On the Marc Reviews: Survivor Series 1991

Please follow Marc Elusive on Twitter or fan Marc Elusive on Facebook or check out www.marcelusive.com for reviews and recaps (of current WWE and old WWF PPVs, DVDs and VHS tapes) and a little analysis; more of a play-by-play style, like my reviews here on 411mania.

Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan, November 27, 1991

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

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

This is the first time the Survivor Series was moved from Thanksgiving night to Thanksgiving Eve. It also had the infamous “This Tuesday in Texas” PPV following it in an attempt to squeeze out more money, since the PPV buyrates had plummeted.

They show clips form Jake Roberts tying Randy Savage in the ropes and having his king cobra bite down on Savage’s arm. Roddy Piper leaves the announce position to try to help him; Elizabeth jogs down to the ring as well and they pull Randy to safety. Savage, reacting to the poison, keeps charging into the ring. Jack Tunney bares all reptiles from ringside and Randy Savage is reinstated (he has been retired since his career match at WrestleMania VII); he and Jake Roberts will have a match at This Tuesday in Texas.

“Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Bret “Hitman” Hart, British Bulldog & Virgil vs. Ric Flair, Ted Dibiase, Warlord & Mountie (w/Sensational Sherri, Jimmy Hart, Harvey Wippleman & Mr. Perfect):   No team names this year; Piper and Flair are the team captains. Flair was claiming to be the “Real World’s Champion” and wore the WCW/NWA title to the ring so Jack Tunney video distorted it. This may be the first survivor match where all eight guys are involved in feuds; Bret/Mountie, Warlord/Bulldog, Virgil/Dibiase and Flair/Piper. Bret is the IC Champion and Dibiase is the “Million Dollar” champion, having won it back from Virgil a few weeks prior to the PPV with the help of Repo Man. All of the managers leave ringside (except Sherri). Dibiase and Piper start off and Flair sneaks in and knees Piper in the back; Dibiase takes over but Piper retakes control and atomic drops Dibiase onto the top rope, crotching him. Dibiase tries to get help from Sherri and Piper winds up dragging her into the ring; Piper nails Dibiase and Sherri hops up on his back. Gorilla Monsoon makes a fantastic comment “c’mon ref, what do we have to do, draw you a picture?” Piper kisses her and then pummels Dibiase. Sherri is ejected from ringside and the Bulldog gets a tag; Virgil comes in and stomps away on Dibiase’s arm. The babyface team quick tag on Dibiase’s left arm. Virgil comes off the top with a double axe handle; Bret returns and arm drags Dibiase into an armbar. Bret misses a knee in the corner and then he and Dibiase go through a nearfall sequence and Bret comes out with an armbar. Dibiase comes out and hiplocks Bret and tags in Flair. Ric misses an elbow and Bret inverted atomic drops him; Bulldog tags in and slingshots him into the buckle. Davey Boy press-slams Flair and Piper gets the tag; Roddy kicks the crap out of Flair, he retreats to the floor but Piper rams him into the steps. Back in the ring, Flair tags in the Warlord. Piper fakes the Warlord on a test of strength and tags in the Bulldog. Davey Boy floors the big Warlord but he counters a corner charge with a boot and tags in the Mountie. Mountie hits a reverse elbow and runs for cover as soon as Bret tags in. Dibiase returns and Bret hits a backbreaker and a second-rope driving elbow. They hit head-to-head for a double KO. Mountie tags in and so does the Bulldog; Davey Boy gorilla press-slams the Mountie. Flair comes in illegally and pisses the Bulldog off; Dibiase and Flair try a double clothesline but the Bulldog levels both of them and then takes out the Warlord as well. Bulldog plants the Mountie with the Bulldog powerslam which draws everyone into the ring; Flair comes off the top rope with a double axe in the confusion and pins the Bulldog; ELIMINATING the British Bulldog.

