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A Survivor Series match a day


HarmonicGenerator

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Loving the writeups as always.

 

If you're not certain, can I slide a quick plea in for a 1989 match? This event is one of my fave PPVs of all time. I've seen it hundreds of times and watched it again just this evening with a mate. I'd recommend The Ultimate Warriors v The Heenan Family. That's:

 

Ultimate Warrior, Anvil, and the Rockers

 

V

 

Andre, Haku, and the Brain Busters

 

BUT if you can't recall the match there are mid-show shenanigans, some kayfabe, some not, whereby Ventura "reports" on overhead arguments coming from the Heenan Family locker room... "there's been some pushing, some shoving..." which leads to a last minute replacement that makes the match proper silly fun. It's the last match on the card.

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Yeah, that's right it was on the Bulldogs tape. It was a cracking match as well.

 

Here it is, HG (only joined in progress though, unfortunately);

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=CLepr2ucLwM

 

Could be wrong but I think that was the only taped singles match between the two in the WWF.

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Thanks for the video! I'll have to give that a watch sometime.

 

Onyx - the Warriors vs. Heenan Family match was the one that caught my eye on the 1989 card, and I really fancied watching it… but it would take up one of my Shawn Michaels slots, and I just can't spare one this early on. Bloody Michaels. So instead, I'll have to watch the rest of the show another time (there's not one match on here that doesn't appeal to me) and I'll be going off another's recommendation and having The King's Court vs. The 4x4s.

 

 

The match:

 

Before I watch the match itself, I'm going to watch the intro which has been talked about and so highly praised in the 'Favourite Survivor Series memories' thread. Chilli is right, it's absolutely magnificent. What a roster they had at this time, and every one of them instantly recognisable. IT'S THE SURVIVOR SERIES! Yes! I love it, I can see why you love this show so much, Onyx.

 

The 4x4s are begin interviewed by Mean Gene. Hacksaw's provided them all with 2x4s, which was nice of him. Ronnie Garvin's hair is… precise. That's the word. Precise. Why did Hercules wear chains? They all go HOOOOOO at the end, because you would, wouldn't you? And they pretend their 2x4s are muskets. I'd do that too, to be honest.

 

Macho's Marvellous Music plays. All hail the Macho King! Greg Valentine, Dino Bravo and Earthquake follow, and then Jimmy Hart and Sensational Sherri. Valentine's the only member of his team that's still alive. Fuck.

 

The 4x4s don't get any music, clearly, because they just have to run around looking pumped up. I like that Savage's crown is different to your usual King of the Ring crown. A proper king makes his own crown jewels.

 

Everyone on Duggan's team is alive other than Hercules, so we have a 50% survival rate among the participants. That is just depressing.

 

Duggan starts off by going after Savage outside the ring - Savage in a nice purple ensemble here - and Hercules gets him on the inside, huuuuge press slam. Herc's got his classic light blue. Valentien in, and his boots don't match, what's going on there?

 

Ah, no, hang on, it's like a shin pad. Fashion choices aside, it's Hart vs. Valentine now. Why were the Hart Foundation separated on this show? Fucking hell, is Duggan going to say HOOOOO after every move he does? Garvin now in, they're just taking turns on Valentine. Garvin said in the interview that he's going after the Hammer personally, so there's clearly a grudge there, but Greg tags in Bravo and gets out of the way. Big Dino chop sends Garvin flying, but then he misses the elbow - which, if I remember correctly, he kept missing in 87 as well. You'd think after two years he'd stop trying.

 

We're now on Hercules vs. Earthquake, Earthquake sits on Herc's face and that's it for him. 4-3 for the King's Court. Duggan can't take Earthquake down with shoulder block nor with HOOOOO, so Bret CHEATS and Earthquake trips up over him. Bad sportsmanship from the Hitman there, and Bret wisely scarpers before Quake sits on his face as well.

