WWF Survivor Series 1989

WWF Survivor Series 1989

Venue: Rosemont, Illinois

Date: 23/11/89

Attendance: 15,294

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

The third annual Survivor Series saw teams cut from five members to four and the addition of team names. Could the 1989 edition live up to the high standards of the previous events?

Review

The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana & The Red Rooster) vs The Enforcers (The Big Boss Man, The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Martel & Bad News Brown)

Eliminations: Martel pinned Santana; Bad News Brown was counted out; Beefcake pinned Honky; Beefcake pinned Martel; Boss Man pinned Rooster; Rhodes pinned Boss Man. Rhodes and Beefcake were the survivors.

Notes

The Big Boss Man and Dusty Rhodes were feuding at this time as were Tito Santana and Rick Martel following their split back at Wrestlemania... Martel got the better of Santana again by eliminating him from the match first... Boss Man accidentally nailed Bad News Brown (who was replacing the injured Akeem) causing Brown to walk out on his team. Brown did the exact same thing last year you might remember... Brutus Beefcake scored big wins over The Honky Tonk Man and Rick Martel... Rhodes pinned Boss Man to win the match for his team but Boss Man got his heat back by handcuffing Rhodes and giving him a few shots with the knight stick... Good opening match which the crowd appreciated.

The 4x4's (Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Ronnie Garvin & Hercules) vs The King's Court (Randy Savage, Greg Valentine, Earthquake & Dino Bravo)

Eliminations: Earthquake pinned Hercules; Duggan pinned Valentine; Bravo pinned Garvin; Savage pinned Hart; Duggan was counted out. Savage, Earthquake and Bravo were the survivors.

Here's the original King's Court team with Barry Windham included

Notes

Following Summerslam Randy Savage defeated King Hacksaw Jim Duggan to become the Macho King so this was a continuation of that feud. Ronnie Garvin and Greg Valentine were still embroiled in a feud, and this was the second half assed attempt to give Bret Hart a run as a singles wrestler. He would be back with Neidhart within a couple of months. Hercules is now just a mid-card jobber. Barry Windham was supposed to be on the King's Court team but left the company prior to the event. Windham was billed as the Widowmaker during his short WWF stint in 1989. Hart and Savages had some great exchanges. A feud between these two would surely have got Hart over as a solo act not to mention the great matches they would have produced. Duggan is left alone to face three guys and yet lots of illegal double teaming goes unpunished by the referee. Keep that in mind for the next match. Duggan eventually is counted out to protect him from a loss in the ring… Passable contest.

The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts & Demolition) vs The Million Dollar Team (Ted Dibiase, Zeus & The Powers of Pain)

Eliminations: Zeus was disqualified; Warlord pinned Ax; Barbarian pinned Smash; The Powers of Pain were disqualified; Dibiase pinned Roberts; Hogan pinned Dibiase. Hogan was the survivor.

Notes

Hogan was still feuding with Zeus here ahead of the No Holds Barred pay-per-view which would contain the movie and then a steel cage final battle between Hogan & Brutus Beefcake and Zeus & Randy Savage. Dibiase resumes his feud with Jake Roberts who had recently returned from injury. Demolition and the Powers of Pain were still feuding over a year after their issue began... Zeus was disqualified in the opening minutes for relentlessly choking Hogan and shoving down the referee. It kept him looking like a monster and prevented him from having to take a loss before No Holds Barred... The Powers of Pain defeated both members of Demolition yet it would be Andre the Giant and Haku who were about to (temporarily) relieve Ax and Smash of the championship... The Powers of Pain were both disqualified for continuously double teaming Hogan which begged the question why these rules were not enforced in the previous match. No consistency! It did make it look like the referee was favouring Hogan... Dibiase eliminated Roberts with a bit of help from Virgil before Hogan made his comeback to defeat Dibiase and win the match... After the match Zeus and Savage attacked Hogan and Beefcake in the locker room to set the stage for No Holds Barred… The match was fine for what it was but while the Zeus' disqualification made sense in hindsight, the double disqualification of the Powers of Pain was too much. Quite why Hogan or Roberts couldn't have beaten one of them is beyond me.

 

Hogan bodyslams Zeus to the delight of his teammates

 

Roddy's Rowdies (Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka & The Bushwackers) vs Rude's Brood (Ravishing Rick Rude, Mr Perfect & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers)

Eliminations: Snuka pinned Jacques; Piper pinned Raymond; Perfect pinned Butch; Rude pinned Luke; Piper and Rude were counted out; Perfect pinned Snuka. Perfect was the survivor.

