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Scrooge Revisits the Survivor Series
Topic Started: Nov 17 2014, 12:01 AM (1,326 Views)
Scrooge McSuck
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With all the Survivor Series PPV's previously recapped, I figured I'd just sit back and enjoy some of them while writing tidbits here and there, since there's no need to redo those recaps, since for the most part, my star ratings are mostly unchanged.



SURVIVOR SERIES 1987 (I'm watching the Anthology DVD for this one, and probably all of them up until 1996)

- Weird that the production crew would focus on Gorilla and Ventura obviously reading off their format sheets during the opening minutes.

Because I have nothing better to do, here's a list of talent that was being used on a regular basis, but weren't featured in a match: The Junkyard Dog, George "The Animal" Steele, The Ultimate Warrior, Koko B. Ware, Billy Jack Haynes, Hillbilly Jim, and Ted Dibiase. You can tell that the babyface side was a bit more loaded. You could reasonably say only Billy Jack Haynes was missed, as JYD was floundering, Steele and Hillbilly Jim were whatever, Koko was the babyface equiviliant of Barry Horowitz or Steve Lombardi, and Warrior had only debuted on TV a month earlier. Dibiase isn't in a match, but does do a "Thanksigving" vignette, because he doesn't need to wrestle on Thanksgiving.


SAVAGE, ROBERTS, DRAGON, BEEFCAKE, DUGGAN V. HTM, BASS, HERCULES, RACE, DAVIS
- Production snafu: Everyone gets a close up for their introductions, except they show Danny Davis when introducing Ron Bass, and Ron Bass when introducing Danny Davis.

- Stipulation mentioned here that I don't recall ever being done again: Captains make the call as to who has to start the match. Seems meaningless, but it's a small touch to identify what makes someone a Captain.

- Among the 10 participants, the only feuds I can recall were Savage/Honky and Duggan/Race. You could make an argument most of the faces just hate Honky. Something deep down says Steamboat was put with Bass because why the fuck not, but I'm really stretching there. I don't recall Roberts/Hercules or Beefcake/Hercules being a thing, and Davis was a glorified JTTS.

- Brutus Beefcake and Hercules have a hot start for the first official action in Survivor Series History.

- Duggan and Race have about 30-seconds of interaction before going to a Double Count-Out. First official fall, and it's a cop-out result. THANKSIGIVING TRADITION!

- Brutus Beefcake surprisingly does a pinfall job on a spot that was telegraphed well in advance by Danny Davis, waiting on the apron for Beefcake, who in turn, made it obvious he was going to position himself for the cheap shot.

- Coolest spot of the match: Savage and Steamboat completing a string of offense to eliminate Hercules.

- Honky takes a beating and takes a walk. Did Honky do any pinfall jobs as the Intercontinental Champion, even in Non-Title? Or before he won the Title? No wonder the crowd went apeshit at SummerSlam when Warrior pinned him.



MOOLAH, MCINTYRE, ROBIN, BOMB ANGELS V. SHERRI, GLAMOUR GIRLS, MARIE, CHRISTIANELLO
- I don't think the members of Moolah and Sherri's teams were ever announced in the build up to the show. Even the program just lists it as "Team Moolah" vs. "Team Sherri." Speaking of Moolah... she's a FACE? Crowd still boos her, because it's Moolah. Dawn Marie (not that one) and Donna Christianello look awful, even by standards of mid 80's WWF women's wrestling. Heck, Leilani Kai and Judy Martin don't look much better.

- Velvet McIntyre is NOT related to Sheamus. She appears to have tanned since her pale days of WrestleMania 2. Her efforts of flashy offense with a sweet victory roll would quickly be over-shadowed by 90% of the Bomb Angels offense.

- The Jumping Bomb Angels aren't individually identified for the live audience, and are simply from "Japan."

- Ventura asks Gorilla if the rumors are true that he and Moolah were an item back in 1936.

- Who's thinner: Rockin' Robin or Sam Houston?

- Scratch that last question: Are Rockin' Robin and Sam Houston the same person?

- Moolah is the second woman eliminated from her team. Color me surprised. Money would've been at least her being the last eliminated member.

- When the Bomb Angels are in, it's about a 3-star match. The rest of the time, maybe 1, and thats generous.