Piper charges in and gets caught in the corner but fights his way out; Flair and Dibiase finally take control on him and Flair drops a knee and then misses a second. Piper steals a finisher and applies a figure-four leglock to Flair; Dibiase sneaks in and breaks it whilst the referee is distracted. Dibiase tags in and hits a shinbreaker and applies a spinning toehold. Mountie comes in and applies a Boston crab; Piper pulls himself close enough to the corner and tags in Virgil. Weird moment as Mountie makes his corner but everyone short-arms him; Virgil hits a reverse elbow and NOW Flair tags in. Flair and Virgil exchange chops and Virgil punches the crap out of Flair and backdrops him. Flair tags in Dibiase and Ted tries to sucker Virgil into the corner but eats turnbuckle himself. Dibiase comes back with a powerslam and brings in the Warlord to toss him to the floor so Flair can toss him into the steps there. Bret helps Virgil back into the ring where the Warlord is waiting; Warlord applies the full nelson. The Piper team draws the Flair team into the ring so Bret can come off the top rope with a double axe onto the Warlord and Piper gets a pinfall. The Warlord is ELIMINATED. Ha, tit-for-tat.

All of the remaining heels accost the referee Joey Marella about the pinfall so Piper sneaks a roll-up on Dibiase for two; Dibiase takes over but Piper blocks and hits his own vertical suplex. Virgil tags back in and his a few clotheslines and the Million Dollar Dream; Dibiase runs him into the top turnbuckle to break it up. Flair gets a tag and chops in the corner but the fans do not “woo”; although my friends and I did back at home in my parent’s basement watching it on PPV. Flair hits a backdrop suplex and brings the Mountie in for some stomping; the heels work over Virgil in the corner. Dibiase hits a nice gutwrench suplex and he and Flair double clothesline him. Flair tries a “Flair pin” with his feet on the ropes but it gets two and we have our first “I’ll have you taken out of here in a minute” comment from Monsoon to Bobby Heenan; if there ever was a pro wrestling Odd Couple, this was it. Dibiase drops his head allowing Virgil a swinging neckbreaker and tags in Piper; he pokes Flair in the eye and blocks an inverted atomic drop but gets poked again. Flair goes to the top but Piper Flairs him off; everyone gets into the ring and brawls. Piper sends Flair into the corner and he flips out to the floor. The referee disqualifies everyone in the ring; Flair who was outside is spared, so Roddy Piper is ELIMINATED, Bret Hart is ELIMINATED, Virgil is ELIMINATED, Ted Dibiase is ELIMINATED and the Mountie is ELIMINATED; Ric Flair is the sole-survivor. Bobby Heenan is gold on commentary for his over-the-top victory celebration. 6/10 Good opening match that had a silly ending to, I guess, protect all the wrestlers; bad move as a lot of people get pinned in Survivor Series, why protect now?

“Macho Man” Randy Savage comes out to express his delight about reinstatement. Savage says the snakebite was hell but he could hear Elizabeth crying and that hurt him more than anything Jake “The Snake” Roberts did. Savage is going to be all over the Snake “like melting butter” at Tuesday in Texas. Okerlund turns to Elizabeth’s feelings; Savage brings her out and she thanks everyone who supported the Macho Man. 2/10 WWF needed more money so more PPVs could help…

“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, “El Matador” Tito Santana & Texas Tornado vs. Col. Mustafa, Berzerker, Hercules & Skinner (w/General Adnan & Mr. Fuji):   Mustafa and Duggan are the captains I think, they never announced it, whatever I’m not losing any sleep over it. Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart was supposed to be the fourth member of Team Duggan, but Ric Flair put him out with the figure-four leglock; Slaughter, who became a face after “getting his country back”, replaced him. This match is like gimmick hell, or jobber hell; El Matador starts off with Skinner. Santana applies a headlock and takes him down. Tito quickly nails him with the flying forearm (or flying jalapeño, if you are Bobby Heenan) but Skinner tumbles to the floor; Mustafa heads out to give him advice, God only knows what he would have said but I’m guessing “humble” may have been involved. Heenan continues to make this match far more entertaining than it has any right to be; commenting on Tito’s green tights, calling them “iridescent guacamole”. Tito hits the ropes and misses a high crossbody (flying taco according to Heenan). Berzerker tags in and misses something off the second rope; Tornado tags in and gets chopped in the corner. Berzerker misses a dropkick but forces Tornado into the corner allowing Hercules a tag. Duggan tags in and they trade punches; Berzerker distracts Duggan but it takes some time for the heels to take over; finally they overwhelm him and Berzerker tags in and pummels Duggan. Mustafa finally tag in and he slams Duggan’s head into his spiked boot and hits a chinlock. Duggan comes back but runs into a double chop to the throat; this match has gone on far too long. Duggan finally block and hits his own vertical suplex. Slaughter tags in and fights former ally Col. Mustafa; he hits an atomic drop and clothesline and pins Colonel Mustafa who is ELIMINATED.

