WWF Survivor Series 1987
Venue: Richfield, Ohio
Date: 26/11/87
Attendance: 21,300
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura
The first annual Survivor Series was created to go head to head with
Jim Crockett Promotion's NWA Starrcade as Vince McMahon continued his ruthless
attempts to eliminate all of his competition. Although JCP moved the start time
of Starrcade to avoid the conflict, McMahon's threat to any cable company that
carried Starrcade was that they would not be able to air Wrestlemania IV as a
consequence. Fearing they would miss out on the huge income from Wrestlemania
most cable companies dropped Starrcade, massively cutting the availability of
the event. It would prove to be the beginning of the end for JCP, helped in large
part by their own mistakes too it has to be said.
Review
Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan & Brutus Beefcake versus The Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Harley Race, Ron Bass & Danny Davis
Eliminations: Duggan and Race were both counted out; Beefcake pinned
Bass; Honky pinned Beefcake; Roberts pinned Davis; Savage pinned Hercules;
Honky was counted out. Savage, Steamboat and Roberts were the survivors.
The first ever Survivor Series elimination match was centred around The
Honky Tonk Man who was the Intercontinental Champion having scored a major
upset in defeating Ricky Steamboat. Honky was a marked man in this contest as
his last two feuds were with Jake Roberts and Ricky Steamboat, and he was
currently involved in a big feud with Randy Savage, who had recently turned
babyface in a memorable angle where Honky shoved Elizabeth down and nailed
Savage with a guitar head shot. The crowd was hot for this opening encounter
which was full of energy. The story of Honky's title reign was how he managed
to survive by the skin of his teeth time after time and it was a similar story
here. It was a role Honky played very well. The babyfaces cut through the heel
team until Honky was the only one left. Honky took a bit of a beating from
Savage, Steamboat and Roberts before deciding to make a run for it, thus
eliminating himself. This was a really good match but I felt the ending was a
bit cheap. I don't believe Honky would have been harmed by being beaten in the
ring considering it was three against one at the end.
Sensational Sherri, The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai & Judy
Martin), Donna Christianello & Dawn Marie vs The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin'
Robin, Velvet McIntyre & The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki &
Noriyo Tateno)
Eliminations: McIntyre pinned Christianello; Robin pinned Marie;
Sherri pinned Robin; Martin pinned Moolah; McIntyre pinned Sherri; Kai pinned
McIntyre; Yamazaki pinned Kai; Tateno pinned Martin. The Jumping Bomb Angels
were the survivors.
At a time when the WWF was still making an effort with it's female division
(it would be dropped completely in 1990 for almost four years) they had enough
workers to present a five-on-five elimination match in a rare pay-per-view
outing for the ladies. Sensational Sherri was the Women's Champion and The
Glamour Girls were the tag team champions at this time. The action was pretty
good although the crowd was a lot quieter than they were for the opener as you
might expect. The match did drag a bit in places but it couldn't really be
booked much shorter without rushing things due to the amount of participants
involved. Velvet McIntyre put in a spirited performance as she defeated
Christianello and later scored a victory over Sherri which put her in line for
a championship match. The stars of the show in this one were the Jumping Bomb
Angels whose high flying athleticism really set them apart from the rest of the
female roster. The Angels scored pinfall victories over both Glamour Girls to
win the bout and set up a match for the tag team championship at the Royal
Rumble in January.
Strike Force, The Killer Bees, The Young Stallions, The Rougeau
Brothers & The British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The
Islanders, The New Dream Team & The Bolsheviks
Eliminations: Santana pinned Zhukov; Ax pinned Jacques Rougeau;
Demolition were disqualified; Neidhart pinned Santana; Haku pinned Dynamite
Kid; Roma pinned Valentine; Brunzell pinned Hart; Blair pinned Tama. The Killer
Bees and The Young Stallions were the survivors.
 |
| The tag team elimination match |
The late 80s was the WWF's zenith as far as tag team wrestling was
concerned. They had so many permanent teams who were over that in the first two
Survivor Series events they were able to book twenty man elimination matches
where a team would be eliminated should either of the members be defeated. It
was quite a sight to see so many tag teams stood on the apron surrounding the
action, a far cry from today where tag team wrestling has become somewhat of a lost
art. Strike Force were the tag team champions at the time having recently
unseated the Hart Foundation on Superstars of Wrestling. The champions were surprisingly
eliminated around the midway point of the bout by the Harts which set up title
rematches on the house show circuit. Demolition went early on as well, only
they were spared from being defeated due to a disqualification. This made sense
as Vince McMahon had big plans for them and a loss on their first pay-per-view
appearance would've been bad for business. In contrast the British Bulldogs
continued to slide downwards. The Dynamite Kid's back injury which prematurely
ended the Bulldogs' title reign earlier in the year also meant their time as
big time players in the company was over. The biggest surprise here was the
winners, the Killer Bees and the Young Stallions. The Bees eliminated the Hart
Foundation and then the Islanders to win the match for their team. The winning
fall was another case of Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell donning masks in order to
switch the legal man in the ring illegally which, as I've mentioned before, was
a move I was never a fan of. Quite why a babyface team would need to cheat to
win when they have a four-on-two advantage is beyond me. However it couldn't
ruin what was one of the finest traditional Survivor Series matches the WWF
would ever produce. It was unpredictable, fast paced and full of action.
