In this WWF Survivor Series 1987 review, Hulk Hogan’s team faces off with Rick Rude’s team in the inaugural edition of the Thanksgiving tradition.
Let’s jump in.
- Show: Survivor Series 1987
- Date: November 26, 1987
- Location: Richfield Township, OH
We immediately get a shot of a guy that looks like Harvey Whippleman in the crowd. This show is already off to a great start.
ANNOUNCE BOOTH: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura are real and they are spectacular.
BACKSTAGE: The Honky Tonk’s team is jacked and ready to kick the Macho Man’s back.
Honky Tonk Man, Harley Race, Hercules, Danny Davis, Ron Bass vs. Macho Man, Ricky Steamboat, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Brutus Beefcake, Jake Roberts
This was back when Beefcake was manageable to watch. Macho’s team is quite stacked, no?
Macho tagging in Steamboat makes your heart melt after the classic that these two had at Wrestlemania III. Of course the crowd goes ballistic when Duggan comes in, and in true Duggan fashion, he brawls with Race on the outside and they both get counted out. Jesse calls it a dumb elimination, which it was.
Beefcake eliminates Bass. Then Beefcake gets worked over for a while and finally gets eliminated by Honky. Good. Get the bum out of there.
Hercules has always been underrated in my mind. He could have made for a great Hogan villain. Had the look and style that Vince loved. Danny Davis gets eliminated by Roberts.
Steamboat finally gets a hot tag and brings the crowd awake again after a few rest hold spots. He then destroys Hercules, and Macho finishes him off with the elbow drop to leave Honky by himself.
The beatdown on Honky is highlighted by Gorilla calling him a piece of garbage. Gorilla was a national treasure. Of course a clean finish was impossible during this day and age, so Honky gets himself counted out to give Macho’s team the win at 24:00.
This dragged a bit but was fine overall.
BACKSTAGE: Interview with Andre’s team of Rick Rude, Butch Reed, King Kong Bundy, and One Mang. Bobby Heenan and Slick also involved. What a damn squad that is.
Judy Martin, Lelani Kai, Dawn Marie, Donna Christianello, Sensational Sherri vs. Velvet McIntyre, Rockin’ Robin, Jumping Bomb Angels, Fabulous Moolah
Oh my. This could be a gem. It’s a shame that the Dawn Marie involved in this match isn’t the Dawn Marie from ECW.
This match starts rather slow but I don’t have to tell you that. Christianello and Marie are the first two to go. Immediately the Jumping Bomb Angels make the match worth watching as they’re just flying all over the place.
That’s really all this become. A showcase for the Angels, as they really put on a show here. Yamakazi’s pin on Martin wins it for the good girls at 20:00. This wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be.
BACKSTAGE: Heenan hypes up the upcoming Survivor Series match featuring all the tag teams.
Strike Force, Young Stallions, Fabulous Rougeaus, Killer Bees, British Bulldogs vs. Hart Foundation, Dream Team, The Islanders, Demolition, The Bolsheviks
Reminder that this is a 10 vs. 10 elimination match. 10 VS. 10. Seeing all these guys in the ring prior to the match is truly a sight to behold. Also worth a reminder that one man getting pinned means the entire tag team is eliminated.
Considering the insane amount of talent in the match, it’s no shocker to see the Bolsheviks get eliminated first. THE TAG TEAM SCENE WAS LOADED. Rougeaus are the next to go. And then Demolition gets eliminated because Smash throws the referee halfway to China and they get the DQ shaft.
Now we got the Hart Foundation going at it with the British Bulldogs. Phenomenal. Jim Powers is spending a lot of time in the ring and he was juiced up nicely as always. Poor Tito gets eliminated by Neidhart. Powers is back in the ring. He’s taken over this match. Finally Powers gets the hell out of there and we get a good sequence with Bret and Bulldog before Haku eliminates the Bulldogs.
I don’t to alarm you but Powers is back in the match. Roma finally gets him the hell out of there and pins Valentine. Brunzell eliminates Hart. Of course he did.
So to recap, we have the Young Stallions and the Killer Bees remaining with the Islanders. Of all those teams, these are the three left. Stallions and Bees get the win at 37:00. Long match, but made sense given how many people were included.
VIDEO: Million Dollar Man is just riding around in fancy cars flashing cash. Then we get a video of him challenging a kid to do 10 pushups. The kid stops at 9 and DiBiase tells him that isn’t good enough and he gets no money. Then we get the kid dribbling the basketball trying to win $500 dollars, and DiBiase even insults the kid and basically calls him poor. Then he kicks out of the kid’s hand at No. 14 to miss the 15-dribble mark. AWESOME.
Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, One Man Gang, Andre the Giant vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, Don Muraco, Paul Orndorff, Hulk Hogan
Hulkamania was clearly alive and well at this stage. The people go ballistic. We get Hogan vs. Rude early and I’m on cloud nine. This was my dream match. Rude is one of the greatest ever.
Patera comes in and immediately the match gets ugly. Go figure. Hogan eliminated Reed fairly quickly with the leg drop of doom. We then get Patera vs. Andre, which was not my dream match. Thankfully Andre gets out of the ring and lets Bundy do the work. Patera gets the hell beat out of him for a while. Massive “Andre sucks” chant as Patera finally gets eliminated by the Gang. Beautiful.
Rude uses the tights to eliminate Orndorff, but then gets pinned by Muraco. Terrible. Just terrible.
Gang then eliminates Muraco after beating on him for a bit. 3-2 advantage for the bad guys right now. Something tells me this won’t last.
Andre finally gets in the ring and we get the showdown with Hogan. This was what the people paid to see. They go at it a bit and then Hogan goes outside to slam Gang and Bigelow. The problem? Hulkster gets counted out. HULK IS GONE AND PEOPLE ARE NOT HAPPY. To add insult to injury, the ref tells Hogan if he doesn’t hit the road then he will reward the match to Andre and company.
So in a strange turn of events, it’s Bigelow vs. Andre, Bundy and Gang. HOSSES EVERYWHERE. Bigelow sends Bundy packing to get closer to the pinnacle. Then Bigelow elminates Gang. Bigelow is out here about to win this match.
Just kidding. Andre gets in and takes care of business to get the victory at 22:00.
After the match, Hogan comes in wielding his title belt and nails Andre with it. Jesse rightfully calls him a sore loser and Hogan does the usual shenanigans in the ring to close the show.
And in the best line of the night, Jesse says that only in Cleveland would they boo a loser. Phenomenal.
BACKSTAGE: Heenan tells Hogan if he wants Andre, he’s got him. Andre is all smiles.
OVERALL
This is a very enjoyable show. The match featuring the tag teams was the best one, but the rest were all entertaining for what they were. And you had the surprising women’s match. Great start to the Survivor Series concept.
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