WWF Survivor Series 1987

With the first Survivor Series, Vince McMahon made an effort to expand further into pay per view after the massive success of WrestleMania III, and also to fuck around with the competition, as the NWA was planning to its annual Starrcade supercard. McMahon, ever the ruthless business man, booked the first Survivor Series the same night as Starrcade, promising Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, and threatened any cable provider who offered Starrcade on their lineup the loss of future WWF business. The result was blockbuster numbers for the WWF, and a big disappointment for the NWA.

The concept of the show was that ‘teams of five would strive to survive,’ in five-on-five elimination matches – and that’s it. No focus on title matches, hot grudge matches, or anything else – while Starrcade was offering just that. And the WWF was still the hotter ticket, because guys like Hogan, Andre, and Randy Savage were just that big of draws at the time.

From Richfield, OH, your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura.


Opening Survivor Series Elimination Match: Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake and Jim Duggan v The Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Ron Bass, Harley Race, and Danny Davis: Savage is fresh off of a face turn in an angle with Honky Tonk, and is massively over. Also, nice to see he and Steamboat were able to put that whole throat crushing/attempted murder thing behind them so quickly. Gives us all hope. Beefcake and Hercules start things off, and Brutus gets the sleeper early, drawing the heels in. Danny Davis ends up legally in, and the faces take turns unloading on him. Steamboat with a flying chop, but he runs into a knee, and Harley Race tags in with a shoulderbreaker. Steamboat with a nice looking springboard axehandle, but he gets caught with a belly to belly, so he tags Duggan. They spill to the floor, and Duggan and Race both get counted out at 5:00, establishing a great Survivor Series booking tradition. Neat to see the way the crowd responds to them brawling in 1987 - as they still totally buy it as real - and cower whenever they come towards the rail. The C/O gives us Savage/Bass, and Macho with a series of knees for two, but he gets distracted by Honky, and clotheslined. Tag to Beefcake, and Brutus gets a high knee to eliminate Bass at 7:00, thus establishing the second Survivor Series tradition: pinfalls off of transition moves. Honky comes in, and goads Savage into coming in illegally, but doesn't use the referee distraction to work any double (or triple, in this case stuff) in, instead just going with an armbar. Shake Rattle n' Roll (a really poorly named swinging neckbreaker, despite the gimmick) puts him away at 11:00, to even the teams up. We get Jake Roberts/Honky, and Honky quickly dodges the DDT, then brings in Hercules. Series of jabs gets a series of twos, so he gets frustrated and tags Danny Davis. Yeah, that's good strategy. And, indeed, he eats DDT at 15:00. Honky and Hercules (which totally sounds like a sitcom from this period) work over the Snake (he could have been the pet on the sitcom!), but Jake gets the hot tag to Steamboat. He unloads on both guys, and hits a flying chop on Hercules, before letting Savage finish hit with the flying elbow at 21:00. Honky has nowhere to hide now, and Savage tears right into him, like an angry dog. 2^nd rope axehandle, and then one off of the top to really scramble his brains. Atomic drop puts Honky on the floor, and he bails to the back, getting counted out at 24:00, and establishing another Survivor Series tradition: doing bullshit finishes to draw out feuds.
Survivors: Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat.
Survivor Series matches are generally hard to rate, as they're a bunch of little matches in one - and generally rely on some odd booking, as a rule. This is literally the first one, ever, and worked well enough, keeping a good pace, other than a pretty brutally slow heat segment on Jake Roberts towards the end. *.

Women's Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin' Robin, Velvet McIntyre and The Jumping Bomb Angels v Sensational Sherri, Donna Christanello, Dawn Marie, and The Glamour Girls: Before you had Divas, you had ACTUAL women's wrestling, and you wouldn't fuck one of these ladies on a very serious dare. Sherri attacks Velvet to start, but Donna (who looks like one of the wives from the makeover scene in Goodfellas) doesn't fare as well, and gets pinned off of a victory roll at 2:00. Rockin' Robin has a go, but botches a bodypress, but a second try eliminates Dawn Marie at 4:00. We get the long awaited, arena filling, Glamour Girl/Jumping Bomb Angel showdown, giving the Angels a chance to fly around. Sherri gets in with Robin, and has had enough of her move botching, so she finishes her with a quick suplex at 7:00. That leaves us with another Glamour Girl/Bomb Angel exhibition, as Jesse suggests that they ladies shave their heads, to avoid all the hair pulling. Moolah gets in the middle of it, however, and the Glamour Girls give her a double clothesline to put her out at 11:00. Kinda surprised she's out so early - and clean - honestly, but I guess even Vince's cock has its standards. Velvet gets a dropkick, and pulls Sherri in, but that gets her faceslammed. Sherri with a legdrop, but she gets caught in a big swing - which was my friend's favorite spot whenever we used to play Smackdown/Raw ’06 – and which he would/will do to you in real life, anytime you're dumb enough to give him the chance. It works on this crowd, too. Victory roll, and Sherri's gone at 15:00. Odd booking choices here - eliminating Moolah and Women's champion Sherri, and both clean as Howard Hughes' asshole. She tries it on Glamour Girl Leilani Kai, but gets two, so goes to the well again, but gets hit with an electric chair drop, and eliminated at 17:00. That leaves us with the Girls and the Angels, and everyone starts going at it right away. Kai with a slam, but she misses a flying splash, and gets hit with a flying bodypress for the pin at 19:00. Judy Martin gives it a go, and hits a fireman's carry slam for two, but gets caught with some double team stuff, and a flying clothesline finishes at 20:00.
Survivors: The Jumping Bomb Angels
The match didn’t really take advantage of the usual Survivor Series booking conventions  (Moolah and Sherri’s clean eliminations were both rather surprising), though it was only the second one ever contested, so it’s understandable that they were still working things out. I am… uh… not a fan of women’s wrestling (see also: I think it sucks), and actually prefer the Divas rolling around in skimpy outfits nowadays to a bunch of old ladies working a twenty minute match. Still, aside from a bunch of blown spots from Rockin’ Robin, perfectly decent outing, with no resting. *.

