On the Marc Reviews: Survivor Series 1987

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Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio, November 26, 1987

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura (who get a ring announcement and an entrance)

This show is available on the WWE Survivor Series Anthology, Vol. 1 – 1987-1991.

Honky Tonk Man is fired up and calls his team the best; he threatens to Shake, Rattle n’ Roll Elizabeth. Ricky Steamboat says his team members are survivors; Randy Savage is gunning for Honky Tonk Man since he pushed Elizabeth down

Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat & Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake (w/Elizabeth) vs. Honky Tonk Man, “Outlaw” Ron Bass, “Dangerous” Danny Davis, King Harley Race & Hercules (w/Bobby “The Brain” Heenan & Jimmy Hart):   Honky’s past three feuds were with Roberts, Steamboat and Savage, so a lot of storylines woven into this midcard survivor match; Honky Tonk Man is the current Intercontinental Champion here. Beefcake starts off with Hercules; they lock up and Bruti struts. They trade side headlocks and takedowns early until Hercules shoulderblocks him. Beefcake leapfrogs a charging Hercules and applies a sleeper hold; Hercules begins to break it so Beefcake fires him into his corner and hiptosses him. Davis and Bass each come in and take hiptosses as well. Davis tagged in so Beefcake slingshots him into the ring. Roberts tags in and works Davis’ shoulder and then arm wringer suplexes him. Savage enters and clotheslines him; Steamboat tags in and comes off the top with a chop; heel-hook kick scores. Davis gets his boot up on a charge and tags in Harley Race who hits a shoulder breaker. Steamboat comes back with a second-rope chop; they battle it out and Steamboat gets tosses over the top twice in a row allowing him to skin-the-cat twice and then fires Race over the top to the floor. Race quickly reenters the ring and belly-to-belly suplexes Steamboat for a nearfall. Steamboat tags in Duggan and this is a current feud. Duggan immediately clotheslines Race to the floor and charges out after him; both men get counted out. Jim Duggan is ELIMINATED and Harley Race is also ELIMINATED.

Jake charges in there and runs into Bass; Roberts takes him down by the hair but Bass slams him and misses an elbow drop. Savage tags in and tosses Bass into the corner and follows up with an elbow. Savage bodyslams Bass and darts over and drops Honky off the apron with an elbow; Savage turns into a lariat. Honky tags in with Savage in trouble but immediately gets reversed so Honky draws him back to the heel corner where Bass can unload on him. Bass hits an elbow but makes the mistake of Irish whipping Savage who ducks a clothesline and nails Bass with a running elbow; Ron Bass tries a piledriver but Savage backdrops free. Savage makes a blind tag to Beefcake who surprises Bass with a high knee off the ropes and gets a three count. Ron Bass is ELIMINATED.

Hercules immediately charges in and accidently elbow drops Ron Bass before he can exit the ring; Beefcake slams him. Hercules takes over and works Brutus’ arm and tags in Honky Tonk Man; Honky applies an armbar. Honky continues his exciting offense with an arm wringer. Hercules tags in and reapplies the armbar; Beefcakes punches free but Herc drop-toe holds him to cut off a tag. Honky returns and works the arm more; Savage is quite animated on the apron. Beefcake comes out with an atomic drop but elects to fight Honky in lieu of tagging out. Beefcake fire away on Honky but when he hits the ropes Danny Davis trips him up; Bruti stumbles into the Shake, Rattle n’ Roll for the pinfall. That may have been the ONLY time Honky has hit that move on a PPV; Brutus Beefcake is ELIMINATED.

Savage runs in the ring realizing Honky is legal; Honky immediately tags Hercules who hammers away on Savage. Danny Davis tags in and punches away; Savage shrugs off his offense and overwhelms him but he tags in Honky. Savage comes back and smartly tags in Roberts; Honky slips out of the DDT. Jake charges Honky in the corner but meets a knee; Jesse Ventura uses his coding for “Honky Tonk Man is a shitty wrestler” calling him a “lucky wrestler”. Jake gets caught in the heel corner and Hercules tags in and punches away. Hercules gets a few two counts and tags in Danny Davis who quickly gets no-sold by Jake Roberts; a DDT quickly follows and it gets three. Danny Davis is ELIMINATED.

