Ranking the 5 Greatest WWE Survivor Series 5-on-5 Tag Team Matches Ever

The traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match will return to the annual extravaganza on Saturday, November 28, when Cody Rhodes captains Team USA against Rey Mysterio's Team Mexico.

With CM Punk and Je'Von Evans already pledging to compete for America, and Penta siding with Mysterio, the talent level promises to be off the charts. Will it, though, live up to the standard set by the best versions of that staple match?

Time will tell. Until then, relive the best 5-on-5 elimination bouts from the 39-year-history of the Survivor Series premium live event, ranked based on overall quality, storyline strength, and historic significance.

Honorable Mention

Strike Force, British Bulldogs, Killer Bees, The Rougeaus, and The Young Stallions vs. The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The Bolsheviks, The Islanders, and The Dream Team (1987)

If you are looking for an indicator of just how strong tag team wrestling was in 1987 WWE, look no further than the inaugural Survivor Series, which featured 10 tag teams in one match. Not quite the traditional 5-on-5, and thus not worthy of inclusion on the list. Still, this was a damn good match with some of the best workers in company history sharing the ring at the same time.

Marty Jannetty, Hakushi, Barry Horowitz, and Bob Holly vs. 123 Kid, Dr. Tom Pritchard, Rad Radford, Skip (1995)

Strictly looking at this who's who of WrestleCrap infamy would not necessarily inspire fans to track it down, but this match from the highly underrated 1995 show features some great action from young and veteran talent alike, including a top-rope powerbomb from Jannetty to Skip that was otherworldly in WWE at the time.

Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Hardy Boyz, and CM Punk vs. Edge, Randy Orton, Mike Knox, Gregory Helms, and Johnny Nitro (2006)

Not a particularly great match, this 2006 match was as notable for the enormous reaction given to CM Punk, despite sharing the ring with the legendary D-Generation X and Hardy Boyz as it was for anything that happened between the bells. The dominance from the babyfaces, Michaels having zero clue who Knox was, and a red-hot Philadelphia crowd elevate this one, even if it is too one-sided to be much more than an enjoyable rout.

5. Team Hogan vs. Team Andre (1987)

Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant was such a profitable match-up that WWE and Vince McMahon quite literally created a new pay-per-view event in November of 1987 to capitalize on the popularity of that rivalry.

In the main event of the inaugural show, Hogan captained a team consisting of "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, and Bam Bam Bigelow against Andre, King Kong Bundy, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, "The Natural" Butch Reed, and One Man Gang.

In a moment of utter unpredictability, Hogan was eliminated when he was counted out, the culmination of a scheme concocted by the heels. With his team captain out of the equation, Bigelow took center stage and delivered a star-making performance, pinning Gang and Bundy before succumbing to the giant.

An expertly laid out match, featuring six Hall of Famers and four others who should be, it was the perfect capper to a historic night that would set the stage for every traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match that would follow.

4. Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (2016)

It was with a renewed focus on the brand split, and both Raw and SmackDown establishing their own identities, that an interpromotional battle took to the squared circle at the 2016 Survivor Series.

Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, and Braun Strowman represented the red brand against SmackDown's Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, and Shane McMahon.

What set the match apart from others is that it was not simply 10 wrestlers having a great match built on dramatic near-falls, cool spots, and shocking eliminations. It also featured the intertwining of several ongoing storylines, including the highly entertaining friendship between Jericho and Owens, the tension between Styles and McMahon, and the union of Orton and Wyatt.

Throw is the prodigal son's soul getting speared out of his body by Reigns, and a mid-match Shield reunion that saw Ambrose join the Big Dog and Rollins for a triple powerbomb to Styles, and you had a match that evolved and reinvigorated what had become somewhat of tired staple of the annual extravaganza.

3. Team Cena vs. Team Authority (2014)

The evil, power-drunk Authority, led by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, made life a living hell for any Superstars who opposed them.

At the 2014 event, they led a team captained by Seth Rollins and featuring Kane, Luke Harper, Mark Henry, and Rusev into battle against John Cena, Ryback, Big Show, Erick Rowan, and Dolph Ziggler.

A win by the heels and Cena's entire team would lose their jobs. A victory for the heroes, though, and The Authority would be stripped of their endless power.

What ensued was a high-drama affair that saw Big Show shockingly betray Cena, allowing Rollins to pin the biggest star in the company and leave the fate of the babyfaces in Ziggler's hands.

Always a tremendously talented wrestler but hardly a world-beating one, it looked like termination was in the future for all of the Superstars who had pledged allegiance to Cena. Then, Ziggler landed a Zig-Zag on Kane and rolled Harper up to send him packing.

Down to the resilient babyface and Rollins, pressure set in for Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. The former laid out referees and dropped Ziggler with the Pedigree, only for the great avenger, Sting, to finally make his WWE debut. He laid out The Game, put Ziggler on top of Rollins, then watched as the underdog scored one of the biggest wins of his career.

A breakout performance from Ziggler that should have resulted in a sustained main event push, the unforgettable debut of Sting, and a match-long storyline that carried huge stakes helped make this one of the best in event history.

2. Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff (2003)

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How great is Shawn Michaels?

He is almost single-handedly responsible for the 2003 showdown between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's team and Eric Bischoff's squad for control of the Raw brand.

Michaels led a team of The Dudley Boys, Rob Van Dam, and Booker T into action against Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Chris Jericho, Christian, and Scott Steiner.

Despite a team of Hall of Famers, Austin's team faced a tremendous deficit midway through the match as the Heartbreak Kid was left to combat Christian, Jericho, and Orton on his own.

Bloodied and battered, Michaels showed tremendous heart and intestinal fortitude as he picked off Captain Charisma with Sweet Chin Music and sent rival Y2J packing by countering his Walls of Jericho into a rollup.

Michaels had the fans invested in his performance, thanks to his body language and selling. They believed in his plight, wanted to see him overcome one last Superstar, preserve Austin's role as Raw's general manager, and end Bischoff's oppressive rule.

Unfortunately for them, Batista interfered, put an end to Michaels' furious comeback, and ensured the heels would emerge victorious.

One of the great, probably underrated performances of Michaels' entire in-ring comeback, it was proof of the power of a believable underdog babyface in relation to the crowd's willingness to completely invest themselves and become engrossed in the story unfolding before them.

1. Team WWE vs. Team Alliance (2001)

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The Invasion storyline ended not with a bang, but a whimper at the 2001 Survivor Series, at least creatively, as eight of the 10 warring competitors in the night's main event were WWE Superstars and only two were WCW or ECW wrestlers acquired at the demise of those two companies.

Still, it was arguably the most star-studded match-up in Survivor Series history. The Rock, Chris Jericho, Kane, Undertaker, and Big Show represented the home team against the invading faction, which featured "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, and Shane McMahon.

Much of the build was centered around two stories: could Rock and Jericho coexist long enough to lead WWE to victory, and who was the mole Vince McMahon supposedly had within the Alliance locker room?

The first was answered with a resounding "no," as Jericho, freshly eliminated by Austin, dropped his rival with a Breakdown and left him to battle Austin in a reprisal of their rivalry.

The second came in the closing moments of the match as Angle blasted Austin with the WWE Championship to set up Rock, and WWE's, come-from-behind win.

A great match with heavy storyline involvement throughout, this was a fitting conclusion to the hugely botched Invasion storyline and set up the crowning of an Undisputed WWE Champion at Vengeance the following month.

The star power, the stakes, peak Austin and Rock, the last vestiges of the Attitude Era, and a red-hot crowd came together to create an instant classic and the best traditional Survivor Series elimination tag match of its kind.