Survivor Series '87

Legacy Review

Survivor Series '87

November 26, 1987 from the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, OH

 

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

 

After the massive success of Wrestlemania 3 WWF decided to make another attempt to expand their PPV calendar. The proliferation of PPV availability from cable companies the past couple of years also helped. Unlike their last attempt in late '85 with The Wrestling Classic and the cancelled "WrestleVision" series this one will stick, becoming the second of what would be the traditional Big Four WWF/E PPVs, though in short order Survivor Series will be overshadowed by the next two that would come after it. While this show will again be centered around the Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant feud and their first official encounter since WM 3, there will be a very unique card structure. Rather than normal matches, every match on the card will be large elimination tag team matches, dubbed Survivor Series matches, with each one working its way down to a sole "survivor" or "survivors". Not a new match type, but one that had never been done on this scale before.

 

This is also when WWF decided to play hardball with their scheduling. It was known that Jim Crockett would be offering Starrcade on PPV for the first time rather than just closed circuit TV, so to try to pinch their potential audience Vince McMahon and co decided to also schedule Survivor Series on Thanksgiving night. In an even more hardball move, WWF actively threatened cable companies that if they chose to offer Starrcade instead of Survivor Series, WWF would not let them offer Wrestlemania 4. I know it's hard to believe nowadays, but back then cable companies only had one PPV channel. The threat of being shut out of the potential biggest PPV payday of the year was enough to get most cable outlets to toe the line and choose WWF over JCP. This would be the beginning of a scheduling tit for tat that would go on for the next couple of years, even after the Turner buyout of JCP. It's not at all unlike the constant "counterprogramming" games played by WWE and AEW since the start of TKO WWE.

 

"Macho Man" Randy Savage, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake (w/Elizabeth) def WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man, "King" Harley Race, Hercules, "Outlaw" Ron Bass & "Dangerous" Danny Davis (w/Jimmy Hart and Bobby Heenan) in 23:28- Savage had his big face turn over the summer while feuding with Honky over the IC title, pretty much just killing time until his planned push to the top next year. Duggan/Race was another ongoing feud as Duggan had recently taken Race's "King" crown for a time. Beefcake and Hercules start. After some back and forth Beefcake gets an early sleeper on. Herc manages to reach over and tag out. Davis and Bass both run in and get hiptossed. Beefcake flips Davis in as he was the one tagged. The face team easily work the overmatched Davis over. Davis manages to get a knee up on Steamboat and tags out to Race. Steamboat catches Race with a high chop off the second rope. He and Race slug it out, then Steamboat does TWO skin the cats back in. Third try Race is the one that goes over the top and out. Race comes back in and hits a belly to belly suplex for a long 2. Steamboat crawls under Race and tags out to Duggan. He 360 clotheslines Race out to the floor. Duggan follows and they brawl on the floor while commentary says they better watch the count. Foreshadowing successful as both guys are counted out and are both eliminated. Both teams have to separate them. Continue in the ring with Roberts and Bass. Savage tags in and gives Bass a running knee in the back. He runs over and hits Honky with an elbow, giving Bass an opening to hit a clothesline. Honky then tags in with Savage safely down. Savage quickly fights back, but they end up in the heel corner. Bass hits a couple of elbows for 2. Big running elbow from Savage. He was going 100 MPH. Blind tag to Beefcake. He hits a high knee on Bass and gets a pin to eliminate him! Herc comes in and pounds away on Beefcake. Honky works on Beefcake's arm as Savage tries to contain himself. The heels keep Beefcake trapped while continuing to pick the arm apart. Beefcake ducks a badly thought out Honky punch and hits an atomic drop. But Beefcake also makes a possible mistake not tagging out, instead going on offense against Honky. Davis hits Beefcake from the apron. Honky hits a short Shake, Rattle and Roll (just the Roll), but it's enough to get a pin and eliminate Beefcake. Back to even 3 on 3. Savage TEARS for Honky but gets caught from behind by Herc. Davis being in allows Savage to try a comeback but he quickly tags back out. Savage runs Honky over with an elbow and quickly tags out to Roberts. Roberts gets Honky in DDT position but Honky squirts free. Knee up in the corner from Honky to turn things around on Roberts. Herc hits Roberts style jabs on Roberts for 2. Now the heels have Roberts isolated and in peril. Davis actually hits some decent shots, but that only fires Roberts up. Short clothesline! Davis gets planted with the DDT, and he's gone. Herc runs right in with a flying clothesline on Roberts. Elbow drops for 2. Honky taunts Savage in so the heels can double team and choke Roberts. Snap mare/fistdrop combo from Honky for 2. Roberts fights out of a chinlock and gives Honky a kneelift. Herc quickly tags in to cut the tag off. Herc also keeps Roberts grounded with a chinlock as the match starts to drag a bit. Roberts jawbreakers Herc to get free and finally gets a tag to Steamboat. Chops for everyone and Steamboat takes a moment to do a hilarious impression of Honky's awful dancing. High chop off the top rope on Herc. He sets Herc up, then tags Savage. Savage elbow! Herc is gone. Honky is all alone against three faces. Savage pounds him across the ring. Honky dodges and Savage crashes into the corner. He pounds away on Savage's back. Savage gets another huge head of steam and hits another running elbow. Steamboat tags in. Ventura wonders if Honky can tag Jimmy Hart. Might not do much worse. Honky's giving it a go, trying a sunset flip on Roberts but Roberts easily counters it. The faces are taking their time to take out their frustrations on Honky. Probably a good idea, it's going to be a long while yet before anyone finally pries that IC title off him, and the guy that will finally do it isn't even on the roster yet. Savage hits the double ax handle off the top rope and atomic drops Honky out to the floor. Honky says screw it, that's enough and walks out, willingly taking a countout loss. 100% in character and exactly how kept the IC title so long. Overall good match to initially get the Survivor Series concept over. SURVIVORS: Savage, Steamboat and Roberts. ***

