Countdown: The Ultimate Survivor Series Rankings

29. Sheamus vs Big Show (2012)
This match happened 3 years ago, I have no recollection of it happening, I don’t even remember Big Show being World Champion. This was the 2nd of 3 straight PPVs these guys fought for the World Title for (3rd being a Chairs match next month at TLC) and it ended in a DQ win for Show, who I had no clue was even the face in this fight. Hell, I had no clue Sheamus was heel during this time either. When your title reign, who is face/heel and finally the match itself you don't remember a damn thing about, you know where I'm ranking it. Incredibly forgettable, thus why it gets the bottom of the barrel.

28. Kane vs Edge (2010)
Coming off of a feud where he absolutely dominated The Undertaker, which included Hell in a Cell & Buried Alive matches, Kane, in what will no doubt be the biggest run in his career, fought The Rated R Superstar to a draw. Kane & Paul Bearer were incredibly entertaining....up to this point. It was the odd period where Edge was a face on Smackdown, but he kidnapped Paul Bearer & made Kane look like a complete bitch begging for his father back. It got even worse the month after where Edge threw dummies down the stairs, ran over with cars, etc. The sheer ridiculousness of the feud made me rank it this low.

27. Big Show vs Mark Henry (2011)
Speaking of biggest runs of his career, Mark Henry’s title run in 2011 was actually pretty damn entertaining. It unfortunately seemed like only a matter of time before he got hurt again (which was the case eventually), but his matches were solid, except this one. While the match wasn’t that great, the build was good, Henry was laying everyone out with chairs & Show got his revenge, Pillman-izing Henry's ankle with a chair. Despite another DQ finish, it was at least decent storytelling. And Big Show hit a top rope elbow drop, so that’s not bad.

26. Goldberg vs Triple H (2003)
Goldberg’s WWE run was shaky at best. He should’ve won the title in the Chamber at Summerslam when he was still super over and had Trips chase him, but this was during the heyday of Triple H’s 2-3 year burial run of any & everyone in sight. While Goldberg won the title at Unforgiven, it wasn’t as memorable as it could be. This match was completely forgettable, despite the Lose or Your Fired stip, as the next month Trips would regain the title & Goldberg (and his reign) would quickly become an afterthought. Not even Goldberg could overcome Evolution.

25. Big Show vs Brock Lesnar (2002)
The historical significance of Paul Heyman turning on Brock Lesnar was pretty cool. However Big Show was about a month removed from main event Sunday Night Heats when he came over to Smackdown & tossed Brock off the stage. It was weird seeing Brock get dominated by someone who hadn't been relevant for nearly 2 years. The match itself went barely 4 minutes, which bummed me out, but I'm fairly confident Brock was hurt, which explains it (still though, he F-5'd Show, amazing at the time). For the time, I had little faith in Show being a main event guy again this quickly, especially against a beast who had ran through everyone in his path. Very cool seeing Paul turn, but at the time, odd choice for it being Show, though I understood it.

24. Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett (2010)
There wasn’t a group with more potential then the Nexus. I always wonder what could’ve been had these guys not lost to Super Cena (and his team) at Summerslam. They absolutely should’ve gone over there as it would’ve made matches like this more interesting. This was 2 months (2 MONTHS!!) in to Cena being part of Nexus & this would ultimately get him “fired” as it was so completely hokey & unbelievable. The match itself I enjoyed, other than that, nothing much to say about it. Yeah, they were going to fire their #1 guy. Dumb.

23. John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio (2013)
A month earlier, Alberto Del Rio was enjoying a pretty decent title run, after his heel turn with Ziggler, he was back to being the cocky aristocrat we learned to hate when he first debuted. Cena, who was out of action with an elbow injury, came in & just won the title at Hell in a Cell, that’s it! Nothing to build off of at all. Why not let Del Rio weasel his way out & build to Cena winning during THIS match? The match itself was fine, but Cena beating Del Rio for the second straight month, went to bury him even further. No reason Cena had to win at HIAC, had he won here, I'd rank it higher.

22. Booker T vs Batista (2006)
Call me crazy, but I really enjoyed the King Booker character as champion. I also enjoyed this feud, mainly due to the fact that they both got into a real life fist fight earlier that year. Who came out on top has been in question as I’ve heard stories of both ways (Finlay has a shoot interview where he said Batista came out on top, where other (many of the other reports) said it was Booker who won it). Regardless, it led to decent matches & a good storyline where this was Batista’s last chance. He had to jump through hoops for months, but ultimately ended Booker’s fun title reign.

21. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov (2008)
Remember Kozlov? Remember when he was an actual over heel? Remember that week? I’m fairly confident this was around that week. He was a complete animal when he was first on Smackdown, no one could stop him. Could he talk, of course not, but he didn’t need to. This was before he became a joke & I liked him. Edge replaced Jeff Hardy who was “hurt” (we learn thanks to Matt Hardy) last second & continued his sneaky, slimy ways to get a World title by any means necessary. Decent storytelling, good match.

20. CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio (2011)
If the “Summer of Punk” was awesome, the “Fall of Punk” was disastrous. After Summerslam, Del Rio enjoyed the title/cash in a few weeks before, of course, John Cena, the guy who couldn’t beat Punk in the first place, wins the title back. Meanwhile Punk falls into an incredibly screwy feud with Triple H, loses a match to him & tags with him to face Truth/Miz over the next few months. It’s baffling to see a guy who was that over to be that wasted that quickly. Still the most over guy in the company at the time, Punk wins the title back here, leading to an amazing run. Match was fine, but if Del Rio could’ve had a solid few months with the title, it would’ve been more interesting.


19 through 10 coming soon. The teams are going to be an absolute bitch, but it should be fun!

#9-#1 of what I think is the best World/WWE title matches in Survivor Series history. Agree or disagree, let me know, this was fun putting together this list, but the next one should be even better. I'll start ranking 20 at a time. I have 2 months to get this done, so it should all work out. Remember, bottom 20 are mostly women & get ready for a clusterfuck with those rankings. Anyways, hope you like it, cures the boredom Raw & Smackdown bring each week.