STRIKE FORCE, BULLDOGS, ROUGEAUS, STALLIONS, BEES VS. FOUNDATION, DEMOLITION, BOLSHEVIKS, ISLANDERS, NEW DREAM TEAM
- This one is universally regarded as one of the best/most fun Survivor Series Matches, possibly ever, so I don't think I'll have much to say when it comes to the match quality.

- How much longer was Johnny V around? I don't think it's too long until Valentine was suddenly paired with Jimmy Hart, and Dino Bravo saddled with (ugh) Frenchy Martin. Speaking of Valentine and Bravo, they'ee the only team not wearing matching panties.

- Do you think the plans were already on the mind of whoever the fuck was in charge to have Demolition getting the next run with the belts? They were the only team with a protected elimination, but that's not anything close to strong evidence.

- You thought senseless 50/50 booking was a new concept? Witness Strike Force, fresh from winning the Tag Team Championships, doing a clean job to... the team they just beat for the Titles. Are the Hart Foundation building momentum? Are they back in the title hunt? Any other Michael Cole-ism's I'm forgetting?

- Spot I never really paid attention to before: Davey Boy gives Haku a series of headbutts, and doesn't do the typical "sell the move because Samoans/"Islanders" have hard heads" routine. Dynamite, on the other hand, who typically does headbutt spots, DOES sell it, and gets pinned almost immediately afterwards. Go figure.

- The story of the Young Stallions and the Killer Bees, the two "bottom feeders" of their team, surviving was pretty cool, especially since the Stallions had recieved a (very) mild push in the Summer. Unfortunately, this meant nothing, as both teams continued to be on the losing end of undercard tag team matches for the majority of 1988.



HOGAN, BIGELOW, MURACO, ORNDORFF, PATERA V. ANDRE, BUNDY, GANG, RUDE, REED:

- Look at all the programs in this one: Hogan/Andre, Orndorff/Rude, Muraco/Reed and the Gang, Patera/Heenan Family... really, only Bam Bam was without a true program, but he was only 2-months into his run, and looked to be getting the rocket up the ass push.

- Back in my mark days and in my first discovering of this thing called the "internet", I never really believed that Billy Graham was originally a member of Hogan's team. As a kid, the only exposure I had to Graham was that he managed Don Muraco at WrestleMania IV, a tape we rented all the time back then.

- PAUL ORNDORFF and Hulk Hogan are on the same team. LESS THAN A YEAR REMOVED FROM THEIR BLOOD FEUD. I can't imagine how it makes sense... did they do a tease on television where Hogan might not be able to trust Orndorff, or did they just play it straight? Ventura actually brings it up, but Gorilla quickly dismisses it.

- You'd think that Hogan's team would've saved it's massacre offense for Bundy or Gang, but Butch Reed pulls the lucky straw where he's obliterated for the first fall of the match.

- Andre shrugging off the idea of wrestling Ken Patera = priceless.

- Hogan doesn't win. It's a Count-Out job after he gets to slam both Bundy and One Man Gang, but he still lost!

- The final sequence with Bam Bam having to survive a 3-on-1 against Andre, Bundy, and the Gang, only to lose to a totally fresh Andre, was some great drama. Unfortunately, Hogan sours the finish by chasing off Andre and posing, despite losing and being ushered from ringside nearly 10-minutes earlier.

- In my original recap of the show, I kind of low-balled this one at **1/2, but I'd say it's definitely ***1/2, and I would reasonably accept 4-stars. With mostly super heavyweights on the heel side, and some bloated mass for the faces, the pace is fairly fast and most eliminations are clean. Plus Hogan loses.
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Erick Von Erich
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-DiBiase was nursing an injury around this time, leading to Virgil taking his place in some matches. Yet he'd still show up, ringside, to interfere. I think there's a Philly show 'capped on Da' Site where he screws with Beefcake.

-Who is this "DRAGON" character you list? The same one who debuted in the WWF in 1991? Never knew they brought him in for a one-spot appearance in 1987 :)

-Whenever Jesse needled Gorilla about his age (like he did with Moolah), it was usually pretty hilarious.

-I think Johnny V was around until March 1988; exclusively doing jobs as a wrestler, though. He was off TV as a manager almost immediately after Survivor Series. Back in the 24/7 days, I was shocked when a PTW episode right after WMIV aired an SD Jones vs. Johnny V match.

-Regarding the Dream Team and all the other guys wearing "matching panties"--- your X-ray vision could see through their trunks and saw that 18 of the 20 guys were wearing (women's) panties?! Wow, keen eye.

