WWF Survivor Series 1993

This is one that took place just before I officially became a fan, when I would check Superstars out once in a while (I still wasn’t allowed to stay up for RAW!), but hadn’t gotten ‘sucked in yet.’ I would by early January – with the Hart Brothers angle – which begins with this show.

This year, after taking a much welcome and well received break from the elimination match format in 1992 – but doing poorly commercially – the WWF brought the old standard back in dominant form for 1993. The return to form didn’t help them in terms of receipts, as the show did even lower number than ‘92 (the lowest buyrate in Survivor Series history, to that point), though realistically, the low numbers both years didn’t have as much to do with match format as a general slump in popularity for professional wrestling, post-Golden Era, and pre-Attitude Era.

From Boston, Massachusetts – Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan, along with Gorilla Monsoon and Jim Ross on Radio WWF!


Opening Survivor Series Elimination Match: Razor Ramon, Randy Savage, Marty Jannetty, and The 1-2-3 Kid v IRS, Diesel, Rick Martel, and Adam Bomb: Ramon was Intercontinental Champion at this point, and his team was supposed to be headed up by Mr. Perfect, but bailed on the WWF shortly before the show, citing back problems. Ramon then figured, ‘hey, why not grab the other guy I was fighting last year?’ Savage was as good a choice as anyone for a replacement, of course. Ramon and Martel start, and trade fast wristlocks. They had something of an issue at the time, as Ramon had just picked up the vacant Intercontinental title in a battle royal, last eliminating him. Razor with a blockbuster, and both sides of an atomic drop send Martel begging off to Adam Bomb. Razor doesn't have such an easy time throwing him around, getting caught in a test-of-strength, but Razor hits a Northern Lights Suplex to counter. The heels break down into an argument about it, but team captain IRS (which would get over even bigger as heel today as IRA - takes all your money, and then runs away!) manages to calm everyone down. Kid comes in next, but Bomb and Diesel take turns throwing him around the ring like a baseball. Diesel with a big boot, but Kid counters a sidewalk slam with a headscissors, and tags Savage. He takes out the entire heel side, and catches Diesel with the Big Elbow to eliminate him at 10:20. The heels jump him during the celebration, but he's Randy fucking Savage, so he manages to hold them off. They settle on Savage/IRS, and Randy gets a bodypress for two. Razor tags in, and works an armbar, for reasons known only to him. Martel gives him a backbreaker, and the heels cut the ring in half, as the match drastically slows down. He gets the tag off to Savage (do they all hate Jannetty, or something?), and he goes for the Big Elbow on IRS, but Crush makes his way down the aisle, distracting him. The angle there was that babyface Crush had gotten injured while challenging Yokozuna for the WWF Title, and blamed his friend, Savage, for not intervening - turning heel in the process. It would lead to a blow off at WrestleMania X. Anyway, Crush teases Savage from the aisle, and IRS rolls him up for the elimination at 16:47, freeing him up to go chase Crush. That leaves Jannetty (finally! Enjoy your seventeen minute pay per view hangout session?) to come in, and he goes... straight to a standing side-headlock. Seriously?! You've been standing on the apron for seventeen minutes, and the first thing you do is a resthold?! The heels decide not to be shown up in that department, and try a few of their own, but karma interjects, and IRS gets posted off of a blind charge. Tag to Ramon, and he hits a chokeslam. Razors Edge eliminates IRS at 20:32. Martel jumps him during the celebration (hint: stop celebrating), but gets caught in the Edge as well, before IRS can run back in to nail Razor Ramon with his briefcase, and Ramon gets counted out at 20:42. They would settle things at the '94 Royal Rumble, though the issue would have extra mustard by then, as IRS would steal Ramon's GOLD CHAINS!!! and really get him good and pissed. Kid comes in next, and outmaneuvers Adam Bomb, including a swift tope, but he gets caught, and slammed on the outside. Bomb with a slingshot clothesline back in, but he misses a blind charge, and eats the lightning kicks. Martel tags, and a gutwrench suplex gets two. 2^nd rope flying axehandle misses, however, Kid eliminates him with a gorgeous sunset flip at 25:49. Bomb runs in, but immediately gets caught in a second sunset flip from Jannetty, and that's that at 26:58.
Survivors: The 1-2-3 Kid, Marty Jannetty 