9. The Rock vs Mankind (1998)
The kickoff to one of the greatest feuds of all time happened on this night as Mankind & The Rock’s first of many matches in their rivalry was in the finals of the Deadly Game tournament. This is arguably the best one night tournament the WWE has ever booked & the ending was great because it laid out the landscape of The Rock becoming one of the best ever as well as Mankind becoming one of the most popular. While the ending, turning Rock heel, while he was so incredibly popular, was fantastic, this was probably my least favorite overall match between the two (Halftime Heat is close) as they’d really hit their stride as the months went on. Everything on this card was booked perfectly, but chalk it up to having to wrestle multiple times over the night or what, but I just didn’t like the actual match. The story, hands down one of the absolute best, but wasn’t a huge fan of the match, thus why I couldn’t rank it higher.




8. Chris Jericho vs John Cena (2008)
I didn’t really like the hot potato with the World title at this time between Batista & Jericho, as I didn’t see why Batista needed to win it back from Jericho, only to lose it right back to him on TV. Jericho won the title in the Scramble last second at Unforgiven, lost it to Batista at Cyber Sunday & won it back in the cage on TV, only for Cena to come back from injury a week or two later & win the title from Jericho. While I didn’t hate John Cena at the time, this really soured me on him because I loved heel Jericho, even more so heel champion Jericho. Cena just coming right back in & winning the title didn’t sit well with me. All that said, this match, was friggin’ great, thus why it’s ranked so high. It was truly a fantastic match. Had Jericho stole a win or retained via DQ or countout, probably would’ve ranked it a couple spots higher.




7. Randy Orton vs Shawn Michaels (2007)
Shawn couldn’t use Sweet Chin Music & also Orton (who got DQ’d in previous matches) couldn’t get DQ’d or he’d lose the title. The ending was great as after a back & forth, Shawn went for the superkick, hesitated, realizing he’d lose, only for Randy to hit an RKO out of nowhere (before Cole ran it into the ground) to retain the title. It’s weird with Orton, trying to figure out when I started to stop losing interest in his character. I think around 2010, but before then, he was one of the best heels in the business & working with Shawn, the match was fantastic. Just about 20 minutes, these two made good of the stips & didn’t run it into the ground. Definitely recommend re-watching this one.




6. John Cena vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels (2009)
What separated this from the Jeri-Show/Taker triple threat & made me enjoy it so much more, was the start. Bell sounds & immediately HBK lays out Trips with Sweet Chin Music. It was the complete opposite feel of the previous triple threat as this was an every man for himself. Sure Cena would win, but the dynamic alone of Shawn laying out Hunter right away, doing anything to get the title, really set the tone for the match & why I enjoyed it so much. It was a refreshing break from DX & their joking around each week on TV & this is an incredibly underrated little gem, if you haven’t bailed on the Network yet (like I have, I recorded this when WWE 24/7 was still around), highly suggest checking it out.




5. Batista vs The Undertaker (2007)
After I decided to rank this match this high, I went back to look at some reviews & it really was a mixed reaction, but I’m in the camp of this being one of the better Cell matches of all time. Both Batista & Taker had great in ring chemistry with one another & with both being faces, the fans were really torn because the Smackdown brand was really synonymous with these two guys & the third guy…..Edge, who would get involved in the end. This was brutal, bloody, hard hitting, not overlong, created perfectly fine big spots by not having to again go outside the cage itself. The finish with Edge as a cameraman destroying Taker & giving Batista the win. Edge had been out of action since I think May or June, so his comeback wasn’t really expected & it led to another title reign the following month. I think Batista was a very underrated champ & feel like this was one of his best performances with a legend like Taker.




4. Shawn Michaels vs Sid (1996)
I can’t think of another time where Sid was more over than he was in MSG on this night. Michaels was still in his prime as champ at this time, but I honestly don’t think there has (or ever would be) a louder pop when Sid won the title. Chalk it up to the MSG crowd if you want, but it was a very entertaining match, with two guys who had solid backstory as well. Clocking Jose Lothario in the chest with the camera & Shawn going to attend to him, allowing Sid to attack & win the title was different for the time & I really liked it. Despite not being the best overall match on the card IMO (that goes to Bret vs Austin) this still is one of my all time favorite title matches. Not to mention Shawn did the headstand pictured above.




3. The 1st Ever Elimination Chamber (2002)
Back to MSG for the 1st ever & this one remains my favorite (argument could be made for New Years Revolution 05, but the ending is garbage) Chamber match. No one really knew what to expect from this thing, but it looked ridiculous, awesome & unlike anything WWE had ever done up to that point. With the brand split, I wasn’t a big fan of the Raw roster at this time, as we are a month removed from the Katie Vick fiasco, the IC title being removed & Triple H’s death grip on the title. RVD, Chris Jericho & Kane all had ran into the Trips burial over 2002, Booker T would be the following year, but that left 1 man, who had 1 match up to that point since 1998, Shawn Michaels. This match was brutal, violent, it was pretty much go out there & beat the hell out of each other. Despite early eliminations of RVD, Kane & Booker, the ending was fantastic with the elimination of Jericho & the shock victory of HBK winning the world title. Fantastic match, great storytelling & I was legit shocked, because I thought Triple H would just win again.




2. Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels (1992)
One year prior, Bret was in the opener (pretty rad opener) & Shawn was just about to toss Marty through the Barber Shop window. However here we are in my all time favorite year in wrestling & these two go out & have a near 30 minute main event. It is one of my all time favorite matches, only thing that I have to complain about it, is that there was no backstory aside from Hart Foundation vs Rockers. Shawn had just beaten Bulldog for the IC title & immediately was placed into the main event. I have no complaints about that, but had this been given more than a few weeks of Sean Mooney/Mean Gene Event Center promos, it probably would’ve been my #1. I have to re-watch their Ironman, but this really could be my favorite Shawn/Bret match they ever had.




