Hello and Welcome to Revisionist History where I take a look at big events and stories of wrestling history and try to reimagine things to make for a better show. Being a pro wrestling fan since the late 80’s I’ve seen a lot of wrestling shows that were not so good and really bubbled under. So every once and a while I will take a look back at some shows that didn’t do to well and see what could have been changed to improve things. I don’t claim to be an expert, nor do I think I can do better than those who do that for a living. It’s just my opinion.
I’m looking at the Survivor Series event from November of 1991. At the time the WWF was in a slump. The 80’s wrestling boom had ended 18 months before and as time went on things weren’t getting any better. After a controversial headlining feud with Sgt. Slaughter as an Iraqi sympathizer Hulk Hogan had been left a bit directionless. He fought Slaughter in a bunch of “Desert Storm” matches after Mania but the steam was already gone by the time they ended that story for good and Summerslam in August. Ric Flair had entered the company at that point from the NWA/WCW and were leading to a feud between the two at the next year’s Wrestlemania, but Flair was mostly feuding with Roddy Piper in the ring and was only making mentions of Hogan. Going into this event they ramped up the talk between Hogan and Flair that lead to Hulk being attacked by the Undertaker right before this event to set up the title match.
The other big feud at the time was between Macho Man Randy Savage and Jake the Snake Roberts. The WWF had run a storyline where Savage had lost a retirement match at Wrestlemania but had started a love story with his once manager Ms. Elizabeth, leading to the On screen marriage at Summerlam (they actually had been married since the 80’s). Meanwhile Jake Roberts had been training the Ultimate Warrior for matches against the Undertaker, only to turn on the Warrior in a series of bizarre video sketches. With the Warrior leaving, Roberts and the Undertaker were moved into a feud with Savage when they crashed Savage’s wedding reception, only to be saved by Sid Justice. Sid however legitimately injured his arm and wouldn’t be back until January.
Elsewhere in the card the mid card was full of rivalries, but didn’t seem to get any of the time or effort that mid level feuds once had. IC Champion Bret Hart was feuding with The Mountie after the Mountie splashed Hart with water and shocked him with a cattle prod. The British Bulldog and the Warlord were still facing each other after fighting for nearly 8 months over who was stronger, Ted DiBiase and Virgil had been fighting since January and right before this show Dibiase beat Virgil for his Million Dollar Belt thanks to some help from the newcomer Repo Man. The tag team champions the Legion of Doom were in a rivalry with the team of the Natural Disasters since Summerslam and the Big Bossman had been having a feud with Irwin R Shyster since… they just started feuding with each other randomly. Also worth noting was Sgt. Slaughter had taken time off TV after Summerslam and returned “wanting his country back” and being an American Patriot again.
So the card looked like this
Ric Flair, The Warlord, Ted DiBiase, and The Mountie V/S Rowdy Roddy Piper, The British Bulldog, Virgil, and Intercontinental Champion Bret “Hitman” Hart
Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, Tito Santana, and The Texas Tornado V/S Col. Mustafa, The Berserker, Hercules, and Skinner
WWF Champion Hulk Hogan V/S The Undertaker
The Rockers and the Bushwackers V/S The Beverly Brothers and the Nasty Boys
I.R.S and the Natural Disasters V/S Legion of Doom and the Big Bossman.
This show suffered a lot of problems. First there were a lot of substitutions and changes made to this show both for real life issues and storyline reasons. The main event team match originally had Sid Justice as it’s captain but Sid tore a muscle in his arm. He was out until the Royal Rumble. They hinted and hinted leading to this show that Randy Savage would return to take his place, but the weekend of the show WWF aired a segment where Roberts attacked him with a poisonous snake and Savage wouldn’t be able to compete. The show opened with WWF (kayfabe) President Jack Tunney announcing that instead of putting Savage in the match, they would take Jake Roberts OUT, making it a 3 on three match and killing all the interest in the match at all. The match with Duggan’s team and Mustafa’s team holds the record for most replacements as Both Jim Neidhart and Ricky Steamboat were supposed to be on Duggan’s team. Steamboat quit the company and the Anvil was “injured” against Ric Flair and the Beverly brothers in a storyline to introduce Owen Hart as his tag partner. Mustafa’s team wasn’t any better as originally the Bully and The Barbarian were to be part of that team but the Bully also left the company and the Barbarian was taken out of the match at the last minute as he was start a house show run with Bret Hart.
The execution of these matches also really didn’t help. The opening match with Ric Flair and his team against Roddy Piper’s team was loaded with talent. Too much so. Since they didn’t want to have everyone lose to each other they just had the Warlord and Bulldog get pinned and then everyone else was disqualified except Ric Flair. Seriously they booked 5 guys in an 8 man match to be eliminated at the same time. The other 3 team elimination matches were pretty much worthless as they were. The match with Duggan’s team and Mustafa’s team was entirely one sided and just served to reintroduce Slaughter. The match with the four tag teams meant nothing as although the Rockers had a bunch of matches with the Nasty Boys they weren’t really feuding and neither were the other two teams. And without Savage and Roberts the last match was pointless and was put on last to give the fans a good guys victory to send them home happy (The Title match was placed in the middle of the show). Even the main event did really seem to have that much to it. The Undertaker was aligned with Jake Roberts in his feud with Randy Savage. He only got involved with Hogan after one skit so this was looked at as more of a placeholder Hogan match until he could start fighting Flair.
