WWF Survivor Series 1987
November 26, 1987
Richfield, OH
Richfield Coliseum

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (1/23/1984)
Intercontinental Champion: Honky Tonk Man (6/2/1987)
World Tag Team Champions: Strike Force (10/27/1987)
Women’s Champion: Sensational Sherri (7/24/1987)

It’s the first-ever Survivor Series! Vince decided that Ted Turner shouldn’t have ALL the fun on Thanksgiving with Starrcade, so he started a tradition of his own. A festivus for the rest of us, if you WEEL.

Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Pilgrim” Ventura.

• Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan & Brutus Beefcake (w/Elizabeth) vs. Honky Tonk Man, Danny Davis, Harley Race, Hercules & Ron Bass (w/Jimmy Hart and Bobby Heenan) – 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match

Beefcake struts around and pisses off Hercules to start. Once they get going, Beefcake misses a fist drop, but then hooks on the SLEEPER. Brutus shoves Hercules off into the corner and hiptosses him out. Davis is tagged and he gets flipped in the ring by Beefer. Next, the faces all get their licks in on poor Danny Davis. Steamboat connects with the top-rope chop, but then charges into a knee in the corner. Race tags in and delivers a shoulderbreaker, but Steamboat comes back with a springboard chop. Steamboat skins-the-cat not once, but twice! Race tries to throw Steamboat out a third time, but Steamboat counters and tosses Race. Race gets back in and delivers the BELLY-TO-BELLY SUPLEX for 1, 2, NO! Steamboat finds his corner and tags in Duggan. HOOOOOO! Duggan clotheslines Race to the floor and follows him out. They continue to brawl and both forget about the ten-count at 4:29. We see our first evidence of clippage as we cut to Roberts and Bass in the ring. Roberts avoids an elbow drop and tags in Savage. He puts Bass down and delivers the jumping knee drop for two. He sneaks in an elbow on Honky Tonk, but then turns around into a clothesline from Bass. We JIP to Beefcake receiving a blind tag from Savage and surprising Bass with a High Knee at 5:35 to give the face team the 4-on-3 advantage. Hercules comes in immediately and pounds down Beefcake for Honky Tonk. More clippage going on as we now see Beefcake BEEFING UP out of a not-so-painful looking armbar from Honky. Beefcake goes crazy on Honky, but then Davis nails him coming off the ropes to set up the SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL! That finishes Beefcake at 7:09 to even the teams. Honky tags in Hercules, but then stands around in the ring for Savage to come charging at him like a CRAZY MAN! Hercules grounds and pounds Savage, and then goes over to draw in the faces for some heel-cheating. Honky tags in and misses a clothesline, allowing Savage to make the HOT TAG TO ROBERTS! He goes for the DDT, but Honky Tonk slips away. Roberts whips Honky in the corner, but then charges into a knee. Honky moves Roberts over to his corner and tags in Hercules. Herc pounds Roberts down and gets a couple near-falls, but can’t put him away, so he tags in Davis. Once the crowd starts chanting DDT again, Roberts revives himself and delivers the DDT to Davis to eliminate him at 11:29. As soon as Roberts stands up after the pin, Hercules NAILS him with a clothesline to prevent a tag. Hercules drops a pair of elbows for two, then tags in Honky. Savage runs in just because Honky is within his sight. Order is restored, and Honky hooks on a chinlock for more clippage. Roberts elbows out and hits a knee-lift. Hercules tags in and easily cuts off the tag, and goes back to the chinlock. Jake’s arm drops twice, but not three times. He comes out with a jawbreaker and makes the HOT TAG TO STEAMBOAT. After going chop-crazy on Honky and Herc, he tags in Savage to set up the MACHO ELBOW and put Hercules away at 16:35 to make it 3-on-1. The faces all take turns going bananas on Honky until he gets dumped and decides it’s best to leave and fight another day. That causes a countout to give Savage’s team the win. (19:14 shown) Survivors: Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat & Jake Roberts. Solid, fun match that showcases all of their top Intercontinental title contenders of the time. ***

• Sensational Sherri, Dawn Marie, Donna Christanello and the Glamour Girls (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. The Fabulous Moolah, Velvet McIntyre, Rockin’ Robin and the Jumping Bomb Angels – 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match

