Jimmy Wheeler
Here we go with the final part in TWM’s Best of the Survivor Series. I’d just like to say what a great job everyone has done on this and how much I’ve enjoyed contributing as well as reading the opinions of my fellow writers. Between us we’ve dissected the entire history of The Survivor Series, covering all the main talking points from the 26 years of the show, which has highlighted just how important the annual November card has been. Maybe I’m biased because it’s the event I look forward to the most (even more than WrestleMania) but there’s simply no denying the sheer volume of memorable moments, key title changes, debuts, shock returns and general historical significance that this show has contributed and if you don’t agree, just re-read the last 3 weeks worth of articles for proof.
But now, after each choosing our Survivor Series Dream Teams, our favourite editions of the event and our most memorable moments, team TWM are tasked with assembling the Ultimate Survivor Series card, comprised of our favourite matches from the show’s history. As I applied the logic of excluding previously-discussed events (1988, ’92, ’95, 2002 & ’03) from my last list, I may as well do the same thing for this week’s piece, meaning that as well as the above shows, those from 1987, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’98 & 2001 have now also been disqualified from this entry. You might think that might not leave me with much choice, but besides allowing me to maintain continuity throughout each of my four weekly lists, it actually fits perfectly in line for me to discuss three traditional Survivor Series elimination matches which I love but which as yet have not been mentioned and are now largely forgotten.
Before that, I’d just like to touch on what I personally feel are the best 2 Survivor Series matches in history which I decided against writing about seeing as I’ve already covered them; 1988’s ten team masterpiece and the Hogan/Savage/DiBiase/Bossman etc main event. These two matches and indeed the overall show (which was the first WWF PPV I ever saw) largely contributed to my life as a wrestling fan and why now, nearly 25 years later I’m still watching this stuff and writing about it.
Match 1 – Survivor Series 1993:
Razor Ramon (capt.), ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, Marty Jannetty & The 123 Kid vs.
I.R.S. (capt.), ‘The Model’ Rick Martel, Diesel & Adam Bomb
What can I say, I just love matches like this. They typify what this event was in the past and obviously can still be today if structured properly. In earlier editions of the Survivor Series, pretty much the entire roster got utilised and although modern fans would probably roll their eyes at the thought of an equivalent Survivor Series team comprised of Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, The Great Khali and Evan Bourne, back in the 80’s and 90’s it was commonplace to assemble teams from the entire depth of the roster.
One pleasing side effect of this is that even if only for this one PPV a year, someone on the undercard might get the opportunity to shine at such a big event. Also for such a seemingly random match concept, not everyone involved has to be embroiled in an existing storyline and this is how I feel the modern Survivor Series cards have fallen down. In trying too hard to engineer feuds just to give people a reason to fight, WWE has lost something from this show. Team captains obviously need a storyline and maybe one or two others but that’s about it. Matches like this are used to instigate feuds, not settle them and looking at the participants in this match from 1993, only the captains were involved in an ongoing dispute.
In Razor and IRS, you had two greatly experienced hands, with Razor also one of the company’s most popular acts. Alongside IRS sits another respected but in my view criminally underrated talent in Rick Martel, the man Razor overturned to win the vacant IC strap weeks before this match. With these guys calling the spots and directing traffic then, the obvious weaknesses of the remaining members of the heel team, Diesel and Adam Bomb, could be well hidden. Despite their size and overall “WWF look” there’s no denying they were still greener than grass but this multi-man concept allows for on the job fine-tuning to take place without totally stinking out the building.
Meanwhile, on Razor’s side, Marty Jannetty knew the script despite his numerous off-screen problems was always dependable when called upon, here forming a new alliance which would eventually lead to a tag team title win with exciting newcomer The 123 Kid, whose popularity was growing significantly at the time. With genuine legend, Randy Savage making a cameo appearance to round off the team (filling in for the injured Mr. Perfect) a truly diverse range of talent is paired up, each with various different strengths with their weaknesses well hidden. And THAT, my friends is how you assemble a Survivor Series match.
Match 2 – Survivor Series 1997:
Ken Shamrock (capt.), The Legion of Doom & Ahmed Johnson vs.
Faarooq (capt.), Rocky Maivia, D’Lo Brown & Kama Mustafa
Unlike the previous choice, here we had a clear storyline surrounding ALL the participants. Held at the 1997 show, the subtitle Gang Rulz was certainly apt given the abundance of groups and factions operating in the WWF that year which certainly took away the headache of putting together teams for one night only. Faarooq’s Nation of Domination were the strongest of those groups despite growing tensions within and their ongoing feud with the stony faced, monosyllabic Shamrock was the perfect vehicle to showcase the brash, cocky young Rocky as the future breakout megastar he would become.
Here though, Ken Shamrock was definitely one of the more popular members of the roster and was an ideal choice for a team captain. Tag team legends The Legion of Doom were loudly cheered by the Montreal crowd and backed him up superbly, whilst Ahmed Johnson’s history opposite Faarooq and co. was the sole highlight of his WWF tenure. With all four men bonded by a common enemy as well as a similar take-no-shit kind of character, they definitely comprised an underrated quartet in my opinion.
The match itself was perfectly plotted, well paced with equal eliminations on either side right up until the final one-on-one showdown between both Rocks. As I keep banging on about, this showdown is a perfect example of how to use this match concept. In laying the groundwork and expanding the embryonic dispute between Shamrock and Rocky, they were given a foundation on which to build their memorable run which would eventually take in matches at the subsequent Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania and King of The Ring shows.
Match 3 – Survivor Series 2000:
Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn vs
Billy Gunn, The Road Dogg, K-Kwik & Chyna
What’s that? No recognised team captains on either side? No matter, I still stink this match is cool. To my mind, this was the only time all four members of “The Radicalz” actually teamed up in 8-man action since jumping to the WWF from Atlanta the previous January. For that reason alone its worthy of mention, seeing as the significance of that mass-exodus from WCW is largely forgotten nowadays, although in honesty I included it because at the time, I thought that after 1998’s Deadly Game tournament and the all-around letdown of a show that was 1999’s effort, this match was a neat reminder of proper “classic” Survivor Series action; an opinion I still hold today.
One other nice little quirk is the uniform black and yellow colour scheme Benoit and co. all incorporate into their individual ring attire. Subtle, but just a classic touch. The match itself is similar to both themes I discussed in the above choices. Here we had one established faction battling a group of seemingly random members yet with somewhat of a history together. The New Age Outlaw connection was obvious despite them no longer being a team, and alongside Road Dogg’s new partner K-Kwik, Chyna rounded off the good-guy team as she had just been ditched as Eddie Guerrero’s “mamacita”.
After this break-up, Chyna aligned herself with the returning Billy Gunn who was being lined up to unseat IC champ Guerrero and then drop the gold in true transitional champion style to Chris Benoit, whilst the ready-made association of Malenko & Saturn with Benoit and Guerrero made for an easy squad selection on the bad-guy side. In terms of actual in-ring action, the match flows along quite smoothly. The obvious weak-link is eliminated first which means that everyone else can then get in their own little spots and do their thing before Billy Gunn finds himself heavily outnumbered, again utilising that classic Survivor Series line of “can he overcome the odds?” Alas no, he doesn’t. And therein lies another reason why I think this match absolutely rocks; the clearly better side pull off a relatively convincing win.