To show how bored I am when I’m not writing and how desperate I am to fill this intro space, I put together this presentation.

Stupid jerk Big Show, beating up Blue Meanie, Taka and Funaki for no reason.

9) SURVIVOR SERIES 1992

Date: November 25, 1992
Era: New Generation
Location: Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio
Known as: The return of Mr. Perfect
Elimination Matches: 1 out of 8

Survivor Series 92 is a weird bird, no doubt. Originally, it was meant to be a major happening for the huge angle playing out between Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair and Razor Ramon. Then with only a couple weeks left before the show, Ultimate Warrior was fired from the company for the second time. Uh oh. With the Ultimate Maniacs in jeopardy, the writers pulled a rabbit out of their hat by dedicating two hours of Prime Time Wrestling (the Monday night show that was there before Raw existed) to having Savage convince Mr. Perfect to be his partner. It was brilliantly done. With a slow burn, they made Perfect go from laughing off the offer to be Savage’s partner to quietly questioning himself on why Flair and Heenan would keep him in a non-wrestling capacity for so long and then deciding he’s had enough of Flair’s bullshit and accepted Savage’s offer.

There was another huge change to the show’s format. A match had been scheduled between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, but within weeks of the show, Shawn Michaels won the Intercontinental Championship from the British Bulldog and Bret won the WWF Championship from Ric Flair. Their match was pushed into the main event.

The Atmosphere

Oh ho ho! What a treat this is. If you love a good promo then Survivor Series 92 is like Christmas. I watched the Coliseum Home Video version, which features a lot of extra segments, but they’re too fun not to count. So we get a Reverend Slick intro, an intense promo from Tatanka, a strange sequence where Lord Alfred Hayes hangs out with Yokozuna, Mr. Fuji and some geishas, a rather sad moment with a catatonic Kamala after his match with the Undertaker and much more. You see, guys like Savage, Perfect, Flair, Razor, Boss Man and even Nailz are awesome when it comes to promos. Throughout the night, each one gets to go TWICE! Here’s some nice Boss Man action, followed by Nailz.

I love that Mooney warns us about how violent the match is going to be when it’s ultimately so tame in the end. There’s even a cool backstage promo by Virgil after his match with Yokozuna that isn’t delivered especially well, but is unique in the way it pushes Yokozuna. See, any monster can be shown beating up a jobber, but actually getting a word with the broken remains of the wrestler sets it over the top. Virgil’s moment is like a weak, hurt version of, “Game over, man! Game over!” for the rest of the WWF.

There is one other segment in there that I want to talk about, but I think it would be better to show you at the end of this review. I promise it’s worth it.

The Matches

To start, we have High Energy (“The Rocket” Owen Hart and Koko B. Ware) vs. the Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu). It’s an okay match that suffers from being a pretty routine tag match that doesn’t feel needed. Samu starts it off by overpowering Owen, but he starts fight back with a lot of energetic offense. Koko is tagged in and keep it going until making the mistake of slamming the two Headshrinkers’ heads together. They no-sell it, Afa hits Koko with a kendo stick to the back and the Headshrinkers work over Koko for a while. Samu misses an Avalanche into the corner and Koko tags Owen. Owen delivers a crossbody off the top onto Samu, but Fatu kicks him off. Samu performs a splash off the top and Owen is pinned while Koko does virtually nothing to save his partner.

Big Boss Man clashes with Nailz in a Nightstick on a Pole Match. I don’t like to give matches bad reviews strictly based on not liking the wrestler involved. I give everyone a shot to impress or disappoint me on a match-by-match basis, whether it be Triple H or Giant Gonzales. So let me just say that despite Nailz being atrocious as a wrestler, this match is the best you can ever ask for from him. Nailz has no theme song and instead we’re shown a split-screen with Boss Man giving his second promo of the night backstage until running off to the ring. Nailz grabs Boss Man and overpowers him with lots of choking. He goes to climb up the pole, gets pulled down, Boss Man tries to climb it and Nailz throws him. The crowd is definitely pumped for this. Boss Man fights back and misses a splash, allowing Nailz another chance to climb up. He gets crotched onto the ropes.

Boss Man climbs and finally gets his hand on the nightstick. He wails on Nailz, but gets disarmed. Nailz starts hitting Boss Man with it, misses one swing, gets punched a few times, is thrown into a Boss Man Slam and is pinned. Boss Man gets the nightstick and uses it on Nailz a few more times to send him packing, but Nailz backs away up the ramp, relatively unscathed. The match has a couple botches, but it is exciting and just long enough not to wear out its welcome.

