Cleveland, OH - November 1988
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE (then WWF) World Champion was Randy "The Macho Man" Savage, the Intercontinental Champion was the Ultimate Warrior, and the World Tag Team Champions were Demolition. Rockin' Robin was the WWF Women's Champion and the Women's Tag Team Champions were The Glamour Girls.
After a brief welcome from Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura (who is sporting a Pilgrim hat), we hear the familiar blast of captain Ultimate Warrior's music and the crowd goes bananas. Warrior's team consists of himself, The Blue Blazer, Sam Houston, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, and "Jumping" Jim Brunzell. Their opponents are Honky Tonk Man, Bad News Brown, "The Outlaw" Ron Bass, Danny Davis, and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Valentine and Beefcake start things off, but Valentine tags out quickly to Danny Davis. Beefcake applies the sleeper and just like that, Davis is gone! What a concept, a finisher actually finishing someone. Valentine comes back in and gets to work, but Beefcake manages to tag in the Blazer. Blazer tags out pretty quickly, though, "Jumping" Jim Brunzell (no longer a Killer Bee) taking over. Brunzell takes a beating from Bad News Brown who eventually caps him off with the "Ghetto Blaster" to eliminate him. Sam Houston comes in and gets mauled as well as Warrior tries his hardest to get tagged in. Bad News tags Valentine so they can apply a double-team, but when Valentine tags Bad News back in, The Hammer accidentally clubs his own teammate! Bad News walks out of the match, unable to get along with his own teammates. Back in the ring, Houston tries to eliminate Valentine, but can't get a 3-count. Bass comes in for the heels but Houston is able to use his speed and agility to keep things relatively even. Bass eventually catches him with a huge powerslam to eliminate him. Warrior comes in and cleans house, then launches Blue Blazer onto Bass for 2. Blazer gets to show off some of his high-flying but also his suplexes and even Ventura has to admit how impressive the Blazer is. Blazer tries to go to the top, but Honky shoves him off and Valentine applies the figure four to eliminate him. Beefcake comes in, but Valentine takes control immediately. He tags in Bass, who then tags in Honky, the heels taking turns beating down the Barber. They cut the ring in half and beat down Beefcake in the corner, the Warrior unable to make the save. Honky attempts his finisher, but Beefcake back drops him out of it. Honky tags in Bass who stun-guns Beefcake on the top rope for 2. Honky tries a double-axehandle from the top but Beefcake catches him with a shot to the stomach. Beefcake hits an atomic drop and then a clothesline but doesn't make the tag. Instead, he slaps on the sleeper! Honky and Brutus roll through the middle rope to the floor and continue brawling. Beefcake applies the sleeper again and they've both been counted out. Valentine and Bass get to work on the Warrior, but they're only able to maintain control on him for so long before he rallies and hits them both with double axe-handles to get the win. The finish could've been way better, though, Warrior's finisher (a guerilla press followed by a simple splash) always kinda stunk (especially as he couldn't necessarily press slam all of his opponents). We don't even get that here, though, which would've at least been impressive. This was still a fun match and a hot opener and accomplished what it needed to. (2.5/5)
The next match is a jumbo-packed Survivors match - Demolition, The Brain Busters, The Bolsheviks, The Fabulous Rougeaus, and The Conquistadors (Jose Estrada and Jose Luis Rivera under gaudy gold masks) vs. The Hart Foundation, The Powers of Pain, The British Bulldogs, The Rockers, and The Young Stallions. The rules of this one are slightly altered than your typical Survivors match as you can eliminate a whole tag team with one pinfall. Lots of great little moments in this match with The Rockers, Brain Busters, and The British Bulldogs shining the brightest. This match goes way, way long - over 30 minutes - but I like the realism there too. Everyone in this match is supposed to be a "tag team specialist" so it makes total sense that they'd all take to a match like this very quickly. Tully Blanchard is the MVP of the match, but Jesse Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon's commentary is also exceptional here. Bobby Heenan's performance at the 91' Rumble is maybe the most famous full match commentary performance ever, but Ventura and Monsoon are brilliant here, calling this very much like a real athletic contest by not letting heel/face designations get in the way of calling out good offense (and poor decision-making) by both sides. The way they chastise guys for not making tags and even talk about how shocking it is for the Conquistadores to end up as one of the last two teams is smart and respectful of the audience's intelligence. The Conquistadores nearly surviving the match is not the only twist either as we even get a surprising double-turn with Demolition and the Powers of Pain too. I was not expecting to enjoy this match nearly as much as I did. Never boring, great mix of talent, awesome commentary. It doesn't quite reach the "must see" bar, but its close. (3.5/5)
Backstage, one of my all time favorite interviewers - Sean Mooney - gets some comments from Bad News Brown. Brown makes a compelling argument for a title shot against WWE World Champion Randy Savage between making some of the oddest faces ever seen.
"Mean" Gene gets a word with Mr. Fuji, who explains that Demolition's egos got too big and that's why he turned on them.
After Jesse and Gorilla run down the next two matches, we cut backstage to hear from the heel side of the next match, including some words from Andre The Giant.
We then get yet another backstage promo (I wonder how the fans in the arena felt about such a long delay between matches), this time from the Mega Powers' team.
