Survivor Series (1990)

Last updated
Survivor Series
SS 90.jpg
Promotional poster
Promotion World Wrestling Federation
DateNovember 22, 1990
City Hartford, Connecticut
Venue Hartford Civic Center
Attendance16,000 [1]
Tagline(s)The WWF Thanksgiving Night Tradition!
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous
SummerSlam 		Next →
Royal Rumble
Survivor Series chronology
← Previous
1989 		Next →
1991

The 1990 Survivor Series was the fourth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on Thanksgiving Day on November 22, 1990, at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Seven matches were contested at the event, including one dark match before the live broadcast.

Contents

This event is well known for the on-screen debut of The Undertaker, who would become one of the most prolific figures within the company. [2] In addition, Sgt. Slaughter, who then portrayed an Iraqi sympathizer, insulted servicemen stationed in Iraq for Thanksgiving during Operation Desert Shield. In an interview, Randy Savage challenged The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Haku replaced Rick Rude, who had left the WWF over a pay dispute. In the storyline, he was suspended by WWF President Jack Tunney for insulting the mother of the Big Boss Man. Boris Zhukov replaced Akeem, who had left the WWF in October.

The Undertaker would wrestle for the WWF (now renamed to WWE in 2002) for the next 30 years, and setting a company record for longevity. His retirement ceremony took place at the 2020 Survivor Series, exactly 30 years later.

Production

Background

Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV) produced every November by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1987. In what has become the second longest-running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam; which were dubbed the "Big Four". [3] Continuing the tradition of the previous years' events, the fourth event in the Survivor Series chronology only featured Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches. The event was scheduled to be held on Thanksgiving Day on November 22, 1990, at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. [1]

Storylines

The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, in which wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, [4] [5] with storylines produced on their weekly television shows.

This was the only Survivor Series to feature a "Grand Finale Match of Survival", wherein the survivors of each announced Survivor Series elimination match would take part in a final elimination match in the main event, split based on their heel-or-face alignments. The match ended with the three-man face team of Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan (the two survivors) and Tito Santana defeating the five-man heel team of Ted DiBiase and the full Visionaries team from earlier in the night (Rick Martel, the Warlord, and Power & Glory).

Aftermath

Crowd reaction to The Gobbledy Gooker was extremely negative, with fans loudly booing as the costumed Héctor Guerrero danced in the ring with announcer Gene Okerlund. Although the character made a handful of appearances in taped promos following the Survivor Series, [6] the Gobbledy Gooker soon disappeared and was not mentioned again until the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven. Several years later, WrestleCrap used the name for its "Gooker Award", presented for the worst gimmicks, storylines, or events in wrestling.

Sgt. Slaughter and Randy Savage both challenged the Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Championship. Slaughter and his manager, General Adnan, also cut several anti-American, pro-Iraqi promos – all airing at a time when the United States was engaged in Operation Desert Shield, all to build up heat for his match against Warrior at the 1991 Royal Rumble, held two days after the start of the war against Iraq. Slaughter – with help from both Savage and his manager, Sensational Sherri – won the title from Warrior at the Royal Rumble. Warrior defeated Savage in a career-ending match at Wrestlemania VII, after which Savage turned face and reunited with former manager Miss Elizabeth, ultimately winning back the belt a year later at Wrestlemania VIII. Savage and Warrior fought one more time for the title at SummerSlam (1992) in a match plagued by interference from Ric Flair and Mr Perfect.

Hogan went on to focus on wrapping up his feud with Earthquake with a series of stretcher matches, which Hogan won, before going on to challenge Slaughter for the WWF title.

Since the formation of Demolition in 1987, they have been compared to the Legion of Doom (LOD). The feud between the LOD and Demolition (which by now was Crush and Smash) continued to rage into the end of 1990, with LOD eventually coming out on top. (In part because the feud had not had the anticipated intensity due to Ax's reduced role from his health problems at the time.) Demolition's last pay-per-view appearance was at WrestleMania VII, where the team lost to Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao. LOD eventually became WWF Tag Team Champions.

