WWE Recap: Survivor Series (1987)

The first edition of Survivor Series comes to us live from just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura are our announcers. The show will feature just four matches, but each will be battle between 5-man teams (One will feature five tag teams, and thus 10-man teams). I've never been a big fan of these shows, but they had them anyway.


Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Ron Bass, Harley Race, Danny Davis vs Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Ricky "The Dragon" Steaboat, Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Beefcake and Hercules will open the match up in the ring. They trade low-impact offensive moves, but Beefcake puts on a sleeper hold pretty quickly. Hercules manages to get to his team, but Ron Bass and Danny Davis both come in. Both catch hip tosses. The referee determines that Davis is the legal man. He's bodyslammed by Beefcake, who then tags in Jake Roberts. Roberts puts Davis in an armlock, then uses that arm to slam him to the mat. He tags in Savage to the crowd's delight. Savage brings in Steamboat, who hits a punch from the top rope. He puts Davis into the corner, but catches a knee when he follows. Davis tags in Harley Race. Race hits a shoulderbreaker but throws Steamboat to the corner, where he runs up to the middle rope and nails Race with a punch. They trade blows, then Steamboat tosses Race from the ring. Race comes back in and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. The pin only gets two. Steamboat tags in Jim Duggan. Hacksaw clotheslines Race out of the ring, then chases him out, and the men brawl on the floor. Eliminated: Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Harley Race via countout

Jake Roberts and Ron Bass take over as the legal men in the ring. Bass attacks The Snake's eyes, so he tags in Macho Man. He uses a series of knees to get the advantage, but then goes after Honky Tonk Man on the apron. When he turns back around, Bass is waiting to clothesline him. Now, Honky Tonk Man tags in and starts working on Savage. Savage fights back, and Honky Tonk Man immediately tags Bass back in. Bass catches Savage with an elbow to the sternum. He goes for a piledriver, but Savage reverses to a back drop. Bass puts him in a headlock, while Macho reaches behind him and tags Beefcake. Bass didn't see it. The Outlaw bounces off the rope and right into a high knee from Beefcake, who pins him. Eliminated: Ron Bass

Hercules comes in to replace Bass and is hip tossed by Beefcake. Hercules takes control, however, with a headbutt to Beefcake's mid-section. He works on The Barber's arm, then tags in Honky Tonk Man. They tag back and forth, continuing the abuse on Beefcake's arm. He finally starts to fight back, but doesn't tag. Instead, he bounces off the rope, but is tripped by Danny Davis, and walks right into Shake, Rattle, and Roll. Eliminated: Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

Savage runs in, but Honk Tonk Man flees the ring, and Hercules comes in. He pounds on Macho in the corner, then tags in Davis. Davis is useless and tags Honky Tonk Man back in. Macho Man eludes a clothesline attempt and tags in The Snake. Roberts goes for the DDT, but isn't able to get it. Honky Tonk Man hits him with a knee, and the heels regain control. They double-team Roberts in the corner. Hercules comes in, and gets a two count. Davis comes in and lands a few punches, which have no effect. He eats a DDT instead. Eliminated: Danny Davis 

Hercules comes flying into the ring with an elbow on Roberts. Again, he goes for a quick pin, and again it only gets two. Honky Tonk Man comes back in, and also gets a two count after a fist to Roberts head. He locks in a chinlock, and wears The Snake down, but Roberts gets free and nails Honky Tonk Man with a knee. Hercules tags in quickly and keeps Roberts from getting to his corner. Now he locks in a chinlock. Finally, Roberts breaks free, and gets to Steamboat, who comes in hot. He chops Hercules to the mat, then lands a punch from the top rope. He tags in Savage, who hits the big elbow from the top. Eliminated: Hercules

Honky Tonk Man is the last man standing on his team. Savage attacks, but misses in the corner, and is down, earning him a few knees to the back. Honk Tonk Man sends Macho to the ropes, but misses a clothesline and Savage tags Steamboat. Steamboat lands a couple of chops, then brings in Jake "The Snake". A couple of quick tags later, Savage is back in, and climbs the ropes. He lands a forearm shot on the Honky Tonk Man, then an atomic drop knocks the heel to the floor. Honky Tonk Man gets up and just leaves the ring area, quitting the match. Winners: Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Jake "The Snake" Roberts

The action was just ok here. Danny Davis was a wasted spot that could have been occupied by an actual wrestler. We never really got any emotional payoff, and the ending was a dud. He just quit? It's also a bit weird to see Savage and Steamboat so chummy, when very recently, Savage used a ring bell to nearly kill Steamboat. Oh well.


