Survivor Series is a big four pay-per-view that has produced plenty of memorable moments and matches throughout its rich history. However, as with any long-standing show, there have been plenty of head scratching moments that brought down the annual November PLE. This list narrows down the five most egregious moments in Survivor Series history.

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Paul Heyman Turns On Brock Lesnar (Survivor Series 2002)

It’s understandable that WWE wanted to turn Brock Lesnar babyface. But if the plan was always Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar, then why didn’t they have Angle challenge for the WWE Championship here instead. The Big Show/Paul Heyman didn’t last very long. In fact, Big Show dropped the belt instantly a month later. Heyman’s reasoning for the turn was quite flimsy too.

Lesnar got his revenge, but it was a mistake for the company to have him drop the belt in such a flukey and lame fashion. There were plenty of other ways to get to Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar without this clunky middle portion of the story. Big Show didn’t get a boost from this brief stint. Brock was a complete douchebag before Heyman turned on him, so it was hard to feel sympathy for the former WWE Champion. A misguided double turn that did no one favors.

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Jeff Hardy Randomly Attacked And Taken Off The Survivor Series Triple Threat Match (Survivor Series 2008)

The story itself wasn’t too bad. The biggest issue is that this cheap storyline took advantage of the real life issues regarding Jeff Hardy. Even worse, the match came down to Triple H and Kozlov, and the latter’s push was effectively killed after this moment.

The match was extremely boring until Edge and Jeff Hardy interfered, and that wasn’t until the final minutes of the showdown. The crowd was ruthless during this match, chanting all sorts of things like “boring” to “TNA”. The angle to get Jeff Hardy out of the match was a cheap ploy that made it hard for fans to trust anything that pops up on WWE’s website as real news. Hardy got a great moment a month later by finally winning the WWE Champion, but the path to getting to that point was not smooth.

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Triple H turns on Kurt Angle Mid-Match (Survivor Series 2017)

This was one of the most convoluted bookings to an elimination match ever made. Traditional Survivor Series matches can be hit or miss. Before the disastrous ending, this match was really fun. This was a glimpse of the future in WWE and the tease of several dream matches made for exciting moments.

Then, Triple H turned on Kurt Angle. It was a baffling moment because everyone was confused. What was even more baffling was Triple H then gave Shane McMahon the pedigree to get the win. Braun Strowman stood on the apron the entire time representing what the audience felt. The booking of this match was convoluted and though Triple H and Kurt Angle would end up fighting against one another at WrestleMania 34, the mid-match heel turn simply made no sense.

Strowman vs. Triple H was teased when the former WWE Universal Champion power slammed the boss, but nothing ever came out of that interaction beyond that. This melodrama effectively killed an otherwise great match.

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Charlotte Flair Turns Heel and Attacks Ronda Rousey Causing A Disqualification (Survivor Series 2018)

The concept of brand warfare at Survivor Series always felt lazy and anticlimactic. One of the biggest issues is that clean finishes rarely happen since these champion vs. champion matches would result in one champion looking like a chump. But Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey was a different beast.

Originally Becky Lynch vs. Sadly, that match was scrapped when the former RAW Women’s Champion was injured during her infamous invasion angle on the RAW. So, Becky Lynch herself chose Flair. Mind you, these two had been feuding for months on end before Survivor Series. Flair had no reason to accept this match because there were no stakes involved. It was just a clunky way of putting into the match-up that didn’t make any storyline sense.

Still, Rousey and Flair were having an excellent match until the random DQ finish. The violent attack from Flair seemed like a heel turn, but it didn’t make any sense why Flair snapped in the first place. She didn’t have any beef with Rousey and the brand vs. brand rivalry only exists when Survivor Series appears. A damaging moment that hurt Rousey and Flair’s character, as the fans officially turned on the former during the attack, negating whatever emotion WWE wanted us to feel during this angle.

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The Golden Egg Fiasco (Survivor Series 2021)

Not a match angle per se, but a show-long story that made Survivor Series 2021 borderline unwatchable. This doesn’t come close to the zombie nonsense that happened at WrestleMania’s Backlash, but the whole arc was silly, stupid, and a waste of time. Worse of all, The Rock never even made an appearance in a movie that WWE was trying to promote. The only good that came out of this angle was that it allowed Austin Theory to showcase why he’s a main event talent, but the goofy angle made it impossible to take his character seriously.

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