Tatanka vs. “The Model” Rick Martel is a rematch from Wrestlemania 8, which itself was a complete snoozer. Here, they do a far better job. Tatanka turns away Martel’s offense quickly and knocks him out of the ring. Martel angrily gets back in there and pokes Tatanka on the chest until Tatanka sends him out of the ring once again. Martel catches Tatanka during one move and slams him over the top rope with a Stun Gun. Martel puts him in a lengthy rest hold and curiously, Doink the Clown comes out to mess with the crowd. He has no bearing on the match whatsoever, but it’s a good thing he’s there because Martel’s front facelock is going on forever and watching an evil clown run amok is far more entertaining. Tatanka powers out and gets shoved into the corner. Martel dives at him and misses, killing his shoulder. Tatanka starts attacking the shoulder with chops.

Martel gets the advantage back and starts to work Tatanka’s back on the outside. Martel tries an axe-handle from the second rope and is greeted with a punch to the gut. Tatanka delivers a whole lot of chops, followed with a chop off the top rope. He gives Martel the End of the Trail, pins him and takes back the sacred Native American feather that Martel stole to start this feud. Unrelated to the action, Doink makes a couple balloon animals for the fans, pops them and runs off laughing. Pretty average match, all things considered.

Now for our first main event where “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Mr. Perfect face Ric Flair and Razor Ramon. Savage comes out to introduce his “Perfect partner”, who gets a cool entrance of his own with the crowd popping for him. Perfect has a staredown of sorts with Razor, who throws his toothpick at Perfect. Perfect slaps him in return, then proceeds to outwrestle both Razor and Flair. The place is electric. Savage is tagged in and kicks ass for only a bit until the heels take control. And… the match kind of sits there. There’s drama in there for sure, but there are literally nine minutes straight of Savage getting his ass handed to him with no reprieve. Just Razor and Flair taking their turns while Perfect is left on the apron. Perfect decides that Savage is a loser and makes his way up the ramp, but has second thoughts and returns to the match.

The heels don’t do themselves too many favors by messing with Perfect so he’ll distract the ref. It does allow them to beat on Savage some more, but it only strengthens Perfect’s resolve. The nine minutes are up and Savage throws Flair off the top rope while standing on the second rope. He makes the hot tag and Perfect goes to town on Razor. Flair hits Savage with a chair on the outside while Perfect accidentally gets shoved into the ref. Razor tries the Razor’s Edge, which is turned into a backdrop. Perfect gives him the Perfectplex, but there’s no ref to count it. Flair breaks up the pin, so he gets punished with a Perfectplex. Razor breaks it. They double-team Perfect too much and get disqualified for it. Flair puts him in the Figure Four and Razor picks up a chair. Savage steals the chair from Razor, slips it to Perfect, Perfect uses the chair on Flair while in the Figure Four and then uses it on both of his opponents before they skedaddle. Savage puts his hands up for a high five and it takes Perfect a minute or so to agree to it. Perfect is now a full-fledged face and sees eye-to-eye with Savage.

Now it’s time for Yokozuna vs. Virgil. Yokozuna’s been plowing through jobbers and the idea behind this match is that Virgil will be his first true challenge. Virgil is, of course, going to job hard. I know it, you know it, everyone in that crowd knows it. That being said, Virgil does an excellent job making this watchable. He really does make it look like at least a step up from the usual squash. He has his moments where he fights back, rocks the giant sumo and even has you pushing for him. He uses his speed well and makes a good comeback. Still, the match is only three and a half minutes. Virgil tries to roll Yokozuna up with a School Boy, but Yokozuna falls right on him. With Virgil already crushed, Yokozuna flattens him even more by giving him an Avalanche and a Banzai Drop.

Our lone elimination tag match is Money Inc. (“The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase and Irwin R. Schyster) and the Beverly Brothers (Beau and Blake Beverly) vs. the Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) and the Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags). The elimination tag concept is so downplayed this year that this match is going with the rule that if you are eliminated, so is your partner. Blake gets in Typhoon’s face, so he shoves the Beverly across the ring and struts. He overpowers Blake and tags in Earthquake, who puts Blake in a bearhug. Beau comes in and jumps on Earthquake with a sleeper, but gets crushed in the corner. The Natural Disasters flatten both Beverly Brothers with a Double Avalanche. The Nasties come in to lend a hand and it seems for a moment that everyone has their work boots on. Everyone in there is looking good! And I take that back when I see Sags perform a series of horrible hiptosses. Sags goes all out on all the heels until being distracted by former manager Jimmy Hart. With his concentration gone, IRS nails him and takes over the match. The heels all work over Sags until he and Blake collide into each other at one point and they both go down. He makes the tag and soon after, the ring fills up.