The biggest reason though was that this show was more a commercial than anything else. After over a month’s worth of hype for one of it’s major shows of the year, the WWF spent a majority of this show hyping ANOTHER show taking place less than a week later called “This Tuesday In Texas”. Randy Savage and Jake Roberts? They would wrestle at that event instead of this one. Hulk Hogan would fight Undertaker AGAIN at that very show as well. Even during the other matches on a show people paid full price for, The commentary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan would hype this event, making the people who paid for this show feel like idiots for doing so. There has been a lot of speculation over the years why they did this. Some fans think Vince was toying with the idea of weekly pay per view shows, some think it was Vince trying for a money grab since income was way down in the WWF at that time and this show wasn’t garnering a lot of interest in the lead up, while others have theorized that this two show idea was originally going to be built around Sid Justice winning the Title from the Undertaker as part of his contract stating he was required one Pay Per View main event. Whatever the cause the experiment flopped and was only tried again in 1996 with one of the In Your House shows when the power went out during the shows and the WWF made it up by doing a second show later.
So with that in mind here is MY idea of what the event should have been more like.
Opening match: Bret Hart, the Rockers, and Koko B Ware V/S The Mountie, the Nasty Boys, and Skinner.
Bret and the Mountie were feuding for the Intercontinental title so naturally they would be the team captains. Mountie would be joined by his Jimmy Hart stable mates the Nasty Boys with Skinner rounding out the team. Bret would have the Rockers joining him since as I mentioned they were wrestling the Nastys quite a bit. Koko would join the team as well since the idea of the Birdman facing a guy who hunts and kills animals was a feud I’m surprised they never went with.
As for the actual match Koko would be eliminated first by Skinner. Nasty Boy Sags would be eliminated next by Shawn Michaels (who WWF was looking to as a singles star). Shawn would be next to go thanks to a miscommunication with Marty Jannety (just like they did in the actual show) to lead to the Rockers break up down the road. Hart would eliminate Skinner from the match and then the Mountie and Knobbs would cheat to eliminate Jannety. The Mountie would then have Knobbs do his dirty work against Hart but Hart would pin him in a surprise roll up and be left with his rival. After getting beaten up by Hart for a number of minutes The Mountie would just run away leaving Hart the winner.
Survivor: Bret Hart
Second Match: Ted DiBiase, The Repo Man, and The Beverly Brothers V/S Virgil, Jim Neidhart, Greg Valentine, and Jimmy Snuka
This match would have been lead up to with the matches aired on TV the week before with Ted DiBiase winning back the Million Dollar Belt from Virgil with the help of Repo Man. I’d have gone with the storyline of the Beverlys attacking Neidhart on TV, but would have kept him on the show looking for revenge. Snuka and Valentine would be there more or less as filler.
The match would play out like this. Snuka would be eliminated first by the Beverlys double team. Valentine would be eliminated by Dibiase, The Beverlys would both be DQed for beating up the Anvil with Repo man pinning Neihdhart soon after (think of it as he “Repo’d” a victory instead of stealing one). After a long stretch of double teaming Repo man would be eliminated by Virgil leaving Dibiase and Virgil as the last two men. Just as it looks like Virgil is getting the upper hand Repo sneaks in and hits him with the Million Dollar belt and leads to DiBiase getting the win.
Survivor: Ted DiBiase
Match Three: Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, British Bulldog, and The Big Bossman V/S Ric Flair, The Undertaker, The Warlord, and IRS.
Yup. I wouldn’t have gone with the title match on this show. Hogan would be the team captain but much like Hogan’s team match in 1989 (Hogan, Roberts, Demolition V/S DiBiase, Warlord, Barbarian, and Zeus) The team captains weren’t the actual feud. Piper would be on Hogan’s team and the deadman would be on Flair’s team playing off the attack a few week’s prior. The Bulldog was getting a good mid card push at this point, winning the big battle royal in England and even having house show matches with Flair. Warlord was still “feuding” with the Bulldog even though they hadn’t done much against each other for a while. The Bossman was also getting a good mid card run at this point so he and IRS having the feud would be added in as well.