Notes

Piper and Rude were feuding after Piper had a hand in Rude losing the Intercontinental Title to the Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam... The first half of this bout was comedy (not the good kind) with the Bushwackers leading the way with lots of biting and stomping around the ring... The Rougeaus both went down without much of a fight before Perfect and Rude restored parity by eliminating the Bushwackers... Snuka took a beating setting up for a hot tag to Piper so we could get a big showdown between Piper and Rude, except it didn't even last a minute as both men got counted out. What a joke... It came down to Perfect and Snuka and it was a decent wrestling contest where Perfect went over clean to remain undefeated… Once again overall the match was okay.

 

Mr Perfect and Rick Rude have Jimmy Snuka in trouble

The Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, Jim Neidhart & The Rockers) vs The Heenan Family (Andre the Giant, Haku, Arn Anderson & Bobby Heenan)

Eliminations: Andre was counted out; Haku pinned Neidhart; Heenan pinned Jannetty; Michaels pinned Haku; Anderson pinned Michaels; Warrior pinned Anderson; Warrior pinned Heenan. Warrior was the survivor.

Notes

There was a real mid card feel to the main event not helped by the fact that Andre didn't like or respect the Warrior and refused to work with him, therefore we got Andre being eliminated in the first minute of the bout by count out. This left Haku, Arn Anderon and Bobby Heenan as Tully Blanchard was fired before the event for failing a drug test. Anderson would also leave following the event. The outcome was never in doubt here... Haku beat Neidhart who, as good as he was as part of a tag team was never going to get over as a singles wrestler... Heenan got a cheap pin fall over Jannetty after Haku had done the hard work... Shawn Michaels got a big win over Haku but then went down clean to Anderson... Warrior was left alone but he easily despatched Anderson and then Heenan for an anticlimactic finish… This match, while still decent, should have been moved to the middle of the show especially knowing that Blanchard was gone and that Andre wouldn't work with Warrior.

 

Bobby Heenan is about realise he's alone with Warrior

Overall

The 80's and early 90's WWF PPVs with fewer matches tend to get higher ratings as there were usually less lousy filler matches shoved in. All matches here were above average to good so the overall rating looks good. However there was nothing really standout or historically significant on this card. A definite step down in quality from the first two Survivor Series events but still an entertaining show. Survivor Series 1989 drew 385,000 buys on pay-per-view.

Results

1 Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana & The Red Rooster def The Big Boss Man, The Honky Tonk Man, Bad News Brown & Rick Martel (22:02) **3/4

2 Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Randy Savage & Greg Valentine def Hercules, Bret Hart, Jim Duggan & Ronnie Garvin (23:25) **

3 Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts & Demolition def Ted Dibiase, Zeus & The Powers of Pain (27:32) **1/4

4 Mr Perfect, Rick Rude & The Fabulous Rougeaus def Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka & The Bushwackers (21:27) **1/4

5 The Ultimate Warrior, Jim Neidhart & The Rockers def Andre the Giant, Arn Anderson, Haku & Bobby Heenan (20:28) **1/2

Rating

11.75/25 = 47% Rating

Star Rating Guide

*****    Excellent/World Class

****       Very Good

***         Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*              Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Summerslam 1989

 

WWF Summerslam 1989

Venue: East Rutherford, New Jersey

Date: 28/08/89

Attendance: 20,000

Commentators: Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura

In a bid to further the hype for WWF financed movie No Holds Barred starring Hulk Hogan and Tiny Lister, Lister's character Zeus was brought into the World Wrestling Federation to be a short term monster heel and face Hogan in a "real life confrontation". Meanwhile Randy Savage who had lost the WWF Heavyweight Championship to Hogan at Wrestlemania and had spent the summer unsuccessfully trying to regain the title, teamed up with Zeus to attempt to take out 'The Hulkster' once and for all. Hogan's best friend Brutus Beefcake, who was also targeted by Zeus, would team with Hogan to face Zeus and Savage in the big main event at Summerslam. This was the first of two WWF pay-per-views that featured Tony Schiavone as lead announcer.

Review

Recently crowned tag team champions The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) defeated The Hart Foundation in a quality non-title opening bout. The Harts were dominant for most of the contest, so much so that the Busters looked almost inferior to their opponents. Although Anderson and Blanchard went over in the end they should have been afforded more offense in order to legitimise their status as champions... Dusty Rhodes beat The Honky Tonk Man in a slow and boring contest. Rhodes took the win after Jimmy Hart accidently crashed a guitar over Honky's head. The real highlight though was Honky's post match interview where the effects of the guitar shot caused him to believe he was Elvis Presley...

 

Mr Perfect lands a standing dropkick on The Red Rooster.

