1989 Survivor Series Review

Tonight were going back to the golden age of the Survivor Series ppv. Back when the entire show consisted of 8 or 10 man elimination matches designed to further stories. First thing we get is a couple of the wrestlers tell us what theyre thankful for on Thanksgiving. Dibiasie and Piper have the best responses. Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse The Pilgrim Ventura are on commentary. Jesse already insulting Monsoon in the preshow.


Match #1


The Dream Team Vs The Enforcers


Dusty Rhodes, Tito Santana, Brutus The Barber Beefcake and The Red Rooster Vs The Big Bossman, The *beep* Tonk Man, The Model Rick Martel, and Bad News Brown w Slick and Jimmy Hart


Pretty even teams here. Akeem would of been on Bossmans team but an injury put him out so Bad News is the alternate for the team, he probably won't be much help like last year. Tito and *beep* start, *beep* suckers Tito who turns things around. Dusty and Bossman with the forgotten story of Dusty stealing Bossmans night stick and hat. Tito and Martel have been feuding since Mania 5 and the other guys are just there for tonight, although Brutus and *beep* have had their feud in the past. Everybody tagging in for some warmups early on. Bossman gets beat up by the faces then The Rooster gets caught and Bossman and *beep* trade off on him. Martel comes in to get in some licks. *beep* back in but Rooster gets him in trouble and they knock eachother down. Tag race, Tito and Martel both in and Santana goes nuts!!! Tito konks Martel with an elbow off the second rope then a big backdrop they go through a series of rollups and Martel uses an handful of tights to pin Tito at 8:42. Santana always got the short end in their feud. Dusty in and he hits a dropkick on Martel??? Brutus comes in to beat on Martel, then off to Rooster who mucks up the rotation giving Martel time to tag Bossman. Bossman with a bearhug but Rooster breaks it. Bossman tags Bad News but he doesn't want to get in the ring. Rooster brings him in over the top rope and quickly gets beat down by Bad News. Bad News could finish Rooster here but Bossman comes in for a double team then Rooster dodges and BN gets punched the heel team breaks down and Bad News says fk it and takes the countout at 14:55. Next up Brutus and *beep* are in and Beefcake kills him with the high knee and pins *beep* at 16:45. Martel in and he works over Beefcake for awhile. Brutus tries a sunset flip on Martel who counters using the ropes, but the ref stops the count and Beefcake completes the flip pin and gets Martel at 19:43. Bossman against three guys. Bossman quickly catches Rooster with the Bossman slam at 20:23 then Dusty and Bossman tee off on BBM. Dusty and Bossman duke it out and Dusty hits a weak high cross body and pins Bossman at 21:30 to win it for the dream team. Bossman gets his night stick and beats the **** out of Rhodes. Survivors, Dusty and Beefcake. Pretty good opener. 2 1/2 stars.


Match #2


8 Man Elimination Match


The Kings Court Vs The 4X4's

Macho Kin Randy Savage w Queen Sherri, Greg The Hammer Valentine, Dino Bravo and The Canadian Earthquake w Jimmy Hart Vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Rugged Ronnie Garvin, Hercules and Bret The Hitman Hart


Kings Court has the overall better team, sorry Hitman. Earthquake is subsituting for Barry Windham who made his return to the WWF in 1989 but was a blink and you miss him tenure. The Faces chase the heels out of the ring with 2x4's, they should of layed into them with the boards. Savage took Duggans crown recently and this is nearing the end of their forgotten feud. Bret Hart getting a singles push here, but would be back together with Neidhart in a couple of weeks. Hercules starts off pounding on Savage. Valentine in and he gets beat on by the faces, Hammer and the reinstated Garvin have a feud going on here. Bravo tags in and so does Herc, Hercules controls Bravo until he botches an irish whip into the corner, Bravo tags Earthquake to splats Herc at 2:35. Garvin and Hitman use a schoolboy to trip up Earthquake. Garvin tries pinning Quake who shrugs him off. Garvin sporting the hammer jammer tonight, as a shot at Valentine for still wearing that leg brace. Bravo and Valentine tag in and out and work Garvin over good. Garvin taking a pounding at this point. Garvin makes a blind tag and Duggan suprises Valentine with a clothesline and a pin at 6:57. Quake back in and he's smothering Duggan in the corner. Bravo and Garvin back in and Ronnie knocks down Bravo then does the Garvin stomp one of the s****iest moves of all time. Bravo gets out of the ring and both guys tag Hitman and Savage. Crowd loves it. Savage tags out after losing the fight and Bravo is back in, Hart whoops Bravo pretty good with his moves of doom. Then tags Garvin whoh quickly eats the side suplex and is pinned by Bravo at 10:45. Hart and Sherri are spazing out at ringside. Savage, Hart round 2. Unlike Savege here, he gets caught in the faces corner and they gang up on him. Savage gets caught in the ropes and Bret lays into him. Hart with a pendulum backbreaker for 2. Savage reverse whips Hart into the corner then eats a shoe on the way in, Bret misses that elbow off the second rope like he always does then Bravo tags in and uses a bearhug. Quake in and he drops his patend elbow on Hart, Bret kicks out at 2 and Quake WTF's!!! Doubleteam goes awry between Savage and Bravo and Hart tags Duggan, but is quickly back in. Bravo dodges a charge and Hart runs shoulder first into the post. Bravo slams Hart and tags Savage who hits the flying elbow and the pin at 18:37 Duggan is now facing Savage, Earthquake and Bravo. He attacks and gives them more trouble than they should have to face but is eventually overwhelmed and thanks to outside interference from the managers winds up getting counted out at 23:25. Duggan grabs the 2X4 during the heels celebrationand pastes Bravo and Savage. Good enough. 2 1/2 stars.


