Sage Cortez
So, with it being time for Survivor Series, the thing that was most in question was…WHAT’S IN THE EGG? Everything else seemed secondary to varying degrees, and everyone wanted to see the thing hatch. Of course, people had no idea what was in it, or they may not have wanted to. I’ve seen this show countless times, and I find that the product improved immediately after it was over. That’s a little different than the other Survivor Series, as it got worse afterward. That being said, a lot of people find 1991 to be worse, and the business from that year tends to back that up. I don’t agree though. I’m a bit taken aback that Randy Savage wasn’t in a more prominent role here, even though he had taken some time off to be at home. They could still have shoved him in a match considering he was going to be there. They taped TV right before this show, so this show was certainly not intended to have a real impact.
– November 22nd, 1990, from the Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut
One of the best things about any Survivor Series is the introduction given by Vince McMahon as he runs down the teams. As bad as the Hulkamaniacs vs. Natural Disasters match sounds, the introduction made me want to watch it. The Alliance vs. The Mercenaries introduction does not, though. Best of all, we have an ULTIMATE SURVIVAL MATCH, but the run-time on this video seems low, so I hope everything’s here. Gorilla Monsoon and Roddy Piper are our hosts here, and of course they’re talking about the egg. Not even slightly surprised. Also, with the Gulf War ramping up, they plugged this show being shown on the Armed Forces Network. Then Roddy Piper cut a promo on Saddam Hussein. Time for the first match!
The Perfect Team (Demolition & Mr. Perfect, w/Mr. Fuji & Bobby Heenan) vs. The Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, The Texas Tornado, and Legion of Doom) in a SURVIVOR SERIES TAG TEAM MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: So, the WWF Champion and Intercontinental Champion are in the opening match. In addition to that, it’s an opener that isn’t even slightly in doubt. I think the thing that bothers me the most about the matchup is that Ax had stopped working out, and clearly didn’t give a shit anymore. You could tell by his look in this match. Before this starts, the babyfaces cut a promo about both this and the grand finale match. That’s funny. Hawk said that he didn’t really know what his thoughts were. I liked that! Warrior sounds totally different, even though he was still crazy. His tone of voice had totally changed. All of the babyfaces entered separately.
Match Review: It took a while for the match to start, but when it did, Animal jumped Smash. Good way to start it. He gets beaten around a bit, taking punches from all the babyface team members, but comes back with some of his own. He gives Animal a suplex for 2, then tags in Mr. Perfect. Smash tags back in and is given a powerslam, then Perfect runs in and takes bumps from everyone off atomic drops. A punch knocks him over the top, so we have Tornado in with Ax. Tornado puts the CLAW on him, but Smash runs in to break it up. Then, Warrior tags in, and hits Ax with a shoulderblock. Then he follows with the flying shoulderblock, and splashes Ax for the pin at 3:23.
All the heels run in and get slammed by Warrior, but that also distracts him long enough for Crush to hit him with a clothesline. Smash tags in and gives Warrior a backbreaker, then Crush flies off the top with a knee drop for 2. Crush does miss a charge to the corner, so Warrior clotheslines him and tags in Hawk. Mr. Perfect tags in as well, and Hawk picks him up with a choke. He follows with a clothesline, and Perfect trips during a whip and falls into the corner. They repeat the spot, and Hawk misses a shoulder-charge and hits the post. Crush tags in there, gives Hawk a backbreaker, and the guys exchange tags while giving out punishment. Hawk comes back with a flying shoulder, then drops a fist on Smash. He follows with a clothesline, then heads up top for a flying clothesline that gets 2. Now Animal and Crush run in there, and the remaining members of LOD and Demolition brawl, with Hawk kicking the referee for good measure. In the end, both teams get disqualified at 7:36.
