wrestling / TV Reports
Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF Survivor Series 1990
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-We are nearing the end of 1990 as after this we have a Main Event and then Starrcade. I will just continue with 1991 as I want to do 1992 and seems silly to skip a year. Also, I want to revisit WrestleMania VII when we get there. Right now we get to Survivor Series and Vince was already getting tired of the format as he added a twist to the show and by the next year dropped the idea of having all Elimination Matches. Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Gorilla Monsoon and Roddy Piper
-Nov. 22, 1990
-Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT
-Attendance: 16,000
-PPV Buys: 400,000
Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Perfect Team (Capt: Mr. Perfect, Demolition) (w/ Mr. Fuji and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan) vs. The Ultimate Warriors (Capt: The Ultimate Warrior, The Legion of Doom, and The Texas Tornado)
-Ax doesn’t have his hair slicked by here which looks odd and apparently became a meme when someone on RAW had a sign years later questioning why his hair looked so perfect. I mean, he is on the Perfect Team. Five of the eight men in this match are in the WWE Hall of Fame. Demolition is long past due, but strained relationships need repaired for that to happen, I guess. Animal attacks Smash about a minute after the bell as the teams were waiting to see who would start. Animal sets too early on a backdrop and Smash decks him. Perfect gets in a shot from the apron. Suplex gets a two count. Animal gets thrown into a boot from all three team members on the apron. Perfect in and he fires away with some chops and tags back to Smash. Animal back with a powerslam and then an inverted atomic drop on Perfect, who charged in. Tornado in as Perfect bounces over the top as he is one to do. Tornado gets The Claw on Ax, but Smash saves. Warrior in and he runs wild with shoulders and then a splash to send Ax packing at 3:23. Considering Ax has been injured most of the summer and fall it makes sense for him to get eliminated so quickly. Probably why he didn’t want to slick back his hair. Crush in for the first time to regain control and he makes the tag to Smash as a loud “Weasel” chant starts. Makes my heart feel good! Crush back in and comes off the top with a knee for two. Crush gets caught with a boot in the corner followed by a clothesline. Hawk gets the tag and so does Perfect. Hawk lifts him off the ground with a choke and then gets a clothesline. Lot of Minnesota in this match! Perfect bounces all over the ring but avoids a charge in the corner and Hawk hits the post. Crush in and he pounds away on the shoulder. Hawk fires off some right hands, but Smash cuts him off from making the tag. Hawk gets a flying shoulder and then drops a fist. Clothesline to Smash! Hawk heads up top and hits a clothesline but Crush makes the save. Demolition and The LOD brawl and the ref disqualify all four at 7:40. That’s kind of brutal! So are down to Perfect vs. Tornado and Warrior. Sucks to be Perfect! LOD leave to a loud pop. Perfect wants no parts of Warrior and wants Tornado in the match. Warrior makes the tag and Perfect jumps Tornado as he steps in the ring. Doesn’t last long as Tornado hits a discus punch and Perfect goes flying over the top rope. Warrior chases him down and runs him into Heenan. The Brain takes a crazy bump over the railing into the front row and no wonder he got pulled off the road and to the announce table not long after this. Perfect regains control back in the ring and hits Tornado with a knee-lift. Perfect cuts off a comeback with a thumb to the eye which Piper notes, “works every time.” Perfect-plex ends Tornado’s night at 11:07. We are down to Warrior vs. Perfect. Another Perfect-plex, but Warrior kicks out at two. This crowd is great so far! Standing dropkick from Perfect gets two as Heenan complains about the count. Perfect hits a clothesline for another two count, though Warrior kicks out with some power behind it. Warrior starts to Warrior-up as he shakes off some right hands from Perfect. Clothesline for Warrior and another and another. Shoulder tackle and splash get the win at 14:20.
