Wrestling / Survivor Series

"Teams of five strive to survive."

—The Tagline of Survivor Series 88.

Survivor Series is WWE's annual November pay-per-view event. It is one of the "Big Five" events, along with WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank and SummerSlam, as it is one of the original four pay-per-views produced by WWE.

Survivor Series is the second longest running pay-per-view event in WWE history, behind WrestleMania. The first Survivor Series, held in 1987, came on the heels of the incredible success of WrestleMania III, as the WWF began to see the lucrative potential of the pay-per-view market.

The event is usually characterized by having five on five (or sometimes four on four or six man) Tag Team elimination matches. These matches are generally referred to simply as "traditional Survivor Series matches". But the catch to Survivor Series is to be the sole survivor or survivors meaning that there is an elimination element to the match.

"Tropes of five strive to survive":

• Alliterative Title: Survivor Series.
• All or Nothing: The "winner takes all" match between Team WWF and Team Alliance in 2001, which marked the end of The InVasion Angle, and even led the PPV to have the tagline "All or Nothing". The Rock of Team WWF pinned "Stone Cold" Steve Austin of The Alliance in order to win the match and save the WWF.
• The Artifact: In 2009, WWE introduced a PPV called Bragging Rights that was about brand warfare - centred around Raw vs. SmackDown matches. It even featured a big multi-brand tag match, making Survivor Series rather redundant as a result.^note There were even rumors of Survivor Series being retired for good because of this, but regardless of whether it was true or not, fan revolt at the reports killed it. But with the brand split getting dissolved in 2011, Bragging Rights was abandoned. Since the split being reinstated, the Bragging Rights concept and scoreboard has been incorporated into Survivor Series itself.
• Artifact Title: Survivor Series originally revolved entirely around elimination style 8-man tag team matches, which gradually decreased in use until you'd be lucky to have one traditional SS match on the card, putting its titular match in the same "attraction surrounded by other things" ballpark as the Royal Rumble.
• The Bad Guy Wins: While admittedly an Overly Narrow Superlative, as it was only WWE's fifth PPV at that point, André the Giant's team winning in the main event of the first Survivor Series was the first time a Heel had won in the main event.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: This is usually played straight, but there have been occasional aversions:
  • 2000: During a match between Lita and Ivory, the former suffered a nasty cut above the eye and bled heavily throughout the match.
  • 2002: Victoria ended up with a bloody nose during her hardcore match with Trish Stratus.
• Big Damn Heroes: Sting to Team Cena in 2014.
• Big "WHAT?!": Jerry Lawler let loose one for the ages when Sting showed up at the end of the 2014 main event.
• Black Dude Dies First: Or in this case, the non-lethal variant of Black Dude Gets Eliminated First:
  • Butch Reed, via Hogan, in the Team Hulk^note (Hulk Hogan/Paul Orndorff/Don Muraco/Ken Patera/Bam Bam Bigelow)-Team Andre^note (Andre/The One Man Gang/King Kong Bundy/Reed/"Ravishing" Rick Rude) match, 1987.
  • Zeus, via DQ, in the Hulkamaniacs^note Hogan/Jake "The Snake" Roberts/Demolition vs. the Million Dollar Team^note "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase/Zeus/The Powers of Pain [The Warlord and The Barbarian] match, 1989.
  • Koko B. Ware, via The Undertaker, in the Dream Team^note Dusty Rhodes/Koko/The Hart Foundation [Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart] vs. the Million Dollar Team^note DiBiase/Undertaker/Rhythm & Blues [Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine] match, 1990.
  • Bobby Lashley, via Shawn Michaels, in the Team SmackDown^note [John "Bradshaw" Layfield JBL]]/Randy Orton/Batista/Rey Mysterio/Lashley vs. Team Raw^note (Michaels/Kane/Big Show/Carlito/Chris Masters) match, 2005.
  • Ron Simmons, via countout, in the Team Flair^note Ric Flair/Simmons/Dusty Rhodes/Sgt. Slaughter-Spirit Squad^note (Kenny [Ken Doane aka Kenny Dykstra]/Nicky [Nick Nemeth aka Dolph Ziggler]/Johnny [Jeter]/Mikey [Mike Mondo] match, 2006.
  • JTG of Cryme Tyme, via MVP, in the Team Shawn Michaels^note Michaels/Mysterio/The Great Khali/Cryme Tyme [Shad Gaspard and JTG]-Team Bradshaw^note JBL/The Miz/John Morrison/Kane/MVP [Montel Vontavious Porter] match, 2008.
