Sage Cortez
With Survivor Series here, one has to wonder whether or not the injury of Sid Justice had an impact on the PPV buys for this show, which were quite low. This is a show I watched well over 20 times as a kid, and always enjoyed it even though I never paid attention to the matches after Hogan vs. Taker. They did build up to that match very well, and it was strange that it didn’t sell. I always considered this the real starting point of Ric Flair in the WWF. Yeah, he was there sooner, but this is where he became truly established. I remember on the video tape, it would always open with Jake’s cobra biting the Macho Man. I wonder if that’s how this version of the show will open.
– November 27th, 1991, from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan
Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are the commentators here, and this DOES open with the COBRA BITE. I’ve linked this once and everyone’s seen it otherwise, but this was a really amazing angle. Savage had some nuts to go through with this. Now Jack Tunney is there and says Savage can’t participate at Survivor Series. He says this is his fault, and that reptiles are now barred from ringside. In addition, Randy Savage will be reinstated, and THIS TUESDAY IN TEXAS HE WILL FACE JAKE ROBERTS.
Ric Flair (REAL WORLD’S CHAMPION), Ted DiBiase (Million Dollar Champion), the Warlord, and the Mountie (w/Jimmy Hart, Sensational Sherri, Harvey Wippleman, and Mr. Perfect) vs. Bret Hart (WWF Intercontinental Champion), Roddy Piper, the British Bulldog, and Virgil in a SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is probably the best 8 man lineup the WWF put on one of these shows. Maybe the match will turn out great and maybe it won’t. I don’t remember. In terms of wrestling ability, maybe they should have spread out the talent to some other matches. Also, it’s surprising the WWF opened with this given how hard they intended to push Flair and some of the other people. Maybe they just really wanted to get the crowd going. Flair was the only heel to get a separate entrance, and they did their best to obscure that he was carrying one of the tag belts. Why not use an old WWF Championship belt now that they didn’t have the ability to use the big gold one? All the babyfaces entered separately. Also, all of the managers leave except for Sherri.
Match Review: Piper wants Flair, but gets DiBiase instead. There’s big crowd heat for this, and Flair hits Piper from behind to get it going. Piper comes back with a clothesline of DiBiase, and crotches him on the top rope. DiBiase grabs Sherri and Piper pulls her in, then she climbs on Piper’s back. Piper grabs her and kisses her, then she gets kicked out of ringside. Well, damn. Piper hits DiBiase with big lefts, and takes him down with a hammerlock before tagging in the Bulldog. Virgil gets a turn too, as does Bret Hart. These guys keep taking turns with the hammerlock and variations of elbows and things like that, before Virgil gets tagged in and comes off the top with a big right hand. Bret comes back in there, arm drags DiBiase, and holds the armbar. Bret misses a charge to the corner, so DiBiase goes to a spinning toe-hold. Eventually they reverse pins, all ending with 2 counts. Back to the arm again for Bret, but DiBiase hip tosses him and tags in the REAL WORLD’S CHAMPION. Flair misses an elbow drop, so Bret capitalizes with an inverted atomic drop and tags in Davey to catapult Flair into the corner. Piper wants in, but not just yet I guess. Bulldog press slams Flair, and there’s the tag! Piper charges after Flair and kicks his ass, then sends him into the stairs. Back in they go, and Flair tags in the Warlord. Smart move. Piper teases a test of strength with this guy, but tags in Bulldog instead. Bulldog takes Warlord down with a dropkick, but eats a knee and the Mountie tags in. He hits Bulldog with a flying back elbow, and Bret makes a tag in. Mountie leaves the ring, tags in DiBiase, and I guess that was smart. Bret drops DiBiase with a backbreaker, and there’s the elbow from the second rope for 2. DiBiase and Bret collide with each other, and the Mountie and Bulldog tag in. Bulldog clotheslines him, hits him with an elbow, and gives him a press slam too. Flair and Bulldog wind up in the ring after an illgal switch, then Bulldog hits Flair and DiBiase with a double clothesline. Bulldog goes for the RUNNING POWERSLAM on the Mountie, but everyone gets in the ring to stop a pin. Flair leaps off the top with a shot on Davey, and makes the first pinfall at 10:55. He wasn’t legal!