Once things settle down, everyone realizes that Mr. Perfect is facing the WWF’s two singles champions. Ha. Perfect enters the ring to face Warrior, but Perfect wants to face Tornado. Tornado tags in, and Perfect jumps him. They fight for a little bit, and Perfect gets knocked over the top with a TORNADO PUNCH. Tornado brings him back in, then throws him over the top again. How mean. Now Warrior walks over there and gives Perfect and Heenan a noggin-knocker, then throws Heenan into the front row! Tornado misses a charge to the corner, and Perfect follows with a knee lift. Perfect and Tornado then trade punches, but Perfect pokes him in the eye. He then rams Tornado into an exposed turnbuckle, and there’s the PERFECT-PLEX for the fall at 11:02.
Now we have Perfect and the Warrior, who misses a charge to the corner. So, Perfect gives him the PERFECT-PLEX, but Warrior kicks out. Way to kill a finisher. Perfect hits Warrior with a standing dropkick for 2, and clotheslines him afterward for 2. Warrior comes back with some punches, and it looks like time for his comeback. He hits Perfect with clotheslines, and lands the flying shoulderblock. Big splash, and there’s the win at 14:20. The Ultimate Warrior is the SOLE SURVIVOR!
My Thoughts: I think people got screwed out of seeing LOD, otherwise this match was perfectly fine. I thought Perfect put in a great performance, and it’s no surprise that he wound up injured just a few months later with all the activity he had. The match was booked smartly outside of the double DQ, and Warrior looked like a real star, something they hadn’t been able to do much during his title reign. Of course, that’s the most important thing here. At least Perfect going over Tornado is good foreshadowing to what would happen just a little bit later. **1/2, in large part because they kept things moving.
The Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, A MYSTERY PARTNER, and Rhythm and Blues, w/Jimmy Hart and Virgil) vs. The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, and the Hart Foundation) in a SURVIVOR SERIES TAG TEAM MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This match perfectly displays the lack of depth in the tag team division. The Hart Foundation were the tag team champions, and this was the best heel team for them to have lined up against here. During the heel promo, the fourth man on the team is not there. DiBiase said that he’ll be there for sure, and everyone will know who it is soon. He did pretty much all the talking here. Dusty wasn’t sporting the polka dots anymore, by the way. After his entrance, DiBiase introduced the mystery partner, who was led to the ring by Brother Love…THE UNDERTAKER. I can see how anyone would think this gimmick was stupid, I’m glad it didn’t turn out to be stupid though.
Match Review: Looks like Taker will start the match off with the Hitman, what a great way to start it. He clobbers Bret, then chokeslams him. Neidhart tags in there, and Taker slams him. Koko tags in, and gets clotheslined by the top rope when Taker moves out of the way. Taker follows that with the TOMBSTONE, and that’s the end for Koko at 1:39.
Bret gets in the match and tries to knock the new guy down, but instead he tags out, bringing Greg Valentine in. Dusty Rhodes tags in as well, and these two lock up. They exchange chops for a bit, with Dusty getting the better of it. His remaining partners tag in for a turn, then Bret misses a charge to the corner. Valentine tags in the Honky Tonk Man, who hits Bret with a knee to the gut. Bret makes a blind tag out, Neidhart drops HTM with a powerslam, and gets the fall on him at 4:16!
DiBiase runs in and chops away at the Anvil, as we’ve evened up due to the elimination. Neidhart clotheslines DiBiase, then bodyslams him. Dusty makes a tag in, and gives people what they want to see. He hits DiBiase with a bunch of lazy elbows, then dropkicks him. Neidhart tags back in there, and they hit DiBiase with a double back elbow for 2. Neidhart follows that with a suplex that gets 2, then Virgil trips him. DiBiase then clotheslines Neidhart, and that gets the elimination at 5:49.
Bret runs in to deal with DiBiase, giving him a big headbutt once he gets in there. Bret then throws him into Dusty’s elbow, and Dusty makes a tag in there. DiBiase goes to the eyes, then clotheslines Dusty. Now Taker tags in, as does the Hitman, and Taker tags back out after choking him. He looks hilarious in this role. DiBiase gets in there after the tag, and Bret gives him an inverted atomic drop. Dusty tags back in, and Taker makes a blind tag as well. Taker kicks Dusty down low, then heads up top, WALKS THE ROPE, and comes down with a double axehandle that gets the fall at 8:26.