  • Mark Henry, via Randy Orton, in the Team Kofi Kingston-Team Randy Orton match (see Token White below), 2009 and again in the Team Cena-Team Authority match, 2014. It should be worth noting that in the latter, he got eliminated by a single punch by the Big Show.
  • At the 2009 Divas match, Layla (who isn't exactly black) was the first to be eliminated.
  • MVP, via Drew McIntyre, in the Team Mysterio^note (Rey/The Big Show/Kofi Kingston/MVP/Chris Masters)-Team Del Rio^note (Alberto Del Rio/Drew McIntyre/Cody Rhodes/Jack Swagger/Tyler Reks) match, 2010.
  • The 2013 'Total Divas vs True Divas' match actually had the first two eliminations from both teams be Alicia Fox and Cameron respectively. And the next elimination was the Latina Rosa Mendes.
  • The New Day was the very first losing team in the 2017 event thanks to The Shield.
• Book Ends: The Undertaker began his WWE career on the November 22, 1990 event. Exactly thirty years later, at the 2020 event, he made his final farewell to the WWE Universe.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak:
  • Triple H was consistently winless in this event since his debut in 1995 until he defeated Ric Flair at the 2005 event in a Last Man Standing Match.
  • Randy Orton was Sole Survivor from 2003-2005 until Team D-Generation X ^note Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, and CM Punk beat his team in a Flawless Victory at the 2006 event.
  • Brock Lesnar was consistently winless at this event since his debut in 2002 until he defeated AJ Styles in 2017.
  • John Cena never lost a match at this event until 2012, thanks to The Shield making their debut during the WWE Championship Triple Threat Match he was on.
  • The 2018 event saw Charlotte Flair losing to Ronda Rousey by disqualification. Until this match, Charlotte was undefeated at this event since her debut in 2015. Conversely, Alexa Bliss scores her first win by proxy^note She did not compete due to injury of being The Captain of RAW's Women's team. Until this match, Alexa was winless at this event since her debut in 2016.
  • Goldberg hasn't lost at this event since his debut.
• The Cameo:
  • ECW's The Public Enemy lost to the Smoking Gunns in a dark (non-televised) match before Survivor Series 1995.
  • An involutary one on WWE's part, but in 2018, former WWE wrestler Enzo Amore went to sit in the front row and did his old "My name is Enzo Amore" bit before being dragged out by security and getting himself banned from the Staples Center for the foreseeable future as a result.
• The Chew Toy:
  • Triple H was winless at this event until 2005, and has only won thrice more (in 2006, 2007 and 2017) ever since.
  • Brock Lesnar hadn't won at all until 2017.
  • Lita did not have much luck at Survivor Series, and 2006 was especially unlucky for her, as she lost her retirement match.
• Cool vs. Awesome: The 2017 edition had The Shield vs. The New Day, and boy, did it deliver.
• Crossover: The Heavenly Bodies ("The Doctor of Desire" Tom Prichard and "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray, w/Jim Cornette) d. SMW Tag Team Champions The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) for the titles at Survivor Series 1993.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Divas match at the 2014 show saw none of the faces being eliminated from their team.
• David Versus Goliath:
  • Inverted, as Batista d. Rey Mysterio. in 2009.
  • Inverted twice in 2017. Statuesque Stunner Charlotte Flair d. The Napoleon Alexa Bliss, while Brock Lesnar d. AJ Styles. Charlotte was the Face on her match, though.
  • Inverted in 2018, again by Brock Lesnar, this time by defeating Daniel Bryan. In a strange example, this is an Evil Versus Evil match.
  • Inverted in 2019, yet again by Brock Lesnar, this time by defeating Rey Mysterio to retain his WWE Championship.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • The following have all been in main events at Survivor Series who normally would not have had that opportunity: Hillbilly Jim, Koko B. Ware (1988), Paul Roma (1990), Carlito and Chris Masters (2005).
  • The 2008 and 2009 Divas matches saw perpetual Jobber Jillian Hall getting to PPV for some of the only times in her career.
• Debut Queue:
  • The Undertaker in 1990, Rocky Maivia (later The Rock) in 1996, Kurt Angle in 1999, Jazz in 2001, The Shield (both the group and its individual members) in 2012, and technically Sting in 2014 are notable examples.
  • The Elimination Chamber in 2002.
  • The Gobbledy Gooker in 1990, though? Not so much.
