Survivor Series '91

Legacy Review

Survivor Series '91

November 27, 1991 from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

The Gravest Challenge

The show opens up with footage from the previous week's Superstars of Jake Roberts attacking the trying to get reinstated Randy Savage with a king cobra. Well, I say attacked, more like tried to persuade the defanged snake to stay on Savage's arm and draw as much blood as it could. Vince goes into super selling mode after deciding on the fly that the snake must not have been devenomized because Savage is having a major FREAK OUT FREAK OUT, even dropping "This was not supposed to happen!", trying to persuade smart fans that this might not be scripted in a way that would be common during the Monday Night Wars era. We then cut to a prerecord of Jack Tunney in his Titan Towers office. He bans all reptiles from ringside (insert your own manager joke here), reinstates Savage, removes Roberts from the Survivor Series card and schedules a Roberts/Savage match at the "earliest possible time", which so happens to be This Tuesday in Texas.

Ric Flair, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, The Mountie and The Warlord def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret "Hitman" Hart, The British Bulldog and Virgil in 22:48- This is Naitch's WWF PPV debut after making the big jump over the summer. He's running with the Real World's Champion gimmick, but legal wrangling had sadly forced WWF to stop showing the Big Gold Belt on their TV programs, so Flair's toting around an old tag belt, and they use various video distortion or pixelation techniques to cover it up on TV (on Jack Tunney's orders in storyline). Tonight's it's a simple black circle. Flair was also in a warmup feud with Roddy Piper to get him going in the promotion. There's definitely a small but noticeable pro-Flair contingent in the crowd. DiBiase had just won back the Million Dollar Belt from Virgil on the Survivor Series Showdown USA Network special, and Bret and the Mountie's feud had also gotten going with a cattle prod attack. For the first time at a Survivor Series, all managers have been banned from ringside. I knew someone would read reptiles as managers. Piper wants Flair, but Flair sneaks away and lets DiBiase start. As they lock up Flair sneaks in and knees Piper in the back. Piper quickly recovers and crotches DiBiase. DiBiase drags Sherri, who illegally stayed and ringside, in. Sherri jumps on Piper's back. He pulls her off and kisses her! Stunned Sherri collapses to the floor and the ref sends her packing. The faces rotate quick tags on DiBiase. DiBiase comes back a bit on Bret, dodges a charge and Bret knees the top turnbuckle. DiBiase goes for a figure four but Bret pushes out. They roll through a roll up/quick cover/counter sequence that's really good. Flair tags in to a small pop. Bret dodges an elbow drop, hits Flair with a headbutt, and we get a Flair Flop! Bulldog slingshots Flair into the turnbuckle. Flair Flop 2! Piper tags in and Flair begs off. Chop exchange. Flair falls outside and it's Flair Flop 3! He's getting his money worth early. Bulldog and Warlord renew their WM 7 feud. Mountie, genius that he is, lets Bulldog tag out. Bret and DiBiase crank the workrate up again. Bulldog beats the Mountie around. Flair back in. Bulldog no sells chops and fights off all four heels. Bulldog gets the powerslam on the Mountie. Everyone runs in. Flair comes off the top rope and hits Bulldog in the back of the head, covers, and Bulldog is eliminated even though Flair wasn't legal. Piper tears in for Flair but gets caught in the heel corner. He goes nuts trying to get out but eventually gets worn down. Flair hits the snap mare/knee drop combo but Piper dodges a second knee drop. Piper hooks in a figure four! DiBiase breaks it up. DiBiase hits a Flair-style kneebreaker on Piper and goes for his own figure four, but Piper rolls him into a small package for 2. Man, it's like Ric Flair Appreciation Night out there. The Mountie goes against the flow and hooks in a Boston Crab. Piper drags him to the corner and tags out. DiBiase and Virgil go at it again. Warlord throws Virgil out and Flair works him over on the floor. Warlord locks in the full nelson. Everyone runs in again. This time Bret comes off the top to knock out Warlord, and Piper covers to eliminate him even though he wasn't the legal man. Joey Marella's having some kind of Marty Asami night out there tonight. While Dibiase's arguing with the ref Piper rolls him up for 2. Virgil ducks a couple of DiBiase clothesline attempts and puts on the Olive Garden Dream. DiBiase runs his face into the buckle to get out. Flair tries for the sneaky style rope leverage pin. Flair and Piper go at it again. Flair bumps off a Piper eye poke. DONNYBROOK! Flair throw by Piper. They have to reposition themselves because of the guys fighting in the other corners, then a Piper whip sends Flair for a Flair Flip ride and he falls to the floor. Piper joins the big brawl in the ring. Finally Marella has enough and DQ's everyone in the ring, leaving the guy who just tumbled out, ironically, as the winner. SOLE SURVIVOR: The Man. Weak ending to an otherwise fun and excellent match, and a solid PPV debut for Flair to go along with the huge push he was getting on weekly TV. ***1/2

