2. Survivor Series 1995
The 1995 edition was a return to form for Survivor Series, as it restored some level of importance to the elimination matches while still featuring an epic WWF Title match.
Even the opening bout, featuring lower-tier undercard talent, was treated like a meaningful contest that showcased multiple feuds. The Bodydonnas (Skip, Rad Radford, Tom Prichard, and The 1-2-3 Kid) faced The Underdogs (Marty Janetty, Bob Holly, Hakushi, and Barry Horowitz), and wrestled like they had something to prove. The match featured tons of aerial moves and spectacular high spots, and ended up being one of the show’s highlights. An all-women’s elimination match followed (captained by Alundra Blayze and Bertha Faye), spotlighting several Japanese wrestlers utilizing intricate, crowd-pleasing movesets previously not seen in the WWF.
While the middle of Survivor Series ’95 was rather forgettable, the final two matches were both excellent. The semi-main event slot went to the first (and only) Wild Card Match, where babyfaces and heels were selected at random to form teams: Shawn Michaels/Ahmed Johnson/Davey Boy Smith/Sycho Sid faced Razor Ramon/Yokozuna/Owen Hart/Dean Douglas. The unusual pairings made for an extremely exciting, unpredictable dynamic, and the result was one of the best elimination matches I’ve ever seen.
The main event went to WWF Champion Diesel and Bret Hart, in a slow-paced but realistically brutal No Holds Barred match featuring strong psychology and character development. The WWF at this point was building a new roster, and the 1995 Survivor Series was an extremely watchable show that pretty much blew away everything else on the WWF’s PPV calendar that year and came closest to matching the first two stellar Survivor Series PPVs.