1. Diesel vs Bret Hart (1995)
I went back & forth between this & the 92 main event, as for me it truly was a tossup between which was the best title match in Survivor Series history, but one reason stood out as to why this was the best, overall storytelling. Bret & Diesel had a rivalry that dated back to KOTR 94, where you had this new kid on the block, Diesel, come in out of nowhere & challenge the champ. It seemed like Diesel wasn’t really ready at that time, but then you cut to Royal Rumble 95 & again they had a very solid match, but again, just filled with interference. There was never a clear cut winner in the feud, which is why this match was so good because it not only gave us a definitive winner in the feud; it also set the stage for the Diesel heel turn & another Bret title run. Bret had been out of the title hunt in stupid feuds almost all of 95 (Lawler/Pierre/Yankem) that it was refreshing to see him challenge Diesel, who, despite holding the title for nearly a year, didn’t really have too many legit challengers (Sid/Tatanka/Mabel). It was a great finish to a fantastic No DQ match, then post match Diesel laying out the refs & hitting two Jackknife Powerbombs on Bret, not to mention they did one of the first broken announce table spots I can remember in the WWF. While Bret/Shawn at 92 was the best in terms of overall wrestling, this one gets the nod at the all time best in terms of storytelling.

I really wanted to wait to do this list weekly to coincide with the Survivor Series, but last night during Raw, I decided to write out the next 20. I think I'll post 10 from now on, but here we go #86 through #67. Starting with a personal favorite of mine.......





86. Winger
With songs like Seventeen, despite being a damn toe tapper, it was creepy as hell. A grown man singing about “daddy says she’s too young, but she’s old enough for me”? Are you kidding me? Why isn’t Kip Winger in jail, I mean I………hold on, I think I’m……shit, wrong list, sorry KS.




86. Nasty Boys, Natural Disasters (1992)
Here we go, THIS one is my list. I was really thinking about ranking this team a tad higher, because, you look at them & think, they were pretty good brawlers & big guys, for the early 90s, those were the 2 requirements you needed to get over with Vince. However, had these 4 teamed a year earlier, I would’ve ranked them higher no question about it, they were heels & I love heels, especially early 90s heels. This was the end of 92 & both teams were just about on their final stages of their runs together in the WWF. Earthquake & Typhoon would disband at the Rumble & the Nastys were gone around Mania. It seemed like a giant waste of a face turn on the Nastys, who I assumed were going to face Money Inc for the titles…….until Hogan & Beefcake took their spot at Mania (ironic seeing as Knobbs is one of Hogan’s best buddies). I liked the teams, but Nastys as faces were awful.




85. Skip, Rad Radford, Tom Prichard, 123 Kid (1995)
Goofy gimmicks aside, this team could possibly Top 20-25 in terms of best all around wrestlers on a team together. In that regard, they are awesome. However, the randomness of putting a directionless pre-Zip Tom Prichard in this match baffled me. There’s absolutely no other guys they could’ve tossed into this thing? Rad Radford, for his brief stint in WWF, I enjoyed, mainly because I liked the Bodydonna In Training thing he had going with Skip & Sunny. The Kid, fresh off the heel turn against Razor was the star of this match, but Skip took one of the coolest bumps I’ve ever seen on a PPV. More on that in a few teams. Overall though, it was a very talented team, just for the time, very odd though. Kid had zero feuds going in this match, why couldn’t he have been in the Wild Card Match later in the night? Team him with his boy HBK? Or as JBL would call him H-B-SHiz………I’m not even going to type the rest out. You suck at commentary Bradshaw.




84. JBL, Miz, John Morrison, MVP, Kane (2008)
What a hell of a segue that was eh? From criticizing JBL’s commentary to criticizing his team, which, all things considered, wasn’t all that bad for 2008. However MVP was in the midst of his terrible & pointless losing streak and was eliminated within a few minutes, as was Kane, who was eliminated by Rey Mysterio in again around 2-3 minutes. Not a strong showing by any means. Granted Miz & Morrison were in top form here as a solid tag team, they had nothing they could do really, as JBL bailed & Morrison was left to go it alone after Miz got eliminated. What should’ve been an incredibly stronger team, wasn’t that strong at all.




83. Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Danny Davis, Rob Bass, Harley Race (1987)
Here we are, the very first heel team in Survivor Series history, one I…….didn’t really care all that much for. Maybe it was because their counterparts were such an amazing team, one you’ll see way down the list, or maybe I just didn’t really enjoy the gimmicks. I’ve mentioned it with Ron Bass before, just never really got on board with him. Dangerous Danny Davis, while funny, was a job guy with a gimmick, hell who am I kidding, he was a referee with a gimmick! Harley was only 44 during this PPV, though during his run as the King in the WWF, it always looked like he was 58 at least. Hercules was just about to be “sold” to Ted Dibiase by The Brain, so his time with the Heenan Family I don’t remember very well. Then there’s Honky, who, when it was all down to him, bailed as quickly as possible.




82. New Age Outlaws, Godwinns (1997)
I always liked the redneck, gross looking heel Godwinns as opposed to the happy go lucky, gross looking face Godwinns. They ditched bringing Hillbilly Jim & the farm animals to the ring and got an attitude. It did snag them another tag title in the process, which they’d lost already by this point, but still, attitude change made them more interesting & I dug it. They couldn’t hold a candle to their tag partners though, as the New Age Outlaws, the newly formed New Age Outlaws, were just starting to become the cool kids in the tag division. If you told me 3 months prior that Jesse James & Rockabilly would become one of the best teams in the WWF, I’d think you were nuts, but damn did these two dudes capitalize on their potential. Everything clicked with them. This match was good, but Billy completely whiffed on a top rope legdrop & sadly that’s all I remember during this match. Incredibly solid team though.




81. Marty Jannetty, Hakushi, Barry Horowitz, Bob Holly (1995)
Say what you want, but I thought the “Horowitz Wins!” gimmick was fun when it first started. Here you had a solid worker like Barry Horowitz, jobber to the stars, never won a match & then out of nowhere he beats an overly cocky Skip and shocks the world. Enough time had passed from the 123 Kid/Razor RAW match that this was entertaining to me. I did however feel that they should’ve ended it a lot sooner than they did. It was a 1-2 month thing, instead you have Horowitz captaining this team. Let us not forget, Barry Horowitz’s theme song…..was Hava Nagila, haha, I still oddly love that. Anyways, Bob Holly was a guy you could just put in matches & he’d be solid, he was doing nothing at the time really. Hakushi, what a fall over the course of half a year. Came into the WWF against Bret Hart & months later he’s a face now, teaming with Barry Horowitz. Marty Jannetty, like I mentioned earlier, had the sickest bump I had seen in WWF for a long time when he POWERBOMBED Skip off the top rope to eliminate him. The Underdogs was a fitting name, every guy could work, they teamed well & overall that’s all you can ask for in this case.




