10 Best WWE Survivor Series’ EVER - According To Dave Meltzer
1. Survivor Series 2002 (3.75)
The day after the 2002 Survivor Series, the world woke up to Shawn Michaels and The Big Show as the two most prominent champions in professional wrestling.
The last time this happened was 1996, which coincidentally was the year the company ran Madison Square Garden for their Thanksgiving Tradition. As mentioned earlier in this list, it was a night 'HBK' managed to shine under challenging personal and professional circumstances. Despite aesthetically terrifying surroundings, his Elimination Chamber triumph carried substantially less emotional heft.
For Michaels, it marked an unthinkable return from the brink. Losing his addictions and finding God, 'The Heartbreak Kid' was in every sense reborn, and brought his virtually incomparable A-game to a brand new WWE contraption that fared extremely well in its maiden outing. Michaels would drop his newly-won World Title a month later, but it wasn't about the reign - merely the redemption.
The Big Show's story was different, but it was a crucial piece of a much greater puzzle. He'd unexpectedly become the first man to pin Brock Lesnar, taking his WWE Title and agent Paul Heyman in the process. It was also destined to be a short stint. Big Show transitioned the title to Kurt Angle in December to kickstart the build to the WrestleMania match most people really wanted, but 'The Beast' had temporarily been slain, adding depth and renewed vim to his already-vast skill-set.