On the Marc Reviews: Survivor Series 1988

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Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio, November 24, 1988

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura

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

Ultimate Warrior, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, Sam Houston, Blue Blazer & Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell vs. Honky Tonk Man, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, “Dangerous” Danny Davis, “Outlaw” Ron Bass & Bad News Brown (w/Jimmy Hart):   Warrior is the IC Champion; Don Muraco was originally part of the Warrior and Beefcake’s team but he left the WWF and was replaced with former Killer Bee, Jim Brunzell. This year, the teams have co-captains, Warrior and Brutus for one side and Honky and Ron Bass on the other. Beefcake and Valentine start off; did they ever have any matches to settle the Dream Team split or did Dino Bravo slide into his spot with Valentine and Beefcake just went off on into singles matches? They club each other until Valentine rakes Beefcake’s face; Davis sneaks in a knee and tags in. Brutus immediately reverses a whip and puts Davis out with a sleeper; that was quick, Danny Davis is ELIMINATED.

Valentine returns and gets a quick advantage working the legs, presumably for the figure-four leglock. Hammer reverses his leg brace and goes for the figure-four but Beefcake pushes him off. Beefcake tags in the Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) and he enters the ring off the top rope with a double axe handle. Valentine applies a keylock so Blazer reverse head scissors him down. Brunzell tags in and applies an armbar; Valentine counters so Brunzell whips him and leapfrogs over, Valentine stops and slams him, but misses an elbow drop. Brunzell hits his dropkick but Valentine blind-tagged in Bad News. Valentine holds Brunzell for a Bad News clothesline; Brown head-butts and kicks away. Bodyslam and a fist drop by Bad News but Brunzell desperately eye gouges him, Brown casually no-sells, and continues to hammer away. Bret Hart mentioned in his book that Brown was a notorious no-seller when he should have sold. Brunzell fights back but Brown corners him and continues to hammer away; Brunzell misses a corner charge and Bad News hits the Ghetto Blaster for three and Jim Brunzell is ELIMINATED.

Beefcake enters and holds Bad News for Sam Houston to come off the top with a double axe handle; Houston fires away but runs into Bad News’ boot in the corner and he begins to unload on Houston and legdrops him. Houston tries to fight back but Brown gives him nothing and continues to destroy him. Whip into the corner by Bad News and clothesline off the rebound to Houston; Valentine tags in. He brings Bad News back in who holds Houston for Valentine; this time it backfires and Valentine accidently nails Bad News. Brown nails Valentine and then walks off getting counted out. Bad News Brown is ELIMINATED.

While everyone is distracted with Bad News walking off, Houston rolls up Valentine for a nearfall. The Hammer counters a sunset flip and tags in Ron Bass. Houston gets another roll up off the ropes but Bass kicks him off. Houston runs into a boot in the corner and then Bass hits a standing lariat. Houston gets a second rope high crossbody for two; Bass continues the punishment with lariats and Houston continues to kick out. Houston hops over a telegraphed backdrop and, instead of tagging, tries to go for a corner monkey flip, Bass blocks and segues into a powerslam and gets a three count, so Sam Houston is ELIMINATED.

The Ultimate Warrior finally gets into the ring and hammers Bass and everyone else in the corner. Honky gets in and Warrior choke tosses him across the ring. Valentine tries to get in the ring but Warrior floor him then spears Honky with a shoulder tackle. Warrior body slams Bass, has the actual presence of mind to tag in the Blazer, AND team up with him for a Rocket Launcher for a two count. Blind tag to Honky Tonk off a whip off the ropes, Blazer saw it though, and wipes out Honky with a high crossbody. Honky gets a quick advantage but Blazer monkey flips him out of the corner and dropkicks him. Valentine tags in and he and the Blazer mess up a leapfrog that could have ended Owen’s chances for children; Blazer covers with a nice gutwrench suplex and drops a knee. Blazer hits a power bodyslam and head to the top rope; Honky Tonk Man sneaks over and pushes him off the top and Blazer lands on his knees, figure-four leglock follows for the submission and the Blue Blazer is ELIMINATED.

Beefcake helps the Blazer out of the ring and gets nailed from behind by Valentine as Jesse Ventura finally mentions the tag team past between them. Bass enters the ring off a tag; Ron Bass was the one who cost Beefcake his shot against Honky Tonk for the IC Title at Summerslam ’88, attacking him with a spur, ironically Warrior wound up getting the shot and won the title in about thirty seconds. Bass hits a falling head-butt and tags in Honky; he tosses Bruti into Bass’ boot and tags in Valentine. Warrior charges into the ring which allows triple-teaming in the heel corner. Honky goes for Shake, Rattle n’ Roll, but this year, Beefcake backdrops before the Roll can connect. Honky smartly tags in the Outlaw and grabs Brutus’ leg to cut off a tag; Bass clotheslines him off the top rope for a nearfall, Brutus got his foot on the ropes. Honky tags in and for some reason decides to come in off the top with a double axe handle, Beefcake punches him in the gut on the way down. Beefcake is fired up and hammers away in Honky, a long delayed atomic drop follows. Brutus slaps on the sleeper hold; Honky desperately goes for the ropes and they both tumble to the floor. Beefcake, for some inane reason, applies the sleeper on the floor and they both get counted out; therefore, Brutus Beefcake is ELIMINATED and Honky Tonk Man is ELIMINATED.

