WWE Survivor Series Flashback - 20 years ago
November 22, 1990
Top Ten Things To Know!

(1) Big Debut: The Undertaker made his WWE debut on this PPV nearly 20 years ago.

(2) Most Remembered For: Gobbledy Gooker hatching out of the over-hyped egg and dancing with Mean Gene Okerlund.

(3) Main Event: Ultimate Warrior & Hulk Hogan were the Ultimate Survivors, defeating The Warlord & Paul Roma & Hercules & Rick Martel & Ted DiBiase. Tito Santana was eliminated from Team Warrior & Hogan.

(4) Legends on the Old School Raw: Ted DiBiase, Dusty Rhodes, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Jimmy Snuka, Tito Santana, Sgt. Slaughter, Nikolai Volkoff, "Mean" Gene Okerlund.

(5) Wrestlers Still In WWE: The Undertaker, Bret Hart.

(6) Wrestlers In TNA: Hulk Hogan.

(7) Wrestlers Whose Children Are Now In Wrestling: "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich (Lacey Von Erich), Mr. Perfect (Michael McGillicutty), Ted DiBiase (DiBiase, Jr.), Dusty Rhodes (Cody & Goldust), Jimmy Snuka (Tamina).

(8) Undertaker Trivia: Ted DiBiase & Honky Tonk Man & Greg Valentine were on Undertaker's team in Taker's first WWE match.

(9) Undertaker Trivia II: Lost in the shuffle opposite Team Undertaker was Bret Hart, who teamed with Jim Neidhart, Dusty Rhodes, and Koko B. Ware.

(10) Shawn Michaels Flashback: Michaels, as part of The Rockers, teamed with Jannetty, Jake Roberts, and Jimmy Snuka opposite the Visionaries.

***

WWF Survivor Series 1990 PPV report
November 22, 1990
Hartford, Conn.
Originally Published - Torch Newsletter #97
Cover Dated - November 29, 1990
By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

World Wrestling Federation presented a live pay-per-view event special live from Hartford, Conn. on November 22, 1990 - "Survivor Series '90."

(1) Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom & Texas Tornado (Kerry Von Erich) beat Team Demolition & Mr. Perfect. At 4:00, Warrior splashed Demolition Axe. At 8:00, Hawk, Animal, Smash, and crush were DQ'ed for brawling without control. This left Warrior and Tornado vs. Perfect. At 11:00, Perfect applied the Perfectplex perfectly, leading to Tornado doing the perfect job. Then, at 15:00, Perfect applied another Perfectplex, this time on Warrior, which led to a perfect kickout. Warrior did his usual routine ending in a splash and a three count after Perfect showed off his perfect bumps. Survivor: Ultimate Warrior. (***1/4)

(2) Ted DiBiase & The Undertaker (Mark Callous) & Honky Tonk Man & Greg Valentine beat Hart Foundation & Dusty Rhodes & Koko B. Ware. At 1:00, Undertaker "Tombstone Piledrove" Koko B. Ware and pinned him. At 4:00, Neidhart powerslammed HTM leading to the pin. Brother Love, who accompanied Undertaker to ringside, distracted Neidhart at 5:00. When Neidhart turned around, DiBiase clotheslined him and pinned him. At 8:00, Undertaker walked the ropes and flew into Rhodes with a double strike to his shoulders and neck. Rhodes hit the mat and watched the lights as the referee counted three times. Dusty recovered and attacked Brother Love. Undertaker went over Rhodes and was counted out at 9:00. This left Bret Hart against Greg Valentine and Ted DiBiase. Bret rolled up Valentine at 9;00 and then battled DiBiase one-on-one for five minutes. At 14:00, Bret came off the top rope with a bodyblock, but DiBiase rolled on top of Bret and got the victory. Survivor: Ted DiBiase. (***1/2)

(3) The Visionaries (Rick Martel & Power & Glory & The Warlord) beat Jake Roberts & The Rockers & Jimmy Snuka. At 3:00, Marty Jannetty came off the top rope and was caught by the Warlord and powerslammed for a quick three count. The Model pinned Snuka at 8:00. Power & Glory did their double powerplex on Michaels leading to a three count. This left Jake Roberts, with impaired vision because of that damn white thing covering his left eye - against all four visionaries. Jake only had himself to blame because he picked his teammates. At 15:00, Warlord was DDTed and covered. The referee was knocked down, so Martel sprayed more "Arrogance" into Roberts's eyes. Roberts was counted out at 16:00. Survivors: Martel & Power & Glory & Warlord. (**)

