The WWE Survivor Series has always been a show about team warfare. Starting in 1987, it was built around wrestlers assembling teams to go to war with other teams. The dynamic was exciting and an idea that set the show apart from every other PLE that WWE put on.
The show’s presentation has changed throughout the years, but the theme of team warfare has stayed the same. Survivor Series matches have been the norm, but in recent years, the WarGames gimmick has been dominating the show.
Themes of survival are there, but they have sometimes overshadowed some of the best WWE Championship matches the company has ever seen.
These title matches have been hidden on a show for multiple wrestler matches. Below we will look at some of the best of these championship matches.
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Championship Match, WWE Survivor Series 1992)
Five years before they were embroiled in the controversial Montreal Screwjob, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were tearing the house down in Richfield, Ohio.
The build wasn’t there heading into this match, but that didn’t matter. These were two men who were familiar with one another and were more than capable of putting on a great match. This was a more technical affair than their match at Survivor Series 1997.
As single stars, the two were getting their feet wet, and this match gave them a chance to show what they could do.
During this time, WWE was moving away from the big-man matches of the Golden Era. Bret and Shawn showed what two talented performers can do when given the faith of the office.
The Rock vs. Mankind (Finals of the Deadly Games Tournament for the WWE Championship, WWE Survivor Series 1998)
The Rock and Mankind have one of the most intriguing relationships in wrestling. They’re on-again-off-again relationship-produced memorable matches and hilarious television segments.
It was a wild ride whenever these two men stepped in the ring, and it can be sourced back to their first encounter at Survivor Series.
This was the finals of the Deadly Games tournament, and it was one of the two matches worth watching. The Rock and Mankind put on a great show for the audience, including some of the best brawling that anyone could see. It was a fresh matchup that included two babyfaces, for a minute anyway.
It was a great match, highlighted by a heel turn that no one saw coming. Sure, it was a repeat of the previous year, but it achieved so much and sparked one of the best feuds of the Attitude Era.
Victoria vs. Trish Stratus (Hardcore Match for the WWE Women’s Championship, WWE Survivor Series 2002)
Women’s wrestling wasn’t taken seriously for many years. It has evolved for years to get to where it is today, and this match is a reason why the tide turned.
Victoria and Trish put together a great program leading into their Women’s Championship match. It was a feud that lasted months and got more personal as the days went by. So personal that they got booked in this Hardcore Match.
This was one of the better Hardcore Matches in WWE history. The way both women navigated their way around weapons was fantastic. Many of the men should have taken a page of their books.
There was just the right amount of wrestling and violence to make the match a highlight of the show. They proved to the world that women’s wrestling is not just a pee-break match.
John Cena vs. Triple H vs Shawn Michaels (Triple Threat for the WWE Championship, Survivor Series 2009)
Oh, the Guest Raw General Manager angle just flopped. It was an attempt by WWE to get some mainstream exposure, but it failed on most nights.
Still, though, it did work when Kyle Busch and Joey Logano made an interesting triple-threat match for Survivor Series.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels were partners at the time, but that didn’t stop Michaels from super-kicking Hunter the second the bell rang. It was a genuine shock and one that set the tone for the rest of the contest.
It was a wonderful triple-threat match that went back and forth and included some great false finishes.
At the time, there wasn’t much doubt that John Cena was going to win, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great ride. There was even an exceptionally cool finish with HBK taking an Attitude Adjustment on top of Triple H.
It was a fun match that doesn’t get the exposure it should.
CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio (WWE Championship Match, WWE Survivor Series 2011)
The Summer of Punk was an angle that got overshadowed at every turn. CM Punk was incredibly popular, and as much as he was getting great reactions, the office seemed to have no faith in the Second City Saint.
Even his triumphant WWE Championship victory was secondary, which is a shame because he and Alberto Del Rio put on one heck of a match.
Having Howard Finkel come out and do the introductions for CM Punk was awesome. It tugged at the nostalgia in all of us and got the crowd hot for the start. It was a usual great match from Punk and one of the best non-John Cena matches of Del Rio’s WWE career.
There was a buzz amongst the crowd as they began to realize that CM Punk had finally got to get his big championship win.
When Punk forced Del Rio to tap out, the Madison Square Garden crowd went ballistic. It was the perfect match that would jumpstart CM Punks’ record-breaking championship run.
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