The next fall starts with Taker throwing Dusty out of the ring, and Brother Love stomping away at him. Bret is by himself now, which is not good for him. Valentine tags in and clotheslines him, as Dusty grabs Brother Love. Taker attacks Dusty from behind, and these guys fight to the back as Taker gets counted out at 9:17. Dusty didn’t get in ANYTHING as that was going on.
The camera then pans back to the ring, as Valentine is still working over Bret Hart. Valentine goes for the FIGURE-FOUR, and Bret cradles him up for the fall at 9:57!
Now it’s a singles match, with Bret against DiBiase. Bret gives DiBiase an atomic drop to send him over the top, and follows him to the outside with a plancha! Bret then sends DiBiase into the post, and rams him into the steps as well. Back in they go, and they trade shots until Bret gets sent at super speed into the corner. DiBiase gets 2 on the cover, then puts his head down for a backdrop after another whip, and Bret saves the spot with a backslide attempt that gets 2. DiBiase then trips Bret, and Bret grabs his knee. DiBiase laughs at him, but Bret springs to his feet and cradles DiBiase up for 2. Virgil then grabs Bret and tries to hold him in place, but DiBiase hits Virgil with a knee instead. Bret rolls DiBiase up for 2, and really, that should have been the finish. Bret then gives DiBiase a backbreaker, and hits him with an elbow from the second rope for 2. Bret then tries a cross body, but DiBiase reverses and gets 3 at 13:54. Ted DiBiase is the SOLE SURVIVOR!
My Thoughts: The singles match at the end pretty much saved the whole thing. Lots of great spots, and action that was far better than the rest of the match. It was for the best that Honky Tonk Man was on his way out after this, as he really had nothing more to offer. It would have been pretty bad to watch him work for another year or two in the WWF. I have seen the picture of the original heel team here, and Bad News Brown was in place of the Undertaker. Things certainly worked out for the best. Taking the first half of the match into consideration, I’d say the latter quarter put **1/4 back on it. This match had no heat until later on. I did forget that DiBiase was challenging for the WWF Championship the next night, or I wouldn’t have said he should have lost.
The Visionaries (Rick Martel, the Warlord, and Power and Glory, w/Slick) vs. The Vipers (Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, and the Rockers) in a SURVIVOR SERIES TAG TEAM MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: I love this matchup in large part because two of my favorite angles were followed up here. The thing with Shawn Michaels getting injured by Power and Glory, and Rick Martel blinding Jake Roberts give this match some juice as opposed to the previous match which only had one issue of note. Roberts cut a promo for his team in the showers, which sounds much creepier than it actually was. Just noticed the “blind” eye, that was a good look. The Warlord’s repackaging looked hilarious, with the armor and “W” staff.
Match Review: Marty Jannetty and the Warlord will start things off, and that’s a big size mismatch. Marty evades the guy for a little while, causing him to ram himself into the buckle. Marty then tries dropkicks, but they get blocked. Warlord then tries stomps, but Marty moves out of the way and decides to hit Warlord’s partners and force Warlord to run into them. Marty makes a blind tag, and Michaels clotheslines Warlord for a 2 count. Martel makes his first tag in, and Michaels rams him into the buckle. Michaels then flips through a hip toss and gives Martel one, then dropkicks him. He follows with a monkey flip, and Roberts tags in, causing Martel to run away. Paul Roma tagged in, and Roberts clocks him. He goes to a wristlock, then tags in the Superfly. Hercules tags in as well, and unfortunately, his trunks are bunched up. Snuka hits him with a chop to knock him down, then the Warlord gets back in there. He catches a cross body attempt, slams Snuka, then misses an elbow drop. Snuka then dropkicks Warlord, and tags in Marty once more. Warlord then puts Marty in a bear hug, but Marty pokes his way out. He then heads up top and hits Warlord with an elbow, then tries a second one and Warlord powerslams him for the fall at 5:03.