Twenty-Man Tag Team Elimination Match: Strike Force, The Young Stallions, The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, The Killer Bees, and The British Bulldogs v The Hart Foundation, The Islanders, Demolition, The Bolsheviks, and The New Dream Team: That is a lot of humanity for one ring – though not much humility. It's basically a structured battle royal. This was a cool twist to the (still brand new) style, as they have ten teams, and if you're eliminated, your partner goes, too. They also had a deep enough roster of tag teams at this point to book this kind of thing, and still book three other five-on-five matches, which says something. Nikolai Volkoff and Rick Martel start off, and they literally have a tough time working spots, as there are so many guys on the apron, they're blocking simple Irish whips. Boris Zhukov and Tito Santana tag in, and Tito quickly finishes him with a diving forearm at 1:30, eliminating the Bolsheviks. Everyone trades off quick tags - too fast and insignificant to bother calling - until Paul Roma gets caught by Demolition, and worked over. He manages a tag to Jacques Rougeau, but he misses a quick 2^nd rope bodypress, and Ax pins him at 6:00. Paul Roma gets caught by the heels again (boy, he's earning his check the hard way tonight) and Greg Valentine gives him a shoulderbreaker, followed by a suplex, before Dynamite Kid comes in to play the more appropriate punching bag. The Demos have too much fun with that idea - busting out their best gimp gear - but the referee won't have that on Thanksgiving eve, and disqualifies them at 9:00. Bret Hart piledrives Kid, but posts himself off of a blind charge. Martel gets in with Tama, and is a house of arson! Dropkick, and he goes for the Boston Crab, but Jim Neidhart breaks it up. Tito tags, and catches Jim with the diving forearm, but Bret saves, and Neidhart gets the pin off of it at 12:00 - which was a big deal since Strike Force were tag champions at the time. The Young Stallions try to take advantage of the moment, and jump Neidhart, but it does about as well as you'd assume anything would go for two guys named 'The Young Stallions,' and they get worked over by the entire heel side. Bret and Haku hit a Demolition Decapitator in memory of their fallen homies, but he gets the tag off to Davey Boy Smith. Big press slam on Bret gets two, and he hits the running powerslam on Haku. Dynamite in with a 2nd rope falling headbutt, but he misses, and Haku hits a savate kick to eliminate the British Bulldogs at 20:00. Roma comes in a house of arson, dropkicking everything that moves, but the unstoppable power of DINO BRAVO quickly puts the breaks on that with an inverted atomic drop. We get the epic New Dream Team/Young Stallions mini-match that WWF Superstars just could not contain, and Bravo looks to finish with a sidewalk slam, but tags in Valentine instead of making the cover. He tries the figure four, but Roma comes off of the top with a sunset flip, and the New Dream Team is gone at 24:00. Killer Bees/Hart Foundation showdown, and Blair tries to finish Neidhart with a small package. Bret gets wishboned (hey, it is Thanksgiving), and Brunzell goes for a slam, so Haku dropkicks Bret into a pinfall attempt, but Brunzell rolls through, and eliminates the Hart Foundation at 31:00. He gets caught celebrating, however, and the Islanders hammer away. Shoulderbreaker for two, and Haku grabs a nervehold. Tama tags in to grab his own nervehold, only he adds a Tarzan yell to his, so it does extra damage. I'm surprised Jim Brunzell is still alive, honestly. Tag to Jim Powers, and he tries to work the crowd (as one does after a 'hot' tag), but they completely sit on their hands, refusing to pop, as if the very idea of the Young Stallions may be fine all year 'round - but literally sickens them on a National holiday. He gets off a powerslam, and quickly tags back out to Brunzell. Dropkicks for everyone, and a sunset flip from Brian Blair (after putting on a mask - which was a stupid bit, since they weren't both masked, and therefore actually makes him standout more to the referee, if anything), finishes at 37:00.
Survivors: The Killer Bees, The Young Stallions.
The match was fun, 80s tag team wrestling, but even at 40-minutes long never really had a chance to go anywhere, as the format had so many guys popping in and hitting a quick spot, then popping right back out without building to anything. Still, entertaining enough – even if, in a match that featured some of the best tag teams in all of pro-wrestling history – it came down to three of the worst. ** ½.