Beau foolishly tries a Crucifix pin on Typhoon, but we know what that’ll get you based on Virgil vs. Yokozuna. Typhoon falls back and crushes him, Earthquake does the Earthquake Splash and both Beverly Brothers are eliminated. Everyone beats on Dibiase until Earthquake misses an Avalanche in the corner and Money Inc. drive him into the mat with a double suplex. Dibiase works Earthquake over, but an attack off the top is countered with a boot to the face. Earthquake tags in Typhoon, who takes IRS to task. He splashes IRS, Dibiase makes the save, the Nasty Boys throw him out of the ring, Dibiase gets back up to trip Typhoon and IRS pins him thanks to an elbow drop and a handful of tights. An instant later, Sags rolls him up for the pin. It’s an anti-climactic ending to an okay match, but the Nasties help push the happy ending by beating up Money Inc. after the conclusion.

Now we see the first installment of the Undertaker vs. Scared Fat Dude Casket Match at Survivor Series Trilogy as Undertaker takes on Kamala in a Casket Match. Er, actually, they say it’s a “Coffin Match”, but “casket” is a cooler word. People hate this match based on how Undertaker isn’t so much a good worker yet and Kamala is pretty crappy in his own right, but this isn’t about the fundamentals of good mat work. This match is about story and it tells a good one. The Yokozuna match only existed to add closure and bury Yokozuna before his vacation. The Big Show one made little sense, as Big Show both chose the match and routinely destroyed Undertaker, but lost because he became scared when the need for an Undertaker comeback demanded it. On the surface, this Kamala match seems unnecessary, since Undertaker’s shown himself to be completely dominant against him since Summerslam and every meeting between the two has shown Kamala to be downright frightened. Undertaker’s already won the feud, more or less. Yet Kamala’s forced into his match by his handlers and it helps develop him and move his character forward.

Kamala is already afraid as the match begins and he backs off from the coff—he backs off from the casket. He emotes so well that it’s heartbreaking. He fights back out of desperation and we get some back and forth before Kamala clotheslines Undertaker out. Undertaker land on his feet and strangles Kamala’s managers Harvey Whippleman and Kim Chee. Kamala makes the save by wailing on Undertaker with Kim Chee’s pith helmet and a steel chair. Kamala uses a lot of slams and kicks to knock Undertaker down, but he keeps getting back up. He squashes him with three splashes and Paul Bearer climbs up to the apron in order to command Undertaker to sit back up. Kim Chee trips him and Paul drops the urn. Kamala sees it and kicks it to Kim Chee out of fear. Kim Chee gives the urn to Kamala with orders to hit Undertaker with it. Undertaker sits up, Kamala drops the urn and makes a run for it. He sees the casket in his way, screeches to a halt and gets pasted with the urn by the Undertaker. Undertaker pins him, rolls him into the casket and nails it shut.

Like I mentioned earlier about the backstage segment where they open up the casket. I might as well show it to you guys to give you an idea of how sad this whole thing is.

Aw, man. The whole match is good closure to their feud while a great springboard into Kamala turning face. Now, had they done anything of note with him as a face, it might be remembered better, but there’s nothing outright bad about this match-up. At least, not in my eyes.

Now for the main event. Bret “The Hitman” Hart defends the WWF Championship against “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels. I shouldn’t have to tell you that it’s good, but whatever, I’m not going anywhere. There’s a lot of mat stuff to start it off with Michaels getting increasingly aggressive due to his disadvantage. Even trying a Hammerlock gets him thrown out of the ring. Bret simply wrestles circles around him. Every time Michaels fights back and things get exciting, Bret continues to take him down a peg or two. Finally, Michaels gets results by surprising Bret with a Stun Gun. He throws Bret shoulder-first into the post and does a lengthy chinlock. As time passes, Bret finally musters up the strength to fight his way out and hit a swinging neckbreaker. Michaels gets up first and tiredly beats on Bret. Since he’s tired, that means – *sigh* – another rest hold in the form of a front facelock. Bret powers his way to his feet and turns it into a Small Package. Kickout.

