WWE Survivor Series '93

WWE Survivor Series ‘93

November 24, 1993

Boston Garden

Boston, Massachusetts

As time went on in the fall of 1993, it finally became apparent that Hulk Hogan was not coming back. He was thoroughly squashed by Yokozuna at the King of the Ring in June and the WWE really didn’t even make mention of it again, not even to put Yokozuna over as the man who ended Hulkamania. After choking at SummerSlam, Lex Luger began to lose some steam as well, while Yokozuna continued to be pushed as a monster heel champion. Survivor Series would once again be a major PPV event being put on for the sake of putting on a major PPV event. With that said though, things were starting to develop and take shape as far as storylines were concerned as the build to WrestleMania X really began in the fall of 1993.

Commentators: Vince McMahon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

8 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match

IRS (captain), Diesel, Rick “The Model” Martel, and Adam Bomb w/ Harvey Wippleman vs. Razor Ramon (captain), 1-2-3 Kid, Marty Jannetty, and “Macho Man” Randy Savage

This should be noted that this would be Bobby Heenan’s 2^nd to last broadcast (3^rd to last, he did return for the Gimmick battle royal match at WrestleMania XVII). He would be heading off to WCW for more money and a lighter schedule. It is invaluable what guys like Bobby Heenan do from the broadcast booth in terms of putting guys over. Guys like Heenan and Jesse Ventura were the masters of it. Jerry Lawler used to be pretty good at it, but it is something that is seriously lacking now. Michael Cole makes failed attempts at doing it. It’s a lost art it seems. Anyway, Mr. Perfect was originally supposed to be on Razor’s team but injuries finally caught up with Curt Hennig and he was unable to go, so Razor surprises everyone with a replacement by the name of Randy Savage. The crowd loves it, and it tells a great story too as Savage has a really hot feud with Crush going on, and they needed an excuse to have Savage in the building. This was perfect. What we have here is pretty much a perfectly booked Survivor Series match. By the end of it, everyone has done their job, and the major storylines revolving around the match get advanced. First off, you have the monster Diesel now beginning to be a full time performer instead of Shawn Michaels’ personal bodyguard. He comes in and dominates the small 123 Kid and looks like he’s going to win the match himself, but somehow the Kid survives and makes the big tag to the grizzled veteran Randy Savage, who takes advantage of Diesels inexperience in a very believable way, and gets the crowd on first by hitting the big elbow and pinning the big guy. Yes, Diesel loses, but it’s done in a way where the viewer is left thinking the guy is still a monster and will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. This was all after a little showdown between the members of Team IRS, where they all come to blows after Martel knocks Wippleman on his ass to the dismay of Adam Bomb. The crowd was just eating this up. Next up, you have to eliminate Savage somehow, because he certainly doesn’t need to be a survivor in this one. Insert his blood nemesis Crush who simply comes out and distracts Macho, and IRS gets the pin. Savage is off to the races to find Crush right after this, and this is all being told brilliantly by Heenan on commentary. Next you have to escalate the feud between the two captains, Razor Ramon and IRS. Again, it doesn’t really do much good for either of them to win this match. Ramon pins IRS after the Razors edge, IRS gets revenge by hitting Razor with the briefcase to keep his heel heat to get Razor eliminated. Again, maybe this isn’t the greatest feud of all time, but the WWE had a direction, they had a program that they had been developing since the summer between these two guys, and the feud gets escalated. Everyone wins. This leaves the Kid and Jannetty, and the classic underdog story develops against the perceived favorites in Martel and Adam Bomb. Kid and Jannetty go over, crowd is happy, Kid and Jannetty would go on to team up and win the tag titles a little over a month after this. It was an excellent way to give the Kid a major win on PPV. Everyone wins. This match is booking 101. Simple, believable stories and the match itself was excellent to boot. This is the type of simple things the WWE needs to get back to doing. As you may have guessed, this is one of my favorite Survivor Series matches ever. *** ¾

8 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match

Shawn Michaels (captain), Red Knight, Blue Knight, and Black Knight vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart, “The Rocket” Owen Hart, Bruce Hart, and Keith Hart w/ Stu Hart

A lot of people have crapped on this match. Unfortunately Jerry Lawler had some rape allegations to adhere to and Shawn Michaels (returning from his own problems) was quickly substituted in his place for this match. Would it have been better with Lawler? Perhaps. I think there may not be a better replacement than Shawn though as he can play the antagonist as good as anyone, and he does so here. I look at it like this; they made do with what they had. Shawn is still carrying around his IC Title belt that he hadn’t lost. While he was suspended, there was a battle royal and then a singles match between the final 2 guys for the vacant IC Championship. Those two guys were Razor Ramon and Rick Martel. They had a pretty good match on RAW in which Razor came out the new IC Champ. This would set up the historic Ladder Match at WrestleMania X, but that is for another review. The Knights here are random masked wrestlers whose only purpose is to job out to the Hart family. The idea with Lawler was going to be that the Harts would have to go through the Knights and then Lawler would be left alone to get the ass whipping that the fans were clamoring for. One of the reasons people hate this match is because Shawn doesn’t play a chickenshit heel and hide behind the Knights, he comes out and basically carries the match. And that’s what I kind of like about the match. Shawn definitely carries this particularly Keith and Bruce Hart. Not sure who the Red Knight is, but the Black Knight is Bart Gunn, and the Blue Knight is Greg Valentine. The match probably goes a little longer than it should have, as there is just a bit too much Keith and Bruce. Bret and Owen take care of the Knights, leaving Shawn to fight 4 guys. Match really picks up when Shawn and Owen have a little mini-match foreshadowing some of their classics in later years. Shawn throws Owen into the ropes, but Bret is there and Owen runs into Bret sending him into the barricade. This causes Shawn to pin Owen, making Owen the only one of the Harts to get eliminated. Shawn then takes a walk and gets counted out leaving Bret, Bruce, and Keith as the Survivors, but not before overselling a punch thrown by Stu Hart, which was actually a pretty cool little moment and according to Bret’s book, Shawn felt honored to be able to do that for Stu. Owen comes back to the ring presumably to celebrate with his brothers, but instead tries to pick a fight with Bret. The Bret-Owen feud begins here, so this match has a lot of history. *** I liked the match, sue me.

