Survivor Series 1991
Venue:
Detroit, Michigan
Date:
27/11/91
Attendance:
17,500
Commentators:
Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan
With business in decline the WWF attempted to boost the
Survivor Series card by adding a WWF Championship match to the previously tag
team exclusive event as Hulk Hogan would defend against The Undertaker in a
match dubbed "The Gravest Challenge". After battling Sgt Slaughter
throughout the summer Hogan had spent the last couple of months squaring off
with Ric Flair on the house show circuit but that match appeared to being saved
for a dream clash at Wrestlemania. With a lack of other serious heel contenders
on the roster The Undertaker was pushed into the main event slot to be the next
threat to Hogan's crown. Prior to the event starting we were shown footage of
the still quite shocking angle where Jake "The Snake" Roberts' cobra
gnawed on the arm of Randy Savage who was tied up in the ropes. In response to
this, on-screen President Jack Tunney reinstated the 'retired' Savage and
ordered a match between he and Roberts to take place at a special mini-PPV set
for six days time in Texas. This was part of an experiment by the WWF to sell
an extra pay-per-view event mid-week at fairly short notice as buy rates had
fallen in 1991.
Review
The opening tag team elimination match had the talent and
the star power to be a classic but due to the booking ended up being good, yet
ultimately disappointing. Good because of how well it started and how much the
crowd were into it, but the downside was that we only saw two eliminations in a
near 23 minute match which ended with a mass disqualification excluding Ric
Flair which meant he was the sole survivor. The ending made the whole process
of the match feel pointless. On a side note, Jack Tunney had declared that he
would video distort the image of the NWA/WCW World Title belt anytime Flair
attempted to parade it on WWF television as it wasn't a recognised title in the
WWF. The real reason for this was because the title belt had been returned to
WCW due to a law suit so the WWF were actually distorting the fact that Flair
was now carrying a WWF Tag Team Title belt. The fans in the arena must've been
pretty confused. They should've just dropped the "Real World's
Champion" angle when they were forced to return the "Big Gold
Belt". Another side note for this match was that Virgil had lost the
Million Dollar Belt back to Ted Dibiase on the "Survivor Series
Showdown" (Prime Time Wrestling special) thanks in part to Repo Man (Barry
"Smash" Darsow)...
Randy Savage and Elizabeth were interviewed in the arena by
Gene Okerlund to sell "This Tuesday In Texas" and talk about the
aforementioned angle with Jake Roberts... Ahead of the second Survivor Series elimination match, just
looking at the two teams you instantly felt this would be a squash match of
sorts... and it was. Skinner, Col Mustafa and Hercules were all routinely
dispatched before The Berzerker went down last having at least put up somewhat
of a fight. Sgt Slaughter, in alliance with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, was now
supposed to be a super patriotic babyface having spent most of the year
supporting Saddam Hussain and waving the Iraqi flag. Wrestling, eh? ... Like the "Macho Man" earlier, Jake Roberts had an
arena interview with Gene Okerlund. Jack Tunney had banned all reptiles from
ringside but Roberts insisted that he was always the snake you needed to worry
about...
The Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to win the WWF
Heavyweight Title in a lousy match with help from Ric Flair. Flair brought a
chair into the ring allowing Undertaker to Tombstone Hogan onto it, although
Hogan's head was a good six inches from contact. Knowing that Hogan didn't have
long hair to cover the point of impact this move should have been shot from a
different camera angle. While nowhere near the level John Cena often has to
endure there were audible cheers as the three count was registered. The fact
that the main event was placed midway through the show may have alerted the
more knowledgeable fans that the heel was going over here. Vince McMahon,
especially back in those days, didn't like to leave big shows on a sour note
for the fans. It also gave him time to have Jack Tunney announce a rematch for
"This Tuesday In Texas" which they spent the rest of the show
selling. The trouble with putting your big match on half way through the show
is that the rest of the card tends to fall flat and that was certainly the case
here...
The Rockers and The Bushwackers fell to The Nasty Boys and
The Beverly Brothers in an okay match that would lead to the big split between
Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. Jannetty accidently hit Michaels in the face
while body slamming Jerry Sags enabling Brian Knobbs to roll him up for a three
count. The future "Heartbreak Kid" was livid with his partner and
stormed off to the back while Jannetty appeared oblivious to what had happened.
Annoyingly Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan somehow missed the pin fall and
assumed Michaels had simply walked out on the match... The default main event was The Legion of Doom and The Big
Boss Man versus The Natural Disasters and Irwin R Schyster. Jake Roberts and
Sid Justice were originally booked for this match but Roberts was pulled by
Tunney after the snake bite incident and Sid stepped aside as well to make it
an even 3 versus 3. Boss Man was eliminated first after a briefcase shot by IRS
but the same trick backfired later as IRS accidently nailed Typhoon causing him
to be eliminated. Earthquake then walked out in protest meaning we had an
anticlimactic finish as IRS was clearly no match for both Hawk and Animal. It
was a weak finish to an average match and there wasn't even a Doomsday Device
to end the show (some wrestlers just flat out refused to take that move)... The event closed with The Undertaker holding the WWF title
belt informing us that Hulkamania had died and all that remained was "This
Tuesday In Texas", the burial.
Overall
This was a pretty poor show. The matches were average to bad
except for the opener which was actually good until the stupid and lazily
booked finish. This card is only memorable for The Undertaker's first world
title win and the beginning of the end for The Rockers. Apart from that the
show seemed to be one long advert for "This Tuesday In Texas" which
is not what you want to see if you've just handed over your hard earned money
to buy a pay-per-view. The tactic of adding a world title match to the event
for the first time didn't appear to work either as Survivor Series 1991 drew a
very disappointing 300,000 buys, down by 100,000 from the 1990 edition. The WWF
were heading down a slippery slope.
Results
1 Ric Flair,
Ted Dibiase, The Mountie & Warlord def Bret Hart, The British Bulldog,
Roddy Piper & Virgil (22:48) **3/4
2 Jim
Duggan, Sgt Slaughter, El Matador & Texas Tornado def Col Mustafa, The
Berzerker, Skinner & Hercules (14:19) 3/4
3 The
Undertaker pinned Hulk Hogan (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (12:45) 1/2
4 The Nasty
Boys & The Beverly Brothers def The Rockers & The Bushwackers (11:28)
**
5 The Legion
of Doom & The Big Boss Man def The Natural Disasters & Irwin R Schyster
(13:09) *3/4
Rating
7.75/25 = 31%
Star Rating
Guide
***** Excellent/World Class
**** Very Good
*** Good
** OK/Acceptable
* Poor
DUD Abysmal
SQ Squash (Less than 1 min)
