The History of the Traditional WWE Survivor Series Match

WWE Survivor Series has been a staple of the WWE Premium Live Event schedule for nearly 40 years. For many, it’s a time-honored “Thanksgiving Tradition” for many professional wrestling fans. That said, its prestige was in large part because of the Traditional Survivor Series Match. We take you all back in time to recall the history of the match, and what made it, and the event so special.

The Origin of Traditional Survivor Series Matches

After WrestleMania III’s success, spotlighting Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, Vince McMahon delved deeper into his creative imagination. In doing so, Vince created the Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match. The initial purpose of creating Survivor Series was to capitalize on tag team matches. This was a strategy for McMahon as he wanted to make a show to rival NWA’s event, Starrcade.

McMahon threatened to pull WrestleMania from cable providers that aired Starrcade instead of Survivor Series. With WrestleMania already being an established event that delivered fantastic draws, cable providers acquiesced to Vince’s demands.

The first Survivor Series event in 1987 was what helped the show become a tradition for WWE. With the Hogan-Andre rivalry captivating fans, Vince placed them into rival teams to lead out an all-out war storyline. The first show received such a pleasing reception that Vince could not bypass the chances of another Survivor Series show.

What was initially a five-on-five matchup would occasionally evolve into a four-on-four elimination match. From that point forward, Survivor Series became an annual concept in WWE. It also became known as a show during the Thanksgiving season.

The Most Crucial Traditional Survivor Series Matches

For nearly 25 years, WWE used traditional Survivor Series matches to drive its storylines. Good or bad outcomes, WWE always built storylines that made the concept work. WWE would revolve the match type around which teams were more prominent. Sometimes, the elimination matches would revolve around which was the superior show between RAW and SmackDown.

The inaugural Traditional Survivor Series event brought a massive amount of impact. Sometimes, team captains fell early, such as Hulk Hogan, paving the way for Andre’s team to win. That outcome showed how a sole survivor could ensure victory for their team.

If there was one thing Vince enjoyed creating in these elimination matches, it was adding stakes to the matchup. Occasionally, there would be stipulations that involved control for the winning teams. The most memorable matchup that applies to control was the infamous Team WWE vs. The Alliance in 2001. With The Rock becoming the sole survivor for Team WWE, Vince gained complete control of his company, thus making WWE the most prominent wrestling promotion.

Two other matches that brought out control included Steve Austin’s Team vs. Eric Bischoff’s Team and Team Cena vs. Team Authority. Both matches had dramatic finishes with a sole survivor involved. Randy Orton came out as the only survivor for Bischoff’s team with the aid of Batista, which led to the stipulation of Austin having to leave WWE occurring.