Which Early Survivor Series Feuds Did You Want To See One On One?

[The Brain]

For nearly 20 years WWE fans have been used to monthly pay per views and feature matches on weekly television shows. If two stars start a feud we know we are going to see them against each other within a matter of a couple weeks. This was not the case prior to 1995. Back then unless the story was heading to WrestleMania or SumemrSlam we would see on intriguing feuds start up but would often miss out on the payoff. Sometimes we got the match on Saturday Night's Main Event, but if not you had to go to the local house show or have access to the MSG channel to see the match. Even though we had Survivor Series in the Fall, the gimmicky nature of the event kept us from some good one on one matches. So thinking back to the first eight years of Survivor Series (excluding 1992 I suppose) what were some Fall feuds you would have liked to have seen result in a one on one PPV match?

Here are just a few examples

Jim Duggan vs. Harley Race 1987
Hercules vs. Ted Dibiase 1988
Dusty Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase 1990
Roddy Piper vs. Ric Flair 1991
Lex Luger vs. Ludvig Borga 1993
Adam Bomb vs. Bam Bam Bigelow 1994

All these guys were in individual feuds with each other but due to the timing of their feud they never got a one on one PPV match and instead were on opposing Survivor Series teams. I purposely left off several examples so others could weigh in but there is one example from every year that Survivor Series had mostly elimination matches before the monthly PPVs. You may notice I left off 1989. That's because that year had the feud I most wanted to see in a one on one PPV match.

My choice is Roddy Piper vs. Rick Rude. This was a pretty intense feud featuring two guys high up on the roster. They had pretty much opposite personalities and played off each other really well. This was definitely a WrestleMania caliber feud. It would have been nice to see this match at WM6 but seeing as how the feud started just before SummerSlam 89 they couldn't stretch it that far. I did get to see them in some MSG matches thanks to Classics on Demand but I would have liked to have seen those two on a bigger stage.

Now it's your turn. Think back to those early Survivor Series years and tell us which individual feuds between guys on opposing teams you wanted to see go one on one. Feel free to expand on any example I listed above.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Back in those days, the "fall feuds" as you call them had a different purpose. As I mentioned in another thread, feuds in general were a "one up, one down" situation" where someone went higher and someone went lower.

Fall feuds were a little more involved, they normally were based around either debuting/new superstars or sowing the seeds for a larger push in the following year but if there were ever feuds designed to get both guys over, which was rare, they tended to be these shorter ones.

Look back at the list and you see that a lot of the guys listed had only just debuted recently... Flair, Duggan, Borga were all newcomers when those "mini feuds" happened. The idea of them wasn't to go to a one on one clash, but to give talents a boost of credibility right off the bat.

Most of the feuds mentioned didn't work well as some kind of issue prevented them, in Borga's case he got hurt, Duggan got fired for the Shiek incident.

In the case of Flair and Piper, Piper was there to give Flair immediate credibility in the ring and out of it. That a major talent like Piper would return to the ring to face him at all after his severe injury, much less assemble a "crack" Survivor team was a big deal and validated Flair's superiority claims. Flair faced Piper in that one Surivor match, but didn't need a whole long feud as it was expected to be Hogan next... but that feud's main purpose was to reposition Piper as a player going into 1992. Indeed within 3 months Flair was WWF champion and Piper, the IC champion.

Rude v Piper was a bit different. Piper was waning in the ring and in standing with Vince, Rude was being prepared to be the challenger for Warrior down the line. At that stage, Rude beating Piper one on one wouldn't have really helped him, but the one shot short fall feud and another shorter one in the spring with Jimmy Snuka meant Rude had knocked off two top tier stars in a year so when he challenged Warrior, it made perfect sense.

The one I'd have loved to see more of was Bret v Flair. Admittedly they didn't face off on a Surivor Series but offscreen but I always felt that Bret deserved to win that first belt AT Survivor Series. Flair was being difficult at the time but I felt it's the one thing he doesn't get a pass on... he should have gone to the PPV, put on the match to get Bret over and be done about it. It's ironic Bret didn't want to put Shawn over at SS either, but at least he showed up there for the match.

 

[OYDK]

Doink vs Jerry the King Lawler, if just to erase the debacle of that match from my mind. Just because little people are an "attraction" in wrestling does not mean people want to see them in a ring, especially if they have no experience or training.