Judy Martin, Leilani Kai, Dawn Marie, Donna Christianello, Sensational Sherri vs Velvet McIntyre, Rockin' Robin, Itsuki Yamazaki, Noriyo Tateno, Fabulous Moolah

Ok. I really don't mean this disrespectfully, but the women's division, at this point in WWE history, is a wasteland. Moolah is good, but the wrestling is so bad. I can't force myself to write up a long report of this match. Moolah gets in early, and is hitting rapid fire moves, good looking ones. McIntyre comes in and rolls up Donna Christianello. Eliminated: Donna Christianello

The heel (I think?) team gangs up on Rockin Robin in their corner. After several tags, Robin fights back and hits a cross body on Dawn Marie for a pin. Eliminated: Dawn Marie

Yamazaki comes in and almost makes the match worth watching. She bridges out of a pin, and I had to watch it twice. It was like magic. She also hits a flying body scissors into a rollup, which was nice. She tags in her partner, Tateno, who hits an arm drag from the top rope. Then she hits a double-underhook suplex on Sherri. The past two minutes of this match, with the Jumping Bomb Angels, has already had more impressive maneuvers than the entire first match. For some reason, they tag Robin in and she immediately gets beaten down and pinned by Sherri. Eliminated: Rockin' Robin

Moolah finds her way back in, although the crowd has completely checked out of this match. Jesse Ventura suggests the women should shave their head so they can't have their hair pulled. Moolah gets hit with a double-clothesline. Eliminated: Fabulous Moolah

The Jumping Bomb Angels go to work on Judy Martin's leg, then Velvet McIntyre puts her in a Boston Crab. One of the Angels comes in and is nearly pinned, but bridges out. Eventually, Velvet comes back in and pins Sherri with a really slow-developing and fake-looking rollup. Eliminated: Sensational Sherri

The Jumping Bomb Angels each try and lift up Judy Martin, but can't lift her. Finally, one manages to land a double underhook suplex. Leilani Kai reverses another attempt by McIntyre to roll her up and gets the pin instead. Eliminated: Velvet McIntyre

Now we're left with the two tag teams. All four women are in the ring, and the Bomb Angels hit a couple of bodyslams. Leilani Kai briefly takes control, but misses a move from the top rope. The opposing Bomb Angel goes up top and hits a flying cross body for the pin. Eliminated: Leilani Kai

The Jumping Bomb Angels go to work on Judy Martin. Jimmy Hart gets up on the apron and is dropkicked by one Angel, while the other Angel hits Martin with a clothesline from the top rope. Winners: Jumping Bomb Angels

The match was mostly what I expected. It was pretty fast-paced action, but mostly not very good action. The exception was the Angels. They were pretty fantastic and ahead of their time. They deserved to get the win.




The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The Islanders, The Dream Team, The Bolsheviks vs Strike Force, The British Bulldogs, The Killer Bees, The Fabulous Rougeaus, The Young Stallions

 Rick Martel and Nikolai Volkoff start us off. Martel almost gets a pin right away. He goes off the rope and gets kicked for it. Volkoff uses some awkward looking offense on him, then tags in Boris Zhukov. He misses an elbow, and Martel tags in Tito Santana. Santana comes off the rope with a flying forearm and gets a quick pin. Eliminated: The Bolsheviks

Ax, of Demolition, immediately steps in and starts pounding on Santana. He also misses an elbow drop, and Jacques Rougeau tags in and hits a flying elbow. Dino Bravo tags in. The face team is now making speedy tags to work over Bravo. Both Bees get a turn, then Davey Boy Smith comes in. Smash comes in for the heels. The other half of Demolition doesn't fare any better, and he gets tossed into the corner. Dynamite Kid comes in. Haku is in too, and they trade chops in the middle of the mat. More tags on both sides. Paul Roma winds up on the receiving end of a beatdown. Jim Powers makes it in, but he gets nailed too. Jacques Rougeau gets in, and tries a cross body from the turnbuckle, but misses, and is pinned by Ax. Eliminated: The Rougeaus

Dynamite Kid checks in and goes after Ax, and then Tama. Jim Powers tags back in, but gets caught with a clothesline. He is hit with a double-team move from Jim Neidhart and Haku, but kicks out of a pin. He tags in Roma, who, once again, can't mount any offense. Greg Valentine comes in for the first time. He hits a shoulderbreaker, but can't get a three count. Bravo comes back in with a gutwrench suplex, but he only gets a two count as well. Smash and Dynamite Kid wind up in the ring, and Dynamite ends up getting double and triple-teamed in the corner. Ax and Smash blatantly ignore the ref, then Smash tosses the referee aside and gets disqualified. Eliminated: Demolition

Bret Hart steps in and hits a piledriver and the Dynamite Kid, but cant' get the pin. Hart tries to ram The Kid in the corner, but misses and hits the ringpost. Powers comes back in, and naturally, he loses the advantage. Tama bodyslams him, then goes for a splash from the ropes. He misses, and Powers tags in a red hot Rick Martel. He dropkicks Tama, then locks in a Boston Crab. However, Tama is able to tag in The Anvil from where he's at. Neidhart hits him from behind. A pin attempt doesn't work, and Martel manages to tag Santana. Tito hits the flying elbow, and goes for the pin. Bret breaks up the attempt. Apparently he hit Santana pretty hard, because Neidhart immediately pins him. Eliminated: Strike Force