 

Back to Valentine and Garvin, and the grudge they've got is apparent and lends a different dimension to their interactions within the match. Greg's turned the shinpad around, but doesn't seem to use it before tagging in Savage, and then Dino again. Savage back in, then Valentine, Garvin is having a very bad time of it. Greg Valentine's chops look brutal/beautiful, I'm glad we saw them there because Duggan just tagged in and eliminated him. 3 all.

 

Garvin's Garvinstomping Dino now. It may be quite slow and methodical but it's lovely to watch, he really lays it in, and it looked like he was going to go for the Sharpshooter, but can't get it. 

 

Ooh! Savage vs. Hart! Yes please, now there's a main event for the WWE Title I'd love to see. Saturday Night's Main Event, 1987, it is then. I'll be adding that to my to-watch list after this is all done. Meanwhile Bravo just eliminated Garvin. 3-2 Savage. And by the way, Jesse Ventura, like fuck is Dino Bravo the world's strongest man. I'm not buying that.

 

Duggan's USA-ing the crowd, which makes sense because there's a Canadian and a French Canadian there at least, notwithstanding the fact that Jim's only remaining tag partner is also Canadian. Stupid Duggan. He's also blatantly cheating by attacking Savage from the corner when Bret's the legal man. BOOOO Duggan BOOOO. He keeps doing it when the ref's back is turned! He's meant to be the good guy, isn't he? BAD DUGGAN!

 

Macho King's tied up in the ropes, but he gets out, only to be pretty well dominated by Hart. Bret misses a second rope elbow and Bravo's back in.

 

Just realised I've only got one Savage match and one Bret match available to me after this. That might be tricky. Only got one Bravo, Hercules or Valentine match as well, but that seems like less of a challenge for some reason.

 

Earthquake and Bravo are now taking turns beating up Bret, it's not looking good for him, and I'm not sure who might win this. We're in the usual slower-pace-beat-down section of the match, but I like how Ventura keeps pointing out how much of an idiot Hacksaw is. Keeps things entertaining. Bret gets the tag eventually and Duggan manages to get a bit of offence on Savage, and then nonsensically tags Bret back in. STUPID DUGGAN! Bret runs into the ring post shoulder first, and Bravo shows a bit of wherewithal by hitting a shoulder breaker. Savage hits a WONDROUS top rope elbow - thing of fucking beauty - and it's bye bye Bret. 3-1. Jimmy Hart and Sherri are loving it at ringside.

 

Duggan looks unfazed, but this is less because he is brave and more because he's a moron. And yet, he's actually doing pretty well against the three of them, the crowd is virtually jumping up and down with joy! Fair enough, Duggan. Doesn't last long, the Court quickly gets the advantage, but then Duggan fights back, but then Sherri tips him over the top rope to the floor! Go Sherri! Then Earthquake dives off the apron onto him with an axe handle! Earthquake dive!

 

Hacksaw got counted out. No way he was going to win that, to be fair, but he's a sore loser on top of everything else and runs back into the ring to smack them all with a 2x4. I'm with Ventura, that's not on.

 

 

My thoughts:

 

Fun match. Quite liked the teams of four, can't fully decide whether I prefer it to teams of 5 but I daresay I'll have decided by the end of this project. Enjoyed the Garvin/Valentine interactions here, Savage and Hart were great as always, Earthquake was good, and I enjoyed Bravo more than I usually do. Didn't think much of Duggan here though. I'm glad he lost.

 

I've left the show playing, the whole thing's going on the to-watch list. I wish Jake Roberts wouldn't keep smacking Damien on the head, though. I shudder to think what abuses that snake suffered.

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This show has the whole 'what you are about to watch doesn't necessarily conform to WWE's corporate views' disclaimer at the start of it. Was that always there or is that a recent Hogan thing?

 

It's a standard message. I believe it's triggered by the ratings they put on the shows for the parental controls feature.

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Onyx - the Warriors vs. Heenan Family match was the one that caught my eye on the 1989 card, and I really fancied watching it… but it would take up one of my Shawn Michaels slots, and I just can't spare one this early on. Bloody Michaels.

Rats! Oh well, glad you enjoyed the match you saw. It's my least favourite on the card. But that intro, it's glorious! Can you imagine if they did that this year?