• Dueling Shows: The kayfabe Raw and SmackDown! rivalry was often brought to the forefront at Survivor Series during the Brand Extension era, moreso than on any other pay per view. At the 2005 installment even the announcers were at each other's throats, spending more time insulting one another than commentating the final match (but it was admittedly hilarious to listen to regardless). During the second Brand Expansion, the storylines of both programs come to a pause in order to focus on the rivalry in the weeks before the show only for regular service to resume immediately after the card ends.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Survivor Series was intended to be a Thanksgiving tradition, with the first eight shows taking place on Thanksgiving Day or Eve. After 1995, this was abandoned.
  • The first editions of the event had only traditional elimination matches on the card.
• Enemy Mine: This is common in SmackDown! vs Raw Survivor Series matches, where teams may consist of both Faces and Heels.
• Evil Versus Evil: On a few occasions.
  • Played With during the Main Event of the 1997 event. Both defending WWF champion Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were Heels at the time, but the event took place in Canada which Bret and all the other Harts are treated as Faces by default. Retroactively, however, he is universally regarded as the face in the match.
  • The final moments of the 2008 Divas match between the Raw and Smackdown women came down to Beth Phoenix and Maryse - the top heels on their respective brands.
  • During 2017, Baron Corbin (the then-United States Champion) fought The Miz (the then-Intercontinental Champion), along with The Miztourage. Both were high-profile Heels.
  • The Main Event of the 2018 event features WWE champion Daniel Bryan and Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, both of whom are Heels (although the former was freshly turned).
  • In 2019 NXT was added to the mix, and an Evil vs Evil vs Evil match took place; United States Champion AJ Styles vs Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs North American Champion Roderick Strong.
  • The 2020 event features Bobby Lashley (the United States Champion) representing The Hurt Business, and Sami Zayn (the Intercontinental champion).
  • The 2021 event features Becky Lynch (Raw Women's Champion) and Charlotte Flair (SmackDown Women's Champion).
• Face/Heel Double-Turn:
  • The Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian) and Demolition, respectively in 1988.
  • The Rock and Mankind, respectively, in a rehash of the Montreal Screwjob in 1998. Mankind eventually won his WWF Championship on the January 4th edition of RAW, the same night as the infamous Tony Schiavone "butts in seats" quip and the Fingerpoke Of Doom on WCW Monday Nitro.
• Flawless Victory:
  • "The Visionaries" (Rick Martel, Warlord, Hercules, and Paul Roma) swept "The Vipers" (Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) in 1990, the first team to do so.
  • Team D-Generation X swept Team Rated-RKO in the 2006 event.
  • In the 2014 event, a traditional Divas match had the face team (Naomi, Natalya, Alicia Fox and Emma) win without any eliminations on their side.
  • The 2016 main event features Goldberg destroying Brock Lesnar in under two minutes.
  • The 2020 event has Team Raw (AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, Keith Lee, Riddle, Sheamus) defeated Team SmackDown (Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, King Corbin, Otis, and Seth Rollins) without a single Raw superstar eliminated.
• Foreshadowing: The Ruthless Aggression Era famously gave previews/teasers of storylines heading to that season's WrestleMania.
  • Events leading to the 2002 event is where Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho first crossed paths.
  • The 2003 dropped several hints for the upcoming WrestleMania XX; from emphasis over Chris Benoit's submission prowess by making him one of his team's only two survivors alongside John Cena (he would win the World Heavyweight Championship at WM XX by making champion Triple H tap out), the rising tension between Cena and Big Show (Cena would go on to challenge Show at WM XX' for the latter's United States Championship and win it) and, most overly, Goldberg interrupting Brock Lesnar's interview (beginning their feud that would lead to their infamously poorly-received WM XX match, after which neither man would step into a WWE ring for years), and Kane interfering in The Undertaker's Buried Alive match (after which Taker would take a leave of absence, only for him to return at WM XX with his supernatural gimmick and defeat Kane).
  • The 2004 event featured Kurt Angle boldly declaring (to Edge) that he could make Shawn Michaels tap out. He would make good on that promise the following WrestleMania.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: When the teams aren't five man/bad bands.
• The Giant: Team Lesnar ^note (Brock Lesnar, Big Show, A-Train, Matt Morgan, and Nathan Jones) were hyped up as the physically largest team in Survivor Series history. Opinions on the team members may vary, but arguably most of them qualify for this trope. Despite which, they fell to a relatively smaller team consisting of Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Bradshaw, Hardcore Holly and John Cena.
