As the WWE approaches the 27th annual Survivor Series pay-per-view Sunday, Nov. 24 live from the TD Garden in Boston, it drums up some of the best and worst memories from year's past at the WWE's November staple PPV that has existed since 1987 and is the second-longest running PPV behind only WrestleMania.
Below is a list of the Top 10 most shocking moments to ever take place at the Survivor Series, and like most Top 10 lists, there might be disagreements and any candidates that are missed are welcomed to be debated in the comments section below.
First, some honorable mentions:
2003: Kane and Vince McMahon Bury The Undertaker Alive:
After Kane disposed of Vince's son Shane in an ambulance match earlier on the card, Kane made another appearance to take out his storyline brother and help Vince McMahon bury him alive in a shocking twist. As per usual, the Undertaker wasn't dead for long and he came back at WrestleMania XX to gain vengeance on Kane.
2002: Shawn Michaels wins the World Heavyweight Championshp:
After Shawn Michaels left the WWE with a severe back injury shortly after WrestleMania XIV in 1998, many assumed he would never wrestle again. "The Heartbreak Kid" made what was thought to be a one-match return four years later at SummerSlam 2002 and defeated Triple H, however his comeback didn't stop there as HBK entered the first ever Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series 2002 and once again pinned Triple H to win the World Heavyweight Championship and complete a comeback that would last until 2010.
2002: Paul Heyman Turns On Brock Lesnar:
In 2002, Brock Lesnar broke onto the scene as "The Next Big Thing" under the tutelege of Paul Heyman and won the 2002 King of the Ring to earn himself a WWE Championship shot against The Rock at SummerSlam 2002. Lesnar won the title in just his first year with the company and was unstoppable, that is until his manager got in his way. Heyman turned on Lesnar at Survivor Series 2002 and helped The Big Show win the WWE Championship at Madison Square Garden.
With the honorable mentions out of the way, it's time to get to the real Top 10, working backwards to the most shocking moment in Survivor Series history:
10) 1987: Andre The Giant Sole Survivor, Hulk Hogan Eliminated:
'Hulkamania' was runnin' wild in full force in 1987 after Hulk Hogan defeated Andre the Giant in front of reportedly over 93,000 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan in the main event that put WrestleMania on the map at WrestleMania III, which led to the WWE launching its second annual pay-per-view franchise in Survivor Series at 1987 as a Thanksgiving night tradition. Survivor Series went up against the NWA's Starrcade and featured a five-on-five main event with teams captained by Hogan and Andre, but the outcome wasn't what many expected. Hogan, who many thought would win the match, was eliminated when Andre's teammates The One Man Gang and King Kong Bundy wouldn't let him re-enter the ring and he was counted out, while Andre eventually elminated Bam Bam Bigelow to become the Sole Survivor. The match also lived up to the unpredictability aspect of the traditional matches.
9) 2012: The Shield Debuts and Helps CM Punk Retain The Title:
CM Punk won the WWE Championship from Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series 2011 as a babyface, however when he returned to the same event a year later with the gold still intact as a heel, he had the tough task of taking on Ryback and John Cena in a triple threat match. It seemed as though Punk was all but doomed until three men never seen on a main WWE show appeared on his behalf and helped him retain the title. Those men, now known as The Shield, helped Punk hang on and he kept the title until the 2013 Royal Rumble, a whole 434 days.
8) 1988: Double Turn: Demolition, Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji:
During a tag team elimination match involving many WWE tag teams that included Demolition and The Powers of Pain, one of the more rare occurances in professional wrestling happened: a double turn. Demoltion manager Mr. Fuji turned on Ax and Smash of Demolition after pulling the top rope down with his cane so that Smash would fall to the floor and get counted out for the elimination. When Ax confronted Fuji, he hit him with his cane and Demolition ended up attacking him, turning from bad to good, while the Powers of Pain came to his rescue, turning from good to bad. Demolition got the last laugh when it beat all three members at WrestleMania V that spring.
7) (Part 1) 2007: Edge Returns And Costs The Undertaker The World Heavyweight Championship:
The Undertaker was all but certain to win the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series 2007 when he had Batista pinned after a tombstone piledriver, but he was foiled by an old foe in Edge, who made a surprising return from injury dressed up as a camera man and attacked the Undertaker before he could win the match, leading to Batista getting the pin and retaining the title.
7) (Part 2) 2008: Edge Returns At Survivor Series and Wins The WWE Championship:
Ever the opportunist, Edge returned surprisingly for the second straight year at Survivor Series 2008, and showed up as a surprise fill in for Jeff Hardy in a triple threat match with Vladimir Kozlov and Triple H in the middle of the WWE Championship match. and walked out with the gold.
