WWF Survivor Series 1988 (Version II)

Original Airdate: November 24, 1988

From Richfield, Ohio; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

Opening Survivor Series Elimination Match: Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Sam Houston, Jim Brunzell, and Blue Blazer v Honky Tonk Man, Ron Bass, Bad News Brown, Greg Valentine, and Danny Davis: Beefcake starts with Valentine, and the former Dream Team slug it out. More like a Nightmare Team right now, amirite? Cheap shot from Davis puts the Barber down, but the former referee makes the mistake of tagging in, and quickly succumbs to the Sleeper at 1:17. So, back to Valentine (rocking a rare blue tights/yellow boots combo that just suits him perfectly), and he works Brutus over, but fails to apply the Figure Four. Tag to Blazer, and he takes Greg down with a quick headscissors, the passes out to Jumpin' Jim. He works an armbar, but Bad News breaks up the cover after a dropkick, and switches off with the Hammer - polishing Brunzell off with the Ghetto Blaster at 5:13. It occurs to the that Warrior is probably the worst guy ever to book in tag matches. His entire appeal is that he's an uncontrollable maniac. There's something visually upsetting about seeing him lamely holding a tag rope. Anyway, Houston comes in hot, but Bad News quickly shrugs him off, and hammers away. Speaking of 'hammering,' he and Valentine cut the ring in half on Sam, but a miscommunication ends in Greg accidentally hitting Bad News, and Brown walks out on his team at 7:52. Couldn't ask for better booking of the character than that. Sam capitalizes by schoolboying Greg for two, but a sunset flip gets blocked, and Bass tags in. He and Sam proceed to have a decent little Superstars main event for a few minutes, before Ron ends him night with a running powerslam at 10:12 to even things up again. And speaking of 'running,' in comes the Warrior! He cleans house on the entire heel side, before tagging Blazer in for a rocket launcher on Bass for two. Tag to Honky, so Blazer throws a bodypress for two, and adds a monkeyflip to setup a dropkick - Honky wisely bailing to Valentine. Blazer gutwrench suplexes him to setup a kneedrop for two, and a backdrop follows. Well executed front-powerslam sets up a trip to the top, but Honky shoves him off, and Valentine pus him away with the Figure Four at 11:22. Man, Blazer BROUGHT IT with the time he was given here. 'There are no small parts,' and all that. Beefcake runs into a backelbow from Greg as he comes in, and Bass knees him down to setup a falling headbutt for two. The heels cut the ring in half on the Barber, as each of them has had an issue with Beefcake over the last year or two, and they relish working him over. Hilarious closed captioning gaffe on the Network, as Beefcake gut-punches Honky during a flying axehandle attempt - 'right in the fruit basket!' He gets the Sleeper on Honky, but both guys go tumbling out for a double countout at 15:42. Because the world hadn't seen enough Honky/Beefcake matches for one lifetime already? That leaves Warrior alone with Bass and Valentine, and they work him over. They have some limited success in that department, before Warrior decides enough is enough, and clobbers Bass with a running axehandle at 17:28, then gives Valentine one as well at 17:51.
