This article is about the professional wrestling pay-per-view event. For the video game named after the event for the Game Boy Advance, see WWE Survivor Series (video game). For the signature match, see Survivor Series match.
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, came on the heels of the success of WrestleMania III, as the then-WWF began to see the lucrative potential of the pay-per-view 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 1995, the event has been held the Sunday before Thanksgiving (save for the 2005 and 2006 events, which were held after Thanksgiving). On February 11, 2010, WWE stated that Survivor Series would be rebranded, but in June, the event was added back onto WWE's pay-per-view schedule.[1]
With the return of the brand split in 2016, Survivor Series has since focused on direct competition between the Raw and SmackDown brands; similar to the 2005 event, and the former Bragging Rights events that were held for two years during the first brand split.[2][3][4] In addition to traditional Survivor Series elimination matches featuring Raw's talent against SmackDown's (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.
The 2016, 2017, and 2018 events were contested between Raw and SmackDown; with Raw winning the competition in 2017 (4–3) and 2018 (6–0). The 2019 event saw the addition of the NXT brand, WWE's developmental territory, 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.[5] 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.[6] Raw would win that year's competition with a 4–3 victory over SmackDown.[7] However, the 2021 edition also did not include NXT as the brand was partially reverted to its status WWE's developmental brand in September of that year.
Survivor Series matches
The event is traditionally characterized by having tag-team elimination matches, pitting teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. These matches are generally referred to as "Survivor Series matches." The WWF had several elimination tag-team 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 tag team elimination match. The 1997 event saw the Montreal Screwjob, while the 1998 event was the first without any elimination tag team matches, instead focusing on an elimination tournament for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. The 2002 Survivor Series is notable for the debut of the Elimination Chamber match.
