The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically features teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. Stipulations have sometimes been attached to these matches, such as members of the losing team being fired. Since WWE reintroduced the brand extension in 2016, Survivor Series has centered around competition between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands for brand supremacy; NXT was also involved in the competition in 2019.
The first Survivor Series, held in 1987,[1] came on the heels of the success of WrestleMania III, as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) began to see the lucrative potential of the pay-per-view (PPV) market. The first event capitalized on the big time feud between André the Giant and Hulk Hogan, who wrestled each other at WrestleMania III. Survivor Series was originally created to be a "Thanksgiving tradition" as the first eight Survivor Series events took place on either Thanksgiving Day (1987–1990) or Thanksgiving Eve (1991–1994). Since the 1995 event, Survivor Series has been held the Sunday before Thanksgiving (save for the 2005 and 2006 events, which were held after Thanksgiving). The 1997 event was notorious as it featured the Montreal Screwjob.[2] Survivor Series was going to be discontinued and rebranded in 2010,[3][4] but following fan outcry, the company decided to continue with the event.[5] Survivor Series became the second longest running PPV event in history (behind WrestleMania),[6] and is also regarded as one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, the promotion's original four annual events and their four biggest events of the year.[7] From 1993 to 2002, it was considered one of the "Big Five", including King of the Ring, but that PPV event was discontinued after 2002.[8] In August 2021, Money in the Bank became recognized as one of the "Big Five".[9]
In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) following a lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the "WWF" initialism.[10] In April 2011, the promotion ceased using its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism.[11] Also in March 2002, the promotion introduced the brand extension, in which the roster was divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform[12]—ECW became a third brand in 2006.[13] The first brand extension was dissolved in August 2011,[14] but it was reintroduced in July 2016.[15] Survivor Series, along with the other original "Big Four" events, were the only PPVs to never be held exclusively for one brand during either brand split periods. In 2014, Survivor Series began to air on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network, which launched in February that year,[16] and in 2021, the event became available on Peacock as the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock in March that year.[17]
During the first brand extension period (2002–2011), there were only a few Survivor Series matches that were held between wrestlers of the two brands (e.g., Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown), but it was not the focus of the event. However, with the return of the brand split in 2016, Survivor Series has since focused on direct competition between the Raw and SmackDown brands for brand supremacy, similar to the former Bragging Rights events held during the first brand split in 2010 and 2011.[26][27][28] In addition to traditional Survivor Series matches pitting the men and women from the two brands against each (2016 and 2018 also featured matches with the brands' tag teams going against each other), there have been interpromotional matches that pit the brands' champions against each other in non-title matches (e.g., the Raw Women's Champion vs. the SmackDown Women's Champion).[29]
The 2016, 2017, and 2018 events were contested between Raw and SmackDown. The 2016 event[30][31] was the genesis for what became the theme of brand supremacy that began in 2017. In 2017 and 2018, Raw won the competition with a score of 4–3 and 6–1, respectively (SmackDown's one point in 2018 occurred on the Kickoff pre-show).[32][33][34][28] The 2019 event saw the addition of the NXT brand, which previously served as WWE's developmental territory but became one of WWE's three main brands in 2019, and in turn featured the first three-way Survivor Series elimination matches for men and women. NXT subsequently won that year's competition with a 4–2–1 victory, with SmackDown having 2 points, and Raw's sole win occurring on the pre-show.[35][36] NXT would not compete at the 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Outbreaks of the virus had occurred at both of NXT's home arenas, Full Sail University and the WWE Performance Center, prompting WWE to exclude NXT wrestlers from the event to avoid potential transmission of the virus to members of the Raw and SmackDown rosters.[37] Raw would win that year's competition with a 4–3 victory over SmackDown.[22][23] The 2021 event also did not include NXT as the brand reverted to its status as WWE's developmental territory in September of that year.[38] At the 2021 event, Raw again won the competition with a 5–2 victory over SmackDown.[39][40]
Survivor Series matches
The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically features teams of four or five wrestlers against each other.[29] The promotion had several tag team elimination matches earlier in 1987, albeit with three-man teams and the feuds loosely related. In an early break from the norm, the 1992 event had only one Survivor Series match.[41] The 1998 event was the first without any Survivor Series matches, instead focusing on an elimination tournament for the vacant WWF Championship.[42] The 2002 event was the only other event to not include any Survivor Series matches. Instead, it had an elimination tables match and a triple threat elimination tag team match, but most notably, the event saw the debut of the Elimination Chamber match.[43]
^"Survivor Series tickets available now". WWE. June 10, 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2021. World Wrestling Entertainment’s annual pay-per-view extravaganza returns to South Florida! Be part of a WWE tradition as Survivor Series comes to the American Airlines Arena in Miami on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010.
^Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
^Keith, Scott (2004). Wrestling's One Ring Circus: The Death of the World Wrestling Federation. Citadel Press. p. 160. ISBN0-8065-2619-X.
^Sullivan, Kevin (November 23, 2010). The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. Gallery Books. p. 124. ISBN9781439193211. At the time, SummerSlam was one of WWE's "big five" Pay-Per-Views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, and Survivor Series were the others), ...
