5 Greatest WWE Survivor Series Elimination Matches

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1. Team WWF vs Team Alliance – Survivor Series 2001

If this was not the most star-studded match in the company’s history, but there was none better than this Of the 10 combatants in the main event of the 2001 Survivor Series, there were 52 world championship reigns (counting WCW) among them. We’re talking about 10 bonafide WWE Hall Of Famers all together in the ring in front of 10,000 rabid fans in Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s no shock that this made it to number one on this list.

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Quick back story. When WCW closed its doors in March of 2001 and were bought by Vince McMahon, they left a number of superstars without jobs. The superstars of WCW along with some from ECW, another promotion that went under just a couple months before that, invaded the then WWF, attacking numerous current stars. The attacks went back and forth for a number of months and it all culminated with this match with Vince McMahon’s Team WWF against Stephanie and Shane McMahon’s Team Alliance with the winning team gaining control of the company.

Leading up to the match, several WWF stars switched sides, taking up Shane and Stephanie’s cause, including Austin and Angle. Vince countered the mind games by continuously insinuating that The Alliance had a mole in their faction, with most people assuming that it would be Austin based on him and Vince’s ruse earlier in the year at Wrestlemania 17. Not shockingly, this story line led to must-see television week in and week out for the WWF and the buzz for this match was palpable.

Team WWF consisting of The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Big Show, Kane, and The Undertaker and Team Alliance with Angle, Austin, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, and Shane McMahon tore the house down that night. And like any great Survivor Series match, the angles in play led to future important story lines for the company. Chris Jericho and The Rock, although teammates could not hide their disdain for each other and their thirst for WCW belt. And in the shocking twist of the night, it turned out that Angle was the mole as he turned on Austin enabling The Rock to make the decisive pin on The Rattlesnake. That touched off another vicious feud between Angle and Austin.

The Invasion angle died out shortly after this event and it’s a shame. It was a terrific story line that had a huge future but it failed before it really got started. But unquestionably the best part of this feud was the magic that 10 legends produced that night in Greensboro.

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