WWE Survivor Series '89

WWE Survivor Series ‘89
November 23, 1989
Rosemont Horizon
Chicago, Illinois

The 3rd annual Survivor Series came from Chicago and unlike most Chicago crowds, this one was rather apathetic. A big change was that they ditched the “Teams of Five Strive to Survive” concept and went to teams of four. One thing I loved about these early Survivor Series PPV’s is the interesting pairings that they came up with. This event seemed to revert to feuds that they had going before the summer. Demolition regained the tag titles from the Brainbusters not long before this event, and rekindled their feud with the Powers of Pain. The Rockers rekindled their feud with the Brainbusters, as the Rougeaus and Bushwhackers wound up on opposing sides in their match. Not everything was a re-hashing. Zeus was now with Dibiase and up against Hogan’s team, and Rick Rude and Roddy Pipers feud took all of the heat from SummerSlam and feuded throughout the fall of 1989. Everything at this point seemed to be keeping Hogan and Warrior strong for their eventual collision at WrestleMania.

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura

8 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match
Enforcers (Big Bossman (captain), Honky Tonk Man, “The Model” Rick Martel, and Bad News Brown) w/ “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart and Slick vs. Dream Team (“American Dream” Dusty Rhodes (captain), Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, Tito Santana, and Red Rooster)

Good choice for an opener here as Rhodes and Beefcake are both insanely over as baby faces, so this is an easy way to get the crowd into it. Match itself was decent enough as Survivor Series matches does at least keep the action relatively non-stop. It gets down to Bossman against the Rooster, Rhodes, and Beefcake. Bossman takes out the Rooster, but ultimately gets pinned by Rhodes, as he and Beefcake survive. **1/4

8 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match
4x4’s (“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan (captain), Bret “The Hitman” Hart, “Rugged” Ronnie Garvin, and Hercules) vs. King’s Court (“Macho King” Randy Savage, Earthquake, Dino Bravo, and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine) w/ Jimmy Hart and Sensational “Queen” Sherri

I always found it interesting that Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart were not paired together for this show. Barry Windham was supposed to be here, but Earthquake replaced him, and I found it to be an excellent way to continue Earthquake’s push. When I first started watching Earthquake scared me to death, and was one of the few big men that was viewed ALMOST as Hogan’s equal, but that’s for another time. Here he had just debuted and was just a monster squashing guys and sending them on stretchers. The best part of the match was when Bret and Macho went at it. I really wish they were given more time because they were on fire and the crowd was totally into it. Savage eventually pins Hart, but Hart looks strong and credible in the process, and it’s helped by the commentary of Jesse Ventura who puts him over too. That leaves Duggan against Savage, Bravo, and Earthquake, and ultimately Duggan gets counted out. Pretty sad considering the three survivors are no longer with us. I enjoyed this match, but I would have enjoyed it more if they gave me a little more Savage-Hart. **

8 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match
Million $ Team (“Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase (captain), Zeus, and Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian)) w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan (captain), Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and Demolition (Ax and Smash))

This match had a bunch of feuds and it’s pretty much the only match on the card that the crowd is totally into from beginning to end. Thankfully Hogan and Zeus start off first, and Zeus gets himself disqualified for, you guessed it, choking Hogan, and hitting the referee. Demolition is next to go leaving it 3 on 2, but then the ref disqualifies both the Powers of Pain. The best part here is Jesse’s commentary as he is completely outraged. This leaves Dibiase up against Hogan and Roberts. Dibiase and Roberts get to continue their feud (one of my all-time favorite feuds). Virgil comes in and gets a DDT for his efforts, but Dibiase is able to make the pin with feet on the ropes of course, leaving the two captains to fight it out for survival. Dibiase gets the upper hand but Hogan makes his comeback and finishes it with the usual. Actually a pretty decent match. **1/2

8 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match
Roddy’s Rowdys (Rowdy Roddy Piper (captain), “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, and Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch)) vs. Rude’s Brood (“Ravishing” Rick Rude (captain), Mr. Perfect, and Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau)) w/ Jimmy Hart and Genius

Right away we notice that Bobby Heenan is not with Rude, further escalating the idea that there is dissention in the Heenan Family. This is a fun match as the Rougeaus get eliminated early and Rude and Perfect have trouble dealing with the unorthodox style of Roddy’s team, but eventually get things together and eliminate the Bushwhackers. Piper and Rude brawl and get themselves counted out. Looking back it’s odd that they paired those two in a feud, because both were notorious for not doing too many clean jobs, so obviously neither was going to look weak at any point in the feud. This leaves Perfect and Snuka, who have a little feud of their own, and it’s a decent little 1 on 1 contest to finish the match, and ultimately Perfect hits Snuka with the Perfect-plex to be the sole survivor and continue his undefeated streak. Not a lot of people like this match probably because the Bushwhackers are involved, but I can handle a little comedy now and then, and the right guy went over. **1/2

Main Event
Ultimate Warriors (Ultimate Warrior (captain), Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, and Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)) vs. Heenan Family (Andre the Giant (captain), Haku, Arn Anderson, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan)

The Brainbusters were pretty much out the door here, and Heenan replaced Tully Blanchard here. This is pretty much a formality match as the Warrior was on a huge mega push towards WrestleMania. I don’t know when Vince decided he would pull the trigger on Hogan-Warrior but it seems like it was sometime right after SummerSlam with Warrior’s great performance against Rick Rude. Warrior spent the fall beating Andre the Giant in squash matches at every house show in the US. It was pretty degrading to Andre, and a lot of fans are still bitter about it, but it did make Warrior into a giant star and cemented himself as Hogan’s equal. Speaking of squashing Andre, Warrior clotheslines him out of the ring and he gets counted out in the opening seconds of the match. I guess it’s all for the better as Andre couldn’t really do much of anything at this point in his career. Predictably the match ends up being Warrior against Heenan, and it ends as you would expect. Actually it is a fitting end to the Warrior-Heenan Family feud which lasted for nearly two years. **

Final Analysis: The wrestling isn’t superb, but nothing is horribly bad, and the show is watchable and is a nice way to close out the decade. With Warrior going out of 1989 so strong, it was clear that the WWE was going to go through major changes over the first few years of the 90’s.