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Mark's Notes on WWF Home Video: Best of Survivor Series 1987-1997

- All matches clipped

- Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan from WrestleMania III. Andre the Giant is introduced. His feud with Hogan is recapped, WrestleMania III match first. The early three count is shown, but Hogan comes back to retain the title. A rematch was set up, sort of, at the first Survivor Series. The two were on opposing teams.

- Andre/others vs. Hulk/Bigelow/others from Survivor Series 1987. Bigelow tags Hogan, who gets in with Andre the Giant. Fans go nuts. Hogan no-sells some chops, but gets pulled to the outside. He gets counted out, and Andre becomes the Sole Survivor.

- Rockers/Ulimate Warrior/Jim Neidhart vs. Andre/Haku/Heenan/Arn Anderson from Survivor Series 1989. Shawn Michaels is introduced. Video package shown of his current successes. The Rockers work their asses off in this match, impressing the hell out of pretty much everyone. Michaels is eliminated by an Anderson spinebuster, but not before he eliminates Haku.

- Undertaker vs. Bret Hart/Jim Neidhart/Virgil/Dusty Rhodes from Survivor Series 1990. Undertaker is introduced by Ted DiBiase. He then dismantles the opposing team.

- Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan from Survivor Series 1991. This is one of my favorite matches, for all of the implications involved. The Undertaker, in an interview, talks about why he had to win this match. Fans in the crowd are actually crying as the Taker ignores Hulk's offense and pummells him. And then, THE MAN walks down and inserts a chair into the ring. Undertaker Tombstones Hulk on it. New champion. Flair walks out, pleased.

- Shawn Michaels/Black/Blue/Red Knights vs. Bret/Owen/Bruce/Keith Hart from Survivor Series 1993. Time for a memory test! The Red Knight is Barry Horowitz. The Blue one is Greg Valentine. The WWF has said the black one is Glen Jacobs. Until they say it's Jeff Gaylord, I think it's Jacobs. Owen is in the ring with Shawn. He runs into the ropes after an Irish whip, hits Bret and gets distracted, and Michaels pins him. After the Harts win the match, Owen comes down and shoves Bret. His heel turn begins right there.

- Bob Backlund vs. Bret Hart from Survivor Series 1994. And would continue into the next year. Bob Backlund is introduced with a video package. As "The Real World Champion", he was so cool. A battle of submission holds this year between him and Bret. I.e. - an I Quit match. Owen holds Backlund's towel; Stu and Helen hold Bret's. When Bob locks on the Crossface Chickenwing, Owen gets all sad and tries to get Helen to throw the towel in. She wants to, but Stu, the stoic, doesn't. Helen rips the towel away from him and throws it in. Owen runs away gloating, and Bob celebrates, in his wide-eyed way.

- Yokozuna vs. Undertaker from Survivor Series 1994. From Royal Rumble 1994, one of the stupidest incidents ever is shown; Yokozuna defeating the Undertaker in a casket match with the help of, oh, ten or twelve random wrestlers. Pointless! But that Rumble was my first ever live PPV, so I love it :) The rematch happened at, you guessed it, the '94 Survivor Series. Chuck Norris was the special enforcer. Bam Bam Bigelow, King Kong Bundy, and Jeff Jarrett all try to run in, but fail. Jarrett even gets some Sweet Chin Music, Norris-style. Undertaker clotheslines Yokozuna into the casket and slams it shut. This wasn't a title match.

- Goldust vs. Bam Bam Bigelow from Survivor Series 1995. Shot of Bill Clinton with Sunny in his lap. That guy showed up at way too many WWF events. This was the PPV introduction of Goldust. This gimmick change was tres cool, too. Soundbytes are played from Goldust and Dustin Runnells as the born-again Christian. Goldust gets the win in short order.

- Stone Cold vs. Bret Hart from Survivor Series 1996. A lengthy video package is shown of Stone Cold calling Bret a girl, and all that. Now THIS was a hell of a match. Austin locks the Million Dollar Dream on, but Bret ends up with the win.

- Undertaker vs. Mankind from Survivor Series 1996. This during a long feud between the two. Same year as the boiler room brawl, I think. Paul Bearer is suspended in a cage, and I remember at the time being genuinely surprised the freaking thing would actually hold him up there. Mankind takes an ass-whooping of the first degree, and the Undertaker ends it with a Tombstone.

- Kane vs. Mankind from Survivor Series 1997. Huge video montage shown of Kane's first appearance at Hell in a Cell, to him destroying the WWF superstars, and finally to him fighting Mankind. The ring is bathed in red light during the match; cool at first, annoying after a while. Once again, Mankind plays whipping boy. He gets Paul Bearer in the Mandible Claw at one point, but Kane puts him through an announcers' table. He then gets the win with a Tombstone.

- Stone Cold vs. Owen Hart from Summerslam 1997. Stone Cold gets temporarily paralyzed by a piledriver at the end of the match. An interview is shown between him and Jim Ross from the week after, on RAW. He is SERIOUSLY pissed off, and I doubt it's a work. He talks about what happened in the match, and says that doctors have told him he might want to do something else. He says he'll continue to wrestle as long as he wants, though. The rematch was at, surprise, Survivor Series 1997.

- Stone Cold vs. Owen Hart from Survivor Series 1997. Owen comes down with the Bulldog, Doug Furnas, Jim Neidhart, and Phil LaFon. I think that's Phil, anyway. Owen tries to walk away from the match, Austin brings him back. A flubbed tilt-a-whirl backbreaker leads to a Stunner, giving Austin the win. Austin was told not to wrestle here, if I remember right, and it was obvious he needed more time off.

- And now, Shawn vs. Bret. A long video package, the longest yet, is shown. Eventually we get to the match.

- Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels from Survivor Series 1997. This is the longest clip of wrestling yet. They brawl all over, hardly in the ring at all. There are about 6 or 7 refs running around, tons of security, Vince, Brisco, Patterson, and Slaughter are all there too. Michaels pulls the ref in front of him as Bret comes off the top, and Hebner goes down. And then... Michaels locks on the Sharpshooter... and Earl Hebner calls for the bell. Michaels tries to roll and let Bret get the Sharpshooter on him, feeding Bret his leg, but by this point, Bret's already standing up. Shawn curses and shakes the ropes, Bret spits on Vince. WWF officials usher Shawn and Hunter out very quickly. Hebner is already long gone.

- An interview between Jim Ross and Vince McMahon is shown from a week after the previous match. Vince says he's disappointed with Bret's professionalism, after Bret hit him. You can still sort of see a mark around Vince's left eye, but I don't know whether it was makeup enhanced or not. Vince states that Bret screwed Bret. Ross mentions the 20 year contract signed by Hart. Vince says it was remanded to a 3 year, $3 million-per deal. He said Bret was welcome to explore other options, and he was happy for Bret upon signing the deal with Turner. Vince says it's a shame Bret's ego got the best of him, and that Bret made a mistake. Footage is shown of Bret tearing up TV equipment. Michael Cole, in a voiceover, wonders if Stone Cold will have similar problems with McMahon trying to get the best of him.

The Verdict: Well, mixed emotions with this one. It would've been better if half the tape hadn't focused on the 1997 event, and shown one match from the previous nine. As a longtime WWF fan, I'll watch pretty much anything they put out, but I wouldn't give this a wholehearted recommendation, unless you're a rookie and don't know much history.

Mark Smith
Tape Review WWW Archive coming soon


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Guest column text copyright (C) 1999 by the individual author and used with permission