1988 Survivor Series Review
I finally got a copy of the shty Coliseum Home Video release of this ppv to add to the wall. I started watching wrestling in the summer of 91 and it took me until late 94 to find a rental store that had this video. It was an extremely hard video to find back in the day, and I was stoked to finally see it. Started out great but then it went into the crapper with the following 2 matches. What the hell was the WWF thinking when they edited this show to squeeze it into a 2 hour tape? This show took place on Nov 24th 1988 from the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Ohio and your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse The Body Ventura.
Match #1
10 Man Tag Team Elimination Match
Tag Team Champions Demolition, The Brain Busters, The Rougeau Brothers, The Bolsheviks And The Conquistadores w Mr Fuji, Bobby The Brain Heenan, Jimmy Hart And Slick Vs The Powers Of Pain, The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, The Rockers And The Young Stallions
We already have an editing problem, because according to Wiki, this match was second on the card and Warrior/Honkee went on first. A little backstory here. This was the Bulldogs last WWF ppv, their last WWF match, and for Daveyboy his last WWF match until Jan 91 and this was Dynamites last WWF match ever. Backstage story was that Jacques Rougeau was mad at Dynamite for pulling a prank that, this time, wasn't one he commited. Dynamite tried beating the **** out of Jacques backstage before the show because he's an a$$hole and Vince finally had enough and decided to fire the Bulldogs as soon as this match was done. Onto the Match. Looking at the teams, the faces are clearly the favorites here. Conquistadores were your masked jobbbers with a catchy name and the Bolsheviks weren't much more credible except Nikolai had a tag title run back in 85. It's warmup time, as everybody tags off and in about every 30 seconds and the faces adn heels take turns double teaming people. Strangley enough, Dynamite and Raymond have a go at it but the bookers don't let Jacques tag in. Bret tags in and gets a pendulum backbreaker and they run the ropes. Very dangerous match, as theyre are 10 guys for each team taking up 2 quarts of the ring apron and every time somebody runs the ropes, somebody almost gets knocked off. Rougeau runs the ropes and ducks his head and Bret gets a sloppy small package at 5:01 to send the Rougeaus away before a shootfight breaks out. One of the Conquistadores gets mauled by the Barbarian and knocked back into his corner where he tags out. I freakin hate masked tag teams who dress alike. Ax and Bret go next and Ax beats him down. Bret tags Michaels in the only time in history I imagine and Shawn gets whomped too. Arn tags in and gives Michaels a spinebuster, back when it was cool. Roma tags in then tags Powers who promptly gets pinned by Boris on a rollthrough off a crossbody attempt at 14:33. Warlord is in and Tully tags in.........so Tully tiptoes over and tags Nikolai which is just classic heel stuff. Barbarian tags in then Tully tags in and complains to the ref about something then pokes Barbarian in the eye. That doesn't last long. Ax in and the Demolition/POP showdown. Warlord starts winning it but gets knee'd in the gut and Ax brings in Smash and they work the neck. Jannetty in and he gets pounded by Boris. Jannetty brings Michaels in and they double team Boris and Jannetty with a sunset flip from the apron inside and the Bolsheviks are the third team eliminated at 17:16. That must be a record! They lasted all the way to being the #3 elimination! A conquistadore then gets destroyed by the good guys by the faces but he kicks out of a pin attempt and again tags out. Tully and Bret go and Hart does the moves of doom before it meant anything. Bret counters Tully in the corner and does a bridge german suplex but Tully is the one who rolls his shoulder and Bret basically pins himself at 26:07. Rockers and Brainbusters get into a scuffle almost immediately and Hebner throws their asses out at 27:03ish by my count. Demolition and Conquistadores Vs Powers and Bulldogs. Dynamite in and he murders a conquistadore and Daveyboy gets a running powerslam then headbutts the gold mime back into his corner so he can tag out again. Bad booking here, as I look back it's obvious they are going for something unusual. Smash in and he and Dynamite go. Snap suplex, and The Kid goes up top and misses the diving headbuttt and Smash gets a clothesline for the pin to send the Bulldogs out of the Federation at 35:13. I can't figure how the Rougeaus were eliminated first but they let the Bulldogs stay so long after that BS that happened backstage. Warlord pounds a Conquistadores then misses a charge and Smash back in and he and Ax tag off and they work on the neck some more. Fuji gets up on the apron and bitches about something and Smash runs the ropes, AND FUJI OPENS THE ROPES!!! Smash tumbles out and wangs his knee and the referee does one of the quickest 10 counts ever and Ax bitches out Fuji and Fuji pokes him with the cane then gets shoved. Ax turns his back and Fuji smacks him from behind but Smash recovers and sends Fuji into a slam from Ax to w monster pop. The Powers Of Pain and Conquistadores are left and they stop to go help Fuji. They are out there the same ammount of time and their is no countout because the storyline doesn't call for it. Barbarian clobbers a Conquistador with a big boot and a falling headbutt ends their night FINALLY at 41:19. POP and Fuji celebrate and Demolition return and clear the ring. It's amazing how when the bookers do a double turn, the baby faces turn into such pussies and the heels become uber powerful heroe's. I don't like this one as much as I used to. It's better than the 1987 match in that the Rockers and Brainbusters are in there, but the Conquistadores are hardly a pedigree tag team of the golden age. Im going 3 1/2 stars. I don't like double turns much.
