WWF Survivor Series 1990

 

WWF Survivor Series 1990
Venue: Hartford, Connecticut
Date: 22/11/90
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Rowdy Roddy Piper 

The fourth annual Survivor Series would be the last to be solely comprised of tag team elimination matches but would be the first (and only) event to feature an "Ultimate Survival Match" where the survivors of each bout would face off in a final battle to close the show. There was also a lot of speculation at the time about who (or what) would be revealed from inside a giant egg on the show. I wonder how many extra buys that got for the show...

Review

The Ultimate Warrior, The Texas Tornado & The Legion of Doom vs Mr Perfect & Demolition

Eliminations: Warrior pinned Ax; Hawk, Animal, Crush & Smash were disqualified; Perfect pinned Tornado; Warrior pinned Perfect. Warrior was the survivor.

Warrior continued to struggle as champion but to be fair to Mr Hellwig the company failed to line up any serious heel threats during his reign. Warrior spent a lot of his time tagging with Legion of Doom against Demolition on the house show circuit. Speaking of Demolition, Ax was soon to be leaving the WWF so naturally he was crushed on his way out. No pun intended. Also his 'heart condition' turned out to be a serious shellfish allergy which he was first struck down with on the WWF's tour of Japan back in April. Demolition would continue with Smash and Crush but it wouldn't last long. The Texas Tornado was still wearing the Intercontinental Title here despite losing it back to Mr Perfect just three days earlier at the Superstars of Wrestling taping. Their match wouldn't air until 15/12/90. This opening bout was fine although it felt a bit like a squash match when Warrior was involved. He dispatched Ax after about two minutes before the Legion of Doom and Demolition (Smash & Crush) were eliminated in an ultra lame mass disqualification. Paving the way for their title match in December, Perfect pinned Tornado with a little help from an exposed turnbuckle. The same turnbuckle would be no match for the Warrior though as he kicked out of the Perfect-Plex and quickly beat Perfect with a splash.

Hawk nails Smash with a flying shoulder block

Ted Dibiase, The Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine & The Undertaker vs Dusty Rhodes, Koko B Ware & The Hart Foundation

Eliminations: Undertaker pinned Koko; Jim Neidhart pinned Honky; Dibiase pinned Neidhart; Undertaker pinned Rhodes; Undertaker was counted out; Bret Hart pinned Valentine; Dibiase pinned Hart. Dibiase was the survivor.

The Dream Team versus The Million Dollar Team was based on Ted Dibiase's continuing feud with Dusty Rhodes which would later involve Rhodes' son Dustin. The Rhodes family would soon be on their way to WCW but in the opposite direction came Dibiase's mystery partner. The former "Mean" Mark Callous was repackaged as The Undertaker and managed by Brother Love. He was originally called Cain the Undertaker but thankfully that was dropped just as Brother Love would soon be once a more suitable manager became available in the form of Paul Bearer. The Honky Tonk Man was another on his way out of the WWF. He would continue as a heel colour commentator on Superstars of Wrestling until his departure in January. The Undertaker made short work of Koko B Ware with his first tombstone piledriver before Jim Neidhart sent Honky packing with a power slam. Then came a hat trick of weak eliminations. Dibiase beat big Neidhart with a clothesline; Undertaker beat big Dusty Rhodes with a double axe handle; then Undertaker was counted out despite not being the legal man in the ring! It was then time for Bret Hart to once again show his potential as a singles wrestler as he pinned Greg Valentine before having a good four minute finale with Dibiase. Dibiase managed to reverse a cross body to pin the "Hitman" who uttered the word "f*ck" on camera after the three count. This was a decent match but still nothing special. 

The Undertaker is about to finish off Koko B Ware

Rick Martel, The Warlord & Power & Glory vs Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka & The Rockers

Eliminations: Warlord pinned Marty Jannetty; Martel pinned Snuka; Paul Roma pinned Shawn Michaels; Roberts was counted out. Martel, Warlord & Power & Glory were the survivors.

On the 6/10/90 edition of Superstars of Wrestling, Rick Martel attempted to spray "Arrogance" (his cologne) on Damien while Jake Roberts was being interviewed by Brother Love. As Roberts attempted to stop him, Martel sprayed the substance into Jake's eyes blinding him. In the weeks that followed Roberts even wore a white contact lens to 'sell' his blindness. Come Survivor Series, Roberts was partially sighted in just one eye and was cleared to wrestle as he captained his team of "Vipers" against Martel's "Visionaries". Clever. Meanwhile Shawn Michaels had returned from injury as he and Marty Jannetty resumed their feud with Power & Glory while Jimmy Snuka and The Warlord rounded off the teams.  It didn't turn out too well for the reptile team as one by one they were eliminated leaving Roberts to face all four members of the heel team by himself. In the end Roberts chased Martel back to the locker room with Damien meaning the "Visionaries" became the first team to survive completely intact at the Survivor Series. You see, unlike in the previous match Martel was correctly not counted out as he was not the legal man. Despite being so one-sided the match was another decent affair.

