WWE Survivor Series 2014: Most Controversial Moments in PPV's History

From its inception in 1987, Survivor Series has been a show associated with controversy. Whether it was Hulk Hogan's elimination in the debut's main event or The Undertaker's first heavyweight championship won with the assistance of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, the show's early days are dotted with plenty of buzz-worthy moments.

Ten years after the first event shook the wrestling world, Vince McMahon again found himself in the spotlight, this time for all the wrong reasons.

Screwing an employee like Bret Hart, who was among the most popular and respected stars of his generation, earned him the disdain of audiences everywhere and inadvertently created the Mr. McMahon character that would fuel the Attitude Era.

From The Hart Family to Brock Lesnar, Shawn Michaels to Paul Heyman, Survivor Series has featured some incredibly controversial moments involving some of the most iconic stars in the industry's long and illustrious history.

The show itself was born in controversy, as McMahon attempted to cut into Jim Crockett Promotions and the NWA's successful Starrcade event.

With this year's broadcast mere weeks away, relive eight of the most controversial moments ever produced at WWE's answer to the Fall Classic.

8. A Black Hart (1993)

The 1993 Survivor Series should have been a defining moment for The Hart Family and, in some ways it was. But not for the reasons Bret, brothers Bruce and Keith and parents Helen and Stu would have hoped.

What should have been a night of unity turned into one of great sadness and dysfunction as Owen Hart struck out at his brother and began a crusade to emerge from the Hitman's shadow that would last well into the new year and lead to one of the best and most emotional rivalries of the mid-1990s.

With Shawn Michaels left to battle the Hart brothers on his own after his partners, the Knights, were eliminated systematically by the ring veterans, he sent Owen crashing into Bret, knocking him off the apron and into the guardrail.

The distraction that resulted was enough for The Heartbreak Kid to roll Owen up and send him packing from the match.

After the match, as Bret celebrated with his remaining brothers, Owen stomped toward the ring and confronted his brother, shoving him and creating a schism in the family just in time for the holiday season.

The controversy that surrounded Owen's actions dominated WWE programming and led to talk of a sibling rivalry. As it turned out, the Harts took Christmas to iron out their differences, though they were not quite as reconciled as they appeared to be.

At the Royal Rumble in January, Owen would viciously assault his brother, leaving Bret with no other choice but to accept a match against him at WrestleMania X.

7. Hulk Hogan Eliminated (1987)

The inaugural Survivor Series pay-per-view, presented on Thanksgiving night in 1987, was another outlet for Vince McMahon's immensely popular promotion. More importantly, it was a way to capitalize on the molten-hot feud between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant that led to the biggest indoor attendance in history just months earlier at WrestleMania III. 

Over 90,000 fans filled the Pontiac Silverdome in suburban Detroit to witness the titanic clash between the industry icons, and McMahon recognized the demand for more action between the two big men. Thus, he created the Survivor Series and booked an elimination tag match between Team Hogan and Team Andre for the main event.

It was a genius idea, one that ate into the NWA and Crockett Promotions' Starrcade event.

But the main event was not without controversy, even if it was of the good variety.

Late in the night's marquee matchup, Hogan exploded into the match, the recipient of a hot tag. He pounded away at Andre as fans came unglued. Unfortunately, it was another rival of Hogan's, the massive King Kong Bundy, who pulled the Hulkster outside the ring and halted his offensive flurry.

Hogan fought off his villainous opponents but was unable to beat the referee's count. He was counted out and fans chomping at the bit to see more Hogan vs. Andre were robbed of the opportunity.

But McMahon and Company would make up for it just months later as WWE produced The Main Event on NBC. That special would see one of the most controversial moments in company history, as evil-twin referees and a boatload of money provided by Ted DiBiase brought about the end of Hogan's four-year title reign.

6. A Phenom-enal Champion

In 1990, fans of World Wrestling Entertainment bore witness to the debut of an awesome force of nature unlike any Vince McMahon's company had ever produced before: The Undertaker stalked toward the ring as the special mystery partner on Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Team.

From the moment he began picking off members of the opposing team, it became clear that McMahon had struck gold and that the character he had introduced to the wrestling world was different from the other gimmicky Superstars that had come through his doors. He was dangerous yet captivating and had a presence about him that screamed "star."

So it was no surprise when The Phenom, dubbed such by the late, great Gorilla Monsoon, was put in the position to challenge Hulk Hogan for the heavyweight title one year after making his debut. What was a surprise was the fact that by the end of the 1991 event, The Deadman would stand atop the WWE mountain, the most prestigious prize in the sport around his waist.

How he got it, though, would create such controversy that a second match between him and the Hulkster would occur, the title would be vacated and the 1992 Royal Rumble would be the setting for the coronation of a new champion.

Ric Flair, having recently made his debut in the company, found himself involved in the events surrounding the finish.

He provided a distraction that allowed Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer to slide a chair into the ring, allowing The Phenom to deliver his vaunted Tombstone piledriver on the weapon. Hogan's shoulders were pinned to the mat as the fans in Detroit applauded the victory, providing one of the first blatant examples of backlash against Hulkamania. 

5. Heyman the Betrayer (2002)

Survivor Series 2002 marked the debut of Brock Lesnar at the fall classic, and The Next Big Thing would face someone who eclipsed his size for the first time in his career. His opponent that night? The World's Largest Athlete: The Big Show.

