Every Survivor Series Sole Survivor in WWE History, From André the Giant to Bianca Belair
Being the last one standing is the best way to win a Survivor Series match. Since the first Survivor Series in 1987, there have been 89 traditional Survivor Series elimination matches at the event, and 38 of them ended with a single survivor. With the format back at Survivor Series: WarGames 2026 on November 28, when Team USA meets Team Mexico in Houston, here is every sole survivor in WWE history.
How we counted: every traditional Survivor Series match held at a Survivor Series event, from 1987 to 2021. There were none in 1998, 2002 or from 2022 to 2025, when the show was built around tournaments, other match types and WarGames. Three Survivor Series-style matches in 2025 took place at other events, NXT vs. TNA Showdown and an episode of SmackDown, and are not included. Results are taken from each event's official elimination order.
Every Survivor Series sole survivor, 1987 to 2021
| Year | Sole Survivor | Match |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | André the Giant | Team André vs. Team Hulk Hogan |
| 1988 | Ultimate Warrior | Team Warrior vs. Team Honky Tonk Man |
| 1989 | Hulk Hogan | The Hulkamaniacs vs. The Million Dollar Team |
| 1989 | Mr. Perfect | The Rude Brood vs. Roddy's Rowdies |
| 1989 | Ultimate Warrior | The Ultimate Warriors vs. The Heenan Family |
| 1990 | Ultimate Warrior | The Warriors vs. The Perfect Team |
| 1990 | Ted DiBiase | The Million Dollar Team vs. The Dream Team |
| 1990 | Hulk Hogan | The Hulkamaniacs vs. The Natural Disasters |
| 1990 | Tito Santana | The Alliance vs. The Mercenaries |
| 1991 | Ric Flair | Team Flair vs. Team Piper |
| 1993 | Lex Luger | The All-Americans vs. The Foreign Fanatics |
| 1994 | Razor Ramon | The Bad Guys vs. The Teamsters |
| 1995 | The 1-2-3 Kid | Team Kid vs. Team Marty Jannetty |
| 1995 | Aja Kong | Team Aja Kong vs. Team Alundra Blayze |
| 1996 | Bart Gunn | Team Bart Gunn vs. Team Billy Gunn |
| 1996 | Rocky Maivia | Team Jake Roberts vs. Team Hunter Hearst Helmsley |
| 1997 | The Interrogator | The Truth Commission vs. The Disciples of Apocalypse |
| 1997 | The British Bulldog | Team Canada vs. Team USA |
| 1997 | Ken Shamrock | Team Shamrock vs. The Nation of Domination |
| 1999 | Big Show | Big Show alone vs. four men (handicap) |
| 1999 | Hardcore Holly | The Hollys and Too Cool vs. Edge & Christian and The Hardy Boyz |
| 2000 | Jeff Hardy | The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian and Right to Censor |
| 2001 | The Rock | Team WWF vs. The Alliance |
| 2003 | Randy Orton | Team Bischoff vs. Team Austin |
| 2004 | Randy Orton | Team Orton vs. Team Triple H |
| 2005 | Randy Orton | Team SmackDown vs. Team Raw |
| 2006 | Ric Flair | Team WWE Legends vs. The Spirit Squad |
| 2008 | Beth Phoenix | Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (women) |
| 2009 | Kofi Kingston | Team Kingston vs. Team Orton |
| 2012 | Dolph Ziggler | Team Ziggler vs. Team Foley |
| 2013 | Roman Reigns | The Shield and The Real Americans vs. Team Rhodes, Mysterio and The Usos |
| 2014 | Dolph Ziggler | Team Cena vs. Team Authority |
| 2017 | Asuka | Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (women) |
| 2018 | Nia Jax | Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (women) |
| 2019 | Roman Reigns | Team SmackDown vs. Team Raw vs. Team NXT (men) |
| 2020 | Lana | Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (women) |
| 2021 | Seth Rollins | Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (men) |
| 2021 | Bianca Belair | Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown (women) |
Most times as sole survivor
| Wrestler | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Warrior | 3 | 1988, 1989, 1990 |
| Randy Orton | 3 | 2003, 2004, 2005 |
| Hulk Hogan | 2 | 1989, 1990 |
| Ric Flair | 2 | 1991, 2006 |
| Dolph Ziggler | 2 | 2012, 2014 |
| Roman Reigns | 2 | 2013, 2019 |
The Ultimate Warrior and Randy Orton share the record with three each, and both did it in three straight years. Warrior's run came at the height of his popularity, in the years around his WrestleMania VI win over Hulk Hogan. Orton's came at the start of his career. He was the last man left for Team Bischoff in 2003, beat Triple H to win for his own team in 2004, and outlasted Shawn Michaels to win for SmackDown in 2005.
