Rewriting 1990, Part 4 of 4: Survivor Series

[LODemolition]

Dark Match: Shane Douglas def. Buddy Rose

1. Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, Hawk and Animal def. Mr. Perfect, Ax Smash and Crush

Survivor: Ultimate Warrior

2. Ted DiBiase, The Undertaker, Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine def. Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart

Survivor: Ted DiBiase

3. Rick Martel, The Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma def. Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty

Survivors: Rick Martel, The Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma (clean sweep)

4. Hulk Hogan, Big Boss Man, Jim Duggan and Tugboat def. Earthquake, Haku, Dino Bravo and The Barbarian

Survivor: Hulk Hogan

5. Nikolai Volkoff, Tito Santana, Luke and Butch def. Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov, Sato and Tanaka

Survivor: Tito Santana

6. Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior and Tito Santana def. Ted DiBiase, Rick Martel, The Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma

Survivors: Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior

Rewriting Survivor Series​

First let me say that I love the format of this Survivor Series where the surviving members of each winning team faced off at the end for the "sole survivors" contest. 1990 was the first and only time they tried this out and I wish that they would bring it back. But first, I would of course settle for them bringing back the traditional elimination matches back (and I mean more than just 1 Raw vs. Smackdown "Bragging Rights" match). I've often said that other than maybe 1 or 2 matches, Survivor Series should live up to its name and be all about surviving a series of elimination matches, which they really got away from starting in 1992. The teams in this one really made sense, but I there's always some minor improvements to make. When you only have 4 big events all year like they did back then, I also think it's important that the WWE Championship be defended. So here are the changes I will make with explanations along the way.


1. Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, Hawk and Animal def. Mr. Perfect, Ax, Smash and Crush

Survivors: Hawk and Animal

In all likelihood, this would have been Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, and 2 members of Demolition on the heel side, but Rude had left WWE just one month prior to Survivor Series. Therefore, I wouldn't change a thing about either of these teams as they are 2 of my favorite in Survivor Series history. But remember, Mr. Perfect is my WWE Champion going into this event after defeating Ultimate Warrior in a steel cage match at SummerSlam. Warrior wants his rematch and Perfect tells him the only way he will put his title on the line is if the Warrior (or anyone else he can find for that matter) can pin him and eliminate him after he forms "The Perfect Team" with all 3 members of Demolition. Well conveniently enough, Mr. Perfect is pinned in the opening contest and we have our championship match later tonight. Warrior is of course eliminated as well, because 3 matches in 1 night would be overkill. The Legion of Doom advance to the sole survivors match.


2. "Macho King" Randy Savage, Sgt. Slaughter, Sata and Tanaka def. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Nikolai Volkoff, Luke and Butch

Survivors: Randy Savage and Sgt. Slaughter

For reasons I don't understand, Savage sat this one out and only made an appearance to begin challenging the Warrior. Maybe it was because he didn't truly have a feud at the time (things were wrapping up between him and Dusty Rhodes), but it's still ridiculous that they didn't have him captain a team. Savage and Slaughter even things up with the babyface team winning in the opening match.


3. Hulk Hogan, Big Boss Man, Tito Santana and Andre the Giant def. Earthquake, Typhoon, The Warlord and Barbarian

Survivor: Hulk Hogan

Just when we thought we had seen the last of Andre when he teamed up with Hogan in a winning effort against the Natural Disasters, Hogan convinces him to lace up the boots one more time because they can't do it without him. Andre does next to nothing in the ring and gets himself counted out while brawling with Typhoon on the outside, but it provides a feel-good moment nonetheless. Hogan naturally outlasts everyone and moves on to the soul survivors match, joining the Legion of Doom.


4. "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, The Undertaker, Honky Tonky Man and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine def. Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, Bret "Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart

Survivors: Ted DiBiase and The Undertaker

I liked both of these teams and wouldn't change a thing about them. The only thing I would change is allowing DiBiase to survive by himself. The Undertaker was brought in by him, so make it Taker's mission to protect DiBiase at all cost, making sure he is there in the sole survivors match to cover him as well. DiBiase doesn't even have to step into the ring for this one.


5. Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty def. "The Model" Rick Martel, Haku, Hercules and Paul Roma

Survivor: Jake "The Snake" Roberts

The only change I'd make to these teams is I'd swap Haku in for The Warlord because I never understood breaking up the Powers of Pain. Also, allowing Martel's team to win in a clean sweep seemed very random. I know it was to make it seem as if the odds were stacked against Hogan, Warrior and Santana in a 3-on-5 match, but come on seriously. Also, Jake deserved to be in the marquee match long before Santana did.


