The Gravest Challenge! Hulk Hogan defends his World Heavyweight title against The Undertaker. Hogan has held the World title since defeating Sgt Slaughter at Wrestlemania VII. The Undertaker who debuted at this pay per view one year ago gets a huge opportunity against the champ. You would think it’d be a definite hogan win so he can start the build up to Wrestlemania and his inevitable match against Ric Flair but will it go that way? We will soon find out.

The other four matches on this card are Survivor Series elimination matches. We’ll see Bret Hart, who is still Intercontinental champion team with The British Bulldog, Roddy Piper and Virgil against four men that they have had problems with throughout this year, Ric Flair, Ted Dibiase, The Warlord and The Mountie.

There is a tag team Survivor Series match with The Rockers and The Bushwhackers going up against The Nasty Boys and PPV debutants The Beverley Brothers. The fourth match has had a lot of replacements and was originally suposed to be “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Jim Neidhart, Texas Tornado & Ricky Steamboat against Colonel Mustafa, Big Bully Busick, The Bezerker and Skinner. However, Busick quit the WWE so was replaced by Hercules. Steamboat also quit the WWE so was replaced by Tito Santana and Jim Neidhart was injured and replaced by a recently face turned Sgt Slaughter.

The final match was suposed to be Sid Vicious, The Big Boss Man and tag team champions The Legion of Doom against Jake Roberts, I.R.S and The Natural Disasters but Sid got injured and Jack Tunney won’t allow Randy Savage to fight so Roberts also got taken out of the match and it got made a three on three.

So besides that, what other roster changes have happened? Well, Paul Roma left the WWF, leaving Hercules to fly solo. Perfect is still injured and now works as Ric Flairs manager.  As I said before, Ricky Steamboat and Big Bully Busick also quit the promotion.

Well we’re straight into it and Gorilla Monsoon lets us know about the main event tonight and then takes us straight to some footage from Superstars where Jake Roberts has Randy Savage tied up in the ropes. Roberts then unleashes the King Cobra and then it gnaws away on Savage’s arm! That’s some real shit right there and it looks pretty painful. Miss Elizabeth runs to ringside  but Jake waves his snake around. McMahon doesn’t think the snake has been de-venomised! Savage goes after Roberts but he swings and misses. Savage is stretchered off as people in the crowd cry their eyes out.

Jack Tunney is then shown now allowing Randy Savage to compete at Survivor Series. Tunney then bans all snakes from ringside but re-instates Randy Savage and makes the match against Jake Roberts at Tuesday Night in Texas. The Survivor Series match is then made a six man tag. Meh. We then go to Monsoon and Bobby Heenan who are excited for the night ahead.

Ric Flair, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase, The Mountie & The Warlord vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, The British Bulldog & Virgil

Well this is the in-ring Survivor Series debut for Ric Flair and Virgil and the first time Jacques Rougeaus fights as The Mountie on this pay per view. Dibiase and Warlord were both successful at the last Survivor Series whilst Roddy Piper, Bret Hart and The British Bulldog have never won at a Survivor Series despite Bret fighting on every Survivor Series PPV so far. It’s Dibiase and Piper that start the match. They have a little history what with Piper training Virgil to take on Dibiase earlier this year. Also interesting to see that The Warlord is now managed by Harvey Wippleman who debuts himself at this show. Sensational Sherri is all over Piper and for some reason it’s not a disqualification!

Virgil in to take on Dibiase and he quickly tags out to Intercontinental champion Bret Hart. Hart then tags back out to Piper. And Piper tags out to Bulldog who in turn tags out to Virgil. They all get a bit of offence in on Dibiase. Back in comes Hart. Dibiase finally manages to tag out to Flair and he gets a good reaction. But Hart takes down Flair and tags in Bulldog. Bulldog slingshots Flair and we get some awesome Flair selling. And Bulldog tags in Piper which is what everyone wants to see. Piper goes mad until Flair can stand no more! and Flair manages to tag out to The Warlord. Warlord is massive and has a lot of history with the British Bulldog and in he comes! After some back and forth, The Mountie is tagged in. And so is Bret Hart. And The Mounite playing the cowardly heel tags in Dibiase.