Jim Powers comes in and immediately misses a dropkick. Haku hits a nice one, though. Greg Valentine hits an elbow and goes for the pin, but can't get it. Haku is back in and hits a backbreaker, but still can't pin Powers. The Hammer goes for a suplex, but it's reversed, and Powers hits it on Valentine. Valentine keeps Powers on his side of the ring, however, and tags in Bret Hart. He hits another backbreaker and a suplex on Powers, but only gets two. A tag is finally made, bringing in Roma. He sucks though, and gets nailed. Valentine hits him with a fist from the top rope, but a missed drop kick allows Dynamite to get back in. He tosses Bret Hart into a corner with authority. He hits a back suplex, but only gets a two count. He inexplicably tags in Roma who misses an elbow drop, allowing Haku to get back in. He tags in B Brian Blair and we get two fresh men. Hako gets slammed into the head of Dynamite Kid, then Davey Boy checks in. Powers goes back in and, yep, you guessed it. He loses the advantage. Davey Boy gets back in and presses Bret Hart over his head, then slams him down. Then he hits the running power slam on Haku, but isn't able to get a three count. Dynamite Kid hits a diving headbutt on Haku, but hurts himself instead. Haku hits a kick to the throat and pins Dynamite. Eliminated: The British Bulldogs

Paul Roma and Dino Bravo come in, and Bravo misses an elbow drop. Powers tags in, but is knocked to the mat. Valentine hits him with an elbow, then Bravo tags back in. The Harts double-team him next, and they tie him up in the heels' corner. The Bees come over to assist. After the ring is cleared, Dino Bravo hits a side suplex on Powers, then Valentine tries to lock on the Figure Four. Powers kicks out and crawls across the ring. He tags Roma, but The Hammer doesn't see it and tries to lock the Figure Four in again. Roma leaps from the top rope and dives down perfectly to land a most impressive sunset flip for the pin. Eliminated: The Dream Team

The face team gains some momentum and they work on Jim Neidhart. Jim Brunzell hits a high knee, but can't get a three count. Neidhart is able to tag in his partner. Roma tags back in, but is taken down by Tama. Haku goes for a leg drop, but misses, and Brunzell comes in. He faces off with Bret Hart, who goes on the offensive. Roma gets back in and is a whipping post again. He gets beat on by all four remaining heels. Neidhart his him with a power slam, but Roma kicks out of the pin. Finally, Roma avoids a clothesline and tags in Brunzell. Jumping Jim and Bret Hart run into each other and both men go down. The ref gets distracted, and the heels try a double team maneuver while Bret his holding up Brunzell, but when they go down, Brunzell rolls through and gets Hart with the cradle. Eliminated: The Hart Foundation

Haku attacks right away. He hits a shoulderbreaker, but only gets a two count. The Islanders take turns pounding on him in their corner of the ring. Haku hits a suplex, but still just a two count. He tosses Brunzell to the rope, but catches a kick to the chest, and Powers is tagged in. He goes on the offensive, and a Young Stallions double-team results in a power slam by Roma. Tama saves the pin, though. The Islanders take control by double-teaming Roma. B Brian Blair comes in, but is hit with a wild looking flying elbow from Tama. But a missed elbow allows Brunzell to tag in. He hits a dropkick, but the pin is broken up. Then all six remaining men come into the ring. The ref loses track, and the Bees put on the masks. The fresh Bee dives over the ropes and into a sunset flip on Tama for the pin. Winners: The Killer Bees and Young Stallions

This just went on for too long. There were so many awkward tags, and all the guys going in and out just became a blur. It was glad when this ended.




Ravishing Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, One Man Gang, Andre the Giant vs Hulk Hogan, Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, Don Muraco

 Muraco and Rick Rude are up first. They slug it out for a bit, then Muraco takes control. He tags in Orndorff, who lands a knee to Rude's mid-section. Now Hogan is in. He drops three elbows, then bodyslams rude for Bam Bam, who's up next. He hits a splash, then tags in Patera, who, for some reason, knocks Rude across the ring to make a tag. Butch Reed tags in. Patera clotheslines him, then tags in Muraco. They make several quick tags, with Hogan and Orndorff ultimately hitting a double clothesline. Hogan then drops the leg, and it's over for Reed. Eliminated: Butch Reed