Mean Gene invites Randy Savage to the promo stage. He looks good for a guy that survived a king cobra bite less than a week ago. He says the venom made him delirious but he could hear Elizabeth's crying, and he's going to get revenge This Tuesday in Texas. Kinda boilerplate stuff from Savage really. Monsoon says they're "working on" TV coverage for the big event.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich and "El Matador" Tito Santana def The Berzerker, Col. Mustafa, Hercules and Skinner in 14:19- That heel team is what you could call a black hole for workrate. Santana had just returned from a short hiatus with the Matador gimmick because Vince couldn't stand anyone vanilla on his roster anymore. The newly face turned Slaughter was replacing Jim Neidhart, who was doing an injury angle from Flair's figure four to put Flair over. Santana and Skinner start. They roll through some basics until Santana hits him with the flying frijoles refritos, sending him outside. Slaughter rolls him back in. Santana ducks two clothesline attempts, but Skinner dodges a dive and Santana crashes out. Santana dodges a Berzerker butt splash attempt off the second rope and tags out. Berzerker and Tornado fumble around for a bit before finding a bit of footing. Herc and Duggan have a shoulderblock standoff and slugfest. Berzerker grabs Duggan's hair and pulls him into the heel corner. Duggan goes patriot in peril. He and Sheik have a pretty ugly sequence. Duggan blocks a suplex and tags out to Slaughter. Slaughter takes his old stablemate out with one clothesline. Berzerker comes in and Slaughter tries to sell his messy offense. At some point in here Yano snuck off with one of the top turnbuckle pads. Slaughter takes a couple of bumps into the exposed buckle. A Berzerker big boot gets 2. Slaughter gets rammed into the post, but still kicks out. Slaughter dodges a punch and crotches Berzerker. Duggan throws Berzerker out of the ring several times but he keeps getting right back in. Then he whips Duggan right into the face corner! Well that was dumb. Berzerker pretty much no sells a Tornado discus punch. Santana hits his new finisher, Murder Death of the Bull or whatever it was, on Herc and he's gone. Santana outsmarts Skinner, not a hard job, and Slaughter rolls him up to send him packing. Berzerker gets a face full of the exposed buckle, and the Duggan 3 point stance tackle finishes him off. SURVIVORS: Duggan, Slaughter, Tornado and Santana. It was bad, but considering most the participants no worse than you'd expect. It looked like they wanted to try to get Berzerker over as a monster heel but he sucked so much it barely registers. 3/4*

Jake Roberts joins Okerlund on the promo stage. He has zero remorse for what he did. Okerlund asks him about the snake ban, and Roberts says we've all been fools for six years. The thing in the bag was always just a toy. He's the real snake. Roberts grabbed his heel turn with both hands and ran with it without looking back. This was an awesome run for him. Monsoon says that they've sorted TV for This Tuesday in Texas out and it will be on PPV. So, kids, after asking your parents to pay for this PPV just before Christmas shopping season, now you can ask them to get another one next week! Imagine the poor sod that made the deal that Tuesday in Texas would be part of their Christmas presents, or even the only one! Poor kid.

Recap of a recent edition of The Funeral Parlor where Flair confronted Hogan with Big Gold and told him time's up, daddy's here. Taker comes out of a standing casket and attacks Hogan from behind.