Survivor: Ultimate Warrior
Fun opener, as the workers all grasped the Survivor Series concept a lot better than they did at the inaugural show the year before, and it made for a much smoother experience. The eliminations were also really well spaced out here - good booking. *** (Original Rating: ***)

Ten Tag Team Survivor Series Elimination Match: Demolition, The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, The Brain Busters, The Bolsheviks, and The Conquistadors v The Powers of Pain, The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, The Rockers, and The Young Stallions: Even with the weak links like the Bolsheviks or the Conquistadors, this is still easily the most impressive dream tag lineup imaginable, from an era that was famous for having a lot of incredible teams. I'd hate to have to be the referee for this one - you've gotta feel for that guy. Uno and Davey Boy Smith get the honor of starting, but Jacques Rougeau quickly tags in instead - Davey press-slamming him onto brother Raymond. Tags to Shawn Michaels a Boris Zhukov, and Shawn wastes no time in flying around. The Rockers double-up on the Russian, but Marty Jannetty fails to cut the ring in half, and Ax tags in. He hammers Marty down, but Arn Anderson gets reversed into the corner, and backdropped on the rebound. Dropkick sends him out to Tully Blanchard, but Marty atomic drops him, and he gets pinballed in the babyface corner. Tag to Jacques, and he misses a 2^nd rope bodypress - Dynamite Kid tagging in and abusing him with a hard snap suplex for two. Considering this would have been after the infamous brawl (with Kid sporting an odd looking moustache here to disguise his dental damage), that seems like a really stupid combination. Like, seriously, there's no shortage of bodies to tag to. Also, Kid with a mustache looks like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. Tag to Raymond, and Kid sunset flips him for two, before tags are made to Smash and Jim Powers. Things do not end well for Jimmy there. Jacques dropkicks him for two, but he escapes long enough to tag Bret Hart. Jacques switches gears and hits a jumping backelbow on the Hitman for two, but Ray's attempt at a backdrop is countered with an inside cradle to eliminate the Rougeau's at 5:37. Yes, all that happened in under SIX MINUTES! To say the pace has been blistering thus far would be an understatement. The dust settles on Nikolai Volkoff and Paul Roma - Roma catching him with a nice springboard bodypress for two before tagging out to Jim Neidhart - Anvil dropkicking him. Tags to Smash and Barbarian, and they slug it out for all of a few seconds before Smash passes out to Dos to play whipping boy for the Powers of Pain. Bret tags back in, but gets double-teamed by Demolition before they tag out to Tully with a flying axehandle. Cross corner whip, but Hart rebounds out with a hangman's clothesline, and tags to Shawn. He comes in hot for Tully, but quickly gets pounded down by the Demos, and abused in the heel corner. Man, no wonder he became such a prick later on. How would you feel if you had to sell that much for fucking Boris Zhukov? Arn kills him with a spinebuster for two, and Uno bodyslams him for two before Shawn escapes to tag Marty. Jannetty is a crack house of fire, as I start daydreaming about how good a Bulldogs/Rockers match would have been - even with Kid's limitations by this time. And, speaking of dream matches, we get a quick Bulldogs/Brainbusters match to tide us over, before Dos comes in and gets killed by Warlord. That leads to another Demolition/Powers showdown, and Davey Boy's 'YESSSSS!' reaction to it in the corner is pretty awesome. The Demos get the best of it before tagging out to Tully - who promptly runs into a press-slam from Barbarian. Neidhart (sporting a NASTY bruise on his side) front-powerslams him for two, but Dynamite gets dumped to the floor while trying a headbutt, and Arn stomps him down. The heels cut the ring in half on Kid, but Boris misses a kneedrop, and Powers gets the tag. He comes in hot with a backdrop on the Russian, but Boris rolls through a 2^nd rope bodypress to send the Stallions home at 15:35. The heels briefly cut the ring in half on Barbarian, before everyone realizes that it's fucking BARBARIAN in 1988, and that ends. Shawn comes in and gets some revenge on that no good Zhukov, but it's Marty who gets to end his night with a sunset flip at 17:19. The Busters jump Jannetty as soon as the fall is counted, however, and the heel side cuts the ring in half on their much more appropriate victim. Marty manages a facebuster on Arn to allow the tag to Smith, and we get another tease of Busters/Bulldogs. The heels cut the ring in half on Smith, but Uno done fucks it up, and Neidhart gets the tag. The Foundation deliver a backbreaker/2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop combo on Uno for dos, and the babyface teams take turns working him over. It's still mind blowingly awesome to see the Harts, the Rockers, and the Bulldogs all working