Bret Slingshots Michaels into the corner, whips him into the other corner with a bounce so high that he ends up being crotched on the top rope. Bret starts to hit his trademark Five Moves of Doom, nails a superplex and still can’t put Michaels away. He gives Michaels a sleeper and gets pushed into the corner. Michaels throws Bret out of the ring and bodyslams him on the outside. Now Michaels is the one having trouble putting his enemy away no matter what he tries. Bret starts mounting offense, Michaels hits a superkick, but makes no cover since this isn’t his actual finisher yet. No, that would be the Teardrop Suplex (think Angle Slam, but falling back more), which he does indeed perform, but Bret kicks out.

Desperate, Michaels goes off the second rope with a dropkick. Bret catches it and turns it into a Sharpshooter. Michaels submits and runs to the back, ending this good-as-expected match. Then Santa Claus runs out and joins Bret in the ring. It begins to snow and Santa puts his hat on Bret’s head. The best part? Santa does the Bret “angry shrug” pose.

Remember earlier when I said that there was one promo I had to save for last? Well… glue your peepers onto this baby.

It’s a good, solid show. I didn’t hate a single match and the only one that didn’t do it for me was the throwaway opener. Now what they really need to do is have someone steal Nailz’s voice gimmick. That shit was scary. I nominate Skip Sheffield.

8) SURVIVOR SERIES 1995

Date: November 19, 1995
Era: New Generation
Location: USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland
Known as: That one with the Wild Card Match
Elimination Matches: 4 out of 6

Sadly, 95 is when the WWF had decided to no longer make the show Thanksgiving-themed. Well, great. That’s why we can’t have good things. It’s almost a year to the day of Diesel defeating Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship and… yeah, it hasn’t been a good run for Big Daddy Cool. Some would say that he’s the worst drawing champion they’ve ever had. He’s going to be defending against Bret Hart with the next contender being the British Bulldog. Meanwhile, President Gorilla Monsoon has put together a Wild Card Match where random top names are put into elimination tag teams with no regard of face or heel alignment. This includes the newcomer Ahmed Johnson who made his first appearance by walking into the ring, bodyslamming Yokozuna, playing to the crowd and leaving. Manly man, that Ahmed.

The Atmosphere

Before doing any real sort of intro, the show starts off introducing Mr. Perfect to the announce booth. Uh… yeah, okay. We’ll do that. They do a lot of badass lead-up to Bret vs. Diesel with video packages and taped promos about their strategies. The problem is how after a point they start to repeat themselves. Like Diesel keeps going on about how he isn’t paid by the hour and he’s going to try to take out Bret the first chance he gets.

With the Wild Card Match, the two teams are each interviewed with Cornette kissing the ass of whichever team member he appears to be hanging out with. In one promo he’s backing Owen and Yokozuna while in the other one he’s backing Bulldog. The team with Owen, Yokozuna and Dean Douglas all talk down to the lone face Razor Ramon about how he needs to keep his head in the game and warn him not to screw up the match for them.

There’s also a running gag where the WWF’s go-to Clinton impersonator hangs out in the crowd with Todd Pettengill. For Bam Bam’s match, Clinton starts saying how much he loves the Flintstones and when Bam Bam’s pyro goes off, the secret service shield him. Bob Backlund screams at Clinton for his incompetence and suggests that he himself run for President. Then there’s an embarrassing scene where Clinton pours popcorn down Sunny’s cleavage.

The Matches

The opening contest is the Underdogs (Marty Jannetty, Bob “Sparkplug” Holly, Hakushi and Barry Horowitz) vs. the BodyDonnas (Skip, Rad Radford, Tom Pritchard and the 1-2-3 Kid). Holy crap, I do not give a shit if any of these guys wins. The Kid is a mystery partner as he’s recently turned heel and joined up with Dibiase’s Corporation. Razor Ramon has to be held back by officials as his former protégé makes his way to the ring.

