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Survivor Series, branded as Survivor Series: WarGames since 2022, is a
professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
event produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest
professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...
. Held in November generally the week of
Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
, it is the second longest-running
pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...
(PPV) event in history, behind WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. In addition to traditional PPV since the inaugural 1987 event, it has aired via
livestreaming Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- liv ...
since the 2014 event. It is also considered one of the company's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania,
Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named after, and centered on, the Royal Rumble match, a modified Battle royal (professional wre ...
,
SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, WWE. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind th ...
, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five". From 1987 to 2021, the event was characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which were tag team elimination matches that typically featured teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. Stipulations had also been added to these matches, such as members of the losing team being (
kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced ) is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants. The term has evolved to become a code word ...
) fired. During these years, only two events did not feature Survivor Series matches: the 1998 event, which hosted an elimination tournament for the vacant
WWF Championship The WWE Championship, also referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship since April 2024, is a men's professional wrestling World championship (professional wrestling), world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American profe ...
(now WWE Championship), and the 2002 event, which saw the debut of the
Elimination Chamber The Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling elimination-based match held in the WWE. The match was created by Triple H, and introduced by Eric Bischoff in November 2002. It features a large chain-linked circular steel structure which ...
, a type of six-person
steel cage match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...
won by eliminating all other opponents. Since 2022, the event has been based around
WarGames match WarGames is a specialized steel cage match in professional wrestling. The match usually involves two teams of four or more wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompasses two rings placed side by side. The cage may or may not have a roof, de ...
es for the men and women. WarGames is a team-based steel cage match where the roofless cage surrounds two rings placed side by side and the two teams typically have four to five members each but it is decided by one fall instead of eliminating all opponents. As a result, the events since 2022 have also not featured Survivor Series matches. After WWE reintroduced the
brand extension Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this ...
in 2016, the events from 2016 until 2021 centered around competition between wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands for brand supremacy; NXT was also involved in 2019. In addition to Survivor Series matches between the brands, the champions of each brand faced off in non-title matches. In 2022, the brand supremacy concept was dropped and the event was rebranded as "Survivor Series: WarGames", marking WWE's first main roster event to feature the match; NXT had its own WarGames event from 2017 to 2021 and it was discontinued after the match was moved to Survivor Series in 2022.


Origins and changes

The first Survivor Series, held in 1987, came on the heels of the success of
WrestleMania III WrestleMania III was a 1987 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view events, event produced by the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the third annual WrestleMania and held on March 29, 1987, at the ...
, as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) began to see the lucrative potential of the
pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...
(PPV) market. The first event capitalized on the big time feud between André the Giant and
Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Known for his flamboyance and massive physiq ...
, who wrestled each other at WrestleMania III. Survivor Series was originally created to counter WCW's Starrcade. The first eight Survivor Series events took place on either
Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
(1987–1990) or Thanksgiving Eve (1991–1994). Beginning with the 1995 event, Survivor Series was held on various Sundays before Thanksgiving. The
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
and
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
events were held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, while the 2022 and 2023 events were held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The 1997 event was notorious as it featured the
Montreal Screwjob The Montreal Screwjob (also called the Montreal Incident) was a notorious professional wrestling incident where the outcome of a major match was changed without one of the wrestlers being informed – in order to "screw over" Bret Hart, who was i ...
. Survivor Series was going to be discontinued and rebranded in 2010, but following fan outcry, the company decided to continue with the event. Survivor Series became the second longest running PPV event in history (behind WrestleMania), and is also regarded as one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania,
Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named after, and centered on, the Royal Rumble match, a modified Battle royal (professional wre ...
, and
SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, WWE. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind th ...
, the promotion's original four annual events and their four biggest events of the year. 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. In August 2021, Money in the Bank became recognized as one of the "Big Five". In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) following a lawsuit with the
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
over the "WWF" initialism. In April 2011, the promotion ceased using its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism. Also in March 2002, the promotion introduced the
brand extension Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this ...
, in which the roster was divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to performECW became a third brand in 2006. The first brand extension was dissolved in August 2011, but it was reintroduced in July 2016. 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 WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...
, which launched in February that year, and in 2021, the event became available on
Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...
as the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock in March that year. As a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in early 2020, WWE had to present the majority of its programming for Raw and SmackDown from a behind closed doors set at the
WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...
in
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
, beginning mid-March. In August, these events were relocated to WWE's bio-secure bubble, the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Orlando's Amway Center. The 2020 Survivor Series was in turn produced from the ThunderDome and was WWE's final PPV to present the ThunderDome from the Amway Center, as in early December, the ThunderDome was relocated to
Tropicana Field Tropicana Field (nicknamed "The Trop") is a domed multipurpose stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. "The Trop" was the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season, 1998 to ...
in St. Petersburg, Florida. In July 2021, WWE resumed live touring with fans.