Ric Flair has the longest gap between two: 15 years, from 1991 to 2006, when he survived for a team of WWE Legends against the Spirit Squad.
Roman Reigns did it six years apart. In 2013, while still a member of The Shield, he was the last man left for The Shield and The Real Americans, finishing with Rey Mysterio, and in 2019 he beat Keith Lee at the end of the three-way Raw vs. SmackDown vs. NXT match.
The women who survived alone
Six women have been sole survivor: Aja Kong in 1995, Beth Phoenix in 2008, Asuka in 2017, Nia Jax in 2018, Lana in 2020 and Bianca Belair in 2021.
Aja Kong's 1995 performance stands out. She eliminated all four members of Team Alundra Blayze, finishing with the champion herself. Asuka's 2017 win came during her unbeaten run, and she scored three eliminations, including the last two after being left alone. Lana's 2020 win is the strangest: her own team made her stand on the ring steps so she could not tag in again, and she was left alone when Nia Jax and Bianca Belair were both counted out. She did not eliminate anyone, but it earned her a Raw Women's Championship match against Asuka.
Who is still on the roster
Six sole survivors are on the WWE main roster today: Orton, Reigns, Seth Rollins, Belair, Asuka and Jax. That is a reminder of how recent most of the Raw vs. SmackDown era was. From 2016 to 2021, every Survivor Series had a men's and a women's elimination match, and the active roster is full of wrestlers who were part of them.
Other numbers worth knowing
- Sole survivor matches: 38 of 89 traditional matches at the event, or 43%.
- Clean sweeps: eight teams won without losing a member: The Visionaries (1990), the team of Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, The Texas Tornado and El Matador (1991), The Four Doinks (1993), The Royal Family (1994), The Darkside (1995), Team DX (2006), Team Fox (2014) and Team Raw's men (2020).
- A debut to remember: Rocky Maivia, later The Rock, was sole survivor in his WWF pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series 1996. Five years later he was sole survivor again, beating Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WWF vs. Alliance match in 2001.
- Brothers on opposite sides: in 1996, Bart Gunn was sole survivor after eliminating his own brother, Billy Gunn, last.
- The only handicap: in 1999 Big Show beat four men alone in 1:26, the shortest Survivor Series match ever. He is counted here, but it was a sole survivor match by design.
What it tells us
In WWE, the sole survivor is almost never random. It is one of the clearest ways the company has to tell the audience who matters. Orton's three straight in 2003 to 2005 were part of making him a main event star, Reigns' 2013 performance did the same for him, and Dolph Ziggler's 2014 win, with Sting's help in his WWE debut, was one of the best nights of his career.
The women's list shows the same pattern. Asuka in 2017 and Belair in 2021 were both built as unstoppable at the time, and the result of the match was there to confirm it. The exceptions, like Lana in 2020, are usually stories about something else. Her survival was a way into a title story with Asuka, not a sign WWE saw her as its top woman.
That is what makes the format's return interesting. A Survivor Series match is a chance to make one wrestler look like the most important person in the ring, and WWE has not used it at the event in five years. Cody Rhodes leads Team USA and Rey Mysterio leads Team Mexico, but if WWE uses the match the way it has in the past, the sole survivor could be someone else on either team who is being built for 2027.
For the full card, read our Survivor Series: WarGames 2026 guide and Team USA vs. Team Mexico breakdown. For more history, see every Survivor Series main event, the all-time Survivor Series win-loss records and every WarGames match.
