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The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Top 5 Dream Survivor Series Teams

November 21, 2014 | Posted by Larry Csonka

The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. We take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to participate and give us their Top 5 on said topic. So, onto this week’s topic…

Week 288 – Top 5 Dream Survivor Series Teams
Create your top 5 DREAM Survivor Series teams. They can either be FOUR man teams or FIVE man teams.

Dino Zee
5. Legion of Demolition – Ax, Smash, Crush, Hawk, and Animal – Take two of the baddest tag teams in history and put them together, and you’ve got yourself quite the team. We’d assume they’re all on the same page so that there is no infighting, and instead we have 5 guys ready to rip the heads off of the opposition.

4. Team One More Match – Brian Pillman, Eddy Guerrero, Owen Hart, Eddie Gilbert, Rick Rude – Could throw so many others in here, but these would be my final five. They were all amazing, they’re all missed, and I’d love to see them all wrestle again.

3. Carbon Copy – Buzzkill, Damien Mizdow, Fake Razor Ramon, Fake Diesel, Fake Kane – This team would probably be used to wrestle 5 Doinks or something, but I’d like to form a squad of ripoff characters and see what they could do. Buzzkill was of course the persona that the late Brad Armstrong used in WCW when Vince Russo took over, where he aped roughly 99% of his schtick from his brother, the Road Dogg. Mizdow will of course mimic anything he can, and whenever your wrestler name has “Fake” as the first part, it’s fair to assume you’re also ripping someone else off. Not a great team by any means, but what a collection of fraudulence this would be.

2. Team Zee – Bret Hart, Brutus Beefcake, Booker T, Edge – This is strictly personal, as it contains four of my all time favorites (that aren’t to be used in other team formations) to form this four man squadron of awesomeness. Maybe Brutus Beefcake stands out as the “one of these things is not like the other,” but he was my dude when I was a little kid, and that can’t be forgotten. You make this team, I’d watch them every single time.

1. Legendary – Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and John Cena – We have access to time machines so we can capture each guy in his prime, right? That said, let’s take the dominant face of each era and form a team with them. The dominance of these men individually would pale in comparison to the force they’d make as a unified team. I don’t think there’s a team that can be created to beat them.

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MICHAEL WEYER
5. Monsters Inc: Bruiser Brody (Team Captain), Vader, Bam Bam Bigelow, Abyss and Kane: All big guys able to use their size and surprising agility and skill to smash any opponents into a pulp with little damage to themselves, an army of sheer destruction. Just imagine Brody and Vader tearing it up while bleeding buckets, a hardcore brawler’s dream.

4. Femme Fatales: Trish Stratus, Lita, Mickie James, Medusa Miceli and Sherri Martel. Five women who are not only all fantastically gifted wrestlers but all utterly gorgeous to boot, able to look amazing even pounding down on other opponents.

3. The Ladykillers: Shawn Michaels (Team Captain), Rick Rude, Tully Blanchard, Michael Hayes and Edge. Five men known for breaking hearts and idolized by women, flashy and wild but each a skilled champion, the combined arrogance alone is daunting to match and the promos would be brilliant.

2. Team Lie, Cheat, Steal: Eddie Guerrero (Team Captain), Ted DiBiase, Curt Hennig, Bobby Roode and Jeff Jarrett. These guys experts at cheating their way to victory time and again, escaping with titles intact and infuriating fans with their inability to lose clean, making it harder to pick who’d get eliminated in the match-ups.

1. Mad on the Mic: Ric Flair (Team Captain), Randy Savage, Roddy Piper and the Road Warriors. Tell me a promo of these five together would not be filled with enough spittle to fill buckets, insane metaphors to blow your mind and more wide-eyed screaming than your typical political talk show.

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justin watry
5. Team Deserves Better: Bobby Roode, James Storm, Jeff Hardy, & Austin Aries – This is my one TNA Impact Wrestling inclusion. I have said many times that the actual TNA roster is very talented. Despite my thoughts on the business decision made by that company or what kinds of numbers they do (in any category), none of that is a knock on the hard working guys and gals inside that squared circle. That being said, Jeff Hardy belongs in WWE wrestling main event pay-per-view bouts. Bobby Roode deserves to be seen by millions worldwide each week and competing in front of 80,000 fans at WrestleMania, not a few hundred in a dark arena. James Storm deserves to be given a chance to shine on the grand stage, not fooling around with Manik and Sanada. Austin Aries, even at his age, should move past any Tough Enough nonsense and go straight to NXT/RAW/Smackdown for some quality matches and segment. Not waffling around without a direction for months on end. All of these guys deserve better…

4. Team Up North: Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Edge, & Christian – Okay, Chris Jericho was not born in Canada; you got me. This dream team was actually suggested by Twitter user Julio (@Julio_DA), so he gets the shout out. Go follow him everybody! Really, the whole concept of fantasy booking is no my cup of tea, but this intrigued enough to mention it. Edge and Christian always made for a fun pairing, while Bret Hart and Chris Jericho ALWAYS brought it during a bout. What could go wrong?