Fun opener, that – other than a dull heat section – was more or less non-stop. Good choice for an opener. * ½.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Hart Family (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart, and Keith Hart) v Shawn Michaels and His Knights (Shawn Michaels, The Red Knight, The Blue Knight, and The Black Knight): This is the 'Family Feud' match, so they had then current TV game show Family Feud host Ray Combs as the guest ring announcer, in a cute bit. The storyline here is that, after the events of the 1993 King of the Ring, Jerry Lawler had engaged in a feud for the rest of 1993 with Bret Hart, but got particularly nasty when he would not only pick on Bret, but on his family, especially his mother. To settle things Bret recruited his three brothers, and Jerry three Knights (Barry Horowitz, Greg Valentine, and Jeff Gaylord, respectively - though they were under masks, because brining Barry fucking Horowitz with you doesn't exactly strike terror into anyone’s heart). People were ready to see Lawler get his, but unfortunately, shortly before the show, Lawler was brought up on real-life sexual assault charges (which he would later be absolved of), so he had to skip out on the show, giving us Shawn Michaels in his place - which is... not exactly the same thing. Shawn - who himself was just returning to the WWF after a contract dispute that caused him to vacate the Intercontinental title - brings the belt with him, claiming to still be the champion, which would lead to the famous ladder match with Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X. Shawn starts with Owen Hart (at this point still enhancement talent, though things were about to change), but decides he wants Bruce instead. Bruce gets the best of a criss cross, and Keith comes in to work the arm. Owen in, taking out all three knights, and the Harts cut the ring in half on the Blue Knight. Shawn gets a cheap shot in on Bruce to turn the tide, and comes in to show these hooligan Lawler knights how to do things right. Bret gets the tag, and it's a backbreaker for the Black Knight. 2^nd rope elbow, and Owen hits the spinheel for two, leading to an eight-way brawl. Owen hits a missile dropkick in the chaos, and goodbye Gaylord at 10:49. The Harts works over the Red Knight, targeting the knee, including throwing in about a dozen holiday themed wishbones for good measure. Keith slaps on a figure four, but Shawn's there to make the save again, and works Keith's arm over. The Knight's keep at that, until Shawn misses a flying splash, and Bret tags in. Sharpshooter quickly finishes the Red Knight at 18:06. Blue jumps him before he can even break the hold, and dumps him - hoping for a countout – but Bret's hasn't seen much action, and is still relatively fresh, making it back in. He goes with Shawn, and Michaels hits a diving back elbow for two. Chinlock, but Bret manages to get the tag to Owen. He unloads on Blue, and looks to finish with a slick 2nd rope elbowdrop, but Shawn breaks it up. They spills outside, so Shawn goes after patriarch Stu Hart, but that gets him popped, and Owen hits a slingshot bodypress to the floor. Inside, Owen with a flying bodypress, and the Sharpshooter sends the Blue Knight back to the dungeon at 23:55. Shawn starts flipping out at the idea of being left alone with the entire team, and tries to bail, but the Harts send him in, and take turns abusing him, in a bit that would be a lot more effective if it were done to the guy that they had an actual, you know, issue with. Bret comes in to finish him off, and hits a slingshot for two. Russian legsweep gets two. Backbreaker, but Shawn rakes the eyes, so he passes to Owen, who hits a gorgeous overhead suplex. Criss cross, but Bret is still reeling from the eye rake on the apron, and Owen goes crashing right into him, sending him flying off, and into the guardrail - hard, knocking the thing over, and onto the fans. That distracts Owen, and Shawn schoolboys him for the pin at 27:26. Bret is badly hurt on the floor, with his father and all of his brothers checking on him, but Owen is too busy throwing a tantrum in the ring to notice. Bruce in next, and hits a diving clothesline. Inverted chincrusher, and a sleeper looks to finish, as Bret is crawling off of the floor, and onto the apron. Shawn fights off the lesser brothers, but Bret tags in, and its Flair flip time. Sharpshooter, but Shawn bucks off, and literally runs away, taking the countout at 30:57.  
Survivors: Bret Hart, Bruce Hart, Keith Hart 
Afterwards, Owen comes back down to rejoin the celebration... only to get into a shoving match with Bret over the elimination. Bret tries to calm him, but Owen is inconsolable, pissed at being the only brother eliminated. This is literally the angle that got me 'into wrestling,' as the Hart Brothers feud continues to be one of the finest angles they have ever done. As for the match, it was overlong for what they were going for - particularly as whole revenge issue was off of the table - causing the entire thing to fall flat. It could have been salvaged with better use of Bret and Owen (the better workers of their team), and more interaction between them and Shawn Michaels - but they barely ran across each other during the match, and even when they did, it was fairly brief. ¾*