6. Sole Survivor Match: "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, The Undertaker, "Macho King" Randy Savage and Sgt. Slaughter def. Hulk Hogan, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Hawk and Animal

Sole Survivor: "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase

I like the way these surviving team members match up with each other at 4-on-4 far better than the way they wrote it up where you could see Hogan and Warrior being the last men standing from a mile away. The Undertaker protects DiBiase again at all cost and none of the opposing team members know what to make of him or how to take him on. Taker eliminates both Hawk and Animal and it's 4-on-2 before you know it. Savage and Hogan find themselves in a double disqualification when they refuse to leave the ring despite not being the legal man and it's 3-on-1. Roberts puts up a great fight, ridding Sgt. Slaughter after a vicious DDT. DiBiase sends The Undertaker back in to finish Roberts off, but after a back body drop sends him to the outside, Taker finds himself being counted out. DiBiase distracts the referee while Virgil hits Roberts with the Million Dollar Championship belt and all Ted has to do is pick the bones. It's decided in the weeks to come that a WWE Championship match is in order for the sole survivor. Just the thing DiBiase needed to jumpstart his career as it had been dwindling in the last year.


7. WWE Championship: Ultimate Warrior def. Mr. Perfect (c)

It may be predictable, but the Warrior earns his championship rematch earlier in the evening and goes on to regain his title to cap off Survivor Series. The crowd still goes home happy after being stunned that DiBiase could actually come out victorious over the likes of Hogan and Roberts. Hennig absolutely deserved a title reign at some point, maybe not a very long one, but it was deserved nonetheless. Warrior now goes into the Rumble still wearing the gold just as he did in reality. The question is who will he be facing? Mr. Perfect once again? Savage? DiBiase? We'll find out in the next installment of this series: the 1991 Royal Rumble Rewrite.


That does it for 1990. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment and/or post your changes to this card.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

First of all, thank you for not pluralizing "sole survivor" like so many here do.

I liked this event, for the most part. A few changes to the actual card:

- I would have the big egg reveal something a lot more interesting.
- I would not have Undertaker eliminated by countout when he was not the legal man.
- I would not have Hogan assist the ref in counting during the finale, because his ego hated that Warrior was getting the final pinfall.

But, aside from that, I liked the Visionaries’ clean sweep, I liked Undertaker’s debut (despite Brother Love), I liked the grand finale aspect and I liked the way they showed Slaughter to be very strong, yet not get the win--good for Tito getting a spot in the finale. Wish they did better than the Gooker; but, other than that, this is one I like to watch every once in a while.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I think they touch on this period in the Savage DVD, that he took some time out alluding to depression/trouble with Liz that he was trying to sort out at the time and to heal up nagging injuries. In reality, he was gone about 4 months as he was back for The Rumble but this was pretty much when the "real life" part of Randy and Liz was ending...even if they did the "fairytale" for the cameras.

If I followed through my booking ideas from the earlier threads, then Rude would be champ here rather than Perfect, but I could see Warrior beating him here...

Personally, I'd have "held the title up" earlier or just before the show and had some kind of title stip in the Final Battle. It would be messy, but fun for the various teammates to be trying to sabotage each other as much as beating their opponents, it would also lend itself to "survival" as people would be reluctant to tag in etc... could have seen a classic turn to take place to boot.

Sake of argument the final match was:-

Perfect, Martel, DiBiase & Taker vs Warrior, Hogan, Duggan & Slaughter...

If they were really gonna do the heel turn for Sarge but without Iraq for example, have it go down to DiBiase vs Sarge and Hulk (Undertaker takes out Warrior with the double count out instead of Dusty) and Sarge accidentally causes Hulk's elimination/gets pinned in the confusion. DiBiase FINALLY wins the title and immediately offers Sarge a job, starting by taking out "the trash"... He attacks Hogan, implying it was all a ruse but unlike his previous attempt they can't "prove" he bought the title.

You still get your Mania feud, but without Iraq and DiBiase can lose the title at The Rumble because of Virgil turning on him or keep it and face either Piper, Savage, Perfect or Von Erich at Mania for the title.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Just a quick note before I get a chance to write a more in-depth response later, but Rick Rude was originally supposed to be on the heel team in Hogan's match, as he was supposed to be feuding with the Big Boss Man.After he left, he was replaced with Haku, I believe

 

[LODemolition]

I really wish Rude had stuck around for this ppv. It would have been interesting to see he and Hennig team up, with Heenan bringing together everyone he can assemble to bring down the Warrior and LOD.

I liked Savage's promo where he proclaimed himself the #1 contender, but I say if you have him use him because without Rude, this ppv is already down one top heel.

My lord, I forgot all about the Gobbledy Gooker. What a waste of everyone's time that was.

That was pathetic that Hulk couldn't stand to not be in the spotlight when Warrior pinned Hercules. Give me a break.

I nearly put a singles match in the 4th slot of my car just to break up the monotony of all the elimination matches, but quite honestly I think I already used everyone available on the roster at the time.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

That was kind of the point of Survivor Series back then, to use everyone and be an "entree" to the WWF... you could watch that show cold to wrestling and know who was who, who was important and who wasn't...along with good and bad obviously.

