3rd annual event in 1989.
It only continued through the 1995 edition, sadly. Now we get “Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown Live” or teams named after their captains. Team Edge, Team Cena, Team Orton, so on and so forth. Sometimes teams don’t even get names! Where’s the fun in that?
In the spirit of the rich history of the Survivor Series event, here are the 10 best team names in the show’s history:
#10 The Royals (King Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem & Hunter Hearst Helmsley) - 1995
Two Kings and a king’s… apprentice? I don’t know, he was a personal dentist. WWE was a weird place in 1995. The fourth member of the team, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, was the Connecticut Blue Blood we all know as Triple H, and obviously fit in extremely well with a team filled with upper crust figures of nobility. And a dentist.
#9 The 4x4s (Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Ronnie Garvin & Hercules) - 1989
Yes, the obvious connection is that “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan famously carried around a 1x4 piece of lumber everywhere he went. And since there were four members of the team, the men combined to become a 4x4!
Also read: The 10 Coolest nicknames in wrestling history
Not only that, but you have the notoriously tough Ronnie Garvin on the team and a young, dungeon-tough Bret Hart. Hercules, though he wasn’t much to talk about, was a big strong, tough guy as well. Very solid team name for this quartet of competitors.
#8 Guts & Glory (Lex Luger, Mabel, Adam Bomb, Billy Gunn & Bart Gunn) - 1994
So this wasn’t really what you might call a good team, but it works. They’re wrestlers, so they’ve got guts. Lex Luger was all about Old Glory (the flag of the United States of America) and they wanted to win. Guts and Glory.
I kind of can’t get over how bad of a team these 5 men were. It was an assembly of bad wrestlers and goons. With a better team holding this moniker, the name would be far higher up on the list.
#7 Shawn Michaels & The Knights (Shawn Michaels, Red Knight, Blue Knight & Black Knight) - 1993
The name is somewhat lacking, but the concept is awesome. Michaels didn’t really have any friends, and he was going up against the juggernaut of the Hart Family. The opposing team consisted of Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart and Keith Hart. Needing a team, Michaels turned to the men in shining armour.
Well, kind of. They were wearing regular wrestling tights, stupid looking tunic-like shirts and plain black masks to cover their faces. The team was easily the least intimidating group of “knights” anybody had ever come into contact with.
Under the masks were legendary jobber Barry Horowitz (Red), former Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion Greg Valentine (Blue) and Jeff Gaylord (Black), who didn’t do a heck of a lot in wrestling. This was his only appearance for the WWE.
#6 The Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Crush, Ludvig Borga & Jacques Rougeau) - 1993
We have to start by pointing out that Crush is from Hawaii.
With that out of the way, this team of evil “foreigners” was put up against the team of Lex Luger, The Undertaker and The Steiner Brothers, who called themselves The All-Americans. Clearly, at that time, if Lex Luger was wrestling, he had to be faced off against evil bad men from foreign (or sometimes domestic) lands.
The team name itself is pretty cool. It’s almost surprising that WWE didn’t just go all out and call the team “The Evil Foreigners”. That would have probably been less offensive than calling them fanatics, too.
#5 The Mercenaries (Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov & The Orient Express) - 1990
Damn! Now this is what you call offensive! Foreign Fanatics is nothing compared to calling a Russian, two Japanese guys and a turncoat American “Mercenaries”.
They teamed up against The Alliance, a team that actually consisted of one fewer American than The Mercenaries. The team was Russian Nikolai Volkoff, Mexican Tito Santana and the New Zealand natives, The Bushwhackers. It makes sense, though.
They are an alliance of multiple nations to take on the evil group of stereotypical WWE baddies and Sergeant Slaughter. The name isn’t nearly as cool. Mercenaries sound like they are going to visit every house in the city and destroy and pillage everything in sight.
#4 The Teamsters (Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart & Jeff Jarrett ) - 1994
Hey guys! Diesel’s a truck driver! Or he’s a truck I’m not sure exactly what that gimmick was supposed to be.
But whatever the case was, they used it as inspiration for his 1994 Survivor Series team name. Their opponents, a team led by Razor Ramon, was simply called “The Bad Guys”, after Ramon’s nickname. Might as well just call them “Team Razor” at that point.
Make fun of it all you want, but it’s still a pretty creative nickname, and nothing you would see these days.
#3 The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Red Rooster & Tito Santana) - 1989
This was the first of two years straight that Dusty would captain a team with this name.
It’s generic, yes, but it’s Dusty freakin’ Rhodes so he gets a spot high on this list. Their opponents in 1989 were The Enforcers. You would think Arn Anderson would be on a team with that name, but he was busy in the main event (it would also be his last show with WWE before he returned to NWA).
The Enforcers consisted of Big Bossman (hence the name), Bad News Brown, Rick Martel & Honky Tonk Man.
The Dream Team for the following year was definitely a better four-man squad, with Dusty, Koko B. Ware, Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart. They ended up losing to Ted DiBiase, The Undertaker, Greg Valentine & Honky Tonk Man, the last of whom was clearly getting his revenge from the year before.
#2 Clowns ‘R Us (Doink, Dink, Pink & Wink) - 1994
Yes, this was a midget wrestling match.
The team captains were full-sized wrestlers Doink and Jerry Lawler (whose team consisted of Sleazy, Queasy & Cheesy) while they each partnered with their much smaller counterparts. Doink’s second-in-command, Dink, was at least a regular character in the company for a little while, but the rest were all there for “comic relief”.
It wasn’t funny, and it has nothing to do with whether or not there were little people involved. It was just dumb. If you want an awesome match with little people, check out the WeeLC match with El Torito and Hornswoggle. It’s actually just a pretty darn good match no matter what.
Clowns ‘R Us was a great name, though, notwithstanding anything else.
#1 The Rude Brood (Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect & The Fabulous Rougeaus) - 1989
Not only is this the best team name in Survivor Series history, but it is also one of the best teams put together in Survivor Series history. The Brood (sorry, Edge, Christian, and Gangrel), teamed up to take on Roddy’s Rowdies, featuring Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and The Bushwhackers.
It was an evenly matched affair, as the Bushwhackers weren’t quite jokes yet, and the four singles guys were all on the same level. The actual match was a stinker, but that is neither here nor there. The important part is that The Rude Brood is an amazing team name and it needs to be brought back for next year’s Survivor Series for Bobby Roode.
For latest WWE News, live coverage and rumours visit our Sportskeeda WWE section. Also if you are attending a WWE Live event or have a news tip for us drop us an email at fightclub (at) sportskeeda (dot) com.