together in rapid fire here. The Demos get into it with the Powers again, with Smash holding Barbarian in a headvise - really the first time in over twenty minutes that the pace has slowed down. And even then, it's only for a bit. He escapes long enough to tag out, and Bret Hart hooks a bridging German suplex on Blanchard - only to have his shoulders counted down while executing the hold at 27:08. Kinda fitting that it would be one of the Busters to get booked in that finish. Kid punishes Tully for making anyone think of Dusty Rhodes' booking with a nasty tombstone piledriver for two, and Shawn tries a backdrop, but takes a boot to the face. The Buster double-team, so Marty hustles in for the save - the Brain Busters and the Rockers both getting disqualified for brawling at 29:00. Down to Demolition and the Conquistadors against the Powers and Bulldogs, and Smash holds Kid in a headvise while the crowd watches the Rockers brawl to the dressing rooms with the Busters. Kid fights out, but gets clobbered by Dos before he can tag, and the Conquistadors cut the ring in half - only for Uno to miss a fucking swanton bomb to allow the tag to Warlord. Wow! Lots of quick tags on both sides of things, as even Jesse openly notes what a joke it is that the Conquistadors are still in this thing. He ain't kidding! Davey tries to put them away with the Running Powerslam, but forgets to do that whole 'cover for the pin' thing, and Ax tags. Ginkgo biloba, buddy. Or maybe I should just say 'koo koo kachoo,' because when he's not reminding me of Pedro, Kid is a dead wringer for Sgt. Pepper era George Harrison. The heels work Barbarian over, but Dos can't hold up his end, and runs into a tandem-backelbow from Barbarian and Smith. Kid gives Dos a gutwrench suplex for two, followed by a falling headbutt for two. Flying Headbutt on Smash misses, however, and the Bulldogs are gone at 36:18. Barbarian hustles in, but gets worked over in the heel corner again. Here's a thought: how about letting Warlord try? I mean, literally every time Barbarian comes in against the Demos, he ends up in trouble. As if on cue, Barbarian tags to Warlord - who promptly misses a charge in the corner, and ends up in trouble. The Demos don't really have any great moves, but man, they really knew how to make simple stuff like axehandles look effective. Well, at least they tried. Mr. Fuji then to whack him with the cane for good measure - either that, or he's going senile and thinks he's in the match, because he hops up on the apron and stays there for an extended period, with everyone ignoring him. I get it. Probably for the best to just let the little guy tucker himself out. Fuji gets sick of waiting, however, and punishes his boys by intentionally pulling down the rope when Smash runs them - Smash getting counted out as a result at 39:48. The Demos are none too happy about that, so Fuji whacks Ax with the cane to remind him who's in charge. That doesn't end well for him, and he takes a bodyslam on the outside before the Demos walk out. But now suddenly the Powers ignore the match, and hop to the outside - helping Fuji up, and letting him stand in their corner before going back in and killing Uno at 42:25.
Survivors: The Powers of Pain
Afterwards, the Powers hoist Fuji up on their shoulders, until Demolition run in to clean house - cementing the double turn, though a lot of the fans seem to think Fuji has simply turned face. Can you imagine? The order of the eliminations made perfect sense here for the most part, but the Conquistadors in at the finish? Really? They were job guys for Sam Houston and Blue Blazer on the house shows at that point! It would've been kinda cool had they just went all in with it, and let them win via countout while the Powers were busy helping Fuji up, though. An insanely entertaining, dream combination filled tag match here, totally living up to expectations - both in 1988 and retrospectively. I mean, it's over forty minutes long, and even managed to avoid being overly repetitive in an era when ten minute matches tended to be repetitive! Cap that all off with a historic double-turn, and you've got a bonafide classic here. **** (Original Rating: ***)

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Andre the Giant, Dino Bravo, Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, and Harley Race v Jim Duggan, Jake Roberts, Tito Santana, Ken Patera, and Scott Casey: Rude starts with Patera, and man does Ken look out of place in direct juxtaposition with Rick. Rude still sells a bunch of his stuff, but quickly tags out to Bravo to do a power-showdown with Kenny. Perfect comes in with a 2^nd rope axehandle, but Patera fights out of the corner, and tags out to Tito. Santana starts throwing armdrags, but runs into an elbow during a corner charge, and Bravo tags in to hammer him - Jake making the save. The faces take turns beating up Bravo, but Casey fucks up a monkeyflip, and eats an inverted atomic drop. Race tags in with a belly-to-belly suplex to setup a falling