Piper and Flair continue the match, but DiBiase quickly tags in. Piper beats up all four remaining heels, but the Mountie trips him and the heels can go to work. Flair drops a knee on Piper, and wooooo’s in Virgil’s face to make him angry. Flair misses the second knee drop, and Piper puts him in a FIGURE-FOUR! DiBiase runs in to break it, and makes a tag in so he can give Piper a shin-breaker. DiBiase puts the spinning toe-hold back on Piper, but Piper cradles him for 2. Mountie tags in, and turns Piper over with a Boston crab. Piper makes the tag out to Virgil, who comes in with a clothesline on the Mountie, who can’t find anyone to tag in. Flair tags in the next time, and trades slaps with Virgil for a little bit, eventually going down. Virgil gives Flair a backdrop, and DiBiase tags in. Finally these two guys are going to go at it, but there’s no crowd reaction. Virgil sends DiBiase into the buckle, but DiBiase comes back with a powerslam. Warlord finally tags back in, throws Virgil to the outside, and the heels work poor Virgil over for a bit. Bret Hart puts Virgil back in the ring, and Warlord puts the FULL NELSON on him. Bret leaps off the top and hits Warlord from behind, then Piper covers for 3 at 17:00. That’s exactly how the first fall ended, nice finish.
The heels argue over that, and Piper tries to roll DiBiase up in the process, only getting 2. DiBiase comes back with an elbow, and tries a suplex only for Piper to reverse it. Virgil tags back in, clotheslines DiBiase a few times, and puts the MILLION DOLLAR DREAM on him! DiBiase rams Virgil’s head into the buckle to break it, and tags in Flair once again. Flair drops Virgil with a back suplex, and brings in the Mountie. Mountie hits Virgil with a sweet looking dropkick, and tells the crowd that he’s the Mountie. No shit. DiBiase tags back in and hits Virgil with an elbow, which is followed by a gutwrench suplex. Flair tags back in, and they hit Virgil with a double clothesline. DiBiase gets back in there, clotheslines Virgil again, and Virgil comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. These guys look totally gassed at this point, with the exception of Flair and Bret Hart. Flair tags in and attacks Piper as he tags in too, then Piper takes Flair to the corner for punches. He pokes Flair in the eye, rams his head into the buckle a lot, and clocks the Mountie. Flair heads up top and Piper slams him down, but everyone’s in the ring now. Piper throws Flair upside down into the corner and to the outside, as everyone continues brawling. Eventually the referee gets tired of this, and the bell rings at 22:48. The announcement is that everyone has been disqualified except for the man thrown out to the floor…THE REAL WORLD’S CHAMPION, RIC FLAIR! Piper attacks him and knocks him over the top, and the babyfaces hold the ring, but they lost.
SOLE SURVIVOR: RIC FLAIR
My Thoughts: I thought this was a really good match, with good action. There were some big flaws, especially with how little Bret Hart participated in the match. That being said, it was good to keep him out of it as he didn’t take any turn looking weak. On the other side, keeping the Warlord out of the match that much was good too. Flair and DiBiase did the vast majority of the work for their team. The ending was absolutely awful and antithetical to the Survivor Series concept. They put a lot of talent in this match and didn’t want any of those guys to do a job, so they took the easy way out. That is not what people bought Survivor Series cards to see. ***1/4, and fortunately they didn’t use this ending again. Maybe they did, but I don’t remember it if so.
Now Gene Okerlund is at the interview podium, and he’s there to talk with Randy Savage. As a PPV buying fan, I’d wonder why he couldn’t wrestle on this show in the scheduled match when he looked fine enough to show up and talk. At least Savage has been REINSTATED. Savage says he couldn’t hear or see much when bitten, but he did her Elizabeth crying. That’s some serious stuff. The Tuesday in Texas hype is pervasive here, to the level of this being a commercial for another show. Elizabeth comes out at Savage’s request, and says she’ll be at that other show. Okay!