Jake gets up and turns into a Hercules clothesline; Herc drops elbows on the prone Roberts. Hercules stomps away and brings Honky Tonk back in; Savage charges in allowing more illegal double teaming. Honky works Jake over with an exciting array of punches and chinlocks. Jake elbows free, breaks the chinlock and hits a knee lift. Herc tags back in and cuts off a tag and reapplies a chinlock; Jake fights out of this one too and headlock takes Hercules over. Herc regroups and reapplies the chinlock; this time he frees himself and tags in Steamboat. Ricky flies all over the ring and chops away on Hercules. Steamboat to the top and hits a top-rope chop; bodyslam by Steamboat setting up… a tag to Savage for the top-rope flying elbow drop for three and Hercules is ELIMINATED.

Honky is alone three-on-one, he’s a trooper so he gives it a go; poor Honky has to face his three previous demons here. Savage kicks the snot out of him until Savage misses a charge. Ventura mentions luck again as Honky whips Savage into the ropes allowing Savage to hit a running elbow and tag in Steamboat. Ricky chops the crap out of Honky and tags in Jake Roberts. Honky tries a sunset flip but Jake punches him in the face. Savage comes off the second-rope and double axes him; Savage goes to the top and hits another double axe handle. Savage atomic drops him over the top rope to the floor. Honky, realizing he’s fighting a losing battle, takes a hike and gets counted out ELIMINATING Honky Tonk Man. Savage, Steamboat and Roberts are the survivors. 8/10 Good opening battle with the three babyfaces Honky has gotten over time and time again getting some revenge in on him; the rest of the match was fast paced and entertaining. Good way to kick off the new concept.

Bobby Heenan, with André the Giant and his team, says that André will pin Hulk Hogan again. Slick calls the team sadistic animals. Heenan rants a little more until André shuts everyone up and says he is there for Hogan’s soul and will be the survivor.

Fabulous Moolah, Rockin’ Robin, Velvet McIntyre & Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Sensational Sherri, Dawn Marie, Donna Christianello & Glamour Girls (w/Jimmy Hart):   Sherri is the WWF Women’s Champion and the Glamour Girls are the WWF Women’s Tag Champions, here. Sherri starts off grabbing McIntyre and tossing her into the buckles; Irish whip into a clothesline. Velvet comes back with a high crossbody and tags in Moolah. Who is a babyface here for some reason that I have forgotten. Moolah kicks the shit out of her with a series of snapmares by the hair. Christianello, who looks about sixty-five years old, tags in but Moolah snaps her over the top rope and slingshots her across the ring. Velvet enters the ring and whips Christianello in the face with an elbow; dropkick follows. Velvet hits a shoulder scissors into a victory roll and gets three to ELIMINATE Donna Christianello. Thank God, her name was annoying to type, like Michael McGillicutty.

Leilani Kai charges in but gets caught in a mini-hurracanrana; one-footed dropkick follows and Rockin’ Robin tags in. Robin gets dragged into the heel corner where Dawn Marie tags in, this is obviously NOT the one who appeared on ECW television with no underwear on, Judy Martin comes in and takes a high crossbody. Martin comes back and tags in Sherri who dropkicks Robin in the face. Marie comes back in and hits a chop in the throat off the ropes. Robin comes back with a clothesline and crossbody blocks Dawn Marie for three. Dawn Marie is ELIMINATED.

Leilani comes in and hammers on Robin but chops her into her own corner allowing Itsuki Yamazaki to tag in. Itsuki gets a unique bridge out of a pinfall attempt and then a hop-over sunset flip and a flying body scissors roll-up for two; Jesse Ventura is quite impressed. Judy Martin comes in but eats a high knee and crossbody. Noriyo Tateno tags in and hits a top-rope flying arm drag. Sherri tags in and gets her ass kicked by the Bomb Angel. Butterfly suplex by Noriyo for a nearfall; Rockin’ Robin tags in to spoil the fun. Sherri immediately takes over and tags in Leilani; Robin takes over and monkey flips Kai out of the corner. The heels back her into their corner and overwhelm her. Sherri slams her and suplexes her and gets a pinfall ELIMINATING Rockin’ Robin.