Mr Perfect continued his unbeaten streak as he made short work of The Red Rooster (Terry Taylor). Taylor actually suffered a knee injury during the bout so perhaps the match was shorter than intended but as that wasn't obvious to those watching Rooster just came across as a jobber here... Next up was a very good six-man tag team match where Rick Martel and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers defeated Tito Santana and The Rockers. Santana was desperate for revenge after Martel turned his back on him at Wrestlemania but Martel played the cowardly heel brilliantly, only entering the fray when his former partner was in trouble. Martel scored the win for his team pinning Marty Jannetty amidst the confusion at the end of the bout...

 

Santana executes a sunset flip out of the corner on former partner Martel.

Ravishing Rick Rude managed to surpass his herculean efforts at Wrestlemania to pull an even better match out of the bag with The Ultimate Warrior for the Intercontinental Title. It must be said that Warrior and Rude always worked well together but this was probably their best encounter. Warrior regained the title he lost in Atlantic City thanks in part to a distraction from Rowdy Roddy Piper which allowed Rude to avoid taking a clean loss and moved him seamlessly onto his next feud... Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Demolition beat Andre the Giant and The Twin Towers in a six man tag that was light years in quality behind the one earlier on the card. Duggan once again cheated to win in a typical for the time big man brawl... The Hercules/Greg Valentine match existed only to further the feud between Valentine and Ronnie Garvin, who was guest ring announcer. Garvin insulted Valentine at length on the house mic before the bout. Valentine pinned Hercules in short order only for Garvin to announce Hercules as the winner. Valentine nailed Garvin for his trouble before Garvin climbed back into the ring and hit "The Hammer" with a terrible looking punch made worse by Valentine's sell, or lack there of...

 

Andre crushes Axe as Akeem looks on. Notice how Bobby Heenan is still distraught
following Rude's IC Title loss. Selling is important for managers too you know.

Ted Dibiase squared off with Jimmy Snuka in a nothing match which Dibiase won by count out. The action was lacklustre and the finish was lousy. Dibiase's comments towards Snuka in his pre-match interview bordered on being racist as did Jesse Ventura's commentary during the match. WWE must have thought the same as Dibiase's comments have been edited out of the DVD release of this event, although Ventura's remain... In the main event Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake beat Randy Savage and Zeus in an enjoyable tag bout. Zeus (actor Tiny Lister) was brought in to be a monster heel who was impervious to pain. His ability to perform in the ring was limited to say the least so Savage had to work extra hard to compensate for him but what he did do was acceptable. Hogan pinned Zeus after nailing him with a loaded purse, which had previously been used in the match by Savage. After the match Beefcake and Miss Elizabeth chopped off Sensational Sherri's long hair (which I suspect was extensions) with a pair of shears.

 

Zeus and the Macho Man before the main event

Overall

Summerslam 1989 can be considered a good show thanks to three very good matches and a decent main event. Unfortunately the show's overall rating is dragged down by the remaining five bouts which were poor and nothing more than filler in truth. The best matches were also the ones that mattered most and that made this show worthwhile. Summerslam 1989 drew 625,000 buys on pay-per-view, an excellent number.

 

Hogan, Beefcake and Miss Elizabeth celebrate victory

 

Results

1 The Brain Busters def The Hart Foundation by pinfall (16:23) ***3/4

2 Dusty Rhodes pinned The Honky Tonk Man (9:36) 3/4

3 Mr Perfect pinned The Red Rooster (3:21) *

4 The Fabulous Rougeaus & Rick Martel def The Rockers & Tito Santana by pinfall (14:58) ***1/2

5 The Ultimate Warrior pinned Rick Rude (c) to win the Intercontinental Title (16:02) ***3/4

6 Demolition & Jim Duggan def The Twin Towers & Andre the Giant by pinfall (7:23) *

7 Greg Valentine pinned Hercules (3:08) 1/2

8 Ted Dibiase def Jimmy Snuka by count out (6:27) *1/4

9 Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake def Randy Savage & Zeus by pinfall (15:04) ***

Rating

18.50/45 = 41.11% Rating

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

 

 

 

 

WWF Wrestlemania V

WWF Wrestlemania V

Venue: Atlantic City, New Jersey

Date: 02/04/89

Attendance: 18,946

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

For the second year in a row Wrestlemania took place at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey and was headlined by the huge showdown between Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan for the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship. Could Wrestlemania V improve on the previous year's disappointing show?