-Hogan actually called out Orndorff's knack for switching sides in one of the team interviews leading up to the event. Something like: "just whose side are you on, dude"? Then Orndorff went on a rant against the Heenan Family, which sold it. One of the de facto kayfabe rules of the WWF in the 80's was: if you didn't like Heenan, you were automatically a face! Yay!
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Scrooge McSuck
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Survivor Series 1988


With the elimination (no pun intended) of a women's match, the talent pool is stretched even more to accomodate four matches, including a sequel to the 10 on 10 Tag Team Match. You'll notice a trend with each of the remaining three matches: one or two uppercard acts, along with a bunch of JTTS. The positive from this is that it allows for a lot of clean pinfalls, since there was more protection this year than in 1987 for the guys involved in top programs.


WARRIOR, BEEFCAKE, BLAZER, HOUSTON, BRUNZELL V. HTM, BASS, BROWN, VALENTINE, DAVIS
- With the exception of Davis, the heel side is at least balanced compared to the babyface side: After Warrior and Beefcake, you've got curtain jerker Blue Blazer, JTTS Sam Houston, and JTTS and no longer a Killer Bee Jim Brunzell.

- For one of the few times in history, someone actually completed the "I hold him, and you hit him a clothesline" spot without hitting their own partner. It was Bad News and Valentine on Brunzell, BTW.

- Gorilla Monsoon is very happy that there's an outside referee to keep track of all the bodies. He only preached about that one for years, and would continue to do so afterwards. He also claims Sam Houston is giving up 150 lbs. to RON BASS. That would make Houston, what, 120 lbs?... it's possible.

- Sam Houston is present, but not Women's Champion Rockin' Robin... HMM....

- Which was recieving the bigger push: Greg Valentine or his shin guard?

- Warrior survives by pinning Bass and Valentine... with running axehandle smashes?


POWERS OF PAIN, HART FOUNDATION, BULLDOGS, ROCKERS, YOUNG STALLIONS V. DEMOLITION, BRAIN BUSTERS, ROUGEAUS, BOLSHEVIKS, CONQUISTADORS

- The British Bulldogs were finishing up their commitments with WWF here, and surprisingly have a pair of (short) in-ring sequences with the Rougeaus. Notable because of the whole "Dynamite Kid was a jerk who bullied people, so Jacques sucker punched him with a handful of quarters" situation, which lead to the Bulldogs giving notice.. Stories suggest the Rougeaus early elimination and the Bulldogs being one of the final teams involved was a way to get the Rougeaus out of the building before the potential of a backstage incident.

- Do you think the Conquistadors being involved from bell to bell was one of those "joke" booking decisions? Like putting someone in the Royal Rumble for extended amounts of time because they aren't the best conditioned performers. I think out of all the ring time they had, both Conquistadors combined for maybe 5 offensive moves, including punches.

- Arn Anderson's spinebuster is awesome. Dynamite Kid's mustache not so much.

- The Bolsheviks eliminated a team. Yes, it was the Young Stallions, but how many televised wins did they have over non-ham-n-egger teams?

- Am I alone in liking Demolition more as heels? They still wrestled the same style as faces, but having them work standard WWF formula with a face-in-peril just seemed a little farfetched for them. With the exception of their program with the Twin Towers, I didn't care for anything else from their time as faces.

- I'm probably the only person to care, but what happened to Nikolai Volkoff? I think he disappeared from TV shortly after this, and was gone for the majority of 1989, while Zhukov hung around in a lowly JTTS role (we're talking 2-minute jobs on the syndies low, like a non-pushed Brooklyn Brawler).


ROBERTS, DUGGAN, SANTANA, PATERA, CASEY V. ANDRE, BRAVO, RUDE, HENNIG, RACE:

- Now that we're over 25 years removed from this show, it feels less depressing, but by 2003, everyone with the exception of Harley Race from Andre's team had passed away (Andre and Bravo weeks apart in '93, Rude in '99, Hennig in '03). Sad face.

- The roster depth shows up again, as weekend syndies scrub Scott Casey (a babyface level Barry Horowitz) is replacing JTTS Brian Blair, who left the company shortly before the PPV. By this point, Santana was starting to ease into his JTTS role, and Patera was on job duty since his angle with the Heenan Family was dropped, so you could say the heel side was stacked in comparison.

