Survivor Series

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The event's history is defined by two distinct eras of competition. From 1987 until 2021, Survivor Series was characterized by its namesake matches: tag team elimination bouts typically featuring teams of four or five wrestlers. These matches often carried heavy stakes, such as members of the losing team being kayfabe fired. Only two events during this period skipped the traditional format: 1998 hosted an elimination tournament for the vacant WWF Championship, and 2002 saw the debut of the Elimination Chamber match. Following a brand extension reintroduced in 2016, the event centered on "Brand Supremacy," pitting Raw against SmackDown (and NXT in 2019) in a battle for roster dominance. In 2022, WWE executive Triple H announced a major shift, dropping the brand supremacy concept to debut WarGames matches—team-based steel cage matches surrounding two rings side-by-side that are decided by one fall rather than elimination. This change marked the first time a main roster event featured WarGames, ending NXT's annual standalone WarGames event which ran from 2017 to 2021.

In Their Own Story

The tradition of Survivor Series has "ebbed and flowed," evolving from its origins in 1987 as a counter to WCW's Starrcade into the modern WarGames era. The first eight events took place on Thanksgiving Day or Eve, eventually shifting to various Sundays before Thanksgiving, with the exception of 2005 and 2006 which were held after the holiday. Notable turning points include the infamous Montreal Screwjob in 1997 and the cancellation of its discontinuation plans in 2010 due to fan outcry. In the brand war era, Raw dominated with a 4-3 victory in 2017 and a massive 6-1 win in 2018, while NXT took the crown in 2019 with a 4-2-1 score before withdrawing in 2020 due to COVID-19 outbreaks at Full Sail University. The 2022 event, held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the first time, broke records as the highest-grossing and most viewed Survivor Series of all time. Triple H noted that while the traditional match could return, the 2022 WarGames concept successfully "upped the ante" to evolve the event.

Reader's Guide

Survivor Series features specific match formats depending on the year. The classic format (1987–2021) is a tag team elimination match where teams of four or five wrestlers compete until only one member remains. During the brand supremacy years (2016–2021), this included inter-promotional non-title matches between champions from Raw and SmackDown, with NXT joining in 2019. Since 2022, the event is built around WarGames matches for men and women. In a WarGames match, two teams of four or five compete inside a roofless steel cage that surrounds two rings placed side-by-side; unlike the traditional format, the winner is decided by one fall rather than total elimination. The 2019 edition featured the first three-way Survivor Series elimination matches involving all three main brands. While the brand supremacy theme was dropped in 2022 to focus on storylines and WarGames, Triple H stated they "weren't done with anything" regarding the traditional match format for future events.

Did You Know?

• Survivor Series was originally created to counter WCW's Starrcade.
• The event held on Thanksgiving Day from 1987 to 1990 and Thanksgiving Eve from 1991 to 1994, but moved to the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2022 and 2023.
• NXT held its own annual WarGames event from 2017 to 2021 before the match format was moved to Survivor Series in 2022.
• The 2022 Survivor Series: WarGames was the highest-grossing and most viewed event in the history of the series.
• Only two events from 1987 to 2021 did not feature a traditional Survivor Series match: the 1998 WWF Championship tournament and the 2002 Elimination Chamber debut.