Dibiase and Hart were on opposite teams last year and were actually the final two in their match last year until Dibiase pinned Hart. Both men down and in come The British Bulldog and The Mountie. The Mountie has had a good run on pay per view this year beating the likes of Koko B Ware, Tito Santana and The Texas Tornado. All hell breaks loose and all of Flairs team are in the ring taking on The Bulldog. The Bulldog tries to pin The Mountie but Flair comes off the top and gets Bulldog. He then rolls him over and Bulldog is eliminated!

Piper goes mad and tries to take on everyone but it backfires. It’s Flair and Piper in now and Piper locks in a figure four! Dibiase breaks up the hold then gets tagged in. He then tags The Mountie who locks in a Boston Crab but Piper crawls over to Virgil and tags him in. Virgil has the upper hand until Mountie tags Flair. It’s back and forth between these two guys. I owned the wrestling figure of all eight of the guys in this match. And back in comes Dibiase. Virgil defeated Dibiase at both Wrestlemania and Summerslam. Dibiase tags Warlord who throws Virgil to the outside. Flair takes advantage of him on the outside, slapping him down to the canvas. Bret Hart makes the save and throws Virgil back in the ring. Warlord locks on the full nelson and Bret Hart comes off the top and hits him much like Flair did earlier in the match. Piper pins him and Warlord is out of here!

It’s down to three on three and once again it’s Virgil and Dibiase. Dibiase hits a nice gut wrench suplex and then tags in Flair. Both men hits a double clothesline and Flair pins Virgil with his feet on the rope. Dibiase back in and continues to grind Virgil down. I hope Teddy eliminates Virgil after the year he’s had. Virgil hits a neckbreaker though and both men are down. They crawl over to their respective corners and in comes Flair and in comes Hot Rod! The Mountie comes in and so does Hart then in come Virgil and Dibiase and all six men are in there ! Piper throws Flair to the outside as the referee calls for the bell! Outside the ring now The Mountie and Bret Hart go at it. The announcement is then made that everyone is disqualified except Ric Flair! Presumably because he was thrown to the outside and now involved in the scrap in the ring!

An interesting way to start the show. Eight of the hardest workers on the roster. Well six, Virgil and Warlord. It continues the Flair/Piper, Dibiase/Virgil, Bulldog/Warlord and the new Hart/Mountie feud. A good match to start the show and a big win for Ric Flair who wins on his second PPV in a row.

Rating: 7/10* Match Of The Night

Now to Mene Gene who is by the entranceway with the recently re-instated Randy Savage. He only missed one major pay per view, that being Summerslam. Clearly the wrong man lost at Wrestlemania VII. Savage said he couldn’t see or hear after being bitten by Jake Roberts King Cobra. Savage says at Tuesday in Texas he’ll be all over Jake Roberts like melting butter. Miss Elizabeth then shows up and says that she’ll be at This Tuesday in Texas. Ooooooh yeah.

Colonel Mustafa, The Bezerker, Skinner & Hercules vs “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Sgt Slaughter, Texas Tornado & “El Matador” Tito Santana

Texas Tornado is one of the very few to have appeared on every PPV this year. That includes The Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania VII, UK Rampage, Summerslam, Battle Royal and now Survivor Series. Some interesting notes for this match are that Slaughter has now turned face and sided with Jim Duggan. He’s doing it for his country. Tito Santana has now become El Matador, Skinner makes his PPV debut and Paul Roma has left the WWE leaving Hercules to go solo. Also in this match, Santana replaces Ricky Steamboat and Slaughter replaces Jim Neidhart.

It’s Skinner and Santana that start the show. Santana actually won his Survivor Series match last year, a match that also involved Sgt Slaughter. And Tito hits his flying forearm right off the bat, sending Skinner outside of the ring! Hercules also won his Survivor Series match last year. Skinner tags in The Bezerker who along with Mustafa makes his Survivor Series debut. Santana tags Tornado and Bezerker misses a dropkick! Jim Duggan is tagged in and so is Hercules! Hercules has been on every Survivor Series so far and he goes back and forth with Duggan. Colonel Mustafa is tagged back in and he locks in a sleeper on Duggan. Duggan made his PPV debut interfering in an Iron Sheik match. Mustafa looks like he can barely move at the moment. Duggan then tags in Slaughter and we’ve got the Sarge and Mustafa slugging it out. Slaughter clotheslines Mustafa and that’s enough to eliminate him!