Backstage Dusty is being looked at by doctors, bruised ribs and a slight concussion.


Match #3


8 Man Elimination Match

The Hulkamaniacs Vs The Million $ Team


World Champion Hulk Hogan, Jake The Snake Roberts, and Tag Team Champions Demolition vs The Million $ Man Ted Dibiasie w Virgil, Zeus and The Powers Of Pain w Mr Fuji


The heels won't let the Hulkamaniacs into the ring. Jake uses Damion to chase them out of the ring. After things settle down, PCP Man wants Hogan right now. Zeus nosells all of Hogans stuff then tries ripping his head off and chokes Hogan down. The ref counts to 5 numerous times, but Zeus is nuts so he gets himself disqualified in only 2:15. I don't know if the fans are booing Zeus because they buy into him as a legit threat, or they are mad of the crap payoff. Dibiasie is eager to get in there and work over Hogan. Dibiasie fires Hogan into the corner but eats a boot on the way in, hottag to Jake!!!! Jake hands Dibiasie his ass and brings him into the faces corner for more punishment. Ax tags in and he brings Smash in and they do their thing. Hogan tags in and he and Demolition do their demo beat down and the crowd loves it. Ventura is having a fit saying the ref is paid off by Hogan. Dibiasie ducks a clothesline and decks Ax with a back elbow. Warlord in and POP double team Ax. Ax fights back then goes to run the ropes but doesn't because Fuji isn't in position to trip him, he runs the ropes on the other side and gets tripped up by Fuji and Warlord drops an elbow on him to pin him at 8:37. Hogan in and he slams Warlord then Jake is in and he's too quick for Warlord to hit, they work on the left arm. Smash gets in trouble and the commentators say he should make the tag. Smash doesn't, he slams Warlord but didn't see the blind tag and eats a top rope clothesline from Barbarian and pinned at 12:45. Jake tries a ddt on Warlord but gets backed into the heels corner and beat bad. Dibiasie works over the injured neck of Roberts, and Monsoon and ventura are getting on eachothers nerves here. Dibiasie with a piledriver near the ropes so Jake touches them to break the pin. Barbarian goes up top and misses the diving headbutt!!! Jake hottags and Hogan goes apes***. Hogan with a vertical suplex for 2. The heels have had enough and Warlord comes in but Hogan drops them both with a double clothesline. Dibiasie and Roberts fight outside. POP hit a spiked piledriver on Hogan and are disqualified for being in over the 5 count limit at 19:05. Which is a hors*** call. Hebner threw out Dibiasies whole team. Dibiasie with a million $ dream on Hogan!!! Hogan's arm almost goes down for the three but Jake breaks it up. Ventura is about to walk out of the building. Dibiasie back to the dream but Hogan breaks it and tags Jake who owns Dibiasie until Virgil interferes. Jake ddt's Virgil then Dibiasie hits the million $ fist drop and pins Jake while using the ropes for leverage around the 23 minute mark. Hogan and Dibiasie, Hogan is dead in the corner. Dibiasie beats on Hogan and uses a weardown hold. Hogan fights out but both guys end up dropping eachother with a double clothesline. Dibiasie is up first and he drops Hogan who pops up, and it's curtains for Dibiasie. Hogan drops him, lays the big stinking legdrop of horror on him and pins Dibiasie to win at around the 27 minute mark. Ill give it 2 stars, which is usually the lowest score I give for elimination matches, just because Dibiasies team was thrown out.



Macho King and Zeus do an interview with Sean Mooney about the No Holds Barred ppv in December that would FINALLY put an end to the Zeus feud. Then we go over to Hogan and Brutus with Mean Gene and are interrupted by Sherri who throws gold bond powder in their faces and are choked out by Macho and Zeus.


Ventura's got a scoop. He says theyre is dissention in the Heenan family. This is a hint of how the final match is going to go.


Mooney interviews Rude's team then Mean Gene interviews Pipers collection of mental patients. They maul a bird carcass. How are these guys gonna win???