 

[The Brain]

Just to be clear I'm not suggesting a one on one match instead of anyone's participation in a Survivor Series elimination match. It's more like what I really wanted to see if they had monthly PPVs back then. For example Piper vs. Rude if there was a PPV in December 89. I don't want to erase anyone's involvement from the tradition of Survivor Series.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Do you remember the Survivor Series in the late 80's in which Bam Bam Bigelow was the last man left on his team, forced to square off against King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang and Andre the Giant? You figured he'd be overwhelmed; instead, he eliminated Bundy and OMG before succumbing to Andre. It was a heroic performance, made more realistic by Bigelow losing in the end; in the world of pro wrestling, he'd usually overcome the long odds and win it all, but the finish was more logical and realistic.....and made Bam Bam look better, instead of worse.

I figured all this would lead Bam Bam to a series with Bundy, OMG.....or both (not at the same time). Back then, they didn't have the "body beautiful" scheme we see today; there were plenty of fat guys still around and I was sure Bigelow would face off against another of his girth.

Instead, it never happened, or if it did, it wasn't memorable. I don't recall Bam Bam going one-on-one against any heavy guys in a personal feud.

They should have. I'm not one to rhapsodize about his agility, strength or flying maneuvers, as others have. Bam Bam looked ridiculous in wrestling attire, but he sure knew how to work a match, as Lawrence Taylor could attest.

I always wanted to see a Super-Size feud with Bam Bam against either One Man Gang or King Kong Bundy. Too bad we never did..

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It kind of did, you saw Bam Bam and OMG face off at Mania 4 in the tournament, however Bundy was on the outs at the time, he was basically "fed" to Bam Bam to get him over. At the time they had major plans for Bam Bam but it just didn't gel in the ring, he needed to go and get the seasoning he got in Japan to become the true "Beast From The East". I also strongly doubt you'd have ever said he looked ridiculous to his face lol.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Piper and Flair DID face off on a pay-per-view card...kind of.

A week after Survivor Series 1991, WWE presented an experimental ppv, called This Tuesday in Texas (nb. what a crap name!); Piper lost to Flair in a dark match before the show hit the air. Given that the card only had two matches with any kind of build, Savage v Jake the Snake and Undertaker v Hogan (and that was a short-notice rematch from Survivor Series), it doesn't really make any sense why WWE would not have promoted Flair/Piper; it may well have boosted buys on what was unsurprisingly an unsuccesful project. It would also have given Flair a more credible win than his rubbish SA victory (where everyone but him was disqualified, leaving him as the sole survivor.)

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

If we are, within the parameters of this thread, imagining a world in which there were December ppvs since 1987, there would certainly be a number of Survibor Series 'hangiver' match ups that could have filled ppv cards.

I'll start with 1988 as I can't really remember much of 1987.

The Rockers v The Brain Busters - Arn Anderson pinned Shawn Michaels, I believe, eliminating him from the Survivor Series, and the teams clashed briefly in the 1989 Royal Rumble match; a ppv match, probably the opener, would have been immensely enjoyable.

The main event could have been Savage v Akeem for the title - since the Mega Powers were linked to the Twin Towers for around six months anyway, plus Savage eliminated Akeem, in his old guise as the One Man Gang, from the Wrestlemania IV title tournament earlier in the year. I chose Akeem as Hogan was feuding with the Big Boss Man in particular, so this keeps that going, and then the Mega Powers exploding can still happen on Saturday Night's Main Event in February, in the match against the Twin Towers as actually happened.

The next two years are slightly more awkward as there were a LOT of late changes to the Survivor Series cards, due to injuries and in particular departures (in 1989 for example Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham and Akeem all missed the ppv despite being advertised, I believe they were all still featured on the back cover of the VHS though!)

There are still a couple of matches that would have made sense though - I don't think there was ever a one-on-one match between Hogan and Zeus, for example; or a straight tag match between Demolition and the Powers of Pain.

In 1990, the obvious ones for me were to have Earthquake face off against Tugboat, Demolition vs the Legion of Doom, and the ppv main event would be a title match between the Ultimate Warrior and Mr Perfect. Actually the imaginary December 1990 ppv sounds a decent card so far!

 

[MrTDG]

The match that I wanted to see was Demolition vs. the Legion of Doom. That feud could've been legendary and the WWF just cast Demolition aside as if they were jobbers. I do believe LOD should've gone over, but this feud could've gone into WrestleMania. It's too bad they already had booked a Career Match with Savage/Warrior because I think a loser leaves town type of stipulation would've been the perfect ending.

The Rockers vs. The Brain Busters is another feud that I feel would've been better served happening at a PPV. Unfortunately, there just weren't many PPVs to go around at the time, but Royal Rumble '89 would've been sufficient with the Busters going over.