WWE Survivor Series: 10 Weirdest Sole Survivor Situations
The strange stories of Lana, Lex Luger and some other lonely winners.
Survivor Series remains one of WWE’s big four, however, the traditional elimination match has become less of a focal point. The 1990 edition featured the most elimination matches on one card (six), whereas 2002’s event had none, with the focus being on the first ever Elimination Chamber match. Owing largely to the current stacked talent, the PPV has found two or three Survivor Series elimination matches to be a happy medium.
While the old cliché “there’s no ‘I’ in team” stands, being an elimination match’s sole survivor gives a competitor both group supremacy and personal accolades. The title of sole survivor holds a certain gravitas. It conjures images of a solo hero, who is bloodied and beaten but kept on his feet by glory and surging adrenaline, standing over his defeated foes and fallen friends.
However, often this is far from the case. Weird circumstances often follow a sole survivor win. From head-scratching victors to beloved mythical beings crashing the fanfare. Most recent sole survivor Lana stood still on the steel stairs for the bulk of the match to secure the win. But two two-time Hall of Famers hold similar wins too…
10. Tito Santana - Survivor Series 1990
As part of The Alliance (Santana, Nikolai Volkoff, and The
Bushwhackers), Tito was the sole survivor against The Mercenaries (Sgt. Slaughter,
Boris Zhukov, and The Orient Express). However, the Hall of Famer’s win was not
ideal.
Slaughter’s ally General Adnan drilled Santana in the spine with a flagpole. The Iraqi sympathiser incarnation of Slaughter locked in the camel clutch, but illogically broke it to celebrate himself as the sole survivor. Santana limped away only for Howard Finkel to announce “Sgt. Slaughter [pause for dramatic effect] has been disqualified”.
However, the sole survivor found himself in a weird predicament. Santana was immediately thrown into another Survivor Series match, which featured the winners of the night’s previous matches competing in teams based on their heel/face alignment.
Santana, Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior faced off against Hercules, Paul Roma, Rick Martel, Ted DiBiase, and The Warlord. Santana scored the match’s first elimination. However, in under two minutes, DiBiase pinned Santana after using his own momentum to drive him throat first onto the top rope.