Col. Mustafa, Skinner, the Berzerker, and Hercules vs. Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan, the Texas Tornado, and El Matador in a SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This matchup is the absolute definition of terrible. The heels do have managers, like General Adnan and Mr. Fuji, but those guys get sent to the back. This team is stupid. Job squad in the extreme. Tornado basically got no reaction for his entrance. El Matador gets a courtesy pop, and Slaughter entered with Duggan to make sure he didn’t get booed. He carried an American flag to the ring too. His reputation was totally ruined in any case.
Match Review: Skinner and El Matador will start, and Skinner decides to slap his foe. Santana takes him over with a headlock, and follows that with the big flying forearm to knock Skinner to the outside. Slaughter throws Skinner back in there, and Santana misses the flying forearm at the second time of trying. The Berzerker tags in, heads up to the second rope, and comes down with a leg drop that misses. Tornado is in there, and trades bombs with the big guy until Berzerker misses a dropkick. Tornado gets caught in the wrong corner, and Hercules tags in. Hacksaw does too, gets the crowd going, and beats Hercules up. Hercules attacks Hacksaw from behind thanks to his teammates, and they work him over until Berzerker tags in again. Berzerker nails him with a back elbow, and tags in Mustafa for really slow Iron Sheik type work. A chinlock is applied, but Hacksaw fights out and shoulders him to the canvas. Mustafa comes back with a double shot to the throat for 2, then slyly loads his boot up for a kick that gets 2. The announcers were too busy getting themselves over to notice. Hacksaw finally suplexes Mustafa, and makes the tag out to Slaughter. He drops Mustafa with a clothesline, and picks up the pinfall at 7:57!
Slaughter goes onto Berzerker next, and gets clotheslined into the corner. Sarge takes a corner bump and lands on his gut, then gets hit by an exposed turnbuckle. Berzerker hits Sarge with a big boot for 2, and tags in Hercules to throw Sarge into the post for 2. Berzerker tags back in, and I’ve noticed Sarge getting beat up is garnering NO heat. Sarge crotches Berzerker on the top rope, but gets raked in the eyes. Hacksaw tags back in, clotheslines Berzerker over the top, and backdrops him over the top! Berzerker gets back in there and splashes Hacksaw in the corner, but Hacksaw tags in the Texas Tornado. This match is a mess. Hercules tags in, Santana tags in, and Santana hits Hercules with the FLYING FOREARM to the back of the head for 3 at 12:05.
Skinner runs in and puts a choke on Santana, then tags out. Berzerker is the only guy left for him to tag, and that guy hits Santana with a clothesline. Skinner tags back in, bodyslams Santana, and Santana makes a tag out to Slaughter after being atomic dropped. Slaughter rolls Skinner up, and Skinner is gone at 13:31.
Berzerker goes for a dropkick, but he misses. Into the exposed turnbuckle he goes, then Sarge tags in Hacksaw for his clothesline out of the three point stance. Over for the cover, and that’s it at 14:19.
Survivors: JIM DUGGAN, SGT. SLAUGHTER, TEXAS TORNADO, AND EL MATADOR
My Thoughts: This was really terrible, I had a hard time paying attention to it. I believe I paid enough attention to know the match wasn’t good. There was just nobody worth caring about in this match. That’s the real problem with it. Obviously, they weren’t good workers either. Good restroom break type match for the fans I suppose. 1/4* for it having four clean finishes.
Next up, Jake Roberts is here to be interviewed at the podium. He has heat now, that’s for sure. He does the trust me thing about not knowing the cobra was poisonous, but we know that’s not true. Roberts says that the cobra was a toy for him to amuse himself, and that he’s the thing people need to worry about. Great promo. Roberts somewhat screwed up by saying Tuesday in Texas wasn’t going to be the end of his deal with Savage. Gorilla Monsoon starts talking about Tuesday in Texas being a PPV, so they’re going to sell that for the rest of the show. Awesome.