Itsuki charges right in there and dropkicks Sherri; she dropkicks her again but falls into her corner and tags in Judy Martin. Martin flings Yamazaki out of the corner by the hair; she tags in McIntyre. Velvet hits a tilt-a-whirl high crossbody for two; Velvet slingshots Martin in to the corner and tags in Moolah. A dropkick and one-footed monkey flip from Moolah follows; Martin fights back and hits a reverse elbow. Moolah tags in Noriyo but she gets taken over by Martin and tags in Leilani. Noriyo Flairs Leilani off the second rope but misses a dropkick and Kai hits a jumping cross-chop. Sherri tags in and tosses her into the mat a few times. Leilani tosses Noriyo into her corner and a tag is made, there is some confusion but Moolah gets dragged into the ring. Moolah fights back and hits a forearm; Moolah hits a few snapmares and a headlock takeover. The Glamour Girls nail her with a double clothesline from the apron and the Fabulous Moolah is pinned, ELIMINATING her.

Itsuki Yamazaki charges in but gets caught but Martin catches her; Yamazaki catches her boot on a kick attempt and drags her back to the corner. Noriyo comes in and works the leg of Judy Martin. Velvet comes in and applies a Boston crab; she releases it in favor of a reverse STF. Velvet one-footed dropkicks her into the corner allowing a tag to Sherri. Sensational Sherri works over Velvet with a legdrop. Sherri hits a fisherman’s buster; Leilani tags in and whips Velvet across the ring by the hair Yamazaki comes in and also gets whipped by the hair. Kai hits a belly-to-belly suplex and gets a nearfall with an inadvertent bell ring. Velvet tags in as does Sherri; Velvet hits the giant swing on Sherri. Velvet hits a shoulder scissors victory roll and gets a three ELIMINATING Sensational Sherri.

Judy Martin comes in and Yamazaki tags in as well. Martin blocks a couple of bodyslams, so she tags out; Noriyo hits a butterfly suplex. Kai tags in and scoops a double-leg takedown but Tateno grabs her in a body-leg scissors. Velvet tags back in and is a bit woozy in the ring; McIntyre tries another head scissors victory roll but Leilani drops her across the ropes for a slingshot Electric Chair for three ELIMINATING Velvet McIntyre.

Both Bomb Angels whip the Glamour Girls into each other; they also slingshot one Glamour Girl on top of the other. Martin nails Noriyo from the apron allowing Kai to slam her; she climbs to the top and misses a Superfly splash. Yamazaki tags in and drops Leilani with a top-rope crossbody for three, ELIMINATING Leilani Kai.

Judy Martin runs in and boots Yamazaki in the gut. Martin gets the brief advantage with a fireman’s carry faceplant. Yamazaki hits a seated atomic drop and tags in Noriyo after a slam; she drops a top rope knee drop. Jimmy Hart hops up on the apron and eats a dropkick. Noriyo comes off the top rope with a Hart Attack clothesline for three, ELIMINATING Judy Martin; the survivors are the Jumping Bomb Angels. 5/10 Obviously the WWF was not filled with as much silicone as it would later on; women were more like wrestlers then rather than eye-candy. Bland in the beginning and only was entertaining when the Bomb Angels or Velvet McIntyre were in there.

The Hart Foundation and their fifty million teammates are psyched up; Bobby Heenan says that everyone is ready to survive Jimmy Hart runs in and changes his jacket from Glamour Girls to Hart Foundation. Strike Force and their team offer a rebuttal. Rick Martel says “unity for victory” and will survive.

Strike Force, Killer Bees, Young Stallions, Rougeau Brothers & British Bulldogs vs. Demolition, Bolsheviks, Islanders, New Dream Team & Hart Foundation (w/Jimmy Hart, Slick, Bobby Heenan, Johnny V & Mr. Fuji):   Strike Force won the Tag title from the Harts on a shocking title switch on WWF Superstars a few weeks prior to this PPV; if one team member is eliminated the entire tag team is eliminated. Rick Martel starts off with Nikolai Volkoff; Volkoff hammers away but Martel gets a roll-up for two. Martel fires back but drops his head on a telegraphed backdrop and eats a boot. One-armed choke lift and a bodyslam by Nikolai and tags in Boris Zhukov who misses an elbow drop. Martel hits a dropkick and a high crossbody; Tito Santana tags in and gets hammered by Boris until Tito nails the flying forearm for three. The Bolsheviks are ELIMINATED.