Match #4


8 Man Elimination Match


Rudes Brood Vs Roddies Rowdies


Ravishing Rick Rude, Mr Perfect w The Genius and The Fabulous Rougeu Brothers w Jimmy Hart Vs Rowdy Roddy Piper, Superfly Jimmy Snuka, and The Bushwhackers



Rude and Piper have the feud going back to Summerslam 89 where Piper interfered and helped cost Rude the IC title to Warrior.
Ventura makes a rather politically correct statement by saying Snuka is only about three steps up from Cannibalism. In theory Rude's team should own these guys. Pipers team starts out biting Mr Perfect, which Ventura rightfully calls as DQ worthy. Suprisingly Snuka slams Jacques and hits the superfly only 3:13 into the thing and pins him. Rude gets beat to the punch by Snuka and tags in Mr P. Snuka ropes Perfect and Rude accidently opens the ropes while getting out and Perfect takes a bit of a spill and they argue. Things are falling apart for the Brood. Perfect is getting beat up by everybody. Raymond and Piper fight it out. Raymond hits a sevate kick but ends up getting a piledriver from Piper and pinned at around the 7 minute mark. Heels are in deep **** at this point. Perfect catches butch with a rollup at 9:50 to give his team some breathing room. Luke is up next and he typically lets Perfect fall back into his corner to tag Rude. Rude quickly outmaneuvers Luke and hits the Rude Awakening and the pin at 11:28, all even now. Snuka gets doubleteamed for awhile but still fights back here and there. Snuka hottags Piper and we finally get the showdown between Rude and Piper and Piper outfights Rude and they spill outside fighting up the ramp and are counted out around 17:55. That leaves Snuka and Perfect to finish the match. Perfect knocks Snuka outside and waits for the 10 count. Snuka is up so Perfect suplexes him back into the ring. Both guys go through a series of close pin attempts. Snuka with a highcross body for 2 then Snuka ropes Perfect for a backdrop but Perfect catches him with the perfect plex and the pin at 20:49. Best finish of the night. Snuka beats up the Genius postmatch. 3 stars.


Backstage The Brood celebrate, and Okerlund interviewws the Warriors who are a little whacked out tonight.


Match #5


The Warriors Vs The Heenan Family


Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior, Jim The Anvil Neidhart and The Rockers Vs Andre The Giant, Haku, Arn Anderson, and Bobby The Brain Heenan???


Tully Blanchard was fired just before the ppv for failing a drug test (cocaine I believe) which destroyed his career pretty much, so Heenan is filling in. Because the WWF tapes weeks in advance the SNME special that followed aftert this ppv had both Arn and Tully Vs The Rockers and that match was booked like their last match, this ppv was actually their last appearance. Arn Anderson pretty much left the promotion after this match. The Warrior Andre feud sucked ass. Heenan family jump starts the match and Warrior catches Andre with a clothesline that knocks him out of the ring and he is counted out in 55 seconds. Heenans family was already in trouble without Blanchard out there, so the writing on the wall is clear who will win. Anvil gets caught in the heels corner and Haku superkicks him in the back of the head and pins him around the 4 minute mark. This one's going quick. Rockers, Arn and Haku do all the good stuff here. Funny moment, Haku has Warrior in trouble, brings him back into the corner for a workover and Heenan tells him to tag Anderson^_^!!! Jannetty back in and he gets caught in the heel corner. Heenan tags in and gets a wussy jab from Jannetty and bails, hah!!! Jannetty eats a kick from Haku, who tags Heenan and stomps on Jannetty and pins him!!!, then runs away LOL!!! Warrior and Shawn do a rocket launcher on AA who miraculously kicks out, he tags Haku and they work over Shawn, it's been a pretty even match so far. Michaels gets serious hangtime on a top rope cross body and pins Haku at 13:26. AA in and he chucks Michaels outside where Heenan thinks about going luchadore but changes his mind. Michaels sunset flips into the ring and almost pins AA, Anderson immediatley gets on Heenan for short arming him on the tag that would of negated the pin attempt. AA and Michaels hit head to head midring pretty hard. AA ends up catching Michaels with the spinebuster and pin at 16:13. That leaves Warrior against AA and Heenan, Warrior sends them into eachother and pins Anderson after a gorilla slam and big splash at 18:55. Poor Heenan. Warrior hands him his ass and finally pins him at 21:02. Andre going out in the beginning sucked. But Heenans antics helped. Im going with 3 stars.


Overall Opinion: Nothing over the 3 star mark here. But im picky and don't give anything over 3 1/2 stars unless it is REALLY good. Still, it's one of my favorite ppv eras, and I still think the best Survivor Series era is 1987-1990.


Final Score: On a scale of 1.0 to 10.0, this show feels like 3.9 stars out of 10.0. Worth atleast 1 viewing. The score stinks but it's still a personal favorite.