The 411 Wrestling Top 5 11.18.09: Week 49 - Survivor Series Teams

Posted by Michael Bauer on 11.18.2009

From The Hulkamaniacs and The Warriors to The Hart Family and event Team WWF, 411's Wrestling Staffers rank their Top Five Survivor Series Teams in the latest edition of the 411 Wrestling Top Five! See which teams made the list and why!

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling's Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions.


So, on to this week's topic…

THE TOP 5 SURVIVOR SERIES TEAMS

As much fun as watching the matches are, it is the teams that make the matches work, whether they win or lose. It also is when we can see the true definition of "Dream Team" Matches, like we will surely see below.

So what did our group of writers select? Let's find out…



Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The Rock, Chris Jericho, Big Show, Kane & The Undertaker (2001) - Team WWF in the epic "Winner Take All" match with Team Alliance, with two legitimate legends, two great monsters and one of the most all-around gifted wrestlers around.

Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Rob Van Dam & The Dudley Boyz (2003) - This is the team that attempted to keep Steve Austin as general manager on RAW, and even though they didn't get the job done, Austin proved he knows how to pick a great team.

The Hart Foundation, The Rockers, The British Bulldogs, The Powers of Pain & The Killer Bees (1988) - Take a look at those first three teams and tell me this doesn't deserve to be here. In fact, the only thing keeping it in honorable mentions is the crapness of Warlord and the pseudo-crapness of Barbarian.

5.Eddie Guerrero, Big Show, John Cena & Rob Van Dam (2004) - The match against Kurt Angle, Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak and Carlito sucked, but man, what a team here. The team captain is my favorite wrestler of all time and a former WWE Champion. Big Show is the largest athlete in the world and a multiple time world champion. RVD is an ECW Icon and future WWE Champion, and John Cena is the future of the business and just about to become The Man in WWE in terms of championships and merchandise. This is quite the fantastic four.

4.The Undertaker, Lex Luger & The Steiner Brothers (1993) - And here's another amazing quartet. You have the Undertaker, already the most over star in WWE three years into his tenure, Lex Luger, a man with a million-dollar look, decent ring skills, and is deemed the next Hulk Hogan by many at the time, and the Steiner Brothers in their prime, when they were the best tag team ever. Luger is the weak link, but he's still a multi-time world champion and legend. But anything you have Undertaker and the Steiner Brothers together, I'm a happy camper. Forget the fact they were facing a team of evil foreigners (and Crush from Hawaii), and just bask in the awesome.

3. Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, & Shane McMahon (2001) - I was going back and forth between this one and the WWF team, but ultimately, it came down to three things: Austin contributed more to wrestling than the Rock, Angle is a slightly better worker than Jericho, and Booker T and RVD are better than Kane and Big Show. Shane McMahon is the weak link, but he's still an entertaining performer in his own right. If you can overlook the fact that team Alliance has one WCW guy, one ECW guy, a WWE guy who debuted after WCW was basically dead, a WWE guy that is almost solely responsible for said death of WCW, and the son of the WWE Chairmen, and just look at the talent and star power, you got one heck of a team.

2. Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart & Jeff Jarrett (1994) - What a terrific team this is. Shawn Michaels, arguably the best in-ring performer of the last thirty years. Diesel, an underrated big man and future world champion and WCW mega-star. Owen Hart, the most talented Hart and a man taken far too soon. Jim Neidhart…who? Oh right, he was part of a great tag team/stable or something. And Double J, highly underrated worker extraordinaire, multiple time world champion, and starter of TNA, the second biggest American promotion today. With all this awesome, you'd think they wouldn't all lose at the SAME TIME BY SIMULTANEOUS COUNT OUT! But no….

1.D-Generation X, The Hardy Boyz & CM Punk (2006) - Take one of the most influential stables of all time, consisting of two amazing workers and world champions, one of which may be the best wrestler of the modern era. Add one of the greatest tag teams of all time, consisting of two highly underrated wrestlers, one a future world champion and mega-star, the other one of the most solid hands in the business. Top off with a young ECW standout with a great gimmick and a unique style, who will be a future world champion and the most hated man in the company within three years. Mix well. Pour over healthy portions of Edge, Orton, Nitro, Helms and Knox. Coat evenly and thoroughly, burying said mixture completely. Serves plenty to marks and smarks alike.