The Ultimate Warrior is now alone versus Greg Valentine and Ron Bass; they double team him with a tandem clothesline. Bass pounds away on the chest of the Warrior. Bass and Valentine quick tag on the Warrior but they cannot drop him; Warrior fires up on Valentine but Bass cuts his comeback off. They try another double clothesline but the Warrior ducks it and wipes both of them out with a double clothesline. Warrior hits a running double axe handle on Ron Bass and pins him so Ron Bass is ELIMINATED.

Valentine desperately tries to nail the Warrior as Jesse complains that Valentine was the actual legal man not Bass; it is a moot point as the Warrior immediately nails Valentine with another running double axe handle and quickly pins him and Greg Valentine is ELIMINATED. Ultimate Warrior is the sole-survivor. 5.5/10 Great choice for an opener as the Warrior got the crowd fired up for the rest of the show. It is nearly impossible for these early Survivor Series matches to truly suck with ten guys in there to keep the pace moving quickly with nonstop action and no one getting tired. The jobbers were eliminated rather quickly and the midcarders finished off the match with Warrior going over strong as this was his initial push where he was winning all his matches in about thirty seconds and was invincible.

Powers of Pain, Rockers, British Bulldogs, Hart Foundation & Young Stallions vs. Demolition, Brain Busters, Bolsheviks, Fabulous Rougeau Brothers & Los Conquistadores (w/Mr. Fuji, Bobby Heenan & Jimmy Hart):   The Demos are the current WWF tag team champs and have a long entrance which allows a long version of Rick Derringer’s Demolition, which ruled. Demolition and the Powers were the main tag feud here and are the team captains. The Harts were still in their feud with Jimmy Hart and the Rougeaus; they pan across the ring and it is awesome looking at all of the tag teams, twenty wrestlers in the ring at once for a non-Battle Royal match, plus four managers and two referees. Slick is announced as the Bolsheviks’ manager but he is not there. Davey Boy and Conquistador Uno start off; Davy Boy slams him so he tags Jacques Rougeau. Davey Boy press-slams Jacques into his brother Raymond who was illegally charging into the ring; Shawn Michaels (making his WWF PPV debut) squares off against Nikolai Volkoff. Volkoff pounds away and tags in Boris Zhukov who also pounds away on Shawn; he whips Michaels into the corner but he back flips off the top and hiptosses Boris and tags in Marty Jannetty. The Rockers hit double arm wringers into double chops on him. Boris drags Jannetty into the heel side and tags in Demolition Ax; Marty wisely retreats from the corner. Ax hammers away and tags in Arn Anderson; Jannetty fires up on him and hits a backdrop and dropkick forcing Arn to tag in Tully Blanchard. They exchange blows until Marty atomic drops him into his corner and a couple of the babyfaces pinball him around there; Jannetty dropkicks him so he immediately tags Jacques back in. Jacques tries a second rope body press but Jannetty ducks. Marty tags in Dynamite Kid and he immediately hits a snap-suplex. They each tag out to Raymond and Jim Powers; Dynamite immediately returns and headlocks Raymond. He fires Dynamite Kid into the corner but he quickly underhook cradles him out of the corner and almost gets three. Powers tags back in as does Boris; Powers overwhelms him so Demolition Smash enters. Smash takes over quickly and holds him for Jacques to hit a nice standing dropkick. Bret Hart comes in and gets caught by a reverse elbow from Jacques for two. Raymond comes in; Bret surprises him with an inside cradle off the ropes and pins him to ELIMINATE the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. The rumor here is the WWF had to get the Rougeaus out of the building quickly because they had a backstage issue with Dynamite Kid for a prank pulled on the Rougeaus by Curt Hennig, but framed the Bulldogs for it. Dynamite and Jacques Rougeau each had backstage attacks on the other prior to the PPV and the Bulldogs planned on attacking the Rougeaus right after this match. The WWF found out about it and organized the Rougeaus’ immediate elimination and kept the Bulldogs out there almost until the end so the Rougeaus were gone by the time Davey Boy and Dynamite got to the locker room. This was the Bulldogs’ final WWF appearance also; Bret Hart confirms the whole incident in his highly entertaining autobiography, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling.