 

"We're thankful that we're not sour. And for unicorns!"

 

"I'm thankful Pot Noodle for providing my hair."

 

"I'm thankful for Instagram, or I wouldn't get over."

 

There's a thread / game in this...

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Well, anyway, since this year's Survivor Series is going to be all about 25 Years Of The Undertaker, I would be remiss if I didn't have The Million Dollar Team vs. The Dream Team for 1990. I'll be honest, The Warriors vs. The Perfect Team appeals to me a lot more as a match, but it's his debut and all, innit, I can't not have that this year.

 

(I should say first, though, air raid has done an amazing write up of the final part of this match that I can't hope to equal.)

 

This is going to be my third, and therefore final, Bret Hart match of the project. That could prove tricky as I delve deeper into the 1990s.

 

It's also going to be my third and final Greg Valentine match. I don't foresee that being quite so insurmountable.

 

 

The match:

 

Ted DiBiase does an interview beforehand foreshadowing his mystery partner. I think he should fund Taker again this year, for old times' sake. Actually, I wonder if he's secretly been paying for all his supernatural effects this whole time, there's no way a mere undertaker could afford to harness lightning with that kind of frequency.

 

Anyway, match time. Dusty Rhodes' awesome music hits, and he comes out with the Hart Foundation, wearing fantastic jackets with shoulder tassels, and Koko B Ware, who's still a shortarse but is trying to blend in by wearing pink.

 

Rhythm and Blues out next - their music wasn't as good as Honky's by himself - and then it's MoneyMoneyMoneyMoneyMona-a-a-a-a-ay for DiBiase. Jimmy Hart's got a marvellous Survivor Series themed jacket on. DiBiase gets on the mic to introduce his mystery partner. Here it comes!!!!

 

"HOLY COW! LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT HAM HOCK! CHECK OUT THOSE DRUMSTICKS, BABY!" Roddy Piper's either impressed or hungry. I'm impressed. He looks an utter monster. History. In. The. Fucking. Making.

 

"He doesn't look friendly at all…" You're not fucking wrong, Roddy. Taker's always had the ability to just stare death into you. I don't envy Bret Hart, but here we go, and Taker slams Bret down by the throat. Ouch. They still had good chemistry 7 years later at Summerslam. Neidhart tries to power Taker, no joy. Koko tries to use his speed and it's fucking STRAIGHT INTO A TOMBSTONE which looks like it KILLS him and bye bye Koko.

 

Bret has another go, throwing fists all over the place, Taker barely notices and tags in Valentine, to face off with Dusty. They chop the shit out of each other and Dusty tags in Neidhart, and then we get Bret and Greg. Nobody wants to stand on the same side of the apron as Undertaker. What was the thinking behind Brother Love being with Taker? I know Paul Bearer wasn't about yet, but Brother Love's about as far from the Taker character as you can get.

 

Neidhart just powerslammed Honky and eliminated him. He was only in there a minute! DiBiase comes in for the first time, and Monsoon's crying out for Jim to tag in Dusty - and he does! The crowd is thrilled as he elbows DiBiase in the corner and hits a DUSTY DROPKICK! Neidhart back in again, he gets the advantage but Virgil trips him up and Ted pins him! Bye Neidhart. They're being eliminated really quickly compared to previous years.

 

I've just noticed, Dusty's not got his polka dots on.

 

BOOF! Ted just punched Dusty right in the mouth, and tags in Undertaker. I hope he's currently growing his hair out to try and replicate this mullet thing he had going on in 1990. Or at the very least, he brings back the purple-under-the-eyes look. After a couple more tags, Taker knees Dusty in the gut and then flies off the top rope with an axe handle to eliminate Dusty! Bret gets stuck straight in as Piper yells encouragement, he's the only one left on his team now so it doesn't look good. But Brother Love's attacking Dusty outside! Dusty attacks him back, so Taker heads out to annihilate Dusty on the outside… and gets counted out.

 

(This is where you should start reading air raid's review.)