The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Through the whole show and television before it, the WWF kept hyping Taker up as being undefeated. As we know that’s absolutely untrue, but facts never stopped them before. As a kid, this match actually bothered me to a point where I could never pay full attention to the rest of the show. Things are different these days, I think. I actually await seeing Hogan’s title reign ending and all of that stuff, having watched these years of WWF programming. THIS IS THE GRAVEST CHALLENGE. Also, remember this happened a few weeks before the show. I didn’t review it because the video sucks, but there’s a piece of it. The WWF showed a much better quality version before this match.
It was a neat touch for Savage and Piper to intervene on Hogan’s behalf there. They could have done an elimination match with these five guys plus Jake Roberts, you know. Having Taker rip Hogan’s cross off was…interesting. Hogan tips over the casket that was made for him during his entrance, and Paul Bearer didn’t look happy about that. This was, of course, the first of many title matches at Survivor Series.
Match Review: Bell rings, and these two take a long time to get to work. Taker shoves Hogan back into the corner and misses a charge, but doesn’t look bothered by that. Hogan tries a headlock, but gets ran over with a shoulderblock. Taker puts a choke on Hogan, and goes hard with the eyes rolling in the back of his head. What a worker. Taker rakes Hogan’s face, and Bearer gets a turn to choke too. Taker eventually takes Hogan down with a bodyslam, and follows that with an elbow drop that misses the mark. Hogan goes to his series of punches, and tries some clotheslines that don’t knock Taker down. Taker hits Hogan to block a bodyslam, and Hogan still does things that don’t knock him down. A clothesline sends Taker over the top, but he’s still on his feet! He pulls Hogan to the outside, rams him into the steps, and chokes him with a cord. Bearer is excellent during this match. Taker sends Hogan into the ring and chokes him, and it never seems to end. The Hogan fan in the front row is hilarious, with how he’s trying to get the crowd involved. Otherwise the match is dead. Taker puts a smother on Hogan, and it appears these guys don’t really want to do anything other than build heat. I understand that this was Taker’s gimmick, but come on. The crowd seems to expect a run-in during this part of the match, too. They sure were right. Hogan starts fighting out of the smother after a VERY long time, but Taker nails him with a flying clothesline. Taker picks Hogan up, and THERE’S THE TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER. Hogan pops right back up to his feet, without any sort of count, and it’s time for his comeback. Hogan knocks Taker down to his knees with a punch, and here comes Ric Flair! Hogan slams Taker in the background, but Bearer grabs him to prevent the LEG DROP. Flair has the title belt, but Hogan runs out there and clocks him. Now Hogan hits Taker with the big boot, and Bearer trips him again! Taker hits Hogan as Bearer has the referee distracted, and Flair puts a chair in the ring! Taker drops Hogan with a TOMBSTONE onto the chair, and covers him for the title victory at 12:45! After the match, Hogan couldn’t get up as he had jammed his neck. This as much as the actual loss took a lot of steam out of the crowd. Some of these fans were crying!
My Thoughts: The sustained pop for Hogan’s loss in this match tells me everything I need to know about this point of his WWF career. I think the steroid accusations definitely had a part to play, and his connection with the fans was completely gone. The Undertaker had also been getting babyface reactions on some shows, but never to this extent. A few people would cheer him here and there, but that was usually it. This match was awful too, there’s no sugarcoating it. DUD in every sense of the word. Putting the title on the Undertaker was a smart move, but it’s crazy that they didn’t do it again for 6 YEARS. Hogan was actually injured by the Tombstone Piledriver and couldn’t do his interview later in the show. The WWF didn’t do Dusty finishes, so it seemed that everyone knew the title change wouldn’t be overturned when it took place. I’m actually surprised they got Hogan to drop the title at all. Maybe he just wanted to?
Gene Okerlund does a bit about not being able to believe what has happened, and he interviews Roddy Piper on the events of the last match. This promo with the Addams Family stuff worked for me as a kid, not quite as much now. He said that the Undertaker becoming champion was the same thing as David Duke becoming president. Ha, that’s funny.