Demolition Ax charges right in and hammers away on Tito before he can get up. Ax sledges away and bodyslams Tito; Ax misses an elbow and Jacques Rougeau tags in. Jacques hits a reverse elbow and Dino Bravo tags in who eats a dropkick. The Killer Bees tag in and hit the Bee Stinger off the second rope. Brian Blair works over the arm and Davey Boy Smith come in and Bravo tags out to Demolition Smash. Tito tags in and teams with the Bulldogs for a double boot in the corner. Dynamite Kid works over Smash with chops; Smash quickly takes over and tags in Haku. Dynamite and Haku chop away until Haku takes over with head-butts. Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell tags in and then he brings in Brian Blair and the hit a double wishbone drop. Blair kicks away on the legs of Haku; Jim Neidhart comes in and eats a drop-toe hold that puts him on his face for Paul Roma to tag in. Roma works the leg of Neidhart until he slams Roma and tags in Smash. Ax tags back in and slams Roma; Haku gets in a clothesline. Tama comes in and Roma Tags in Jim Powers who Tama immediately drags to the corner. Demolition come in and pound away; Jacques tags in and Ax no-sells his stuff until he flips over a backdrop attempt. Jacques misses a second-rope crossbody and Ax covers him for three. The Rougeau Brothers are ELIMINATED.

Dynamite runs in and drops Ax who tags in Tama; Powers tags in and tosses Tama into the corner. Tama catches him with a clothesline and tags in the Anvil. Neidhart lifts up Powers into a Canadian backbreaker; Haku tags in and drops Powers off his shoulders with a second-rope double axe for a nearfall. Powers makes a tag to Roma who immediately gets forced into the heel corner and Ax returns and sledges away. Roma reverses a corner whip but eats a boot. Ax rams Roma’s head into Greg Valentine’s boot and tags him in. The Hammer drops Roma into a shoulder breaker and a front vertical suplex for two. Bravo tags back in and spins Roma a gutwrench suplex and a Kofi Kingston-esque leg drop. Jimmy Hart roots him on with his megaphone; funny hearing that as he would manage him a few years later. Roma tags in Blair as Smash tags in as well; Smash dominates but misses a corner charge and Dynamite Kid returns. Dynamite clotheslines Smash but loses his advantage on a telegraphed backdrop and gets driven into the wrong corner; Demolition beat on him from the apron and as the referee is trying to break it up Smash tosses him across the ring drawing a DQ. Demolition is ELIMINATED.

Bret Hart runs in to pick Dynamite’s bones and obliterate him with a piledriver, it only gets two. Bret hits a few European uppercuts but misses a corner charge and posts his shoulder. Powers comes in and Bret tags out to Tama who gets punched in the gut by Powers and tossed into the buckle. Tama reverses a whip and hits a flying clothesline. Tama misses a Vader Splash and Powers tags Martel; big backdrop and a high leverage move out of the corner. Martel dropkicks Tama and applies the Boston crab but too close to the corner and Neidhart tags in and clotheslines him from behind. Anvil sledges Martel but he gets the boot up off a corner charge and Tito tags in; Santana clobbers Neidhart with the flying forearm but Bret breaks up the pinfall with an elbow drop knocking him out; Neidhart rolls over and pins Tito Santana, ELIMINATING Strike Force.