Review

To the surprise of many the opening contest between Hercules and King Haku was fairly respectable. Hercules went over in order to gain a measure of revenge against his former manager Bobby Heenan... The Twin Towers defeated The Rockers in a classic example of how two contrasting styles can produce a good match. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty sold wonderfully for the big men, the best example being Akeem's clothesline on Michaels which looks as awesome today as it did back then... Ted Dibiase and Brutus Beefcake battled to a pointless double count out and while the ending was lame at least the match itself was decent enough... The Bushwackers upset the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers in a terrible match... Mr Perfect, who was fast on the rise in the WWF, made the Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) look his equal before taking the win with the Perfect-Plex in a good little bout... Run DMC's performance of the "Wrestlemania Rap" in the ring went down like a lead balloon. It seemed the Trump Plaza crowd just didn't get it... The tag team title was defended under handicap rules as Mr Fuji teamed with the Powers of Pain to face champions Demolition. This was a big feud that had been going on for months and saw Fuji double cross Demolition at Survivor Series 1988 to join forces with the Powers of Pain. This was the big showdown with the title on the line but it was never going to be a classic. Fuji was the man who took the fall for his team which, while making sense in terms of storyline, was a bit of a cop out as the Powers didn't have to lose to their rivals...
 

The Rockers nail the Big Boss Man with a double dropkick

Dino Bravo beat Ronnie Garvin in a quick match which was rubbish. Before the opening bell sounded and with both Bravo and Garvin standing in the ring, Jimmy Snuka made his return by strolling to the ring and taking a bow. Strange... Match quality took a big step in the right direction next as the Brain Busters took on Strike Force who had recently reformed. However Rick Martel walked out on Tito Santana who had nailed him accidently with a flying forearm during the match. Santana was left to face the Busters alone which naturally ended in defeat. Martel would go on to be a successful mid-card heel following the Strike Force split... A special edition of Piper's Pit took place in the ring featuring Brother Love, Morton Downey Jr (a chain smoking chat show host) and of course Rowdy Roddy Piper. The segment went on too long, was only mildly funny and the crowd just weren't interested... Backstage Hulk Hogan gave what I consider to be one of his best interviews as he prepared to face the Macho Man in the main event. Hogan recapped the whole Mega Powers saga brilliantly in his usual over-the-top style... Another big feud came to a head as Jake The Snake Roberts battled Andre the Giant in a match refereed by Big John Studd. Towards the end of the bout Roberts attempted to bring Damien into the ring but Ted Dibiase ran down to attack Roberts and steal Damien who was still in the bag. Roberts chased down Dibiase and retrieved Damien while Andre attacked Studd in the ring. Roberts sent Andre packing, well Damien did anyway, and Roberts was declared the winner by disqualification. The match was dire and the ending settled nothing which makes you wonder why they even bothered...

Mr Perfect battles The Blue Blazer

The Hart Foundation beat Rhythm & Blues in a decent match where the Harts thwarted the heels attempt to use Jimmy Hart's megaphone as a weapon and Bret Hart decked the Honky Tonk Man with it for the win. You may have noticed in other reviews that I don't like to see faces cheating to win unless it's justified or in retaliation but as the heels own dirty tactics backfired on them here I have no problems with this finish... Ravishing Rick Rude upset the Ultimate Warrior to win the Intercontinental Championship in Warrior's best match of his career up to that point, arguably the only good match of his career up to that point! Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura did a superb job of forcing home the importance of the Intercontinental Title, a title which sadly the WWE have ensured doesn't mean so much these days. Selling like his life depended on it, Rude's performance was fantastic which in turn made the Warrior's offense look equally good. The finish came when Bobby Heenan hung on to the Warrior's leg from outside of the ring preventing him completing a suplex and also from kicking out as Rude landed on top of him. The result was a big surprise and after the decision Warrior took his frustrations out on Heenan giving him a botched Gorilla Press Slam injuring "The Brain"...

 

The Ultimate Warrior clotheslines Ravishing Rick Rude

Bad News Brown and Hacksaw Jim Duggan fought to a double disqualification in an awful slugfest that achieved nothing... The Red Rooster gained his revenge on an injured Bobby Heenan in a very quick match. Perhaps Heenan was unable to do any more or maybe they were short on time but either way it didn't do much for the Rooster... Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage in a very good main event to regain the WWF Heavyweight Championship. It was the climax of a superb year long storyline which started and ended in the middle of the ring at Trump Plaza. Elizabeth was an integral part of the story but thankfully she was removed from the equation mid-match enabling the two rivals to fight to a finish with a clear winner. Savage's performance was excellent as the insanely jealous outgoing champion and it was also one of Hogan's best performances of his WWF career. Hogan won cleanly and decisively which was the right decision on the big stage but don't feel too bad for Savage, he made good money with Hogan in the role of challenger over the summer of 1989.