Jannetty begins by outsmarting all the heels with his speed-based offense before tagging in Hakushi to a huge pop. Dude is pretty over around this time. He runs into a spinebuster from Radford, who tags in the Kid for a splash from the top. Hakushi kicks out. Hakushi tags in to Horowitz who is also hugely over and even gets his share of, “BARRY!” chants. Our first elimination is about five minutes in when Pritchard misses a moonsault and Holly punishes him with a crossbody from the top. Pritchard is pinned, Skip runs in, rolls Holy up with a School Boy and evens the score to 3-on-3. Skip looks good here, especially when working with Hakushi. He performs a hurricanrana off the top rope and then proceeds to do a Flair Flop just because. The Kid is tagged in and gets taken apart by Hakushi. Kid tags out to Radford, who also receives some damage, but dodges a dive from the outside. From behind, the Kid does a spinning heel kick to Hakushi, Radford grabs his tights and Hakushi is out of there. Horowitz checks up on his culture-shocked friend and gets jumped. Radford kicks the crap out of him, starts doing jumping jacks and push-ups to show how in-shape he’s in and Horowitz cradles him into a pin. Whoops!

Skip and Horowitz have a staredown and Skip acts scared. In the middle of their showdown, the Kid makes a blind tag, knees Horowitz in the back and then hits a quick legdrop. The quick legdrop is good enough to eliminate Horowitz. Yes, I know. That may be the worst of all eliminations right there. Jannetty is the last member of his team left. He gives Skip the Rocker Dropper, climbs to the top rope and gets crotched by Sunny. Skip climbs up to follow it up, but Jannetty destroys him with a powerbomb from the top rope! YEAH! That makes it Jannetty vs. 1-2-3 Kid. Kid goes right for him, lays him out and hits a legdrop from the top. It isn’t enough to pin him, which really makes Horowitz look like more of a punk. He tries the same move, only with a flip added in there, but he misses. Jannetty starts getting it together, but just as it seems he has a chance to win this, Sid walks out. Jannetty lands the Rocker Dropper, but the Kid puts his foot on the rope. Dibiase distracts the referee, Sid drags Jannetty’s throat across the top rope and the Kid pins him.

Really good work from those involved, but a horribly booked match. Backstage, Razor sees this unfold and throws a TV against the wall.

The women of the WWF have their own elimination tag match and we get Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue, Sakie Hasegawa and Chaparita Asari vs. Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, Tomoko Watanabe and Lioness Asuka. I recognizes three of those names! Doesn’t matter, since the match is rad regardless. Lots of awesome moves in there. It starts with Asari getting killed by Asuka until Alundra tags in. Alundra takes it to Asuka, Asari makes an assist with a Sky Twister Press and then Alundra puts Asuka away with a German Suplex. Watanabe goes after Alundra and misses a botched moonsault. She’s thrown out of the ring and Alundra jumps out onto her. She tags in Sakie, who delivers five double-armed suplexes to Watanabe. Watanabe escapes by tagging in Aja Kong who proceeds to wreck shit. She delivers a back suplex on Sakie and pins her. Asari attempts a crossbody on Aja Kong, but bounces off like rubber. Aja Kong climbs to the second rope and crushes her with a splash. Asari’s out. Kyoko tries a couple clotheslines and a Sunset Flip, but Kong sits down on her and gets her eliminated as well. That means it’s 3-on-1.

The three heels come in and stalks Alundra. Alundra does a good job fighting her way out of this by eliminating Watanabe after a piledriver. Then she tricks Kong and Bertha into colliding and takes out Bertha with a German Suplex. The fight between Alundra Blayze and Aja Kong goes back and forth, but Alundra’s out-classed here. A couple chest shots and a spinning backfist lay out Alundra and Kong makes the final pin. Unexpectedly great match here. Easily the best female contest in Survivor Series history.

Now it’s time for one of my favorites to make his final WWF appearance as Bam Bam Bigelow is fed to Goldust. It’s so sad to see Bam Bam job in the main event of the previous Wrestlemania and have his “reward push” be scrapped so he can be enhancement talent for Goldust. Not that I have anything against Goldust. Having him go over someone like Bam Bam is totally expected. It’s just that Goldust doesn’t get by through heel tactics and trickery. He fucks Bam Bam up. When they brawl, Goldust out-punches him. He spends almost the entire match completely dominant. Bam Bam gets some offense in late in the match until missing a falling headbutt. The ending is a botch where Goldust is whipped into the corner and falls to his knees until remembering that he’s supposed to lean against the corner so he can dodge an Avalanche. So he stands back up, dodges that Avalanche, gives Bam Bam a bulldog and pins him. Lame way to see Bam Bam go.

