WWE Survivor Series: Ranking the 10 Greatest Matches

10) The Rock vs. Mankind for the WWE Championship (1998)

After having enjoyed some time as a babyface, the Rock would be turned into the heel to oppose Mick Foley, known as Mankind at the time, in the finals of the Deadly Games Tournament. It was a classic match that saw the Rock and Mankind go back and forth with Foley looking as if he was going to get the upper hand with the Mandible Claw.

It looked as if Mankind was going to be destined to win his first world championship, but the big storyline shocker was how the bell was run by Vince McMahon and his son Shane, who acted as the referee, after the Rock applied the Sharpshooter. It was a familiar ending that we will later see on this list.

The importance of this moment of the Rock being helped to the tournament victory helped start the formation of the Corporation stable that would be a big part of the storylines through most of the WWE’s Attitude Era in the 1990s against D Generation X and even Stone Cold Steve Austin. But on this November night in 1998, it was the start of a memorable feud between the Rock and the Sock that included an amazing “I Quit” match at the Royal Rumble in 1999 and eventually one of the biggest upsets in WWE history.

Mankind would eventually exact revenge about three months later on an episode of Raw in War for his first world title. It all had to start months before to allow for the eventual payoff with Foley winning in the end felt so much better amongst the crowd after the seeds were planted at Survivor Series.

Next: No. 9