The Mega Powers are about to explode

Overall

As with Wrestlemania IV the show suffered from being in front of a largely non-wrestling crowd and while they were a bit more receptive for the 1989 card, most notably for the main event, there were still long periods of silence throughout the show. The card itself was a touch better than the previous year but again there were too many poor or average matches which made the show seem overly long. The match that everyone wanted to see was Savage versus Hogan and thankfully it delivered in the ring as well as at the box office thanks to the tremendous build and execution of the feud. Wrestlemania V drew 767,000 buys which was a massive number especially at a time when pay-per-view availability was still quite limited. That number would not be surpassed until some ten years later at Wrestlemania 15.

For more on the Mega Powers story click here.

Results

1 Hercules pinned King Haku (6:57) **

2 The Twin Towers def The Rockers by pinfall (8:02) ***

3 Brutus Beefcake fought Ted Dibiase to a double count out (10:01) **1/4

4 The Bushwackers def The Fabulous Rougeaus by pinfall (9:10) DUD

5 Mr Perfect pinned The Blue Blazer (5:38) ***

6 Demolition (c) def The Powers of Pain & Mr Fuji by pinfall to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (8:20) *

7 Dino Bravo pinned Ronnie Garvin (3:06) 1/4

8 The Brain Busters def Strike Force by pinfall (9:17) **3/4

9 Jake Roberts def Andre the Giant by disqualification (9:44) DUD

10 The Hart Foundation def Rhythm & Blues by pinfall (7:40) **1/2

11 Rick Rude pinned The Ultimate Warrior (c) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (9:36) ***

12 Jim Duggan & Bad News Brown fought to a double disqualification (3:49) DUD

13 The Red Rooster pinned Bobby Heenan (0:32) SQ

14 Hulk Hogan pinned Randy Savage (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (17:54) ***3/4

Rating

23.50/70 = 33.57%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Royal Rumble 1989

WWF Royal Rumble 1989
Venue: Houston, Texas
Date: 15/01/89
Attendance: 19,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

Officially the first Royal Rumble was a TV special that aired on the USA Network going head to head with Jim Crockett Promotions' NWA Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view on 24th January 1988. However there was a Royal Rumble prior to that on 4th October 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri which was used as a test run for the concept. It was won by the One Man Gang who lastly eliminated the Junkyard Dog. The 1989 Royal Rumble was the first to be a pay-per-view event and would become one of the WWF's 'big four' alongside Wrestlemania, Summerslam and Survivor Series.

 

Jacques Rougeau has Bret Hart in trouble in the opening bout

Review

The show got off to a good start as the Hart Foundation teamed with Hacksaw Jim Duggan to face the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers and Dino Bravo in a best two out of three falls contest. The French Canadians took the first fall when Raymond Rougeau pinned Bret Hart only for the faces to even the scores when Jim Duggan pinned Raymond. The decisive fall came when Duggan nailed Dino Bravo with a 2x4 behind the referee's back allowing Hart to cover for the victory. The match was action packed and the crowd was very into it but one of my pet hates is to see babyfaces blatantly cheating to win a match especially when it's unjustified. Duggan did this a lot during his WWF run...

 

A great shot of the Houston Summit

Rockin' Robin defeated Judy Martin to retain the Women's Title in a match that very few in the arena appeared to care about. The ladies rushed through a lot of moves and the match only seemed to exist to set up a future match between Robin and Sensational Sherri who had challenged the winner. Sherri also sat in with the commentary team during the match but sounded uncomfortable and added little... Intercontinental Champion the Ultimate Warrior faced Ravishing Rick Rude in a "Super Pose Down" where the winner was decided by the response from the crowd. Naturally under those rules, Warrior was the victor. During Warrior's final pose Bobby Heenan sprayed oil in his face, which Warrior neglected to sell for some reason, and Rude attacked him from behind to set up their title clash at Wrestlemania... The all-heel match between King Haku and former King Harley Race was another strange inclusion and was in fact cut from the video release of the event. The match was designed to help legitimise Haku as the King of the WWF but the highlight was Bobby Heenan, who managed both men, repeatedly switching his allegiance throughout the match depending on who had the advantage. Haku won clean by pinfall in a plodding but passable affair in what would be Race's last match in the WWF... Big John Studd was the surprise winner of the Royal Rumble match lastly eliminating Ted Dibiase who had supposedly purchased his number thirty entrance spot from Slick which enabled the Twin Towers to have their entrances next to each other. The decision to have Studd win the match was a strange one as his career was all but over and his victory led to precisely nothing.