Quiz time! You have Undertaker returning from injury and he really needs to exact revenge on King Mabel. At the same time, you want to make the match semi-watchable, especially after the bomb that was Summerslam. How do you do this?

The correct answer would be to have an elimination tag featuring one of the strangest pairs of teams. The Darkside (Undertaker, Savio Vega, Henry Godwinn, and Fatu) loom over the Royals (King Mabel, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Isaac Yankem DDS). King Mabel gets carried out on a throne, which is always the best kind of wrestler entrance. Sorry, Gangrel. Undertaker debuts his hilariously dumb Phantom of the Opera mask to protect his face. Helmsley takes it to Fatu to start it off and almost gives him a Pedigree, but staring at the Undertaker causes Helmsley to back off out of fear. Godwinn is brought in and his showdown with Helmsley is accompanied by a loud, “BURGER KING!” chant aimed at Lawler. Actually, that chant is far more fitting to King Mabel.

Fatu dodges an Avalanche by Mabel and is tagged in by Savio. Savio then runs into a Boss Man Slam from Mabel and spends the next several minutes in peril. Lawler delivers a piledriver, taunts to the crowd and gets around to trying for a pin. Savio kicks out. Helmsley comes in, Savio gives him a Rock Bottom, gets back to his feet and tags in the Undertaker. To give you some perspective, it’s been twelve minutes and we’ve neither seen an elimination nor have we seen the Undertaker in action. Nobody will tag in Lawler, dooming him to a Tombstone. Once he’s gone, Isaac Yankem attacks. Oh, man. Dentist Kane vs. Masked Undertaker is such a surreal thing to see. Especially when he’s immediately Tombstoned and taken out. Helmsley tries to run, but Godwinn stands in his way with a slop bucket ready. Undertaker pulls Helmsley in, chokeslams him and pins him.

Mabel is the last member of his team and starts slamming Undertaker around. Undertaker sits back up, scaring the crap out of Mabel and causing him to run off. Sir Moe runs into the ring and is met with a chokeslam. Mabel is counted out and the Darkside gets a clean sweep.

Now for the Wild Card Match. “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, “the British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith and Sycho Sid face Razor Ramon, Yokozuna, Owen Hart and Dean Douglas. The commentators play up a real-life incident involving Michaels being mugged at a bar in order to play up a concussion he received. While that won’t come into play tonight, his experiences will only compound it for the following episode of Raw. The two teams first talk strategy in their own corners and it’s decided that Michaels and Owen will start it off. Owen tries throwing Michaels out, only for Michaels to Skin the Cat, roll back in, catch Owen’s head with his legs and throw him out of the ring. Michaels hops out there, ducks a tennis racket shot from Cornette and spanks him with said racket.

Once Ahmed Johnson gets in there, he’s immediately over and cleans house. He tries to bodyslam Yokozuna, but Owen attacks him before he can get him up. Dean Douglas runs in and Ahmed throws Michaels at him in a pin attempt. Douglas kicks out, then evades Sweet Chin Music. Douglas argues with Razor on the apron, Michaels rolls him up for a pin, Douglas escapes, gets shoved into Razor, Razor punches him and Michaels rolls him up for another try and gets the job done this time. Bulldog and Owen are forced to go at it, both confused over what to do. After their brief interaction, they decide to get some revenge by making Michaels and Razor fight it out and see how they like it. Michaels and Razor is some great back and forth that leads to Michaels ducking down for a backdrop and Razor getting him with the Razor’s Edge. Ahmed runs in to prevent the pin from taking place. Razor and Michaels end up running into each other, giving Michaels the time he needs to tag in Sid. Sid climbs to the top rope and gets thrown off by Razor. Sid still keeps it together and chokeslams Razor before tagging Michaels back in. He holds up Razor and demands Michaels give Razor Sweet Chin Music. Razor moves out of the way, Sid is knocked out and Michaels shrugs it off. Razor gets the pin and we’re even at 3-on-3.