SMW Tag Team Championship

Rock and Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) (champions) vs. Heavenly Bodies (Tom Pritchard and Jimmy Del Ray) w/ Jim Cornette

Yes the partnership between Smoky Mountain Wrestling and WWE continues here, and we get a nice little gem of a match. Unfortunately the crowd doesn’t agree with me as they are just dead for this one. Tough crowd. Tremendous match unfolds here, and they could probably give them another 10 minutes or so and this would be an all time classic. Instead it’s your formula tag team match that you would see from the 1980’s NWA. Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon actually do commentary for this match, and it is rather weird to hear Jim Ross talk about the history of the feud between the Rock and Roll Express and the Midnight Express and how it evolved to this. You can tell that Jim Ross’s initial stint with WWE in 1993 is rather uncomfortable for him, and I’m sure that is why Vince fired him early in 1994 before WrestleMania. Ricky and Robert spend the first several minutes hitting all of their tag team moves, and then Ricky takes his role that he’s most known for as “face in peril” and the Bodies work him over. Match turns into chaos until Del Ray hits Gibson with the tennis racket from the top rope for the win, and the titles. Has to be seen to be appreciated. Nothing historic here as the SMW partnership in terms of what goes on WWE TV pretty much ends here. *** ¾ Crowd again, wasn’t liking it at all.

8 Man Survivor Series Elimination Match

Bam Bam Bigelow (captain), Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu), and Bastion Booger w/ Luna Vachon and Afa vs. 4 Doinks (Mabel, Mo, Bushwhacker Butch, and Bushwhacker Luke)

This is total crap as you would probably guess. Between SummerSlam and Survivor Series, Doink turned from cool evil clown, to prankster fun-loving Doink, and pretty much made me hate him and any feud that he was a part of. This was supposed to be a “comedy” match but it is anything but funny. Basically, Men on a Mission and Bushwhackers just blitz right through Bam Bam and his team. This is the epitome of a DUD. Thankfully it was kept relatively short.

Main Event

Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna (captain), Ludvig Borga, Crush, and Jacques) w/ Mr. Fuji, Jim Cornette, and Johnny Polo vs. All Americans (Lex Luger (captain), Undertaker, and Steiner Brothers) w/ Paul Bearer

By the end of 1993, at least you could say the booking was making sense. The roster may have been limited, but at least after the post-Hogan fiasco the booking by in large made sense. Stories were going somewhere. Case in point, this match. It isn’t the most glamorous main event of all time. It’s not going to make Team Hogan vs. Team Andre from the first Survivor Series blush or anything, but at least you can say, it makes sense. The build was good too. Despite Luger’s choke job at SummerSlam, he was still a main event player and the biggest threat to Yokozuna’s crown. He was in the middle of feuding with the other evil foreigner, Ludvig Borga. Borga was getting a mega-heel push, and (according to him) was set for a World title push and a main event at WrestleMania. I have no idea if that is true or not, but clearly he was the #2 heel in the company by the time Survivor Series rolled around. The interesting twist in this build up was that Borga ended the nearly 2 year undefeated streak of Tatanka. As a fan and still somewhat of a mark, this was a big deal. Borga and Yokozuna gave Tatanka a holy beat down and put him out, so Lex was forced to find a substitute, and he found the mother of all subs in the Undertaker. Then Lex took out Pierre of the Quebecers, forcing Cornette and company to find a substitute of their own, and they turned to the recently turned heel Crush. The match instantly became more interesting. The match itself was ok, Borga pinned Rick Steiner in a blown spot where he was supposed to catch Rick off the top rope and slam him, but he didn’t get him all the way over. Then Randy Savage came out, and got a small bit of revenge on Crush, escalating their feud, as he got him counted out. Luger took care of Jacques, and Yoko took care of Scotty, leaving the match up that the fans came to see. Yokozuna and Borga against Luger and Undertaker. This was highlighted by the long awaited showdown between Yokozuna and Undertaker. The crowd ate it up as Undertaker sat up after a banzai drop. They spilled out to the floor and both got counted out, but not before Taker no sold Yoko ramming him into the steps and Yokozuna’s scared look was great! Hindsight being what it is, Undertaker should’ve won the Rumble and then gone onto take the title from Yokozuna at WrestleMania, but instead they had the rematch at the Royal Rumble and well… that’s another review. The one who lost out on that showdown was Luger, because he was instantly relegated to #3 baby face behind Bret and Undertaker during these few minutes of the Taker-Yoko showdown. This all left Luger and Borga to battle it out for their teams. Borga actually looked pretty strong even in defeat here and Luger looked strong going over. Pretty good match, and once again, well booked. ** ½

Final Analysis: Like SummerSlam, Survivor Series ’93 isn’t a historically significant show, other than the beginning of the Bret-Owen showdown and perhaps the Undertaker-Yokozuna showdown. The Taker-Yoko feud would be pretty much dead in the water in a couple months and then the pay off wouldn’t happen until the next Survivor Series. Still, it is a well-booked show that doesn’t get a lot of love. I think it was a nice way to end a turbulent 1993.