The Bezerker is quick to come in after his captain was eliminated and he takes Slaughter down. This is Bezerkers second PPV having lost to The British Bulldog at Uk Rampage. Bezerker then tags out to Hercules who lays in some kicks then tags out to Bezerker. In a comedy moment, Slaughter kicks Bezerker who goes down and does the splits! Slaughter then tags out to Duggan who throws Bezerker out of the ring! Bezerker has spent a lot of this match in the ring and looks a real threat. Duggan tags out to Tornado who swings at anything moving! In comes Hercules and then Tornado tags out to Santana who hits some sort of diving punch on Hercules which is enough to eliminate the big man!

It’s four on two now and Skinner races in to take on El Matador. He takes Tito down then tags in The Bezerker. Not for long though as he tags out to Skinner. Tito manages to tag in Slaughter without Skinner knowing and Slaughter rolls him up for the three count!

The star of the show The Bezerker is the last remaining man for his team and Slaughter weakens him then tags in Jim Duggan who hits his three point stance which is enough to eliminate The Bezerker!

This was a bit of a jobbers match, especially the heel team. Slaughter, Duggan, Tornado and for the second year in a row, Santana win the match. It wasn’t as exciting as the last match but The Bezerker really stood out as a good in-ring talent. Tornado and Santana provided some much needed pace.

Rating: 5.5/10

We then gets a backstage exclusive of the winning team celebrating the win with a “way to go team” chant.

Now to Mene Gene who is with Jake Roberts who has new “trust me” music. Roberts denies knowledge of the snake not being de-venomised. Roberts then says he spoke to God this morning and he doesn’t like Gene. Jake says the snake is a toy and that he is the snake you should be worried about. Jake says that his match with Savage isn’t the beginning or the end, it’s not even the beginning of the end, it’s the end of the beginning.

Now we see some build for Hogan/Undertaker. We see Hogan on The Funeral Parlour chat show. We then see Ric Flair come out and say that he has been waiting so long for this moment. Flair and Hogan talk enough smack for Undertaker to come out and attack The Hulkster. Piper and Savage make the save but Undertaker and Flair no-sell some chair shots.

Hulk Hogan (c) vs. The Undertaker – World Wrestling Federation Title Match

This is the first ever non Survivor Series match on a Survivor Series pay per view. It’s quite odd to see a World title match half way through the show. Hogan gets a good reaction and if I didn’t know the result I would definitely back Hogan. Undertaker doesn’t seem a big enough challenger. He’s not on the same level as Andre, Ultimate Warrior or Randy Savage. Undertaker starts the match well whilst Hulk looks worried. Undertaker has got a couple of wins over Jimmy Snuka and Jim Duggan over the past few months but I’m not sure how that gets you a World title shot!

Undertaker powerslams Hogan down to the canvas but misses with the follow up elbow. That allows Hogan to make a comeback but as he goes for a slam, Undertaker blocks it. Hogan definitely looks a bit out of shape in this one. He clotheslines Undertaker out of the ring but the deadman lands on his feet and pulls Hogan out. He then chokes Hogan with some ring cable whilst Paul Bearer distracts the referee. Paul Bearer soon gets involved, choking Hogan as Undertaker distracts the referee. It still seems odd to have this match halfway through the show. I’m guessing they want to end the show with the match that is no longer involving Savage and Roberts. Undertaker chokes hogan for an eternity now, why this hasn’t been a disqualification I don’t know.

Eventually Hogan gets up and after an attempted comeback he gets clotheslined back down to the canvas. Undertaker then gets Hulk up and Tombstones him down to the canvas. But Hogan completely no sells it and stands right back up! He hammers Undertaker down to one knee and then powerslams him down to the mat! But wait, here comes Ric Flair! Hogan is distracted by the Real World Champion and he goes outside and punches him down. Hogan then hits the big boot but as he goes for the big legdrop, Paul Bearer grabs his leg! Undertaker then tombstones Hogan again but this time Ric Flair slides a chair in and Hogan is dropped on it! Undertaker then pins Hogan and gets the three count! The crowd POP for it! Undertaker wins the World Heavyweight title! What a shocker! I’m not sure he’s ready for it and it seems an odd choice with Flair knocking about and even Jake Roberts and Ted Dibiase. But we’ll have to see where it goes. Hogan suffers his first PPV loss of 1991.

Rating: 4/10

Backstage to Roddy Piper who is an intense as always. He’s not happy with Undertaker winning the World title and he’s not happy with Flair getting involved either.