80. British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, Doug Furnas, Phil Lafon (1997)
Back to 97 we go & we get a team, where, anywhere else aside from Canada, I probably wouldn’t have given a bump in the rankings, but alas here we were. 4 guys, who, by all accounts, weren’t doing jack shit at the time. Only one would be Bulldog, who had just lost the European title to HBK about a few months prior, but other than that, he & Neidhart were Bret’s sidekicks. The Hart Foundation was still strong, but this being their last night together, it was somewhat bittersweet. Furnas & Lafon were a very odd choice, it makes me wonder, if Lafon wasn’t Canadian, would they even been on this team? Because Doug Furnas was from Oklahoma, I don’t think they ever mentioned that. Anvil was still putting around, but this team, while having potential, only benefitted from the crowd being Canadian to give them as big of pop as they got. I’m also fairly confident this was the first time (maybe, I’d have to look it up) that this was the last time we’d see an entire Survivor Series team, as Bulldog & Anvil would go to WCW and Furnas & Lafon would do just a few house shows after this.




79. Edge & Christian, The Goodfather, Bull Buchanan (2000)
Easily the laziest/most clever way of turning someone heel, was the adding of an O to the Godfather and making him The Goodfather. It was ridiculous, but it absolutely fit for this time and at this point, the Right to Censor was still kicking & annoying everyone, which was their job. They weren’t a joke yet & hell, they were even Tag Team champs heading into this show. Then you add the duo so reeking of awesomeness & this is a nice little team, so you’d think they would’ve teamed better, but they really didn’t, their opposition got the best of them & I can only assume it’s because they didn’t want nearly all the heels winning their matches that night.




78. Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, Chris Masters, Big Show, MVP (2010)
Honestly, I forgot MVP was still with the company at this point. It’s a bummer, because I enjoyed him when he first came into the WWE, but his run completely became forgettable as time went on. Same could be said for Chris Masters, but this was during the period where I was really enjoying watching Superstars each week online & Masters was improving week by week, having fantastic matches that went completely unappreciated. That’s when I really became a fan of his work, so he might have looked out of place, but he absolutely deserved a spot on this team. Kofi was still putting on great matches, he always has, but this was before he sadly was forgotten about by creative. Mysterio was healthy in November, as usual & Big Show………yeah. Good collection of guys, but in 2010, meh.




77. Big Bossman, Honky Tonk Man, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel (1989)
How bummed do you have to be when you find out that Bad News Brown is a replacement & going to be on your team? I’d hate that Akeem would be replaced by Brown, who, once again, bailed on his team. I just re-watched this PPV, he never wanted a tag & when he did, Bossman accidentally hit him & he bailed, just like last year. Nothing creative about it. After his IC title run, Honky Tonk Man was just there, he didn’t really accomplish anything aside from forming an odd tag team that forced Greg Valentine to dye his hair black. Rick Martel was still on the rise as his Model gimmick was just getting going, always a favorite of mine, who I think gets absolutely overlooked by WWE when they talk about strong heels from the past. Bossman as a vicious heel was a favorite of mine as well, he was a just a brutal dickhead character, abusing his power, you couldn’t help but hate him. Very strong team captain, who should’ve had two better teammates. Honky fought well in this match, but you’d be better off going at it with 3 than even give Bad News a paycheck.




76. Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana, Red Rooster (1989)
Give this team a little bump as opposed to their opposition because they won the match, though it wouldn’t seem like it at the end. Bossman destroyed Dusty with the nightstick after the match & that was really it with their feud, I was hoping they’d have a singles match, but it never happened. Dusty never got his revenge. I guess this was it for their feud, so technically Dusty won it? Brutus was a good Survivor Series wrestler; he’d get in there, get his punches in, get his ass kicked, eliminate a guy or two & then get the tag. That’s all you want in a tag partner. This was probably the strongest all around team that Tito Santana got to team with…..but he was eliminated first & rather quick. Poor showing for Chico. Then there’s the Rooster, who I can’t believe was still a thing. I can’t defend it, the gimmick sucked royally. Terry Taylor, great wrestler, Red Rooster, awful, just awful.




75. Owen Hart & British Bulldog, New Rockers (1996)
In mid 1996, the tag team division in the WWF completely bottomed out. You had 4 tag teams basically on your roster (Smokin’ Gunns, Godwinns, Bodydonnas & New Rockers) and zero people interested. Sure you had Sunny prance around in her skimpy outfits, which at that time was amazing (these days her current means of employment makes me want to throw up), but she had jumped around from tag team to tag team & that was it. Until the Bulldog & Owen got involved, giving the division life. Over time the division would slowly build again, but this was the farewell for Marty & Leif, who, aside from the Godwinns, who would float until the next year, this would be the final team to bite the dust in that horrible period of tag wrestling. Owen & Bulldog would get different teams to work with & we can just put this whole disaster behind us. As a kid, I hated the New Rockers, because they couldn’t decide if they were heels or faces. Leif Cassidy did nothing to distinguish himself as a heel & Marty had always been a face. Them teaming with Owen & Bulldog, established heels, was incredibly confusing and shows just how shallow the tag division was at this time.




74. Nasty Boys, Beverly Brothers (1991)
Beating a team involving the Bushwhackers always gets you ranked a little higher in my book, so is the case with this team. The still entertaining heels in Knobbs & Sags and one of my absolute favorite heel teams in the Beverlys. Beau & Blake were a completely overlooked team, who should’ve been legit contenders for the Tag Team titles, but when they got their shot in 1992, it just didn’t seem to click. All that aside, they teamed incredibly well, even if their opponents were in the midst of a falling out. Then again, it’s not hard to outsmart a team, who, like I’ve mentioned previously Gorilla Monsoon said was captained by Luke of the Bushwhackers. Only one of the Bevs had to take a loss, but the rest of the team survived, making it a pretty strong overall team.