In the actual match I’d have Hogan pin the Warlord to get the crowd going. The Undertaker would even the sides up by pinning the Bulldog. The Bossman would be eliminated thanks to IRS smashing his metal briefcase on the Bossman’s head and having Flair pin him with his feet on the ropes. Roddy Piper would eliminate IRS in a spot involving his tie since in all of IRS’s matches the commentary would always mention him wearing a tie in the ring. Piper and Flair would get counted out for fighting outside the ring. Hogan and the Undertaker would have a back and forth for a while before the ref would get knocked out. Flair would return to ringside and lay a chair in the ring leading to Hogan being tombstoned and pinned (just like the spot from the actual show). This way the Undertaker is named the number one contender for the title and gets his match at Tuesday in Texas.
Survivor: The Undertaker
Match Four: Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, and the Bushwackers V/S Col Mustafa, Hercules, The Berserker, and the Brooklyn Brawler.
I know I know, not much of a change here but follow me on this. Instead of the injury angle leading to Slaughter being on the show they could have run the build up as being Duggan not having a fourth man to be on his team for a few weeks. Duggan would then be in a match against Mustafa where General Adnan would jump in an attack Duggan. Slaughter would race out and after a few seconds to build the drama would help Duggan fight of his former allies. The other guys would be filler but it would serve a purpose here as this match would be right after Hogan getting pinned and before the last match of the show, giving fans a bit of a breather before the main event.
The match would start quick with Duggan’s team clearing the ring and marching around in the Bushwacker stomping thing they did to get the crowd picked up. Mustafa would eliminate Luke of the Bushwackers quickly and Butch would be pinned soon after by the Berserker. Duggan and Slaughter would rally the fans getting rid of the Brawler in short order and then Duggan would eliminate Hercules with his clothesline finisher. The Berserker would fumble around before Slaughter would pin him and Duggan and Slaughter would then double team Mustafa and pin him before beating up Adnan as well.
Survivors: Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter
Match Five: Randy Savage, The Legion of Doom, and Tito Santana V/S Jake Roberts, The Natural Disasters, and the Barbarian.
Obviously Savage and Roberts were the real draw here. I’d have had Savage replacing Sid Justice and be reinstated. The LOD and the Disasters were feuding as mentioned. Tito Santana was getting a renewed push with a new character in the mid card so putting him in this match would be a big re introduction for him and give his stock in the card a boost. The Barbarian was also getting a small push and was a big guy who would fit right in with the larger Natural Disasters.
The match would play out with during the entire match Savage keeps wanting in the ring with Roberts but Roberts is always running and avoiding the Macho Man. The first man out would be Hawk of the Legion of Doom from a misdirection play from the Disasters leading to Earthquake pinning him. Tito and Savage would double team on Typhoon leading to Savage pinning him with the flying elbow. Animal would pin Earthquake from the match with a flying clothesline but Animal would be gone from a Jake Roberts DDT. As the Snake celebrates Randy would dive bomb after him in the ring leading to Savage getting some furious revenge but Roberts would tag out to the Barbarian to escape. After working over the Barbarian all four men get involved in the match. The ref would be tied up with Santana as Savage looks to have the Barbarian beat. Roberts would pull out a snake chasing Savage back when the Ref turns around, Sees Roberts with the snake in the ring (He was banned from having snakes at ringside) and be DQ’d from the match. As he leaves Savage leaves the ring chasing after him getting Counted out. Santana would then hit his new finisher (El Paso De Monte) on the Barbarian and win the match sending the crowd home happy.
Survivor: Tito Santana
I know a lot of old school fans might think I’m crazy for ending the show with Tito standing tall in the ring but remember that Tito was a longtime employee of the company and that the Matador gimmick was a way to try and freshen him up (obviously it didn’t really work in hindsight though). There has even been a rumor (mentioned by Tito himself) that Tito was almost in line for a WWF Title run in 1992, so someone in the company thought he had a lot of effort left to give.
Some may also noted I didn’t use Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich on this show where as he was on the actual card. The reason I did this were reports at the time that Von Erich’s drug issues were really becoming a problem at this point and he was showing up to house shows stoned. Honestly after that I wouldn’t want to use him and would have let him go. But in reality the WWF kept him on the roster for another year despite not doing anything with him.
This version of the card would have people spread out better and having matches serve a little bit of a better purpose. You got a clear picture of the events of the WWF coming out of this event than the actual show and even the quickie match with Duggan and Slaughter would have something to it going forward. With this show playing out your “This Tuesday in Texas” show would have Taker beating Hogan with Flair’s help for the title in a match so chaotic that the WWF strips Taker of the belt to be decided in the Royal Rumble. Savage and Roberts facing off in a singles match. Virgil V/S Repo Man, Bret Hat V/S the Mountie, Jim Neidhart and a mystery Partner (Owen Hart) V/s The Beverlys, and Tito V/S Skinner or something along those lines.
Would it have made the show a bigger success? Possibly but even with my version there was only so much you could do at that point. It would hardly have been the greatest show of all time but I’d like to think it would be better remembered than the throw away show that it was. It still served as a good incentive to get the Tuesday in Texas show but at the same time it could stand on it’s own and not feel like a rip off.
But that is only my opinion.
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