Dave Green
OK guys, here we go with round 3 of TWM’s Ultimate Survivor Series history; This week, The Most Memorable Moments from WWE’s November supershow.
Two ground rules I set myself first…. seeing as we all discussed our favourite shows in Survivor Series history last week (1988, ’92, ’95, 2002 & ’03 for those keeping track of my picks) I decided to disqualify those editions from inclusion in this list because I’ve already mentioned what I thought was memorable about them. So instead I’m using this week’s Fave Five to give a special nod to the best bits from shows which didn’t feature last time out.
And secondly the Montreal screwjob was disqualified for consideration. Enough has already been or will be written about that without me also talking about it.
So there you have it. Here are my picks. As always, choices are in chronological order.
Bam Bam steals the show/Hogan’s team vs Andre’s team – Survivors ‘87
Ah yes, the first annual Survivor Series. As a whole it was nowhere near as good as the show which followed in 1988 which from start to finish was TRULY AWESOME. But as the inaugural PPV of its kind, 1987’s edition has to get the thumbs up from me here specifically for Bam Bam Bigelow’s participation in the main event. For those who don’t know, I’m a huge fan of the Asbury Park native. So watching him tear it up, nearly pulling off a massive upset opposite the 3 biggest behemoths in the WWF at the time after everyone else in the match, including *shock* his team captain Hulk Hogan had fallen by the wayside was just brilliant. Indeed, this match couldn’t have been booked any better and definitely set the standard for each Survivor Series elimination match that followed year after year. What a great start.
Thanksgiving Night promos and Vince’s introduction – Survivors ‘89
Man this gives me goosebumps every time I watch it. Shifting the format from the ten man tag bouts used in the first 2 years to four on four matches, the Thanksgiving night PPV in 1989 opened with pre-taped backstage promos from numerous superstars telling us what they were “thankful for”. We got generic babyface guff with Hulk Hogan thankful for his team of Hulkamaniacs whilst The Bushwhackers were thankful for sardine stuffing in their turkey(!!!!) onto the likes of Ted DiBiase and Mr. Perfect who lived up to their gimmicks, thankful for being stinking rich and perfect, respectively. After this craziness however, we were treated to a simply awesome rundown of the card during which colourful graphics of each team flew onto the screen as Vince McMahon in his inimitable style yelled “IT’S THE SURRR-VIVORRR SERIES, THE ULTIMATE IN TAG TEAM COMPETITION” before naming all of the participants in each match-up. They did the same card-rundown the year after and I just think it’s a really cool intro. I miss stuff like that at PPV’s. Nothing pretentious, no philosophical musings by some gruff voiceover guy using big words to talk a lot and not really say much. No opening montage set to metal-tunes as the wrestlers talk about pride, war, history and other generic things like that. Just Vince, telling us exactly who’s wrestling. Simply brilliant.
The Undertaker debuts/beats Hogan –Survivors ’90 & ’91
OK, this is a bit of a cheat but you know what, I don’t care. No wrestler is more synonymous with Survivor Series than The Undertaker, so you can kind of allow these two memorable moments in the same breath. Making his debut in 1990 on Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Team and looking absolutely awesome throughout, ‘Taker would then go on to unseat Hulk Hogan for the WWF Title the following year. The whole build-up to “The Gravest Challenge” in 1991 and indeed the subsequent storyline regarding the Championship which switched hands again at the Tuesday in Texas PPV before being held up for 1992’s Royal Rumble was just brilliantly played out but of course it all started with the title win in Detroit. The crowd packed into the Joe Louis Arena were stunned into silence, with little kids crying and that Hulk Hogan lookalike fool in the front row also on the verge of tears as their hero lay in the ring after being tombstoned onto a chair by The Deadman following Ric Flair’s interference. For me, one of the most significant title changes in history.
Corporate Rocky – Survivors ‘98
Deviating from the elimination tag match format for the first time since 1992, The WWF certainly put all its creative power behind the Deadly Game tournament to crown a new champion at the 1998 event. Personally I believe the show itself is slightly overrated, even plodding in places as regards match quality but with that said there’s no denying the actual storyline running throughout all made sense and this end payoff was absolutely brilliant. Vince’s re-hash of the previous year’s Montreal screwjob, tied in perfectly with the ongoing Corporate WWF storyline and threw even more weight to The Rock’s heel turn and title win, especially seeing as he’d only just jumped to the babyface side a couple of months before.
The Invasion ends with a bang – Survivors 2001
Without doubt, the WWF definitely made the most out of what they had for the Invasion PPV in July 2001. Despite missing most of WCW’s true top stars, they put together a fantastic card where everyone was looking to impress. Sadly though, the Invasion storyline began to tail off as the summer wore on. Whether by their own design, sabotaging the storyline or just because there wasn’t really enough to get excited about, the likes of Booker T, DDP, Kanyon, Lance Storm and Mike Awesome were repeatedly jobbed out on Raw and Smackdown, causing interest to slowly fade right the way through to the Winner Takes All match, as it was called between Team WWF and The Alliance at November’s Survivor Series. Truth be told when the match was announced it seemed like they’d had enough and just wanted to draw a line under the whole thing and carry on with business as usual. The rest of the PPV was a pretty uninspiring affair but with such a stacked main event which actually meant something, they didn’t disappoint. Truly one of the greatest matches in Survivor Series history and it definitely ended the invasion on a high note, or as much as you could expect. I can’t help wonder though; what would this whole storyline have played out like if Hogan, Nash, Goldberg et al were involved. And what if HHH hadn’t shagged up his quad 2 months before?