• Gimmick Matches: In addition to the usual traditional Survivor Series matches, there's also these examples:
  • 1992 saw the Big Bossman defeat Nailz in a "Nightstick on a pole match," and The Undertaker d. Kamala in a casket match.
  • Mr. Bob Backlund (w/Owen Hart) d. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart for the title in a "submission" match, and Undertaker d. Yokozuna in a casket match in 1994 with Chuck Norris as the special guest enforcer.
  • 2022 saw a new main gimmick match for the event: The WarGames match used in NXT for 5 years until the event was discontinued in 2022.
• Grand Finale:
  • 1990 saw the "Grand Finale of Survival", where all the surviving faces teamed up against all of the surviving heels from the previous matches. Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior and Tito Santana d. Ted DiBiase and the Visionaries (Rick Martel, the Warlord and Power and Glory [Hercules and Paul Roma]), with Hogan and Warrior surviving.
  • 2001's main event served as one for The In Vasion Angle.
  • 2014's match between Team John Cena and Team Authority was one for The Authority storyline. Or so it was believed.
  • The 2020 event featured the retirement ceremony of The Undertaker.
• History Repeats:
  • Big Show won the WWE championship at this event twice (his first and second, in 1999 and 2002, respectively).
  • Several wrestlers were the Sole Survivor more than once, namely; The Ultimate Warrior (1988-90), Ric Flair (1991 and 2006), The Rock (1996 and 2001), Randy Orton (2003-2005), Dolph Ziggler (2012 and 2014), and Roman Reigns (2013 and 2019).
  • Charlotte Flair has entered this event as a Women's Champion since her main roster debut in 2015.
  • Randy Orton defeated Shawn Michaels three times in this event (2003, 2005, and 2007). The first two in the traditional elimination match in which he was the Sole Survivor and the latter in a one-on-one match for the WWE Championship.
  • A member of the famed Anoa'i clan won their first WWE Championships in a Tournament Arc (The Rock in 1998, Roman Reigns in 2015), beating an iconic Garbage Wrestler who they worked closely with at different points in their careers in the finals (Mankind and Dean Ambrose, respectively).
• Justified Title: The 1998, 2002, 2022, and 2023 events didn't have the traditional 5-on-5 tag team matches, but the Tournament Arc for the vacant WWF title (1998), the debut of the Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight title (2002), and the main roster introduction of the WarGames match (2022 and 2023) emphasized the theme of "Survival". In the case of the 2022 and 2023 events, they were even subtitled WarGames to reflect this.
• Mêlée à Trois: The 2019 event was a three-way fight between RAW, SmackDown and NXT. This was incorporated into the matches of the night, with representatives from all three brands being involved in Triple Threat matches.^note A ten-Tag Team battle royale featuring three-four teams from each brand, a Cruiserweight Championship match featuring Akira Tozawa (RAW), Kalisto (SmackDown) and Lio Rush (NXT) and each brands' Tag Team champions (The Viking Raiders, the New Day and the Undisputed Era, respectively) on the pre-show, with the main show featuring three-team elimination matches for both the men and the women as well as matches for both the midcard champions (US Champion AJ Styles, Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong) and the Women's Champions (Becky Lynch, Bayley and Shayna Baszler). The upper card champions were exempt from this, instead having title defenses against wrestlers from their own brands.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: The InVasion story line and the editions of this PPV revolving around Brand Supremacy feature teams that consist of both Heels and Faces duking it out and acting accordingly depending on circumstances and narrative.
• Near-Villain Victory: Team Cena vs. Team Authority in 2014. Dolph Ziggler was making his last stand the betrayal of the Big Show had reduced his team to just him. Everytime he tried to get an edge over Seth Rollins, Triple H would take out a referee. When Zigger kicked out of a pin by a crooked ref, Trips Pedigreed him and laid Rollins arm for the victory. When all seemed lost...the Stinger appeared.
• Non-Indicative Name: At Survivor Series 1994, Razor Ramon captained the Bad Guys ^note (Razor/The 1-2-3 Kid/Davey Boy Smith/the Headshrinkers [Fatu [Rikishi] and Sionne [The Barbarian]), who were actually the Faces. The name is a reference to Ramon's nickname and was an Artifact Title by then.
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain:
  • The final two men in the inaugural Elimination Chamber match in 2002 were then World Heavyweight Champion Triple H and his (at the time) estranged Big Brother Mentor Shawn Michaels.
  • 2005's event had two: first is a match between established WWE star Trish Stratus, and rookie valet Melina, then between Living Legend Ric Flair and the (then) still-in-his-prime Triple H.