The Glamour Girls are Lelani Kai and Judy Martin, who just happen to be co-holders of the meaningless WWF Women’s tag team titles. As for the Jumping Bomb Angels, they are Noriyoi Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki; an awesome couple of ladies from All-Japan. Sherri attacks Velvet at the bell and gets in some blows, but then Velvet ducks a clothesline and catches Sherri with a crossbody block for two before tagging out to Moolah. She cuts off Sherri’s path to her corner, but then knocks her back into it to bring in Christanello. Tateno comes in and misses a dropkick, but makes the tag back over to McIntyre. She makes Christanello look like a loser and delivers a Victory Roll to make her a loser at 1:58. Kai runs in and nails McIntyre, but then gets caught with a headscissors out of the corner. Rockin’ Robin tags in and gets stuck in the heel corner. They control Robin for a couple minutes, until Dawn Marie (the one in this match had nothing to do with the death of Al Wilson) gets nailed with a crossbody to get eliminated at 4:11 to give Moolah’s team even more of an advantage. Yamazaki tags in and out-performs every single wrestler on the card with torso rollups and all kinds of goodness. Tateno comes in and armdrags Kai from the TOP ROPE into her corner to bring in Sherri. Tateno gives Sherri a butterfly suplex and covers for two. Robin tags in to turn the tide back over to the heels. Sherri quickly delivers a suplex to eliminate Robin at 6:52. Sherri gets ambushed by Tateno, but then she falls back into her corner to tag in Judy Martin. Martin hair-drags Tateno into her corner to tag in McIntyre. McIntyre delivers the spinning crossbody for two. Moolah tags in and trades some stuff with the Glamour Girls and then tags out to Yamazaki. She misses a dropkick and gets controlled by the heels for a bit. Kai makes the mistake by tossing Yamazaki into her corner to bring in Moolah. She gets caught with a double-team clothesline while one of Glamour Girls stands on the apron and gets pinned at 10:53 to even the teams. The JBA control Judy Martin for a bit until Sherri comes in and takes over on McIntyre. Velvet comes back and delivers the GIANT SWING to Sherri and gives her a Victory Roll to eliminate the Women’s champion at 14:57. The JBA go back to owning Judy Martin until Velvet tags back in and gets her Victory Roll countered into an electric chair drop to finish her off at 17:20. It comes down to The Jumping Bomb Angels vs. The Glamour Girls. Martin nails Yamazaki coming off the ropes from the apron to slow down the JBA. Kai misses a splash off the top, and gets caught by Tateno with a flying crossbody! That puts Kai away at 18:36. The JBA take care of Martin as Yamazaki hits her with a flying clothesline to win the whole thing. (20:14 shown) Survivors: The Jumping Bomb Angels. Just like that, the Jumping Bomb Angels are instant fan favorites. They would go on to destroy the Glamour Girls at the first-ever Royal Rumble two months later and win the Women’s tag belts, simply because no one in the WWF could possibly be better. Match was okay, but only because of the Angels. **½

• The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The New Dream Team, The Islanders & The Bolsheviks (w/Jimmy Hart, Mr. Fuji, Johnny V, Bobby Heenan and Slick) vs. Strike Force, The Rougeau Brothers, The Young Stallions, The Killer Bees & The British Bulldogs (w/Matilda) – 5-on-5 Tag Teams Survivor Series Elimination Match