Hercules and Berzerker try to double up on Slaughter; Berzerker tosses Slaughter into the corner hard allowing Slaughter to over-bump. Big boot plants the Sarge and gets a nearfall; Hercules tags in and hammers away, Berzerker comes in but Slaughter atomic drops him onto the top rope. Slaughter kicks Berzerker’s leg and he falls into a split; Duggan returns and clotheslines him to the floor. Berzerker reenters and gets backdropped to the other side; Berzerker head-butts the lower half of Duggan and the Tornado tags in. Hercules tags in and Von Erich hops over him twice, stumbling into the tag to Tito on the second attempt. Tito hits his El Matador finisher, El Paso de Muerte for three; Hercules is ELIMINATED.

Skinner charges in and brings Tito into their corner; Berzerker fights and clotheslines Santana. Skinner returns and bodyslams him; Tito sneaks a tag off an atomic drop and Slaughter schoolboys Skinner for three ELIMINATING him.

Berzerker comes in and misses another dropkick; Slaughter rams him into a padless turnbuckle ten times. Berzerker seemingly no-sells it refusing to be whipped to the other corner. Duggan tags in and Slaughter whips Berzerker into the three-point clothesline and Duggan pins Berzerker who is ELIMINATED. Clean sweep for Team Duggan, Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, Texas Tornado and El Matador are the survivors. 1/10 It’s over now, thank God.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts heads to the interview platform to talk to Gene Okerlund with his awesome Trust Me theme. Jake insists the snakebite incident was an accident. Gene calls him a sick man, Jake thanks him for it. Roberts blames everyone else for Savage’s condition. Okerlund mentions the ringside snake ban; Roberts insults the world saying that for six years, he was always the snake to worry about. Jake calls Tuesday in Texas the “end of the beginning”. 3.5/10 Jake sounded a bit drunk there but always gets his point across. This is the Evil Jake we would have gotten if people hadn’t started cheering for him in lieu of Hogan back in 1986.

Ric Flair distracted Hulk Hogan on an episode of the Funeral Parlor and assisted the Undertaker in a beat down with the urn. Randy Savage and Roddy Piper make the save with chairs; they nail Taker who no-sells it; Taker rips the crucifix off Hogan’s neck and drops it like he were a vampire.