Manager Paul Heyman tried everything to stop Lesnar from taking on the challenge of the giant, but Lesnar was determined to prove his superiority to the former heavyweight champion. He entered Madison Square Garden determined to vanquish his top challenger and establish himself as the Superstar at the top of the food chain.

But Heyman and his reluctance for Lesnar to accept the match hung over the bout like a dark cloud, and that cloud would open up and rain down hell on The Beast Incarnate and his reign as WWE champion.

Despite working the match with very real broken ribs, Lesnar hoisted Big Show into the air and delivered the biggest F5 of his young career. Before he could pick up the win, Heyman pulled the referee from the ring and blasted him, playing the betrayer and screwing his client out of the championship.

It was a memorable moment that not only served as the split between Lesnar and Heyman but also necessitated the former NCAA champion's face turn.

4. Attempted Vehicular Homicide (1999)

The fall of 1999 featured a Steve Austin clearly hampered by injury. He was not quite himself as an in-ring performer, and it showed, especially in matches that occurred post-SummerSlam in August.

Eventually, word leaked out that The Texas Rattlesnake was suffering from a neck injury and was desperately in need of surgery to correct the issue.

Unfortunately, WWE had advertised a Triple Threat match for the heavyweight title pitting Austin against The Rock and Triple H. It was arguably the biggest match the company could promote outside of a straight-up singles match between Austin and Rock. Thus, they essentially backed themselves into a corner with very few options as to how to get out of the match.

Enter an unknown assailant, a car and the most blatant example of attempted vehicular homicide in WWE history.

The actual incident itself is not where the controversy lay. The controversy lay in the fact that WWE knew in advance that Austin would be unable to compete and still promoted him up until the night of the event.

Sure, they gave fans the happy ending, as Big Show overcame a week in which his storyline father passed away to capture the title in a legitimate surprise, but that was not enough to make up for a blatant bait-and-switch.

3. Corporate Champion (1998)

By the time 1998 approached, Survivor Series had earned a reputation as one of the must-see pay-per-view events on the WWE schedule thanks to the legacy of controversy it had built for itself over its first decade.

With a tournament to crown the new heavyweight champion after the title had been vacated a month earlier, chaos was sure to reign supreme.

Mr. McMahon was hellbent on ensuring that the rebellious "Stone Cold" Steve Austin did not leave with the gold, fans had plenty of reason to suspect a screwjob finish for the second consecutive year.

And boy, did the boss ever deliver.

First, it was revealed that issues between him and son Shane were a charade, as Shane screwed Austin out of a semifinal round match against Mankind. Then it was the deranged masked man who found himself on the receiving end of the McMahon family's backstabbing ways.

After weeks of Vince feuding with and trying to halt the momentum of The Rock, it was revealed that the two were working together. The Great One trapped Mankind in a Sharpshooter and waited for McMahon to call for the bell, just as he had a year earlier. He did, and the oblivious, innocent Mankind was left to wonder why his father-figure Vince did what he did.

The Rock and the McMahons celebrated the victory to close out the show, and the wrestling world that had embraced The People's Champion as a hero was left dismayed.

2. Throwing in the Towel (1994)

The issues between Bret and Owen Hart intensified throughout 1994, leading to the latter's involvement in his rivalry with the maniacal Bob Backlund. With the WWE Championship at stake, Bret and Backlund met in a Submission match at the Survivor Series that November.

At ringside, Owen and brother-in-law "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith possessed towels that could be thrown into the ring, signaling the end of the match anytime the holder of the towel thought the pain and punishment dished out to his ally was too much.

Sensing that he had the opportunity to stick it to his brother once again, Owen attacked Smith, leaving him unconscious at ringside and watching as Backlund locked on the dangerous Crossface Chicken Wing.

Bret struggled to get free but could never really break the grasp of his challenger. With his shoulder and neck racked with pain, Bret could do nothing to stop Owen from pleading with his mother Helen, who was sitting at ringside for the match, to throw in the towel on behalf of the WWE champion.

She did, and Backlund celebrated an unbelievable, inconceivable title reign 10 years after his first came to an end.

Thanks to Owen Hart's highly controversial actions.

1. Montreal (1997)

Anyone at all familiar with the professional wrestling industry knows the story of The Montreal Screwjob, which unfolded in front of a worldwide viewing audience at the 1997 Survivor Series.

Bret Hart was on his way out of WWE after accepting a contract with rival World Championship Wrestling. A behind-the-scenes war with Shawn Michaels, a crack in the father-son relationship he enjoyed with Vince McMahon and an ever-changing company landscape had worn on the proud veteran and expedited his departure from the company.

The differences with Michaels were so intense and led to such hostility that after the brash and arrogant Texan stated he would not do the job for Hart, the Hitman refused to do the same for his talented foe.

With fear mounting that Hart would take the company's heavyweight title to the competition, the decision was made to forcibly take the title off him anyway possible.

They did, screwing him over in front of thousands of Hart's fellow Canadians.

Hart found himself locked in his own Sharpshooter finisher, then listened as the bell prematurely rang. It took mere seconds for him to figure out what had happened. Then he stood up and spit directly in the face of the man to whose company he had dedicated himself for over a decade.

Fans had witnessed the end of one of WWE's most decorated and respected stars.

It was very much the result of an owner failing in his role as leader to handle the egos of his top stars and mediate the situation to the best of his ability. Vince McMahon failed miserably, and an unnecessary situation occurred as a result.