Michaels then takes his partner’s place in the ring, and Warlord catches him, only to be given a frankensteiner. Roberts tags in there, and he’s clearly the most over guy in the match. He hits Warlord with a clothesline, then blocks a charge to the corner after a reversal. He hits Warlord with another clothesline, then tags in Michaels for a cover, only for Michaels to be pressed and thrown out of the ring. Roma tags in and delivers an elbow drop to Michaels as he gets back in the ring, then he brings in the Warlord for a monster backdrop. Wow! Hercules tags in and covers for 2, then he drills Michaels with a clothesline. Martel tags in there, and drops a knee for 2. He follows that with a backbreaker that also gets 2, and brings in Roma. Roma throws Michaels upside down into the corner, then tags the Model back in for another count of 2. Martel then throws Michaels into the corner, but misses a charge and Michaels makes a tag out! Snuka looks roided to the gills on his way back in there, and he gives Martel a backdrop. Man, this guy’s skin looks crazy. Snuka then hits Martel with a flying headbutt for 2, and he tries a cross body from the second rope that Martel reverses for 3 at 9:28. He cheated though!
Roberts finally gets in the ring with Martel, but once again, Martel runs away and tags in Hercules. The babyfaces are in a bad spot, it’s 4 on 2 after all. Roberts and Hercules look up, and Roberts hits him with a knee lift. He signals for the DDT, but Hercules ducks out of the ring. When he gets back in there, it’s stalling time, which is hurting the match. Finally they get it going again, and Roberts gets drilled with a clothesline by Martel, who ran down the apron. Piper’s commentary for that moment was hilarious, he dropped the asshole bomb. Roma tags in there, and slams Roberts, then heads up top for a fist drop that misses. Michaels makes a tag in, and he nails Roma with a flying back elbow. He follows that with a suplex, then heads up to the second rope for an elbow drop that gets 2. Michaels follows that with an atomic drop, and Roma makes a blind tag that allows Hercules to attack Michaels from behind. Hercules then hits Michaels with a clothesline, and follows with a press slam, showcasing THE POWER. Martel tags in, drops Michaels with some punches, and tags right back out. Hercules then sets Michaels up, and I guess it’s time for…THE POWER PLEX. SUPERPLEX, BIG SPLASH, AND MICHAELS IS OUT AT 15:40.
4 on 1 now, and Roberts has one eye, so I don’t expect this to go for long. The crowd is getting behind him, and Roma doesn’t really want to face him. Hercules does instead, and he kicks away at Roberts for a bit. Now Warlord tags in, and puts him in a bear hug. The heels then distract the referee for a bit, and Roberts drops the Warlord with the DDT! Now Martel goes for ARROGANCE, and sprays it, but it misses. Jake then grabs Damien, and chases Martel to the back, getting himself counted out at 17:42! The entire Visionaries team has survived! They’re really hyping up this grand finale, but I don’t remember that amounting to anything.
My Thoughts: This match was acceptable, but none of these have been great, and that sucks a little bit. It’s simply a case of watching a pedestrian show, which is a bit of a bummer. That being said, you know, it has to be really hard to put on great eight-man tag matches. There’s no way it can be easy, and that’s why these shows didn’t feature great tag matches. The crowd was also really quiet during this match, as they were in the others, and I don’t really know why. It’s just weird. **1/2, it was as good as the opener, but no better.