 

The Rockers perform a double elbow as Mr Perfect looks on

In other happenings in the match: Ax and Smash of Demolition drew numbers one and two and had to battle each other... Andre the Giant jobbed Jake The Snake Roberts and sent him packing about two minutes after he entered the fray. Roberts returned later with Damien and caused Andre to eliminate himself, you know, because even monster heels are scared of snakes... Randy Savage entered at number 15 closely followed by Hulk Hogan at 18 in the hottest portion of the match. Hogan eliminated Savage who raced back into the ring to confront the Hulkster prompting Elizabeth to enter the ring and help smooth things over between the Mega Powers. Hogan then had to face both members of the Twin Towers alone but ultimately he was unsuccessful and found himself eliminated soon after. Showing great sportsmanship Hogan then eliminated the Big Boss Man from the outside and the two men fought all the way to the back... In an ending similar to the Survivor Series, Mean Gene Okerlund interviewed Savage who claimed there was no problems between he and Hogan and their clash during the Rumble was nothing more than a misunderstanding. The Mega Powers were about to explode...

 

Things heat up as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage enter the fray

Overall
Two good matches out of four makes the Royal Rumble look average on paper but thankfully the two good matches on the night were the more important ones. The Rumble match itself was enjoyable and unpredictable although it fell a bit flat after the eliminations of Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. The six man tag team match was also a fun bout but the remaining two contests were nothing much to write home about. The "Super Pose Down" was an important part of the Warrior/Rude feud leading into Wrestlemania but it was in truth a bit boring until Rude's sneak attack at the end. The first Royal Rumble pay-per-view drew just 165,000 buys.

He may have bought number 30 but it's not looking good for Ted Dibiase

Results
1 The Hart Foundation & Jim Duggan def The Fabulous Rougeaus & Dino Bravo in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match (15:42) ***
2 Rockin' Robin (c) pinned Judy Martin (6:24) *1/2
3 The Ultimate Warrior def Rick Rude in a "Super Posedown" contest N/A
4 Haku pinned Harley Race (9:01) *1/2
5 Big John Studd won the Royal Rumble match (64:53) **3/4

Rating

8.75/20 = 43.75%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Survivor Series 1988

WWF Survivor Series 1988

Venue: Richfield, Ohio

Date: 24/11/88

Attendance: 13,500

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

As with the inaugural event, the second annual Survivor Series took place at the Richfield Coliseum in Ohio and was comprised completely of tag team elimination matches. This year there was no clash with Starrcade which had been moved to December.

Review

The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus The Barber Beefcake, The Blue Blazer, Sam Houston & Jim Brunzell vs The Honky Tonk Man, Greg The Hammer Valentine, Bad News Brown, Ron Bass & Danny Davis

Eliminations: Beefcake beat Davis; Brown pinned Brunzell; Brown was counted out; Bass pinned Houston; Valentine beat Blazer; Beefcake and Honky were counted out; Warrior pinned Bass; Warrior pinned Valentine. The Ultimate Warrior was the survivor.

Notes

Originally on the face team, Don Muraco left the WWF prior to the event and was replaced by Jim Brunzell... Danny Davis was eliminated in short order by Brutus Beefcake's sleeper hold... Bad News Brown was struck accidently by Greg Valentine during the match and took a walk eliminating himself... Intercontinental Champion the Ultimate Warrior was massively over here but his participation is kept to a minimum to help conceal his limitations. Warrior was left alone to face Valentine and Ron Bass but he disposed of them both rather quickly with a running double axe handle. Fortunately he didn't use that as his finisher for long, it was rubbish... Good opening match overall.

Bad News Brown drops a leg on Sam Houston as his teammates look on

---

The Powers of Pain, The Rockers, The British Bulldogs, The Hart Foundation & The Young Stallions vs Demolition, The Brain Busters, The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, The Bolsheviks & Los Conquistadores

Eliminations: Bret Hart pinned Raymond Rougeau; Boris Zhukov pinned Jim Powers; Marty Jannetty pinned Boris Zhukov; Tully Blanchard pinned Bret Hart; The Rockers and The Brain Busters were counted out; Smash pinned The Dynamite Kid; Smash was counted out; The Barbarian pinned Uno. The Powers of Pain were the survivors.