Match #2
10 Man Tag Team Elimination Match
Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, Co Captain Brutus The Barber Beefcake, The Blue Blazer, Sam Houston And Jim Brunzel Vs The Honkee Tonk Man, Co Captain Outlaw Ron Bass, Greg The Hammer Valentine, Bad News Brown, And Dangerous Danny Davis w Jimmy Hart
Damn. There are alot of dregs in this match. Brunzel is a backup team mate because Muraco was supposed to be on the Warriors team and he left the promotion before this ppv. Valentine and Beefcake start off and then the CV editor turns this into possibly the worst "edited matc" EVER put on by CV. Davis tags in from Valentine and runs the ropes. Beefcake with a leap frog and he hooks a sleeper and Davis is out in less than 8 seconds and is eliminated at the 54 sec mark. What a worhtless piece of **** he was! That moron Honkee picked him twice in a row too! It was probably Hart's fault as he managed both. CLIP!! We cut to Bad News and Brunzel and Jim misses a charge or something and gets ghetto blastered and pinned at the 2 min mark. CLIP!!! BN holds Houston so Valentine can hit him and clocks BN. They get into a shoving match and BN walks off at 2:50. CLIP!! Houston tries a monkey flip on Bass and gets powerslammed and pinned at 3:53. CLIP!!! Blazer goes up top and Honkee shoves him off and he hurts both knees so Valentine goes to a quick figure four and Owen quits at 4:46. This was the first time anyone submitted in a SS match, and right off the top of my head I can't think of it happening since then. CLIP!!! Brutus hooks a sleeper on Honker and they tumble outside and there's that quick count again and they are gone at 5:37. Bass and Valentine beat up Warrior but he rallies as usual and hits Bass with a running axe handle and he's gone at 7:23. He bops Valentine with the same and gets the pin at 7:46. Dog **** editing job. They took an 18 minute match and cut it down to less than 8. 1 1/2 star. I don't rate much higher than that for this crap editing which would of been better suited for a recap on Raw.
Backstage we get interviews from Bad News and Warrior.
Match #3
10 Man Tag Team Match
Jake The Snake Roberts, co captain Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Ken Patera And Scott Casey Vs Andre The Giant, co captain Dino Bravo, Ravishing Rick Rude, Mr Perfect Curt Hennig And Harley Race w Bobby Heenan And Frenchy Martin
Jake is horribly outclassed here. Junk Yard Dog was supposed to be on his team but he quit the company. So they threw Brian Blair in there and he left too.....so they give him Scott Casey, a third string team member which is pathetic by itself, never mind he was basically a face Barry Horowitz at this time. Patera was a worthless jobber on his way out too. Right into the crappy editing we go as Patera eats shoe on a blind charge and a rude awakening ends his night at 33 seconds. CLIP!!! Casey and Bravo duke it out and the jobber runs into a side suplex and is pinned at 1:37. CLIP!! Race and Tito duke it out and Tito pops him with the flying forearm to eliminate him at 2:41. Race had been sidelined with an injury thanks to Hogan and lost his crown to Haku in the process. He's on his way out pretty much. Andre in and he chokes Tito on the ropes and knocks him stupid. Tito tries a sunset flip and Andre plops his fat ass on him and gets the pin at 4:05. Duggan runs in and clotheslines Andre who gets tied up and deals on him then tags Jake who chokes Andre and pounds on him and hits the heels for trying to help. Andre gets free and chokes Jake down. Andre tags and Bravo pounds on Jake. CLIP!! Duggan is cleaning house. The imbesile sets for the three point stance near Frenchy and he hooks the leg. Duggan goes after him and gets slammed outside. Duggan goes into with the 2X4 and hits Bravo in the cut and accross the back to get DQ'd at 6:45. Duggan clearly yells bull**** on camera:) CLIP!!! Rude is beating Jake into puddy then taunts Jake and tries to tag, Jake pants him and hits a ddt out of nowhere for the pin at 8:07. Andre right in, and he chokes and bites Jake in the corner and refuses to break which gets him dq'd at 8:55. He drops a near death Roberts with a headbutt and Hennig, the ONLY heel in the promotion who would do the smart thing, simply runs over and pins Jake at 9:22. Hennig and Bravo are the survivors. I think Bravo should of been pinned in the same fashion as Jake just was. Let Perfect be the sole survivor. Im going 2 stars. Wasn't as poorly edited at the previous match but it was still chopped to hell. 30 minutes down to 9 minutes.