- Ken Patera looks like his body aged 5 years since the '87 Series. At least Gorilla and Ventura didn't bury him on commentary like everyone in the company on Prime Time for the remainder of his WWF tenure.

- Jim Duggan Streak of Lame Survivor Series Non-Pinfall/Non Submission Eliminations: 2

- Andre's time in the ring is limited, but it's cool to see him get ring time with Tito Santana. What was Santana doing, trying to go for a sunset flip... on Andre the freakin' Giant.

- Jake Roberts has the honors of the toughest mountain to climb to date, having to come back from a 4-on-1 situation. He survives and pins Rick Rude clean (surprising, considering the protection booked for most of the top talent), but then gets choked out by Andre the Giant, who deliberately gets DQ'ed, and immediately pinned by Hennig moments later.


HOGAN, SAVAGE, HERCULES, HILLBILLY JIM, KOKO V. BOSSMAN, AKEEM, DIBIASE, HAKU, ROOSTER

- When I was a young mark and hadn't memorized every PPV and feud, I always thought Dibiase was the captain of the team, but nope, it's the year of CO-Captains, so it's the Twin Towers and Dibiase being part of their team. Within a year, Dibiase went from the hottest heel act to a third rate program with Hercules over being his slave.

- Speaking of being used poorly, poor Terry Taylor (that should've been a trademark in 1989). There's no shame in laying down to the mighty double team of Hogan and Savage, but it might as well have been Koko and Hillbilly doing it: the guy was portrayed as a JTTS who could barely win matches with constant "advice" from one of the top Managers in the Federation, and even the '88 Survivor Series Program buries him in the article hyping the Main Event.

- Hillbilly Jim being involved with Hogan's team makes sense for long-term continuity, but he was well into the phase of his career where he disappeared for lengthy periods of time, show up for a few weeks, and then repeat. I'm pretty sure he had a memorable 1/2* match with King Haku a few weeks before this at the Boston Garden. :P

- Argument #109 for Koko B. Ware's WWE Hall of Fame candidacy: He Main Evented a WWF PPV (as a filler partner) with Hulk Hogan (on his team) and won (despite being pinned cleanly less than 10-minutes into a 30-minute match).


Final Tally of Cop-Out finishes: 10 (Bad News Brown walk-out CO, Brutus Beefcake & Honkytonk Man DCO, The Rockers & Brain Busters DDQ, Demolition Count-Out, Jim Duggan DQ'ed, Andre The Giant DQ'ed, Big Boss Man and Akeem CO and DQ.)
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Erick Von Erich
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-Do you have a copy of that Hillbilly Jim vs. King Haku match? If so, please send it to me and tell me who won because I want to own that match and it was part of a Prime Time Wrestling episode that also featured Red Rooster on the Brother Love Show which I also own.

-The Bad News cop-out finish was kinda' cool, at the time, and it fit his character. He was going around-the-horn with Macho Man, main eventing house shows, so they needed to protect him. What really sucked was when they did THE SAME EXACT THING the next year. But Bad News was a replacement for Akeem in 1989, so that may be why they gave him such a lame finish.

-Nikolai took about six months off from March 1989 to September 1989 for whatever reason. After the Survivor Series, his next TV appearance (aside from delayed PTW matches) was in February 1989 when they put over the Bushwhackers on "Superstars". When the Bolsheviks reunited in the fall, they mostly put over the Bushwhackers and Hart Foundation until well into 1990 and WM6.

-The tag match was my favorite. The ending was sorta' "dammit! Who forgot to pin the Conquistadors?!" Out of all the jobber team fillers, their presence was used the best.

-Scott freakin' Casey?! That still blows my mind. Really showed how thin their roster was at this time. They'd bulk it up in the next month or so by adding Ronnie Garvin, Big John Studd and the Bushwhackers. But, damn, Scott Casey?!

-Macho Man does an awesome GLARE at Hogan at the end. It was completely ignored by WWF TV, though. Even when they did flashback packages to build for WM5, they didn't show or mention it.
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Scrooge McSuck
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When it came to the Conquistadors, even Monsoon and Ventura picked up on commentary how the babyface teams were careless working on the Conquistadors, and practically allowed them to tag out freely. No, they didn't say it was smart to keep the worst, most beatable team in the match until the end, that would've been too much.