6) 2003: Stone Cold Steve Austin Loses GM Job In Traditional Match:
While traditional Survivor Series matches are almost always fun, they're especially great when there is something at stake. Eric Bischoff and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's feud as both were co-general managers of Monday Night RAW reached its apex in 2003 when both assembled five-man teams for a traditional five-on-five elimination Survivor Series match to decide who would gain 100% control of RAW. With the match boiled down to a bloody Shawn Michaels representing Team Austin and Chris Jericho, Christian and Randy Orton still left for Team Bischoff, Austin's hopes seemed dashed until HBK eliminated Christian and Jericho back-to-back and was down to a one-on-one battle with Orton. Batista would end up interfering during chaos around ringside surrounding Austin and Bischoff, helping Orton to victory and ending Austin's reign as general manager.
5) 1994: Bob Backlund Defeats Bret Hart For the WWE Championship:
Bob Backlund snapped and turned heel while claiming to have never lost the WWE Championship back in 1983 as his cornerman Aarnold Skaaland threw in the towel for him when he never quit during his match with The Iron Sheik. Backlund and WWE Champion Bret Hart agreed to a submission match where the only way to lose was to have your cornerman throw in the towel for you. Backlund's cornerman was Bret's real life brother Owen Hart while Bret's was his real life brother-in-law Daveyboy Smith. With Smith incapacitated, Owen was able to convince his real mother Helen Hart to throw in the towel when Backlund had Bret in a cross-face chicken wing, leading to Backlund's stunning championship win.
4) 1999: Stone Cold Steve Austin Gets Hit By a Car:
With its biggest star "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in need of serious neck surgery that would sideline him for nine months, the WWE had to improvise a way to get Austin out of the advertised match for the WWE Championship that was set to pit him against The Rock and Triple H in a triple threat match at Survivor Series 1999. The WWE decided to have Austin get hit by a car in storyline after Triple H interupted his interview and lured him out to the parking garage. Austin getting struck by the car set up quite the mystery as to who hit him. The reveal would later be that Rikishi hit him and that he "did it for The Rock," in a rather boring conclusion to what could have been an interesting storyline. The Big Show took Austin's spot in the match and won the title.
3) 1991: Undertaker Defeats Hulk Hogan For The WWE Championship:
In 1991 WWE Champion Hulk Hogan rarely lost on television and had only lost the title twice previously--once to Andre the Giant controversially in 1988 which vacated the title and set up a tournament for WrestleMania IV and once to the Ultimate Warrior cleanly at WrestleMania VI--so when the Undertaker knocked him off and won the WWE Championship with help from Ric Flair at Survivor Series 1991 it was quite the surprise. The Dead Man had just made his debut at the very same event in 1990 at the Survivor Series, but there he was a year later as WWE Champion. His reign was short-lived as the following Tuesday at the WWE's This Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, the title was once again vacated after another controversial finish, and eventually it was won by Flair at the 1992 Royal Rumble.
2) 1998: Corporate Rock Is Born: Vince McMahon Turns On Mankind:
With the WWE Championship once again vacated by the time the 1998 Survivor Series rolled around, a Deadly Games tournament was contrived to crown a new undisputed WWE Champion. It looked as though Vince McMahon was grooming Mankind to win the match and that he would stop at nothing to make sure that Steve Austin didn't win the Championship, however when The Rock and Mankind were the final two left in the tournament, McMahon screwed Mankind over and The Rock turned heel, leading to the birth of the Corporate Rock and a new Corporate WWE Champion.
1) 1997: The Montreal Screwjob: The Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart Feud Reaches Its Darkest Hour:
This may seem as the obvious choice and the most talked about event in WWE history, but it deserves No.1 in the countdown. With Bret Hart preparing to leave for WCW and not wanting to job to Shawn Michaels--who he hated in real life at the time--in Canada, Vince McMahon had to divise a plan that will forever be known as "The Montreal Screwjob." Hart wanted to win the match and then forfeit the belt on RAW, but McMahon didn't want to do business that way and devised a plan behind Bret's back to have Michaels defeat him with his own sharshooter hold by demanding the referee ring the bell. Hart was not aware of the ending in real life, and spit on Vince McMahon before destroying television monitors around ringside in his last WWE appearance for almost a decade. This is still one of the most controversial and real-life situations to occur at a WWE event.
Those are the Top 10 most shocking moments in Survivor Series history and if past events are any indication, there are sure to be more shocking moments when the 27th annual Survivor Series airs live from the TD Garden in Boston on Nov. 24.
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