Powers and Roma drag the Anvil to their corner but Powers misses a dropkick and Haku returns. Haku hits a really nice dropkick, where did that move go? Valentine tags back in and counters a Powers’ sunset flip. Hammer drops elbows but Powers gets his knees up on a sit-down splash-like move so Neidhart returns to the ring. Anvil clotheslines Powers off the top rope and brings in Haku for the crescent kick followed by a dropkick. Haku and Valentine team up for a double reverse elbow but Powers kicks out again. Powers blocks and reverses a suplex but Hammer has the wherewithal to prevent a tag and brings in Bret Hart. Bret and Tama team up for a backbreaker/second-rope knee drop combo. Bret vertical suplexes Powers but for some bizarre reason Bret allows him to tag in Roma. Bret immediately takes over with an eye rake and brings in Neidhart. Valentine bodyslams Roma and ascends the buckles for a top-rope forearm; Roma manages a tag to Powers again but he gets beaten and Bret comes back in. Bret misses a dropkick and Dynamite Kid tags in. Dynamite whips Bret into the corner for his chest-first bump; backdrop suplex and Roma tags back in. Bret tags in Haku so Roma tags in Blair; Blair backdrops Haku and rams Haku’s head into Dynamite’s on the apron and brings in Davey Boy. Davey Boy and Brian Blair team up for a double elbow on Haku; Davey Boy head-butts Haku a few times and brings Powers back in. Powers immediately misses a corner charge and Neidhart tags back in and they destroy Powers in the corner. Bret allows another tag this time to Davey Boy; he press-slams Bret for a nearfall. Smith gets a little too close to the heel corner allowing Haku to tag in but, rather quickly, Haku gets planted with the running Bulldog powerslam for two. Dynamite Kid tags in; Davey Boy vertical suplexes Haku and Dynamite comes off the second rope with a falling head-butt, but hurts his own head as well. Haku recovers and clobbers Dynamite with the reverse crescent kick and gets a pinfall; ELIMINATING the British Bulldogs.

Roma runs in and hits a high dropkick but quickly gets caught by Haku. Bravo returns and misses an elbow drop allowing a tag to Jim Powers. Powers tires a monkey flip out of the corner but Bravo plants him with an inverted atomic drop. Bravo beats on Powers and tags in Valentine who slams Powers’ throat across the top rope. Bravo returns and hammers Powers; Anvil and Bravo team up for a double chop just as Jesse Ventura notes that tag teams tend to only double team with their own partners. Neidhart brings in Bret who ties Powers into the Tree of Woe in the corner, which draws in a bunch of babyfaces. Valentine and Powers battle, Valentine wins and drags him to the corner and Bravo tags in and hits a nice backdrop. Dino hits his side suplex and demonstratively tags in Valentine who looks to finish with the figure-four leglock; Powers recovers to kick him off. Powers blind-tags in Roma; Valentine tries to lock in the figure-four again, but Roma sunset flips him from the top rope, for the three count. The Dream Team is ELIMINATED.

Jim Neidhart jogs in but quickly gets caught by Roma and Brunzell; Blair tags in and hits a standing running elbow to the head, an inside cradle gets two. The Bees hit a double elbow smash and Brunzell hits a high knee strike. Brunzell tries to whip the Anvil into his corner but he is too strong and pulls him to the heel side and tags in Bret Hart. Brunzell scoops the leg and drops knees onto it; Blair tags in and continues to work Bret’s legs with a spinning toehold. Roma returns and he and Blair “make a wish” involving Bret’s legs. Roma leapfrogs over Bret but eats a punch. Bret holds Roma for Tama to come off the top rope with a sledge. The Islanders nail him with a double elbow but Haku misses a legdrop. Brunzell returns and slams Haku and lands his legdrop for two. Brunzell rings Haku’s bell (the leg scissors version) and hiplock takes him over for another nearfall. Haku tags in Bret Hart and he and Brunzell, who has Jack Tripper’s haircut, encircle. Brunzell catches Bret with a shot boot to the gut and tags Roma back in. The Young Stallions are doing a serious amount of the ring work in this match but have gotten their asses kicked for about 85% of it; Roma plants Bret with a slam and drops a second-rope fist drop it gets a nearfall. Bret with a backdrop suplex for two; Tama reenters viciously and rips at Roma’s face. The Islanders hit a double head-butt but Roma avoids a corner charge and arm drags Haku out of the corner. Gorilla Monsoon and Jessie Ventura get into a conversation about Bobby Heenan intimidating referee Dave Hebner on the floor and getting referees to count in your team’s favor. Jesse’s closing argument is rather foreshadowing; he says Ted Dibiase (who had just debuted) says “everyone has a price”, perhaps Hebner has is, well his evil twin brother Earl [Hebner] will. Meanwhile, Haku recovers first and stomps away and hits another nice standing dropkick. Funny moment as Jesse is complementing Haku on his dropkick and Monsoon says he’d like to see the Anvil attempt that, not two seconds later; Jim Neidhart tags in and hits Roma with a standing dropkick. Running powerslam by Neidhart gets a close nearfall. Bret enters and hammers away; Roma rolls under a clothesline and tags in Brunzell. They run the ropes and hit head-to-head for a double KO. Neidhart charges in to draw Blair into the ring, while the referee is busy, Brunzell tries a standing powerslam, but Tama sneaks in and dropkicks him down; Brunzell cleverly rolls through and pins Bret Hart to ELIMINATE the Hart Foundation.