Notes

Demolition were the tag team champions and were in the midst of a big feud with the Powers of Pain. The climax of this match saw a double turn as Mr Fuji turned on Demolition causing them to be eliminated. Demolition then gave Fuji a hiding and after they had left ringside the Powers of Pain took pity on Fuji bringing him into their corner. The Powers went on to win the match and celebrated by lifting Fuji on their shoulders with half the crowd still cheering and the other half confused... The Rougeau Brothers and the British Bulldogs were involved in a legitimate feud at the time. According to Bret Hart, Jacques Rougeau had sucker punched the Dynamite Kid knocking his teeth out in response to Dynamite's constant bullying. Rumour has it Vince McMahon found out about a plan by the Bulldogs to attack the Rougeaus after the match so he booked the Rougeaus to be eliminated early on and ensured they had left the building before the Bulldogs were eliminated. The Bulldogs left the WWF after this event. Davey Boy Smith would be back in about two years but Dynamite would never return... The match was very good although it did drag slightly towards the end. The Conquistadors were a strange choice to go the distance for the heel team especially with other more accomplished teams in the match. They survived far too much punishment, especially from the Powers of Pain, to be believable for a lower card team. The match is most remembered for the big double turn at the end.

 

Bret Hart defeats Raymond Rougeau with a small package

 

---

Jake The Snake Roberts, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Ken Patera & Scott Casey vs Andre the Giant, Ravishing Rick Rude, Mr Perfect, Dino Bravo & Harley Race

Eliminations: Rude pinned Patera; Bravo pinned Casey; Santana pinned Race; Andre pinned Santana; Duggan was disqualified; Roberts pinned Rude; Andre was disqualified; Perfect pinned Roberts. Mr Perfect and Dino Bravo were the survivors.

Notes

The Junkyard Dog was originally on the face team but left the WWF prior to the event so was replaced by B. Brian Blair. However, Blair also left the company before the event and had to be replaced by Scott Casey... The match was centred around Jake Roberts' feud with Andre the Giant. Roberts' team was down to two versus four when Jim Duggan got himself disqualified leaving "The Snake" alone. Duggan came across as an imbecile in doing so. Roberts fought against the odds bravely as a babyface should and eliminated Rick Rude with a DDT before Andre entered the ring and choked Roberts out. Andre was disqualified for refusing the release the choke but the damage was done and Mr Perfect picked up an easy pinfall victory for himself and Dino Bravo. Decent enough match.



Jake Roberts nails Mr Perfect with a short clothesline

 

---

Macho Man Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Hercules, Hillbilly Jim & Koko B Ware vs The Big Boss Man, Akeem, Ted Dibiase, Haku & The Red Rooster

Eliminations: Savage pinned Rooster; Akeem pinned Hillbilly; Boss Man pinned Koko; Dibiase pinned Hercules; Savage pinned Dibiase; Boss Man was counted out; Akeem was disqualified; Hogan pinned Haku. Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan were the survivors.

Notes

The Mega Powers (Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan) versus the Twin Towers (Big Boss Man & Akeem) was the top feud in the WWF at the time... The Red Rooster was berated by his manager Bobby Heenan after being crushed by Savage and Hogan early on. It would lead to a feud between the two... The faces toppled leaving Savage and Hogan against four. Savage pinned Dibiase before Hogan was handcuffed outside of the ring by the Big Boss Man leaving Savage alone. The Boss Man was counted out but returned to the ring to help Akeem attack Savage which led to Akeem being disqualified. Eventually Hogan clobbered Slick on the outside allowing Elizabeth to steal the keys to release him. Savage manages to tag Hogan who finishes off Haku to win the match for the Mega Powers. During the celebration Hogan hugs Elizabeth as he did at Summerslam, only this time Savage is more visibly angered while Hogan remain oblivious to it. After the show Jesse Ventura tries to stir the pot in an interview with the "Macho Man" but Savage denies there are any problems between he and Hogan. Good main event.

The Mega Powers survive but trouble is on the horizon

Overall

While not as strong as the original event the second annual Survivor Series was still a very good show with not a single bad match on the card. After giving us the smallest of hints at Summerslam, the WWF were a little less subtle in showing us there could be trouble ahead for the Mega Powers duo. The build to the "explosion" at Wrestlemania was being worked slowly and expertly and this was the first real step in that direction. The big tag team elimination bout was the match of the night and while not quite at the level of the 1987 version, it is perhaps more memorable because of the double turn at the end. Survivor Series 1988 drew 310,000 buys on pay-per-view.

