3 Wrestlers With The Most Wins At Survivor Series

The Survivor Series event was the second regular pay per view added to WWE's yearly calendar of shows.

On the back of the hugely successful Wrestlemania III earlier that year, WWE boss, Vince McMahon knew the demand was there for multiple annual super-cards of his product.

The reason McMahon chose November for the show was simple. November was the month in which his great rival, Jim Crockett Promotions, promoted their version of Wrestlemania, Starrcade.

Using the grand success of Wrestlemania III to his advantage, McMahon leaned on the American cable companies not to show Starrcade and only broadcast Survivor Series.

McMahon grandstanded and said that any cable company that aired Starrcade would not be allowed to broadcast Wrestlemania IV.

Considering Wrestlemania III had been a phenomenal success on pay per view with over 400,000 orders; especially impressive when you take into consideration the fact that only five million homes were wired for pay per view in 1987.

Most cable companies bowed to McMahon's threat. As a result, Survivor Series earned 325,000 buys compared to roughly half that number for JCP's Starrcade.

Following this, the cable companies insisted such an event never happen again, as the McMahon power-play had cost them millions of dollars in potential revenue.

The show was such a success for McMahon, that he ran it again the following year and has continued to do so ever since.

Even though, the event's key gimmick, the five men tag team elimination bout hasn't aged as well as the Royal Rumble, it is still one of the company's most successful gimmicks and has lasted over 30 years.

The Survivor Series has also played host to some very important WWE debuts such as The Undertaker, The Rock, and The Shield.

In the following slideshow, SK looks back on the three most successful WWE wrestlers in the history of Survivor Series.

#2 The Rock - 8 Wins (1996,98x4,2000,01 and 11)

The Rock (with a little help) wins his first WWE Championship at Survivor Series 1998

The Rock was a major player at Survivor Series during his glittering wrestling career. Rock made his debut at Survivor Series 1996, under the moniker, Rocky Maivia, a name which paid homage to his wrestling lineage, his father Rocky Johnson and his grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia.

Rock was the sole survivor in a traditional tag team elimination match, pinning Crush and Goldust in quick succession, immediately making a name for himself in the promotion.

However, it was the 1998 Survivor Series in which The Rock truly gained superstardom. On an upward trajectory since Summerslam, Rock had got over huge with the WWE audience and was the most popular babyface not named Steve Austin in the company.

One of 14 participants in the Deadly Game tournament for the vacant WWE Championship, Rock first defeated The Big Boss Man in four seconds, Ken Shamrock, The Undertaker and finally Mankind to become WWE Champion for the first time.

However, that doesn't tell the full story. Rock, secretly was WWE owner, Vince McMahon's choice to become the new Champion and McMahon in a re-run of Survivor Series 1997, instructed the timekeeper to ring the bell when Rock had Mankind in the Sharpshooter.

Rock was the Corporate Champion.

In 2001, Rock was once again the sole survivor in a traditional elimination tag team match, this time with the future of WWE at stake. As one-fifth of Team WWE vs Team WCW/ECW in a Winner Take All match for the future of each company, Rock last pinned Team WCW/ECW leader, Steve Austin to vanquish the Alliance, for good.

Finally, The Rock's comeback match after seven years away from the squared circle came at the 2011 edition of Survivor Series. Teaming with rival, John Cena, Rock, defeated the team of The Miz and R-Truth in a pre-cursor to the eventual Rock-Cena encounter that took place at Wrestlemania 28.

#2 John Cena - 8 Wins (2003,04,05,06,08,09,11 and 13)

John Cena: Knows how to win at the Autumn spectacular

John Cena made his Survivor Series debut at the 2003 edition, just after he had turned babyface, for what would be the final time as it turned out.

Cena was part of Team Angle and was one of only two survivors of the five man squad along with Chris Benoit as the team overcame Team Lesnar.

Cena survived in 2004 and 2006 elimination matches as well. In 2005, he successfully defended his WWE Championship versus Kurt Angle in a thrilling title match in which the challenger had his own biased referee in Daivari. The "Champ" overcame all odds to hold onto his title. In 2008, Cena was the challenger and vanquished WWE Champion, Chris Jericho to become World Heavyweight Champion.

Cena's Survivor Series success continued in 2009 when he defended the WWE Championship versus D-Generation X members, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. Seemingly, facing insurmountable odds once more, Cena still find a way to retain the gold.

In 2011, he partnered with The Rock to best The Miz and R-Truth before his last victory at the Autumn showdown occurred five years ago at the 2013 edition of the event when he was once again successful in a title match, defending the WWE Championship versus Alberto Del Rio.

Cena's dominance at the big show is almost unmatched. Almost.

#1 The Undertaker - 12 Wins (1991,92,93,94,95,96,98,2001,04,08,09 and 15)

The Undertaker pastes Dusty Rhodes in his WWE debut at Survivor Series 1990

It should come as little surprise that the heart and soul of WWE for the past three decades holds the record for most wins at Survivor Series.

In 1990, The Undertaker debuted as a mystery partner for The Million Dollar Team and wasted little time in eliminating Koko B. Ware and Dusty Rhodes to make his presence in WWE felt.

The following year, Taker's success was even greater when he pinned the almost unbeatable Hulk Hogan to win the WWE Championship.

At 1992, Undertaker competed in a Casket Match against behemoth, Kamala and was victorious in what would become his signature match

Undertaker's undefeated run at the event in which he debuted continued through 1993 and 1994, when, despite being counted out, he was part of Lex Luger's victorious, All Americans squad versus Yokozuna's team, The Foreign Fanatics. Taker defeated Yokozuna in singles action the following year when he won another Survivor Series Casket Match.

At the 1995 edition, Undertaker found himself in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match once more and helped his team to a clean sweep as he defeated the entire team of Triple H, Isaac Yankem, Jerry Lawler and King Mabel singlehandedly.

"The Phenom" would not win again at the event until 1998, when he won his Quarter Final match of the Deadly Game tournament versus his brother, Kane before being eliminated in the next round by The Rock following outside interference by his vengeful sibling.

The Undertaker was part of the winning Team WWE team versus Team WCW/ECW in 2001 before defeating the giant, Heidenreich in 2004.

Taker was winless at Survivor Series until 2008 when he defeated Bigshow in another Casket Match.

Undertaker entered the 2009 event as the defending World Heavyweight Champion and submitted Bigshow to win in a triple threat encounter, also involving Show's tag team partner, Chris Jericho.

Undertaker's final victory at Survivor Series came at the 2015 edition which was promoted as the 25th anniversary of his debut match. Marking the occasion in style Taker partnered his brother Kane to defeat the Wyatt Family team of Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper.

With 12 victories at the Autumn showpiece, "The Phenom" is King of the Survivor Series.