The original concept for the Survivor Series was to have an annual pay-per-view event that focused on tag team wrestling. Another contributing factor to the birth of the Survivor Series was to capitalize on the big time feud between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant, who wrestled each other at WrestleMania III. Additionally, the WWF had several "elimination" tag-team matches earlier in 1987, albeit with three-man teams and the feuds loosely related.
The Survivor Series was originally created to be a "Thanksgiving tradition" as the first four Survivor Series events took place on Thanksgiving Day in November. After four years of taking place on Thanksgiving Eve following that, Survivor Series moved to a more-traditional Sunday PPV date
Gobbledy Gooker was born
Appearances
Most Survivor Series Matches 17 - Undertaker & Shawn Michaels
Most Consecutive Years With a Match at Survivor Series 11 - Bret Hart (1987-1997)
Longest Current Consecutive Survivor Series Matches Streak 10 - Randy Orton (2003-2012)
Win/Loss Records
Most Survivor Series Wins 12 - The Undertaker
Most Survivor Series Losses: 10 - Shawn Michaels
Wrestlers Undefeated at Survivor Series (min. 3 matches): Animal 3-0 Brutus Beefcake 3-0 Hawk 3-0 Henry Godwinn 3-0 Kelly Kelly 3-0 Mickie James 4-0 Randy Savage 5-0 Rick Rude 3-0 Tom Pritchard 3-0 Ultimate Warrior 4-0
Wrestlers to Never Win at Survivor Series (min. 3 matches): Albert (A-Train) 0-5 Boris Zhukov 0-3 Crush 0-4 Diesel 0-3 Finlay 0-3 Haku 0-4 IRS 0-3 Jacqueline 0-3 Layla 0-3 Lita 0-5 Umaga (Jamal) 0-3
Wrestler Placement on the Card Wrestler to Appear in the Most Final Matches at Survivor Series: 7 - Shawn Michaels Triple H—6
Chris Jericho, The Undertaker , The Rock and John Cena—4
Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Big Show, Kane, Booker T, Randy Orton and Batista—3
Andre the Giant, Akeem/One Man Gang, Hercules, Big Boss Man, Ted DiBiase, Haku, The Ultimate Warrior, Yokozuna, Steve Austin and Rob Van Dam—2
King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, Rick Rude, Paul Orndorf, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, Bam Bam Bigelow, Randy Savage, Koko B Ware, Hillbilly Jim, Terry Taylor, Marty Jannetty, Jim Neidhart, Bobby Hennan, Arn Anderson, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, The Warlord, Paul Roma, Hawk, Animial, Earthquake, Typhoon, IRS, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Crush, Ludvig Borga, The Mountie, Diesel, Sid, Mick Foley, Shane McMahon, Kurt Angle, Bill Goldberg, Chris Benoit, Maven, Edge, Gene Snitsky, Chris Masters, Carlito, Rey Mysterio, John Bradshaw Layfield, Boby Lashley, Wade Barrett, The Miz, R-Truth, CM Punk and Ryback—1
Wrestler to Compete in the Most Consecutive Final Matches at Survivor Series: 4 - The Rock (1998-2001)
Wrestlers to be in the Final Match at Their First Survivor Series: Andre the Giant (1987) One Man Gang (1987) King Kong Bundy (1987) Butch Reed (1987) Rick Rude (1987) Hulk Hogan (1987) Paul Orndorff (1987) Don Muraco (1987) Ken Patera (1987) Bam Bam Bigelow (1987) Koko B Ware (1988) Hillbilly Jim (1988) Ted DiBiase (1988) Red Rooster (1988) Bobby Heenan (1989) Hawk (1991) Animal (1991) IRS (1991) Lex Luger (1993) Rick Steiner (1993) Scott Steiner (1993) Ludvig Borga (1993) Big Show (1999) Booker T (2001) Rob Van Dam (2001) Shane McMahon (2001) Goldberg (2003) Maven (2004) Snitsky (2004) Batista (2004) Bobby Lashley (2005) Chris Masters (2005) Wade Barrett (2010) Ryback (2012)
Wrestler to Appear in the Most Opening Matches: 5 – JBL
Wrestler to Appear in the Most Consecutive Opening Matches: 3 - Brutus Beefcake (1987-1989) 3 - The Honky Tonk Man (1987-1989) 3 - The 1-2-3 Kid (1993-1995) 3 - The Miz (2007-2009) 3 - John Morrison (2007-2009)
Wrestlers to be in Both an Opening & a Final Match at Survivor Series: Animal Big Boss Man Big Show Booker T Bret Hart Chris Benoit CM Punk Diesel Hawk Hercules Jacques Rougeau JBL John Cena Kane Kurt Angle Mankind Randy Savage Red Rooster Rey Mysterio Rick Martel Shawn Michaels Ted DiBiase The Miz Tito Santana Ultimate Warrior Warlord
In terms of host cites, Cleveland/Richfield, Ohio tops the list with four. As for the others:
Detroit, Boston and New York City—3
Washington D.C./Landover, Maryland and Miami—2
Chicago, Hartford, San Antonio, Montreal, St. Louis, Tampa, Greensboro, Dallas, Philadelphia and Indianapolis—1
