I've been on record to state that Survivor Series is my favorite Big 4 show to review thus far, with both the '87 and '88 versions being incredibly consistently, very enjoyable shows. I'll admit to some disappointment when I read the card for the '89 edition and noted that the tag team Survivor Series match had been eliminated. That was definitely my favorite match the previous 2 years and it's absence does make this show feel a bit monotonous. Still, it was a pretty fun watch so let's get to it.
- Gorilla Monsoon is back on commentary, and he was very much missed, Tony Schiavone was fine at SummerSlam but Gorilla has become one of my favorite play-by-play guys thanks to watching all these 80s shows. Also, I recognized a young Shane McMahon refereeing the main event, I know this wasn't his first pay-per-view to appear on but it was the first time I saw him.
- All of the teams competing at this year's event now have names, which is a significant help for me to make introducing each match much more concise. Also, each team now consists of 4 guys rather than 5, probably to add 1 extra match to each card.
- We open the show with the Dream Team("The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, The Red Rooster and Tito Santana) taking on The Enforcers(Big Boss Man, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel and The Honky Tonk Man). This is a fairly standard Survivor Series match, nothing particularly special to be found. We do get a shot of a black woman in the crowd adorned in an outfit similar to Dusty's, cheering him on, that'll be important later. This match comes down to Boss Man against three faces, Rooster, Beefcake and Rhodes. Boss Man does manage to pin Rooster, but falls to Dusty, attacking him with the nightstick afterward. Just in general, Boss Man and Dusty feuding is a bit strange, they don't have a lot of chemistry as opposing characters or in the ring. Opening the show with a Dusty victory was a really good choice, he's still super over, but the match wasn't too memorable.
- The second match of the night see The King's Court(Randy Savage, Earthquake, Dino Bravo and Greg Valentine) facing the 4x4s(Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Hercules and Ronnie Garvin). Savage has been feuding with Duggan in the build-up to this match, declaring himself the King and defeating Duggan in a singles match. This match is very slow and generally uninteresting, but I did a chop-off between Garvin and Valentine as they knock lumps out of each other. There's also a couple minutes of great wrestling between Bret and Savage, a hint at a potential classic that unfortunately never happened with both men in their prime. In a reverse of the previous match, it's the face that ends up down 3-1, as Duggan faces off with Savage, Earthquake and Bravo. Duggan does get some sizable pops from the crowd as he battles against the odds, especially when he clears the ring of all three heels. Ultimately, a Queen Sherri distraction causing Duggan to be counted out, a lame finish but to be expected of a guy who rarely jobbed clean.
- In what is technically called the "main event" despite being in the midcard, the Hulkamaniacs(Hulk Hogan, 2-time tag team champions Demolition and Jake Roberts) face the Million Dollar Team(Ted DiBiase, the Powers of Pain and Zeus). No prizes for guessing who demanded that this match be considered the most important on the card. The Demolition/Powers of Pain feud has completely run out of fuel by this point, and both teams are mostly just treated as fodder to get to the more important singles wrestlers. Zeus gets disqualified almost immediately, attacking Hogan and the referee, and it eventually comes down to Hogan and Roberts against DiBiase. "The Snake" is looking for revenge after Ted injured him a few months prior, their rivalry began at WrestleMania 5 after DiBiase was caught attempting to steal Damien. DiBiase scores a cheap pinfall over Roberts, which was at least nice for him, but then he predictably gets steamrolled by Hogan. It really sucks for DiBiase that he just can't escape the shadow of "The Hulkster", no matter whether they're actively feuding or not. This match was reasonably entertaining but I've just seen this story so many times by this point, Hogan needs something new to do.
- The fourth match of the night sees The Rude Brood(Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect and the Fabulous Rougeaus) picking up a win over Roddy's Rowdies(Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and the Bushwhackers). Just like the last match, the tag teams are fodder and the match is significantly more interesting when the actual stars get in there. We basically get a tag team of Rude and Perfect versus Piper and Snuka, and it's quite good. Rude and Perfect are a fantastic duo, incredibly charismatic heels who are both excellent at putting faces over. This is definitely Perfect's best performance on pay-per-view to date, he's amazing at selling the drama and intensity of a high profile match. After Rude and Piper brawl to the back, we get a final showdown between Hennig and Snuka, and it's really well done. Even though I have no reason to care about Snuka, he and Perfect trading near falls still had me on the edge of my seat. Of course, Snuka is just here to take the fall and take it he does following the Perfectplex, but even though the result was obvious, the incredible performance of Mr. Perfect made it a riveting watch.
- Time for the actual main event of the evening, f*** you Hogan, as the Ultimate Warriors(Warrior, The Rockers and Jim Neidhart) take on the Heenan Family(Bobby Heenan, Andre the Giant, Arn Anderson and Haku). The babyface team is great fun, sharing the screen for an a completely bonkers interview with Gene Okerlund before the bout. Tully Blanchard was originally booked for this match, but was fired earlier in the day after failing a drug test, leading to Heenan filling in. Even though it does have the air of a very thrown together match, this one was still my favorite of the night. Heenan, as always, is fantastic at drawing heat, which is good because the heel side of this match isn't great, aside from Arn. Just like the last match, this comes down to 2 against 2, as Heenan and Anderson are left to face Warrior and Shawn Michaels, who is getting a big rub being in this position. Shawn gets eliminated in awesome fashion, leaping into an Arn spinebuster which has to be the spot of the year. That leaves Warrior to clean up, doing exactly what he did last year, eliminating two men all by himself to stand tall as the Sole Survivor. The result was, once again, never in doubt, but I still enjoyed this match, mostly thanks to the work of Heenan and Anderson. Unfortunately, Arn wouldn't last long following this show, heading over to WCW one month later, which does suck, as pretty much everything he did in the WWF was excellent.
4/10
Look, a lot of what made the Survivor Series great in it's first 2 years can still be found on this show, but '89 was really missing that one signature match. The tag team Survivor Series match was that in '87 and '88, so choosing to leave that off the card was a huge mistake. The card for this show wasn't particularly strong, which is also a big negative, as many of the feuds this show was based around weren't that hot. The Survivor Series format is always going to be entertaining, all the random different combinations and situations you end up with are fascinating, so this was still a good couple hours of fun for me.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Royal Rumble 1990, as we enter a new decade of the WWF. See you soon.
- Henry
Comments