Ranking the top 5 Survivor Series PPV's

32 years ago, WWE debuted a new concept that would pit teams of 5 against each other in an elimination tag match. Originally planned as a way to continue and create feuds rather than end them. 1991 saw the first WWF title defence while 1998 was the first time a traditional survivor series match didn’t occur, instead, a tournament was held to determine the new WWF champion.

In recent years the Survivor Series has lost its original touch, with traditional matches being an after-thought.

Throughout the years Survivor Series has provided a countless number of memorable moment. It is the second oldest PPV in WWE history. It has seen a fair share of great shows but at the same time, some awful ones as well. Since the traditional Survivor Series matches are 5-on-5, here are my top five Survivor Series shows.

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#5 Survivor Series 1990

Undertaker punching the lights out of Dusty Rhodes.

This edition of Survivor Series was the debut of the storied WWE career of the Undertaker. Survivor Series 1990 marked the one-time appearance of the “Grand Finale Match of Survival” with the sole survivors competing against each other, which was an interesting concept at the time.

The two biggest stars coming out of the event were clearly Warrior and Hogan, those two received the most build-up as we were heading close to WrestleMania season. The debut of the Undertaker was memorable and is something every wrestling fan should go back and watch because of how historically important it was.

He was protected by not getting pinned or being forced to submit and it made him look like a major star right away. In my opinion, the finest debut of all time, considering what the Undertaker would go on to achieve as he cemented himself as one of wrestling’s greatest ever creations.

#4 Survivor Series 2013

The Sole Survivor!

Despite the main event between Randy Orton vs The Big Show, the match wasn’t impressive, but the rest of the card was a good show. Roman Reigns stole the show in the opening match, and he was a star on the rise that was in there at the end with two veterans who had so many years of experience.

Reigns eliminated four people in the match with the spear. It was very similar to Randy Orton's rise to superstardom 10 years prior, he was also the sole survivor and went on to do great things, including winning his first World title in less than a year after that moment.

Reigns followed the same path and went on to headline four WrestleManias in a row.

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan also had an amazing match with Erick Rowan and Luke Harper of the Wyatt Family, and even the Divas Survivor Series match wasn’t as bad as one would think.

#3 Survivor Series 1987

The First Event!

The inaugural Survivor Series! This was the sequel to WrestleMania III’s Main Event between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant and it was a good follow up. Remember when every match on the card was a Traditional Survivor Series match?

Well, this was the case here as all four matches were actually good as it set up next year perfectly. Also, the participants in the matches all had a reason to be in there, whether it was to settle old scores or start new rivalries.

Everyone worked really hard to make this show successful, and every match did a good job of entertaining the crowd. The women delivered above and beyond all expectations. I watched this for the first time on the Network and I wasn't once bored watching this PPV and you can’t say the same for some of those recent Survivor Series PPV’s.

#2 Survivor Series 2003

Kane attacking The Undertaker.

This was the home for the last great set of Survivor Series matches. Team Angle vs. Team Lesnar started the genesis of John Cena. Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff, in my opinion, was one of the greatest Survivor Series matches of all time.

The Smackdown Survivor Series match was fast-paced with some incredible and shocking moments like Angle and Lesnar not being the final two, Chris Benoit tapping out Lesnar, and of course, a new babyface in John Cena. All around fun from Smackdown while in the Raw Survivor Series Match, there was a great performance from Shawn Michaels and the drama of Austin vs Bischoff.

There's no one in the WWE who is better at making the impossible comeback than Shawn Michaels and this was one of the better ones he’s ever done. No one really expected Team Austin to win but they did a great job of making you think that they could pull it off.

It played right on your emotions, you were willing for Michaels to pull off the win and you hated to see Batista interfering, perfect wrestling in many ways. HBK got up in the big serious moment and said he let Austin down. The Rattlesnake doesn’t accept that and hugs him anyway as JR was serious, which actually works here.

#1 Survivor Series 2002

The New World Heavyweight Champion!

2002 was a great year for the WWE. WrestleMania 18 had Rock vs Hogan, SummerSlam that year is still one of the greatest PPV’s WWE has ever produced and the Royal Rumble, as predictable as it was, wasn’t bad either. 2002’s Survivor Series had a very stacked card from top to bottom.

The main event had the debut of the Elimination Chamber and the WWE Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Big Show, which made history as this was the first time since his debut, Lesnar had his first pinfall loss. The Triangle Tag Team Match for the Tag Team Championship with the “SmackDown Six” was a classic and shows how far tag team wrestling has fallen off in mainstream wrestling today if you don't count The Usos vs The New Day feud.

The main event was the first ever Elimination Chamber match, with a very little clue how the match would play out, 4 men were locked inside the chambers whilst two men started the match. Every 5 minutes a new man entered the match.

The last man standing is the champion, and it ended on a great note with Shawn Michaels becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion. To this day, I still think the first Elimination Chamber match is the best one WWE has produced to-date.