At 90, this was the last time it really held true... You could see Bret was the next star to move "up" and Dusty, Honky and Demolition on the way out. You could see Taker was new and interesting, Martel was a hidden gem and Warrior wasn't quite working as champion...

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

A few things I liked about Survivor Series 1990:

• Undertaker's debut and having him destroy Koko B. Ware (with a pretty brutal Tombstone) and Jim Neidhart
• Power and Glory getting featured strongly. An underrated team with one of my favourite tag team finishers of all time, the PowerPlex, which I think we got to see twice on this show
• the Final Survivor concept - I know the main reason they haven't tried this again is that it means they can't promote a main event, but I liked the idea
• I felt that most of the teams were logical and pretty spot on, even down to replacements - Haku is actually a better fit for Earthquake's team than Rude would have been

A few things I didn't like:
• Ax from Demolition, three time tag team champion and dominant in the Tag division for the previous three years, (and remember these are tag team matches) got eliminated after a clothesline, if I remember correctly. A standard clothesline, with little fanfare
• too many wrestlers were protected by the booking. The good thing about Survivor Series matches is that it gives an opportunity for wrestlers to lose that wouldn't do so in normal circumstances, as the elimination stipulation in itself protects them, but can actually boost the opposition without harming them (it's why Hogan was eliminated in the first Survivor Series); in 1990, they forgot that, as the Legion of Doom, Undertaker, Earthquake and Tugboat all got eliminated by dq or countout, to name but a few
• I accept Saturday Night's Main Event was still a thing then, but ppvs will always be the biggest shows for me, and to have the ppv blowoff of Demolition v LOD (which SHOULD have happened at Wrestlemania VII) end with a double dq between them was disrespectful to the fans who desperately wanted to see it
• as a poster mentioned above, Undertaker was counted out despite not even being the legal man...
• also as above, if Savage is on the show, use him in a match
• the f***ing Gobbledygooker...

So in terms of actual match ups, there is very little I would change, other than perhaps adding Savage to the Million Dollar Team instead of Greg Valentine - Valentine would split from Jimmy Hart soon after anyway, when Honkytonk Man left the company, so although this wasn't expected, in fantasy booking world have DiBiase announce his team as Savage and Rythym & Blues, but basically he pays Jimmy Hart a substantial fee so that one of his charges sits out SS in place of a mystery partner ('Taker); Hart chooses Valentine, who gets pissed off as he sits out the ppv, doesn't see any of the Hart-DiBiase money, and this leaves Hart in that fashion. Not a great storyline, but a way to get Savage onto the team without sacrificing Undertaker's debut

Generally, the bigger changes I would make to this one concern the booking of the matches themselves - as I said, other than possibly Savage, it was probably the Survivor Series with the most logical teams. But don't have weak countout or disqualification finishes, let us see at least one Doomsday Device elimination (on Smash, most likely) and so on and so forth

In reality, there was one match I enjoyed on what was a weak show (the Visionaries against the Vipers) - spruce up the booking, including giving the opening contest more time because you don't need to waste 20 minutes on the Gobbledygooker, would make this a much better ppv in my opinion, even with the loss of Rick Rude a few weeks earlier

 

[King Patrick Star]

1990

The Vipers – Jake the Snake Roberts, Superfly, Jimmy Snuka, Nikolai Volkoff, and the Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)
vs.
The Visionaries – Rick Martel, the Warlord, Boris Zhukov, and Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma) (with Slick)

The Hulkamaniacs – Hulk Hogan, Jim Duggan, Tugboat and the Hart Foundation (Bret the Hitman Hart and Jim the Anvil Neidhart)
vs.
The Mercenaries – Sgt. Slaughter, Earthquake, Dino Bravo and Rhythm and Blues (the Honky Tonk Man and Greg the Hammer Valentine) (with General Adnan and Jimmy Hart)

The Legion – the Texas Tornado, the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal), and the Bushwhackers (Bushwhacker Luke and Bushwhacker Butch)
vs.
The Demolition Express – Demolition (Ax, Smash, and Crush) and the Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka) (with Mr. Fuji)

The Warriors – The Ultimate Warrior, Dusty Rhodes, Big Boss Man, Tito Santana and Koko B. Ware
vs.
The Million Dollar Team – the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect, Haku, the Barbarian, and the Undertaker (with Virgil, Bobby the Brain Heenan, and Brother Love)

The Face Team – The Champions –WWE Champion, Ultimate Warrior, Intercontinental Champion, the Texas Tornado, and WWE World Tag Team Champions, the Hart Foundation (Bret the Hitman Hart and Jim the Anvil Neidhart)
vs.
The Heel Team – The Visionaries – Rick Martel, the Warlord, Boris Zhukov, and Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma) (with Slick)

I tried to keep everyone that was on the original card on my version. Instead of five 4-on-4 traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team match, I made it four 5-on-5 matches. I liked the idea of giving each manager their own teams. I made the "Grand Finale Match of Survival" a 4-on-5 traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team match. Yes, "Hulk Hogan has been eliminated!!"