Sean Mooney is with Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect, who are talking about Hulkamania being over and done with. Flair’s part in this is amazing on every level. Talking about saying prayers and taking vitamins, it’s like he had been thinking about this promo for years. Genuinely one of his best.
After intermission, we have Gene Okerlund saying that Jack Tunney is going to make some sort of determination about what just happened. Next, he was going to talk to Jimmy Hart, the Natural Disasters, and IRS. IRS is there to make sure Boss Man pays his taxes or some shit.
Sean Mooney was with Legion of Doom and the Big Boss Man, who are talking about how Jake Roberts was pulled from their match, which was nearly a 4 on 3 affair. One of Hawk’s eyes looked messed up. LOD had the tag belts and all, but they weren’t featured too often by the WWF.
Gene is with Jack Tunney now, and of course Tunney says the referee’s decision is final. So, he’s going to make a rematch for THIS TUESDAY IN TEXAS. Tunney will be there to make sure the outcome of this rematch is fair. Okay then.
The Beverly Brothers and the Nasty Boys vs. The Bushwhackers and the Rockers in a SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: I’ve never paid even a decent amount of attention to this match, because the Hogan thing always took me out of it. I don’t really know what to expect, but I do know that this brought the Rockers breakup a whole lot more to the forefront. The Rockers really didn’t do a lot as a team in 1991. The Genius didn’t even get a chance to do a promo with his new charges. Managers being banned from ringside at this event is quite stupid, by the way.
Match Review: Butch wants to start the match, and will do so with Brian Knobbs. Butch works him over, and hits Knobbs with a knee to the gut. A knee lift follows that, and Luke tags in for a double clothesline. Butch rams Sags face into the mat, then they give the Nasty Boys a noggin-knocker. Two double clotheslines follow that, then the Beverly Brothers get in there. The Bushwhackers hit them with the BATTERING RAM, and the ring has truly been cleared. They’re trying to get the crowd back into this. The Rockers run across the ring and dropkick the Nasties, and they really should have done the Bushwhacker walk around the ring. The heels finally get back into the ring, with Blake Beverly taking on Shawn Michaels. They trade punches for a bit, then Michaels misses a charge to the corner. He comes back with a neckbreaker, but Blake picks him up for an inverted atomic drop. A backbreaker follows that, then Knobbs tags in for an elbow drop that misses. Luke tags in, dodges a splash in the corner, but Knobbs clotheslines him from the second rope for the fall at 5:21.
Michaels runs in there and gets hit in the back of the head, so Sags tags in. He suplexes Michaels, then misses a charge to the corner. Michaels tries a cross body from the top, and it gets 2. Marty tags in, splashes Sags’ left arm, and puts an armbar on him. The announcers are too busy talking about everything but the match. Marty arm drags Sags a few times, but winds up in the wrong corner. Beau Beverly tags in for the first time and uses a neck snap on Marty, but Marty flips through his backdrop and superkicks him for 2. Beau puts Marty on the top rope for some reason, and he leaps over Beau, only to get hit from behind. This got a bit disjointed with these two. Beau gutwrench suplexes Marty for 2, then they collide with each other. Butch makes a tag in to face off with Blake, and Butch works him over. Beau runs in and gets clothesline, but a distraction leads to Butch getting double teamed. The Beverlys drop him with a SHAKER HEIGHTS SPIKE (flapjack and facebuster), and that’s curtains for Butch at 10:13.
Marty works over Beau with some punches, but they’re at a clear disadvantage. Marty hits Beau with a back elbow, and monkey flips him shortly afterward. He gives Beau a hurricanrana for 2, and hits him with an enzuigiri too. Blake tags in, gets arm dragged, and Michaels makes the switch in. Beau tags back in and leaps over his partner to jump on the back of Michaels, and a cover gets 2. Beau throws him out of the ring next, and Knobbs drives him into the ring apron. Beau brings him back in for an elbow drop to the back, and gives him a backbreaker too. He tries another, but Michaels flips through and takes him down with a backslide for 3!
