Top Five Biggest Survivor Series Debuts

This Sunday will be WWE’s 30th Survivor Series event and in the pay-per-view storied history, it’s structure has allowed for some of the biggest debuts to make an impact on the company.

With matches that featured teams with up to ten members, it’s been a perfect setting for a future prospect to make their biggest impact on the WWE Universe. Some of the most memorable superstars in the company’s history have actually debuted at the Survivor Series, introduced as unknowns and eventually becoming legends in their own time.

Today we’re going to look at those who made their first appearance at Survivor Series and have gone on to reshape the landscape of professional wrestling.

The Elimination Chamber

Okay, we’re cheating a smidge on this. 

The Elimination Chamber debuted at the 2002 Survivor Series and was the main event featuring six of Raw’s top stars for Triple H’s World Heavyweight Championship. The concept was introduced by former WCW President Eric Bischoff and combined WCW’s War Games with the Royal Rumble and Hell in a Cell. It’s a domed cage made with chain links where two men start and has four pods that release a different wrestler at a timed interval. 

The match was a huge success and finally gave WWE its proper War Games equivalent that fans had been clamoring for for years. It was featured about once a year and eventually became its own annual pay-per-view event aptly called Elimination Chamber. 

It’s led to several of the most memorable matches of the Ruthless Aggression era with most of them being centered around a world title. 

The Shield

Who would have known that at the end of the 2012 Survivor Series that three of NXT’s top prospects would eventually take over the company and become the backbone of the future?

CM Punk faced off against Ryback for his WWE Championship but nearing the end of the match, three men garbed in black attacked Ryback and triple power bombed him through the announcer’s table. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins had arrived. 

Punk would later go on to say the creation of The Shield was his idea, with the role of Roman Reigns originally intended for Chris Hero, aka Kassius Ohno, with them being as acting bodyguards for the then WWE Champion. Of course, as the saying goes “the card is subject to change”. 

The Shield became so much more than simple enforcers and evolved more into vigilante warriors taking justice into their own hands. Ambrose would eventually become United States Champion, with Reigns and Rollins becoming Tag Team Champions. For almost two years the self-entitled Hounds of Justice went after whoever they deemed in needing of judgment. 

Their fallout is considered one of the most impactful storylines in the company’s history and helped chart the course to make all three of these men megastars, but it all started at Survivor Series. 

Kurt Angle

Okay, this is sort of splitting hairs here as while Kurt Angle made his in-ring debut at Survivor Series 1999, your Olympic Hero actually debuted in the WWE back in March of that year in a bit with Tiger Ali Singh. 

Leading up to Kurt’s match at Survivor Series against Shawn Stasiak, WWE aired vignettes hyping his arrival to the company. Too bad the Detroit crowd didn’t care for Angle’s squeaky clean image and quickly booed the Olympic gold medalist. That fueled Angle to turn on the audience as well, telling them how disappointed he was in them for booing him. 

A star was born. 

Angle’s quick rise in the company came from his even quicker adaptation to the surreal and odd world of professional wrestling. His ability to control a crowd and one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots, Angle had one of the most successful rookie years of all time and was named Wrestler of the Decade by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

It’s true, it’s damn true. 

The Rock

“That’s going to be the man right there! That blue chipper!”

The immortal words of WWE Hall of Famer commentator Jim Ross have echoed through time and set the stage for what was the arrival of Rocky Maivia, later to be named the Rock. 

As part of Marc Mero’s team consisting of Mero, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and Barry Wyndham who was going by the horrible Stalker moniker, Rocky was the rookie of the team, making his first appearance at the annual event. His high energy and all-smiling persona were shrugged off by the WWE fans who were wanting more than traditional babyface characters. In an era with Stone Cold Steve Austin essentially mocking the Bible, Rocky looked downright archaic.  

This match was a solid attempt get Rocky over with fans as he became the Sole Survivor, but with the audience wanting more and more of the “attitude” product, the grinning rookie turned heel and eventually became one of the most popular superstars of all time. 

It’s interesting to note that it was at Survivor Series two years later that Rock won his first WWE Championship title. Long gone was the happy-go-lucky character and his electrifying character of the Rock reigned supreme. 

The Undertaker

Okay, how was this not going to be in the top slot? 

Debuting as part of Ted Dibiase’s Million Dollar Team at Survivor Series 1990, the Undertaker has been a staple of the WWE since day one and is considered the greatest gimmick of all time. 

The macabre, gothic giant was unlike anything the WWE had ever seen before. His slow, eerie entrance to the ring brought shock to the crowd as commentators Gorilla Monsoon and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper were going absolutely insane over his premiere. You can still probably hear Piper screaming about Taker’s “ham hocks”. 

For twenty-six years, the Undertaker has taken many forms from funeral parlor worker to Lord of Darkness to Biker from Hell, but in any shape he takes, he remains ever-popular to the WWE Universe. At the sound of the first chiming of the bell, it becomes unmistakable that you’re about to witness one of the greatest stars of all time. 

This past Tuesday at Smackdown, the Undertaker announced his return to the WWE told that Team Smackdown that whoever loses will face his wrath. 

Honorable Mention: Sting

WCW’s Last Shining Knight. The Icon. The Man They Call Sting. 

Making an apperance at San Diego Comic-Con’s WWE Mattel panel, there was no longer any doubt that Sting, at longlast, had arrived to the WWE. It wasn’t until Survivor Series  2014 where he finally stepped into a WWE ring and was able to Scorpion Deathdropped the head of the Authority, Triple H. 

The Icon’s legacy had long been defined outside of the WWE, so that’s why it’s not really a wrestling debut here as it is Sting finally making his presence felt in the company. 

While Sting’s WWE career was not exactly what fans had expected (we’re still hoping and praying for that unlikely Undertaker match) but we were at least given a WrestleMania match that featured both the NWO and D-X. True, it was almost twenty years too late, it was still a surreal moment for fans to finally claim. 

Sting retired at this year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but as the old saying goes, never say never in professional wrestling.