The Natural Disasters (Earthquake, Dino Bravo, the Barbarian, and Haku, w/Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart) vs. The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Tugboat, Jim Duggan, and the Big Boss Man) in a SURVIVOR SERIES TAG TEAM MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This match sounds absurd, so many guys in it who were old and slow. Still looking forward to it as I haven’t seen it in a while nor paid attention to it much when I have. After the last two matches, it goes without saying the babyfaces had to win, and with Hulk Hogan in the match, obviously they would. The Hulkamaniacs looked absurd during their promo, especially Hogan, who looked really old in the face, had funny looking hair that he was trying to grow out, and was super pumped up. Possibly his largest ever. Total circus show going on here. Good promo on Saddam Hussein, not so much their opponents. Such a lack of heat for the entrances other than Hogan’s, and this was the WWF’s home base too. Hard to believe.
Match Review: Early on, a brawl is teased between these four freak show acts, but it’s not happening. As such, it turns out we have Hacksaw in there with Haku. These guys trade bombs for a bit, then Haku tries a cross body from the second rope that misses. Hacksaw hits Haku with some clotheslines, then nails him with a weak looking back elbow. After that, Hacksaw misses an elbow drop, so Dino Bravo tags in there. He gives Hacksaw an inverted atomic drop, then brings in the Barbarian for a big pile of nothing. Haku comes back in and hits Hacksaw with a back elbow that sends him into Boss Man, so he tags out. Boss Man gets dropkicked in the face for a 2 count, but he comes back with the BOSS MAN SLAM for the fall at 3:15!
Barbarian rushes in there, and Boss Man nails him with a big boot and back elbow. Then he goes for Heenan, and rams him into the buckle. Guess he shouldn’t have been on the apron. Barbarian comes back with a suplex, then follows with a bodyslam. He heads up to the second rope, and comes down with a failed elbow drop. Boss Man tags in Hacksaw again, and Hacksaw takes Barbarian down with a backdrop. Earthquake finally tags in, and he and Bravo take Hacksaw down with a double clothesline. Quake then squashes Hacksaw in the corner, and Hacksaw moves out of the way of his last try. Quake blocks a bodyslam, then they do some collision spots. Hacksaw tries and tries, then Jimmy Hart hops on the apron and pulls the top rope down. He then runs around the ring as Hacksaw chases him, then gets in the ring, where Hacksaw hits Quake with the 2×4 for a DQ at 6:12.
Hogan finally gets in there with Quake, which was necessary to keep the fans in the match. The other heels run in and get bodyslammed in a really contrived looking spot, then Hogan signals to slam Quake. Obviously, he picks him right up and does it, which hurts Quake as a big threat. Hogan then clotheslines him in the corner, and goes up for punches in the corner, but Quake stops him with a POWERSLAM. Bravo tags in and drops a few elbows on Hogan, then he celebrates like a dork. So, Hogan cradles him up and gets the pin at 7:59!
Hogan makes a tag out to Boss Man, who heads up top and tries a cross body only for Quake to catch him. Hogan shoves Boss Man on top for 2, and I’ve just realized Tugboat hasn’t even been in the ring. Barbarian hits Boss Man from behind to stop his momentum, then Quake drops an elbow on the poor guy. He drops a second, and covers Boss Man for 3 at 9:08.
Hogan then rushes in to deal with Quake and Barbarian, but he doesn’t tag in Tugboat at all. Hogan then clotheslines Quake and goes for another bodyslam, but this time he can’t do it. After raking the eyes, he tries again, and Quake falls on top for 2. Quake then goes for a big splash, but Hogan moves out of the way. Hogan FINALLY tags in Tugboat, and he cleans house. He then runs over Quake, who gets pulled out to the floor by Hogan. Now Tugboat and Earthquake brawl on the floor, in really hilarious fashion, until they’re both counted out at 11:03. That was terrible.
We have Hulk Hogan with the Barbarian, and this is the only time I can remember seeing this matchup. Barbarian sends Hogan back into the ring, and the Hulkster is selling his back, as Barbarian knocks him right back out of it. Back in Hogan goes again, and Barbarian gives him a very SAFE looking piledriver for 2. These guys then hit each other with a simultaneous clothesline, and Barbarian kicks Hogan in the face when he gets up. Barbarian now heads up top, and comes down with a FLYING CLOTHESLINE! Of course, Hogan kicks out at 2, and it’s time for him to HULK UP. Fingerpoint, three punches, the big boot, and THE BIG LEG DROP gets the win at 14:49. Hulk Hogan is the SOLE SURVIVOR!