Blake runs in and drives Michaels into the corner, then powerslams him for 2. Knobbs gets back in there, and Michaels sunset flips him for 2. Sags tags back in and puts the boots to him, then tries to throw him over the top. Instead, Michaels lands on the apron and dropkicks Sags to the outside. Michaels follows that with a running clothesline from the apron, and superkicks Knobbs right after! Michaels heads up top, but gets clotheslined hard on the way down by Sags. Blake tags back in, drops a leg on Michaels, and drops him on the top rope. Michaels goes for the tag, and Marty runs in to beat everyone up. He hits Knobbs with a flying back elbow for 2, so Knobbs tags out. Marty arm drags Blake, then cradles him up for 2. Knobbs gets back in there and throws Marty hard into the buckle, then powerslams him for another 2 count. Sags drops Marty with a PUMPHANDLE SLAM, then saunters around the ring like he’s a really cool guy. Sags follows that with a back suplex, and tags in Knobbs for a splash from the second rope that misses. Michaels tags back in, takes Knobbs down with a clothesline, and starts working over all three guys. Five men are in the ring, and the three heels get thrown into each other. Marty slams Sags and Sags kicks Michaels on accident, which leads to Michaels getting pinned at 19:41.
Shawn is extremely mad about being eliminated, and they have a full blown argument. Way to make the crowd feel even worse. Knobbs attacks Marty from behind as the argument finishes, then Marty blocks a charge to the corner. He comes down with a facebuster on Knobbs that gets 2, but there’s no way he can win this match. They dump Marty to the outside, and when he gets back in there, Blake powerslams him. He doesn’t want a count, they want to punish the poor guy. Knobbs tags in and eats some punches, then Marty pulls him to the outside and posts him. Marty then heads up top, and comes down with a cross body onto both Nasty Boys! Marty and Blake are in the ring, and Marty pulls Blake’s hard to send him to the canvas. Marty cradles up Sags, but there’s no referee. Knobbs turns him over and Marty tries to hold the ropes to break the cover, but Sags gets the pinfall for his team at 23:06.
SURVIVORS: BLAKE BEVERLY AND THE NASTY BOYS
My Thoughts: This was a good match and all, but it had absolutely no heat because the crowd was totally taken out of the show. I don’t blame them, I mean, their hero just lost the title and couldn’t get up after the match. That’ll do it. Good action here in any case, and perhaps with a different crowd and certainly in a different spot, they’d have been more into it. This has actually been the most heel favorable booking on a WWF PPV up to this date. *** for the match, but if I was really taking into account crowd heat, my rating would be far lower. With the Hogan era ending, the booking was definitely changing to go with it.
The Natural Disasters and Irwin R. Schyster vs. Big Boss Man and Legion of Doom (WWF Tag Team Champions) in a SURVIVOR SERIES ELIMINATION MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: Originally Sid Justice was supposed to be on the babyface side, but he got hurt. Jake Roberts was supposed to be on the heel side, but he had bigger things ahead. This is the main event I suppose. At least this is better than that cage match at the Great American Bash, so by no means is this the worst main event of 1991. IRS has the microphone to do his tax cheats bit, and because LOD and Boss Man are tax cheats, that’s why IRS is in this match.
Match Review: Boss Man and IRS will start, and IRS hits Boss Man on the break. Of course! Boss Man trips IRS, and slips while heading up top, so he changes his mind. He throws IRS hard into the buckle, then boots him in the face. Earthquake tags in, and so does Animal. They stare at each other for a bit, then do some collision spots until Quake catches Animal for a backbreaker. Quake misses a splash, so Animal dropkicks him and follows with a flying shoulderblock for 2. IRS tags back in, and Hawk tags in as well. Hawk puts a hammerlock on IRS amidst some steroid chants, which isn’t a good look for him. Typhoon tags in, and Hawk press slams IRS onto him. Typhoon is able to catch, but Hawk dropkicks IRS on top. The babyfaces work Typhoon over in the corner, but Typhoon makes his way out and brings in Earthquake. Hawk goes to a headlock, but Quake carries him to the corner and IRS tags in. Hawk drops IRS with a back suplex, drops a fist on him, and tags in the Boss Man. Boss Man crushes IRS with a leapfrog body guillotine, then there’s a bit of confusion outside the ring. The referee gets distracted, doesn’t see IRS get his briefcase, and he clocks Boss Man with it for the fall at 6:23.