Nikolai heads in and gets caught in an arm wringer and brings in Paul Roma; Volkoff immediately overpowers him but Roma hits a beautiful standing jump-to-the-top reverse crossbody. Neidhart tags in and dropkicks Volkoff. Nikolai takes over on the Anvil and tags in Smash who telegraphs a backdrop and Neidhart clotheslines him and tags in the Barbarian. The building explodes as the Powers of Pain and Demolition finally meet. They trade blows and Smash tags out to Conquistador Dos; Barbarian shrugs off most of his offense and beats the crap out of him and floors him with a big boot. Warlord comes in and continues the beating; Bret comes in and knocks him into his corner so he tags in Smash. Smash brings in Ax and Demolition double team Bret in classic Demolition style. Bret manages a comeback but runs into a knee in the corner; Tully tags in and comes off the top rope. Blanchard sends Hart into the ropes but he runs into a Hart Attack clothesline. Ax and Shawn Michaels tags in; Tully, ever the professional heel, grabs Shawn’s leg to give his team the little extra advantage and Demolition takes over. Shawn tires a high crossbody but Smash catches him in midair and places him on the turnbuckles in the heel corner. Nikolai tags in and every heel gets a free shot in on Michaels. Volkoff hits his press-backbreaker and a knee lift. The Brain Busters get a tag and Tully whips Shawn into a Double A-Spinebuster, it only gets two. Anderson brings Conquistador Dos back in and he hammers away slamming Shawn, but too close to the corner and Marty Jannetty tags in, on fire, with a powerslam. Jannetty a little too overzealous knocks Dos into his corner and he tags in Conquistador Uno who walks into an arm drag. Jannetty runs the ropes on Uno, who tries a hiptoss; Marty spins around his arm in a rather unique counter and hits a bodyslam. Nikolai returns but gets hit with a dropkick for a nearfall; Volkoff’s kick out pushes Jannetty into his corner and tags in Paul Roma. Roma gets a few licks in and tags in Davey Boy who delay-bodyslams Volkoff. Nikolai hits his roundhouse kick and tags in Blanchard who backdrops Davey Boy. Blanchard tries a series of elbow drops but Smith keeps rolling away and head-butts Tully into his corner tagging Conquistador Dos. Dos is rather surprised to see the Warlord waiting for him. Dos tries a few shots in on the Warlord but he muscles him up for a press-slam. Dos tags in Ax. They exchange blows and the Warlord gets the brief advantage until Ax gets in a few shots and tags in Smash. Warlord catches the boot of Smash, back leg sweeps him and tags in his partner. Barbarian, who was underrated in his Powers of Pain days, hits some kind of lightning quick kick move to Smash, it happened so fast I have no idea what it was. Smash battles back and brings in Tully Blanchard who gets immediately press-slammed onto the top turnbuckle; Neidhart tags in and hits his standing powerslam for two. Dynamite returns and kills Blanchard with a horse collar clothesline. Tully momentums Dynamite to the floor and brings in Arn who works over Dynamite until Boris comes in and misses a knee drop  to allow a tag to Jim Powers. Powers, who had the best house of fire taunt on any babyface I know, tosses Zhukov into the buckles. Powers tires a second rope crossbody but Boris rolls through and pins him, ELIMINATING the Young Stallions.

Shawn heads in and takes advantage of a stunned Zhukov, flooring him and dropping a second-rope fist drop but only gets a two count. Shawn brings in the Barbarian who ends Boris with a shoulder tackle; but the momentum carries him into his corner and tags in Tully. In a great moment, Blanchard walks in the ring and cowardly saunters over to Nikolai and tags out, without making contact; this is why he rules. Volkoff gets the advantage and brings in Ax who chops and sledges Barbarian to the canvas. The heel team beats on the Barbarian until he fires back on Nikolai and tags Shawn in. Boris comes in and Michaels blind-tags Jannetty as he is whipped off the ropes; Marty surprises Zhukov with a slingshot sunset flip and gets a pinfall therefore, the Bolsheviks are ELIMINATED.

