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Richfield Coliseum – Richfield, Ohio – November 26, 1987
Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura are on commentary. They run down the rules to introduce the concept and away we go.
MATCH #1: Survivor Series Elimination Match – Harley Race, Hercules, Danny Davis, Ron Bass & Honky Tonk Man vs. Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake, Jake Roberts, Hacksaw Jim Duggan & Randy Savage
Randy Savage and Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man are the team captains. Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart are with the heel team, and of course Ms. Elizabeth is with the babyfaces. Beefcake and Hercules start it off for their teams. The Barber dominates, throwing hiptosses at everyone and focusing on Davis. The crowd is HOT for the babyface team. Davis sneaks over to his corner and tags Race, who battles Steamboat. After some cute back and forth Duggan tags in, and this is the other major feud of this match. Duggan quickly clotheslines Race to the floor and follows him out. They brawl around a bit and both guys get counted out at 4:33. Meanwhile Roberts and Bass pick up the action in the ring. Moments later Team Honky is able to isolate on Savage, who makes a blind tag to Beefcake, who hits Bass with a high knee to eliminate him at 7:02. Team Honky wisely brings Beefcake to their corner and keeps him away from his partners. Beefcake fires back, but he chooses not to make a tag and runs into the Shake Rattle ‘n’ Roll Neckbreaker and Honky pins him at 10:52. Savage comes right in and swings the momentum back to his team and then tags Roberts. The crowd wants to see the DDT but they have to wait as the heels go to work on the Snake. Davis tags in and Roberts comes back on him with the short-arm clothesline and the DDT to eliminate him at 15:11. Hercules wisely attacks Roberts right away and starts wearing him down. After several minutes of abuse Roberts is able to make the hot tag to Steamboat, who is a house afire. Macho Man tags in and delivers the Macho Elbow to put Honky at a three-on-one disadvantage at 21:03. Honky gives it a good effort but he’s at quite a disadvantage. Eventually the champ has enough and he bails, getting himself counted out at 23:40. Savage, Steamboat, and Roberts are the survivors. That was tremendous fun and a great way to kick off the show and the gimmick. Just look at all that amazing talent in one match.
Rating: ***½
MATCH #2: Survivor Series Elimination Match – The Glamour Girls, Dawn Marie, Donna Christanello & Sensational Sherri vs. Velvet McIntyre, Rockin’ Robin, Jumping Bomb Angels & the Fabulous Moolah
Jimmy Hart is in the corner of the Glamour Girls, Judy Martin and Leilani Kai, the WWF Women’s Tag Team Champions. The Jumping Bomb Angels are Itsuki Yamazaki and Noriyo Tateno. Sherri is the current Women’s Champion, and Kai, Velvet McIntyre, and Moolah are former Champions. Sherri starts the match by attacking McIntyre before the bell. As soon as Moolah tags in Sherri bails and tags Christanello. Team Moolah works her over and McIntyre pins her with a victory roll at 1:58. The action continues at a fast pace and Robin eliminates Marie with a cross body block at 4:11. When the Bomb Angels are on offense the crowd really wakes up. They’re such an anomaly for this time in WWE. Robin tags in and the Glamour Girls are able to reverse the momentum and go to work on her. Sherri comes in and eliminates Robin with a vertical suplex at 6:54. Moolah and Martin go back and forth and there is very little resting going on. The Glamour Girls are able to catch Moolah with a double-clothesline to eliminate the legend at 10:54. Now we’re evened up at three-on-three. The pace is ridiculous given what women’s wrestling has turned into today. McIntyre uses the Giant Swing on Sherri and then traps her in a victory roll to pin the Women’s Champion at 14:56! Unfortunately for McIntyre she gets trapped in an Electric Chair Drop from Kai to get eliminated at 17:22. Now we’re down to two-on-two. Moments later Tateno pins Kai at with a cross body block off the top rope at 18:37. The Bomb Angels use their advantage to wear Martin down, and they even knock Hart off the ring apron! Yamazaki then pins Martin with a clothesline off the top rope for the victory at 20:16. That was a good fast-paced, action-packed match all the way through, and comparing these women to today’s women wrestlers is like night and day. The Jumping Bomb Angels were #bomb, yo.
