Survivor Series '87

Survivor Series ‘87
November 26, 1987
Richfield Coliseum
Richfield, Ohio

Coming off the heels of the insane success of WrestleMania III, the next logical step was to put together another PPV to draw a truck load of money. It was a brilliant business decision on multiple fronts. They played off of the controversial 2 count early on in the Hogan-Andre match. Bobby Heenan and company claimed it should’ve been a 3 count and that Andre was the uncrowned champion. This of course left the fans clamoring for the biggest rematch of all time. But you don’t just make the rematch; you draw it out for all it’s worth. The other reason this show is a brilliant business decision, is to rub crap in your competitions face. In a total dick move, McMahon scheduled this for Thanksgiving night 1987. Not a big deal, except that Jim Crockett Promotions had their annual Starrcade event on thanksgiving. The cable companies were none too pleased with this, and it was the last time it happened, but Crockett was overwhelmed here, as the WWE was an unstoppable force at this point. After recently watching this show, it has aged quite well.

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura

10 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match
Honky Tonk Man (captain), “Outlaw” Ron Bass, “Dangerous” Danny Davis, “King” Harley Race, and Hercules vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (captain), Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake

Brilliant choice for an opener as you have the most unpopular heel at the time (Honky Tonk Man) with his band of guys against 5 of the most over baby faces not named Hulk Hogan at the time. In other words, the crowd was batshit crazy for this match. Honky was in the middle of his 18 month IC Championship reign here and the crowd HATED him. It gets down to Honky against Savage, Steamboat, and Jake. Brilliant booking as those were the 3 guys that Honky had been feuding with for much of 1987 and they all took turns beating him up until finally he got knocked out of the ring. He then took the cowards way out and ran back to the dressing room leaving the three survivors. This match was super-hot, and one of my personal Survivor Series favorites. ***3/4

10 Lady Survivor Series Elimination Match
Sensational Sherri (captain), Donna Christanello, Dawn Marie, and the Glamour Girls (Judy Martin and Leilani Kai) vs. Fabulous Moolah (captain), Velvet McIntyre, Rockin’ Robin, and the Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki)

This would be the first time we would see women in this concept match until the 1995 Survivor Series, but these ladies put their working boots on so to speak and put on a pretty decent match. In particular, the Jumping Bomb Angels impressed everyone in the crowd with their high flying ability, something that American wrestling fans had never seen from the ladies. The style is quite common place in Japan, but it was foreign to the American fan base. The match spilled down to the Bomb Angels and the Glamour Girls, and the Angels survived. They would go onto get a nice little run in the WWE, but women’s wrestling still wasn’t near as popular as it would become. This was solid though. **

10 Team Survivor Series Elimination Match
Hart Foundation (Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart) (captains), Demolition (Ax and Smash), Islanders (Haku and Tama), Dream Team (Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Dino Bravo), and Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) vs.
Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel) (captains), Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and “Jumping” Jim Brunzell), Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers), British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith), and Rougeau Brothers (Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau)

Yes, we have 20 men in this match, and it is great. Nonstop action. The only difference in this concept is that if one man gets eliminated, the entire team is eliminated. This is of course when the WWE actually pushed tag team wrestling, so we have a lot of talent here. The Hart Foundation had recently lost the WWE Tag titles to Strike Force, but got their revenge in this match by eliminating them. The match came down to the Harts, and Islanders vs. the Bees and the Stallions. The Harts were surprisingly eliminated, and then the Bee’s did their mask switching gimmick and were able to pin the Islanders. Odd booking as they put the Bees and Stallions over but neither really did anything, while other teams in the match would go onto great things, notably the Harts and Demolition. Odd booking aside, this is one of the best survivor series elimination matches you’ll ever see. ****1/4

Main Event
10 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match
Hulk Hogan (captain), Bam Bam Bigelow, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, Ken Patera, and “The Magnificent” Don Muraco vs. Andre the Giant (captain), One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, and “Natural” Butch Reed

This was just such a tease. The rematch between Hogan and Andre was inevitable, but this match teased it, and the match itself was a tease within the tease. Tremendous booking here. Hogan eliminated Reed early and then high fived Ken Patera which the ref viewed as a tag. Andre was waiting for Hogan to stop celebrating, but the ref force Hogan out. Andre didn’t even want to bother with Patera, so he just tagged out. Just left the fans begging for more. Finally the showdown did happen albeit brief. Hogan eventually had to deal with the Gang and Bundy on the floor and got himself counted out leaving Bam Bam to face off against the 3 monsters. Bam Bam looked like a force eliminating both Gang and Bundy, but ultimately got beat by Andre. You would be hard pressed to find better booking anywhere. Just perfection. ***1/2

Final Analysis: The length of the matches limits this to a 4 match show but all 4 matches deliver both from a workrate perspective, but more importantly a booking perspective. The show progressed storylines and left fans clamoring for more and willing to pay for the blow offs. The Hogan-Andre match did happen, on free TV, and did a monster rating. Nothing earth shattering happens on this show, but it’s just a good show, that once again, the theme with a lot of the 1980’s, has to be seen to be truly appreciated, particularly that 10 team match.