Results

1 The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, The Blue Blazer, Jim Brunzell & Sam Houston def The Honky Tonk Man, Bad News Brown, Greg Valentine, Ron Bass & Danny Davis (17:50) ***

2 The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, The Rockers, The Powers of Pain & The Young Stallions def Demolition, The Brain Busters, The Fabulous Rougeaus, The Bolsheviks & The Conquistadors (42:12) ***3/4

3 Andre the Giant, Mr Perfect, Rick Rude, Dino Bravo & Harley Race def Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Ken Patera & Scott Casey (30:03) **1/2

4 Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Hercules, Hillbilly Jim & Koko B Ware def The Big Boss Man, Akeem, Ted Dibiase, Haku & The Red Rooster (29:10) ***

Rating

12.25/20 = 61.25%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Summerslam 1988

 

WWF Summerslam 1988

Venue: New York, New York

Date: 29/08/88

Attendance: 20,000

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Superstar Billy Graham

The first Summerslam event took place in August 1988 at Madison Square Garden as the WWF added a third pay-per-view to their calendar. The main event followed on nicely from the climax of Wrestlemania 4 as WWF Heavyweight Champion Macho Man Randy Savage teamed with the returning Hulk Hogan (Hogan had been away filming No Holds Barred) to face the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant. Jesse Ventura was named as the special guest referee for the match so Billy Graham filled in on commentary duties.

Davey Boy Smith corners Raymond Rougeau in the opener

 

Review

The British Bulldogs battled the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers to an enjoyable twenty minute time limit draw. The two teams legitimately did not like each other but they did have good chemistry in the ring. The lack of a finish was mildly irritating but the match quality made up for it somewhat... Bad New Brown beat Ken Patera in a basic encounter. Brown won clean with the Ghetto Blaster... The Junkyard Dog was disqualified in his match against Ravishing Rick Rude after Jake Roberts interfered. Rude revealed an image of Roberts' wife on his tights during the match inciting "The Snake" who ran down and hammered him. This really belonged on Superstars of Wrestling... The Powers of Pain looked impressive as they marched down to the ring for their match with The Bolsheviks. There was however nothing impressive about the match... The Honky Tonk Man's record breaking Intercontinental Title reign famously came to an end as he was crushed by the Ultimate Warrior in about thirty seconds. Honky's opponent was originally scheduled to be Brutus The Barber Beefcake but he was put out of action by Ron Bass prior to the event. The crowd was red hot for the Warrior here and the squash match went down a storm...

 

The Ultimate Warrior levels the Honky Tonk Man

 

Hacksaw Jim Duggan made an appearance on an in-ring version of the Brother Love Show. It was quite annoying... Dino Bravo beat Don Muraco in an awkward poor bout... Demolition retained the tag team title in a good match against the Hart Foundation. Jimmy Hart had previously been fired by the Hart Foundation as their manager but he was allowed to be at ringside as he still owned their contracts. His presence proved to be the difference in the end... The Big Boss Man's win over Koko B Ware wasn't much more than an extended squash... Jake The Snake Roberts DDT'd and pinned Hercules in a boring ten minute match... WWF Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan defeated Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant in a good main event refereed by Jesse Ventura. Miss Elizabeth caused a distraction by climbing onto the ring apron and removing her skirt, which was quite racy for the time, and allowing the Mega Powers to make their comeback and win the match. Savage forced Ventura's hand in making the three count after The Body hesitated. During the celebration a subtle seed of dissension was planted as the Savage appeared to object to Hogan's post match hug with Elizabeth.

The Big Boss Man works over Koko B Ware

 

Overall

Not a great show by any means but it was an improvement on Wrestlemania 4. Firstly the Madison Square Garden crowd was infinitely better than the Trump Plaza crowd but more importantly there were three matches on this card that were superior to every match at Wrestlemania. Additionally the Ultimate Warrior's Intercontinental Title win over the Honky Tonk Man was perhaps the hottest squash match in WWF history. Unfortunately that's where the positives end because the remaining six matches on the card were poor, really poor in some cases, which pulled the overall rating of the show right down. Summerslam 1988 drew 400,000 buys on pay-per-view.

 

The Mega Powers prepare to battle the Mega Bucks

 

Results

1 The British Bulldogs fought The Fabulous Rougeaus to a time limit draw (20:00) ***1/4

2 Bad News Brown pinned Ken Patera (6:33) *

3 Rick Rude def The Junkyard Dog by disqualification (6:18) 1/2

4 The Powers of Pain def The Bolsheviks by pinfall (5:27) 1/2

5 The Ultimate Warrior pinned The Honky Tonk Man (c) for the WWF Intercontinental Title (0:31) SQ

6 Dino Bravo pinned Don Muraco (5:28) 1/2

7 Demolition (c) def The Hart Foundation by pinfall to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (9:49) ***

8 The Big Boss Man pinned Koko B Ware (5:57) *1/4

9 Jake Roberts pinned Hercules (10:06) *1/4

10 Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan def Ted Dibiase & Andre the Giant by pinfall (13:57) ***

Rating

14.25/50 = 28.50%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)