73. Ted Dibiase, Zeus, & Powers of Pain (1989)
He couldn’t wrestle for shit, but I sorta liked Zeus brought in for one match to promote No Holds Barred back in August at Summerslam………then cut to November…….and the dude is still around? How does that work? Is he there to promote the VHS release? That’s the only logical explanation. Then you also have the Powers of Pain, who have done absolutely nothing since Wrestlemania! It’s odd that Zeus, had accomplished more than Warlord & Barbarian in the past few months. This would be the final PPV we’d see the Powers of Pain as a team & I always liked them at first, but the odd double turn at the year prior was very strange, more on that later. I did however prefer them as singles wrestlers a year later. Poor Dibiase, a fantastic worker, one of the top 5 on the roster, had to take another legdrop from the red & yellow bulldozer & that was sadly it. Why Dibiase teamed with Zeus instead of Savage is beyond me. Dibiase & Hogan had zero story left to tell and Savage was off teaming against a completely different team. The booking for this show was complete dogshit.




72. Kurt Angle, Carlito, Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak (2004)
This was basically a 3 man team since Carlito pulled a Bad News if you will, bailing on his team. John Cena was in hot pursuit, but came back to fight with his pretty snazzy team (more on that later) to very different Team Angle. Kurt Angle is one of the best wrestlers ever, his Olympic Hero character in the early 2000’s was my favorite, but dickhead aggressive Kurt around this time was my second favorite. I never got on board with Luther Reigns, a muscle dude, who didn’t wrestle great. On the other hand, I liked Mark Jindrak in the ring & felt he deserved a better run than he got in WWE. Only thing that I feel held him back was his nonexistent mic skills. They tried hard to get him over, but his Reflection of Perfection gimmick went nowhere, though he did recycle The Narcissist theme. When you had Haas & Benjamin with Kurt, it clicked perfectly, but these dudes with Kurt, didn’t really gel all that well. Probably the weakest Kurt looked in a Survivor Series.




71. Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, Hart Foundation (1990)
Once sweet Sapphire left Dusty, the polka dots were gone & instead we got an odd top hat with bones on it Dusty. He had already begun his feud with Ted Dibiase & Virgil, who had attacked Dustin, his son, a few weeks prior. Which begs the question, why the fuck was Koko B. Ware in this match & not Dustin Rhodes? This is the perfect match for them to cover up any weaknesses a young Dustin would’ve had, but alas, it didn’t happen. If the main reason Koko was in this match was to make the debuting superstar on the other team look strong, Anvil could’ve been the one to get the shit beaten out of him instead. It was another strong showing for Bret, who, like the year prior, was the final man eliminated on his team, but in the process looked fantastic & I think even back then, they knew he’d be their IC champ within the year. The Hart Foundation were still tag champs, but I didn’t think they needed to be at this time, I thought another tag team on this card should’ve been tag champs. I’ll cover that later.




70. Legion of Doom, Big Bossman (1991)
I was debating this one for a bit, because looking at this team, I’d rank them higher absolutely, but Bossman looked unbelievably weak in this match, being eliminated in just over 6 minutes after a briefcase shot by IRS. Meanwhile the LOD went on to beat the rest of their opponents, but for some reason that one loss always bugged me more than anything else. Yeah the Natural Disasters had a falling out with IRS in this match, but it didn’t bug me near as much. Sid Justice was supposed to be the team captain, but I’m pretty sure got hurt during this time, so it was 3 on 3. Not nearly as rad as their opponents team captain, or who was supposed to be their team captain……




69. Natural Disasters, IRS (1991)
If this team had its original 4th member, Jake Roberts, as it’s team captain, I would’ve ranked this team much higher, because even as a trio, it was a friggin strong trio. I enjoyed the Typhoon heel turn, he could accomplish a lot more as a heel aligned with the other monster in Earthquake & have a mouthpiece in Jimmy Hart. Meanwhile when he was a face, all he said as Tugboat was “TOOT! TOOT!” So when he turned heel on The Bushwhackers of all teams, I loved it! IRS meanwhile was probably in the top 7 or so in ring workers in the company & was a very underrated heel. However despite being 3 of my favorites at this time, IRS smacked Typhoon with the briefcase & got him eliminated, then Earthquake, again I use this phrase, pulled a Bad News, bailing on his teammate. Had they been an actual cohesive unit, I would’ve ranked them higher, even despite losing.




68. Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, Bam Bam Bigelow (1987)
Terry & The Scrubs is what this team could’ve been called, as it’s sort of a bummer to see Hulk’s team compared to how awesome his opponents were. They made this team look like complete goofs, which, at one point, Hogan high fived I think Patera and the ref said it was a tag. Instead of just tagging Hogan back in to face Andre, Patera went on to get squashed. Only guy who I felt deserved to look strong in this match was Bigelow, who was getting a good push around this time. Looking back on it, it was bullshit, you had Hogan get counted out (never take a clean pin, always shenanigans), Bigelow fought off King Kong Bundy & One Man Gang, only to fall to Andre, which I get. What I hated was Hogan came back out, Andre bailed & we get a Hogan posedown to end the show. Bigelow as a complete afterthought. It’d be a running trend for Hogan, one I wouldn’t really recognize until I grew older. A big reason I was happy I was never a Hulkamaniac growing up.




67. The Spirit Squad (2006)
You’re damn right I have them this high up, why, because like it or not, I really enjoyed the Spirit Squad. All the guys (minus Mitch, who wasn’t in this match) could work very well, their teamwork was excellent & their gimmick made you want to punch them in the face, which meant it was working. Yes it’s a male cheerleader gimmick, but they were completely wasted in the DX feud. No way should they have won the feud, but it just seemed it went on FOREVER & all they did was get their asses kicked each & every time. Vince & Shane got more offense in on DX than all 5 Spirit Squad members did during their matches. Regardless, they were coming to an end of the road in this match as some would leave the WWE quickly, some would be pushed briefly & one would, over time, steal the show….and your girlfriend. And as of writing this, be stuck in a shitty storyline with a Russian dude & two leggy blondes.

Here we go, next 10, some of these I really had trouble placing because I really liked a few of them. Might be lower than they should be, but still.....


