WWF Survivor Series 1991

When the Survivor Series rolled around in 1991 the WWF and its fans alike knew a change was needed. The format of booking elimination matches only had become stale – and while they tried to tinker with it during a few of the previous editions – this time, the fans needed something more than a ‘Grand Finale Match of Survival,’ or showdowns that were sure to end in double countouts, to get them invested in the show. The WWF delivered – for the first time promoting a singles match on the show – with Hulk Hogan defending his WWF Title against The Undertaker, in what was being dubbed his ‘gravest challenge.’

From Detroit, Michigan; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan.


Opening Survivor Series Elimination Match: Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Virgil v Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, The Mountie, and The Warlord: No snappy team names this year, unfortunately. They figured, 'well, we're giving 'em a title match - good enough! Anyway, what are they gonna do? Watch WCW? Hahahaha!' Speaking of WCW, Ric Flair had recently jumped ship, bringing the WCW World Title belt with him, and making claims as the 'real worlds champion' (as he had never lost the title in WCW) in challenges to Hulk Hogan - in what would have led to a WrestleMania champion/champion showdown literally anywhere logic exists. Not early 90s WWF, however - but it's worth noting that WCW did end up running that particular match in 1994, and setting an all-time pay per view record for them - so, maybe sometimes Vince McMahon isn't quite the shrewd mastermind all those documentaries he produces would have you believe. WCW's legal department had wrangled their title belt by this point, so Flair carries out a WWF Tag Title – which the TV cameras blur to make you think is the WCW Belt - as opposed to just dropping it altogether, as they would a few weeks later. That one likely confused 95% of the crowd as well, as very few knew what was going on behind the curtain in 1991, and weren't in on the whole legal battle over the title belt - let alone why Flair is carrying one of the Legion of Doom's tag belts. Piper starts with DiBiase, and almost immediately crotches him on the top rope. Series of jabs, and the faces cut the ring in half on DiBiase, working the arm. Flair gets the tag, but takes an inverted atomic drop from Hart, and Davey with a slingshot. Press slam, and he tags Piper in - who had been gunning for Flair. Big slugfest off of that, spilling to the floor for Flair to bump around before he bails to Warlord. Piper passes to Davey, and he hits a powerful dropkick, right into the Mountie (Jacques Rougeau). Press slam, and he creams him with the Running Powerslam, but Flair dives in with a flying kneedrop behind the referees back, and Davey's done at 10:55. Piper attacks the whole team to retaliate, but his name isn't Hogan,H or Warrior,U, so it doesn't quite go so well. He DOES manage to get a figure four on Flair, though, but DiBiase breaks it up. Ted with a kneebreaker, and the heels cut the ring in half on Piper - working the leg. He gets the tag off to Virgil, and he starts takin' suckas out, but DiBiase powerslams him. Warlord looks to finish with the Full Nelson (his finisher), but Bret returns the favor by diving off of the ropes to break it up, and goodbye Warlord at 17:00. Well, Davey and Warlord were certainly the first two most logical choices, based on card position. Piper tries to schoolboy DiBiase for a quick elimination during the chaos, but that fails, so he settles for a nice suplex. Virgil catches him in the Million Dollar Dream, but DiBiase naturally has a counter for that, and the heels work Virgil over with a bunch of fun double teams, and cheap tactics (taking turns chopping him, feet on the ropes, switching off without tags behind the referees back), but a fluke neckbreaker allows him the tag to Roddy Piper. He's a house of arson on Flair, but it quickly breaks down into a six-way brawl, until the referee throws it out at 22:48. However, technically, Flair was outside of the ring during part of the brawl, and therefore isn't disqualified. Wow, no wonder the McMahon’s got into politics later – that’s a hell of a load to try to pass off with a straight face. Better logic would be to say that Flair was taking the abuse, and the others all came in attacking - therefore they're all disqualified.
Survivor: Ric Flair
Match was a lot of fun, with some great bits of old school in-ring storytelling – though I’ve taken shits that looked better than that ending. *** ¼