The Undertaker quickly got over with fans as he easily handled lower-card competition during his first months in the WWF. He started his first main-event feud with The Ultimate Warrior shortly after WrestleMania VII. The Undertaker would wrestle for the WWF (renamed to WWE in 2002) for the next 30 years, setting a company record for longevity. He would become one of their most important and beloved stars, eventually reaching iconic status. His retirement ceremony took place at the 2020 Survivor Series, exactly 30 years later, and headlined the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2022. [7] [8]

Results

No.ResultsStipulationsTimes [1]
1D Shane Douglas defeated Buddy Rose [9] Singles match —
2The Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, Hawk, Animal and The Texas Tornado) defeated The Perfect Team (Mr. Perfect, Ax, Smash and Crush) (with Bobby Heenan and Mr. Fuji)4-on-4 Survivor Series match Eliminations 14:20
3The Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, The Undertaker, The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine) (with Virgil, Brother Love and Jimmy Hart) defeated The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) [a] 4-on-4 Survivor Series match Eliminations 13:54
4The Visionaries (Rick Martel, The Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma) (with Slick) defeated The Vipers (Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)4-on-4 Survivor Series match Eliminations 17:42
5The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Jim Duggan, Big Boss Man and Tugboat) defeated The Natural Disasters (Earthquake, Haku, Dino Bravo and The Barbarian) (with Jimmy Hart and Bobby Heenan)4-on-4 Survivor Series match Eliminations 14:49
6The Alliance (Nikolai Volkoff, Tito Santana, Luke and Butch) defeated The Mercenaries (Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov, Sato and Tanaka) (with General Adnan and Mr. Fuji)4-on-4 Survivor Series match Eliminations 10:52
7Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior and Tito Santana defeated Ted DiBiase, Rick Martel, The Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma (with Virgil and Slick)5-on-3 Survivor Series match Eliminations 9:07
D – this was a dark match

Eliminations

^1

EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethodTime
1 Ax The Ultimate Warrior Pinfall 3:23
2 Smash N/A Disqualification 7:36
Crush
Hawk
Animal
6 The Texas Tornado Mr. Perfect Pinfall 11:02
7 Mr. Perfect The Ultimate Warrior 14:20
Sole Survivor: The Ultimate Warrior

^2

EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethodTime
1 Koko B. Ware The Undertaker Pinfall 1:39
2 The Honky Tonk Man Jim Neidhart 4:16
3 Jim Neidhart Ted DiBiase 5:49
4 Dusty Rhodes The Undertaker 8:26
5 The Undertaker N/A Countout 9:17
6 Greg Valentine Bret Hart Pinfall 9:57
7 Bret Hart Ted DiBiase 13:54
Sole Survivor: Ted DiBiase

^3

EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethodTime
1 Marty Jannetty The Warlord Pinfall 5:03
2 Jimmy Snuka Rick Martel 9:28
3 Shawn Michaels Paul Roma 15:40
4 Jake Roberts N/A Countout 17:42
Survivors: Hercules, Paul Roma, Rick Martel and The Warlord (Clean sweep)

^4

EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethodTime
1 Haku The Big Boss Man Pinfall 3:15
2 Jim Duggan N/A Disqualification 6:12
3 Dino Bravo Hulk Hogan Pinfall 7:59
4 Big Boss Man Earthquake 9:08
5 Tugboat N/A Double countout 11:33
Earthquake
7 The Barbarian Hulk Hogan Pinfall 14:49
Sole Survivor: Hulk Hogan

^5

EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethodTime
1 Boris Zhukov Tito Santana Pinfall 0:48
2 Sato Bushwacker Butch 1:46
3 Tanaka Tito Santana 2:13
4 Nikolai Volkoff Sgt. Slaughter 5:25
5 Bushwacker Luke 6:30
6 Bushwacker Butch 6:53
7 Sgt. Slaughter N/A Disqualification 10:52
Sole Survivor: Tito Santana

^6

EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethodTime
1 The Warlord Tito Santana Pinfall 0:28
2 Tito Santana Ted DiBiase 1:51
3 Paul Roma Hulk Hogan 5:57
4 Rick Martel N/A Countout 7:17
5 Ted DiBiase Hulk Hogan Pinfall 8:30
6 Hercules The Ultimate Warrior 9:07
Survivors: Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior

Other on-screen personnel

Commentators
Interviewers
Ring announcer
Referees

Notes

  1. ↑ This match was dedicated to Bret Hart's brother Dean who died the day before. [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Survivor Series 1990". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2009-10-16.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. ↑ Ted DiBiase: The Million Dollar Man, p.177, Ted DiBiase with Tom Caiazzo, Pocket Books, New York, 2008, ISBN   978-1-4165-5890-3
  3. ↑ Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
  4. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed (13 January 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  6. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "WWE Classics: Superstars Hang With The Gooker". YouTube . 21 November 2012.
  7. ↑ Survivor Series to celebrate "30 Years of The Undertaker" (YouTube). WWE. October 25, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  8. ↑ Defelice, Robert (October 25, 2020). "Survivor Series 2020 To Celebrate Thirty Years Of The Undertaker". Fightful. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  9. ↑ Survivor Series results, from TheHistoryOfWWE.com
  10. ↑ Barrasso, Justin (2015-11-20). "Bret Hart discusses Triple H, Survivor Series and bad booking in WWE". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved 2016-02-26.

Sources

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