Here we have ten tag teams, and each team possesses enough credibility to hold the tag belts, which is unheard of in wrestling today. It just so happens that the vastly popular Strike Force had recently dethroned the Hart Foundation of their nine-month long tag-title reign. Martel quickly rolls up Volkoff for two, but then ducks low off a whip. Volkoff tags in his new tag partner, Boris Zhukov. He misses an elbow drop on Martel and gets caught with a crossbody for two. Santana tags in and gives Zhukov the FLYING JALAPENO and eliminates the Bolsheviks at 1:44. Ax pounces on Santana immediately, but then misses an elbow drop and allows Jacques to tag. Ax tags Bravo, who gets nailed with a dropkick upon his entry. The faces trade tags while controlling Bravo, until he’s had enough and tags in Smash. He receives the same treatment as Bravo until Smash is able to lead Dynamite Kid over to the heel side of town. Haku slugs Dynamite back over to the face corner, allowing a tag to Brunzell. The Bees give Haku a double-team wishbone and then he makes the tag to Neidhart. Blair brings Neidhart over to the face corner to give Neidhart a double-team wishbone with Paul Roma of the Young Stallions. Roma works the leg, but Neidhart fights out with a slam and tags in Smash. Demolition and the Islanders control Roma for a bit, until Roma staggers over and tags in Jimmy Powers. Tama pulls Powers over to his corner. Ax tags in and slams Powers over to the Rougeaus, which makes it easy for Powers to tag in Jacques. Jacques flips out a backdrop, but then whiffs on a crossbody out of the corner. Ax covers him and gets the three to send the Rougeaus on the first plane back to Quebec at 5:48 to even the teams. Dynamite charges in and flips Ax back to the heel corner with a SNAP SUPLEX to tag in Tama. Dynamite runs into a foot out of the corner, but still manages to tag in Powers. He runs into a clothesline out of the corner and takes a Canadian backbreaker/top-rope fist drop combo from Neidhart and Haku! Powers gets out of the heel side of the ring and tags in Roma. Haku misses a charge in the corner, but then tags in Ax. Now Roma charges in the corner and eats a boot, and then gets caught on the heel side. Valentine tags in for the first time in the match and delivers a shoulderbreaker to Roma for two. Valentine then gives him a suplex near his corner and gets two. Valentine reaches back and tags in Bravo. He delivers a gutwrench suplex, followed by a jumping leg drop for two. Blair tags in and allows Smash to smash himself in the corner, and tags in Dynamite. He hits the double-arm clothesline for two, but then ducks low off a whip. Dynamite rolls out onto the HEEL apron and gets pounded by everybody there. Smash tosses ref Dave Hebner aside while he’s beating on Dynamite to get his team DQ’ed at 9:10. Bret finally comes in and excellently executes a Piledriver on Dynamite for 1, 2, NO! Bret kicks away at Dynamite in the corner, but then runs shoulder-first into the ringpost. Powers tags in, but then gets kicked in the face to slow him down. Tama tags in and gives Powers a nice jumping clothesline, but then he misses a pump splash to set up the HOT TAG TO MARTEL! Martel does some good moves, but then applies a QUEBEC CRAB right in the heel corner. Neidhart easily gets the tag and breaks up the hold with a HARD clothesline to the back of Martel’s head for a close two. Anvil charges into a boot in the corner, allowing Martel to tag in Santana. He hits the FLYING JALAPENO and covers Neidhart, but Bret breaks it up with an elbow off the middle-rope. I can only make an educated guess that that is what happened because the camera