WWF Championship: The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) def Hulk Hogan (c) in 12:45- Taker is billed as undefeated, even though I can point to a house show I went to in the summer of '91 where he clearly lost to The Ultimate Warrior. But not on TV = doesn't count. There's a Hogan themed coffin at ringside that Hogan trashes tips over on his entrance. Taker doesn't flinch a muscle Hogan's entire entrance. Early lockup win by Taker but Hogan dodges the follow up charge. Hogan is being super extra cautious. Taker takes him down with a shoulderblock and Hogan rolls out for a think. Back in, Taker chokes.....and chokes.....and chokes. Sloooooooooooooooooow zombie Taker offense. Hogan dodges an elbow drop and goes on the offensive. Taker no sells a clothesline and blocks a slam attempt. Taker won't go down. Hogan clotheslines him over and out. Taker lands on his feet and pulls Hogan out. Stair shot for Hogan (that he clearly pulls up a good half a foot early for) and Taker chokes him with a TV cable. More slow Taker offense. He's doing one part of his gimmick right. The crowd has been euthanized very effectively. Taker puts on a claw-like hold and gets a couple of near falls out of it. They do the arm drop spot and Hogan comes back. Hogan hits a shoulderblock, but Taker uses the momentum to bounce off the ropes and hit the flying clothesline! By far the best move of the whole match. He plants Hogan with the tombstone, but doesn't cover and turns his back instead. Hogan pops up to a much smaller pop than usual. Hogan punches and punches and punches and Taker finally goes down to one knee. Hogan slams him while Ric Flair comes to ringside. Flair picks up the Winged Eagle belt to admire it. Hogan goes out and punches him. Big boot. Hogan goes for the legdrop but Bearer grabs his leg. Taker gets up and loads up the tombstone again. Flair slides a chair into the ring and Taker tombstones Hogan right into it.....and gets the 3 count and the title! And a pop? Yeah, there was definitely a pop there. People are cheering Taker beating Hogan. Not a ton of them, but enough to notice. The times are changing. After nearly 8 years, the Hogan act was getting stale and people were starting to want something fresh. This is a hugely historic match for multiple reasons (Hogan's waning popularity, Taker's first world title, Hogan/Flair interactions...). It also sucks. 1/4*

Intermission time in the arena means promo time on TV. Perfect and Flair celebrate. Flair says Hogan's days are numbered and partially blames Tunney for interfering in the match because he distorted the real world champion's belt. On an intensity scale of 1-10, Flair's at least a 15 here. Remember, the plan at this point was 100% Flair vs Hogan at WM 8. That's what they were building toward. Typhoon says he has "shocking" news. Oh bloody hell that's hilarious. Please tell me you don't need that one explained. Mooney tries to interrupt Hawk's promo. Hawk doesn't like that one bit. Mean Gene is with President Tunney, who's been on this show more than the last 5 years' worth of shows put together. Tunney says the ref's decision in the WWF title match is final, but it's in his power to schedule a rematch at the earliest possible date, which happens to be....This Tuesday in Texas! They're doing the serious hard sell for that show.

The Nasty Boys and The Beverly Brothers def The Rockers and The Bushwackers in 23:06- Butch and Knobbs start. It goes about as bad as you'd expect. The Bushwackers double team all the heels. Both Beverlys eat the battering ram. The Rockers double dropkick the Nasys. The heels regroup on the floor. Reset with Shawn and Blake. They have an OK back and forth. Knobbs tackles Luke off the second rope and eliminates him. Shawn gets a crossbody off the top rope on Saggs for 2. Janetty armdrags Saggs around. Commentary spends almost 5 straight minutes hyping Tuesday in Texas instead of calling the match. Janetty flips over Beau and hits him with a superkick for 2. Then they have a nasty midring collision that I don't know what the hell it was supposed to be. But I doubt that. The Beverlys fit their finisher on Luke and the Bushwackers are mercifully gone. Janetty whips out a hurricanrana and enzuguri. He's trying. The wrestling is mostly OK but it's one of those matches where there's no flow. It's all disjointed. Shitty shows have a tendency to drag everyone down. Shawn gets a backslide on Beau to eliminate him but goes Rocker in peril after. Commentary thinks Janetty's not trying very hard to tag in. Saggs tries to throw Shawn out, but Shawn lands on the apron and dropkicks Saggs out. But doesn't tag. Instead, he hits a nice flying clothesline off the apron to the floor! Then superkicks Knobbs. He tries to come off the top but Saggs hits him on the way down. Finally he counters a backdrop and tags. Janetty does a nice flippydo rollup on Blake for 2. The heels wear him down and now Janetty's Rocker in peril. He gets his knees up on a dive and crawls over to tag Shawn. The Rockers use the Nastys to make a Blake sandwich. Janetty picks Saggs up to slam him, but Saggs' boot catches Shawn in the face and Knobbs rolls him up to eliminate him. Shawn and Janetty have a heated discussion. Heenan plugs the recent issue of WWF Magazine that has an "exclusive report" on tension between the Rockers. (I remember that issue. One of my two late childhood/early teens magazine subscriptions: WWF Magazine and Nintendo Power.) Shawn finally leaves. Janetty tries to put up a fight, including hitting an awesome high spot with a dive off the top rope onto both Nastys on the floor, but in the end the heels are to much. SURVIVORS: The Nasty Boys and Blake Beverly. Just a few weeks after this Janetty would be making his fateful trip through the Barber Shop window. The match had some nice Rocker high spots and built up the breakup well, but that's about it. *1/2