  • 2006 featured Team Legends^note Ric Flair, Sgt. Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes, and Ron Simmons vs. The Spirit Squad.
  • 2007 featured veteran challenger Shawn Michaels vs. arrogant young WWE Champion Randy Orton.
  • 2009 featured Living Legend The Undertaker defending his World Heavyweight Title in a Triple-Threat Match against Big Show and Chris Jericho, both of whom are younger than him by more-or-less half a decade.
  • 2015 featured The Undertaker and Kane versus The Wyatt Family.
  • 2016 featured Goldberg (b. 1966) versus Brock Lesnar (b. 1977).
  • 2019 featured Rey Mysterio (b. 1974) versus Brock Lesnar (b. 1977) and Daniel Bryan (b. 1981) versus "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt (b. 1987).
• One-Hit Kill: Tito Santana's Flying Forearm at Survivor Series 1990. In the match between the Alliance ^note (Nikolai Volkoff/Tito/The Bushwhackers) and the Mercenaries ^note (Sgt. Slaughter/Boris Zhukov/The Orient Express [Akio Sato and Pat Tanaka]), Tito took out Boris with it a mere 48 seconds into the match. In the Grand Finale match described above, he took out the Warlord with it 28 seconds into the match.
• Party Scheduling Gambit: The first aired on Thanksgiving Night 1987, the same night as the NWA's first PPV, Starrcade. Vince forced the PPV companies of the time to choose between either Survivor Series or Starrcade. Most chose Survivor Series, likely because of the WWF's star power.
• Player Elimination: In-universe. The series is focused on large scale tag team matches, usually 4 or 5 men to a team, and unlike regular tag matches, a fall eliminates the one it occurred to rather than ending the match in one fall, with the goal being to eliminate the entire opposing team.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Survivor Series 1999 featured wrestling porn star Val Venis leading his team of "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry, wrestling vampire Gangrel and martial arts expert "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman to victory over The British Bulldog and the Mean Street Posse.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Hardcore Holly to Brock Lesnar at the 2003 PPV. This actually led to him being disqualified (and therefore eliminated) before the match had even really started.
• Santa Claus: Showed up to celebrate Bret's win over Shawn in the main event of Survivor Series 1992, and Lex Luger being the sole survivor in the All-Americans^note Luger/The Undertaker/The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott)-Foreign Fanatics^note Yokozuna/Ludvig Borga/Crush/Quebecer Jacques match at Survivor Series 1993.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The Tournament Arc for the 2015 event was ruined when Sheamus cashed in his Money in the Bank. Triple H also assisted him, continuing The Authority’s unending reign of terror.
• Sole Survivor:
  • André the Giant is the Ur-Example, being the sole survivor for his team against Hulk Hogan's team in the main event of the first Survivor Series in 1987.
  • The Ultimate Warrior may be the Trope Maker, as he was the sole survivor for his team for three straight years in a row (1988-90.)
  • Hulk Hogan and Mr. Perfect in 1989.
  • Played with in 1990. That year was a Tournament Arc of teams and Ted DiBiase. Hulk Hogan, and Tito Santana were this in their elimination rounds. However, Hogan and Warrior were the last two standing in the finals.
  • Ric Flair in both 1991 and 2006.
  • Lex Luger in 1993.
  • Razor Ramon in 1994.
  • Aja Kong and The 1-2-3 Kid in 1995.
  • Bart Gunn in 1996.
  • The Rock in 1996 and 2001.
  • The Interrogator, The British Bulldog, and Ken Shamrock in 1997.
  • Hardcore Holly in 1999. Big Show also competed in a 1-on-4 Handicap Match which he won.
  • Jeff Hardy in 2000.
  • John Cena in 2003, thanks to Canon Discontinuity^note He and Chris Benoit were the survivors in that event, but ever since Benoit became persona non-grata after his Pater Familicide in 2007, WWE blatantly refers to Cena as the Sole Survivor.
  • Randy Orton in 2003-2005.
  • Beth Phoenix in 2008.
  • Kofi Kingston in 2009.
  • Dolph Ziggler pulled this off in both 2012 and 2014 (the latter with some help from Sting).
  • Roman Reigns in both 2013 and 2019.
  • Asuka in 2017.
  • Nia Jax in 2018.
  • Lana in 2020.
  • Seth Rollins and Bianca Belair in 2021.
• Spanish Announcers' Table: The Ur-Example of the table getting destroyed took place at the 1995 edition, when Diesel threw Bret Hart through it.
