10 Forgotten WWE Survivor Series Moments

As one of WWE’s original ‘big four’ pay-per-views, Survivor Series has played host to many a memorable match and moment.

Considering there have been 35 editions of the event, it’s not too shocking that some moments might have faded from the collective memory of wrestling fans just a little bit.

So, with the 2023 edition right around the corner, we thought we’d shine a light on some Survivor Series moments that may have been underrated, overlooked or otherwise significant but that are, for whatever reason, rarely brought up.

These are 10 Forgotten WWE Survivor Series Moments.

10. Kofi Survives - 2009

Before Randy Orton branded him as STUPID! STUPID! for bungling a match finish on Raw, Kofi Kingston’s late-2009 push was going just swimmingly.

In the run-up to that year’s Survivor Series, Kingston got the better of the Legend Killer on several occasions, memorably destroying his custom NASCAR car and hitting him with an almighty Boom Drop through a table in Madison Square Garden.

Captaining his team of Christian, Mark Henry, MVP and R-Truth against Randy’s squad of CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase Jr. and William Regal, Kofi’s star continued to shine.

The match eventually came down to Kingston against Punk and Orton, the odds not looking good for the Ghana-born high-flier.

Outnumbered and outmatched, Kofi had to dig deep against the Viper and Straight-Edge Superstar. Scrapping to stay in the fight, Kingston managed to counter his old tag partner’s roll-up into one of his own, eliminating him.

Mere seconds later, Orton attempted to intervene, only to be met with a Trouble in Paradise (which he sold expertly) and he too was eliminated.

Just like that, Kofi had defeated two ex-World Champions in one night. It was a breathless, perfectly timed and executed finish that did much to raise Kingston’s stock.

9. The Shawn Michaels Show - 2003

Shawn Michaels may be considered ‘Mr. WrestleMania’ for his vaunted exploits at the Showcase of the Immortals, but he has quite the record when it comes to Survivor Series, too. Montreal Screwjob aside, the Heartbreak Kid has a rather glowing Survivor Series resume, boasting epic World Title wins, standout moments and plenty of first-class performances.

His finest hour at this particular pay-per-view event may have come in 2003, when he led the charge for Steve Austin’s team against Eric Bischoff’s mob.

The co-general managers had been at odds and the stipulations dictated that Stone Cold would have to step down as co-GM if his team lost, whereas if his team won he would be allowed to batter people indiscriminately.

The match was a corker that built and built the drama thanks mainly to the efforts of Michaels. With Rob Van Dam, Booker T and the Dudley Boys heading for the showers, Shawn was left to fend for himself against Chris Jericho, Christian and Randy Orton.

The subsequent, incredibly gutsy showing had the crowd losing their minds before the heartbreak of an interfering Batista costing a bloody HBK the miracle comeback.

8. The Perfect Replacement - 1992

One of the big attractions at Survivor Series 1992 was to see Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior team up to take on Ric Flair and Razor Ramon.

Regrettably, the Macho Man lost his Mega Maniacs partner when Warrior got flagged for using Human Growth Hormone and was either fired or quit (or both) in the run-up to the pay-per-view.

Stepping up as his replacement was Curt Hennig, AKA Mr. Perfect.

Hennig had been on the shelf since the prior year’s SummerSlam, where he notably dropped the Intercontinental Title to Bret Hart in a bonafide classic, despite suffering from a potentially career-ending back injury.

There were question marks over his condition going into Survivor Series, but Hennig answered the sceptics by entering a fine performance that was especially impressive considering his long layoff.

It’s a shame the match ended in an admittedly lame disqualification, but take nothing away from Hennig’s appearance. He had a really short time to get himself ready and stepped up admirably.

It wasn’t flawless, but it did give Hennig the confidence to come back full-time just a month or so later.

7. Jeff Hardy's Madison Square Garden Callback - 2002

Survivor Series 2002 was not, overall, a banner night for Jeff Hardy.

Competing in the six-man table elimination match opener, the Charismatic Enigma looked every bit a performer who was rapidly losing his passion for the business.

He famously missed his cue and took an age to prevent Rico from hitting a move, leading to the self-professed stylist’s audible cries of ‘DAMMIT, JEFF!’ and messed up his own rail-runner spot by slipping and taking a nasty header into a table.

There were a couple of bright spots, however, where it looked like the Jeff Hardy of old out there, with one stunt in particular harkening back to his not-too-distant glory days.

Almost three years after tearing the house down in a tag team table match with the Dudleys, Hardy replicated a famous spot for the Madison Square Garden crowd.

This time assisted by Bubba Ray, Jeff climbed up to a raised balcony section of the arena and, with a shrug of the shoulders, hit Three Minute Warning’s Rosey with a graceful Swanton Bomb through the wood.

Beautiful violence.

The reunion of Bubba and D-Von, months after they were split in the first WWE draft, was another somewhat forgotten moment.

6. Kong is Awesome - 1995

No, we’re not writing about the artist formerly known as Kharma (who unfortunately never really got the chance to show the WWE Universe what she was all about).

We’re actually writing about Aja Kong, the incredible force who made her name running roughshod over the All-Japan Women’s promotion during the eighties and nineties.

Kong was brought in to be built up as a challenger for then-WWE Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze and the two would be on opposite teams at the 1995 Survivor Series.