WWF Heavyweight Championship Hulk Hogan vs. Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer):   This was billed as “The Gravest Challenge” and quite possible the end of the true Hogan era in the WWF; Hogan tips over the personalized casket Undertaker brought with him. Hogan avoids a corner charge and Taker no sells it; Hulk applies a side headlock, Taker fires him off and floors Hogan with a shoulderblock. Taker chokes Hogan against the ropes and then rips at his face. Undertaker stays in control with throat chops and thrusts; Paul Bearer chokes while the referee is distracted. Undertaker bodyslams Hogan as some fans cheer Taker. Undertaker misses a really high elbow drop; Hogan fights back but Taker no-sells him and blocks a bodyslam. Hogan tries a running elbow and still cannot knock Undertaker down; Hogan clotheslines him over the top but Taker lands on his feet and drags Hulk to the floor and slams his face against the steps. Paul Bearer distracts the referee as Taker chokes Hogan on the floor with an electrical cord. Back in the ring, Undertaker chokes Hogan; Paul Bearer adds an assist again as Bobby Heenan grumbles about his monitor “going out”. Taker continues to choke away against the ropes. Exciting. Taker now turns to a claw/smother hold driving Hogan to the mat. Referee Earl Hebner counts a nearfall, not quite sure how the smother is legal, considering the Taker is cupping his hand around the Hulkster’s nose and mouth. Hebner checks the arm of Hulk Hogan but all that serves to do is fire Hogan up; Undertaker cuts off a comeback with a jumping clothesline. Undertaker hits the Tombstone but Hogan pops right up; I figured out a good strategy to beat Hogan, don’t hit your finisher, you’d think after six years one heel would have figured that out. Hogan comes back with a bunch of punches and drives Taker to one knee; Hogan bodyslams the Undertaker as Ric Flair moseys to the ring. Paul Bearer grabs Hogan’s leg to stop the legdrop; Hogan discovers Flair milling about at ringside and floors him with one punch. Hogan hits the big boot but Paul Bearer grabs the leg again, right in front of Hebner; Hogan confronts Paul Bearer on the apron but the Undertaker recovers. Flair slides a chair into the ring for Undertaker to Tombstone Hogan onto and pin him and win the WWF championship. Post-match a gaggle of WWF referees assist Hogan out of the ring with kids crying in the audience. 1.5/10 I’m sorry that match was boring as hell; I know the Undertaker’s zombie character leads to matches like this, but they still suck. Hogan would get revenge in a rematch at “Tuesday in Texas” but there would be controversy there as well involving Ric Flair, leading to the vacant WWF title and the Royal Rumble 1992.

In the back there is chaos according to Gene Okerlund. Gene spots Roddy Piper who calls it a bad day in the WWF; Piper wonders where Jack Tunney is now? Piper rings bells and it is open season on the Undertaker and Ric Flair. Sean Mooney catches up with Flair and Mr. Perfect who says that Hulkamania is finally dead. Flair says Hogan is done and there is only one world champion… Ric Flair. Flair is mad at Tunney for distorting his belt. After intermission, Gene reports on the title switch and says Tunney is with Hulk Hogan. The Natural Disasters and IRS discuss their upcoming match tonight. Jimmy Hart complains that Jake Roberts should still be on their team. Mooney has Legion of Doom and Big Bossman for the rebuttal, a lot of shouting occurs here. Mooney gets some information and DARES to interrupt Hawk’s tagline; he sets it straight and then Mooney throws it to Okerlund with WWF President Jack Tunney. Tunney says the referee’s decision is final and books the rematch for Tuesday in Texas and will be personally at ringside.

Rockers & Bushwhackers vs. Nasty Boys & Beverly Brothers (w/Jimmy Hart & Genius):   Bushwhacker Butch starts off with Brian Knobbs; Butch rakes the eyes but Knobbs stays in control with forearms. Butch comes back with knee lifts and tags in Luke and the Bushwhackers ram the Nastys together. The Beverlys come in and gets hammered by the Whackers; a pair of Battering Rams and the Beverly Brothers head to the floor. The Rockers double dropkick the Nasty Boys when they try to reenter the ring. Shawn Michaels is in the ring with Blake Beverly and catches a hard elbow; Michaels hits a swinging neckbreaker off a telegraphed backdrop. Blake takes over with a backbreaker and tags in Knobbs but he misses an elbow drop and Shawn catches him with a high knee. Luke returns and stomps Knobbs’ foot. Knobbs misses a corner charge and Luke spends too much time looking like an idiot that Knobbs is able to clothesline him off the second rope and score a pinfall. Bushwhacker Luke is ELIMINATED.