Hulk Hogan, The Big Boss Man, Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Tugboat vs Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Haku & The Barbarian

Eliminations: Boss Man pinned Haku; Duggan was disqualified; Hogan pinned Bravo; Earthquake pinned Boss Man; Earthquake & Tugboat were counted out; Hogan pinned Barbarian. Hogan was the survivor.

Hulk Hogan and Earthquake continued to feud as they captained their respective teams in this next encounter. Ravishing Rick Rude was originally to be part of the heel team but he left the WWF in October after a disagreement and debuted in WCW at Halloween Havoc soon after. The Big Boss Man, who was feuding with Rude would continue the conflict with the rest of the Heenan Family instead. This was a fairly standard match as you might expect. Boss Man pinned Haku early on before Jim Duggan got himself disqualified. Hogan then pinned Dino Bravo with a small package before Earthquake evened things up by downing the Boss Man. Tugboat's only contribution was a showdown with Earthquake which lasted less than a minute before both men were counted out. That left Hogan and The Barbarian for a quite predictable climax as Hogan advanced to the final battle.

Nikolai Volkoff, Tito Santana & The Bushwackers vs Sgt Slaughter, Boris Zhukov & The Orient Express

Eliminations: Santana pinned Zhukov; Luke pinned Sato; Santana pinned Tanaka; Slaughter pinned Volkoff; Slaughter pinned Butch; Slaughter pinned Luke; Slaughter was disqualified. Santana was the survivor.

This was essentially a jobber match that existed to fill time and to help get Sgt Slaughter's heel character over. Slaughter had a looong interview with Gene Okerlund on his way to the ring to drive home his anti-American stance. Akeem was originally supposed to be on the "Mercenaries" team but left the WWF prior to the event and was replaced by Boris Zhukov. Sato was also about to leave the company although we would see him again as the flag bearer for Yokozuna at Summerslam 1993 and as Hakushi's manager Shinja in 1995. The Orient Express and Zhukov are eliminated quickly but Slaughter then ploughed through The Bushwackers and Nikolai Volkoff with ease. Slaughter's manager General Adnan was then caught out attacking Tito Santana with the Iraqi flag meaning a disqualification for Slaughter. It was nice to see Santana get a win for a change! This was a poor match and there was no sign here that Slaughter would be World Champion in two months time. His offense was slow and looked weak.

The Gobbledy Gooker - Hard to believe this idea bombed...

Just before the main event it was time to reveal who was inside the giant egg! It was of course the Gobbledy Gooker played by the talented Hector Guerrero. To say it was a massive disappointment would be an understatement although could you really expect anyone good to debut from an egg? The crowd were stunned. Believe it or not some people at the time thought it would be Ric Flair! 

The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana vs Ted Dibiase, Rick Martel, The Warlord & Power & Glory

Eliminations: Santana pinned Warlord; Dibiase pinned Santana; Hogan pinned Roma; Martel was counted out; Hogan pinned Dibiase; Warrior pinned Hercules. Warrior & Hogan were the survivors.

The final showdown was effectively a victory parade for the babyface superpowers (sorry not you Santana). The heels were squashed but the only man beaten of any value was Dibiase (Martel walked) and at least he went down last. It was a nice feel good ending for the crowd but the victory was far too easy for Hogan and the Warrior. There was a serious lack of top heels at that time but Randy Savage and Sgt Slaughter were being readied.

"The Final Match of Survival"

Overall
This was pretty much a nothing show overall. The matches were mostly adequate but there was certainly nothing outstanding. There were no significant happenings with the exception of The Undertaker's debut but it was way too early to know how well he would get over (quite well as it happened). Roddy Piper continued in his role of colour commentator but had now firmly settled in the face role after see-sawing at Summerslam. Survivor Series 1990 drew 400,000 buys on pay-per-view.

Results
1 The Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado & The Legion of Doom def Mr Perfect & Demolition (14:20) **1/4

2 Ted Dibiase, The Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine & The Undertaker def Dusty Rhodes, Koko B Ware & The Hart Foundation (13:54) **1/2

3 Rick Martel, Warlord & Power & Glory def Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka & The Rockers (17:42) **1/2

4 Hulk Hogan, The Big Boss Man, Jim Duggan & Tugboat def Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Haku & The Barbarian (14:49) **

5 Tito Santana, Nikolai Volkoff & The Bushwackers def Sgt Slaughter, Boris Zhukov & The Orient Express (10:52) 3/4

6 The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana def Ted Dibiase, Rick Martel, Warlord & Power & Glory (9:07) *1/2

Rating

11.5/30 = 38.33%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)