SMW Tag Team Title Match: The Rock 'n' Roll Express v The Heavenly Bodies: This was part of some cross promotion the WWF was doing with Jim Cornette's Smokey Mountain Wrestling during this period. The bodies clean house to start, but get the tables turned on them, and Ricky Morton hits a tope onto both guys. Robert Gibson starts with Jimmy Del-Ray, all official-like, and works a few sloppy looking reversals. Both guys tag out, and Morton botches some simple criss cross stuff. The champs do some of their hot (in 1986) double team stuff, and work over Tom Prichard. Prichard comes back with a sitout powerbomb on Morton, and suplexes partner Del-Ray... onto Morton. They work over Ricky Morton (I'm shocked, too), and Jimmy hits a springboard moonsault to the floor. Inside, Prichard with a powerslam for two, and Del-Ray hits a crisp snap suplex. They look to finish with a sidewalk slam/neckbreaker combo, but it only gets two, so the assault continues. Del-Ray with a flying legdrop for two. Powerbomb, but Morton ranas to counter. He DDT's both of the Bodies' bodies, and gets the tag to Gibson. Everyone brawls, and, of course, the Bodies gets a cheap shot in, and we have new champions at 13:41. The Express looked ancient here, blowing moves left and right, while the Bodies looked great, hitting some really nice spots, and working the formula well. It didn’t add up to much, overall, but it had its moments. *.

Survivor Series Elimination Match: Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger, and The Headshrinkers v Men on a Mission, and The Bushwhackers: The gag here is that Bam Bam hates Doink, but instead of coming out to face him, Doink sends Men of a Mission and the Bushwhackers dressed as clowns. I would have went a step further, making it, Bam Bam wants revenge on the clown that raped his girlfriend (who used to work at the circus, too - have you seen Luna Vachon?!), but Doink plays psychological head games by sending out false versions of himself until Bam Bam finally loses it, and murders Doink for real. Instead, this ends with a pie-in-the-face, and the introduction of a midget Doink (Dink!) later on for the blowoff at WrestleMania X, but I dug it as a kid, so maybe it worked. Though not so much here, as the crowd spends the majority of the match chanting 'We Want Doink,' as apparently promising a shitty wrestler, and delivering four even shittier wrestlers is enough to piss off a good fifteen thousand people. Bastion Booger gets worked over by the Bushwhackers to start, including a bite on the ass, so he tags in Samu - whose ass can handle anything (okay, that’s just a rumor). Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you want this to be over, too), they trick him into biting into a water balloon, and Luke schoolboys him for the pin at 3:02. They work over Luke, and Booger hits his buttsplash, but gets distracted by the Thanksgiving feast the heels brought with them, and they hit a Three Stooges-style battering ram to eliminate him at 6:00. Fatu tries to lure Luke with some turkey, but Moe starts riding a bike around the ring, and Fatu literally slips on a banana peel (it was part of the feast they brought) and gets pinned at 8:33. Bigelow is now furious, and starts unloading on everyone, but runs into big Mabel, and the whole team dog piles on to him for the victory at 10:58.
Survivors: Men on a Mission, The Bushwhackers
This was strictly a comedy match, and thankfully they kept it short - which is fine for what it was - but, seriously, go back and actually read some of the shit that took place during this match. DUD.  This actually appeared on some ‘Best of the WWF’ one-hour VHS I bought as a kid, around 1994 – which was one of the crueler jokes the editing team played on nine year old boys that year.

