This Sunday, the Suvivor Series will go back to its roots and feature several traditional 5 on 5 elimination matches. The beauty of the traditional Survivor Series teams is often the randomness with which they are thrown together. Superstars who may have never shared the screen together suddenly join forces to defeat a common enemy in the name of survival. Sunday will possibly be the only time you’ll get to see Braun Strowman team up with Seth Rollins or Bray Wyatt with AJ Styles. Historically, this temporary alignment of superstars has created some of the greatest pairings in wrestling history.
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We have selected the following as the 5 greatest Survivor Series teams in WWE History. Which teams would you have put on the list?
5. The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Demolition, and Jake The Snake Roberts)
If this is the first time you’re seeing Hulk Hogan standing side by side with notorious evil doers Jake the Snake Roberts and Demolition, you might be wondering if the Hulkster had a brief heel run in the late 80s. It was the exact opposite, however, as Hulk convinced Roberts and Demolition to eat their vitamins and say their prayers long enough to accompany him into battle against The Million Dollar Team of Ted Dibiase, The Powers of Pain (aka the off-brand Road Warriors) and Hulk’s own No Holds Barred co-star, Zeus! As a Hogan fan in the 80s, seeing Hulk align himself with more edgy wrestlers was a welcome upgrade from previous partners, Koko B Ware, Hillbilly Jim and Ken Patera.
Dibiase may have overpaid for his team as three of the four Million $ members ending up getting themselves disqualified, which left Ted behind to take the big leg drop from the Hulkster for the three count.
4. Team Guerrero (Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, Big Show, & John Cena)
3 sure-fire WWE hall of famers and 1 ECW legend all joined together in the fall of 2004. The timing of this team’s formation is interesting as it happened 6 months before Guerrero would win the WWE championship and 18 months before Cena would win his. It was also roughly 30 months before RVD would get suspended for smoking weed (shocker, I know) while being the world champion.
Eddie’s team took on Team Angle, albeit a much lesser version than the Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Hass faction you might be picturing. Carlito, Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns were all eliminated before Show, Cena and Eddie took turns hitting Kurt with their finishers to send the fans home happy. While only a mid-card main event at Survivor Series 2004, we can now truly appreciate the experience of seeing the legendary pairing of John Cena and Eddie Guerrero as they ascended towards superstardom.
3. The Warriors (Ultimate Warrior, L.O.D. and The Texas Tornado)
Coming off his epic Wrestlemania 6 WWE World Heavyweight championship victory over Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior was riding a hot streak that only a handful of superstars have ever experienced. At the peak of his ultimate powers, the Warrior enlisted The Texas Tornado and recent WCW defectors, the Legion of Doom to face the team of Mr. Perfect and Demolition.
I can’t overstate how amazing it was to see the Warrior team up with L.O.D. It was like seeing Batman team with the X Men. Or Tupac collaborating with Nirvana. The Tornado was no slouch himself. Those unfamiliar with his work might have mistook him for an Ultimate Warrior knock-off (minus the face paint and charisma). However, die hard fans knew of Kerry Von Erich’s storied Texas wrestling past and were thrilled to see him get a seat at the big boy’s table.
The match itself left much to be desired, as the L.O.D. were disqualified and the Tornado sputtered out, leaving The Ultimate Warrior as the sole survivor. But for an era where WWE superstars were modelled like super heroes, The Warriors felt like a Survivor Series team ripped from the pages of your favorite comic book.
2. Team WWF (The Rock, Chris Jericho, Undertaker, Kane, And The Big Show)
The awful WCW Invasion angle didn’t give us much, but it did give us one of the greatest Survivor Series teams of all time. On paper, it’s hard to top this unbelievable group of future hall of famers. Each member of Team WWF were in the prime of their career as they looked to defeat the evil Team Alliance which consisted of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Shane McMahon, RVD and Booker T.
If that list looks strange, it’s likely because the WWE had to shoehorn current WWE wrestlers into WCW/ECW roles since they had yet to sign any of the actual big names from WCW’s golden age. The match was set to determine the future of sports entertainment and as it was set in a WWE (then WWF) ring, that future was never really in doubt. With help from a defecting Kurt Angle, The Rock managed to pick up the victory against his Rattlesnake nemesis and rid the world of the WCW name forever. Or, at least until the invention of the WWE Network.
This team would be ranked higher if there were more survivors or if The Undertaker hadn’t made his entrance on a motorcycle to a Limp Bizkit song.
1. Team DX (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Hardys, & CM Punk)
While it’s true that most of the 2006 Degeneration X reunion tour was filled with glow sticks and poop jokes, their second coming was not without its share of memorable moments. One being the all-star squad they put together at the 2006 Survivor Series. With only two of the original degenerates competing, DX needed help filling out their roster to face off against Team Rated-RKO (Randy Orton, Edge, Mike Knox, Johnny Nitro, and Gregory Helms).
Lighting was caught in a bottle as Hunter and Shawn were joined by one of the all-time greatest tag teams in the (pre-#BROKEN era) Hardy Brothers as well as rising star (pre-pipebomb era) (pre-let’s pretend that UFC thing never happened), CM Punk. This dream team gets extra points for being the only one on the list to finish the match with zero casualties.