Andre steps into the ring while Hogan is over hugging each of his teammates. He turns around and it looks like we're gonna get the big confrontation, but the referee says when Hogan hugged the first man, it constitutes a tag, therefore Patera is now the legal man. Hogan is upset, as though he couldn't step outside the ropes and have Patera tag him right back in. Ugh. Andre turns around and tags in Bundy. Patera goes after the "Walking Condominium" and takes him down. For some reason, Orndorff lets Bundy tag in One Man Gang. He gets the advantage momentarily, but eats a knee in the corner. Rude comes back in, and Orndorff fights back. We get several tags on both sides. Each time, the heel wrestler gets punched a few times, takes a move or two, then rakes the eyes to get ahead. There have already been at least five eye rakes. Patera gets stuck in the wrong corner, and gets triple-teamed. Patera breaks away, but doesn't try and tag. Instead, he tries to clothesline One Man Gang, and it doesn't work. He gets pinned. Idiot. Eliminated: Ken Patera

Hogan goes right to work, with a few chops and a clothesline in the corner. He and Bigelow then hit a double boot to the face. The two big big men collide in the middle of the ring, and both are down. Tags are made to Orndorff and Rude. Mr Wonderful takes Rude down and drops an elbow. He signals for the piledriver, but Bundy sneaks in and knocks him down. Rude rolls him up, grabs a handful of shorts, and gets the pin. Eliminated: Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff

Rude poses, which gets him attacked from behind by Muraco, and then Bam Bam, who hits him with a devastating-looking kick. Hogan tags in next, and hits a high knee. Muraco comes in and hits a nice powerslam and Rude is out. Eliminated: Ravishing Rick Rude

Bundy comes in and...rakes the eyes. Muraco works on his leg before Bundy...rakes the eyes again? D'oh. One Man Gang comes in and Muraco tries to bodyslam him, but gets squashed instead. He kicks out at two. Muraco is built like a tank. I think he could slam him if he wanted to. Anyway, Muraco gets tossed to the corner, where Andre hits him with a big right hand. He goes down, and One Man Gang hits the splash for the pin. Eliminated: Don Muraco

Bam Bam tries to sunset flip One Man Gang, which doesn't go well. Bundy tags in and clotheslines Bigelow, but gets just a two count. One Man Gang tags back in and RAKES THE F'N EYES. Why? One Man Gang and Bundy tag back and forth. taking turns abusing him. Andre finally tags in. Bam Bam dodges the punch, and tags in Hogan. The crowd explodes. Hogan lands a series of punches, then slams the Giant into the turnbuckle. He bounces off the rope, but Bundy grabs his ankle from outside and pulls him out. Hogan beats him back, bodyslams One Man Gang, and tries to get back in the ring, but Bundy attacks him again. Hogan bodyslams him too, but the ref counts out Hogan, which is the dumbest thing to happen in the WWF yet. He stood and watched the heels attack illegally, but counts out Hogan. WTF? Eliminated: Hulk Hogan

Bam Bam goes after Bundy, and hits him with a headbutt, but Bundy kicks out of the pin attempt. Bundy tries to avalanche Bigelow in the corner, but misses. Bam Bam hits the slingshot splash for the pin. Eliminated: King Kong Bundy

One Man Gang comes in and goes to work on an exhausted Bam Bam. He gets a near-fall. He climbs the ropes, but misses whatever it was he was trying to do. Bam Bam pins him. Eliminated: One Man Gang

Andre is in, and delivers a headbutt right away. Bam Bam is doing a nice job selling that he is tired. Andre gets him in the corner and uses his body weight to crush him. Then, he hits a sort-of suplex and pins Bigelow. Winner: Andre the Giant

This was a nice push for Bam Bam, who looks very strong, having beat Bundy and One Man Gang by himself. Muraco also came off nicely. I also get the countout to Hogan, to keep from having him be pinned. It was still stupid though. If that's legal, it should be the strategy at every Survivor Series. Just have your teammates yank a guy out of the ring and beat him up until he's counted out.


Overall Impressions

I hate these giant elimination matches, so I'm definitely not a fan of this show. I might have to rake my own eyes next time.

Winners:
Bam Bam Bigelow came out looking like a beast for nearly pulling it out.
Don Muraco fared pretty well when he was in the ring, and got a pin on a strong powerslam.
The Young Stallions were one of the winning teams, and although they took a lot of beating, they showed toughness in not being pinned.
Jumping Bomb Angels looked amazing. They got the win and had some advanced moves.

Losers:
Ken Patera looked like an idiot for not tagging, and his offense looked weak.
Butch Reed got squashed.
Harley Race was an afterthought, eliminated without doing anything.
The entire Survivor Series concept was undermined by the Hogan countout.


Things I Would Have Changed

Well, obviously, the Hogan countout was idiotic. If you want to protect him from a pin, then a countout is fine, but c'mon. How can you seriously be counted out because two men are cheating. At the least, Bundy and One Man Gang should have been disqualified as well.
Get rid of the whole concept?