THE Larry Csonka

5. The Big Show (1989) - By virtue of his 1999 performance, I think that you can consider The Big Show the greatest Survivor Series team of all time. In a one on four match, the Big Show defeated The Big Boss Man, Prince Albert, Mideon, and Viscera in 1:27. The man ran through them like a bad taco from a construction site food wagon. War Big Show.

4. The All-Americans (Lex Luger, The Undertaker, Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) (1993) - Going into my first real team, we have The All-Americans. This team had The Steiner's, one of the greatest tag teams of all time, and in their prime here. The Undertaker, who made everyone shit their pants back in the day, and Luger, who…well…NAH, kidding, no Luger bashing here. Luger was good people that, while not the next Hulk Hogan as some predicted, was good in the right role and as part of this team, worked very well.

3. The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Demolition (Ax and Smash) and Jake Roberts) (1989) - We all know that I am not the biggest Hogan fan out there, but in 1989, The Hulkamaniacs was a pretty cool team. You had Hogan leading the way, the awesomeness of Jake Roberts, and Demolition for the true ass kicking. While I didn't like Demolition as much as The Road Warriors, (I didn't think that they were a rip off, I just thought the Warriors were better) they were booked and used damn well in WWF.

2. The Hart Foundation, The Rockers, The British Bulldogs, The Powers of Pain and The Young Stallions (1988) - I dug the early tag team Survivor Series matches, sure they seemed a bit crowded, but there was some great talent out there. The Hart Foundation, The Rockers and The British Bulldogs are three of the best teams of the time. There is a collected awesomeness there that cannot be disputed. The Powers of Pain were badasses and would rip your head off, and the Stallions worked.

1. The Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), and The Texas Tornado) (1990) - Now this, this is MY team right here. Sure the Warrior is insane now, but I will admit it, there was a time in my youth that I did mark a bit for the Warrior. I think it is because he was a guy I knew from WCCW, and I knew that and my friends didn't. I was a HUGE mark for The Road Warriors. They were THE badasses of wrestling, although not so much in the WWF. And then finally there was the MODERN DAY FN WARRIOR Kerry Von Erich. The Warriors were the coolest and most BAD ASS Survivor Series team in my opinion.



MEEHAN

HONORABLE MENTION
DID YOU KNOW: Kofi Kingston's push is SO meteoric and amazing that he'll be fighting a team led by none other than former WWE Champion RANDY ORTON at this year's Survivor Series! As opposed to last year, when Kofi Kingston (along with R-Truth and others) squared off in an elimination-style team contest against? Err, umm... Randy Orton (and Cody Rhodes).

5.The Hart Family (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart and Keith Hart) (1993) - The "Ugly Duckling" storyline? Yes please. As a last-second substitute for Jerry "The King" Lawler, Shawn Michaels and his knights threatened to go medieval on The Hitman (see what I did there?). But rather than rallying the locker room to counter this regal onslaught, The Excellence of Execution turned instead to a little place called The Dungeon. And in so doing, he brought some major backup in the form of his real-life brothers. Great storyline, great early seeds to a rivalry, and a great match for "historical" reasons if only because it just so happened to help set the stage for the brilliant Bret vs. Owen feud in the months that followed.

4. Team Lesnar (Brock Lesnar, The Big Show, Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones and A-Train (2003) - This one might cost me my all-important Internet Wrestling Community "smart" card, but ah what the hell: I thought this team was the shit. Matt Morgan? Green as hell. Nathan Jones? Can't work a lick. But in a pseudo-sport that's so often marketed on the sheer size of its performers alone, Brock Lesnar's merry band of meatheads from the 2003 Survivor Series legitimately looked like the kind of gang who would kick your ass without even blinking. And since Lesnar was riding the wave of his "killing kids in wheelchairs" mega-heel push, it seemed like the perfect band of brigands to back his play.

