For the past 28 Novembers, alliances have formed between random WWE Superstars with one common goal: Survival.
Some of these teams were formed with star-studded Superstars while others were comprised of random throw-in wrestlers that never had a chance of being taken seriously by the WWE Universe.
In preparation for the 28th annual Survivor Series on Nov. 23 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Sports World News will take a look at the Top 5 best and worst Survivor Series teams to ever be assembled.
Top 5 Worst Teams:
Starting with the bad, we'll take a look at five traditional Survivor Series teams that left a lot to be desired.
Honorable Mentions: The Truth Commission (1997) and Team Brodus Clay (2012).
5) Shawn Michaels and his Knights (1993): "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels is a Hall of Famer for great reason and while he is known as "Mr. WrestleMania," he's also had some great performances at the Survivor Series. 1993, however, was not one of those times. Michaels filled in for Jerry "The King" Lawler in a traditional Survivor Series match against the Hart Family (captain Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Keith Hart and Bruce Hart) and teamed with Jerry Lawler's "anonymous" three knights. There was the red knight (a masked Barry Horowitz), the blue knight (Greg "The Hammer" Valentine) and the black knight (Jeff Gaylord). With Jerry Lawler gone for legal reasons, the match lost all of its heat and dragged on forever. In the end, Bret, Bruce and Keith survived while Owen was the lone Hart eliminated, setting up his famed feud with Bret leading into WrestleMania X and the rest of 1994.
4) The British Bulldog and the Mean Street Posse (1999): Like Michaels, Davey Boy Smith had a great career and there could be an argument made that he belongs in the Hall of Fame, but the British Bulldog was out of place in 1999. During his odd jeans-wearing phase, Smith was paired with Joey Abs, Pete Gas and Rodney, collectively known as the Mean Street Posse at the Survivor Series. The team was one of the worst assembled in history and ended up losing to the squad of Val Venis, Mark Henry, Gangrel and Steve Blackman. Venis and Henry were the survivors.
3) The Alliance vs. The Mercenaries (1990): This whole match goes in here because the teams were really bad on both sides. For The Alliance, Nikolai Volkoff led Tito Santana and the Bushwhackers while The Mercenaries were captained by Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter and included Boris Zhukov and The Orient Express. The match was no five-star classic and the torture lasted just under 11 minutes. Santana was the sole survivor and joined fellow future Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior in the one and only Grand Finale Match of Survival.
2) The Royal Family vs. Clowns R' Us (1994): This is another example where the full team gets thrown into the countdown because this is a basic comedy match that didn't accomplish much within the Doink vs. Lawler feud. Lawler teamed up with little people named Sleazy, Queasy and Cheesy while Doink paired up with little people Dink, Wink and Pink. No, you can't make this stuff up and the WWE really went with these names. In the end, Lawler cheated and his whole team survived, but he got his comeuppance when everyone -- his team included -- chased him around and Doink hit him with a pie in his face. The worst part? The whole ordeal hovered around 17 minutes.
1) Team Mustafa (1991): The Iron Sheik had a lot of success in his wrestling career, but his run as Col. Mustafa in 1991 isn't part of that, much less his team at Survivor Series. Mustafa led a squad consisting of midcarders (or jobbers) The Berzerker, Skinner and Hercules against a team led by Sgt. Slaughter, which included "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, The Texas Tornado and Tito Santana. Adding to Mustafa's terrible team's misfortunes, the team was swept out of the match.
Top 5 Best Teams:
Honorable Mentions: Team Savage (1993), The All Americans (1993), The Hardy Boys & Edge and Christian (1999), and Team SmackDown (2005)
5) The Teamsters (1994): While the team ultimately didn't win, the squad of co-captains Diesel and Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart and Jeff Jarrett was a stacked squad. The Teamsters fell to a team of Razor Ramon, the 1-2-3 Kid, The British Bulldog, Fatu and Sione. Still, the team consisted of Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, the late-great Owen Hart, and one of the best big men of all-time in Diesel. This match also led to Diesel/Michaels officially splitting up, kicking off a major storyline going forward.
4) Team Austin (2003): The 2003 Survivor Series had a big stipulation in the RAW traditional match as if "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's team won, he could hit anyone he wanted to at any time while if Eric Bischoff's team got the nod, Austin would lose his co-GM job and relinquish all his power to Bischoff. Austin's team ultimately lost, but it was one of the most stacked in history. Austin's team consisted of Hall of Famer and multi-time WWE Champion Shawn Michaels, the then-Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam, the then-Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boys and current WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. All five of these men have had storied careers, with three of them holding the WWE Championship at one point or another. Still, Bischoff's team (Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Christian, Scott Steiner and Mark Henry) topped Austin's despite Michaels putting on a heroic effort when he was down 3-on-1. This match was also helped by fantastic booking that saw Orton become the sole survivor, kicking off three straight years of "The Viper" being the last man standing in a traditional match.
3) Team D-Generation X (2006): One of the most star-studded teams in history was Team DX as Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels and future Hall of Famer Triple H co-captained a team of at the time an up-and-coming star in CM Punk and the legendary Hardy Boys tag team. This team had no weak-links and four of the members have now held the WWE Championship at least once in their careers, with the exception being Matt Hardy. Adding to their lore, Team DX became one of the only five-man teams to ever sweep a traditional match, defeating co-captains Randy Orton and Edge and their partners Johnny Nitro, Mike Knox and Gregory Helms.
2) The Hulkamaniacs (1989): For 1989, this was a WWE All-Star team consisting of WWE Champion Hulk Hogan, WWE Tag Team Champions Ax and Smash of Demolition and future Hall of Famer Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Hogan and Roberts are both in the Hall of Fame today while Demolition -- three-time WWE Tag Team Champions -- very well should be. Hogan ended up being the sole survivor as The Hulkamaniacs defeated The Million $ Team (captain Ted Dibiase, The Warlord, The Barbarian and Zeus). This is one of the best assembled teams in WWE Survivor Series history.
1) Team WWF (2001): While now they'd be known as Team WWE, this squad is undoubtedly the most star-studded team ever assembled. The Rock captained the team and partnered up with The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Kane and The Big Show. Every single one of these Superstars has had multiple WWE Championship reigns. The Rock has eight title reigns to lead The Undertaker (four-time champion), Jericho (one), Kane (one) and The Big Show (two), and these Superstars also won World Heavyweight Championships in their careers. All five of the team members are likely to end up in the WWE Hall of Fame one day. Team WWF toppled Team Alliance ("Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Booker T and Shane McMahon) to end the invasion storyline and kill off The Alliance while saving the WWE. With plenty of accomplishments between them, Team WWF is the best Survivor Series team of all-time.
The WWE presents Team Cena vs. Team Authority as the main event of the 2014 Survivor Series on Nov. 23 in St. Louis, and it remains to be seen if either one of those teams will join the conversation for the best or worst teams in Survivor Series lore.
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