After the match, Heenan gets in the ring for the usual. Good callback to years previous, and I’m surprised Heenan could still take that big bump over the top!
My Thoughts: This was a strange match. For the first half, and possibly more than that, it had more going on than the other matches as a whole. However, the Tugboat stuff dragged it down because of how terrible he was, and the Hogan/Barbarian matchup wasn’t any good either. As a whole, this match was better than any match you’d expect a match with all the guys being over 280 pounds to be. I’m glad the match wasn’t boring, I’d give it **1/4, but this wasn’t disappointing. Different than the other matches here in that way. One thing I was surprised by, was Boss Man going down clean to Earthquake. They had put a lot behind him in terms of his push, so that was unexpected. Even though I’ve seen it before and all.
Now we have Mean Gene at the interview podium, and he’s interviewing THE MACHO KING! AWESOME! It’s so weird that he’s not participating in these matches, and it has definitely taken something away from the show. His promo was entirely geared towards the Ultimate Warrior. Of course, he was talking about taking the WWF Championship back. Savage also said that he may retire, which is a decent bit of foreshadowing.
The Mercenaries (Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov, and the Orient Express, w/General Adnan and Mr. Fuji) vs. The Alliance (Nikolai Volkoff, Tito Santana, and the Bushwhackers) in a SURVIVOR SERIES TAG TEAM MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a shit sandwich of a match. Other than Slaughter, nobody in this even slightly mattered. Everyone’s taking a restroom break in anticipation of the egg hatching and the grand finale. If the fans really cared about the latter, that is. We’ll find out! Not a lot of dead time on this show, we’re mostly jumping from one match to the next. The promo before this was an exception, but the steam was completely out of the building after all that’s happened. Not like this show has set the world on fire or anything, but the crowd has seen what they wanted to see. Piper is overselling this show so hard, even though people already bought it and he didn’t need to. For whatever reason, Mean Gene met Slaughter in the aisle, and Slaughter pretty much shit on him and America. This was such a top heel promo, you’d know the guy was getting a big push after seeing this. Piper’s reaction was totally hilarious.
Match Review: Zhukov and Butch start the match off, and Luke tags in after poking Zhukov in the eye. The Bushwhackers then hit him with a double clothesline, and bring Santana in for the FLYING FOREARM, which gets the pin at 48 seconds. Wow.
Sato runs in there and stomps away at Santana, and hits him with a savate kick as well. Tanaka then kicks his partner on accident, and Butch tags in there. He hits Tanaka with some headbutts, then the Bushwhackers hit Sato with the BATTERING RAM, and Butch pins him at 1:46.
Tanaka rushes into the ring and misses a diving headbutt, so Santana hits him with a FLYING FOREARM at 2:13!
Now Slaughter is facing four babyfaces, but none of them have any value. So, he could pin all of them. In theory. Volkoff meets him in the ring, and hits him with some sloppy big boots. Man, Volkoff looked terrible. Slaughter clotheslines him, then drops some big elbows on him. Slaughter follows that up with an elbow to Volkoff’s flabby gut, then works over the guy with punches to keep him from tagging. Slaughter rams him into the buckle as well, then dropkicks Volkoff. I almost can’t believe he did that. He spits on Volkoff after that, then takes him down, drops an elbow on him, and covers for the fall at 5:25.
Butch runs in to deal with Slaughter now, and Luke does as well. The Bushwhackers give Slaughter a double slam, then hit him with a double clothesline. Luke covers and gets 2, then Luke lands a flying back elbow. I was not expecting that. Luke heads up top and he eats knees on his splash attempt. Haha, good selling too. Slaughter follows with a gutbuster, and gets another fall at 6:30.