It’s a handicap match now, essentially. LOD are facing the two guys they’re feuding with and a dork. The Disasters work Animal over for a bit, and Quake drops Animal with a belly to belly suplex for 2. IRS tags in and drops a leg down low, then Typhoon gets back in there. He puts a bear hug on Animal, then sends him to the corner for a charge that misses. Animal clotheslines Typhoon, and out he goes. Hawk hits Typhoon with a flying shoulder, then IRS runs in. He has the briefcase, accidentally hits Typhoon with it, and Hawk covers the big lug for 3 at 9:37. Earthquake is really unhappy about what has just happened, and teases hitting the guy. Instead, he leaves with Typhoon and eliminates himself.
Hawk hits IRS with a dropkick, and this match should be over almost immediately. Instead, Hawk powerslams IRS and misses a charge to the corner. So, even with IRS at a disadvantage, he has control over Hawk. He drops some elbows on Hawk, then throws him to the outside. He throws Hawk into the steps next, then back inside the ring. IRS hits him with an elbow, then goes to a chinlock to nobody’s surprise. Hawk gets out and the two run into each other in a major botch, then Hawk takes IRS over with a suplex. Animal makes the big tag, runs IRS over, and powerslams him. LOD hits IRS with a double clothesline, and IRS decides to roll out of the ring and leave. To keep the fans from getting angrier, here comes THE BIG BOSS MAN. He tells IRS he needs to walk back to the ring, and of course IRS does it. What choice did he have? Animal suplexes him back into the ring, Hawk hits IRS with a flying clothesline, and that’s it at 15:21!
My Thoughts: Talk about an underwhelming way to “send the fans home happy.” The WWF may have been better off sending them home after the Taker/Hogan match, but they needed to advertise the rematch. The match was simply pedestrian and there’s really not a whole lot to offer. I thought they came up with a creative way to avoid having Earthquake do a job, otherwise there wasn’t a whole lot going on here that was remarkable in any way. **.
The show isn’t over yet, and that’s a good thing. Sean Mooney is in the back, and he delivers Hulk Hogan’s promo for him. That’s strange. He said that Hogan didn’t want to talk to anyone, but that Tuesday in Texas was going to be a big deal, BROTHER.
Gene Okerlund has found the Undertaker! They’re in a fog filled room, and Paul Bearer doesn’t seem to care much about the Tuesday in Texas rematch. Great character work on the part of Bearer. Even Taker got to talk. He had a coffin, and showed Okerlund something, while saying Hulkamania died at Survivor Series. TUESDAY WILL BE THE BURIAL.
Overall, this Survivor Series was a completely forgettable show. It was a commercial for another show, in fact. As such, that shouldn’t exactly be a surprise to anyone. I think part of this was due to the commentary as well. I know a lot of people like Gorilla and Heenan, but for the entire second half of the show they were busy talking about something else. It was nearly impossible to pay attention to the last two matches while they were going through their routine of jokes and not paying attention to the matches. They didn’t even catch that Michaels was eliminated and thought he walked out, as an example of what I’m talking about. I liked the opening match, but it was flawed too with a horrible finish. In short, there are better shows to get a nostalgia fix from. Like the next one, TUESDAY IN TEXAS.
Wrestling Time: 1:28:19. That’s nowhere near as much as I thought.
Best: Ric Flair’s team vs. Roddy Piper’s team. Hogan finally dropping the title is another candidate.
Worst: Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan. As a match, it was entirely boring.
Card Rating: 4/10. Other than the big title change, it’s entirely skippable.