Arn sneaks in and nails Marty in the confusion; he and Tully drive him to their corner where he gets pounded. Marty hits a desperation sunset flip on Conquistador Uno, off a backdrop, for two. He tags in Dos who comes off the top rope; Dos connects with his backdrop and tags in Smash. The heels beat on Marty for a while as the pace slows down because the remaining teams are beginning to tire. Jannetty slams Arn Anderson face first off a telegraphed backdrop and tags in Davey Boy who meets a Conquistador with a backdrop. Tully tags in and once again is hesitant to take on the powerful British Bulldog; Tully suckers him into the corner and boots him there. Blanchard whips Davey Boy into the corner hard, for a flip, and Smith lands on the back of his head. Blanchard rakes Davey Boy’s eyes with his bootlaces and tags in Smash who applies a neck crank. Los Conquistadors double team Davey Boy but when it becomes one-on-Uno, Smith fares better and tags in the Anvil. Neidhart clobbers Uno and brings in Bret Hart and the Foundation steals Demolition’s Decapitation move it only gets two. Michaels returns and hits a nice dropkick; it is weird seeing Bret and Shawn on the same team back in their early tag teaming days, I never would have thought that they, along with Davey Boy Smith, would become future singles champions. The Rockers hit a dropdown into a reverse elbow smash double team and Conquistador Uno looks to tag, in the babyface corner! Dynamite chops Uno and snap-suplexes him, follows up with a second rope knee drop for two. Jesse Ventura is rather impresses the Conquistador is surviving this long; Barbarian tags in and Jesse writes Uno’s epitaph. Barbarian powerslams him, drops a quick elbow but stupidly head-butts him back into his corner so he can tag in Tully Blanchard, who again is reluctant. Heenan calls Blanchard over for a conference, triggering mass booing. Blanchard suckers the referee over to check on something on the Barbarian and Blanchard sucker-kicks him and drags him back to the corner and tags in Demolition Ax. HEEL! Demolition sledges away on the Barbarian in the corner; Smash applies another neck crank and trash talks the Warlord. Barbarian powers free but Smash brings him back to the corner for more punishment. Ax returns and reapplies the neck crank; Arn tags in and telegraphs a backdrop and Barbarian is able to tag in Jannetty who dropkicks and reverse elbows him. Anvil tags in and telegraphs his backdrop and allows Arn to tag Tully. Blanchard comes off the top rope with a crossbody but it only gets two; Neidhart blocks a suplex and nails his own vertical suplex. Bret comes in and hits a nice backbreaker and an inverted atomic drop. Blanchard whips Bret into the corner but he floats over into a bridging German suplex, Tully rolls his shoulder at the last second and Bret inadvertently pins himself and ELIMINATES the Hart Foundation.

Dynamite Kid runs in during the confusion and Tombstone piledrives Tully, he even tries to pin him the same way the Undertaker does, minus the forehead and tongue; Davey Boy runs in and the Bulldogs double shoulderblock Tully. Shawn Michaels tags in so Tully calls to Arn for some illegal double teaming which draws Marty in to save his partner, who would eventually toss him through a Barber Shop window, win the WWF title, become a bitch and then a degenerate, find God, make a triumphant return, retire Ric Flair and become a Hall of Famer. Woops, got ahead of myself, there. The Rockers and the Brain Busters break out into a huge brawl resulting in them both getting disqualified; the Rockers hit stereo superkicks knocking the Busters to the floor and they brawl all of the way into the dressing room, triggering a feud that would result in series of obscenely awesome matches in 1989. The result is the Rockers are ELIMINATED and the Brain Busters are ELIMINATED.

Demolition Smash enters the ring and applies a neck crank on Dynamite Kid while all of the attention is drawn to the Rockers and Brain Busters’ aisle brawl. Dynamite comes back and drops a head-butt on Smash off a telegraphed backdrop and gets a two count, Smash’s kick out sends Dynamite five feet off the canvas. Los Conquistadores double team Dynamite and keep the advantage until Dos tries a top-rope rolling senton and misses; Warlord tags in and he and Barbarian destroy Dos including a hard whip into Barbarian’s boot. Dos sneaks over and tags in Uno as Davey Boy enters and hits his stalling vertical suplex. Conquistador Uno tags Ax and Davey Boy gets his crucifix for a nearfall. Jesse marvels at los Conquistadores ability to survive as they have become the surprise jobber team, like the Young Stallions were last year. Davey Boy gets an arm drag into an armbar; Dynamite returns and hits a jawjacker, Smash tags in Ax and Dynamite hits a horse collar clothesline on him. Davey Boy comes back in and press-slams Conquistador Uno then hits the Bulldog powerslam. Davey Boy brings in the Barbarian in lieu of pinning Uno and they double head-butt him but he flies into his corner on the rebound and tags in Ax. Barbarian hammers Ax but he stomps back; Smash comes in and Demolition tosses Barbarian to the floor. Los Conquistadores double team Barbarian but cannot really faze him; Dynamite hits a nice gutwrench suplex and a falling head-butt. Warlord kicks the crap out of Uno and drops a leg, Uno survives again and it able to tag in Smash, Dynamite hits a snap-suplex and climbs to the top for a swandive head-butt but misses; Smash clotheslines him and gets a pinfall. The British Bulldogs are ELIMINATED.

