30 years of WWE Survivor Series: Ranking each event

1. Survivor Series 1996

1996 was the real turning point for WWE in the Monday Night War. They had been getting pounded by WCW for a while in the ratings but this was an event that showed they weren’t going down without a fight. Throw in a debut that made a little bit of a difference as time went along and you’ve got the best Survivor Series in history.

The opening match didn’t have a lot of big names outside of The British Bulldog, Owen Hart and Marty Jannetty but it was a very good opening contest that had good pace and at least attempted to make stars out of Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon, who actually made their WWE debut that night. Who?

The Undertaker and Mankind were up next in one of their many classic encounters over the years. Foley was still fairly new to WWE at this point in time and this was a big match for him. As you can imagine, it was very physical and both men took a nice beating. Foley did his crazy spots as he usually did and for those who didn’t know him, it was a chance to see how demented he could really be.

Next up was a traditional Survivor Series elimination match as a team consisting of Crush, Goldust, Jerry Lawler and a youngster named Hunter Hearst Helmsley took on Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Marc Mero, The Stalker and a debuting young superstar named Rocky Maivia, who went on to be the sole survivor in this match. I really hope that worked out well for that young man.

In a preview of things to come at the following WrestleMania, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart gave us a classic match that I don’t think anybody saw coming. Austin had never been in a match of this caliber and he stepped up and proved that he was going to be a force in WWE moving forward. The finish was the same as when Bret Hart beat Roddy Piper at WrestleMania VIII and worked just as well here. Match of the night.

After an average elimination match, Shawn Michaels and Sycho Sid went out and capped off the night with another great match. This wasn’t the best match of Shawn’s career but it may have been the best of Sid’s career as they worked a classic big man vs. little man angle for a while before throwing in a swerve finish to give Sid the WWE Championship. Given what this Survivor Series set up for the future and the overall greatness of the matches on it, 1996 was the best Survivor Series of all time.

Next: Ranking every Survivor Series main event in history

What was your favorite Survivor Series event? Join in the conversation below in the comments section and be sure to check back in with FanSided each and every day for all of your WWE needs.