The Islanders are left alone with the Stallions and the Bees; Brunzell is winded so Haku is able to grab him for Tama to come off the top with a double axe handle. If you were to tell me at the start of this match that these three teams would be there at the end, I’d say you were crazy; that is the beauty of the earlier Survivor Series’, they were MUCH less predictable. The fans get restless and chant “Weasel” at Heenan as Tama applies a trapezius hold; Brunzell fights free but runs into a reverse elbow. Haku hits a running shoulder breaker and gets a nearfall. I like the fact that the teams go for pinfalls a lot more often in the latter stages of the matches, instead of going for them a million times in the first five minutes, therefore rendering nearfalls significantly less dramatic. Haku applies a double trapezius hold; the fans get behind Brunzell as he begins rise to his feet but he is significantly weaker so Haku is able to overwhelm him and tag in Tama who reapplies the trapezius hold. Brunzell gets a desperation sunset flip but it only gets a two count; vertical suplex by Haku gets another nearfall. Brunzell gets a tag off a telegraphed backdrop by Haku. Powers comes in and cleans house and hits a backdrop on Haku. The Stallions get a drop-down into a Roma powerslam double team but Tama breaks up the pinfall. In the chaos, the Islanders take over on Roma. Paul Roma sidesteps a charging Haku and quickly tags in Brian Blair who gets nailed immediately and dragged into their corner; Tama hits a high revers elbow off an Irish whip but misses an elbow drop. Brunzell tags back in and wipes out the Islanders with slams and a double noggin-knocker. Brunzell hits his dropkick on Tama that draws in Haku in for all hell to break loose; in the confusion, Brian Blair dons a Killer Bee mask and slingshot sunset flips Tama for the pinfall, ELIMINATING the Islanders. The Killer Bees and the Young Stallions are the surprising survivors. Brunzell smartly rolls to the floor and puts on his mask on to prevent the referee from realizing which Bee got the pinfall. 8.5/10 That was a fun, well-paced and an unpredictable match. The psychology, if you can believe there is one with twenty wrestlers out there, was sound; it was faster in the beginning with more teams and everyone was fresh. As it got towards the end, teams began to go for pinfalls more often because everyone began to tire out. The two surviving teams were total dark horses and could have not been guessed by anyone; excellent tag team survivor match when the WWF had real tag teams.

We get a peak on how “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase spends his Thanksgiving; he relaxes and counts his money in his limousine. This goes on and on as he tells us how he is fortunate and the WWF fans have to bust their ass to survive. They show clips of him embarrassing kids, trying to earn his money, and being a general douchebag. He has a bunch servants prepare his Thanksgiving meal and rings a crystal bell when he wants more as Virgil watches. They show clips of him paying off a lifeguard to kick all of the kids out of a public swimming pool so he can swim alone.

Back in the arena, Craig DeGeorge interviews the Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart; he calls himself the greatest IC Champion of all time. Honky calls out Hulk Hogan and challenges him to a title-for-title match then turns to Randy Savage and says he’s moving on from him since he’s beaten him.

Mean Gene Okerlund talks to Hulk Hogan and his team say they are hungry and will eat the opposition tonight. They all say they are hungry; word cannot describe the awesome that was that over-the-top promo.