46. Randy Orton, Shelton Benjamin, William Regal, Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry (2008)
With the exception of his 2011 World Title run, my favorite Mark Henry heel run was when he was ECW champ. ECW-WE was a guilty pleasure show for me to watch, as a bunch of young dudes were mixed in with a couple older guys & despite the lack of storylines, for what it was, it was entertaining to me. Henry was a solid champ until he started having to feud with Kane & Big Show, ugh. William Regal’s run as IC champ & his strange pairing with Layla I thought was great as well. There’s not much Regal has done that’s unentertaining in his career & this time was no different. Shelton was a ping pong ball during this time, because towards about the last 2-3 years of his run, he bounced around from Smackdown & ECW, having a couple feuds & that was it. One of the best pure wrestlers they’ve had, but he wasn’t a good talker & lacked charisma IMO. Legacy was a very underrated trio (before Manu & Deuce were added), a group that I thought really benefitted Cody & Dibiase as well as making Orton look strong as a head of a faction. Despite Dibiase not being in this, Cody & Orton teamed incredibly well & were the two survivors.




45. Earthquake, Haku, Dino Bravo, Barbarian (1990)
I would’ve absolutely placed this team higher had the original member, Ravishing Rick Rude, not been replaced by Haku, who don’t get me wrong, is awesome, but c’mon, it’s Rude. Having him team with Quake, Bravo & Barbarian, especially to take on the team of Hogan, Duggan, Tugboat & Bossman, would’ve been great. To see Hogan get hit (and then no sell I’m sure) the Rude Awakening would be so awesome. Instead, we get the continuation of the Quake/Bravo feud with Hogan/Tugboat & Barbarian was there to fill the muscle dude spot. It was one of those missed opportunities because Rude left the WWF, but I would’ve liked to see the Bossman/Rude feud actually. He’s in my Top 10 all time favorite wrestlers, so Rude not in this match bummed me out, but even had he competed in this match, they wouldn’t have won sadly. Regardless, these 4 teamed well & The Natural Disasters team was one of my underrated favorites.




44. Seth Rollins, Rusev, Kane, Mark Henry, Luke Harper (2014)
I absolutely hated the fallout from this match, but the build wasn’t entirely awful. I’m ranking this team as high as I am because Rollins was absolutely on fire during this time (still is in terms of in ring wrestling), Rusev was destroying people & not made to look like a total boob. Kane was fine, boring, but fine. Luke Harper is a fucking machine. Then there was Mark Henry, who I could’ve done without, luckily he was eliminated quickly. So these remaining 4 were pretty strong, you had Rollins able to hide behind these 3 monsters, while picking apart the others. The ending of this match was so incredibly well done it was ultimately heartbreaking that they dropped the ball the way that they did. I know they tend to fuck things up more often than not, but this one really stuck with me, not just because it was this past year, but because it was a different finish with Ziggler going over on Rollins.




43. HHH, Edge, Batista, Gene Snitsky (2004)
Remember when Snitsky punted a toy baby? Remember when he caused Lita to have a miscarriage with Kane’s baby? Damn that’s some Days of Our Lives shit right there & not the bullshit Ziggler/Rusev/Lana/Summer dumb soap opera stuff today. How much more messed up could you make a guy right out of the gate? Perhaps the first bad decision on Snitsky was naming him Gene. I know it’s his real name, but there’s nothing about the name Gene that strikes fear into opponents. He had a good, psycho look to him and around this time he was new & still a beast. The foot fetish freak we’d know later wouldn’t be anywhere near this kind of match, so that’s a good thing at least. Edge was newly heel & about this time I’m sure he was helping Lita cheat on Matt Hardy. He wasn’t necessarily dirtbag Edge yet, but he was bitter heel Edge, which I was fine with. Batista was in the midst of breaking out from Evolution, but was being held back by Flair & Trips, you could see the dissention was forming between Batista & his running buddies, but he looked ridiculously strong in this. Trips I hated at this time, he was having World title reigns just for the sake of bumping up his overall number of reigns. Completely pointless. Great team though.




42. The Dudleyz & The Hardyz (2000)
It’s scary to think what the tag team division would be like in the WWF had it not been for the Hardyz, Dudleyz & Edge and Christian. All three revolutionized the division & were always the teams they could count on for great matches. When these four dudes teamed up in 2000, they were still both super over, but again, poor showings by Matt & D-Von, who were eliminated rather quickly by Edge & Christian. Ultimately Jeff Hardy survived, which was incredibly odd, because they weren’t tag champs, nor were they challenging for them soon (I looked it up, they did wrestle for them at Rebellion, the UK only PPV), so other than to just get the face pop, I can’t explain why they felt Jeff of all people needed to go over. Regardless, when you had Matt, Jeff, Bubba & D-Von all together as a team, that’s a strong team, especially when they were at their hottest.




41. IRS, Diesel, Rick Martel, Adam Bomb (1993)
This was the perfect 1993 team to me, ridiculous gimmicks, solid wrestlers & guys who I felt should’ve been pushed more as heels during this time where gimmicks ruled the world. IRS I’ve said before was a very underrated heel, who made this character absolutely work. His name was IRS & he was a tax man, yet, at least for me, I just saw him as a really good bad guy, doing his job to perfection. Same could be said for Rick Martel, who would take breaks from time to time & wouldn’t really get highlighted like he should’ve. The two guys I want in the WWE Hall of Fame are Rick Rude & Rick Martel, both are amazing athletes & with Martel, even with the Model gimmick, he was incredibly entertaining. Adam Bomb was the stupid, yet entertaining characters the mid 90s were based on. Was he ever going to win the title? Hell no, but whatever his character was, the guy from 3 Mile Island, I thought was good for what it was. On this night, Diesel was nowhere close to being Big Daddy Cool, he was just a dude in leather who was the bodyguard of HBK. He was less than a year removed from WCW, yet he didn’t look out of place at all. Really dug this heel team.




