LODemolition
Championship Contender
Actual results:
1. Ric Flair, The Mountie, Ted DiBiase and The Warlord (w/ Mr. Perfect, Jimmy Hart, Sensational Sherri and Harvey Wippleman) def. Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Virgil and The British Bulldog
Survivor: Ric Flair
2. Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan, The Texas Tornado and Tito Santana def. Col. Mustafa, Skinner, The Berzerker and Hercules (w/ Gen. Adnan and Mr. Fuji)
Survivors: Team Slaughter (clean sweep)
3. WWE Championship: The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) def. Hulk Hogan (c)
4. The Nasty Boys and The Beverly Brothers def. The Rockers and The Bushwhackers
Survivors: Brian Knobbs, Jerry Sags and Blake Beverly
5. Big Boss Man and Legion of Doom def. Irwin R. Shyster and The Natural Disasters (w/ Jimmy Hart)
Survivors: Hawk and Animal
The 5th annual Survivor Series was enjoyable enough thanks to the memorable moment of "the gravest challenge" match, but in my opinion they missed out on a golden opportunity. Instead of having Jack Tunney just reinstate Randy Savage for the Tuesday in Texas event, why not make him jump through some hoops? Even back then I thought to myself, wow the word "retirement" is apparently just a very temporary thing. Make Savage and Roberts available for Survivor Series, which I'll explain later, and have the cobra bite incident come shortly thereafter. By the way, did anyone else have that cobra haunt their dreams? I mean, can you imagine if Jake had lost his handle on it and it had slithered its way out of the ring and into the audience? Also, this was originally meant for Sid Justice before a biceps injury that kept him out of action here as well. However, despite some of their best talent being off the card here, it was the WWE ppv debut of "The Nature Boy", the one and only Ric Flair. And he immediately made his presence known in grand fashion, holding a chair flat inside the ring for Undertaker to tombstone Hogan and become new WWE Champion. Perfectly done. And the childrens' reaction to Taker's entrance still cracks me up to this day. They were too scared to even look. Onto the rewrite, here are the changes I would make to the last of the big 4 of 1991.
Rewriting Survivor Series 1991
1. 15-Man Battle Royal: Big Boss Man won by last eliminating Col. Mustafa
Rather than have the traditional 4-on-4 elimination match between a lot of the guys we've already seen in the past years, this time I thought I'd mix it up in the opener and have a battle royal among the midcarders. Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, The Bushwhackers, Koko B. Ware, Skinner and The Beverly Brothes would be some of the names who had also thrown their hat in.
2. Ric Flair, "The Model" Rick Martel, Hercules and Paul Roma def. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Sid Justice, Smash and Crush
Survivors: Ric Flair and Rick Martel
Flair and Piper were shoe-ins for team captains as they had been feuding since Flair's arrival in WWE, but I would've overhauled the rest of the teams. Sid could have still been used despite his biceps injury in a match like this, as it would be extremely easy to quickly count him out or DQ him. Flair and Martel advance to the sole survivor match that I thought should have become a Survivor Series tradition. I loved it when they did it the one and only time in 1990.
3. Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels def. Marty Jannetty
After winning the IC title at SummerSlam from Davey Boy Smith, Jannetty would be looming over Michaels' shoulder everywhere he went. After being named #1 contender, Jannetty would finally get the rematch he had been waiting for since WrestleMania VII. Although Marty would give Shawn everything he could handle, the Heartbreak Kid would once again get the better of his former Rockers partner and retain his Intercontinental gold.
4. "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, Earthquake and Typhoon def. Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Warlord and Barbarian
Survivor: Randy Savage
Getting back to how I would have had Savage jump through hoops to earn his reinstatement. After weeks of petitioning from the Macho Man, wanting desperately to get his hands on Roberts since crashing his wedding reception, Jack Tunney would make him a deal. If Randy Savage could not only be victorious in a Survivor Series elimination match (with the teammates of his choosing) AND advance to the sole survivor match and win again to prove he still had what it takes to compete in WWE, then and only then would he grant his reinstatement. Sure it may have led to a predictable enough outcome, but nevertheless it's a lot more logical than just handing him his career back out of thin air. Naturally, Jake Roberts would get himself dq'ed in this one as to give away too much too soon in this classic feud.
5. Tag Team Championship Detroit Street Fight: The Nasty Boys def. The Legion of Doom (c)
Basically the same match they had at SummerSlam, only with Knobbs and Sags getting their first title win here instead of at WM7 over the Hart Foundation. I had the LOD win the titles there versus Demolition, so it would have been a nice 6-month run for Hawk and Animal as champs.
6. Bret "Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, The British Bulldog and Owen Hart def. The Mountie, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Irwin R. Shyster and The Berzerker
Survivor: Bret Hart
This would have been a great opportunity in my mind to showcase Bret Hart as a breakout star since I decided to not give him the Intercontinental Championship in 1991. Neidhart was still around at this time and Owen was a relative unknown, so Bret being the sole survivor would be hardly out of reach.
7. WWE Championship: The Undertaker def. Hulk Hogan (c)
Absolutely nothing needs to be changed here except I think it should have gone on second to last, but that's just nitpicking. The interference from Flair was outstanding and it of course planted the seeds for the match we all thought we'd see at WrestleMania VIII. One other slight change I would make is I would not have had Hogan regain the title at This Tuesday in Texas. Instead, with all of the confusion that had already taken place in the title match here at Survivor Series, Jack Tunney would have come to the conclusion that the championship would be vacated and that his decision as to how a new champion would be decided will come in the following weeks. That of course being that the 1992 Royal Rumble winner would also become new WWE Champion. This keeps the fans from missing another title change who had just paid for Survivor Series and likely couldn't afford another ppv so soon after (they were 6 days apart).
8. Sole Survivor Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Bret "Hitman" Hart def. Ric Flair and "The Model" Rick Martel
Sole Survivor: Randy Savage
I admit, the finish is predictable, but it certainly beats the lame 6-man tag that they chose to close the show with in reality. That was a head scratcher to me. Mr. Perfect would make his presence known on the outside and help get Bret Hart counted out, stocking the odds against Savage at 2 to 1. Perfect would also get Flair disqualified in his ppv debut however by attacking Savage on his behalf. After a back and forth between Savage and Martel however, the Macho Man would "do the impossible" and become the sole survivor after a 6-month absence from in-ring action. It would now be open season on Jake Roberts, who would look on with an evil grin from the end of the aisleway.
Let's recap the title changes from all of 1991 now:
WWE Championship
Ultimate Warrior
Hulk Hogan (SummerSlam)
The Undertaker (Survivor Series)
*Vacated in December*
Intercontinental Championship
Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Mr. Perfect (Royal Rumble)
The British Bulldog (WrestleMania VII)
Shawn Michaels (SummerSlam)
Tag Team Championship
Demolition
Legion of Doom (WrestleMania VII)
Nasty Boys (Survivor Series)
Ultimate Warrior
Hulk Hogan (SummerSlam)
The Undertaker (Survivor Series)
*Vacated in December*
Intercontinental Championship
Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Mr. Perfect (Royal Rumble)
The British Bulldog (WrestleMania VII)
Shawn Michaels (SummerSlam)
Tag Team Championship
Demolition
Legion of Doom (WrestleMania VII)
Nasty Boys (Survivor Series)
Thanks for reading my Survivor Series '91 rewrite. Feel free to comment and/or post your changes to this card.