To this day, I keep forgetting if it's Scott or Sean Casey... and then I remember Sean Casey was the first basemen for the Cincinnati Reds. :P

Something I wish WWE would do, kind of like the Bret/Shawn Rivalry DVD: A set devoted to an entire angle. The Mega Powers Exploding would have to be one.

- The SNME spot where Hogan makes the save for Savage while making funny faces the entire time he's dragged to the ring by Elizabeth.
- The Finale of Mania IV.
- Build up and Main event for Slam '88.
- Build up and tension caused by the Twin Towers.
- The match on the Main Event, of course.
- The promos of Savage accusing Hogan of copping feels and having lust in his eyes, and Hogan's lame excuses to counter the claims.
- Mania V Main Event, of course.

And stop there. Maybe make Bonus features of random stuff they did after that.
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Survivor Series 1989

Format change for 1989: Instead of 4 matches of 5-on-5 (or in one match, 5 tag teams vs. 5 tag teams), we've got 5 matches of 4-on-4. No Co-Captains like in 1988, and this year we have fun TEAM NAMES! With such creativity like "The Warriors" and "Hulkamaniacs", what's there not to love. The tag division has officially taken a hit in the last year, and on top of that, we're in a weird phase where Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart were getting individual pushes, which made a young mark who was watching this on rented Coliseum Videos confused.


THE DREAM TEAM (DUSTY RHODES, BEEFCAKE, SANTANA, ROOSTER) VS. THE ENFORCERS (BOSSMAN, HONKYTONK, MARTEL, BAD NEWS)

- Substitution #1 of the night: Akeem is being replaced by Bad News Brown. No idea why. He wasn't missing dates before or after the PPV, and it couldn't have been a matter of needing to do too much protective booking, since his replacement does the same "walk out on his team" spot as he din in '88. Ventura and Monsoon even call him out on it. CONTINUITY!

- Round 12 of the Strike Force Wars results in Rick Martel pinning Tito Santana for the 1st Elimination. Martel has a commanding lead of 12-0. Must be best out of 1,001.

- You have to feel a little ripped off by this match, as the two star attractions for the Dream Team do very little. The Red Rooster (Poor Terry Taylor) works roughly 90% of the match, taking a beating at the hands of the Boss Man for most of it.

- For the third consecutive year, Brutus Beefcake and the Honkytonk Man are on opposite teams, and are involved in each other's elimination. In 1987, Honkytonk Man pinned Beefcake. In 1988, they fought on the floor to a Double Count-Out, and in 1989, Brutus pinned Honky clean.

- Weird booking having the Boss Man down 3-on-1, make a fairly easy pinfall on the Rooster, and then do a clean job to his present feud partner, Dusty Rhodes. You'd figure Boss Man would get a cop-out Elimination, but I guess Bad News Brown, who wasn't involved in a program of interest, was more in need of such booking.

- Dusty Rhodes does a very weak blade job. I don't think there was a ban on blading at the time, but I don't recall many, if any, on PPV since WrestleMania III (Billy Jack Haynes juiced).


4X4'S (DUGGAN, BRET HART, HERCULES, GARVIN) VS. KING'S COURT (SAVAGE, BRAVO, VALENTINE, EARTHQUAKE)

- Substitution #2 of the night: The CANADIAN Earthquake filling in for "The Widow Maker" Barry Windham. I don't think Windham made another appearance after this show, but the WWF still advertised him as being part of the 1990 Royal Rumble Match two months later. And what's the deal with the "Canadian" Earthquake? Was that supposed to add more heat on him because he's Canadian?

- Programs at the time were Duggan/Savage and Valentine/Garvin. Bret/Bravo was done regularly at houses, but Bravo (and Earthquake) were recently established for a program with the ULLLLLTIMATE Warrior. Hercules went from the unofficial 3rd Mega Power to a JTTS in one short year.

- I don't think I can express how much I disliked the body of work from the "King" era of Randy Savage's WWF run. It seems like his matches were just a whole lot of stalling and unnecessary interference from Sherri. Yes, we get it, she's a female and willing to get physically involved. Doesn't mean she has to do it all match long.

- To the surprise of nobody, the sequence(s) involving Bret Hart and Randy Savage are the highlight of the match from a workrate POV.