3. The Rock, Chris Jericho, Big Show, Kane & The Undertaker (2001) - When going to war with the remaining members of the WCW/ECW "Alliance," there was really no better collection of World Wrestling Federation flagbearers left on the company's regular, active roster than the five guys mentioned above. Hunter was hurt, Shawn and Foley were retired, and both Austin and Angle had defected to the invading army -- yet Team WWF *still* boasted some of the heaviest hitters of the Monday Night War. In the end, The Rock (a career WWF guy), Kane and The Undertaker (vestigal remnants of WWE's "Attitude Era"), and Chris Jericho and The Big Show (two of WCW's highest profile defectors during the ratings war) more than did their company proud.

2. D-Generation X, The Hardy Boyz & CM Punk (2006) - Hard to disagree about the combined drawing power of this cadre of characters, ESPECIALLY in a historically "smart"-heavy city like the City of Brotherly Love. From a sheer crowd volume perspective alone, the dX/Hardyz/Punk fivesome was pretty much as over an assemblage of talent as we've ever seen in the modern era of World Wrestling Entertainment. In my estimation, his match was one of the earliest signs of the strength of crowd support and big things that were to come for the company's two eventual World Heavyweight Champions in CM Punk and Jeff Hardy.

1. Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, and Tito Santana (1990) - As a precocious (petulant?) eight-year-old kid, I always felt that Survivor Series 1990 was the culmination of my early WWF fandom, as it was the one *TRUE* "Survivor Series" that lived up to its name (i.e.: a SERIES of matches to determine one big old team of SURVIVORS). The gimmick was simple: for one night only, the winners of the night's earlier matches joined forces for good (or evil), and did battle to prove just who was the dominant force in the World Wrestling Federation. And even though Tito, Warrior and Hulkster weren't a "dream team" on paper by any means (Tito Santana? Puhleeze...), the gimmick was executed to perfection, and this star-studded main event war made me believe that Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior truly had lived up to the show's promise by outlasting a SERIES of matches against everyone else on the roster, and thus these two SURVIVORS were the two very best that the WWF had to offer. Shame it came upwards of six months AFTER their historic clash at WrestleMania VI -- because it could have been a *great* marketing ploy to whet fans appetites for a one-on-one showdown between the two men all the more.



Jeremy Thomas

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Team WWF (The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane & The Big Show) - Sure, the Invasion was a horribly-booked mess and this match was also a horribly-booked mess. But no matter how you slice it, this was one of the most impressive Survivor Series teams ever.

The Hart Family (Bret, Owen, Bruce & Keith Hart) - Simply reasoning here; I love me some Harts, and while Keith and Bruce are no Bret or Owen, it was cool to see them all together on one team.

Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz - They ended up losing to Too Cool and the Hollys, and the shame of that keeps them out of the top five. But still, this was a damn cool team, consisting of two of the most exciting tag teams in the industry at the time.

5.The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero & Perry Saturn) - The Radicalz were an incredibly hot stable coming in, the four ex-WCW guys who had come to the Promised Land. They'd drifted apart by mid-2000, but reunited in November. They fought Billy Gunn, the Road Dogg, Chyna and K-Kwik at Survivor Series 2000 and came out victorious, with Benoit and Saturn surviving. I kind of wish they'd had a more prestigious Survivor Series match, but I do love that in their one appearance at the event as a team they came out on top.

4.The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Ax, Smash and Jake Roberts) - This team was full of some of my favorite guys from this era. Hogan was, of course, the man during this period and the Snake was one of the best minds in the business at the time. And of course, I've gone on record about how much I enjoyed Demolition. This team did battle with the Million Dollar Team of Ted DiBiase, Warlord, Barbarian and Zeus, and while in retrospect the match wasn't the greatest you'll ever see, the thirteen-year-old kid in me still marks out for this one.

3.The Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, Hawk, Animal & Kerry Von Erich) - I like the Hulkamaniacs team more than I liked this one, which opened the 1990 Survivor Series. What pushes this over the top is their opponents, which were Mr. Perfect and the three members of Demolition. I loved this match as a whole due to the people involved and while again it's not the greatest match in existence it's one I enjoyed the hell out of anyway. I always kind of wanted to see the Warrior form a stable with either of the face-painted tag teams, and this was a little slice of that.