40. Batista, Rey Mysterio, JBL, Lashley, Randy Orton (2005)
Team Smackdown I preferred more in this match as it was a group of more established guys (Carlito & Masters on RAW were relatively new) as Orton came out this match looking like a stud, only to then run into Taker as the show drew to a close. Perhaps the most memorable image of this match to me was the Smackdown roster was celebrating with Orton in the ring & The Dicks (remember that team? No, it’s ok) had him raised up on their shoulders. That was a pretty fitting image for the time, because Orton himself, was a dick to most people. Back to the team, Batista was in the middle of cementing himself as the top face on Smackdown, while JBL was still a top heel. You had a young gun in Lashley, who fit right in with these guys. Then Rey, who, again, was healthy in November & was as popular as ever. I really dug this match & both teams were solid, I just liked Smackdown more.




39. HHH, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Kane (2007)
Apparently Matt Hardy was supposed to be on this team, but couldn’t compete due to “injury” at the time. I’m completely fine with that, because he would’ve been the 5th wheel on this one, as this team was pretty much to showcase Triple H & Jeff Hardy. Both Kane & Mysterio were eliminated relatively early, but the reason I put this team so high was because of the absolute dominant performance by Trips & Hardy. They were at a 5 on 2 disadvantage & ran through their entire opposition. This was during the time where Triple H was slumming it on Smackdown, during a time, where I really enjoyed him. I was always a bigger fan of Smackdown in terms of wrestling, so he was having some pretty darn good matches as champion on that brand (minus the Great Khali feud). This was also the time where Jeff Hardy could be called the most over guy in the company. He was absolutely on fire during this time & would be a month away from winning the World title. Could be the most dominant performance by a two man team in history.
******Apparently I was completely off & was a year off of everything I thought happened. Triple H was on Raw still, Hardy was IC champ & a year away from winning the World title. Oh well, still a rad team & quite frankly, I wrote this up & don't want to re-write another one.******




38. Brock Lesnar, Big Show, Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones, A-Train (2003)
This could be the biggest hoss team in Survivor Series history. While Nathan Jones & Matt Morgan’s WWE runs was a complete bust, they were visually impressive when they came in as Heyman’s Henchmen, but aside from that, they contributed absolutely nothing. Jones left the company a week or so later saying the travel was what made him quit. Meanwhile you had Matt Morgan, who had a lot more potential than Jones did, kind of get shafted during this run, because he was a henchman, nothing else. Then again, so was A-Train, but he was a more established henchman. Sadly A-Train was terrible in this match, lasting less than a minute. Pretty much Brock & Show carried this team, as Show, despite being pretty out of shape for the time, was the new US champ & had just destroyed Eddie Guerrero for the title. Then you had WWE Champ Lesnar, who was in the middle of having a pretty unforgettable heel run. I never really bought the 2nd Brock heel turn. This team however, in terms of visually, could be one of the best, but in terms of overall performance, eh, not so much.




37. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim, Hercules (1988)
Let’s face it, this was a 2 man team. They could’ve put The Mega Powers against all 5 other dudes & they both would’ve survived. Hillbilly Jim & Koko were doing absolutely nothing at this point and were just there to fill the role of gimmick guys. Hercules actually sort of had some reasoning to be in this match, as he was in a little feud with Ted Dibiase, so you could explain that at least. This was, yet again, the Hogan show, only this time; it was also Randy Savage as well. I loved the Mega Powers as a kid, Macho Man was my guy & I really started watching wrestling as a kid a few years after this. So when I discovered The Mega Powers, my mind blew up as a child. The pure awesomeness of the two biggest stars in the company was great. Only thing that annoyed the shit out of me watching this again, was Savage got the shit beat out of him, Hogan un-cuffs himself with help of Elizabeth, then makes the save for the win. My annoyance of Hogan put aside, seeing the Mega Powers together was great, so they get the bump.

Next 10 coming probably on Tuesday, depends on how boring RAW gets. Who am I kidding, next 10 will definitely be on Tuesday.

36. Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Maven (2004)
This team, for the most part, was a 3 man team, as Maven had gotten his ass kicked prior to the match by Snitsky, but he made it down to the ring eventually…..only to get beaten up again by Snitsky. Only other disappointment of this team was Benoit, who, despite having a great World title run earlier in the year, was the first one eliminated off his team, just 7 minutes into this thing. So pretty much Jericho & Orton were the ones fighting for their team. Orton of course was meant to look like the star in this one, despite his title reign being totally shit upon by Triple H a few months prior. This should’ve been a higher ranked team, but 2 of the 4 guys had poor showings. Can’t give them anymore help.




35. Edge, Randy Orton, Johnny Nitro, Mike Knox, Gregory Helms (2006)
Mike Knox had one good thing going for him, he had 19 year old smoking hot Kelly Kelly as his girlfriend. He lasted I think 10 seconds tops in this match in a pretty funny spot with HBK hitting Sweet Chin Music & asking if the ref had even started the match. It was an odd, but high profile spot for Gregory Helms, who didn’t really look out of place in this match at all, except for the fact that his heel character was as generic as it gets (his titantron is historic for being the best/worst titantron ever, watch that shit immediately). Nitro was still going strong in the IC title picture with Melina by his side, teamed very well with Rated RKO, the best heels on the Raw roster during this time. I really enjoyed the Edge & Orton team, they were great dickheads on their own, but together, it was even better. Overall this team for the most part was great, but their opponents, like I’ve said quite a few times before, were on a whole other level of awesome during this time.




34. Nation of Domination (1997)
Faarooq, D’Lo Brown, Kama Mustafa & the newly named Rock. Right before this time the now former Rocky Maivia had changed his name to The Rock & the rest is history. I loved the Nation of Domination during this time, sure as hell liked them more than the D.O.A. & Los Boricuas and the 4 man group was my favorite because Mark Henry & Owen hadn’t come into the picture yet. Don’t get me wrong, I liked them in the group, I just thought the 4 man group was stronger. The Rock really started getting going during this time & it wouldn’t be until a month or two later where he’d start moving Faarooq out of the leader role. Faarooq was still the talker, so Rock would only get to throw in a couple jabs here & there, which was fine at the time. Kama & D’Lo were great backup before they started actually getting characters of their own.