Barbarian heads in and pummels Smash but they force him to their corner and the heels work him over but he fights to his corner and tags in the Warlord. Conquistador Dos has no shot against him until he misses a corner charge and posts his shoulder and tags in Ax. For some bizarre reason (at the moment) Mr. Fuji hops up on the apron and waives his cane around in frustration, despite his team with the advantage. Demolition and los Conquistadores trap the Warlord in their corner and work over the injured shoulder. Smash applies an armbar as Mr. Fuji jumps op on the apron; Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse ponder his motives and mention he could cost his own team, via distraction or DQ, since they are already in control. Then in a classic Survivor Series moment, Smash goes to drop an elbow but Mr. Fuji holds the ropes open and Smash tumbles through to the floor and gets counted out. Ax gets in Fuji’s face about his betrayal; Mr. Fuji says he’s the boss and whacks him with the cane, meanwhile Smash sneaks up from behind and tosses Fuji into Ax who bodyslams him on the floor, Demolition are ELIMINATED and leave to a huge babyface reaction.

Now, to complete the rather puzzling (at the time) double switch; Barbarian and Warlord head out to help up Mr. Fuji and put him in their corner; Warlord brushing off the dust off of Fuji’s tux is kind of funny. Barbarian gets double teamed by los Conquistadores until Mr. Fuji trips up Uno allowing Barbarian to drop a head-butt for three and los Conquistadores are ELIMINATED. The Powers of Pain are the sole-survivors. Post-match, the Powers of Pain hoist Mr. Fuji up on their shoulders to pledge their allegiance; Demolition runs back out and a brawl erupts, Mr. Fuji leaves with the Powers of Pain and Demolition celebrates in the ring to a babyface pop. 9/10 This match all sorts of ruled, six ways to awesome; possibly one of the most entertaining Survivor Series matches of all time; nonstop action, double teams, double switches, etc. One of the most remembered double switches in WWF history happened in the closing minutes here as well, and it kicked off one of the more popular and dominating tag teams ever in the WWF. To add to the lore, there are a few future world champions, and Hall of Famers, in this match as well, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.

Bad New Brown tells Sean Mooney that there was a conspiracy against him; his manager should be Fox Mulder. Brow only cares about the WWF title and wants a title shot; still undefeated, Bad News has been calling Jack Tunney but has gotten no reply so he is coming to demand his title shot.

Mr. Fuji, with the Powers of Pain, explains his actions; he made Demolition and once they won the titles they got “swollen heads” and stopped listening to him so he brought in the Powers to teach them a lesson.

Bobby Heenan tells Jake Roberts to be leery of André the Giant; Dino Bravo is coming for Jim Duggan and to embarrass all Americans. André says he will bring his team to victory this year.

The Mega Powers and their team are ready; Hulk Hogan is gunning for the Big Bossman and there is no weak link on the team.

“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Ken Patera, Tito Santana & Scott Casey vs. André the Giant, Dino Bravo, “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, King Harley Race & “Ravishing” Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan & Frenchy Martin):   Duggan and Roberts are the captains for their team and André and Bravo are the opposing captains; Junk Yard Dog was originally on the babyface team but left the WWF and was replaced with the other former Killer Bee, B. Brian Blair but then he left the WWF so they replaced him with Scott Casey, an upper-jobber, like the Brooklyn Brawler or Rick McGraw, he looks like Hercules’ kid brother. The main storyline here is André the Giant is afraid of snakes; Jake caused him to have a heart attack on Saturday Night’s Main Event, back in October. Jake Roberts is still not too pleased with Rick Rude over the whole embarrassing his wife thing on WWF Superstars. Duggan and Bravo were also feuding in an American versus evil foreigner angle. Rick Rude, with his cool female handprint tights on, and Ken Patera start off Patera pushes him down rather easily a few times; Rude decides to bring in the more powerful Dino Bravo. Gorilla Monsoon insinuates that Patera was the man responsible for his decision to retire. Bravo has better luck and then brings in Mr. Perfect who comes off the top rope with a double axe handle. Patera overpowers Hennig and tags in Jake Roberts; the Snake arm wringer lifts him and brings in Tito Santana. Hennig side headlocks him immediately and then hits the ropes but eats an arm drag and a bodyslam. Tito misses a corner charge and meets Perfect’s elbow and tags Bravo back in. Santana blind tags in Roberts who nails Bravo from behind; Scott Casey makes his PPV debut tagging in and hitting a reverse elbow but gets caught trying a monkey flip out of the corner and gets inverted atomic dropped. Harley Race tags in and hits a belly-to-belly suplex, drops a knee and hits a vertical suplex. Rude returns and slams Casey and the heels work him over. Hennig tries a head-butt and hurts himself as well as Casey so he is able to tag in Tito and he and Patera hit double elbows. Patera brings in Duggan who stomps around and kills Mr. Perfect with a clothesline; Hennig comes back with an eye rake but Duggan punches back. André saunters down the apron to try to interfere and then complains to the referee. Casey comes back in and slams Hennig but Perfect tags in Rude who measures Casey with punches. Casey avoids a charge in the corner and manages to get Tito in there; Santana hits a flying cross-chop for two. Duggan arrives to miss a pair of clotheslines but score with a spinning bodyslam; he misses an elbow drop, though. They hit head-to-head for a double KO. Duggan dives for a tag to Patera; he slams Rude and takes him over with a headlock. Patera, as usual in his late babyface days, misses a corner charge and Rude hits the Rude Awakening for three; Ken Patera is ELIMINATED.