 

BRET ELIMINATES VALENTINE! It's 2 on 1! The crowd are totally behind Bret, but weirdly not as much as Piper is, he is DESPERATE for Hart to win this! No amount of capitalisation can fully convey just how loud Roddy is on commentary here. (Though oddly, he's not all that keen on putting Undertaker over, he's quite dismissive of him actually).

 

It's Bret vs. DiBiase now. Ted whips Bret into the turnbuckle, chest first, FUCK that looked sore. It's not looking good for Bret as DiBiase chops him in the corner, he's got the advantage, Bret gets a backslide for two, he trips over DiBiase and looks like he's hurt his knee… but he hasn't, and rolls him up for 2, Virgil grabs Bret on the apron, DiBiase goes charging in, Bret dodges! Pin! 2! Crowd's going nuts! This is EXCITING! I agree with Piper, tremendous! Cross body by Bret! Yes! No! Reversed! DiBiase gets it! Fuck. Bret should have had that, but bloody hell, he absolutely looked the equal of Ted DiBiase there. Absolutely first class wrestling, that final stretch. First class.

 

 

My thoughts:

 

I watched this one for Undertaker, and it's certainly cool to see the genesis of the character. The First Tombstone to Koko is suitably devastating looking, and the sequence at the start where none of the Dream Team can take him off his feet was great. 

 

As for the rest of the match, I was surprised by the speed of eliminations, quite a few of them weren't in it for very long at all before being knocked out. Kept you hooked though, as an elimination could have happened at any time - and did, in a few cases.

 

And that last section with DiBiase and Bret - well, read air raid's review, because it's as good as he says. Tremendous.

 

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For 1991, it's going to be my first one-on-one match of the project. I'm sticking with Taker, and watching Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan.

 

 

The match:

 

Not watched this one since that Tombstone: History of The Undertaker DVD set came out. I'm reasonably confident this match was on that.

 

We start with Hulk Hogan doing an interview segment with Paul Bearer, but getting interrupted by Ric Flair. They face off and Flair starts talking, and I already want to see this match and am disappointed it never happened on a massive scale in WWE. Paul Bearer, meanwhile, is mugging his arse off in the background and is absolutely wonderful. He was class.

 

Hang on hang on, half of Flair's been pixellated out! What the fuck's going on there? Was that a 1991 thing or a Network thing, or… I don't understand.

 

Hogan talks back at Flair, and Taker appears from inside a casket and smacks him with the urn from behind. Weren't expecting that, were you, Hogan! Hang on! Roddy Piper and Randy Savage are coming to save Hogan, they both have chairs! Savage just smacked Taker with it and he didn't even flinch! Bloody hell, I want Savage, Piper and Hogan vs. Flair, Mr Perfect and Undertaker and I WANT IT RIGHT DAMN NOW. This is HUGE. WHY DID THIS NOT HAPPEN? (And if it did, when and where and link me!)

 

We're back in Detroit for Survivor Series now, anyway, and Paul Bearer heads out with Undertaker behind him. They keep trying to cut to shots of kids looking scared of him, but one was just wiping his nose and another starts grinning with joy when he notices the camera's on him, so it doesn't really work.

 

(There's a thread for you: unfortunate cut-to-crowd shots during wrestling shows.)

 

Hogan's out now, and the crowd is still super-mega-ultra behind him, his popularity has not abated one jot since 1988 as far as you can tell from this. Hulk is looking pretty confident, he doesn't seem worried at all. He tips over the casket, and I wonder whether this match was ever intended to be the end of the Undertaker, feeding him to Hogan and letting him drop down the card thereafter? Granted, that did happen to an extent, but what might have happened to the Taker character long term if this had been a one-sided Hogan win?

 

They circle each other for a while, and Hogan gets Taker in a headlock. He pops out of the ring for a bit, then pops back in again. Taker tires of his stalling and grabs him by the throat. He smacks Hulk in the face then tries to rip his nose off. They make "what a rip off" jokes on commentary ("Would you stop?!") Hogan goes down and Paul Bearer attacks him then mugs to the camera some more. Seriously, the guy's just wonderful.