33. Razor Ramon, 123 Kid, British Bulldog, Fatu, Sionne (1994)
The good guy team was named The Bad Guys & I really did like this team, unfortunately, they all ran into a fucking truck named Diesel & the night belonged to him. We’ll get to them later, but for this team, the Kid & Razor had become buddies, so they teamed well. Bulldog was back in the picture with his new long hair that always kind of creeped me out. Then you have Fatu & new Headshrinker Sionne, who, I loved they never even mentioned was previously The Barbarian. I mean it had only been 2 years & I know he wasn’t super memorable, but on the other hand, Barbarian was a decent heel from 88 til 92. Going from a beard to a goatee & a name change isn’t enough for even a young kid like me to not know it was him. C’mon Vince, give the fans a little credit, you weren’t a dick yet, at least not on TV. Anyways, this was a good team, but they never stood a chance.




32. Big Bossman, Akeem, Ted Dibiase, Haku, Red Rooster (1988)
One of these things is not like the other……looking at you Red Rooster. I don’t know what Vince was thinking when one, making Terry Taylor the Red Rooster (Caw…Caw…Caaawwww) and two, making him heel & putting him with the best manager in the history of the business, Bobby Heenan. I know, gives him instant credibility being associated with top heels, but man, when you cluck, you’re fucked. It’s not like Terry Taylor is a bad wrestler, if anything, he’s underrated, but this gimmick screwed him over from the start. He went with it, to his credit, but damn. On the contrary, you look at the One Man Gang, make him the African Dream, you’d assume it’d be stupid, but it’s one of my all time favorite characters from the 80s. The Twin Towers were an incredibly underrated team, who did amazingly well for the time they were together, but I thought they should’ve been tag champs at some point (not Andre & Haku). Haku you could always rely on for putting on solid matches & it doesn’t hurt being the toughest wrestler ever. Bossman was a beast, but it did seem like Ted Dibiase was a complete afterthought on this team. He was feuding with Hercules, big whoop. Giant step back from feuding for the WWF title. The way Bossman was eliminated was a joke, counted out for handcuffing Savage? Akeem’s elimination was an even bigger joke, eliminated for double teaming Savage. What a bullshit way for Savage & Hogan to survive. A running trend for the Hulkster.




31. Cody Rhodes, Goldust, The Usos, Rey Mysterio (2013)
Probably asking yourself, what the hell are you doing ranking a team with Mysterio on it from 2013? Answer is simple, everyone BUT him on this team was fantastic during this time. The Rhodes Brothers team was a personal favorite of mine, one that didn’t go nearly as long as it should, but damn was it fun while it lasted. Their rivalry vs The Shield made them red hot & add the Usos to the mix; it was a fantastic team, with one exception. It always seemed like Rey was healthy in November & December, outside of that, he was always hurt. Despite that, 4 out of the 5 on this team I was a huge fan of at the time (I’ve cooled on the Usos), had they had an awesome #5 on this team, I don’t see why I couldn’t have bumped them up a few spots more.




30. Miz, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger (2009)
Say what you want about these guys now, but in 2009, this was a very impressive young gun team. Swagger was still fresh on the Raw brand, pre-MITB win & eventual World title run. Ziggler was solid on Smackdown, having just dumped Maria (stupid move). Sheamus was absolutely slaughtering guys & was the fresh destroyer coming over from ECW & the following month would win the WWE title. McIntyre hadn’t been completely ruined yet & was still The Chosen One. Then The Miz, who was team captain & was in the process of outshining John Morrison after their breakup. 4 out of 5 guys on this team would go on to hold the WWE or World Heavyweight titles & on this night they teamed amazingly well & you could tell they had young guys to work off of in the future. Did they all pan out? No & that’s unfortunate that WWE dropped the ball, but on this night, they were an incredibly entertaining team. Definitely go back & check this team out, because they totally outclass their opponents.




29. Randy Savage, Dino Bravo, Greg Valentine, Canadian Earthquake (1989)
Macho King Randy Savage was a fantastic heel & having Sherri by his side was even better. Granted I know Savage & Elizabeth were awesome in their own right, but I really feel Savage & Sherri’s heel run together is overlooked, they were amazing. Then you had Dino Bravo, who, at that time, desperately needed a boost to his character & would get one in the newly dubbed Canadian Earthquake (subbing for the Widow Maker Barry Windham, who bailed), who was one of my all time favorite big men in wrestling. He moved around incredibly well & was a friggin’ monster, especially when he first came in & annihilated everybody. The guy sat on his opponents chest as his finisher for God sake, unless your name was Hulk Hogan, no one was getting up from that. Despite the odd pairing of Savage & these three, they all were fantastic together as a team. Only Valentine had to eat a stupid clothesline by Duggan, but other than that, Bravo, Quake & Savage all survived. Completely outclassed & outmatched their opponents, which wasn’t hard, since it was captained by Duggan (sorry Hitman).




28. Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, British Bulldog, Sycho Sid (1995)
I miss the days when Ahmed Johnson was this powerhouse in the ring, didn’t talk much, just beat up other power guys like Bulldog & Yokozuna. That lasted until mid 1996, then he started in with the injuries & they gave him a microphone for promos & you would need subtitles to understand him. During his first year in the WWF though, he wasn’t bad at all & teaming him with established guys like this, only helped him out. He put on a strong showing, surviving & looked like he could pose as backup to Shawn Michaels if needed in the future. Sycho Sid did what he did best at this time, beat the shit out of Shawn. Bulldog as a heel with Cornette managing him was my favorite, he was hilarious jumping up & down with him like they had just won the World title after they survived. Pretty good Team #1 in the awkward, yet very entertaining Wild Card match of 95. Which leads me to……




27. Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, Dean Douglas (1995)
The losing team of said Wild Card match, yet the team I found more entertaining of the two. Dean Douglas was one of many who got dicked over by the Kliq, but during his time in the WWF, his feud with Razor brought on some good matches, so teaming them together was pretty entertaining for sure. Add to that the always awesome team of Yoko & Owen and you have Razor pretty much on the outside looking in, which I felt was great storytelling. How could Razor trust his teammates? How could they trust Razor? Ultimately they couldn’t as Razor would lead to Douglas being eliminated, again, burying Douglas quickly in the match, but for the time it lasted in this match, it was great. I wish they would do a Wild Card match again, but I don’t think it’ll ever happen.