Casey charges in but tries to ambush Rude but he midcards him into the heel corner and tags in Race; Harley hits a dropkick. Bravo tags in but Casey manages a classic token jobber move in; a backslide for two. Casey tries a roll-up off the ropes but Bravo counters and finishes off Casey with the side suplex. Scott Casey is ELIMINATED putting the Snake/Hacksaw team down five to three.

Tito Santana comes in; he fares better against Bravo forcing a tag to Mr. Perfect. Duggan tags in and immediately gets caught on a telegraphed backdrop and Hennig kicks him in the face perfectly. Duggan no-sells Perfect’s punches and stomps around the ring but stupidly stomps right into André who grabs him from the apron. The Giant destroys Duggan in the corner and then Hennig works him over. Rude blind-tags in and continues the punishment; Duggan manages a desperation clothesline. Tito and Race tag in; Harley smartly rams Tito into André’s head. Why does Race STILL wear the purple trunks with the crown on them, he hasn’t been the King for months, he MUST have another pair, the guy’s been wrestling since the 70’s? Dino hammers away on a prone Santana as Race holds him; Santana gets a desperation crossbody for two and then a corner double-underhook cradle, also for two. Tito almost tags but Dino pulls him back and brings Harley back in to KILL Tito with a piledriver but it only gets two. Harley clotheslines Tito and then whips him into the ropes; Santana surprises Race with the flying forearm, out of the blue, and gets a pinfall, ELIMINATING Harley Race.

André comes in off the loss and chokes the crap out of Santana on the ropes. The Giant punches and kicks Santana and sits on him a few times; Tito valiantly fights back but André gets in his best move, the choke. Santana stupidly tries a sunset flip so André sits on him and squashes Tito for three. Tito Santana is ELIMINATED.

Duggan charges him and clotheslines André and ties him in the ropes; Jake tags in and beats the crap out of poor tied up André in the ropes. André gets untied, nails Jake and smartly tags out. Rude comes in and whips Jake into the corner and poses prompting Jesse Ventura to muse about who Cheryl Roberts, Jake’s wife, is rooting for. Rude slowly follows up and sets up Jake for Curt Hennig; Perfect chokes on the ropes as André adds a few illegal kicks from the apron, Hennig gets an under-the-bottom-rope slingshot hangman, and then distracts the referee while the Giant stands on the ropes, choking Roberts with the bottom strand. Hennig slaps Jake around and that pisses Roberts off and he fires up on Bravo, who tagged in, clever heeling by Perfect, rile Jake up then tag out. Short-clothesline follows to Dino and Jake signals for the DDT but Rude blindside him from the apron and tags in; Rude methodically continues the punishment. Dino Bravo tags in and clobbers Jake with a piledriver but Jake gets his foot on the ropes; Bravo misses a few elbows and Hacksaw gets the tag. Duggan backdrops Bravo and sends him into the corner and clotheslines him off the rebound. Duggan sets up for the three-point stance clothesline but Frenchy Martin grabs his leg and pulls him to the floor; Bravo slams Duggan on the floor enraging him to grab his 2×4 and lambaste Bravo with it for the DQ. Jim Duggan is ELIMINATED and poor Jake is stuck four-on-one.

Roberts hurries in to try to prevent the tag but Bravo brings in Hennig; Jake stays in his corner and peppers Perfect with jabs. Roberts fires up the crowd signaling the DDT. Perfect tries to pull Jake into the corner but he cannot so Hennig tags in Bravo; Dino tries to entrap Jake in his corner but elects to go into a Greco-Roman knuckle-lock. Jake fights free and tries a DDT but Bravo backdrops out. Bravo misses a few elbows and gets frustrated so he tags in Rude. Great psychology here; Jake trying to keep the battle on his side of the ring and the heels selling the four-on-one advantage by frequent tagging. Rude tags in so Roberts retreats to the floor for a breather. Rude rakes Jake’s eyes when he reenters the heels finally get Jake down near their corner and Rude hits a stomach breaker. Rude methodically whips Jake into the turnbuckles a few times and applies a bearhug and then drops a top-rope fist drop. Rick Rude takes far too much time toying around with Jake, swiveling his hips over him; Rude saunters over for a tag but Jake pops up and yanks his tights down. Roberts uses the distraction to plant Rude with a DDT and get a pinfall. Rick Rude is ELIMINATED.

André charges in, immediately following the loss, and chokes Roberts viciously against the ropes. André, in a fit of rage, begins to ignore the referee’s five count and gets disqualified; André the Giant is ELIMINATED.