Butch now tries to take Slaughter out, and gets thrown hard into the corner and clotheslined. Slaughter covers, and there’s 3 again at 6:53!
It’s Slaughter against Santana now, and these Slaughter eliminations killed the crowd. Santana drops Slaughter with a backdrop, then heads up top and hits him with a SUPER FLYING FOREARM for 2. That would have been a good finish for Santana going forward. Slaughter blocks a monkey flip attempt, then gives him a neckbreaker. Did I mention that the heels all had their faces painted? Sarge’s is still on. He gives Santana a backbreaker, looking really tired in the process, and that gets 2. He winds up giving Santana a suplex, and it gets 2 as well. He then throws Santana into the referee, perhaps on accident, but I don’t know yet. Santana hits Slaughter with the FLYING FOREARM, and Adnan gets in the ring to hit Santana with the IRAQI FLAG. WHAT A DIRTY SCUM. Slaughter then puts Santana in the CAMEL CLUTCH TO MAKE HIM HUMBLE, but the referee saw what happened, and disqualifies Slaughter at 10:52! Tito Santana is the sole survivor!
My Thoughts: I applaud Slaughter for his constant effort in wrestling four different guys without defaulting to resting. The commentary in this match was absolutely hilarious, as it has been the whole show. I can’t hate on his effort at all, especially given three of the opponents in there. Volkoff looked so bad, and so far out of shape. Sato, Volkoff, and Zhukov were all leaving, so there was no harm in making them look weak. They all needed to leave too. I’d give this **, it was the worst match on the show so far, but there was nothing offensive about it. It’s crazy that I’ve run the gamut of ratings between ** and **1/2 without going above or below either. Pretty weird. Slaughter’s reaction to losing was funny, and obviously they didn’t want him in the finale because they needed to use him against the top babyfaces later.
Now we have a promo in the back, with the entirety of the heel side in the final match. It’s the Visionaries and Ted DiBiase here. So, who carries the promo? Martel has some lines, DiBiase has some lines, and Martel was sure to point out that his team was the first entire team to survive. That makes him sound awfully legitimate. I’m impressed that all these guys put back on their entrance gear for the promo. Especially DiBiase, that’s a big outfit.
It’s time for the EGG HATCHING, which the show was sold on, after all. Gene Mean is doing a full routine here, and the EGG IS CRACKING. WHAT’S IN THE EGG? BOY, IT’S GONNA OPEN. COMING OUT OF THE EGG, WE HAVE A…BIG TURKEY. Some resounding boos follow that, and the name of this stupid thing is THE GOBBLEDYGOOKER. Well, you can’t get all the surprises right. What they do after that, is bring Okerlund down to the ring for some dancing. That’s one way to try to save this disappointment. Look, you know, yeah, I don’t know what to say about this. One of the worst things was Monsoon and Piper trying to sell this as the crowd loving it. They absolutely didn’t, except for some of the old ladies there. Okerlund looked funny dancing, but poor Hector Guerrero having to do this. That all being said, Undertaker coming out of the egg would have been so much worse.
THE ULTIMATE SURVIVAL MATCH: Rick Martel, Ted DiBiase, the Warlord, and Power and Glory, w/Slick and Virgil vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WWF Champion), Hulk Hogan, and Tito Santana
Pre-Match Thoughts: Santana’s inclusion here seems so funny. They should have done a double DQ and had nobody from that match in this one. I mean, that’s what I think anyway. The babyface team has a promo before this match, and it mostly featured Hulk Hogan putting over the Warrior and Santana. That’s how you do a promo, even though Santana was nowhere near the level of these other two, Hogan made him sound legitimate. Warrior on the other hand kept blocking Santana from the camera and walking in front of him. It was too noticeable, and I bet if he thought he could do it to Hogan, he would have. Warrior’s entrance was last, so clearly at this point they were trying to present Warrior as the top star. Too late though.