was only focused on Santana and Neidhart during the impact. Anvil turns Tito over and gets the three-count and eliminates the champs at 12:02. Powers comes in and whiffs on a dropkick to Neidhart. Haku tags in and shows Powers how it’s done by giving him a dropkick for two. Valentine gets a tag and puts the brakes on a sunset flip to set up the Hammer forearm for two. The heels dominate Powers for a good long while. We JIP to an extended beatdown of Powers, and the Bulldogs are no longer with us. I have no idea why they cut out a team being eliminated. It just doesn’t seem fair. The heat segment ends when Bravo hits his SIDE SUPLEX (which is just a side slam) and tags in Valentine for the FIGURE-FOUR. Powers kicks him off on the first attempt and sneaks a tag to Roma. Valentine goes for the FIGURE-FOUR again on Powers with no clue about the tag. In mid-move, Roma leaps off the top with a sunset flip and pins Valentine at 17:07. We’re now down to the Harts/Islanders vs. Stallions/Bees. The Bees control Anvil and get a couple near-falls on him before he pulls Brunzell back into his corner to tag in Bret. Brunzell grabs a single-leg and works on Bret’s knee for a bit. Blair tags in and keeps on the pressure. Roma comes in and doesn’t concentrate on Bret’s knee like he should have and gets nailed after he lands a leapfrog. The Islanders pound on Roma for a bit until Haku misses a jumping leg drop. Brunzell comes in and makes the mistake of tossing Haku into the heel corner to allow a tag to Bret. Roma tags back in and hits a fist drop from the top for two. Bret trips him up and kicks him in the sternum and then hits a back suplex on Roma for two. We get another extended beatdown of the Young Stallions with nothing really happening of note. Roma finally rolls away from Bret and tags in Brunzell. During a double-KO spot, Anvil and the Islanders draw in the Stallions and Blair to distract the ref and do a little cheating. It backfires and Bret gets pinned at 23:57. Brunzell gets so excited that he just pinned Bret Hart that he forgets about Haku, and gets nailed from behind. Bobby Heenan is the only manager left out there, which calls for a “weasel” chant. The Islanders take turns punishing Brunzell with the nerve hold. He fights up and gets a desperation sunset flip on Haku for two, but Haku is right back on top of him. Haku finally puts his head down and pays for it with a HOT TAG TO POWERS! Looking back on his wrestling career in the ’90s, I can’t believe I’m typing that. He pounds away on Haku and then tags in Roma to set up his POWERSLAM for 1, 2, NO! Tama makes the save. Next, Haku misses a charge in the corner and Blair gets a tag from Roma. Haku catches Blair immediately and hammers him to the mat. Tama tags in and hits a jumping back elbow, but then misses an elbow drop. Brunzell tags in and goes crazy on the Islanders before giving them a DOUBLE-NOGGIN KNOCKER! Brunzell delivers the JUMPING DROPKICK to Tama and covers, but Haku saves him. Meanwhile, Roma and Powers rid the ring of Haku. During all the mayhem that brings, Blair slips on the Killer Bees mask and catches Tama with a sunset flip from the apron for the three-count. (30:44 shown) Survivors: Killer Bees and Young Stallions. This is what I’m talking about earlier about how every tag team in this match possessed championship-like credibility. Even though the so-called fan favorites had nothing to do with the actual finish, you were hooked to the end. You may not find the most innovative wrestling in the world in this match, but you can’t deny that it was perfectly booked by not being predictable and giving you believable finishes. ****

• Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, Paul Orndorff & Don Muraco (w/Sir Oliver Humperdink) vs. Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Rick Rude & Butch Reed (w/Bobby Heenan and Slick) – 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match

In case you don’t know much about this period of time, there’s a lot of that has happened that needs to be explained in order for these teams to make sense if you’re looking at this card adjacent to WrestleMania. Andre had been sitting around complaining about how he had been cheated out of the title at WrestleMania, making this his first match since being in the Silverdome. So yeah, that’s a big deal. Bigelow was loved by the WWF fans, but received the Junkyard Dog treatment by default because he was a main event face who was never able to excel at the time because of Hogan’s Hulkamania-size presence. Ken Patera just plain hates Bobby Heenan and everyone who stands beside him. Orndorff goes from being the most hated man in the world after stabbing Hogan in the back, to being on Hogan’s team. The continuity doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it adds a little bit of “Can Hulk trust this guy?” feeling to the match. King Kong Bundy is still just King Kong Bundy, who just loves hurting people. During the summer, Muraco dumped Fuji and Orton and turned face, then started hanging and banging with Superstar Billy Graham. Graham was originally scheduled to be in this match, but OMG and Reed beat him down real good, preventing him from competition. Muraco came to his aid and was chosen for his substitute. Instead of saying face corner and heel corner, I’m going with Hogantown and Andre City. Creative writing; who said it was hard? Okay, here we go. Rude starts off with Muraco and quickly gets caught in Hogantown. Orndorff tags in and hits a knee-lift before tagging out to Hogan. He hits a bunch of elbow drops and tags in Bigelow for a diving headbutt for a big pop. Patera tags in and makes the mistake of knocking Rude back into Andre City to allow him to tag in Reed. Patera catches him on his way in and brings him over to Hogantown. They trade some tags until Hogan and Orndorff hit a double-clothesline to set up the LEG DROP and finish Reed at 3:07. Andre comes in, but Hogan is too busy high-fiving and hugging his teammates to turn around and see the giant man behind him. Referee Joey Marella considers the high-five with Patera a tag and makes Hogan get out of the ring. That’s some great booking to stall the Hogan/Andre confrontation to make you REALLY want to see it. After Hogan complains to the ref, Andre doesn’t even BOTHER with Patera and tags in Bundy. Haha, I love it. Patera hits a clothesline on Bundy, but then lets Bundy return to his corner to tag in One Man Gang while he tags in Orndorff. OMG avoids a charge in the corner with his boot and tags in Rude. Orndorff connects with a clothesline and drops an elbow for two, then tags in Muraco. Rude goes to the eyes and tags in OMG. He misses a charge in the corner, allowing Patera to receive a tag. Patera hits a crossbody on OMG and actually gets him down for two, but then OMG goes to the eyes and places Patera in his corner for some cheating. Patera is able to fight out, but OMG falls down with a clothesline to eliminate the former Olympian at 8:00 to even the teams. Hogan cuts off Gang’s tag and hits the corner clothesline. Bigelow tags in and together, they hit a double-big boot. Bigelow whips OMG into the corner, but then he comes out and they collide. The double-KO leads to a HOT TAG TO ORNDORFF! He works over Rude and calls for the PILEDRIVER, but Bundy comes in and nails him from behind. Rude sees his opportunity and rolls up Orndorff and grabs the tights to send him to the back at 9:39. Rude turns his back to the face corner and does a bicep pose. That proves to be unwise, as Muraco comes in and gives him an atomic drop/clothesline combo. We get some quick tags from Hogan’s team, which leads to Muraco delivering a Powerslam to finish Rude at 10:25 to make the teams even again. Bundy rakes the eyes, but then misses a knee drop. Muraco works on his leg, but Bundy rakes his eyes again to take over. Gang tags back in and Muraco tries to slam him, but OMG falls on top of him for 1, 2, NO! Gang picks up Muraco and rams him into Andre’s head and then hits a splash off the ropes and pins Muraco at 12:08. Bigelow comes in and tries a sunset flip on OMG, but Gang stands tall and falls on his chest. Bundy tags in and flips Bigelow inside and out with a clothesline. We clip to more of Bundy and Gang’s beatdown of Bigelow. It’s now clear to Ventura that Bobby Heenan wants Hogan to go against them 3-on-1. Andre finally wants in, but Bigelow is too fast for him and easily rolls over for the HOT TAG TO HOGAN! Hulk pounds Andre back into a corner as the crowd starts to rise to their feet. He blocks a headbutt and drives Andre’s head into a couple of turnbuckles. He starts to come off the ropes, but Bundy grabs his foot and pulls him out to the floor. Since Bundy and Gang aren’t legal, they can stay out on the floor all they want. Hogan slams BOTH men, but he doesn’t get back in the ring within the ten-count to eliminate him at 16:43. Bundy tags in and Bigelow hits his Diving Headbutt for two. Bigelow can’t put Bundy down with a dropkick, but he can by missing a charge and connecting with a slingshot splash to eliminate Bundy at 19:17, making it 2-on-1. OMG comes in and pounds away on Bigelow, but then he misses the 747 SPLASH. Bigelow drapes his arm over Gang and pins him at 21:37. Andre steps over the top rope and headbutts Bigelow down. Bigelow puts on the brakes on a whip, but then misses a corner charge. Andre rams his shoulder into Bigelow’s back in the corner and then flips Bigelow over to pin him and become the sole survivor. (22:52 shown) Survivors: Andre the Giant. Hogan runs down and nails Andre in the face with the championship belt to clear the ring because he doesn’t know how to handle not being victorious. Very good match, but once it got down to 3-on-3, the action really started to slow down. This is another match where the booking was done to perfection. Not only that, but we witness a true rarity in the ’80s, where the seemingly omnipotent Hulkster doesn’t come out on the winning end. ***

Final Thoughts: Quality-wise, it’s a standout show for its day. It’s a fun two-hour show with minimal slow spots, which is surprising with the length of the matches for a 1980’s WWF show. Also, the format of the mid-card, women, tag-team and main event matches worked well and was a very simple concept, which is not a bad thing. The booking and execution of the matches were great and continued to build up some of the major feuds at the time, (Savage/HTM, Hogan/Andre) while putting over new talent (Young Stallions, Bam Bam Bigelow) as well. Thumbs up for Survivor Series 1987. Heck, it sure beats Starrcade from that year.