The Snake is dead so Curt Hennig sneaks in, hooks the leg, and pins him and Jake Roberts is ELIMINATED. The survivors are Curt Hennig and Dino Bravo. Post-match Jake grabs Damien and scares the crap out of André again. 6.5/10 Well, thought out and well booked match; got the point across. The action was pretty good considering there were some jobbers/replacements and some older broken-down guys. Hennig manages to continue his undefeated streak. The ending was good with the André/Bravo team actually talking strategy in how to corner Jake; Roberts, of course, played his part perfectly telling a great desperation story in the ring once Duggan got eliminated.

The Twin Towers and their team are ready; each team member shouts insults at their individual opponent. Big Bossman is planning on hurting Hulk Hogan.

Mega Powers, Hillbilly Jim, Koko B. Ware & Hercules (w/Elizabeth) vs. Twin Towers, Ted Dibiase, Red Rooster & King Haku (w/Bobby Heenan, Virgil & Slick):   Randy Savage is the Undisputed WWF Champion and things were still harmonious betwixt he and Hulk Hogan; their main feud here was with the Twin Towers, who would be instrumental in Hogan and Savage’s eventual break-up. Dibiase, having been the main heel for most of 1988, has dropped off a little as he was involved in a feud by proxy with Hercules as Bobby Heenan tried to sell him to Dibiase as a slave. The Red Rooster is Terry Taylor who was with Heenan but a heel, weird to see him as one, Heenan said he could take any ham-and-egger, give them a gimmick and turn them into a star; so Heenan is always barking instruction at him. Dibiase’s green sequence tuxedo makes him look like part of the Price is Right showcase big wheel. Koko is wearing his teal and yellow “WWF” tights, forcing him to have blurry-ass for the entire match. Dibiase starts off with Randy Savage; as sort of a return match from the main event of WrestleMania IV. Savage knocks Dibiase down but Dibiase comes back with a clothesline. Dibiase and Savage move rather quickly around the ring and double reverse into the corner where Dibiase misses a running elbow and Savage peppers him with jabs and a Hart Attack clothesline. Hercules tags in so Dibiase retreats to the floor, Herc gives chase but gets caught by the Red Rooster on his way back in; Rooster hits a jawjacker and goes for a Sharpshooter but Hercules blocks it. Herc overpowers Rooster and tags in Koko so the team jobbers can give it a go. Rooster counters a corner charge and brings in Akeem who pounds away on Koko. King Haku comes in and pummels Koko until he misses a legdrop; Koko tags in Hercules who sees a Heenan representative and must destroy. They trade blows and Hercules gets in his classic three punches where he pulls powers down from Zeus or Apollo of wherever he gets his strength from. Hulk Hogan gets a tag to a nice eruption; Hogan clotheslines him, drops a couple of elbows and rakes his face with his boot seemingly just to piss off Jesse Ventura on commentary. Hillbilly Jim comes in and they double boot Haku; Akeem gets a tag and briefly beats on Hillbilly and makes the mistake of tagging the Rooster who tries a bodyslam. Hillbilly casually blocks and slams the Rooster and stomps on his midsection. Koko hits a powerslam but the Rooster comes back and tries to slam Koko’s head into the buckle, but as per Professional Wrestling Rule #3: Black Guys Have Hard Heads, it has no effect. Koko fakes out the Rooster with a second-rope crossbody and climbs to the top and hits a missile dropkick but gets a two count. Hogan tags in and the Rooster is no match for him and gets planted with a big boot. Hogan brings in Savage; Hulk bodyslams him in position for Macho Man to fly off the top with the flying elbow and the Red Rooster is ELIMINATED.

After the Rooster is pinned everyone runs in the ring for a quick brawl before the heels retreat and the babyfaces celebrate. Bobby Heenan berates the Rooster upon his exit, so forcefully in fact that Akeem has to calm him down, setting up Heenan and the Rooster’s eventual split a month or so later. Savage and Haku battle and Hogan comes in; Haku gets a shot in and hits a nice dropkick. Hogan reverses a whip and hits a corner clothesline and slams Haku and tags in Hercules. Side headlock by Herc countered into a backdrop suplex by Haku; Akeem tags in. Akeem slams Hercules but misses a lumbering elbow drop and Hillbilly Jim returns. Jim kicks the crap out of Akeem but cannot drop him; big boot still won’t drop him. Akeem gets tosses into the corner but comes out with a clothesline flooring Hillbilly allowing him to splash Air Africa for the pinfall and even the sides, ELIMINATE Hillbilly Jim.

Koko runs in and dropkicks Akeem; Koko quickly tags in Hogan and then Savage comes off the second rope with a double axe handle. The babyfaces pass Akeem around but cannot knock him off his feet. Koko comes back in and cockily dropkicks Akeem into the corner but he avoids a Stinger splash and tags in the Big Bossman; a Bossman Slam immediately follows to send him packing and Koko B. Ware is ELIMINATED.

