The main event saw Randy Orton defeat Big Show to retain the WWE Championship.

The pay-per-view was the worst-selling edition of Survivor Series since the event's inception in 1987; this was attributed to a weak buildup.

The 2013 event was the 27th Survivor Series and was scheduled to be held on November 24, 2013, at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

[6][7] The main feud heading into Survivor Series featured Randy Orton and Big Show over the former's WWE Championship.

Since returning from an injury in mid-August, Big Show had been speaking out against COO and the on-screen regime of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon and their mistreatment of several Superstars, especially Daniel Bryan.

This put him at odds with "The Authority", and as a result, Big Show was continuously humiliated by Triple H and McMahon throughout September, and was obliged to knock out several other rebellious wrestlers, owing to a threat of being fired.

The event included two traditional Survivor Series elimination matches, the first of which saw the five-man team of The Shield (United States Champion Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) and The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger with manager Zeb Colter) face off against WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), and Rey Mysterio, who made a surprise return on the November 18 episode of Raw.

This match stems from AJ insulting Natalya and the rest for taking part in the Total Divas reality show.

Despite this, SmackDown general manager Vickie Guerrero surprised then-World Heavyweight Champion Del Rio on the October 7 episode of Raw, by naming Cena as his opponent at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.

With Punk and Bryan aiding each other and showing resistance, their altercations with The Wyatts continued over the next several weeks on Raw and SmackDown, until an official match between the teams was announced for Survivor Series.

Also confirmed prior to the event was a match between Kofi Kingston and The Miz for the Survivor Series Kickoff pre-show.

This action allowed Swagger to apply the Ankle Lock on Kingston which he tapped out of giving the win to the Real Americans.

Also on the November 18 episode of Raw, Big E Langston defeated Curtis Axel to win the Intercontinental Championship, and a rematch was later confirmed for the pay-per-view.

The Survivor Series Kickoff pre-show included the panel of Josh Mathews, Bret Hart, Booker T, and Mick Foley previewing the matches.

The pay-per-view began with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon coming to the stage, with the two declaring they were allowing no interference in any match tonight.

During the match, Punk and Bryan performed a double Belly to Back Suplex on Rowan for a near-fall.

In the end, Bryan performed a Running Knee on Rowan and Punk pinned Harper after a GTS to win the match.

Also later that night, The Shield (United States Champion Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) faced three members of the opposing survivor series team members in Rey Mysterio and the WWE Tag Team Champions The Rhodes Brothers and were victorious after Ambrose pinned Cody Rhodes.

After this string of non-title wins, Natalya was officially announced to challenge Lee for the Divas Championship at the TLC event.