- Jim Duggan Streak of Lame Survivor Series Non-Pinfall/Non Submission Eliminations: 3 (Double Count-Out in '87, Disqualification in '88, Count-Out in '89)


HULKAMANIACS (HOGAN, ROBERTS, DEMOLITION) VS. MILLION DOLLAR TEAM (DIBIASE, ZEUS, POWERS OF PAIN)

- I might have to go on record and say the foursome of Hogan, Jake Roberts, and Demolition might be my favorite Survivor Series team of all-time.

- Was Tiny Lister enough of a celebrity to credit as a "celebritiy performer", like Mr. T or Screech from Saved by the Bell?

- For the second year in a row, as a young mark, I misidentified Dibiase's role in the match. You'd think because they're both captains, it was Hogan/Dibiase, but nope, it's Hogan/ZEUS, with Roberts/Dibiase in a secondary role. Demolition and the Powers of Pain haven't worked together since WrestleMania V, so they feel a bit tacked on despite their familiarity.

- Instead of delaying the inevitable, the big confrontation between Hulk and Zeus is done early, leading to a lame Disqualification to eliminate the Human Wrecking Machine. Gorilla with the line of the night "I don't care if you got a Z on your head or not, that (throwing the referee) isn't legal!"

- Despite there being zero plans for the Powers of Pain moving forward, Ax and Smash both end up doing pinfall jobs, and they (the PoP) are also on the recieving end of a generous cop-out Elimination. Ventura's rant about the referee protecting Hulk by DQ'ing 3/4 of Dibiase's team is some glorious stuff.

- With a midcard placement, it wouldn't seem unreasonable for Hogan to do a job here, especially from all the abuse he took throughout the match, but much like Cena these days, HoganWinsLOL. Considering Hogan's victory and what the finale of the show turned out to be, I'm shocked they didn't swap placement on the format sheet.


RODDY'S ROWDIES (PIPER, SNUKA, BUSHWHACKERS) VS. RUDE BROOD (RUDE, PERFECT, ROUGEAU BROTHERS)

- Another great line from Gorilla Monsoon, in reference to the Genius: "I don't think I like the idea of the Genius walking behind me." "Why is that?" "Just look at him."

- The Bushwhackers suck. It's in my contract with the "members of the human race who have a functional brain" to mention that any time I have to sit through a match featuring the Marching Morons(tm).

- Here's another "did they mention it" situation: Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka on the same team. You could argue that the fanbase was completely different here than in 1984 when they had their big feud, instead of the scenario in '87 where Hogan and Orndorff were suddenly teaming again in the name of hating the Heenan Family. Still would be cool for them to have referenced it.

- Here's a Dream Team for the Smarks: Rick Rude and Mr. Perfect.

- First time that the heels were at a considerable disadvantage and came back to Survive. Yes, it's against the likes of the Bushwhackers and Past It Jimmy Snuka, but it still counts, especially when the faces absolutely dominated the first half of the match, including when it was Rude or Perfect in the ring.

- Who's going to celebrate Turkey Day the "Ravishing Way"?


THE ULTIMATE WARRIORS (WARRIOR, NEIDHART, ROCKERS) VS. HEENAN FAMILY (ANDRE, ANDERSON, HAKU, HEENAN)

- Substitution #3, and the most shameless: Tully Blanchard, who was advertised all night long, is replaced by Manager Bobby Heenan.

- The "You Can Hear The Crowd Completely Die" Moment of the Night: Andre the Giant's immediate elimination totally kills any drama the match might've had 30-seconds in. With the absence of Blanchard, couldn't they have camped Andre out on the apron for a while, have him dominate a Rocker or Neidhart, and THEN have Warrior wipe him out for the same Count-Out result? It's rare for a WWF audience (not from Boston) to really react negatively, but this was pretty close.

- Who did Marty Jannetty piss off? Doing what was basically a clean pinfall job to BOBBY HEENAN?

- Even with the removal of Blanchard, Anderson and Haku do a damn fine job carrying things, considering Michaels is the only babyface to get significant ring time that wasn't ass.

- Bobby Heenan's antics are always great. From teasing a jump from the top rope to cowardly hiding on the apron to avoid punishment, he did the best he could the only way he believably could to make up for the bait-and-switch.