With Koko gone, Hogan hops in there to finally get a piece of the Bossman; Hulk gets his eye raked but he comes right back and clotheslines and atomic drops the Bossman but cannot seem to knock him down. Bossman is pinballed amongst the babyfaces and clotheslined in the corner and still won’t go down. Big boot; still will not go down so Hogan bodyslams him. Hogan tries a shoulderblock to no avail; he tries again but runs into a spinebuster and tags in Akeem and they double elbow him. Haku comes in for some work and chops away; Hogan crumples against the ropes so Bossman connects with his rope splash. Dibiase comes in and punches away and levels him with a clothesline. Dibiase hits a few Million Dollar fist drops. Dibiase goes for a cover but it serves to Hulk him up and he atomic drops him and tags in Hercules. Herc unloads with punches and a backdrop; Hercules levels Dibiase with a series of clotheslines until Virgil trips him up from the outside. Hercules attacks Virgil which allows Dibiase to nail him with a knee in the kidneys from behind, roll him up and pin him. Hercules is ELIMINATED; The Mega Powers are left alone with the Twin Towers, King Haku and Ted Dibiase.

Ted Dibiase is still jawing away with Hercules on the floor so Savage sneaks in and rolls him up for three; Ted Dibiase is ELIMINATED.

Haku gets in there and takes on the Champ; he chops him down but misses a running head-butt. Haku reverses a whip so Savage tags in Hogan and then smartly trips up Haku so he cannot make a reciprocating tag. Hogan drops his head for a backdrop so Haku nails him with his crescent kick and tags in the Bossman; he works Hogan’s lower back and bodyslams the Hulk. Akeem tags in and sledges on Hogan’s lower back; Haku tags in as well and chops and vertical suplexes Hogan and locks in a trapezius hold. Referee checks the arm, which fires Hogan up, but gets cut off with a thumb to the eye. Bossman returns and hits a sit-out Bossman Slam. Bossman takes FOREVER to go for a pinfall, but decides to go to the top rope in lieu of pinning Hogan, and misses a splash off the top rope. Hogan tags in Macho Man who clobbers the fallen Bossman. All of the heels try to get at him but he fends them off until Slick nails him with his cane as Savage is coming off the ropes; now Savage is in trouble. Bossman locks in a bearhug as Slick accosts Elizabeth, he drags her all of the way up the apron before Hogan can recover enough to go over and nail him. The Twin Towers catch up with Hogan in the aisle and they drag Hogan back to ringside and handcuff him to the bottom rope; meanwhile in the ring Haku, works over Savage in the ring. In the chaos, the Bossman, who never tagged, gets counted out so the Big Bossman is ELIMINATED. Bossman hammers a hapless Hogan with his nightstick upon his exit.

Akeem and Haku work over Savage; Bossman continues the punishment of Hogan. Savage recovers and nails Akeem so he and the Bossman works him over with the nightstick as Haku heads to the floor to choke the handcuffed Hogan. Akeem hits Air Africa on Savage; the referee disqualifies Akeem in the confusion that ELIMINATES Akeem.

So to quickly recap Savage is the legal man but has been physically dissected by the departing Twin Towers, Hogan is beat up on the floor and handcuffed to the bottom rope and Haku is alone but the only one conscious; Slick remains at ringside to taunt Hogan with the handcuff keys. Haku misses an elbow but there is no one for Savage to tag. Haku misses a dropkick this time, and again, there is no one for Savage to tag. Haku continues the punishment; Elizabeth rushes over to Hogan accidently drawing the referees to her. Haku and Slick use the opportunity to illegally double team Savage; Slick holds Macho Man for Haku to crescent kick but Savage, of course, moves and Haku knocks Slick out. Hogan nails Heenan as he was trying to help Slick. Hogan beckons Elizabeth to search the fallen Slick for the handcuff keys, Jesse accuses her of going for Slick’s wallet, she finds the keys and Hogan is free! He immediately heads back to his corner awaits the legal tag. Meanwhile in the ring Haku hits a top rope splash and gets a nearfall. Haku stupidly crescent kicks Savage into his corner and Hogan tags in; big boot and the legdrop finishes Haku, he’s ELIMINATED. The survivors are Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Post-match the Mega Powers celebrate; Hogan poses and Savage slowly recovers from his beating. Hogan scoops up Elizabeth and hugs her; Savage looks on dubiously. 6.5/10 Great main event; everyone who needed to be protected got DQed, counted out or won the match. The cracks in the Mega Powers’ foundation began here.

 

The 411:  Good show for the WWF; I have a soft spot for the late 80’s in wrestling, I really began to get more into it and I met a few pals in school who liked it as well so we began to watch PPVs together and that segued into watching Raw and Nitro every Monday night during the late 90’s. The tag match was highly entertaining and the main event was fun as the seeds for WrestleMania V’s main event were planted here.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]