3. Team Flavor Of The Month: John Morrison, Zack Ryder, Brad Maddox, & Alex Riley – Even as a big Alex Riley fan, it pains me to add him to the list. He had so much potential, but you know they saw about the word ‘potential?’ Hey, remember when fans cared about Zack Ryder for a few weeks? Ah, still gives me nightmares to this day. Or hey, how is John Morrison doing? The next Shawn Michaels?!?! Ha. I guess that is the punchline. Brad Maddox? Yeah, that guy. To be fair, he is still young enough to make something out of his career, but yeah, he disappeared in a hurry.

2. Team Divas: Trish Stratus, Mickie James, Lita, & AJ Lee – I struggled with the fourth lady. AJ Lee won out because it felt necessary to include somebody from THIS generation. This team is pretty easy to understand. Trish Stratus is THE greatest women’s wrestler of all-time. No doubt. Very deserving of her WWE Hall of Fame induction. Next up is Lita, with Mickie James not too far behind, and that is the beauty of it. Lita vs. Trish was the best women’s feud in recent WWE history, while Mickie vs. Trish at WrestleMania 22 is MY favorite women’s match ever. Makes perfect sense. Then there is Ms. AJ Lee to bring this full circle for an upcoming Survivor Series PPV event.

1. Team Faces: Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love, & Mick Foley – No explanation needed.

Ryan Byers
NOTE: Two years ago, I wrote a top eight fantasy Survivor Series teams column for this website. To make this a more interesting exercise, I’m going to try to come up with five new teams using none of the wrestlers or concepts I used last time around. I am not using the rules from my prior column, in which the wrestlers had to have wrestled in WWE during the period in which Survivor Series was an annual event.

5. Evening at the Improv (Santino Marella, Colt Cabana, Kikutaro, Danshoku Dino, and Super Porky) – There’s an old saying in wrestling that “funny don’t equal money.” To a degree, I agree with that. Main event angles meant to draw shouldn’t be primarily comedic. However, that doesn’t mean that comedy wrestling doesn’t have its place on a card. Mixed in with the serious stuff in the right proportion, it helps to create a well-rounded show. Thus, I’ve put together a team of the five most prolific comedy wrestlers of the last decade. Some of them, like Porky and Cabana, have legitimate wrestling chops to back up the goofy stuff, while others, like Marella and Kikutaro, are essentially pure comedians. Regardless of what you have to say about their straight up wrestling skill, all five of these men are rather creative, and I would be interested to see what they could come up with in collaboration with each other. This crew up against five more serious heels who have great facial selling ability would make for a fine opener for any fantasy Survivor Series.

4. The World’s Greatest Tag Teams – The Rock n’ Roll Express, Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero, Toshiaki Kowada & Sampson Fuyuki, The Hardy Boys, and Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel – On the early Survivor Series pay per views, I loved the SS elimination matches that pitted two teams of five regular tag teams each against each other. It was an excellent demonstration of just how deep and talented the company’s tag team roster was at the time, and there was something about seeing that many competitors involved in one bout that caused young me to really mark out. Thus, I had to put together my own five-team team, and my hope was to capture a several great duos from different styles and eras of wrestling. Between Stevens/Bockwinkel, the RnRs, and the Hardys, you’ve got the 70s, 80s, and 90s of the United States represented, while Footloose and Los Guerreros add an international flavor. This lineup would be doubly perfect if the opposing team consisted of five great tag teams that were classic rivals of this crew.

3. Hardcore Hangover – Terry Funk, The Sheik, Atsushi Onita, LA Park, and Abdullah the Butcher – WWE has done a lot of twists on Survivor Series matches over the years, with SS versions of comedy matches, women’s matches, tag team matches, little person matches, wild card matches, and many more variations. However, one thing that we have never seen (and are now unlikely to see due to the decline of the genre) is a HARDCORE Survivor Series match. If you’re going to do that sort of match, you may as well do it with the best guys available, and these are all individuals who helped to found the genre. From ECW, you’ve got Terry Funk, from FMW, you’ve got Atsushi Onita, from AAA, you’ve got LA Park, and, from about twenty-five years before any of those things existed, you’ve got Abdullah the Butcher and the Sheik. The only thing that I can’t figure out about this team is whether I’d prefer to see them go up against a team that could be competitive or a crew of jobbers who could be entertainingly obliterated.

2. Team Styles Clash – Lou Thesz, Tiger Mask I, The Necro Butcher, Uncle Elmer, and Roman Reigns – What can I say, there’s part of me that likes to see professional wrestlers put into situations outside of their comfort zones in order to see how they react. That’s why I’ve taken five wrestlers who have as little to do with each other as humanly possible and thrown them together on one team. If you could invent the time machine necessary to gather these five men and put them into the ring together, it would be incredibly entertaining (and perhaps unintentionally hilarious) to watch them interact. How would Lou Thesz’s largely realistic, mat-based style mesh with Necro’s staple guns? Would the belly bumping of Uncle Elmer serve as a compliment to the high flying of Tiger Mask? Would Roman Reigns just stand there throughout the whole thing scratching his head before saying “screw it” and spearing anything that moves? I have no clue what the answers to any of these questions would be, but I sure would have a fun time figuring them out.