Sean Mooney now backstage with Ric Flair and Mr Perfect. Flair cuts a captivating promo. He says it’s all over for Hogan and there is only one World champion and that is him. Brilliant promo. He looks like he’s been on the Class A’s though.

Now back to Mene Gene who is joined by Jimmy Hart, The Natural Disasters and I.R.S. Earthquake says that the three of them will take out The Legion of Doom and The Big Boss Man. Jimmy Hart says it should be four on three. I.R.S says he is there to make sure The big Boss Man pays. Typhoon says if there was 150 of them against three of them they would still win!

Now to Sean Mooney who is with The Legion Of Doom and The Big Boss Man. Animal says there will be come butt kickings tonight. Boss Man says The Disasters and I.R.S are going to serve hard time. Hawk says Jake Roberts is the luckiest man on the planet for avoiding this match. Whaaaaaat….Don’t ever interrupt Hawk……Whaaaaaaaat a ruuuuush!

Back to Mene Gene who is now with Jack Tunney. Tunney says the referees decision is final. However he is making a rematch between Undertaker and Hogan at This Tuesday in Texas. Tunney will also be at ringside to make sure there is a fair and just outcome.

The Beverley Brothers (Beau & Blake) & The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs & Jerry Saggs) vs. The Rockers (Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels) & The Bushwhackers (Butch & Luke)

Our third Survivor Series match of the night involves four tag teams. A bit of a throwback to the old Survivor Series tag matches but different. This match features The Beverley Brothers making their PPV debut. It’s The Nasty Boys Survivor Series debut. The Rockers and Bushwhackers may have competed on Survivor Series PPVs before but they’ve never won so this will feature a new winner. It’s Butch of The Bushwhackers and Brian Knobbs to start the match. Two brawlers slugging it out. I always forget how big The Bushwhackers are. They;re ripped. Butch tags in Luke and they double team both Nasties before knocking them into each other. And in come The Beverley Brothers! The Bushwhackers hit the Battering Ram on both Beverleys and clear the ring! The Rockers then take down The Nasty Boys and we’re back to square one!

It’s Beau Beverley and Shawn Michaels in there now. I’m a big fan of tag teams in matching outfits and not just two guys thrown together. Knobs in now and he doesn’t have much success. And in comes Luke of The bushwhackers. Knobs hits him with a clothesline off the top and Luke is eliminated.

Michaels and Saggs in now and Saggs hits a big suplex on Shawn. Michaels on the comeback as he hits a high cross body and gets a near fall. Michaels tags in partner Jannetty and keeps Saggs grounded. The Rockers and Nasty Boys met on pay per view at Battle Royal and it was The Nasty Boys who were successful in that one. Jannetty hits a couple of arm drags to keep the advantage. Saggs manages to get up and tag in Blake Beverley though. It’s back and forth between Marty and Blake. Blake tags Beau which proves to be a mistake as he knocks heads with Jannetty which allows Marty to tag in Butch. Butch goes nuts on both Beverley Brothers which comes to an end when the Beverleys spike slam Butch which eliminates him from the match.

It’s The Rockers against The Nasty Boys and The Beverly Brothers now. Blake Beverley and Shawn Michaels in now. Lots of double teaming from the heels now and Beau is tagged in. After some more hhelish tactics, Beau has the advantage. That is until Shawn Michaels hits a backslide outta nowhere! The referee counts and Beau is eliminated!

As Saggs comes in and takes down Michaels, Monsoon says that Jannetty tried to short arm the tag! Michaels gets back to his feet though and aims to hit Saggs with a double axe handle off the top but Saggs catches him with a right hand. Blake Beverley back in and Michaels tags Jannetty! And in comes Knobs! Jannetty takes Knobs down with a snapmare and gets a near fall. Knobs then tags in Blake and Marty gets a near fall on the remaining Beverley Brother. Blake then tags Knobbs back in and he throws Jannetty across the ring. He tags in his partner Saggs who hits some big time back suplex’s on Marty. He then tags Knobbs back in but Knobbs goes high risk and Jannetty gets his knees up! Jannetty tags in Michaels and he takes on everybody! The Rockers sandwich Blake between The Beverley Brothers. Jannetty then picks up Saggs but accidentally smashes Saggs’ foot into Michaels! Knobbs rolls up Michaels for the three and Michaels goes crazy! He’s out of here but he is not happy.