Rating: ***¼
MATCH #3: Survivor Series Elimination Match – The Bolsheviks, Demolition, the Dream Team, the Islanders & the Hart Foundation vs. the British Bulldogs, the Young Stallions, the Rougeau Brothers, the Killer Bees & Strike Force
Team Hart Foundation has Jimmy Hart, Bobby Heenan, Mr. Fuji, Johnny V, and Slick all in their corner. That is insane. Strike Force are the current World Tag Team Champions. The rules for this are slightly different, as if one member of a tag team is eliminated, that effectively eliminates both members of the team. Nikolai Volkoff and Rick Martel start it off. Volkoff out-powers Martel and makes the tag to Boris Zhukov. Martel responds by tag Tito Santana, who drills Zhukov with the Flying Forearm to eliminate the Bolsheviks at 1:46. The action is ridiculously fast and people are tagging in and out faster than I can keep up with. The next elimination comes when Jacques Rougeau misses a cross body block off the second rope and Ax rolls him up for the pin at 5:50. Demolition has looked really good so far, but they make a mistake when they trap Dynamite Kid in the ropes and slug away at him, and when the referee tries to stop him them Smash tosses him across the ring for the DQ elimination at 9:11. Now Strike Force battles the Hart Foundation, their top contenders. Neidhart is able to pin Santana and eliminate the champs at 12:05. We’re down to three teams on each side at this point, so the apron is clearing out a bit. The Stallions now dominate the ring time and they get beaten up quite a bit before involving the Bees. The Bulldogs get a bit of offense but Dynamite makes a mistake trying to headbutt Haku, and that dazes him. Haku then hits a thrust kick to get the pin on Kid at 19:58. The Stallions are eager to get back in the ring and prove themselves, but they get overwhelmed by the numbers game. Powers gets dominated in the wrong half of the ring. Bravo hits him with the Side Suplex but he tags Valentine instead of going for the pin. Powers is able to make a blind tag to Roma, who comes off the top rope with a sunset flip to surprise Valentine and eliminate the Dream Team at 23:39! I would not have predicted that the Bees and the Stallions would be the last two teams left on the babyface side at the beginning of this match that’s for sure. The babyfaces control a good part of the action, focusing on the Hitman. For some reason Ventura keeps calling Tama “Toma.” After about seven minutes of back and forth action between the four teams, Brunzell picks Hart up for a bodyslam and Haku dropkicks Hart in the back, but Brunzell rolls through for the pin to eliminate the Hart Foundation at 30:28! That’s an upset for sure. Brunzell celebrates and that gives the Islanders a chance to take advantage on him and wear him down. Finally Brunzell is able to make the tag to Powers, and he’s a house afire. The Islanders quickly cut them off though and reclaim control. Brunzell gets a hot tag and he’s the smartest man in the match because he knocks the Islanders’ heads together, which is the only way to hurt their craniums. The match breaks down and B. Brian Blair puts on a mask and slingshots into the ring with a sunset flip on Tama to get the pin and win the match at 37:15! I would #kill to have a tag team division like this in WWE today – 10 teams with distinct personalities is a thing of the past. As far as the match, it was tons of fun. The Bees and the Stallions look good with the upset win and the Islanders looked great in losing.
Rating: ****
MATCH #4: Survivor Series Elimination Match –Andre the Giant, Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed & One Man Gang vs. Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, Don Muraco & Paul Orndorff
Andre’s team has Bobby Heenan and Slick in their corner. Hogan is the reigning WWF Champion, and team is backed up by Sir Oliver Humperdink. Patera and Muraco are both former Intercontinental Champions, and Muraco is filling in for Superstar Billy Graham. The pop for Hogan is insane. Rude is wearing street sign themed tights tonight, and they’re awesome. Ventura wonders why Joey Marella referees every important Hogan match. Muraco and Rude start the match. Just look at the amount of steroid abuse in the ring right now. Hogan quickly tags in and Rude is taking a beating. It’s amazing how well Bigelow moves for a man his size. Rude gets beat up for a while before he’s able to make the tag to Reed, the man responsible for injuring Billy Graham. Things don’t go well for Reed, and he falls victim to the Hogan legdrop and is eliminated at 3:08. Andre comes in, but since Hogan gave high fives to his partners, that counts as a tag and the referee enforces the Contact Rule, in which the wrestler tagged in must make contact with his opponent before he can tag out, but then he doesn’t enforce it when Andre tags Bundy. Orndorff and Gang are both tagged in, and the crowd is majorly into Mr. Wonderful. The heels take over, particularly the One Man Gang. The momentum is reversed and Orndorff is forced to make hot tag. Patera quickly gets cut off by the Gang and when they clothesline each other, Gang wins that battle and Patera is gone at 8:47. Bigelow is crazy over here. Orndorff is also massively over here, but that doesn’t stop Rude from rolling him up with a handful of trunks to eliminate him at 10:26. Muraco comes in and after all three remaining members of Hogan’s team take a few shots at Rude, Muraco hits a powerslam to eliminate him at 11:13. Bundy comes in now and Muraco takes him off his feet. The pace in this match given the participants is ridiculous. Gang tags in and works on Muraco. Andre takes a shot at him from the apron and then Gang hits a splash to eliminate the Rock at 12:58. Hogan and Bigelow are at a one-man disadvantage now, and Andre’s team takes advantage, isolating Bigelow in their half of the ring. Finally Andre tags in, and Bigelow somersaults into the corner to make the tag to the Hulkster! This is the epic confrontation that the Survivor Series was created for. Hogan is a house afire and the crowd loves it. Bundy grabs Hogan’s leg from the floor and pulls him out. Hogan does his best to fight off both Bundy and Gang, even bodyslamming them, but he ends up counted out at 18:14. Bigelow has a huge hill to climb at this point. Despite those odds, Bigelow hits a slingshot splash to eliminate Bundy at 20:48! Gang comes in and works Bigelow over, but makes a mistake by going to the top rope and missing a splash. Bigelow rolls over for the pin and the Gang is gone at 23:08! Andre comes in and immediately slugs away. He hits the double underhook suplex to eliminate Bigelow and win the match at 24:24. That was a perfectly booked main event with awesome work from everyone involved, especially Bam Bam Bigelow. What a great way to close the show and set up the Hogan/Andre rematch.
Rating: ****