WWF Tag Team Champions The Legion of Doom and The Big Boss Man def The Natural Disasters and Irwin R Schyster in 15:21- This gets the main event slot instead of the title match because it was still standing WWF policy to always send the crowd home happy (a policy that would thankfully unofficially end the following Royal Rumble when Flair won the title). Boss Man and IRS start. Is this the first time, in a non-gimmick match, that two wrestlers with button up shirts faced each other? Boss Man shows off his underrated speed and agility by sliding under IRS's legs, dragging him down from the apron, then trying to go up to the top rope but slips. He recovers to do the Baron Corbin style slide out of and around the corner. Quake tags in and he wants Animal. I'll say this, if nothing else having LOD out there just about woke the crowd back up. Animal tries a crossbody but Quake catches him and gives him a backbreaker. Animal dodges a big splash and works the power moves. Hawk press slams IRS into Typhoon. Typhoon catches him, but Hawk dropkicks them both down. The faces work on Typhoon in the corner while the ref is distracted. Quake slips IRS his briefcase. He pops Boss Man with it and eliminates him. The Disasters double team Animal. Quake hits a belly to belly suplex for 2. Typhoon goes for an avalanche, but Animal gets a boot up, clotheslines out of the corner, and tags. The heels double team Hawk and IRS goes for another briefcase shot, but Hawk ducks and Typhoon gets it instead. Hawk pins him and he's gone. Quake is furious at IRS. He helps Typhoon up and leaves with him, leaving IRS to die. IRS dodges a charge and Hawk posts his shoulder. He throws Hawk out and into the stairs. They have a really ugly botched midring collision, yet another one on this show. What was in the water in Detroit? Hawk reverses a suplex and tags. Animal hits a powerslam, LOD double clothesline, and IRS rolls out. He tries to walk but Boss Man comes back and forces him back to the ring. Animal suplexes him from the apron back in, Hawk hits the clothesline off the top, and we're done. No Doomsday Device? For a WWF match this was awfully generic. No one hit any signature stuff at all. SURVIVORS: The Legion of Doom *

Mooney is in the back. He's just come from Hogan's dressing room, and though Hogan didn't want to appear on camera he promises to brother brother at Tuesday in brother. Brother. Then we go to Mean Gene. He's in the boiler room with Taker and Bearer, who are probably thinking this might be a nice place to have a match in one day. They say Hulkamania died tonight, and Tuesday in Texas will be its funeral/burial. Taker closes the coffin lid on the camera and the show ends with Undertaker's Dong. Pretty good ending actually. Would have really worked on weekly TV.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- WWF's streak of really good PPVs in '91 comes to a screeching halt. If it wasn't for the superb opening match and the historical significance of the Hogan/Taker/Flair WWF title situation we'd be in worst PPVs of all time territory. It became clear halfway through the show that this major PPV only existed to try to sell the experimental PPV the following week. It was so bad even Heenan and Monsoon mostly checked out the second half of the show.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D