{"id":545077,"date":"2016-11-03T13:15:55","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T17:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=545077"},"modified":"2016-11-03T13:15:55","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T17:15:55","slug":"1990-survivor-series-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/1990-survivor-series-review\/","title":{"rendered":"1990 Survivor Series Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
Simply put, especially in the wrestling business, you can\u2019t succeed in the future without appreciating the past.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, every now and then I like to take look back and review a pay per view event from yesteryear to simply try and bring up some fond memories for those reading this piece.<\/p>\n
Or, in some instances, educate newer or younger watchers to let them know what they were missing out on. Since we\u2019re in the heart of Survivor Series season, we\u2019ll go back to the time that I, and I\u2019m sure a lot of you reading, started watching professional wrestling. We\u2019ll head to the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT for the 1990 Survivor Series.<\/p>\n
This show included Hulk Hogan appearing NOT as WWF Champion, a rarity in the late 80s-early 90s, the only year to have the \u201cGrand Finale Match of Survival\u201d where the survivors of all the matches came back for one last elimination tag match, and also gave us a, shall we say \u201cphenom-enal\u201d debut!<\/p>\n
So log on to the WWE Network (it\u2019s only $9.99\/month and free for the month of November for new subscribers\u2026they haven\u2019t done that much in-show advertising about that so I\u2019m sure everybody forgot) and take a look at this blast from the past!<\/p>\n
1990 Survivor Series<\/strong><\/p>\n
The show kicks off with Vince\u2019s old-school \u201cYou\u2019re Fired!\u201d voice introducing all of the participants and all of the teams. I\u2019ll say this; I miss the days of the named teams! Team Raw vs Team SmackDown just doesn\u2019t do it for me. In 1990, we didn\u2019t have Team Hogan vs Team Earthquake! No! We had a lot more creativity! We had The Hulkamaniacs vs The Natural Disasters! You could sell jerseys with these name printed on them!<\/p>\n
From there we are introduced to tonight\u2019s commentary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Roddy Piper. I thought Piper was underrated as a commentator during his run from 1990-1991. Hard to sound bad when you have a great like Monsoon sitting next to you though! Not only are they introducing themselves, but they are also introducing that large egg that is sitting on the stage as well\u2026oh boy!<\/p>\n
The Perfect Team – Team Captain Mr. Perfect, Demolition (Ax, Smash and Crush)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Vs<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Warriors – Team Captain The Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Sooooooooo much face paint in the ring right now! We quickly saw an elimination as The Warrior pinned Ax in what turned out to be Ax\u2019s last appearance in the WWF. A few minutes later half of the match was eliminated as the LOD and the remaining members of Demolition were disqualified for their brawl outside of the ring. This added to what should have been the biggest tag team program of the time with LOD vs Demolition, but it never surfaced. I still think that the Road Warriors vs Demolition would have made a better tag title match at WrestleMania 7 a few months later than The Hart Foundation vs The Nasty Boys did.<\/p>\n
Mr. Perfect ended up eliminating the Texas Tornado, who never really got the momentum back after this event that he had after beating Perfect for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam just a few months prior. The Warrior followed that up with the final elimination of Perfect to become the sole survivor and move on to the Match of Survival.<\/p>\n
The Dream Team – Team Captain Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Vs<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Million Dollar Team – Team Captain Ted DiBiase, Mystery Partner, Rhythm & Blues (Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine)<\/strong><\/p>\n
This turned out to be the moment that changed the WWF for the next couple decades. Ted DiBiase grabbed the mic and announced that his mystery partner would be led to the ring by his manager Brother Love (which still just confuses me). The man that Brother Love was leading? Why it was the new superstar making his debut – The Phenom himself The Undertaker.<\/p>\n
Couple interesting somewhat unknown facts about the debut. First, did you know that he was actually introduced as \u201cCain \u2013 The Undertaker\u201d? It seems like every bit of video calling him \u201cCain\u201d had been scrubbed out. But, thanks to a little investigating, I found Taker\u2019s TV debut a few weeks after Survivor Series\u2026<\/p>\n