 

The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin' Robin, Velvet McIntyre & The Jumping Bomb Angels def WWF Women's Champion Sensational Sherri, Dawn Marie, Donna Christanello & The Glamour Girls (w/Jimmy Hart) in 20:17- You had no idea WWF had this many women on the roster back then, did you? Not that I blame you. Sherri came over from the AWA in the summer and immediately defeated a face turned Moolah for the women's title. The Dawn Marie in this match is not the same Dawn Marie from the Divas era. The Bomb Angels also signed with WWF from All Japan Women's in the summer and were an immediate sensation, bringing highly athletic joshi puroresu to the American masses decades before it would become more mainstream. The Glamour Girls are announced as the women's tag team champions. Yes, that was a short lived thing at the time. Modern WWE doesn't want you to remember that. They don't have belts either. Sherri loses patience and grabs McIntyre by the hair to start. McIntyre fires back with a crossbody for 2. Moolah tags in and works her foe over. McIntyre works Christanello over, goes up and gives her a victory roll, and Christanello is out. Kai comes in and takes a flying headscissors from McIntyre. Robin gets caught in the heel corner and worked over. She comes back with a clothesline on Marie, hits a crossbody and pins her. Yamazuki comes in and starts up the joshi awesomeness with Martin, doing a nice bridge up out of a pin and getting a cradle for 2. Another rolling cradle for 2. Tateno comes in and hits a couple of high knees. Crossbody for 2. Yamazuki does a lucha style armdrag off the top rope. Sherri tags in and takes a back elbow. Double underhook suplex from Yamazuki for 2. Ventura is now a Bomb Angels fan and isn't afraid to say it. Robin tags in and gets in trouble again. She and Martin take forever trying to pull off a monkey flip spot. Sherri suplex on Robin and Robin's out for the first face elimination. Yamazuki comes in and pummels Sherri with dropkicks. Martin does a full hair pull toss on Yamazuki. McIntyre, who's also looked very good in this match, hits a crossbody for 2. Moolah tags in again to a spattering of boos. She was a heel so long the crowd still isn't sure of her. Martin back elbow on Moolah for 2. Tateno tags in, gets caught in the heel corner but slams Kai off the second rope. Kai dodges a dropkick and hits a flying double ax handle. Kai makes the mistake of trying to take on all the faces at once, giving Moolah an opening to work her over. The Girls sneaky double clothesline Moolah and she's eliminated. Yamazaki puts Martin down and the Angels team up to work her over. McIntyre puts Martin in a Boston crab, then a bow and arrow. She hits a dropkick, but Martin falls into the heel corner and Sherri tags in. Sherri does a double underhook move that drops McIntyre on her head. Kai proper hits Yamazaki with a double underhook suplex. Yamazaki's bridge out of the pin is so good it fools the timekeeper, who rings the bell but the ref waves it off. McIntyre giant swing on Sherri! She gets a victory roll on Sherri and pins her! The champ is out. Yamazaki sunset flip off the second rope on Martin for 2. Martin blocks a slam but Yamazaki tags out. Tateno gets Martin over for a suplex for 2. Kai tags in and tries a ground and pound but gets hooked in a Tateno body scissors. Another McIntyre cradle on Kai for 2. She tries for another victory roll, but Kai's seen it too many times tonight. She counters with a slingshot off the ropes and gets a pin. It's down to the two tag teams, the Girls vs the Angels and all four run in. The Angles whip the Girls into each other. Stereo slams. Martin is slingshot onto Kai! Kai slams Tateno and goes up top. The splash is dodged! Yamazuki crossbody off the top and she pins Kai! Martin faceplants Yamazuki in the mat, then puts her up in a fireman's carry and drops her for 2. The Angels hit a slam/top rope kneedrop combo. Double backdrop. Hart gets dropkicked off the apron to a HUGE pop. Diving clothesline off the top rope from Tateno and Martin is pinned! Good stuff for women's wrestling of the era, with the Bomb Angels looking miles ahead of everyone else. Everyone was working hard, clearly taking advantage of a rare spotlight on a major show. Doing the Jimmy Hart spot right at the end was smart too, it got them a much bigger reaction for the win after the crowd was pretty dead most of the match, not untypical for a women's match of the era. SURVIVORS: The Jumping Bomb Angels. **1/2