Michaels comes in and Jerry Sags tags in as well; Sags hits a nice vertical suplex. Sags misses a corner charge and Shawn ascends the buckles and hits a crossbody it gets two. Shawn tags in Marty Jannetty who splashes down onto Sags’ arm and applies an armbar. Jannetty hits a few arm drags and reapplies an armbar. Sags traps Marty in the corner and Beau Beverly tags in. Jannetty flips out of a backdrop and hits a superkick it gets two. Jannetty drop-toeholds off a whip into a front chancery; Beau props Marty on the top rope and Jannetty jumps over him but falls onto the referee but it does not knock him out. Beau uses the distraction to retake control. They hit head to head and Marty tags in Butch; Sags distracts referee Danny Davis allowing the Beverlys to kill Butch with the Shaker Heights Spike for three. Bushwhacker Butch is ELIMINATED.

Marty comes in and hammers on Beau Beverly; Jannetty hits a monkey flip and a Frankensteiner for two. Marty clobbers Beau with an enziguri into an arm drag; Shawn tags in and gets caught with a knee lift. The Beverlys hit the AWA Special and toss Shawn to the floor where Knobbs tosses him into the apron. Beau drags Michaels back into the ring and works the back with an elbow drop and a backbreaker. Shawn flips out of another backbreaker and applies a backslide and for the first time in recorded human history someone is pinned with a backslide. Beau Beverly is ELIMINATED.

Blake runs in and hits an Oklahoma powerslam; Knobbs tags in and Shawn hits a desperation sunset flip for two. Shawn reverses a toss over the top and dropkicks Sags to the floor as he is gloating; Michaels dives off the apron onto Sags with a diving clothesline and then superkicks Knobbs on the floor. Shawn comes off the top rope but gets punched in the face on the way down. Knobbs and Blake team up for an assisted legdrop, Blake then slams his throat off the top rope; Gorilla Monsoon begins to question why Shawn did not tag in Jannetty when presented with the opportunity. Shawn finally tags in Marty and he attacks everyone in sight; he reverses elbows Knobbs and a snapmare. Blake returns and gets an arm drag; Marty tries an O’Connor roll but Blake blocks it so he standing sunsets him for two. Knobbs returns and tosses Marty into the buckles and power bodyslams him. Sags hits a pump-handle slam and a back suplex; Knobbs returns and tries a second-rope splash and finds Jannetty’s knees. Shawn gets a tag and takes on all three; Marty returns and they whip the Nasty Boys into Blake Beverly. Jannetty accidently wipes out Shawn Michaels with Sags’ boot as he is slamming him. Knobbs schoolboys the dazed Shawn and pins him to ELIMINATE Shawn Michaels.

Shawn gets in Marty’s face about the screw up continuing the eventual break-up of the Rockers; Marty gets clobbered by all three of the heels. Jannetty gets a second-rope bulldog but the numbers overwhelm him and he gets tossed over the top to the floor as Gorilla and Bobby Heenan ponder why Shawn left… um, HE GOT PINNED. I wonder if the pinfall was booked on the fly as Shawn was originally supposed to walk off and the Rockers’ break-up was to occur here and Gorilla and Bobby were just never informed. Blake hits a powerslam but does not elect to pin Jannetty. Marty comes back with an Owen Hart-like flipping seated bounce of the ropes counter to a hiptoss. Jannetty wipes out both Nasty Boys with a top-rope crossbody to the floor. Marty cuts off a Blake Irish whip with a faceplant. The Nastys try a double clothesline countered into a small package on Sags, while Blake distract the referee, Knobbs sneaks over and turns Jannetty over and Sags gets the pinfall. Marty Jannetty is ELIMINATED. The survivors are the Nasty Boys and Blake Beverly. Post-match Gorilla and Heenan still try to figure Shawn’s motives here, even though he was clearly pinned. 2.5/10 Nothing special except for the Rockers’ pending break-up; although it appeared that more was supposed to occur here with the commentators confusion about why Shawn left the ring, Gorilla and Heenan couldn’t have been that bored to lose track of the match, could they? Anyway it was what it was and there was also some confusion in the end.