Not that Kong needed the help, mind, as she managed to convincingly eliminate three of her All Japan Women contemporaries and then Blayze to complete a mightily impressive single-handed clean sweep and emerge as the match’s sole survivor.

It was not only a very promising showing for Kong, but the match itself was chock-full of action and told a great story, as Alundra herself eliminated the three other members of Kong’s team before succumbing to a spinning back fist.

There wasn’t any follow up due to Blayze defecting to WCW and chucking her title belt in the trash, but at least the thought was there.

5. The Debut Of Jazz - 2001

The 2001 Survivor Series marked the end of the road for the Invasion angle.

Mishandled from the start, what could have been the most incredible money-drawing storyline in wrestling history limped to a weak finish after just a few disappointing months.

One of the bright spots of the pay-per-view was WWE’s decision to resurrect the Women’s Championship, which hadn’t been seen since then-champion Chyna left the company earlier in the year.

Lita, Trish Stratus, Mighty Molly, Jacqueline and Ivory were joined in the Six-Pack for the vacant strap by former ECW star Jazz, making her WWE debut.

Jazz didn’t manage to win the title in her first match – that honour went to the constantly improving Stratus – but her arrival did make a statement and signalled that WWE were going to take their women’s division a lot more seriously going forward.

It’s not like she had to wait too long, anyway, as she managed to defeat Trish for the title on the February 4, 2002, edition of Raw.

Jazz was a great addition to WWE’s roster and has long been underrated by many and her Survivor Series bow was a genuine, pleasant surprise.

4. Lying, Cheating, and Stealing The Show - 2002

The 2002 Survivor Series was the site of a couple of historic title changes, with Big Show becoming the first man to pin Brock Lesnar on screen to bag the Undisputed Championship and Shawn Michaels winning the first-ever Elimination Chamber match to take the World Heavyweight Title away from Triple H.

What shouldn’t get forgotten about is the fact that three other titles also changed hands on the night.

Billy Kidman reclaimed the Cruiserweight Title, while Victoria scored her first Women’s Championship.

Also walking away from MSG with gold were the uncle and nephew combination of Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, who outlasted the teams of Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio & Edge to become the third-ever SmackDown Tag Team champs.

Not only was it an unheralded gem of a match, but it was a great moment for Los Guerreros, who were more like brothers growing up and used to wrestle each other when they were kids during  the intermission on shows promoted by Eddie’s father Gory.

This was just reward for the familial duo, who had been showing their worth every week on the blue brand for months.

3. Hart vs. Michaels - 1993

If we say ‘Hart versus Michaels at Survivor Series’, your mind will more than likely flash to the infamous ending of the 1997 event, where Michaels conspired with Vince McMahon and others to ‘screw’ Bret out of his WWE Title on his last night with the company – in Canada, no less.

Or the hipsters among you might flash to 1992, where The Hitman defended his WWE Title against The Showstopper in a wonderful headliner that felt like a preview of the New Generation Era that was to come soon after.

We’re not referencing either of those here but, rather, Bret’s father Stu taxing the jaw of The Boytoy in 1993.

Hart was teaming with brothers Owen, Keith and, of course, Bruce, against Michaels and his band of nondescript ‘knights’.

The match itself was poor and lasted and interminable 30 minutes, but it was worth sitting through to see the Hart family patriarch crack Shawn with a stiff one.

A lot of people have played the ‘I’ll get my dad on you!’ card before, but if any of the Hart boys said it you knew you were in for a proper hiding.

2. The Miz and Mizdow Win Gold - 2014

While fans may bemoan the way the union between The Miz and Damien Mizdow ended without the two getting a proper payoff for the angle, you would be remiss not to reflect on the good when it comes to what was one of the hottest acts in WWE at the time.

It was never supposed to be that way, with Damien Sandow simply trying to make something out of very little and getting the act over in the process.

Fans really started to respond to not just his hilarious mimicry, but the interplay between him and the A-Lister.

They were hot heading into a four-way WWE Tag Team Title match at the 2014 Survivor Series, though there was no guarantee WWE would pull the trigger.

If anything, it was actually somewhat unlikely given how often they’d fumbled the bag when it came to hot acts in the recent past.

How refreshing it was to see them book the movie star and his supposed stunt double to go over on the Usos, Los Matadores, and Goldust and Stardust, giving the St Louis crowd (and everyone watching on the WWE Network) a thoroughly satisfying payoff.

1. DX Get Punk'd - 2006

The 2006 Survivor Series bore witness to one of the mightiest babyface crews ever assembled, as DXers Triple H and Shawn Michaels teamed with The Hardys and CM Punk. Rated-RKO, Gregory Helms, Johnny Nitro and Mike Knox didn’t stand a chance, did they?

At the time, the Straight-Edge Superstar was very much at the bottom of the pecking order of that fivesome, though you wouldn’t know it by the reaction he received from the Philadelphia faithful that night.

In his first WWE pay-per-view appearance, Punk’s name was chanted loudly by almost 16,000-strong as DX went to do their usual pre-match promo routine. You could almost see Triple H plotting his future revenge in real time, as The Game had to hand the microphone over to the ECW up-and-comer for the big question.

Amusingly, WWE tried to credit the Second-City Saviour’s popularity to ‘internet’ fans!

Anyway, everyone was a winner in the end as the good guys scored an impressive clean sweep and, as an added bonus, killed whatever dreams Mike Knox may have had as they did it.