Final Tally of Cop-Out Finishes: 8 (Bad News Brown walk-out CO, Jim Duggan Counted-Out, Zeus Disqualified, Barbarian and Warlord Disqualified, Roddy Piper and Rick Rude DCO, Andre The Giant Counted-Out)
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Scrooge McSuck,Nov 18 2014
03:09 PM
To this day, I keep forgetting if it's Scott or Sean Casey... and then I remember Sean Casey was the first basemen for the Cincinnati Reds. :P

I think there was jobber Steve Casey, too. He seemed to show-up whenever Scott disappeared from a promotion. I don't know if they were legit or kayfabe brothers.
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Survivor Series 1990


- Yet another change to the Survivor Series concept: On top of all the matches scheduled to take place, all the Survivors will meet up in a "Grand Finale Match of Survival" where babyfaces are forced to team with babyfaces, and heels forced to team with heels. Good thing wrestling is pre-determined... wouldn't want to see Hogan go up against 8 people and still win. That's just too unrealistic. Oh, and there's the giant egg that WWF carted around to TV tapings for the better part of two MONTHS, with nothing more promised than "it hatches at Survivor Series." Rule #1 in wrestling: if a surprise was ever worth half of a damn, it wouldn't be a surprise, it would be advertised in advance. I don't think anyone could've guessed it would be a stupid Turkey mascot named the Gobbledy Gooker.


- With the addition of a 6th match, the 10-minutes devoted to the Egg nonsense, and tons of interview time, matches are more rushed than ever, and eliminations seem much cheaper, with several people doing pinfall jobs to casual clotheslines.


- Roddy Piper with some pre-match ramblings about making Saddam Hussein paying through the nose for the Survivor Series. These days, he would only need to pay $9.99... and still be alive.


THE WARRIORS (U. WARRIOR, TEXAS TORNADO, L.O.D.) VS. THE PERFECT TEAM (MR. PERFECT AND DEMOLITION)
- You've got the Road Warriors, the Modern Day Warrior (although the nickname was never referenced in WWF), and the ULLLLLLLLTIMATE Warrior. Sorry, was channeling my inner Bruce Prichard there. Is it wrong I want to punch myself in the face?

- Warrior's reign as WWF Champion was already doomed by this point, as he has piggy-backed the LOD/Demolition program for a series of 6-Man Tags for most of the Fall. Tornado comes to the ring with the IC Title, but lost it at the previous TV taping. Unfortunately, that taping doesn't air for nearly a MONTH, so he gets to pretend he's still Champion for a whil longer.

- About a month before the PPV, Demolition debuted a new look involving masks, to try and create confusion over which was which. That was dropped in time for this show without warning, and with Ax finishing up at this show, no longer necessary without the third member illegally switching (despite having distinctive face paint, size and/or tattoos).

- "I'm writing it down!" Get used to hearing that all show long.


THE DREAM TEAM (RHODES, HART FOUNDATION, KOKO) VS. MILLION DOLLAR TEAM (DIBIASE, RHYTHM & BLUES, MYSTERY PARTNER)

- Remember when I said surprises are usually not worth anything? There's always an exception to the rule. In this case... the Undertaker. As a 5-year old watching this on PPV, I was genuinely afraid of him. I don't recall ever having that feeling for another gimmick in wrestling. Since I wasn't a devoted WCW follower (WCW programming in New York without TBS was almost non-existant), I had no clue he used to be "Mean" Mark. He was just a big scary dude that didn't feel pain and completely dominated everyone.

- Someone must've LOVED the name Cain/Kane, since it was originally meant to be part of his name, and then saved for his long-thought-dead "brother".

- Dusty Rhodes has ditched the polka dots and appears to be wearing his traditional "NWA" trunks with his inititals on them. I guess losing your Chocolate Sugar does that to you. IF not for the Undertaker being a lightning in a bottle situation, how cool would it have been for Dibiase to reveal Dustin Rhodes as his latest example
of "everybody having a price?"

- Gorilla Monsoon's call for the Undertaker's "Tombstone" seemed too scripted for a surprise participant introducing his finisher. Ditto on his follow up phrase about reading Koko his epitaph.

- Bret Hart and Ted Dibiase have a kick-ass 3-4 minutes to save an otherwise rushed and lackluster match from a workrate POV. Funny to see Bret Hart visibly shout something obscene following his loss. It's still real to him, dammit!


THE VIPERS (ROBERTS, SNUKA, ROCKERS) V. THE VISIONAIRES (MARTEL, WARLORD, POWER & GLORY)

- Dig the special contacts Roberts has to wear to sell being "blinded" by Martel's Arrogance. And a young Mike Chioda's glorious mullet.