 

WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force, The British Bulldogs, The Killer Bees, The Rougeau Brothers & The Young Stallions def The Hart Foundation, The Dream Team, The Islanders, The Bolsheviks & Demolition (w/every manager on the WWF payroll) in 37:14- That's right, TEN teams in one match. The Strike Force team of Rick Martel and Tito Santana defeated the Harts for the tag titles on weekly TV just a month before this show. Demolition are making their PPV debut here and were poised to become the dominant team in the tag division for the next few years. This is team elimination, so when one member of a team is eliminated so is his partner. The visual as this match starts is insane, with barely a square inch of ring apron not being taken up by someone waiting to be tagged in. Guys have to move and make space when someone hits the ropes so they don't get knocked over. Champ Martel starts out with Volkoff. Martel gets a quick roll up for 2. Volkoff gets Martel down and lifts him up in a one hand choke. Zhukov tags in and misses an elbow drop. Dropkick from Martel. Santana tags in as both sides are sticking with partners so far. Flying forearm! Pin and the Bolsheviks are gone! Ax runs right in and starts pounding on Santana. Now we start getting into rapid fire tags as a lot of guys get their feet wet in this match. Haku and Dynamite have a nice stiff chop off. More quick tags on both sides, too much to keep up with in a written format and still have it readable. It's good stuff though. Ax ducks Jacques trying a springboard crossbody, Jacques splats on the mat, Ax covers, and gets a pin to eliminate the Rougeaus. Again Dynamite and the other Islander, Tama, have some fun stiffing each other. Anvil lifts Powers on his shoulder and Haku comes off the top rope to drop him, but Powers manages to kick out. Valentine gives Roma a shoulderbreaker and suplex but Roma kicks out both times. Gutwrench suplex/legdrop combo from Bravo on Roma for 2. Smash survives a Dynamite clothesline and the Demos get Dynamite trapped on the heel team apron and pound away on him. The ref gets tossed aside, and that earns Demolition a DQ to eliminate them. Getting them out of the match without them taking a pin, I said there were big plans in store for them. We then Bret and Dynamite in the ring together, hell yes. Bret hits a piledriver for 2. Dynamite dodges and Bret posts his shoulder. Tama has an easy time with Powers. Things go a bit worse when Martel tags in. Martel gets the Boston crab on, but in the heel corner and Tama tags out. Anvil absolutely wallops Martel from the blind side, but Martel still kicks out of the pin. Santana hits the flying forearm on Anvil. Bret JUST breaks the pin up. He hit Santana hard enough from behind Anvil covers and gets a pin. A bit of revenge for the Harts as the champs Strike Force are out. It's back even at 3 on 3. Again Powers gets easily knocked around by the heels for an extended period but won't die. Even commentary is amazed he keeps kicking out. Finally he gets a tag to his partner Roma, who also quickly goes in peril. The Young Stallions are not representing themselves well tonight. Finally we get Dynamite and Bret together again for a short period. Haku goes in peril on the heel side, until (of course) Powers gets in again. Now we get Davey Boy and Bret together for a bit. Davey Boy hits a press slam for 2. Haku takes the Davey Boy powerslam but kicks out. Dynamite hits a diving headbutt on Haku but hurts himself. Haku superkick! He pins Dynamite and the Bulldogs are out. Roma actually gets some offense on Haku. For a bit. Powers tries a monkey flip on Bravo but it's blocked into an inverted atomic drop. Once again Powers is in peril for a long time. He even gets caught in a tree of woe in the heel corner, which causes the remaining face teams to run in to try to save him. Bravo hits his signature side suplex on Powers, but doesn't cover. Instead he tags Valentine in to go for the figure four. Powers fights free and tags. Roma sunset flip off the top, and he pins Valentine! The Dream Team is eliminated and it's now even again, 2 teams left for each side. Blair small packages Anvil for 2. Brunzell high knee for 2. Anvil shows his power by literally dragging Brunzell across the ring to tag. Bret outsmarts Roma (not hard) to get the heels back on top again. Roma dodges a Haku dropkick and tags out. Brunzell gets a couple of nearfalls on Haku before Haku tags out to Bret. This match has gone so long the ref's shirt has become untucked. Roma hits a fistdrop off the second rope on Bret for 2. Bret back suplex on Roma for 2. Double headbutt from the Islanders on Roma for 2. Anvil powerslam for 2. Roma rolls under Bret and tags out to Brunzell. Brunzell/Bret midring collision. Tama tries to dropkick Bret onto Brunzell, but Brunzell rolls through it to cover Bret and gets a pin! The Harts are out and the Islanders are the last heel team left. Brunzell celebrates too early and the Islanders are all over him. Tama puts on the Nerve Pinch of Single Handedness +1. Shoulderbreaker from Haku for 2. Haku then puts on the Nerve Pinch of Double Handedness +2. Could probably use the Tongan Death Grip here but that ancient art hadn't been rediscovered yet. Brunzell gets a sunset flip on Haku for 2. I think the ref's exhausted, that count was very slow. Suplex from Haku for 2. Brunzell counters a backdrop and tags out to Powers. Backdrop on Haku. Powerslam from Roma. Tama breaks the pin up, allowing the Islanders to double team. Roma dodges in the corner and tags Blair in. Haku quickly gets him in trouble too. The Islanders are doing a hell of a job hanging in by themselves. Big diving back elbow from Tama. Blair dodges an elbow drop and tags out. A double noggin knocker actually works on the Islanders. Brunzell hits his dropkick but Haku breaks the pin up. Finally, DONNYBROOK! Blair gets his mask on, sunset flips Tama, and gets the pin to win the match even though he wasn't the legal man! Damn good stuff with nonstop action all over, but maybe it went on a tick longer than it really needed to. SURVIVORS: The Killer Bees and The Young Stallions ***3/4