headbutt, followed by a vertical suplex before passing to Rude for a bodyslam for two. The heels continue working Casey over with such zeal that I'm certain he's the first elimination, but he manages to fight Perfect off, and tag. The faces unload on Perfect for a bit, though he's surprisingly restrained with him selling here for the most part. He does take an over the top bump off a punch from Duggan though, bless his heart. Casey with a hammerlock-slam, but Perfect manages to tag out to Rude - Rick missing a corner charge, and taking a Jumping Forearm from Tito for two. Casey with a bodyslam, but he misses a charge in the corner, and eats the Rude Awakening at 8:20. Buh-bye bubba. Casey hustles in, but runs into a dropkick from Harley, before Bravo sends him home with a Sidewalk Slam at 9:29. The dust settles on Perfect and Duggan next - Jim unloading, but running into Andre in the corner, which doesn't end well for him. Yeah, you think? Tags are made to Harley and Tito, and Race goes to work, but Tito kicks out of the Piledriver, and delivers the Flying Forearm at 15:25. Santana's luck runs out in a hurry, however, as Andre comes into the match for the first time, and tosses him about like a ragdoll before putting him out of his misery at 16:49. Jesus, he was in a mood. Duggan hustles in with a 3-Point Stance to leave the Giant tied up in the ropes, however, and Roberts immediately capitalizes on the precarious position by running in and pounding him. He's still in the heel corner, however, and Rude tags in while this is going down, and corner whips Roberts a couple of times. The heels cut the ring in half on Jake, and you know what, Roberts probably could have had a pretty memorable career as a tag guy, because he does a great job of selling the beating while fighting for the tag. Bravo misses a pair of elbowdrops, however, and Duggan gets the hot tag. Jim goes to work, but Frenchy Martin disrupts a 3-Point Stance, and Dino is able to capitalize by slamming him on the outside. That enrages Hacksaw, however, and he whacks Bravo with the 2x4 - getting himself disqualified at 23:29. He's really happy about it, but that's kind of a dick move as a teammate, considering now Jake is left all alone against four guys - and one of them is fucking Andre the Giant!! Roberts tries to make the best of things by scoring a fall on Bravo due to the 2x4 blow, but no dice. Perfect tags in, and man, as Jake starts bringing some brilliant psychology - not moving from his corner to avoid getting trapped in a heel beat down, even going so far as to hold the ropes while fighting Perfect to avoid ending up in the wrong part of town. He does the same with Bravo - hanging in the corner, fighting off advances, but not venturing away from his half of the ring. That is some wicked psychology. I mean, it's very basic stuff, but so many guys wouldn't grasp the finer points, and the way Jake does it is really engaging. Like I said, this guy could have had an entire career in the tag ranks, if things went that way. Anyway, he holds his ground against a heel onslaught for a while, but Rude manages to knock him out of his shell. He hammers Jake, but overplays his hand, and walks into the DDT at 30:52. But not before mooning the crowd, of course. Andre's reaction to Rude's elimination is amazing, as he doesn't even wait for the count to finish before coming in, yanking Jake off of Rude by the seat of his pants, and smacking him around. Andre may not have been Shawn Michaels in the ring, but you don't have to watch much of his work to understand why he was such a huge star. More great psychology, as Andre simply chokes Jake down until the referee disqualifies him at 31:46 - but the damage is done, and Perfect simply walks in and covers him to win at 32:08, without even doing another move.
Survivors: Dino Bravo, Mr. Perfect
It went on for maybe a little bit too long (they could have easily cut a few minutes off by sending Casey and Patera home earlier), but once it got down to a psychological battle between Roberts and the heels, it was outstanding. *** ¼ (Original Rating: **)

Main Event: Survivor Series Elimination Match: Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Koko B. Ware, Hercules, and Hillbilly Jim v Big Boss Man, Akeem, Ted DiBiase, Haku, and Red Rooster: I hope Rooster enjoyed that main event money. Savage starts with DiBiase, and they do their usual little match, compressed into a minute. Over to Hercules, and DiBiase bails - Hercules stupidly giving chase, and running into Virgil. Oops. Inside, Rooster headbutts Hercules down, but the strongman manages to block a sharpshooter, and short-clothesline the Rooster. Over to Koko, but he misses a cross corner charge, and Akeem goes to work. Hate to see black-on-black violence. That's a shame. Haku misses a legdrop to allow the tag back to Hercules, and he actually wins a slugfest with Haku - incase anyone ever needed proof that wrestling is worked, I suppose. The faces pinball Haku for a big, including a fun tandem-big boot