It’s down to Knobbs, Saggs and Blake Beverley against Marty Jannetty. Jannetty manages to hit a bulldog on Saggs but Knobbs breaks up the count. Saggs then throws Jannetty outside the ring and tags in Blake. Blake hits a nice slam, covers Marty but then breaks the cover to tag in Knobs. Jannetty manages to find some energy and he bounces off the ropes, slides outside then pulls Knobbs with him! Jannetty then goes up top and jumps onto The Nasty boys outside the ring! Back in the ring and Marty nails Blake. The Nasty boys then get back in as Jannetty rolls up Saggs but Knobbs reverses the pin for the three! The Nasty Boys and Blake Beverley win the match!

Rating: 4/10

The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon) & I.R.S vs. The Legion Of Doom (Hawk & Animal) & The Big Boss Man

I.R.S gives us a pre match promo telling us that The Big Boss Man and The Legion Of Doom are the biggest tax cheats. Earthquake is the second man (with Texas Tornado) to have fought on every pay per view this year. Now they haven’t made this clear as to whether it is an elimination match or just regular six man tag. We have a big “L.O.D” chant break out, they are very very over. Boss Man and I.R.S start the match. Boss Man with a good start but then goes to scale the ringpost but slips or something and decides against it. Boss Man shows some awesome speed, running around the ring. Shyster then tags in Earthquake and he wants Animal. Earthquake actually beat Boss Man at the last pay per view. Animal is tagged in and Earthquake toys with him.

Animal then hits a dropkick and a flying tackle to take Quake down! Irwin is tagged back in and Hawk too is tagged in. Apparently we’re going to hear from Hulk Hogan after this match. Meanwhile in comes Typhoon for a couple of moments before he tags out to Earthquake. It’s back and forth until The Boss Man and I.R.S come in. Boss Man goes for a roundhouse kick but misses. Still, pretty impressive. As L.O.D distract the referee, I.R.S smashes Boss Man with the briefcase! And the Boss Man has been eliminated. So that confirms that it is an elimination match.

The Natural Disasters double team Animal now, with Earthquake hitting a big belly to belly suplex. The heels triple team The Legion of Doom until I.R.S once again attempts to use his briefcase but this time Hawk gets out of the way and Shyster nails Typhoon! Hawk pins him out Typhoon is eliminated. Earthquake is not happy with his partner. Earthquake is so sad that he leaves with Typhoon leaving I.R.S with L.O.D.

In the ring Hawk missed a shoulder barge and goes straight into the ringpost. Shyster throws him to the outside then follows him out and throws him into the ringsteps! Irwin is a sweaty mess as he throws Hawk into the ring. This is a big rub for I.R.S as he was quite the lower carder before this contest. He goes for a suplex on Hawk but the big man reverses it! Hawk then tags in Animal who hits a big powerslam. Hawk comes in and LOD hit a double clothesline. I.R.S rolls out of the ring and walks to the back! But look who it is! The Big Boss Man walks from the back. IRS is suplexed back into the ring by Animal then Hawk hits a clothesline from the top rope for the win! L.O.D with a big win tonight!

Rating: 4.5/10

We now go back to Mene Gene who is with Paul Bearer and The Undertaker. Bearer says that at This Tuesday in Texas they will finish the job on Hulk Hogan. It’s amazing that Undertaker won the World Title when Andre couldn’t do the job.

 

And that was the fifth annual Survivor Series pay per view. It was a real mixed bag. I loved the look of the first match and for the most part it lived up to expectation. There was a lot of talent in that match but it would have been nice to see it go the full way and not have a shitty DQ finish that eliminated over half of the participants. Yeah it was a way to push flair without it being at the expense of Bret Hart and Roddy Piper but there would have been better ways to finish the match.

The second match was mildly entertaining. Texas Tornado and Tito Santana will always put on a good match but the other six guys in the match aren’t necessarily known for five star matches. The Bezerker however was the real suprise stand out of the match and carried his team. He showed a lot of potential.

The Undertaker/Hulk Hogan match wasn’t the best and the ending was a bit of a suprise. Undertaker won the World title without any build or momentum. As always it’ll be interesting to see where the story goes but it seems like an irrational decision.

The final two matches were sub part. The tag team involved in their match were always mid to lower carders and even The Rockers couldn’t save their match. The final match was slightly better although it would have been better had Randy Savage and Jake Roberts been in it or even been replaced by somebody.

Overall Rating: 50 out of 100 (Joint 9th out of 24)