 

With this unusual card structure we get intermission here before the main event. A show like this doesn't need an intermission, but all shows had intermissions then so here we are. As the Jem'Hadar would say, it is the order of things. We get a long video package of "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (who signed with WWF after Mid-South/UWF finally went belly up in the spring) bragging about his money and lifestyle while also showing clips from weekly TV of him humiliating various plants by challenging them to try to "earn" some money then screwing them over. Kicking the basketball away from the kid trying to get to 15 dribbles is my favorite. A clip from the summer of DiBiase buying out a public pool manager to kick the crowd of kids out for a day is also good. Everybody's got a price. After that commentary breaks down what we've seen already for a while. Ventura is still gushing about the Jumping Bomb Angels, comparing them to Dynamite Kid, Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat.

 

Quick notes going into the main event- Heenan and Andre are still arguing that Andre pinned Hogan early in the WM 3 match and is the "uncrowned champion". This is also Andre's first match since then after taking some time off due to his declining health and to help promote The Princess Bride's release (Andre dropped the "I'm here for your SOUUUUUUUUUL" line during the prematch promo). Muraco has turned face since we last saw him on PPV. Orndorff turned back face after returning from an arm injury in June. Bigelow signed with WWF in the spring after becoming a star in New Japan and is a rare face with a manager (Humperdink). Rude is making his first WWF PPV appearance after jumping over from JCP in the spring while still holding half of the NWA World tag titles. 

 