Match Review: Hogan and Warrior teaming up should have been a bigger deal than this, but instead, the match starts with Hogan hitting the Warlord. Santana then hits Warlord with a FLYING FOREARM, and gets the fall at 28 seconds!
Roma gets in the ring and powerslams Santana, then tags in DiBiase. DiBiase drops a knee on Santana, then suplexes him for 2. Santana then clotheslines DiBiase, and backdrops him, so maybe he’ll tag out. Or not, instead he misses the FLYING FOREARM. DiBiase then drops Santana with a hotshot, and gets the pin at 1:51.
Hogan now goes toe to toe with DiBiase, and boots him. He then goes for a backdrop, which gets blocked, and DiBiase follows with a clothesline. Hercules tags in for the first time, and hits Hogan with a clothesline. Now Roma tags in and heads up top, coming down with a big right for 2. Martel tags in, and he goes to work on the back. Back out he goes, bringing Hercules in. Herc hits Hogan with shitty punches, then rams him into the buckle a bunch. DiBiase heads back in, and lands an elbow from the second rope for 2. DiBiase then drops some fists for 2, and Hercules tags in again. Hercules wants to do the POWER PLEX, AND I GUESS THEY WILL. SUPERPLEX, BIG SPLASH, and Hogan kicks out at 2. Look, nobody should kick out of that. Hogan then hits Roma with a clothesline, and eliminates him at 5:57.
Martel runs in there, and Hogan finally makes a tag out. So, Warrior comes in with a bunch of kicks to the Model, and gives him a backdrop. He then hits the other heels in that corner, and starts no-selling Martel’s punches. Warrior slams him, then rams his face hard into the mat and tags in Hogan. Hogan hits Martel with a big boot, then he clotheslines him out of the ring, so Martel leaves. That was good character work. Of course, they count him out at 7:17.
DiBiase isn’t too happy at Martel for quitting, but the match has to go on. He locks up with Hogan again, and tries ramming him into the buckle. Hogan then clotheslines DiBiase in the corner, and beats up his only remaining partner, who is Hercules. He hits DiBiase with a big boot, DROPS THE LEG on him, and gets the pin at 8:30.
Hercules then runs into the ring and Hogan powerslams him, then tags in the Warrior for the finish. Clotheslines galore, the flying shoulderblock,a nd a big splash for the win at 9:07. THE ULTIMATE SURVIVORS ARE HULK HOGAN AND THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR!
For fun, they toss Slick out of the ring after the match, as the show closes with Hogan raising Warrior’s hand once again. Not very inventive!
My Thoughts: This match was really just standard. I was very surprised that DiBiase got pinned here right before his title challenge on the following night. That seems pretty stupid. All in all, I was bored, and I think the fans were too, in large part because they knew exactly what was going to happen here. There’s not a lot to say about this match, just as there wasn’t much to say about the others. *1/2, I think this was the worst on the show.
This show was nothing special, but nothing terrible either. I think it’s the last PPV to take place before things got a lot better. The WWF product felt so much different just a year after this, but this show felt like something right out of the late 80’s because there were so many guys retained from that roster. A lot of the wrestlers in the WWF at this time really needed to have their roles diminished or needed to leave. I mean, just look at some of the guys on this show. Lots of people doing the same gimmicks for years, no change in looks, and just stagnant card placement. The Undertaker thing saved this somewhat, as did the egg segment bombing. All in all, a very average show. It does get better though! Next up, I’m going to watch the Main Event #4, which features an Ultimate Warrior vs. Ted DiBiase match.
Wrestling Time: 1:20:46. That’s not as much as I expected, but consider that a few of the guys worked twice. They also desperately needed the segments between matches and didn’t have too many of them.
Best: The Undertaker debut. They put him over so strong, made him look so legitimate, and treated him like a real threat, which WCW was not able to do.
Worst: Gobbledygooker. Duh.
Card Rating: 5/10. This was just an ordinary show, I don’t have many complaints, nor do I have have much praise.
One Comment
Leave a Reply