When Sid gets back up, he’s furious and powerbombs Michaels. Yokozuna takes advantage by destroying the remains of what was Shawn Michaels, then tags in Owen. Owen does a diving headbutt from the top and misses. Ahmed is tagged in and cleans house, finishing Owen off with the Pearl River Plunge. Ahmed, unfortunately, lets his greenness screw with the match. There’s a part where he runs into Razor’s foot and starts staggering with Razor climbing the second rope to give him a jumping bulldog. The problem is that Ahmed keeps staggering forward to the point that he’s nearly on the other side of the ring completely, so Razor has to step down, walk forward and THEN give him a regular bulldog. In another spot that’s too stupid to exist, Ahmed slams down Razor, walks over to the corner, stands on the bottom rope and holds his arms out to the sides to taunt. He waits there for a moment for no reason other than making it easy for Razor to give him the Razor’s Edge instead of having to pick him up the hard way. Bulldog blind tags Ahmed, meaning Razor can’t follow up with a pin. Sycho Sid and 1-2-3 Kid walks out and mess with Razor until his concentration is shot and the Bulldog takes advantage of it with a running powerslam. Razor is down and now Yokozuna is the only one left on his team.

Yokozuna dominates Michaels and crushes his already messed up skull with a legdrop. He sets up for the Banzai Drop and misses. Ahmed is tagged in and bodyslams Yokozuna. Despite being on Ahmed’s team, Bulldog stops Ahmed from pinning Bulldog’s stablemate. Michaels and Ahmed clothesline Bulldog out of the ring, Michaels hits Yokozuna with Sweet Chin Music, Ahmed performs a running splash and he pins Yokozuna. The winners are Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson and the reluctant British Bulldog. A great match idea improved by having all-around great workers in there. I was surprised they never did the Wild Card stuff more often.

Then it’s the main event where Diesel defends the WWF Championship against Bret “The Hitman” Hart with no disqualification. Much like how Michaels would go on to carry Sid to the best match of his career in 96, 95 is about Bret carrying Diesel to the best match of his career. The two decide to psyche each other out a bit by removing some of the top turnbuckle pads, since it’s no DQ. Diesel has things looking good at first, constantly overpowering and mugging Bret while stalking him wherever he goes. He smashes a chair into Bret’s back. Commentators are selling the hell out of the psychology of the match and the even contrast of styles, which certainly helps. Diesel tries a Jackknife Powerbomb early, but Bret escapes it and starts biting Diesel.

Now that it’s Bret’s show, he works over Diesel’s knee, including a Figure Four. When he attempts the Sharpshooter, he gets a thumb to the eyes. Bret takes a cable from outside the ring, brings it in and ties it around Diesel’s leg. Diesel can’t escape it, so Bret grabs the chair and goes at him… which leads to Bret running right into a boot to the face. Bret gets back up and wails on the champ, especially in the knee area. He climbs to the top with the chair and gets punched down. Diesel throws Bret across the ring and unties himself. Bret is shoved into the unprotected corner and Diesel staggers over to him, selling the damage on his leg. Diesel holds up Bret for Snake Eyes, but instead gets his head shoved into the unprotected corner. Bret clotheslines Diesel out of the ring, where he lands right on his feet. Bret dives out after him and misses completely. Diesel gets back in and Bret staggers to the apron. Diesel goes for the move where you shove the top rope forward, pull it back and the opponent flies into the ring, but when he shoves it forward, Bret loses his grip and is sent crashing into a table.

Diesel shows sympathy for what’s happened to Bret and throws him into the ring. He picks him up for the Jackknife Powerbomb, but Bret’s so weak that he slumps down. Diesel reluctantly tries it again, but in his moment of weakness, he’s open for Bret to spring to life, roll up Diesel with a Small Package and pin him. Bret’s the new champion and Diesel is cursing up a storm. Completely furious that he’s been duped, bamboozled and speckledorfed, Diesel shoves the ref aside and Jackknifes Bret. Other referees come in to stop this carnage and he makes them targets as well. With the ring littered with referees, Diesel gives Bret a second Jackknife Powerbomb before deciding that it’s enough for now. He walks up the ramp, announcing, “I’M BACK!”

I would probably rank that as one of the top Survivor Series matches in the PPV’s history. The Goldust squash and the opening contest were pretty average and the Undertaker match wasn’t all that better, but the women’s match, the Wild Card and the main event really pushed it to this spot in the countdown.

Day One (23-22)
Day Two (21-20)
Day Three (19-18)
Day Four (17-16)
Day Five (15-14)
Day Six (13-12)
Day Seven (11-10)
Day Eight (9-8)
Day Nine (7-6)
Day Ten (5-4)
Day Eleven (3-1)

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• The Survivor Series Countdown: Day Seven
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Posted in comic books, Lists, reviews, Survivor Series Countdown by Gavok |