1. Fanfare for the Common Man – Steve Austin, Bruno Sammartino, Dick the Bruiser, Dusty Rhodes, and Arn Anderson – One of the most endearing characters in professional wrestling is the blue collar hero who pulled himself up by his bootstraps in order to become a superstars, despite not necessarily having the most refined upbringing, habits, or perhaps even physique. These characters are easily relatable to wrestling fans, who themselves often have humble beginnings. Thus, it is no surprise that, when talented individuals adopt this persona, they tend to become the biggest stars in the wrestling universe. We all love these guys, we can all relate to them, and that’s why I’ve assembled five of those working men in order to form the ultimate Survivor Series team. Not only would they lay one hell of a beating on whoever their opponents were, they could probably also drink the entire audience under the table at the bar after the show.

Alex Crowder
5. The Forgotten – Mick Foley, Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect, Dolph Ziggler, and Heath Slater – I chose these five men distinctly because I love the way that all 5 of them sell beatings. Dolph oversells a beating and it is glorious. Mick Foley would be perfect to get beat down by my number 1 team. Heath Slater to me is the best seller today because he sells so fluidly and doesn’t care who he has to take offense from. Mr. Perfect is the obvious one. Mr. Perfect can sell like no other, and then we come to Randy Savage. Savage may be the most important part of the team. Savage brings the best out of everyone and he may be the most mainstream of my choices along with Foley(I say his Slim-Jim commercials put him over the top). Savage brings them the most credibility. Lastly, all of them have been held back by bigger stars or management in my view.

4. Mount Rushmore – Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, El Santo, Antonio Inoki, Mitsuharu Misawa – My Mount Rushmore is obviously objective but I feel these 5 represent the best of pro wrestling. At least, they represent the best from what I know and others like Lou Thesz I think would feel too out of place. Inoki represents Japan for me. Misawa represents workrate though I considered Kobashi, I decided Misawa was the right candidate in the end. El Santo seemed to be the best lucha libre candidate. Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold round it out representing America. Stone Cold dominated the 90’s for the most part. On the other hand, Hogan played his part in the 90’s and ruled the 80’s. I think this team is probably the best of pro wrestling.

3. Team No Gravity – Yoshitsune, Mistico, Adrian Neville, Rey Mysterio Jr., and Eddie Guerrero – This concept came to me to wrestle against the team below. Adrian Neville is the man that gravity forgot, so why not base a team around the concept. Yoshitsune is one of the most incredible high-flyers I have ever seen. My jaw dropped the first time I saw him in action. Next, we have Mistico who is one of the best when he is on. I think Mistico would do well in this environment because others can keep up and know Spanish. Of course, we cannot forget Rey Mysterio. Rey Mysterio basically defines High-Flying when it comes to mainstream American wrestling. He also did quite well for himself in Mexico. Lastly, we have Eddie Guerrero. I choose him to bring some more technical wrestling into this high-flying team. He’ll be the ground worker so to speak and the resident a-hole. Eddie is a great heel and a total jerk to boot(in the ring).

2. Dream Team – Ultimo Dragon, Jushin Liger, The Great Sasuke, El Generico, and Dean Malenko – This one is dubbed the Dream Team, because it is five of my favorite workers ever! I’m a huge Ultimo Dragon fan and I think he would meld into this team well. Ultimo Dragon also has experience in Mexico, which will mesh with the Mexican workers on Team No Gravity. Then, we have the man himself Jushin Liger. Liger is there to kick ass and be a total jerk to the other team. Liger is probably the greatest light heavyweight wrestler of all-time(or Tiger Mask), so he fits into this team perfectly. The Great Sasuke is merely a personal favorite of mine. He had incredible chemistry with Ultimo and Liger as opponents, and I figured that chemistry would translate to a tag team. Paul Heyman once put enemies together as the Public Enemy. I think it could work here. Next, we have El Generico who is my favorite current Light Heavyweight. He can have a great match with anyone. I decided on Generico over Zayn, because it fits the team dynamic better. Finally, the last man is Dean Malenko. If the man can get a 4 star match out of Scottie 2 Hottie….imagine what he can do against these other dream teams. Malenko for my money in the squared circle might be the greatest of all-time along with Bret. There is no better choice to round out this team. I only wish Malenko had a mask to wear.

1. Murderer’s Row – Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Animal, Hawk, and Power Warrior – I cannot say too much about this choice…I think it is obvious why I chose it. Nonetheless, it is the two most dominant tag teams ever and arguably the two best along with Power Warrior(Kensuke Sasaki) just so they can have 5 on 5 matches. This team would dismantle and destroy their opponents, and it’d be a lot of fun to watch. I can only imagine the destruction of the Steiner Brothers combined with The Legion of Doom. I can only imagine The Forgotten taking a beating from these 5. That would be beyond amazing. This team is the ultimate tag team in my view, and that gives them the number 1 spot.