Andre the Giant, "The Natural" Butch Reed, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang & "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan and Slick) def WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, "The Rock" Don Muraco, Ken Patera & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/Oliver Humperdink) in 24:07- Rude's wearing his crazy traffic sign tights tonight. I'm not at all a fan of the tassels on Hogan's bandana. It makes him look like a cheap lamp. This is the last PPV for the somewhat underrated pre-Winged Eagle WWF Title belt. When we get to WM 4 the Winged Eagle will have been introduced. Muraco and Rude start with some quick slugging. Orndorff comes in with an elbow off the top rope. Hogan tags in as Rude stays in trouble. Clothesline and triple elbow drop. Hogan sets Rude up for a Bigelow diving headbutt. Press slam from Bigelow. Finally Patera comes in and genius as he is knocks Rude right back into his corner to tag. The faces then get Reed in trouble as it's still all one sided so far. Former foes Orndorff and Hogan team up for a double clothesline on Reed. Hogan drops the legdrop and Reed is the first one out. The faces celebrate one elimination way to much, and behind them Andre strides into the ring. Hogan turns around and sees him. For some reason ref Joey Marella says Hogan tagged out to Patera. The big collision has to wait. Andre, probably rightly, says Patera isn't worth his time and tags out to Bundy. Patera lays into him as it's once again all Hogan's team. OMG gets a knee up on Orndorff to finally give the heel team some momentum. Rude then kills it by taking an Orndorff clothesline and the not yet boogie woogie elbow for 2. As Ventura points out, Rude's had a bad night so far. Patera manages to take OMG down with a crossbody for 2. OMG gets Patera caught in the heel corner. OMG and Patera both go for clotheslines at the same time. OMG clearly wins that, almost legit squishing Patera and getting a pin for the first face team elimination. Hogan comes in and corner clotheslines OMG. Hogan/Bigelow double big boot on him. Big Bigelow/OMG collision. Both sides tag out. Orndorff suplexes and boogie woogie elbows Rude as Ventura says again Rude's had a terrible night. Orndorff calls for the piledriver. Bundy comes in and hits Orndorff from behind. Rude rolls Orndorff up with a handful of tights and pins him to somewhat redeem his night. Orndorff is out. The faces quickly get Rude back down and take turns hitting moves on him. Powerslam from Muraco and Rude is eliminated. Muraco dodges a Bundy kneedrop, sees the target and starts working on Bundy's leg. The about twelfth eye rake from the heels this match turns that around. Muraco tries to slam OMG but that goes terribly and Muraco barely kicks out from getting pinned. OMG hits the 747 and Muraco is gone. Bigelow gets a sunset flip (!) on OMG but OMG butt splashes him to counter. Clothesline from Bundy that Bigelow does a near 360 sell of. Bigelow by default is the only guy left on the face team that can go in peril for a while, because it's not going to be Hogan. After a few minutes of that Andre finally tags in for his first real action of the night. Bigelow rolls past him and tags Hogan! Hogan unloads on Andre as the crowd explodes. They choke each other and slug it out. Buckle shots for Andre. Bundy trips Hogan and drags him out to the floor. Hogan fights Bundy off, then slams OMG on the floor! Bundy stops Hogan from getting back in. Hogan slams Bundy on the floor! But, they kept Hogan out just long enough and he's been counted out! Hogan is gone. Hogan, as usual, is a big baby about it and the refs have to threaten him with giving the match automatically to Andre's team if he doesn't leave. It's down to just Bigelow against all the beef on the heel side- Andre, Bundy and OMG. Ventura says Bigelow should walk like Honky Tonk Man did. Bigelow puts Bundy down with a clothesline and drops an elbow for 2. Diving headbutt for 2. Standing dropkick! Bigelow could move, man. He looks pretty gassed though. Bigelow dodges an avalanche. Slingshot splash! Bigelow pins Bundy! One tree down. Two larger ones to go. OMG works Bigelow over and hits a short clothesline for 2. Bigelow is run into Andre's boot. OMG goes up top. Bigelow dodges! He drapes an arm over and pins OMG! Down to just Bigelow and Andre. Bigelow tries to dodge around Andre, but then does a wild charge in the corner that Andre easily dodges. Kind of suplex thingy from Andre, and that gets the pin to finish it off. Bigelow did his best but it was just too much. Another good match that worked the early Survivor Series formula well, though who they left for the final stretch didn't do it any favors match quality wise. Not that this match was overflowing with great workers to start with. SOLE SURVIVOR: Andre the Giant ***1/4

 

As soon as the bell rings Hogan charges back in and nails Andre with the title belt! What a sore freaking loser, man. Then he does his full end of show celebration like he actually won something tonight. I'm 100% with disgusted Ventura on this one. Ventura: "Only in CLEVELAND would they cheer for the loser!". This was the beginning of the build for the big Hogan/Andre title rematch, which will be on a live The Main Event (Saturday Night's Main Event on a Friday) on NBC in February. That will be the kickoff of the disputed title angle that leads to the WWF Title tournament that takes place at WM 4.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The first Survivor Series comes off very well. Nothing mind blowing or really long term important happens other than the aforementioned early build for the Hogan/Andre rematch, but all the matches are some level of good and are well worth a watch.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B

 

V2.0 posted 7/20/26