 

Undertaker misses something, and Hogan gets the advantage AND WE GET ANOTHER MENTION OF CLOTHESLINE CITY, why has that still not caught on? and Hogan tries to slam Taker but can't! Hogan's hitting stuff now but it's having very little visible effect. Taker's clotheslined out of the ring, but lands on his feet and drags Hogan out to attack him at ringside. He chokes Hogan with a cable, and Hogan looks half dead, but wipes his hair out of his eyes as soon as Taker lets go so he mustn't have been that half dead. Back inside the ring, more choking. 

 

Taker puts on some sort of hold, but his legs are in the way so I can't quite tell what it is. It could actually be the Mandible Claw but I doubt it. They cut to another angle and now Hebner's legs are in the way, but commentary's just told me it's a claw hold so that'll do. Hogan's been on the ground for a substantial part of this match, Taker's barely been off his feet. It's been all Taker so far, and commentary agrees with me. Monsoon points out that it doesn't matter if the match has been 90% Taker or not, it only matters who wins. 

 

Hogan gets back to his feet, fights off the hold, breaks it, shoves Taker a few times and Taker launches into his flying clothesline, Hogan down again. After a quick chat to the urn, Taker's eyes go extra intense and he goes for the Tombstone.. he hits it! That's it. No, wait, Hogan just got STRAIGHT THE FUCK BACK UP. That… that didn't work as well as it should have. I get that the power of the Hulk Up is a magical thing, but he just got fucking Tombstoned, he could have at least stayed down a couple of seconds. 

 

Taker gets body slammed which lays him out for approximately 8000% longer than Hogan did FOR A FUCKING TOMBSTONE and Ric Flair's wandered down to the ring. Hogan knocks him down but he's been distracted, he still manages to hit the big boot on Undertaker but now Bearer distracts him. Undertaker picks Hogan up again for another Tombstone, Flair plonks a chair in front of them, and it clearly puts Undertaker off a bit because he lands knees first on the chair, with Hogan's head nowhere near anything. However, the jolt of being upside down and the shock of expecting to land head first on a chair only to not do so must have startled Hogan enough to stay down for a three count this time, because Undertaker just won the WWE Championship!

 

The new champion walks out while we spend some time surveying Hogan's unconscious body. Bobby Heenan talks about all the Hulkamaniacs crying their eyes out while a bloke on the hard cam view jumps up and down waving his arms and grinning. Those 1991 crowds did not play by the rules. Eat your hearts out, den wans.

 

 

My thoughts:

 

As a match, that wasn't anything particularly special. It could have gone either way, I suppose, so there was that. As part of a larger story, this is really interesting, it's just a shame that what I sense should have been that larger story never fully came to pass.

 

Hogan shouldn't have got straight back up after that first Tombstone, either.

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Hang on hang on, half of Flair's been pixellated out! What the fuck's going on there? Was that a 1991 thing or a Network thing, or… I don't understand.

 

This was during the Real World Champion phase when they were actually using the NWA Big Gold Belt, but they weren't allowed to show it properly on TV. It's blurred out due to a lawsuit.

 

Bloody love that Hogan/Flair/Taker 'Funeral Parlour' segment.

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At the start of the opening match at Survivor Series 91 Flair is actually holding up one of the WWF Tag Team belts. They tried to blur it out but you could still see some of it.  Fuck knows what they were thinking sending him out to the ring with one of those belts.

 

26_SS_1991_crop_north.jpg?w=583&h=361&q=

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Fucking divine track suit on Perfect there. Loving the writeups HG, your thoughts on the Hogan no-sell were echoed by me as a little bugger, where I just screamed "WHAT!?" at the TV. He didnt even give it the dignity of the mandatory 2 count. Even if he was doing the job in the end...

 

I don't think I've ever seen Hogan move so quickly as when he leapt to his feet after that Tombstone.

 

 

1992. It has to be Big Bossman vs. Nailz, hasn't it? Nightstick On A Pole!

 

 

The match:

 

Before any of this match we get the end of the opener replayed with a 'Brain Scan', where Bobby Heenan draws squiggly lines on the replay. Proper punditry! How long did that gimmick stick around for?