Winner and Sole Survivor: The Ultimate Warrior via pin at 14:20
-Warrior advances to the Ultimate Survivor Match to close the show. The crowd was hot for all of this. Perfect carried everything on his side as you would expect. You had 7 eliminations but Ax, Tornado, and Perfect were the only ones to get pinned or submit. I guess they had to get creative to get LOD out of there without taking a pin. **1/4
Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Million Dollar Team (Capt: Ted Dibiase, Rhythm and Blues, and The Undertaker) (w/ Virgil, Jimmy Hart, and Brother Love) vs. The Dream Team (Capt: Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. War, and The Hart Foundation)
-Dibiase has been hyping a mystery partner and it is of course the historic debut of The Undertaker. Just 4 months earlier he was Mean Mark challenging Lex Luger for the US Title at The Great American Bash. Mark is still counting his blessings he didn’t end up The Egg-Man. Dusty is no longer in polka dots and was just biding him time until he could get back South. The Undertaker had the gimmick down COLD from day one. Taker without tattoos looks weird now. Bret decides to start with Taker and that doesn’t go well for him. Taker hits a sort of chokeslam before it became common move. Bret tags to Anvil and he does no better as he can’t budge Taker. Slam from Taker and now Koko gets a try. Taker side steps and lets Koko go throat first on the top rope. TOMBSTONE ends Koko at 1:43. That was a rough Tombstone, but Koko is the answer to the trivia question of who took the first televised Tombstone from The Undertaker. For some reason Taker decides to tag out and we get Dusty vs. The Hammer. They start trading chops and Dusty gains the advantage. Tag to Anvil and he goes to work on the arm. Bret in to continue the arm work and he sends Hammer into the corner. Bret charges in the corner, but Hammer gets his knee up to block. Honky in and Bret runs him down with a shoulder, but runs into a knee to the gut. Blind tag to Anvil and he hits a powerslam to eliminate Honky at 4:23. We are 3-3 as Dibiase is in. Anvil sends him into the corner and gets a clothesline. Slam from Anvil and the tag is made to Dusty. The crowd erupts as they want to see Dusty get some payback. Dusty hits a DROPKICK and tags back to Anvil. Double elbow gets a two count. Suplex from Anvil gets another two count. Virgil grabs Anvil’s leg and Dibiase gets a clothesline to end Anvil’s night at 5:55. Dusty back in as he Flips, Flips, and Flies. Dibiase back with a clothesline and brings Taker back into the match. An audible gasp from the crowd for that. He sends Dusty into his corner and Bret is in. Taker chokes him in the corner and tags back to Hammer. He gets in a few shots and tags to Dibiase. Bret catches him with an inverted atomic drop. Dusty back in and he brings some more elbows. Blind tag by Taker and Dusty is screwed. Taker hits a running knee and heads up top. He comes off with a double axe and Dusty is gone at 8:32. Bret fires away with right hands as Brother Love puts the boots to Dusty at ringside. Hammer drops an elbow on Bret as Taker goes after Dusty on the floor. They start fighting to the back and Taker is counted out at 9:30 as I guess he was the legal man. That’s one way to protect him. We are down to Ted and Hammer vs. Bret. Make that Bret vs. Dibiase as Bret pins Valentine with a small package as he tried for the figure four. Hammer is gone at 10:00. Bret with an atomic drop and clothesline to send Dibiase to the floor. Slingshot plancha from Bret! Cool! Ted gets sent shoulder first into the post and then rammed off the steps. Good reaction to Bret here from this crowd. Ted reverses a whip and Bret takes his patented chest first bump into the corner. That always looks so painful! Ted lays in some chops in the corner, but sets way too early on a backdrop. That was bad as I think he was waiting for Bret to bounce out of the corner. Bret gets a backslide for two and then suckers Ted into a small package by gold bricking. That only gets two. Virgil on the apron to hold Bret, but he moves as Ted catches Virgil with a knee. Bret with another two count. He drops an elbow from the middle rope for two. Cross-body, but Ted rolls with him and gets the pin at 14:00.
Winner and Sole Survivor: Ted Dibiase via pin at 14:00
-That ending sequence with Bret and Ted got fantastic in a hurry. The rest was solid and had a ton of history because of Undertaker’s debut, though we had no clue how historic at the time. This was fun! ***1/4
-Gene Okerlund interviews Jake, Snuka, and The Rockers in the shower. I assume there was a lot of drugs with that team.
Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Visionaries (Capt: Rick Martel, Power and Glory, and The Warlord) (w/ Slick) vs. The Vipers (Capt: Jake Roberts, The Rockers, and Jimmy Snuka)
-Funny how this match predicted Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton! Only three men in this match are in the WWE Hall of Fame. Of the five not it, Martel probably has the best case unless you want Marty to get in as part of The Rockers. Warlord starts with Marty, who uses his speed to stick and move. Piper brings up the red marks on Warlord’s back from Marty slapping him. Yeah, that’s what those marks are from. Marty missed a dropkick, but continues to use his speed to stay away. He hits everyone on the apron and then gets a sunset flip. Shawn hits a clothesline to take Warlord down for two. Martel gets the tag and two years later these two had a match where they couldn’t punch each other in the face. Shawn gets a monkey flip out of the corner and tags Jake, but Martel bails to the floor quickly and tags Roma. Jake punches him in the face and brings in Snuka. Roma throws a punch, but hurts his hand and decides to tag in Hercules. He has no luck and tags out to Warlord. Snuka ducks a clothesline but gets caught and slammed. Warlord misses an elbow and Snuka follows with a dropkick. Tag back to Marty as women start screaming. Warlord hooks a bear-hug, but Marty punches his way out. He comes off the middle rope, but Warlord plants him and Marty is gone at 5:23. Shawn in and he snaps off a rana, which was mind blowing at the time. Jake back in and the crowd really wants to see a DDT. Jake staggers Warlord with a clothesline and then another knocks him down. Shawn gets a cover but Warlord kicks out and Shawn goes flying through the ropes and to the floor. Roma gets the tag and drops an elbow. Warlord back in as he is apparently the work horse of this team. Shawn goes flying off a backdrop. Hercules in to get a two count. Shawn takes a clothesline and bumps like a madman off that. Martel back in and he hits a backbreaker for two. Shawn continues to bump all over the place as he must have seen what Perfect was doing earlier in the show. Martel goes shoulder first into the post and Shawn crawls to make the tag to Snuka. Backdrop to Martel! Snuka gets two off a head-butt. Snuka gets a cross-body, but Martel rolls through for the pin at 9:44. That’s the second match in a row we had that spot. Jake in, but Martel bails again and tags Hercules. Jake lands a knee and goes for the DDT, but Hercules scurries to the floor. The Visionaries talks strategy in the corner and apparently the plan works as Martel gets a clothesline from the apron. Piper is so angered he slips and says “ass,” before apologizing. Roma in, but he misses a dive from the top rope and the tag is made to Shawn. He hits a back elbow and then a snap suplex for two. Shawn drops an elbow from the middle rope for two. Roma misses wildly on a clothesline but a blind tag is made by Hercules. He drops an elbow on Shawn and pounds away in the corner. Clothesline from Hercules. Gorilla Press Slam as Shawn gets to play Flair to Hercules’ Lex. POWERPLEX ends Shawn at 15:18. Power and Glory have owned The Rockers on PPV. Jake, with one good eye, is left to face four men by himself. Hercules lands a kick and works Jake over in the corner. Warlord back in as I assume he needed that long of a rest. He apparently needs more time as he hooks a bear-hug. Jake punches his way out and then hits a DDT behind the ref’s back. Martel tries to spray Jake with Arrogance, but Jake rolls out of the way and grabs Damian. He chases Martel to the back and Jake is counted out at 18:05.
Winners and Survivors: The Visionaries via pin at 18:05
-Gorilla notes this is the first time an entire team survived. This was okay, but not as good as the previous match. Shawn looked good for his side and somehow Warlord looked the best for his team. The ending was a downer for the crowd as they wanted to see Jake get his hands on Martel but they would have to wait until Mania. **3/4
-Gene Okerlund is with Team Hogan. Hulk dedicates the match to the men and women overseas. He offers to help President Bush and calls out Saddam Hussein.
Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Natural Disasters (Capt: Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Haku, and The Barbarian) (w/ Jimmy Hart and Bobby Heenan) vs. The Hulkamaniacs (Capt: Hulk Hogan, Tugboat, Jim Duggan, and The Big Boss Man)
-I believe we only have 3 Hall of Famers in this match (not counting managers). I assume Haku will get in sooner than later with Rock on the board now. Hogan gets a massive pop as you would expect. It’s been weird hearing Piper do commentary with some of his greatest rivals wrestling tonight: Valentine, Snuka, Hogan. Duggan gets us started with Haku and they are going to hit each other hard. Duggan gets a series of clothesline and then pounds Haku to the mat. He hits a back elbow and lands another heavy clothesline. He misses an elbow and Bravo gets brought into the match. He hits a move and tags in Barbarian. Loud “USA” chant! Haku back in and hits an elbow, but Duggan falls back and tags Boss Man. Haku catches him with a dropkick for two. Boss Man Slam and Haku is gone at 3:15. Barbarian in and Heenan is on the apron. Boss Man sends him into the post and goes back to Barbarian. Suplex from Barbarian as he shows off his power. Slam from Barbarian, but he misses an elbow from the middle ropes. Duggan back in and he gets a backdrop. Bravo gets the tag as this is kind of sloppy at the moment. Double clothesline to Duggan as Quake is in. Butt Splash to Duggan in the corner. Duggan gets dumb and tries a slam. That doesn’t work! He tries to run Quake down, but Hart pulls the top rope down. Duggan uses his 2×4 on Quake and is disqualified at 6:11. Dumb! Hogan is in for the first time and the crowd is alive. Slam to Bravo, slam to Barbarian, and one to Quake as well as the crowd explodes. Cool! Hogan gets the mounted punches in the corner, but Quake walks him out and plants him with a powerslam. Bravo drops an elbow and another as the crowd starts a “Hogan” chant. Hulk gets a SMALL PACKAGE to pin Bravo at 8:02. So there you go. Hogan pinned someone with a small package. Probably what inspired Danielson. Boss Man in and he comes off the middle ropes, but Quake catches him. Hogan gives Boss Man an assist and that gets two. Barbarian decks Boss Man from the apron and Quake drops an elbow and another. Boss Man is gone at 9:08. It is two on two even though Tugboat has never been in the match. Hogan tries another slam, but Quake slugs him in the back. He tries again and Quake falls back on him for two. Quake misses a splash and crawls to his corner to finally get Tugboat into the match at nearly 11 minutes. Boat decks Barbarian and tries to run Quake down. Hogan pulls Quake to the floor and everyone starts brawling. Quake runs Hogan into the post, but he and Boat both get counted out at 11:34. Count-out is claiming bodies tonight! We are down to Hogan vs. Barbarian and I don’t like Barbarian’s chances. Barbarian hits a PILEDRIVER that would make KO proud. Double clothesline leave both men down, but Warrior/Hogan this isn’t. Barbarian hits a sweet looking boot to the face and heads up top. He catches Hogan with a clothesline for two, but it’s Hulk Up Time! Big Boot and Leg Drop end this one at 14:49.
Winner and Sole Survivor: Hulk Hogan via pin at 14:49
-This was fine as the crowd was into it as they really, really still like Hulk Hogan. Notice again that Hogan didn’t get to pin Quake as that feud was still making a ton of money. We are just 3 months away from them coming to Pittsburgh where I saw my first ever show (Hogan vs. Quake Stretcher Match was the Main Event). **1/2
-Gene is out on the stage and brings out The Macho King Randy Savage! Our King looks like he is ready to play basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers. Savage wants a WWF Title Match against The Ultimate Warrior. Weird as Warrior accepted Savage’s challenge at SummerSlam, but we are back to Savage looking for an answer.
Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Alliance (Capt: Nikolai Volkoff, The Bushwhackers and Tito Santana) vs. The Mercenaries (Capt: Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov, Sato, and Tanaka) (w/ General Adnan and Mr. Fuji)
-We get a long Slaughter promo with Gene in the aisle while his music just plays on repeat. That was pretty awful. Slaughter is full anti-American here as he salutes the Iraq flag and insults the men and women serving for the US overseas. He compares his team to the Iraqi Army, who take no prisoners and are survivors. How bad this was went over my head as a kid. Every Mercenary is wearing camo face paint. Piper is pissed as he goes on a rant and screams “pig” at Slaughter over and over. Boris gets hit with a double clothesline from the Whackers and then Tito hits a flying forearm. Boris is gone at 48 seconds. I believe we have 5 Hall of Famers in this one including every member of The Alliance. Tanaka accidentally hits a superkick on Sato. The Bushwhackers hit a battering ram and Sato is gone at 1:50. Tito with another flying forearm on Tanaka and he is out at 2:16. Slaughter is left against 4 men in record time. Nikolai fires off right hands, and hits a boot to the gut. He tries another, but Sarge decks him and drops a couple elbows. USA chant rings out in the building. Slaughter slowly pounds away on Volkoff and sends him into the buckle. Dropkick from Slaughter as Piper notes Sarge is working a slow pace. No kidding! Elbow and Nikolai is out at 5:26. Butch in and he runs wild with forearms. Double Slam from the Whackers. Double clothesline, but Sarge is out at two. Back elbow from Luke and he heads up top. Sarge gets the knees up and hits a gut-buster for the pin at 6:31. Butch is in and throws right hands. Sarge reverses a whip and delivers a clothesline to get the pin at 6:57. We are down to Tito vs. Sarge! Backdrop from Santana and he comes off the top with a flying forearm. He tries a monkey flip, but Sarge holds the ropes to block. Reverse neckbreaker from Sarge gets two! Sarge goes to the eyes to cut off a flurry from Tito. Suplex from Sarge gets two though it took him a while to get to the cover. Tito gets shoved into the ref, but comes back with a flying forearm. Adnan in and he decks Tito with the flag. Sarge hooks a camel clutch, but the ref calls for the DQ at 10:36 though Slaughter thinks he has won.