• Squash Match:
  • The first shutout was in 1990, when the Visionaries ^note (Rick Martel/The Warlord/Power and Glory [Hercules and Paul Roma]) d. the Vipers ^note (Jake Roberts/Jimmy Snuka/The Rockers [Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty]), with all four of the Visionaries surviving.
  • The most unlikely example happened in 1994. The opening match was the Bad Guys (see Non-Indicative Name above) vs. the Teamsters ^note (Shawn Michaels/Diesel/Owen Hart/Jim Neidhart/Jeff Jarrett). Diesel had eliminated the 1-2-3 Kid and the Headshrinkers, and Davey Boy had been counted out, leaving Razor in the unenviable position of having to fight five guys all by himself. Then Shawn and Diesel started fighting and the entire heel team followed them, thus marking the one and only time in Survivor Series history where an entire team had been counted out.
  • The fastest example was in 1999, when Big Show, after beating up his intended partners The Blue Meanie and Kaientai (Taka Michinoku and Shoichi Funaki) backstage, singlehandedly defeated the Big Bossman's entire team (Prince Albert, Mideon, and Viscera), with Bossman taking the hint and getting himself counted out, in a mere 1:27.
  • Perhaps the most notable of Survivor Series sweeps would be in 2006, when Team D-Generation X ^note (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, and Matt Hardy) defeated Team Rated RKO ^note (Randy Orton, Edge, Gregory Helms, Johnny Nitro, and Mike Knox). Given the level of talent and cult popularity on the DX team, it's no wonder that this was the first five-man Survivor Series team to sweep their opposition. The Philadelphia crowd also made their voices heard, and surprised the wrestling world in the pre-match promo by chanting for Punk during DX's catchphrases.
  • Goldberg annihilating Brock Lesnar in less than two minutes at the 2016 event.
• Sudden Downer Ending: 2003's Team Austin vs Team Bischoff match suddenly ended with Team Bischoff winning^note For some context: After Team Austin lost three members in a row, Shawn Michaels remained the sole Team Austin member facing a 3-on-1 disadvantage against Team Bischoff's remaining members Christian, Chris Jericho, and Randy Orton. Nonetheless, Michaels went on a tear, eliminating Christian and Jericho, only for Orton's Evolution stablemate Batista to interfere and attack him with a Batista Bomb, allowing Orton the final pin. — meaning that Stone Cold was officially out of WWE for good. And this retirement has stuck, save for his occasional one-off reappearances.
• Team Killer: In worst case scenarios, in-fighting have resulted in the quarreling members to eliminate each other outright.
• Team Spirit: At best.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • In many occasions when Enemy Mine just won't work. Can sometimes tear teams apart.
  • In the 1995 edition, they had a "Wild Card" Survivor Series contest where faces and heels made up teams at random. It worked about as well as expected.
  • A few events in the 2000s would have Raw vs Smackdown themed matches with faces and heels teaming together. This concept was revived in 2016 with the brand split being reinstated.
• Thanksgiving Episode: From 1987-1990, the show always aired on Thanksgiving, and from 1991-1994, it aired on the night before Thanksgiving. With the rise of the Monday Night Wars, the show, like most PPVs, was moved to Sundays.
• Token Evil Teammate/Token Good Teammate: On a few occasions.
• Token White: Christian, on Team Kingston ^note (Kofi Kingston/Mark Henry/R-Truth/Montel Vontavious Porter) in their successful match against the all-white Team Orton ^note (Randy Orton/CM Punk/William Regal/Cody Rhodes/Ted DiBiase Jr.) at Survivor Series 2009. Played for Laughs when Christian pointed out his minority status... by saying he was the sole Canadian and from ECW. Everyone else took it in stride.
  Christian: Team Kofi Kingston/looking for a Fight/Four of us is black/and one of us is white!
• Tournament Arc:
  • Survivor Series 1998, where The Rock defeated Mankind in a rehashing of the Montreal Screwjob for the vacated WWE World Heavyweight Title
  • Survior Series 2015 became this due to Seth Rollins's injury forcing him to vacate the championship.
• We ARE Struggling Together: There are cases when in-fighting between team members causes their downfall.
• Wham Episode:
  • The 1997 event, which ended with the Montreal Screwjob.
  • The 1998 event had The Rock winning his first ever WWE championship but making a Face–Heel Turn to join The Corporation.
  • The 2003 event had The Undertaker being buried alive by Kane and Stone Cold losing his Raw GM position.
  • The 2014 event had the WWE debut of Sting.
  • The tail end of the 2023 event had the return of CM Punk.