from Hogan and Hillbilly, but Haku fights Jim off, and tags. The heels cut the ring in half, but Rooster stupidly tries to bodyslam him, and gets reversed. I guess Hillbilly was still working pretty regularly at this point, though I can't remember him doing anything of note since, like, WrestleMania III. He wasn't even part of the first Survivor Series, which was usually an all-hands-on-deck situation back in the early days. The faces go to work on Rooster, taking turns hitting signature moves before Savage sends him back to the coop with the Flying Elbowdrop at 6:10. Well, somebody had to go first. The heels all bail to the floor to strategize, though really, is losing Rooster really even worth worrying about? The dust settles on Hogan and Haku, and Haku rakes the eyes to setup a dropkick, but gets reversed into the corner, then bodyslammed. Over to Hercules with a series of elbowdrops for two, but he runs into a side suplex, and Akeem tags in - bodyslamming him, but missing a splash. Tag to Hillbilly, but trying a bearhug ends badly, and the Air Africa finishes at 9:54. Why would you try a bearhug on a guy you can't even wrap your arms around? I mean, no offense to the dead and everything, but that's just dumb. Oh wait, a quick check shows that Hillbilly Jim is, in fact, not dead. No hard feelings, then. Koko comes in hot, but misses a stinger splash in the corner, and Boss Man Slams him at 11:45. The dust settles on Hogan/Boss Man, and the crowd is amped up for that one - Hulk milking it. Slugfest goes Hogan's way, and a running forearm smash leads to an atomic drop. The faces pinball Boss Man in their corner, and Hulk cross corner clotheslines him. Big boot sets up a bodyslam, but Hulk runs into a nice spinebuster before he can finish him off, and Akeem tags in for a tandem-backelbow. Akeem's mannerisms beg the question: yes, he was playing it black, but was he also playing it gay at the same time? Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! The heels cut the ring in half on Hogan for a bit, but DiBiase runs into some no-selling. Hulk neglects to finish him off in favor of giving Hercules the honors, and Hercules unloads on the Million Dollar Man - only to get tripped up by Virgil, and rolled up by DiBiase at 16:35. Guy's earning his money, you gotta give him that. Unfortunately for Ted, he learns literally nothing from what just happened, and gets schoolboyed by Savage while taunting Hercules at 16:57. Haku comes in, but gets overwhelmed against both Mega Powers - though eventually putting Hogan down with a superkick before tagging out to Boss Man. Boss Man works Hulk over with a bodyslam for two, and Haku vertical suplexes him for two as they cut the ring in half. Man, no wonder Savage turned on Hogan. Randy's got the custom Mega Powers tights, and Hulk couldn't even be bothered to get his ass monogrammed for this. Savage's ass has bothered. It may not sound like much, but I've been to the monogramming store. The lines there can be really crazy, especially on a weekend day. Anyway, Boss Man looks for a flying splash, but Hogan moves, and gets the tag. Savage blitzes all three heels, but gets tripped up by Slick before he can do too much damage, and Boss Man hugs him like a bear. With Savage in the hold, Slick goes after Elizabeth on the outside - luring Hogan right into a beating from the Twin Towers on the floor, culminating in Boss Man handcuffing Hogan to the ropes. He gets DQ'd over it at 23:17, but Hulk is still fucking handcuffed to the ropes, so 'mischief managed,' I'd say. With that out of the way, the Towers decide to beat on Savage with the nightstick next, and that earns Akeem a DQ as well at 25:01 - leaving Haku alone, so Boss Man and Akeem don't have to eat a pinfall. So now the Towers are gone, but Hogan is still handcuffed on the outside, and Savage has no one to tag to whenever he manages to fight Haku off. As Haku works him over, Elizabeth manages to pick-pocket the cuff key from Slick, and she frees Hogan as Savage kicks out of a nice flying splash at two. Tag, and Hulk comes in hot - the Legdrop finishing at 30:11.
Survivors: Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan
This was entertaining, though the final portion with the Mega Powers against Haku dragged on for a bit longer than it needed to (not like anyone was giving him a chance here), and some of the eliminations were especially lame to avoid the big starts eating pinfalls. ** ½ (Original rating: ** ¼)

BUExperience: This is definitely one of those shows the expression ‘settle in to your favorite chair and get comfortable’ were invented for, because there are some long ass matches on this card, but you know, I don’t really remember ever being particularly impressed by the ’88 Survivor Series, though in all honesty, this is one HELL of a card! All four matches are three-star level or higher (the ten-team tag a classic), and each match is packed chockfull of star power, and well written storylines.

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