Main Event: Survivor Series Elimination Match: Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, and Bam Bam Bigelow v Andre the Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, and Rick Rude: Hogan is still crazy over at this point - nearing the end of his insane (though justified) FOUR YEAR title reign. Muraco and Rude start off, and Rude rakes the eyes to take control, so Hogan tags in. Big clothesline takes Rude's head off, and he drops a series of elbows. The face side takes turns unloading, but Rude sneaks off a tag to Butch Reed. He doesn't faces the same fate, however, and Hogan finishes him with the legdrop at 3:00. That leads to a massive showdown with Andre, but technically Hogan tagged out to Ken Patera while celebrating the elimination, and high fiving his teammates. He acts all scandalized that the referee won't let him face off with Andre but, really, if he wanted it so badly, Patera could have just tagged him back right then and there. I loved Hogan as a kid - but the older you get, the more you see how much bullshit and hypocrisy his act contained. In a beautiful bit, Andre looks Patera up and down, and just waves him off, as if to say 'not worth my time,' and tags in Bundy to take care of it. Brilliant. It goes nowhere, but the One Man Gang comes in, and misses an avalanche. Patera gets a bodypress for two, but gets caught in the heel corner, and Gang clotheslines him for the pin at 8:00. Hogan comes in, and gets the cross corner clothesline to take control, and then a double big boot with Bam Bam. Bigelow tries a shoulderblock, but Gang is significantly bigger, and Bam Bam bounces off. Double tag to Orndorff and Rude, and Paul is a house of arson! Backdrop, and he tries the piledriver, but Bundy nails him, and Rude rolls him up for the pin at 10:00. He showboats, so the faces unload on him with a bunch of quick offense (suplex! side suplex! savate kick! high knee!), and Muraco polishes him off with a powerslam at 11:00. That gives us Muraco/Bundy, which Don controls early, but Bundy's size proves to be a challenge, and he gets caught in the heel corner. Gang comes in, and Muraco tries a slam, but he's too heavy, and topples him, for two. 747 Splash (just a basic splash) gets the pin to eliminate Muraco at 13:00. Good sequence, as I appreciated the psychology of Muraco's strong man offense failing on the much larger Bundy, and he went to the well again on the One Man Gang, it cost him. Bigelow goes with Gang, and tries a sunset flip, but gets butt splashed. The heels work Bam Bam over (well, Bundy and Gang do - Andre has yet to actually get in the match), and it goes exactly as you'd imagine a Bam Bam Bigelow v One Man Gang & King Kong Bundy handicapped match would. Which is to say, you get a pretty massive erection watching it, and have to pause for a while to take care of it. Luckily, back just in time, as Andre finally tags in to finish him, but Bam Bam slips out of his sweaty, cum covered paw, and tags Hogan. Hulk takes out everybody, but gets into a brawl with Bundy on the floor, and counted out at 17:00. The booking made sense there - but fuck, was that risky. There was a good chance half the crowd may have went home once there was no incentive to wait for Hulk Hogan left. Hogan, of course, throws a fit, literally grabbing the title belt and storming off, but, really, he has no one but himself to blame there. They played him like a fool, and he was a willing instrument. Bam Bam takes it to Bundy with headbutts (the BATTLE of the Million Dollar Corporation! - also, strange that these two were already headlining shows by this point, while Ted DiBiase was only making his WWF debut, yet he would be the one long retired and managing them eight years later), a big dropkick, and he dodges the Avalanche to finish him at 18:30. Gang's next, and he grabs a resthold, and indeed, a wide shot shows a bunch of people in the upper decks in a line, headed for the door. Gang misses a bad looking flying splash, and Bam Bam pins him off of it at 21:00. Andre's pretty much fresh, though, and just waltzes in to finish him. Bigelow does his best to dodge him, but Andre catches him with a double-underhook suplex (though, so badly executed, it was more like a double-underhook hiptoss) for the win at 22:00. Hogan runs back out, of course, and clears him out of the ring to send the fans home happy - and keep the feud going.
Survivor: Andre the Giant
Match was fun, well paced, well booked, and probably should have made a superstar out of Bam Bam Bigelow, but he never really got there. A little slow after Hogan’s elimination, but it worked for what it was – which was really more about furthering the hot Hogan/Andre angle than anything going on between the ropes. ***.

BUExperience: I don’t think today’s audience would enjoy the style at all, and even as someone who does enjoy it, the first try at the format wasn’t the best, quality wise. It’s certainly historically significant for being the first of what would go on to be one of the WWF’s ‘Big Five’ pay per view events, but other than that, nothing much to see here. *.