Backstage we get interviews from Andre and Roberts
Match #4
10 Man Tag Team Elimination Match
World Champion Macho Man Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Hercules, Koko B Ware, And Hillbilly Jim w Miss Elizabeth Vs The Big Boss Man, Akeem, The Million $ Man Ted Dibiasie, King Haku And The Red Rooster w Slick And Bobby Heenan
Sort of a dick move on Hogans part: Savage wears his special Mega Powers tights, but Hogan can't be bothered. Savage and Dibiasie start and Savage tags Herc and Dibiasie beats it. Rooster and Hillbilly are in and Red tries a slam but gets planted by Jim instead. Koko in with a missle dropkick and a pin gets 2. Powerslam gets 2. Hogan in and Rooster ****'s himself. He's a goner. Big boot legdrop and flyin elbow finish him at 5:20. Heenan tears him a new one on his way to the back, inching ever so closer to that face turn that they completely ruined by having Taylor keep the gimmick. Akeem and Hillbilly fight it out. Hillbilly tries a bearhug and gets shoved back into the corner. He gives Akeem a headscissors and kicks him off but runs into a clothesline and air africa ends his night at 9:03.
Akeem celebrates and gets dropkicked in the back by Koko who gets cocky and does that dumass stinger splash/charge of his and eats turnbuckle. Bossman for the first time and he pins him in same fashion as Summerslam at 10:55. Hogan in and has the showdown with Bossman. Hogan drops him with a belly to back then runs into a spinebuster. Hogan tags Hercules in and Dibiasie in. Herc controls then Virgil hooks his leg to distract him so Dibiasie can roll him up at 15:43. Dibiasie mocks him for WAY too long and Savage rolls up Dibiasie for the pin at 16:05, I thought that was a weird time for Dibiasie to go back in the day and still do. Haku does the trap pinch on Hogan. Bossman slams Hogan and goes up top and misses the sloppy big splash. Savage tags and gets tripped up immediatelyu. Slick goes after Liz and the overbooking is underway. Hogan goes to help her and Bossman attacks Hogan and cuffs him to the ropes and uses the night stick and gets counted out at 22:22. Savage gets beat down in the ring as Bossman goes Rodney King on Hogan's ass. Akeem helps Haku then Savage runs the ropes and takes a nightstick in the kidneys and Akeem helps Haku beat Savage then he shoves the ref and get's dq'd for being a fat idiot at 24 minutes in. Which leaves Haku against The MegaPowers. His men are gone but Slick stays at ringside to tease Hogan with the keys. Slick gets on the apron to hold Savage then Haku superkick Slick by mistake and Heenan gets KO'd by Hogan so Liz can go into Slicks pocket and get the keys. Hogan gets free and is showing no serious affects of being hit multiple times in the ribs back and throat with a nightstick. Haku misses a second rope splash, hottag Hogan and he does the usual on Haku. Corner clotheslne. Big boot, legdrop and pin at 28:19. 2 1/2 stars. Too much dopey booking so the Mega Powers didn't have to lose face. Hogan hugs Liz and Savage gives him a WTF look and they celebrate. Ventura almost runs over Monsoon to get out of the booth and interview Savage. Ventura knows that Savage is getting tired of Hogan and we inch closer to the MegaPowers exploding.
Overall Opinion: It's a forgettable ppv pretty much, even back when I first rented it in 94. But it's from my favorite time period so I like to watch it once in awhile, the CV release is crap when compared to the 87/89 and 90 series. Im sure I would of given the matches higher scores without the clipping.
Final Score: This video gets 3.0 stars out of 10.0 from me. Only four matches, clipped to hell on two of them, and dumb booking in the main event. Im kinda suprised it scored this high actually.