Big Bossman & Legion of Doom vs. Irwin R. Schyster & Natural Disasters (w/Jimmy Hart):   Jake Roberts and Sid Justice were the original team captains but Sid moved aside incase Randy Savage was reinstated before Survivor Series to captain the team against Roberts. They were taken out of the match at the onset of the show, taking this from an anticipated exciting main event, to a neutered crappy six-man elimination tag match that you would see on an episode of Prime Time Wrestling. LOD are the WWF tag team champions here. Bossman and IRS start off and battle in the corner, referee Joey Marella tries to squeeze between them, which gives IRS the advantage. Bossman slides out of the ring and trips up Schyster and then tries to climb up top but slips off; Bossman tosses IRS into the corner hard and out maneuvers Irwin and boot him in the face. IRS tags in a significantly thinner looking Earthquake who calls out Animal; Bossman tags him in and they match strength. Quake catches Animal on a high crossbody attempt and drops him into a backbreaker; Earthquake tries a traditional big splash but Animal moves away. Nice standing dropkick by Animal staggers the big Quake but he reverses a whip; Animal steamrolls him with a diving shoulder tackle. IRS tags back in and Hawk makes his entry to the match and works the arm on Schyster. IRS rakes the eyes and tags in Typhoon; Hawk presses IRS into Typhoon but he catches Irwin so Hawk dropkicks them over. The babyfaces trap Typhoon in their corner and work him over; Typhoon stumbles over into a tag and Quake returns. Hawk side headlocks Earthquake so he carries him to his corner and tags in IRS who immediately gets caught in a back suplex; Hawk drops a jumping fist. Bossman returns and punches away on Irwin. Bossman hits his seated rope splash and stands on Irwin’s tie preventing him from escaping. The Disasters distract the referee allowing Schyster to clobber Bossman with his briefcase and… “he got pinned by the fuckin’ briefcase”; Big Bossman is ELIMINATED.

The Disasters lure Animal into their corner and work him over; IRS distracts the referee. Earthquake belly-to-belly suplexes Animal as Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are bored with the match and Gorilla namedrops his old friend Bobo Brazil. Schyster comes off the top rope with a sledge as Quake holds him. IRS draws Hawk into the ring allowing more damage in the corner to Animal; Typhoon slaps a bearhug on Animal. Typhoon misses a charge and Hawk gets a hot tag and peppers Typhoon; flying tackle by Hawk floors him. IRS tries the briefcase shot again but Hawk ducks and Irwin clobbers Typhoon; Hawk pins him and Typhoon is ELIMINATED.

Earthquake is irate with IRS for nailing his own partner and walks out on him and gets counted out so Earthquake is ELIMINATED.

The Legion of Doom beat on IRS and Hawk powerslams him. Hawk misses a shoulderblock in the corner and IRS tosses him to the floor where he rams him into the steel steps. They trade a few blows on the floor and IRS tosses Hawk back into the ring where Irwin applies a chinlock. Hawk fights out and they both collide for a double KO; looks like they were to trying to hug each other there; this match is basically DOA. Animal tags in and he hits a tackle and a powerslam; LOD double clothesline him and IRS rolls out of the ring and walks out deciding to take the count out but the Big Bossman appears in the aisle and forces him back into the ring. Animal suplexes IRS back into the ring and Hawk delivers a top-rope flying clothesline for three. Irwin R. Schyster is ELIMINATED; the survivors are the Legion of Doom. 2/10 Not a great match to close the show; seemed like everyone was off or going through the motions as the match was killed and the show should have ended with Hogan and Undertaker despite the heel title switch.

Sean Mooney spoke to Hulk Hogan who says he is ready for Tuesday in Texas; elsewhere Gene Okerlund is in the catacombs of the arena to talk to the new WWF champion the Undertaker. Paul Bearer says Hulkamania died tonight and the services will be held Tuesday in Texas. Taker shows Okerlund a casket and says the burial occurs this Tuesday.

The 411:  This PPV started out okay but died a slow painful death. The only good match on this PPV was the opening contest; the Rockers’ break-up was beginning here which is the only other interesting thing happening on this show with the exception of the Undertaker winning his first WWF championship, but the match that lead there was boring. Half of the matches, that they built to for months, were baited and switched in favor of the “Tuesday in Texas” PPV;

Final Score:  1.5   [ Extremely Horrendous ]