Survivor Series (1990)

Survivor Series was the fourth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 1990, at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

Survivor Series
Promotional poster
PromotionWorld Wrestling Federation
DateNovember 22, 1990
CityHartford, Connecticut
VenueHartford Civic Center
Attendance16,000[1]
Tagline(s)The WWF Thanksgiving Night Tradition!
Pay-per-view chronology
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Survivor Series chronology
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1991

This event is known for the on-screen debut of The Undertaker, who went on to become the WWF Champion at the next Survivor Series, and the appearance of the Gobbledy Gooker.[2] The Undertaker replaced Bad News Brown. In addition, Sgt. Slaughter, who then portrayed an Iraqi sympathizer, insulted servicemen stationed in Iraq for Thanksgiving during Operation Desert Shield. In an interview, Randy Savage challenged The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF World Championship. Haku replaced Rick Rude, who had left the WWF over a pay dispute. In the storyline, he was suspended by WWF President Jack Tunney for insulting the mother of the Big Boss Man. Boris Zhukov replaced Akeem who had left the WWF in October.

The Undertaker would wrestle for the WWE for the next 30 years, setting a company record for longevity. He would become one of their most important and beloved stars, eventually reaching iconic status. His retirement ceremony took place at the 2020 Survivor Series, exactly 30 years later.

Production

Background

Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view, produced every November by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1987. In what has become the second longest running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, later dubbed the "Big Four".[3] Continuing the tradition of the previous years' events, the fourth event in the Survivor Series chronology only featured Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches. The card included six matches and all but one pitted teams of four wrestlers against each other. For the only time in Survivor Series history, the main event featured all the wrestlers who had survived their matches, resulting in the first handicap Survivor Series match as a team of three took on a team of five.

Storylines

The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, in which wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers,[4][5] with storylines produced on their weekly television shows.

Aftermath

Crowd reaction to The Gobbledy Gooker was extremely negative, with fans loudly booing as the costumed Héctor Guerrero danced in the ring with announcer Gene Okerlund. Although the character made a handful of appearances in taped promos following the Survivor Series,[6] the Gobbledy Gooker soon disappeared and was not mentioned again until the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven. Several years later, WrestleCrap used the name for its "Gooker Award", presented for the worst gimmicks, storylines, or events in wrestling.

Sgt. Slaughter and Randy Savage both challenged the Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Championship. Slaughter and his manager, General Adnan, also cut several anti-American, pro-Iraqi promos – all airing at a time when the United States was engaged in Operation Desert Shield, all to build up heat for his match against Warrior at the 1991 Royal Rumble, held two days after the start of the war against Iraq. Slaughter – with help from both Savage and his manager, Sensational Sherri – won the title from Warrior at the Royal Rumble. Warrior defeated Savage in a career-ending match at Wrestlemania VII after which Savage turned face and reunited with former manager Miss Elizabeth, ultimately winning back the belt a year later at Wrestlemania VIII. Savage and Warrior fought one more time for the title at SummerSlam (1992) in a match plagued by interference from Ric Flair and Mr Perfect.

Hogan went on to focus on wrapping up his feud with Earthquake with a series of stretcher matches, which Hogan won, before going on to challenge Slaughter for the WWF title.

Since the formation of Demolition in 1987, they had been compared to the Legion of Doom (LOD). The feud between the LOD and Demolition (which by now was Crush and Smash) continued to rage into the end of 1990, with LOD eventually proving decisively they were the better team. (In part, the feud had not had the anticipated intensity because of Ax's reduced role in the tag team due to health problems.) Demolition's last pay-per-view appearance was at WrestleMania VII, where the team lost to Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao. LOD eventually became WWF Tag Team Champions.

The Undertaker quickly got over with fans as he easily handled lower-card competition during his first months in the WWF. He started his first main-event feud with The Ultimate Warrior shortly after WrestleMania VII.