Next up - "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Scott Casey, Ken Patera, and Tito Santana vs. Andre the Giant, Dino Bravo, Harley Race, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, and "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig. I was puzzled as to why Scott Casey was included in this match (he was a jobber) and looked it up - he was actually a substitute for an injured B. Brian Blair. Rude and Patera start things off, but Rude tags out and in comes Dino Bravo, causing the crowd to erupt in a loud "USA" chant. Hennig comes in next, a relative newcomer to the WWE (if I'm not mistaken) and not yet sporting his trademark singlet. Rude comes back in and hits the Rude Awakening on Patera for our first elimination. Race comes in soon after and then Bravo, who nearly gets eliminated by the jobber Scott Casey. Bravo ends up hitting a sidewalk slam to eliminate Casey before tagging Hennig back in. Santana takes a beating from Bravo and Race but won't stay down. He miraculously hits the Flying Forearm to eliminate the King but Andre comes in and destroys him as the fans let loose with boos. Tito attempts a sunset flip, but Andre just sits down on him to put the heels up 4-2. Duggan comes in and Andre ends up tied in the ropes, easy pickings for the faces. Roberts comes in and starts punching and choking Andre, but the Giant escapes from the ropes and tags in Rude. Roberts gets beaten down by the heels for the next little while, nearly gets eliminated by Bravo, but manages to tag Duggan in. After some interference by Frenchy Martin, Duggan grabs his trusty 2x4 and gets himself DQ'd. Roberts attempts to cover Bravo, but he kicks out and Roberts now has to face 4 men (including Andre) on his own. Jake holds his own against Perfect but can't get the DDT, almost delivers it against Bravo, but then ends up taking a ton of punishment from Rude. After gloating and swirling his hips over Roberts, Rude attempts to make a tag, but Jake pulls him back by his tights and hits him with a DDT to eliminate Rude! Andre comes in and chokes Roberts out in the corner, eventually getting himself disqualified. Andre leaves the ring, but Roberts is done for. Perfect comes in and makes the cover to bring this one to a close. Not as good as the previous bout or even the opener. Rude and Perfect were good, Andre is always fun to watch, but this just went too long with the eliminations not coming rapidly enough for me. (2/5)
Main event time - Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim, and Hercules vs. Ted DiBiase, Akeem, Big Bossman, Haku, and The Red Rooster. I was unaware that Terry Taylor was ever a heel managed by Bobby Heenan and was equally surprised to see Hercules working as a babyface. One would expect Hogan to be "saved," but he gets involved early, each face getting a time to shine early. For some reason, the back of Koko's tights are blurred. Savage hits a huge elbow drop to eliminate Terry Taylor and the babyfaces celebrate. Haku comes in and nearly gets eliminated as well, the faces in full control. Haku manages to make the tag and Akeem comes in. The African Dream takes some hard hits from Hillbilly Jim, but eventually crushes him with a massive splash to tie things up 4-4. The babyfaces try to get Akeem off his feet but can't manage to do it, each firing their best shot but unable to do it. Akeem tags in Bossman, who connects with the Bossman Slam to eliminate Ware. Hogan comes in and the crowd goes to their feet, eager to finally see Hogan and Bossman go at it. After hitting him with his patented Big Boot, Hogan delivers a bodyslam, but Bossman catches him with a spinebuster! Bossman tags in Akeem, who then tags in Haku. DiBiase comes in and tries to eliminate Hogan, but Hogan hulks up and hits him with a big atomic drop! In comes Hercules (who DiBiase had tried to make his slave) and the future Super Invader goes on a tear. He gets tripped up, though, and DiBiase rolls him up for 3! Savage comes in and pulls the same trick on DiBiase and its now 3-on-2 with the Mega Powers outnumbered. Hogan goes back to playing the face-in-peril and drumming up sympathy as the heels take turns getting their shots in. With Hogan thoroughly beaten down, Bossman wastes time gloating and playing to the crowd, eventually attempting a splash from the top rope (which Hogan rolls away from). Hogan makes the hot tag but as Savage rallies, Slick trips him and Bossman regains control. Bossman applies a bearhug as Slick tries to drag Elizabeth out of the arena, but Hogan makes the save and decks him! The Twin Towers beat down on the Hulkster, handcuffing him to the bottom rope in a great act of heelishness. The Bossman gets counted out, but instead of leaving the ringside area, he beats down on Hogan with the nightstick! Meanwhile, in the ring, Savage continues to get stomped on by Akeem and Haku. A fan throws some trash in the ring, which is always a surefire sign of heat. As Bossman comes into the ring to beat down Savage, Hebner has seen enough and now Akeem is disqualified too! Haku maintains control in the ring as Hogan continues to sell on the outside, still locked to the bottom rope. With the ref focused on the shenanigans outside of the ring, Slick grabs Savage and holds him for Haku. Haku hits a superkick, but Savage dodges it and down goes the Slickster! With Slick down, Elizabeth grabs the key to the cuffs and Hogan is free! Haku hits a huge splash, but only gets 2. Savage makes the hot tag and Hogan hits his trademark trio - big boot, bodyslam, and leg drop - to win the match for the Mega Powers. This one had some unexpected twists and turns but didn't provide any closure to either of the major storylines going into the match - the Twin Towers/Mega Powers feud or the DiBiase/Hercules feud. In the end, when Hogan and Savage win, it doesn't seem like much of a victory because they really hadn't accomplished much (the two monster heels of the match weren't truly eliminated, they just got overzealous and got themselves disqualified). This had better pacing and was more interesting than the previous match, but not by all that much. (2.5/5)
With only one really great match - the massive 20-man Survivors match - and very little variety, Survivor Series 88' isn't the most riveting watch, but there is some quality action and it is loaded with all the company's major stars of the time. With only 4 matches, though, and no out-and-out stinkers, the Kwang Score (2.63-out-of-5) would suggest its one of the better PPVs of the time, but I wouldn't be too eager to revisit it anytime soon. Recommended if you're curious about this era or want a blast of late 80s nostalgia, but modern viewers would probably enjoy a Rumble or WrestleMania from this time more.
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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