Winner and Sole Survivor: Tito Santan via DQ at 10:36
-This was not good but it was kind of fun seeing a team get wiped out so quickly in the first few minutes. I guess they had to protect Slaughter here, so he didn’t have to lose to Hogan or Warrior in the finale. *
-Ted Dibiase and The Visionaries are confident as they have a 5-3 advantage and Ted notes Hogan and Warrior are coming off fighting each other at Mania.
-Before the finale we have some business to take care of as Gene is standing next to the Giant Egg. They have been teasing that the Egg would hatch and they deliver one of the worst pay-offs in history. It’s funny as Gene notes the Playmate of The Month might come out and it gets a huge reaction from the men in the crowd. Instead it’s The Gobbledy Gooker (Hector Guerrero in a turkey costume) and the crowd BOOS the crap out of the reveal. Piper and Gorilla have to sell this as the greatest thing ever as Gene and The Gooker dance in the ring. Crazy we get Taker’s debut with not any real hype and then, this with all the hype they could muster.
-Mooney is backstage with Hogan, Tito, and The Warrior. Hogan puts over both Warrior and Tito and they will survive tonight. Warrior cuts a Warrior promo though it got a few chuckles out of me. Hogan gets the last word.
Grand Finale Match of Survival: Rick Martel, Power and Glory (w/ Slick), Warlord, and Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil) vs. Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, and Tito Santana
-Warrior gets to enter last, but his pop is not nearly as loud as Hogan’s. Warlord eats a right hand from Hogan and Tito hits the flying forearm. Thanks for coming Warlord as he is gone at 28 seconds. Roma in and starts stomping away. He hits a sweet powerslam and tags to Dibiase. He drops a knee and gets a vertical suplex for two. Tito ducks a clothesline and lands one of his own. Backdrop sends Ted flying. Ted ducks the forearm, but Tito ducks a clothesline. He runs into a Stun-gun and Tito is gone at 1:55. Hogan in and he pounds away on Dibiase and hits the corner clothesline. He sends Ted into Warrior’s boot but sets too early on a backdrop and Dibiase lands a kick to the jaw. Hercules is in and hits a clothesline. Roman in and he comes off the top with a right and for two. Martel in and he pounds away with forearms to the back. Back to Hercules for more right hands and forearms. This is just an ass kicking as they are taking turns punching the piss out of Hogan. Now Dibiase gets his turn and comes off the middle ropes with a double ax for two. They all had to be giddy getting the chance to beat the piss out of Hogan and get the heat. Hercules back in as the crowd really wants to see a Hogan comeback. Power Plex, but Hogan is out at two. HULK-UP! Ax Bomber ends Roma at 5:40. Hot tag to Warrior and he kicks the stuffing out of Martel in the corner. Backdrop as Martel goes flying. He decks Ted and Hercules on the apron for good measure. Slam to Martel and another! He drives Martel head first into the mat and tags Hogan back. Big Boot! Clothesline sends Martel to the floor and he wants no more and heads to the back. He is counted out at 7:19. We are two on two and Ted is pissed! Lockup between Hogan and Ted! Dibiase eats a corner clothesline and then decks Hercules. Big Boot and Leg Drop finishes Ted at 8:37. Hercules is screwed! Powerslam from Hogan! Running clotheslines from Warrior! Shoulder Tackle and Splash end this one at 9:08.
Survivors: Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior via pin at 9:08
-Interesting match as Hogan got the crap kicked out of him to get the heat. Because of that Hogan did most of the work and Warrior got to get his stuff in and get out. Warrior and Hogan winning isn’t a shock, and it was another chance for them to let everyone know Warrior was on Hogan’s level. Warrior would lose the title two months later. Sorry, spoiler! **
-Thanks for reading!
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