2.The Vipers (Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Shawn Michaels & Marty Janetty) - How can you not love this team? Jake the Snake, Superfly and the Rockers? That's a fully-loaded team right there. Unfortunately they didn't win, and in fact they got clean-swept by a team that consisted of Rick Martel, Power and Glory and (yes, enjoy it commenters) Paul Roma. But let's face it, the losing side carried the winners here in terms of the match quality and they deserve a lot of credit for that.

1.Team DX (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy & CM Punk) - What Hubbard said, basically. I mean, this was even before Jeff and Punk were former World Champions and already this team was unbelievably over at the time. They cleanly swept the team of Mike Knox, Johnny Nitro (nee Morrison), Gregory Helms and Team RKO in a pretty kick-ass match that just worked so well. I don't think any team even comes close to this one for me, as much as I enjoy the choices above.



Michael Bauer

5. Doink Moe, Doink Mabel, Doink Butch, and Doink Luke - This was my favorite Survivor Series Match of all time for pure comedy, you know I had to pick this one. Bam Bam and his oversized men were no match for something they couldn't believe and the bigest shenanigans of all time. But still wish I would have seen this:



4.Bret, Bruce, Owen, and Keith Hart - This was one of those teams I didn't like at first, but watching the match made me appreciate the familiy a lot more. Plus, as mentioned before, this jump started Owen vs. Bret, which should have been so much more than it was.

3.The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Big Show, Undertaker, and Kane - This was the WWF team against the Alliance. The other side was just as awesome, but obviously, we know what team won. The whole match was a who's who of Wrestling for the early 2000's. I mean those 5, plus Austin, Angle, Booker T, and RVD (plus Shane McMahon) made for pure awesomeness.

2.Lex Luger, The Undertaker, and the Steiners - This was the All American team taking on the Allied Powers of Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Crush, and The Mountie. For me, it should have elevated Lex Luger, which never happened. But this was the match that made The Undertaker a main eventer for good, with his work with Yokozuna, as seen below. Kinda glad Tatanka got injured leading into this match.



1. Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy & CM Punk - Easily, the greatest team the WWE could have assembled in the entire decade. It's amazing still how over Punk and Jeff were to where Punk was outdoing DX as this stage. If not for this match, there is no way in hell either of those two would have been World Champion in 2009.



Julian Bond

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Team DX [Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk and Matt Hardy] (2007) - This was a very unique, but crazy awesome grouping of faces here. Definitely won't see this group team up like they did here anytime soon or possibly ever again.

Clowns R' Us [Doink the Clown, Dink, Pink and Wink] (1994) - It was a team full of clowns and midgets. Nuff said.

The Rude Brood [Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, The Fabulous Rougeaus] (1989) - Take the biggest dickish heels at the time (and probably of all time) and stick them together with a cool ass team name and here you go!

5.The All-Americans [Lex Luger, The Undertaker, Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner] (1993) - I swear that when I was a kid, I marked out huge seeing the "all-American" team of Lex Luger and Steiners team up with, of all people at the time, the Undertaker. Great awesome and slighty unusual team!

4.Edge & Christian/The Hardy Boys (1999) - The forefathers of the new-age ladder match...teaming together!!...what?!? Following their No Mercy match, it was crazy to see them team up here.

3.The Hart Family [Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart and Keith Hart] (1993) - The Hart Family all united as one in the ring...that's a nuff said for me!

2. Team SmackDown! [Batista, Rey Mysterio, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Bobby Lashley and Randy Orton] (2005) - This team was so awesome to me because it was the first time (I believe) that the WWE really did up the whole "Smackdown vs Raw" feud. The Smackdown team was great because it pitted popular faces like Batista and Rey and forced them to team up with bastard heels like JBL and Orton (oh and Bobby Lashley). Seeing bitter rivals actually work good as a team was definitely a sight to behold.

1.The Rock, Chris Jericho, Big Show, Kane & The Undertaker (2001) - This to me was the best SS team ever cause it was the "best of the best" of some of the folks from the 'Attitude Era'. These were the main face players here minus Stone Cold. The Invasion storyline was pretty lame towards the end, but it was freaking sweet seeing the best of the WWE at the time team together to truly represent...especially with the Rock making his major comeback.