WWF Survivor Series 1991

 

 

 

 

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)