 

Ooh, the faint of heart have been warned to use viewer discretion before watching this match. It's going to be violent, I assume. Nailz is being interviewed, and I must say, as someone who has regrettably never actually watched any video footage of Nailz, I already think he's dreadful. He looks lumbering rather than intimidating, his hairline is diabolical and frankly in need of complete removal, and he's got a silly voice as well. He says he's been waiting 2478 days to get his revenge on Bossman. You'd think he'd have changed out of his prison gear.

 

(I know Bossman still wears his old work uniform but that's beside the point.)

 

I should also say, this isn't good hiring practice by WWE. I'm all for equality in recruitment and second chances and all that, but this guy's clearly not going to act professionally for the company. Nailz claims he was innocent when Bossman put him in prison - but he's just said he's going to beat Bossman within an inch of his life and 'finish the job', which is a pretty straightforward case of criminal intent if you ask me. He finishes by mentioning hard times through teeth so gritted you'd swear he's having a poo in his jumpsuit.

 

Bossman does an interview as Nailz walks to the ring. The material is poor but the delivery is good, it's a great interview actually. He lost a ton of weight (possibly literally) between 1988 and now.

 

The match begins with Bossman sprinting to the ring and going right after Nailz, and MULLET CHIODA is the referee! I've missed him.

 

Nailz goes up to the pole for the first time - it's really, really high up, I don't actually know how they'll reach that - but is stopped. They trade punches and Irish Whips, Nailz puts no fucking effort in so Bossman lamps him in the face. I hope that hurt. He's climbing up to the pole, and gets thrown off the top rope. I imagine the rules of the match probably precluded him from just bringing a second nightstick with him.

 

tumblr_mz0kyeuhI11qzrqwso1_400.jpg

 

That's the best picture I can find of Mullet Chioda. Apologies for the Backlund.

 

Nailz just had Bossman in a rest hold. Nothing like totally contradicting your promo. Heenan just made a reference to the smoke detectors at Windsor Castle. TOO SOON BOBBY. That was a horrible fire.

 

After another nightstick attempt they have a little 'rolling around on the mat' competition. There is no winner. Bossman clotheslines the fuck out of Nailz's face, I think he was meant to be clotheslined as well but it didn't look that way. He's climbing up again and gets the nightstick. Nailz gets smacked in the arm, then the head, the crowd have woken up, and Nailz kicks him in the gut. He grabs the nightstick and smacks Bossman a couple of times, who sells it beautifully, it looks like a brutal weapon. He ducks another shot and HITS THE BOSSMAN SLAM, three count, and I hope that's the end of Nailz, he was crap.

 

The crowd are happy to hear Bossman's music for the first time tonight. They're cheering a lot. The entranceway is gorgeous. I can't find a good picture of the real thing so here it is in the background of a WWE 13 screenshot.

 

hqdefault.jpg

 

 

My thoughts:

 

Mercifully short. I could gladly go the rest of my days without having to watch another Nailz match. Bossman was good, but bloody hell, he didn't have much to work with here, did he? I can only assume that viewer discretion warning beforehand was for quality reasons rather than violence...

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The entranceway is gorgeous. I can't find a good picture of the real thing so here it is in the background of a WWE 13 screenshot.

C8xdv.jpg

 

I always loved that entranceway. Pisses all over the big screens and ramp look they've had for the last 15 or so years.

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Hang on hang on, half of Flair's been pixellated out! What the fuck's going on there? Was that a 1991 thing or a Network thing, or… I don't understand.

 

 

This was during the Real World Champion phase when they were actually using the NWA Big Gold Belt, but they weren't allowed to show it properly on TV. It's blurred out due to a lawsuit.

 

Bloody love that Hogan/Flair/Taker 'Funeral Parlour' segment.

It was around the same time the WWF started making Ric carrying a tag team title belt. I think it was Survivor Series 91 where you can see the WWF logo on the side of the belt.

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