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, and The Texas Tornado v Colonel Mustafa, The Berzerker, Skinner, and Hercules: Slaughter had recently turned face again, waking up one morning and deciding, 'oh wait, I don't hate America after all! - Desertion aborted!' Santana and Skinner start, and Tito goes right to the headlock. He tries his quick elimination trick with the diving forearm, but Skinner bails to the floor to regroup. Another try misses altogether, but the Berzerker misses a 2^nd rope flying legdrop. Slaughter and Mustafa go, and Sarge with an atomic drop to send him back to Iraq in 7:57. Berzerker jumps him, hitting the big boot for two. Both guys tag (Santana and Hercules - though Hercules is looking more like '96 Jake Roberts than any sort of Greek God), and Tito quickly puts him away with a diving fist to the back of the skull at 12:05. Skinner jumps him, but Santana gets the blind tag to Slaughter, and he sneaks up to eliminate Skinner at 13:31. 3-Point Stance from Duggan, and we have the second clean sweep in Survivor Series history at 14:19. Well, did you expect anything else?! The entire heel side was a group of jobbers.  
Survivors: Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, The Texas Tornado
Other than exposing how thin the roster was at this point (can you imagine them still running an entire card of five-on-five?), this was an embarrassingly bad display. It came off like all these guys doing an indy tour in the twilight of their careers - not high octane pay per view excitement. It was especially bad when seen in direct contrast with the previous match. -*

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan v The Undertaker: Hmm, the Main Event during the middle of the show? Well that sure is strange. Hogan tries to dodge 'Taker to start, but Undertaker is impervious to pain, and nothing fazes him. Hogan gets caught in a choke, and 'Taker slams him with ease. Elbowdrop misses, however, and Hogan unloads, but can't get him off of his feet. He settles for knocking him to the floor, but 'Taker just KEEPS COMING, pulling him out with him, and choking him with an electrical cable. Inside, more choking - but he goes old school, abandoning the cable, and using only his hands to try and murder the WWF Champion. Jumping clothesline, and the tombstone but HULK UP!! Fists of fury finally stagger the Undertaker, and Hogan slams him - for the first time taking him off of his feet. That draws out Ric Flair - presumably mystified at the lack of workrate - and he distracts Hogan enough to get him off track. 'Taker catches him with another tombstone - this time onto a chair Flair slides in - and we have a new champion at 12:45. They telegraphed that change pretty heavily, putting the main event during the middle of the show (that generally only happened in those days when the babyface would lose, giving them a chance to send the fans home happy), as well as having a special pay per view on the books for less than a week later with no main event announced yet. Match was essentially a ten minute chokehold, before the shenanigans at the end. -* Later in the evening, WWF President Jack Tunney would announce that due to the controversial nature of the title change, a rematch would take place that Tuesday in Texas, at the special pay per view, coincidentally named 'This Tuesday in Texas' (what luck!) – though the real sham is spending thirty bucks on this show, and then getting baited into buying another one a week later to see the match you just paid for. Except for that Hulk Hogan doppelganger nut in the front row who looked like he was on the verge of tears during Hogan’s magnificent sell-job of the finish. He was probably on a jet to Texas as soon as the bell rung.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Rockers and The Bushwhackers v The Nasty Boys and The Beverly Brothers: Even Monsoon and Heenan have no clue who the team captains are in this mess, so we’ll go with Shawn Michaels for the faces (since he became the biggest star), and Brian Knobs for the heels (since he’s the closest to Hogan). Bushwhackers knock around everybody to start, cleaning house with the Battering Ram. Everyone trades off quick tags - though slow action - until Brian Knobs gets rid of Luke with a 2^nd rope flying clothesline at 5:21. Shawn runs in with a flying bodypress, and the Rockers trade off on Jerry Sags - working the arm. Marty Jannetty gets caught in the wrong part of town, but manages to get off the tag to Butch, who's an outhouse of fire. He takes out the Beverly's, but they quickly realize, 'wait, it's fucking Butch from the Bushwhackers,' and hit a double team facebuster to get rid of him at 10:13. Marty tries to pick things up with a rana on Beau Beverly for two, and an enzuigiri. Shawn Michaels comes in to work another armbar, but gets dumped, and the Nasties slam him into the apron. Inside, the heels cut the ring in half, working Michaels' back, but the hand of irony slaps them, as Shawn pins Beau with a backslide at 13:40. He tries a sunset flip to put Brian Knobs away, but gets two, so dropkicks Sags to the floor, and follows with a fantastic clothesline off of the apron. Shawn Michaels is singlehandedly saving this entire bowel movement from negative stars. Tag to Marty, and he's a house of arson, nearly putting Blake Beverly away with a sunset flip - but gets caught in a Nasty pit. Pump handle slam by Sags, but a Knobs 2^nd rope flying splash hits the knees. That triggers a giant brawl, and in the mayhem, Marty accidentally knocks into Shawn, costing him an elimination at 19:41 - planting the seeds for their breakup in January. The heels are nice enough to all call time, allowing the Rockers to settle their mid-ring lovers spat, and when all bros are cool, Marty goes back to work - taking out both Nasties with a flying bodypress. He looks to finish Sags with a small package, but the heels distract the referee, reverse it, and pin him at 23:06.
Survivors: Blake Beverly, The Nasty Boys
There were entire periods during this match where I wanted to describe the ‘action,’ but there was literally nothing going on. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty saved this from become an abortion – though barely, likely both angling for the bigger push post-impending breakup. ½*

Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Big Bossman and The Legion of Doom v IRS and The Natural Disasters: This was supposed to include Sid and Jake Roberts, respectively, but Jake was suspended (kayfabe) for attacking Randy Savage with a cobra - which led President (of WWF, not world) Jack Tunney to reinstate the 'retired' Macho Man for a showdown this Tuesday in Texas at This Tuesday in Texas. Roberts and Savage spend the evening cutting dueling promos on each other to hype the event - and there will be a more in-depth look at that fantastic angle during our coverage of This Tuesday in Texas. Right now I have a potential Match of the Year candidate to worry about! Bossman and IRS start, and Bossman botches climbing to the top rope. He settles for a kick to the face instead, prompting a point driven 'wow, look at these moves!' from Monsoon. IRS can't look at them anymore either, and tags Earthquake, and even HE doesn't want any part, asking for Animal. Wow, talk about lack of support from your colleagues. Earthquake with a backbreaker, but he misses a splash, and takes a dropkick. Diving shoulderblock for two, so he bails to Typhoon. Hawk dropkicks him for one, and throws him into the face corner for a pep-talk. IRS in to take a side suplex, and I guess they forgave Bossman, because they let him back in. Oh, but it's just a trick to punish him, as IRS whacks him with his briefcase, and he's gone at 6:23. Everyone gangs up on Animal, and Earthquake hits him with a belly to belly suplex. The heels cut the ring in half, but Typhoon misses a blind charge, and Hawk's a house of arson. IRS tries the briefcase trick on him as well, but he's wise to what happened to Bossman, and ducks, leveling Typhoon for the elimination at 9:55. Earthquake gets pissed, thinking it was intentional (though that would retarded - come on, think! Think, man named after a natural disaster!) and Earthquake abandons the team as well. I guess Jake was the glue there. IRS puts up a decent fight, tossing Hawk into the steps, but at the end of the day, it's a taxman against two road warriors. He tries to bail, but Bossman reappears to force someone to do a proper job in a Survivor Series, and Hawk finishes with the flying clothesline at 15:21.  
Survivors: The Legion of Doom
Best choice to go on last, as it was fun, well paced, and the crowd loved it. Also, it wasn’t made up entirely of jobbers. ¾* Also, I hope someone bothered to buy that briefcase lunch the next day.

BUExperience: Yeah… pass. Historical title change aside, this was the worst Survivor Series yet – with two matches going into negative stars – and almost all the real intrigue hoarded for This Tuesday in Texas. Unlike past years, this time matches were made up entirely of jobbers – as opposed to padded out with them – which really hurt the quality and appeal.

But, hey, if they let you down this week, did you know that the WWF is having another show you can spend money on just next week? It’s called This Tuesday in Texas! Call now! Poker chips sold separately! DUD.