Results
No. Results Stipulations Times[1]
1D Shane Douglas defeated Buddy Rose[7] Singles match N/A
2 The Warriors (Animal, Hawk, The Texas Tornado, and The Ultimate Warrior) defeated The Perfect Team (Ax, Crush, Mr. Perfect, and Smash) (with Bobby Heenan and Mr. Fuji) 4-on-4 Survivor Series matchEliminations 14:20
3 The Million Dollar Team (The Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine, Ted DiBiase, and The Undertaker) (with Brother Love, Jimmy Hart, and Virgil) defeated The Dream Team (Bret Hart, Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, and Jim Neidhart)[lower-alpha 1] 4-on-4 Survivor Series matchEliminations 13:54
4 The Visionaries (Hercules, Paul Roma, Rick Martel, and The Warlord) (with Slick) defeated The Vipers (Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Marty Jannetty, and Shawn Michaels) 4-on-4 Survivor Series matchEliminations 17:42
5 The Hulkamaniacs (Big Boss Man, Hulk Hogan, Jim Duggan, and Tugboat) defeated The Natural Disasters (The Barbarian, Dino Bravo, Earthquake, and Haku) (with Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart) 4-on-4 Survivor Series matchEliminations 14:49
6 The Alliance (Butch, Luke, Nikolai Volkoff, and Tito Santana) defeated The Mercenaries (Boris Zhukov, Sgt. Slaughter, Sato, and Tanaka) (with Mr. Fuji and General Adnan) 4-on-4 Survivor Series matchEliminations 10:52
7 Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana, and The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hercules, Paul Roma, Rick Martel, Ted DiBiase, and The Warlord (with Virgil and Slick) 3-on-5 Survivor Series matchEliminations 9:07
  • D – indicates the match was a dark match

Eliminations

^1

Eliminated Wrestler Eliminated by Method Time
1 Ax The Ultimate Warrior Pinfall 3:23
2 Smash N/A Disqualification 7:36
Crush
Hawk
Animal
6 The Texas Tornado Mr. Perfect Pinfall 11:02
7 Mr. Perfect The Ultimate Warrior Pinfall 14:20
Survivor(s): The Ultimate Warrior

^2

Eliminated Wrestler Eliminated by Method Time
1 Koko B. Ware The Undertaker Pinfall 1:39
2 The Honky Tonk Man Jim Neidhart Pinfall 4:16
3 Jim Neidhart Ted DiBiase Pinfall 5:49
4 Dusty Rhodes The Undertaker Pinfall 8:26
5 The Undertaker N/A Countout 9:17
6 Greg Valentine Bret Hart Pinfall 9:57
7 Bret Hart Ted DiBiase Pinfall 13:54
Survivor(s): Ted DiBiase

^3

Eliminated Wrestler Eliminated by Method Time
1 Marty Jannetty The Warlord Pinfall 5:03
2 Jimmy Snuka Rick Martel Pinfall 9:28
3 Shawn Michaels Paul Roma Pinfall 15:40
4 Jake Roberts N/A Countout 17:42
Survivor(s): Hercules, Paul Roma, Rick Martel and The Warlord

^4

Eliminated Wrestler Eliminated by Method Time
1 Haku Big Boss Man Pinfall 3:15
2 Jim Duggan N/A Disqualification 6:12
3 Dino Bravo Hulk Hogan Pinfall 7:59
4 Big Boss Man Earthquake Pinfall 9:08
5 Tugboat N/A Double countout 11:33
Earthquake
7 The Barbarian Hulk Hogan Pinfall 14:49
Survivor(s): Hulk Hogan

^5

Eliminated Wrestler Eliminated by Method Time
1 Boris Zhukov Tito Santana Pinfall 0:48
2 Sato Bushwacker Butch Pinfall 1:46
3 Tanaka Tito Santana Pinfall 2:13
4 Nikolai Volkoff Sgt. Slaughter Pinfall 5:25
5 Bushwacker Luke Sgt. Slaughter Pinfall 6:30
6 Bushwacker Butch Sgt. Slaughter Pinfall 6:53
7 Sgt. Slaughter N/A Disqualification 10:52
Survivor(s): Tito Santana

^6

Eliminated Wrestler Eliminated by Method Time
1 The Warlord Tito Santana Pinfall 0:28
2 Tito Santana Ted DiBiase Pinfall 1:51
3 Paul Roma Hulk Hogan Pinfall 5:57
4 Rick Martel N/A Countout 7:17
5 Ted DiBiase Hulk Hogan Pinfall 8:30
6 Hercules The Ultimate Warrior Pinfall 9:07
Survivor(s): Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior

Other on-screen personnel
Commentators
Interviewers
Ring announcer
Referees

Notes
  1. This match was dedicated to Bret Hart's brother Dean who died the day before.[8]

References
  1. "Survivor Series 1990". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
  2. Ted DiBiase: The Million Dollar Man, p.177, Ted DiBiase with Tom Caiazzo, Pocket Books, New York, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4165-5890-3
  3. Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
  4. Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  5. "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IARbSiRJXsU
  7. Survivor Series results, from TheHistoryOfWWE.com
  8. Barrasso, Justin (2015-11-20). "Bret Hart discusses Triple H, Survivor Series and bad booking in WWE". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2016-02-26.

Sources
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