Hulk Hogan, “The Rock” Don Muraco, Ken Patera, Bam Bam Bigelow & “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff (w/Oliver Humperdink) vs. André the Giant, King Kong Bundy, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, One Man Gang & “Natural” Butch Reed (w/Bobby Heenan & Slick):   Where to begin… Hogan (the current WWF Champion) and André, of course, is the main feud in the WWF and had the WrestleMania III match of the ages; André claimed he got a pinfall in the opening moments of that match, so he wants to prove he can beat Hogan. “Superstar” Billy Graham was supposed to be on Hogan’s team but the One Man Gang and Butch Reed destroyed his knee; Magnificent Muraco came to his rescue and tuned face and adopted “The Rock” as his new nickname. Paul Orndorff had recently become a babyface again, for the second or third time, and realigned with Hogan, so his motives are in question. Bigelow had recently debuted and selected a babyface manager, Oliver Humperdink, after months of heel managers courting him; so no one knows what to expect from him. Next, Ken Patera reappeared in the WWF as a babyface, after serving legit time in prison for assaulting a Wisconsin policeman, and blamed Bobby Heenan for abandoning him when he went to jail. Rick Rude, who had also debuted recently, starts off with Muraco; Rude’s traffic sign collage tights are my favorite Rick Rude tights of all-time. Rude thumbs his eye and gets one forearm then, his ass whipped all over the ring. The babyfaces pass him around; Orndorff gets a knee lift in and tags in Hogan. Hulk kills Rude with a clothesline off a whip and drops a series of elbows. Hogan slams Rude setting up a Bam Bam diving head-butt off the ropes; Bigelow press-slams Rude. Patera comes in and head-butts Rude, but he falls into his own corner, and tags in Butch Reed. Reed resumes the ass kicking that Rude had been receiving. Muraco tags in and dropkicks him; Orndorff follows up with a dropkick as well. Reed reverses a corner whip but Orndorff avoids the charge and tags Hogan. Orndorff and Hogan hit a double clothesline followed by the big legdrop for three. Butch Reed is ELIMINATED, boy did he get squashed.

Hogan celebrates, high-fiving his teammates, meanwhile André casually steps over the top rope; Hogan turns to see André. Referee Joey Marella apparently is the only man alive who does not know what a high-five is because he forces Hogan out of the ring in favor of Ken Patera, who he claims, made the “legal” tag. Of course, Hogan could just tag back in because André does just that one he notices Patera in the ring instead of Hogan. André’s “talk to the hand” reaction to Patera, as he tags in Bundy, is great. Patera kicks away on Bundy and hammers away; he drops Bundy with a lariat and tags in Orndorff. Bundy bring in the One Man Gang who hammers Orndorff in the corner; Orndorff fights back though, and reels the Gang in the corner until he boots him off a corner whip. Rude returns and immediately gets killed by a clothesline; Orndorff tags in Muraco. Orndorff whips Rude into a standing clothesline. Rude thumbs Muraco and drives him to his corner and tags the Gang. One Man Gang quickly misses an avalanche and Muraco brings Patera back in. Patera hammers the Gang and drops him with a high crossbody for a two count. Gang counters him with a thumb to the eye and brings Patera into the heel corner; the Gang distracts the referee whilst Rude and Bundy clobbers Patera in their corner. Gang cuts off Patera with a standing front facelock, the fans get all over the Giant with an “André sucks” chant. Patera reaches the ropes to break the facelock but the Gang brings him back to the middle and reapplies the facelock. Patera uses the eye rake to free himself and unloads on the Gang; he reverses a whip and bowls Patera over with a Bossman Slam-like move and gets the pinfall. Ken Patera is ELIMINATED.

Hogan enters and whips the Gang into the corner with a clothesline; Bigelow enters, to a huge pop, and he and Hogan double big boot the Gang down. Gang and Bigelow double shoulderblock each other for a double KO; double tags are made and Orndorff and Rude go at it. Orndorff clobbers Rude with a vertical suplex and a backdrop. Orndorff calls for the piledriver but Bundy sneaks in and nails him allowing Rick Rude to schoolboy pin him and Paul Orndorff is ELIMINATED.

Rude poses, so Muraco sneaks up from behind and atomic drops him and runs him over with a clothesline. Bigelow comes in with a vertical suplex; Hogan comes in and nails Rude with a high knee. Muraco tags in and Hulk whips Rude into a Muraco powerslam and, Hogan’s team answers right back, ELIMINATING Rick Rude.