(4) Hulk Hogan & Tugboat & Big Bossman & Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat Earthquake & Dino Bravo & The Barbarian & Haku. At 3:00, Bossman pinned Haku. Bossman then got a hold of Bobby Heenan and got a few blows in. Then, at 6:00, Duggan was DQ'ed for hitting everyone in sight with his two-by-four, then had the gall to act surprised and offended by the decision. Hogan pinned Bravo at 8:00. Earthquake pinned Bossman at 9:00. Earthquake and Tugboat were counted out. This left Hogan against The Barbarian. Four minutes later, Barbarian hit Hogan with a top rope clothesline, which got a two count on Hogan. Then, Hogan made his usual predictable comeback and pinned Warlord with a leg drop. Survivor: Hulk Hogan. (*3/4)

Randy Savage was interviewed and said he planned to regain his World Title. Then he would be ready to retire with the belt since he proved he was the best. Not a tremendous reaction from the crowd.

(5) Tito Santana & The Bushwhackers & Nikolai Volkoff beat Sgt. Slaughter & Orient Express & Boris Zhukov. Tito pinned Zhukov at 1:00. Akio Sato was pinned by Butch at 2:00. Pat Tanaka was squashed even before he could take a bump at 3:00 by Tito. Slaughter pinned Volkoff in a mercy job at 6:00. Then, Slaughter pinned Luke and then Butch. This left Tito against Slaughter at 7:00. For the next four minutes, Tito did his best to make it watchable. The ref got knocked down so Sheik Adnan ran in the ring and hit Toto with his flagpole. Slaughter then apparently put Tito away with a Camel Clutch, but when the announcement was made, Slaughter was DQ'ed for Sheik's interference. Survivor: Tito Santana. (*)

Then, the Survivor Series egg was hatched and the latest WWF mascot broke out revealing "Gobbledy Gooker," a turkey that gobbles and dances. It led Mean Gene to the ring and they danced for a long five minutes.

(6) Ultimate Warrior & Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana beat Warlord & Roma & Hercules & Martel & DiBiase in the Ultimate Survivors match. Santana was pinned shortly after pinning Warlord in the first minute of the match. Power & Glory powerplexed Hogan, who kicked out, clotheslined Roma, and got the pin. Martel then faced Hogan, but soon fled the scene of his beating and was counted out. This left Hogan & Warrior vs. Hercules & DiBiase. Hogan and DiBiase had a one minute version of a Hogan beating, comeback, legdrop, and win. Then Hogan tagged out and Warrior had his version of a one minute match with Herclues ending in a splash and pin by Warrior. Survivors: Warrior & Hogan. (*1/2)

Warrior and Hogan then shook hands and separated the ropes for each other as they left the ring. This was an attempt to get Warrior over as a friend of Hogan's rather than foe, hoping this will allow Warrior to become the drawing card that was hoped. There were opportunities but no signs of a turn on either man's part.

TORCH STAFF ANALYSIS

Wade Keller (3.5): The matches went downhill from the start. Slaughter's long interview before his match had to be one of the worst few moments in wrestling this year. Overall, just another gimmick show that was okay while it lasted with no lasting repercussions or surprises. Most casual fans probably felt they did not get ripped off. Just too predictable. A lot of nice wrestling moves, but no time for wrestlers to develop psychology. One of these days, I would love to see Bret Hart and Ted DiBiase have 25 minutes to show their stuff instead of two and a half.

Ray Whebbe (1.5): I was very disappointed in the matches and results. Pleased with camera work. I was very surprised that Sgt. Slaughter actually looked credible. I felt cheated with the egg. This was the most forgettable WWF event since the Trump Plaza fiasco at WrestleMania IV, if not the most forgettable. I enjoy the Survivor Series idea, especially the five and ten-man teams, but the scaled down teams and worn-down angles were too much to suffer through.

Steve Gerber (6.0): Definitely a thumbs up because there were not any poor matches. Most worked to their capacity. I am beginning to turn into a rooter for the WWF as far as PPVs because they tend to give more. I did not like their top stars coming out on top as no heels will have a chance to draw heat. I wish DiBiase in some underhanded way was able to win. Worth the money. The Rockers match had a lot of hot moves.

META SCORECARD: The Torch Staffer average score was 3.7 ranging from 1.5 to 6.0. The reader average score compiled from phone calls was 4.25 ranging from 3.0 to 6.5.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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