 |
| The Islanders in control of the Young Stallions |
Hulk Hogan, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, Paul Orndorff & Bam Bam
Bigelow vs Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, Rick Rude, One Man Gang &
Butch Reed
Eliminations: Hogan pinned Reed; Gang pinned Patera; Rude pinned
Orndorff; Muraco pinned Rude; Gang pinned Muraco; Hogan was counted out;
Bigelow pinned Bundy; Bigelow pinned Gang; Andre pinned Bigelow. Andre the
Giant was the survivor.
 |
| Hulk Hogan's team |
This would be Andre's first match since his defeat to Hulk Hogan at
Wrestlemania 3 and was built around Andre's desire for a title rematch with
Hogan. Hogan's team consisted of newcomer Bam Bam Bigelow; Paul Orndorff, who had
just returned from injury as a babyface; Ken Patera, who had recently returned
after serving time in prison for assaulting a police officer; and Don Muraco,
replacing Superstar Billy Graham who had withdrawn due to injury. He would
never wrestle again. Andre's team consisted of recent debutant Ravishing Rick
Rude; King Kong Bundy, making his final WWF appearance for almost seven years;
One Man Gang, who had also recently joined the company; and Butch Reed. This
was surprisingly good considering the limitations of a few of the participants
involved. It wasn't a great night for Butch Reed who was crushed in about three
minutes, nor for Paul Orndorff who exited the match (and the WWF) with a bit of
a whimper. On the other hand Rick Rude looked good in his first pay-per-view
appearance, as did Bam Bam Bigelow who was the last surviving member of the
face team. Bigelow felled both King Kong Bundy and the One Man Gang before
falling to Andre's weak looking underhook suplex. The Giant was the sole
survivor which set up his big rematch with Hogan in February on The Main Event.
It was a surprise to see Hogan eliminated about three quarters of the way into
the match by way of a count out but it made sense to avoid a finale involving
he and The Giant. Following Andre's win Hogan ran back down and cleared the
ring to send the fans home happy and to leave the thought of the rematch as the
last thing in the viewer's mind as the show ended.
 |
| Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan |
Overall
The first annual Survivor Series was a quality offering from the
World Wrestling Federation. In the ring it was far better than any of the
pay-per-views that preceded it and even trumped Starrcade that night. This came
as a big surprise to many as it was Jim Crockett Promotions that was considered
the wrestling company as opposed to
Vince McMahon's entertainment product. The show also set up Hogan/Andre II
nicely, although some criticised Hogan for stealing Andre's spotlight at the
show's end. Personally I thought it was exactly what was needed as the crowd
fell a bit flat after Hogan's exit and besides, Hogan did not book himself to
run-in. The big rematch between Hogan and Andre on 5th February 1988 attracted
a whopping 33 million viewers on NBC, which still stands to this day as the
largest viewing audience for any professional wrestling match ever. It's hard
to criticise those numbers. Survivor
Series 1987 drew 325,000 buys on pay-per-view.
Results
1 Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan & Brutus Beefcake def The Honky Tonk Man, Harley Race, Hercules, Ron Bass & Danny Davis (24:00) ***1/2
2 The Fabulous Moolah, Velvet McIntyre, Rockin' Robin, Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno def Leilani Kai, Judy Martin, Sensational Sherri, Donna Christianello & Dawn Marie (20:00) **1/2
3 The British Bulldogs, Strike Force, The Killer Bees, The Rougeau Brothers, The Young Stallions def Demolition, The Hart Foundation, The Bolsheviks, The Islanders, Greg Valentine & Dino Bravo (37:00) ****
4 Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, The One Man Gang, Rick Rude & Butch Reed def Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Bam Bam Bigelow, Don Muraco & Ken Patera (22:00) ***1/2
2 The Fabulous Moolah, Velvet McIntyre, Rockin' Robin, Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno def Leilani Kai, Judy Martin, Sensational Sherri, Donna Christianello & Dawn Marie (20:00) **1/2
3 The British Bulldogs, Strike Force, The Killer Bees, The Rougeau Brothers, The Young Stallions def Demolition, The Hart Foundation, The Bolsheviks, The Islanders, Greg Valentine & Dino Bravo (37:00) ****
4 Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, The One Man Gang, Rick Rude & Butch Reed def Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Bam Bam Bigelow, Don Muraco & Ken Patera (22:00) ***1/2
Rating
13.5/20 = 67.50%
Star Rating Guide
***** Excellent/World Class
**** Very Good
*** Good
** OK/Acceptable
* Poor
DUD Abysmal
SQ Squash (Less than 1 min)
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