Main Event: Survivor Series Elimination Match: The All-Americans (Lex Luger, The Undertaker, and The Steiner Brothers) v The Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Jacques, and Crush): Scott Steiner starts with Jacques, and throws him an overhead suplex right away for two. Rick Steiner comes in, but Jacques bails to WWF Champion Yokozuna. Rick holds his own, shoulderblocking Yoko to the floor, and hits a flying clothesline on Ludvig Borga. He tries another, but gets caught coming down, and eliminated at 5:05. Well, from a booking perspective, you kind of figured the heels would get the advantage first, and Rick's the most disposable of the All-Americans. Scott and Jacques go again next, and Scott hits a long delayed press slam (so long, that Crush has time to come in, and catch him!), and that leads to a showdown with Crush. Scott with a double-underhook powerbomb, but he gets press slammed to the floor, and here comes the Macho Man! Randy Savage tries to fight his way through the gaggle of officials holding him back, but Crush refuses to engage him. Savage continues to push and push, and finally Crush heads out to do what the officials can't, but gets counted out in the process at 11:36. Meanwhile, the heels triple-team Scott in the corner, and Jacques hits a jumping back elbow for two. Piledriver gets two. Criss cross, and Scott hits a press slam (because we haven't seen that one enough yet), and tags to Luger. He quickly puts Jacques away with a 2^nd rope elbow at 14:04. He quickly tags Scott back in, which makes little sense, as both Luger and the Undertaker have yet to see any action, while Scott has taken almost all of the abuse. And an experienced tag wrestler like Steiner would know that. He faces off with Borga, and gets predictably hammered, but manages a super-duperplex. He's still too battered to stop an assault from Yokozuna, however, and a legdrop sends him home at 16:57. Hey, well, they were stupid to tag him back in, and they got what they deserved. That's what happens when you elect Lex Luger as your fucking team captain. Luger comes in, dodges a splash, and starts passing out clotheslines like they're early Christmas gifts, but runs into the gut of the champion. The championship gut, folks. Avalanche misses, however, and Luger gets the hot tag to the Undertaker. Jumping DDT, but he walks into a belly to belly suplex. Legdrop, and Yoko hits the Banzai Drop, but 'Taker sits up to avoid a second. Jumping clothesline, and they spill to the outside, both getting counted out at 22:26. I love how much more liberal the referees are with the countouts at Survivor Series than, well, literally anywhere else. This would lead to their infamous Casket Match at the '94 Royal Rumble. Inside, Borga with a sidewalk slam, and a hanging vertical suplex for two. Powerslam gets two. Borga runs out of offense, so he goes back to the suplex, but Luger's ready this time, and reverses - which at least makes sense from a psychological perspective. Double knockout spot, and the coalition of heel managers (Jim Cornette! Johnny Polo! Mr. Fuji!) gang up to pass Borga a bucket. That gets him two, because Luger's FLAGGING UP!! DDT! Back elbow! Powerslam! Diving Loaded Forearm finishes at 28:02, as Americans across America can sleep peacefully knowing the villain from Finland has been vanquished!
Survivor: Lex Luger
Match was the best of the night - a solid effort from everyone that avoided resting (even Yokozuna!), was well paced, and well booked, developing the feuds it had to (Crush/Savage, Yokozuna/Undertaker), and ending others (Luger/Borga). ** ¼.

BUExperience: The main event is good, old fashioned 90s-style fun (The Foreign Fanatics! The All-Americans!), but the rest is a definite pass. Hart/Lawler was certainly a hot angle – but Lawler’s absence from the card rendered that entire match pointless – a twist not helped by the fact that the match itself wasn’t very good, not to mention that the rest of the card was used mostly to set up angles for the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania X. DUD.