Brand competition (2016–2021)

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 took on the theme of 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 2009 and 2010. 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 were interpromotional matches that featured the brands' champions against each other in non-title matches (e.g., the Raw Women's Champion vs. the SmackDown Women's Champion). The
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
,
2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
, and
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
events were contested between Raw and SmackDown. The 2016 event 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). 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. 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 Full Sail University is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center f ...
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. Raw would win that year's competition with a 4–3 victory over SmackDown. 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. At the 2021 event, Raw again won the competition with a 5–2 victory over SmackDown.


WarGames (2022–present)

On September 19, 2022, WWE executive
Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...
announced that the 2022 Survivor Series would not be based on the brand supremacy concept. Additionally, he announced that the event would feature two
WarGames match WarGames is a specialized steel cage match in professional wrestling. The match usually involves two teams of four or more wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompasses two rings placed side by side. The cage may or may not have a roof, de ...
es, one each for the men and women, marking the first time for a main roster WWE event to feature the match. The 2022 event was in turn renamed as Survivor Series: WarGames, and it was also the first Survivor Series held on a Saturday. The NXT brand previously held an annual WarGames event from 2017 to 2021. With the WarGames match moving to the main roster for Survivor Series, this subsequently ended NXT's WarGames event, which was replaced by Deadline. In an interview with ''The Ringer'' in regards to WarGames at Survivor Series, Triple H said: During the Survivor Series: WarGames post-event press conference, Triple H was asked if the WarGames match would become a permanent fixture at Survivor Series and he said "we'll see", citing the success of the 2022 event. In regards to the event not including a traditional Survivor Series match, he was asked if the match was done for good and he said they "weren't done with anything", noting that this year was the time to freshen up the event but the traditional match could see a return at future events. Triple H also revealed that the 2022 event was the highest-grossing Survivor Series of all time as well as the most viewed. The
2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
and
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
events would also retain the WarGames concept.


Survivor Series match

From 1987 to 2021, the event was traditionally characterized by having the Survivor Series match, a type of tag team elimination match that typically featured two teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. In a Survivor Series match, each member of a team had to be eliminated to win. The name of the match stemmed from this stipulation, as the winners were the "survivors", and in some cases, there was only one survivor. On occasion, there were additional stipulation placed on the Survivor Series match, such as members of the losing team being (
kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced ) is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants. The term has evolved to become a code word ...
) fired. While typically contested between two teams, the 2019 event had three teams against each other in three-way Survivor Series matches. 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. As of 2024, five Survivor Series events have not featured any Survivor Series matches. The 1998 event, which was the first without any Survivor Series matches, instead focused on an elimination tournament for the vacant
WWF Championship The WWE Championship, also referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship since April 2024, is a men's professional wrestling World championship (professional wrestling), world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American profe ...
(now WWE Championship). The 2002 event was the second event to not include any Survivor Series matches. Instead, it had an elimination
tables match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...
and a triple threat elimination tag team match (in which only one member of a team had to be eliminated to eliminate the whole team), but most notably, the event saw the debut of the
Elimination Chamber The Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling elimination-based match held in the WWE. The match was created by Triple H, and introduced by Eric Bischoff in November 2002. It features a large chain-linked circular steel structure which ...
, a type of six-person
steel cage match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...
where each opponent had to be eliminated to win. The 2022, 2023, and 2024 events are the most recent to not include any Survivor Series matches, or any type of elimination stipulations, as they instead featured two WarGames matches, one each for the men and women, with the 2022 event also notable for being WWE's first main roster event to feature the WarGames match. WarGames is a team-based steel cage match where the roofless cage surrounds two rings placed side by side and the two teams typically feature four to five wrestlers each but it is decided by one fall instead of eliminating all opponents.


Events


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Survivor Series WarGames, Wwe