- Would you believe that with the entire Visonaires team surviving (the first time an entire team would Survive, by the way), Paul Roma is a Two-Time Winner at the Survivor Series (he also won along with Jimmy Powers and the Killer Bees in 1987)?

- Shawn Michaels missed most of the Fall with a knee injury, which meant Marty Jannetty fans got to enjoy him going solo for most of the that period. Yes, I'm stretching for stuff to mention because I don't really care much for this match.

- Jake Roberts is in a 4-on-1 scenario for the second time in three years.


- HULKAMANIACS (HOGAN, TUGBOAT, BOSSMAN, DUGGAN) V. NATURAL DISASTERS (EARTHQUAKE, BRAVO, BARBARIAN, HAKU)

- Substitution Alert: Rick Rude, who was scheduled for a program with the Big Boss Man, is out, and replaced by Haku (this was done weeks in advance, unlike in '89 where three subs were done with zero notice). I don't know the reason, but I think there was a contract dispute between Rude and the WWF that lead to him leaving.

- Jim Duggan Streak of Lame Survivor Series Non-Pinfall/Non Submission Eliminations: 4 (Double Count-Out in '87, Disqualification in '88, Count-Out in '89, Disqualifiation in '90) Seriously, could this guy not do ONE friggin' job at the Survivor Series?

- More Jim Duggan fun facts: This is the third year in a row that Duggan and Dino Bravo are on opposing teams.

- Speaking of Dino Bravo... strong winner for one of the most unlikely uppercard pushes, considering his limited ability, lack of charisma (at least to the US audience), and the mis-use of guys like Dibiase and Savage?

- I always find it funny when the argument comes up as to whether the crowd is "boo'ing" Tugboat or "tooting" with him. Maybe they're saying "Boo-urns." At least someone had the good sense to keep him out of the ring until it was time for him to get eliminated. I take it back, TUGBOAT, most unlikely choice for an uppercard push, considering his lack of everything Bravo lacked, as well as credebility. Bravo was at least a regional draw in his pre-WWF days.


THE ALLIANCE (VOLKOFF, SANTANA, BUSHWHACKERS) V. THE MERCENARIES (SLAUGHTER, ZHUKOV, ORIENT EXPRESS)

- Piper with another classic line: "We're not even half over!" I may be a little slow, but with only one scheduled match left to take place, and the Grand Finale... I'd say we're well over half way through.

- In my mark days, I always assumed Tito Santana was the Captain of his team. Nope. It's Nikolai Volkoff, making him quite possibly the worst Team Captain in Survivor Series History.

- Substitution Alert: Boris Zhukov is in for the recently departed Akeem. Zhukov's participation made sense in storyline as Slaughter brought him in for "inside information" on Volkoff. Too bad Akeem didn't stick around. Maybe they could've shoe-horned SABA SIMBA into the babyface team for some comedy brown.

- Rapid fire eliminations made this JTTS-Fest even more of a waste of time. Zhukov, Sato, and Tanaka take less than 2-minutes to be eliminated, and then Slaughter pins Volkoff and both Bushwhackers in equal amount of time.

- Tito Santana is the Sole Survivor, and has the honor of being from a winning team where the Captain didn't Survive (with the exception of all four of the Visionaires, only team Captains Survived their matches).


THE GRAND FINALE MATCH OF SURVIVAL:

- Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior... and Tito Santana. Maybe the Power of Arriba-derci live on inside all of you.

- Funny how all the matches combined for 8 total Survivors... but instead of 4-on-4, it's 5-on-3. For about 30-seconds, when the Warlord does a lighthing quick, clean job to Santana, the same guy he squashed at SummerSlam a few months earlier. 50/50 booking, 1990 edition!

- Out of all the heels to take a walk for a cheap Elimination, it's Rick Martel. I would've guessed Ted Dibiase.

- The match is so rushed, there's nothing much left to say. Umm... Hogan and Paul Roma having an exchange? That's different. I've got nothing left for 1990.


Final Tally of Cop-Out Finishes: 11 (LOD Hawk and Animal, Demolition Smash and Crush all DQ'ed, The Undertaker Counted-Out, Jake Roberts Counted-Out, Jim Duggan Disqualified, Earthquake and Tugboat Double Count-Out, Sgt. Slaughter Disqualified, Rick Martel Counted-Out).
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