There are over 30 years of Survivor Series moments. Everyone looks at the Federation Era and Attitude Era in a romanticized way, but there have been some great moments in the Modern Era, so I am going to walk you through my Top Five.
The Shield Debut (2012)
Almost one year to the day from when he won the WWE Championship, CM Punk was pitted against Ryback and John Cena in a Triple Threat match. The odds were stacked against the straight edge champion and, in the weeks prior, WWE did all they could to convince us that Punk’s reign would not make it to 365 days especially since he had to resort to using underhanded tactics to defeat both Cena and Ryback in the past.
Enter The Shield.
The then nameless group stormed the ring, attacking Punk’s opponents before triple powerbombing Ryback through the announce table at ringside securing the victory for the best in the world. While it seemed apparent that the group had some sort of affiliation with the Champion, the group was quick to rectify this belief the next night on Raw by declaring they were simply ‘a shield against injustice’.
Domination Begins (2013)
Fast forward to one year after their debut and you’ll find The Shield paired up with Cesaro & Jack Swagger in a traditional Survivor Series 5 on 5 Elimination match against Rey Mysterio, The Usos, and then Tag Team Champions, Cody Rhodes & Goldust.
With Ambrose, Swagger & Cesaro all being eliminated in the first ten minutes, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins found themselves in a 5-on-2 situation. The pair quickly evened the odds as Reigns eliminated both Jimmy Uso and Cody Rhodes while Rollins pinned Jey Uso after a curb stomp.
Rollins was eliminated by Mysterio shortly after leaving Reigns to fend off both the Bizarre One and the legendary luchador alone. In what was the spark that lit the fuse leading to the dominance we see from Reigns today, the future WWE Champion quickly dispatched both foes with a succession of spears that brought this opening contest to a close.
Scoring four eliminations overall, Roman Reigns was declared as the sole survivor and heading towards what was sure to be a great showing in the 2014 Royal Rumble.
Dolph Ziggler Survives…Thanks To Sting (2014)
After declining an offer to join The Authority, John Cena was instructed by Triple H to formulate a team that would take on a team representing The Authority at Survivor Series. Cena enlisted the help of Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan & Ryback to fill out his team while The Authority recruited Kane, Luke Harper, Mark Henry, Rusev, and Seth Rollins.
The stipulation(s) for the match was if Cena’s team lost, all members except the captain would be fired whilst if Team Authority came up short, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon would be removed from power. The match was filled with surprising eliminations including Rollins taking out Cena and Big Show eliminating himself via count-out and thus turning heel for the 647th time* in his career.
Drawing to a close, the match came down to a valiant Dolph Ziggler in a 3-on-1 situation who managed to eliminate Kane and Luke Harper before struggling against The Architect, Seth Rollins. Triple H got involved by stopping the show off from picking up a win, hitting him with a pedigree, and calling out another referee to call the pinfall.
This was at this time that The Icon, Sting appeared making his WWE debut. Sting hit Triple H with a Scorpion Death Drop and dragged a lifeless Ziggler on top of an already fallen Rollins allowing Team Cena to pick up the win.
*probably not an actual fact.
Reigns’ Coronation Is Cut Short (2015)
WWE’s plans for the 2015 edition of Survivor Series had to be quickly amended after then WWE Champion Seth Rollins suffered multiple knee injuries at a live event in Dublin, Ireland during the annual November tour of the UK.
Shifting things quickly, Triple H announced a tournament for the now vacant championship with both the semi-finals and finals taking place at the PPV. Former Shield members Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose met in the finals of the tournament after they defeated Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens (respectively) earlier in the evening.
After a relatively short match, Roman reigned supreme but his celebration didn’t last long after then Money In The Bank holder Sheamus made his way to the ring, cashed in his briefcase, and promptly defeated Reigns and the show ended with Triple H holding the Celtic Warrior’s hand high in victory.
The Beast Is Slain (2016)
Back in 2016, Goldberg was announced as the pre-order bonus for WWE 2K17, a move that seemed to indicate a working relationship between the former WCW Champion and WWE. On October 3rd, Goldberg appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter and said that if he were to return to WWE, he’d liked a match against Lesnar as he owed him a rematch.
Cue Paul Heyman who one week later challenged Goldberg to a match on behalf of his client. Goldberg accepted and the match was on for Survivor Series. Initially, there was some skepticism surrounding the match as the two had met previously in a lackluster match at Wrestlemania XX.
With many of us not knowing what to expect, the match started and after a tackle, spear, jackhammer, and only one minute and twenty-six seconds later, Goldberg was victorious and Lesnar’s streak of dominance abruptly came to an end.
These are some of the best moments of the modern era Survivor Series PPV, but what did I miss? Let me know below or tweet @SLTDWrestling
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