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SURVIVOR SERIES 1991
November 27, 1991
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Arena: Joe Louis Arena
Attendance: 17, 500
RESULTS:
The show opened with WWF President Jack Tunney announcing he was reinstating the suspended "Macho Man" Randy Savage… but not tonight. Savage would return to active competition in six days on pay-per-view at This Tuesday in Texas, facing his nemesis Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Selling the upcoming This Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view was a running theme throughout the evening.
â–º "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, The Mountie & The Warlord defeated "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Bret "Hitman" Hart, "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, & Virgil in a team in elimination match.
Mr. Perfect accompanied "Nature Boy" Ric Flair to ringside. Sensational Sherri accompanied "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. Jimmy Hart accompanied The Mountie. Harvey Whippleman accompanied The Warlord.
Eliminations: Ric Flair pinned Davey Boy Smith following an axe handle off the top rope. Bret Hart hit The Warlord from behind, and Roddy Piper rolled him up for the pin. The remaining participants continued to brawl in the ring, and the referee disqualified everyone except Ric Flair, who was outside the ring at the time.
Survivor: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Following the match, "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviewed "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Savage promoted his upcoming match with Jake "The Snake" Roberts at This Tuesday in Texas.
â–º "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, "El Matador" Tito Santana, & "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich defeated Colonel Mustafa, Hercules, The Berzerker, & Skinner in a team elimination match.
General Adnan accompanied Colonel Mustafa to ringside. Mr. Fuji accompanied The Berzerker.
Eliminations: Sgt Slaughter pinned Colonel Mustafa following an atomic drop and a big clothesline. Tito Santana pinned Hercules. Sgt. Slaughter rolled up Skinner and made the pin. Jim Duggan pinned The Berzerker following a clothesline to win the match for his team.
Survivors: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, "El Matador" Tito Santana, & "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich
Following the match, "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviewed Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Roberts promoted his upcoming match with "Macho Man" Randy Savage at This Tuesday in Texas.
â–º The Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to win his first WWF Championship. The match ended when the Undertaker pinned Hogan following a tombstone piledriver on a steel chair that Ric Flair had thrown in the ring.
Paul Bearer accompanied The Undertaker to ringside.
Following the match, WWF President Jack Tunney announced that despite the controversial finish the match the decision would stand. Tunney also announced a WWF Championship rematch between the Undertaker and Hulk Hogan… This Tuesday in Texas!
â–º The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Saggs) & The Beverly Brothers (Beau & Blake Beverly) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) & The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch) in a team elimination match.
Jimmy Hart accompanied The Nasty Boys to ringside. The Genius accompanied The Beverly Brothers.
Eliminations: Brian Knobbs pinned Bushwhacker Luke following a second rope clothesline. Beau Beverly pinned Bushwhacker Butch. Shawn Michaels pinned Beau Beverly with a backslide. Marty Jannetty picked up Jerry Saggs to bodyslam him, and Saggs’ leg hit Shawn Michaels in the process, allowing Brian Knobbs to roll up Michaels for the pin. Michaels and Jannetty had words following the elimination. Jerry Saggs pinned Marty Jannetty with a small package to win the match for his team.
Survivors: The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Saggs) & Blake Beverly
â–º The Big Boss Man & The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) defeated Irwin R. Schyster & The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon) in a team elimination match. Jimmy Hart accompanied The Natural Disasters to ringside.
Eliminations: IRS pinned Big Bossman following a briefcase shot to the head. IRS tried to hit Hawk with his briefcase, but accidentally hit Typhoon instead, allowing Hawk to make the pin. Earthquake responded by walking out on the match and getting counted out. IRS tried to walk out on the match as well, but Big Bossman returned and forced IRS back into the ring. Hawk hit IRS with a flying clothesline and made the pin to win the match for his team.
Survivors: The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal)
CARD SUBJECT TO CHANGE: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart were originally scheduled to compete as members of Jim Duggan’s team. Steamboat left the company prior to the pay-per-view, and was replaced on the team by "El Matador" Tito Santana. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart was "injured" in an angle prior to the event, and was replaced on the team by Sgt. Slaughter. Big Bully Busick was originally scheduled to compete as a member of Colonel Mustafa’s team, but he left the company prior to the event. He was replaced on the team by Hercules. Jake "The Snake" Roberts was originally scheduled to participate as the captain of the IRS / Natural Disasters team, and Sid Justice was originally scheduled to participate as the captain of the Big Bossman / Legion of Doom team. Sid was removed from the team well before the pay-per-view due to a legitimate arm injury. The next idea was to have a masked "Macho Man" Randy Savage lead the face team, due to an issue he had with Jake Roberts. Savage had lost a retirement match to the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VII, and had since lobbied for, but been denied, reinstatement to the active roster. The plan was to call him "Mr. Madness," in a Midnight Rider style gimmick where it was obvious it was Savage under the mask. Vince McMahon and Randy Savage even teased the possibility of "Mr. Madness" leading the team while doing commentary on an episode of WWF Superstars prior to the pay-per-view. The idea was dropped however, and once the pay-per-view was on the air the WWF announced that Jake Roberts had been removed from the main event, making the match a three-on-three elimination-style encounter. Randy Savage would end up facing Jake Roberts six days later in a singles match at This Tuesday in Texas.
NOTES: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby "The Brain" Heenan did commentary for the event. "Mean" Gene Okerlund & Sean Mooney backstage interviews. Howard Finkel was the ring announcer....Chris Chavis defeated Orient Express member Kato in a non-televised match prior to the pay-per-view. Chavis would later debut as Tatanka....The theme of the pay-per-view was "The Gravest Challenge," and promotional materials for the event featured Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker.....This was the first Survivor Series pay-per-view held on Thanksgiving Eve. Previous events were held on Thanksgiving Day. This was also the first Survivor Series to feature a singles match. The previous events had exclusively featured team elimination matches.
Buck Woodward: This was, by far, the most disappointing Survivor Series for me as a fan. For starters, due to Sid's injury, we all expected the big Savage-Roberts faceoff, and weren't given it. Then, during the opening match, they disqualified/counted out everyone except Flair, which just came off as ridiculously stupid. The one saving grace was Hogan losing the belt, but in the end the whole show came off like "We're gonna do everything we can to convince you to order another PPV on Tuesday".
Mike Johnson: For Ric Flair’s WWF PPV debut, it sure wasn’t memorable.....The entire point of the PPV was to push the Tuesday gimmick, which didn’t do well and was never returned to until this year’s Taboo Tuesday....Looking over this show, I can’t remember anything that really stood out to me other than seeing Flair working against Roddy Piper.
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