Bundy comes in and whips Muraco into a lariat but misses a knee drop. Muraco works the leg spinning-legdropping it. Bundy quickly erects himself and rams Muraco’s head into his team’s turnbuckle. The Gang reenters and pummels Muraco; Don fights back but collapses on a slam attempt and almost gets pinned. The Gang whips Muraco into André’s head and drops the 747 splash onto him to send Muraco back to the showers. Don Muraco is ELIMINATED.

Hogan helps Muraco out of the ring as the Gang catches Bigelow, forcing him to be the legal man. Bigelow tries a sunset flip but the Gang sits on him. Bundy returns and hammers on Bam Bam and flips Bigelow over with a running clothesline; Hogan makes the save. Bigelow fights back on the Gang, who tagged, but an eye rake cuts off the momentum. Bundy knee lifts Bigelow and he and the Gang double up on him. Bundy misses an elbow but stays on top with stomps; Bigelow kicks out. Since Bundy and the One Man Gang have been unsuccessful in eliminating Bigelow, the Gang goes to Plan B, tag in André. Bam Bam avoids an André punch and tags in Hogan as the place explodes. Hogan peppers André with punches; Hogan blocks a head-butt. Hogan wins a fisticuffs battle and rams André into the buckles. Hogan wipes the other big guys off the apron and hits André with a running elbow in the corner. Hogan comes off the ropes, but Bundy drags him to the floor, where he and the Gang battle with Hogan; Hogan bodyslams the Gang and Bundy on the floor but the referee counts Hogan out so Hulk Hogan is ELIMINATED.

Poor Bigelow is alone with Bundy, the One Man Gang and André the Giant; the referees have to threaten Hogan with a loss for his team to get him to leave. André demonstratively hugs his two big teammates, mocking Hogan’s over-the-top celebration of Butch Reed’s elimination earlier. Bigelow whips Bundy in for a clothesline and gets a two count. Bigelow gets a head-butt and a dropkick on Bundy; Bigelow briefly works the leg. Bundy reverses a whip into the corner but misses the Avalanche; Bigelow heads to the apron and drops a slingshot splash for three. King Kong Bundy is ELIMINATED.

Bigelow is exhausted; the One Man Gang heads in sledges away. Standing clothesline gets a two count as they cannot seem to put Bam Bam away. Gang chokes away and punches a lot; Gang rams Bigelow’s head into André’s massive boot. For some inane reason the Gang goes up to the top turnbuckle to drop a super 747 splash. Bigelow moves and the plane crashes; Bam Bam drapes an arm over the Gang and gets a pinfall. The One Man Gang is ELIMINATED.

André the Giant heads in, thinking; “si vous voulez quelque chose à droite, faites-le vous-même,” if you want something done right, do it yourself. André head-butts Bigelow and is in total control. Bigelow plays keep-away from André; Bigelow tries to catch him with an avalanche but the nimble André moves. André drives shoulders in the corner and hits a butterfly suplex and gets the three count on Bigelow ELIMINATING him and André the Giant is the sole-survivor. Post-match, Hogan, the sore loser, returns and nails André with the WWF title knocking him out of the ring spoiling his victory celebration. 7/10 See what I mean with the early Survivor Series’ being unpredictable, Hogan being eliminated in the middle of a main event. André used this win for leverage to get his WWF Title rematch on The Main Event, later in February. Bigelow went from unknown new comer into mega-hot upper tier superstar in this match. The match itself was surprisingly good considering all of the fat, old and broken-down or untalented guys that were present in this match.

In the back, André the Giant and Bobby Heenan taunt Hulk Hogan and say if he wants a piece of the Giant put the belt up for a rematch.

The 411:  Unpredictable is the word for this very entertaining show, the debut of a new concept, that became the second PPV of the year next to WrestleMania. Summerslam would debut next year, and the Royal Rumble (on PPV) in 1989, making the big four complete. This show was fun, as the wrestlers you would figure would win, didn’t; leaving it with a much more “realistic” feel that kept people guessing whether Hogan could defeat André a second time, allowing the WWF to draw MASSIVE Neilson ratings, when the met the second time, instead of it being obvious as it became in the early 90’s.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]