Survivor Series 1993 Review

Wednesday, November 24th, 1993
Boston Garden
Boston, Massachusetts

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Lex Luger and his wife and kids wish us a Happy Thanksgiving. They then cut to the national anthem being sung in the arena. 

IRS, Diesel, Rick Martel & Adam Bomb vs. 1-2-3 Kid, Marty Jannetty, Razor Ramon & Randy Savage

The heels all came out to Diesel's entrance music, while the babyfaces came out individually. Ramon gets on the mic and says that Mr. Perfect is not on the team. He announces Randy Savage as the replacement. Razor and Martel start things out with some nice wrestling and reversals. Razor hits an atomic drop and an inverted atomic drop, prompting Martel to tag in Adam Bomb. We get the classic test of strength, with Razor immediately falling to his knees. He naturally battles back, but Bomb kicks him in the midsection. Razor battles back and hits a suplex out of the test of strength. We have a miscommunication between Martel and Bomb and IRS tries his best to calm everyone down. The Kid is in there now and he gets manhandled by Bomb before tagging in Diesel, who does the same. Diesel hits a gut wrench powerbomb. Kid runs into a big boot, but then hits a headscissor and tags in Savage, who cleans house. Savage hits a top rope elbow on Diesel and he's gone. That's a surprise, even 27+ years later. The heels now isolate Razor with quick tags. Razor is able to hit a knee lift on Martel, but can't get to his corner to make the tag. He gets a boot up on IRS and tags in Savage. As he's taking it to IRS, out comes Crush and Savage tries to go after him. His teammates stop him and he gets back in the ring. Savage loses focus and IRS rolls him up and he's gone. He chases Crush into the back and Jannetty is in for the first time. Martel rams his shoulder into the ring post and now Razor and IRS are both back in. Razor hits a variation of the chokeslam and then the Razor's Edge to eliminate IRS. A brawl breaks out between the five remaining members and Razor gets Martel up for the Razor's Edge, but IRS hits Razor with his briefcase. He's out of the ring and he gets counted out to even the score. Kid hits a pop up dropkick and Adam Bomb is out of the ring. Kid goes for a dive, but Bomb catches him and dumps him to the ground. He then hits launched clothesline on his way back in. Marty gets back in and quickens the pace on Martel. Kid gets tagged back in and he gets a roll up to eliminate Martel. Almost immediately after, Jannetty hits a sunset flip on Bomb and they pull off the upset victory. That was a very solid way to open the show and included some surprising booking. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Shawn Michaels is with Todd Pettengill. He is wearing the Intercontinental Championship and they talk about him being reinstated. They then go to the Hart Family, as they pretend this feud is with Shawn Michaels and not Jerry Lawler. They go back to Michaels and he threatens Stu if he sticks his nose in his business. 

Ray Combs goes on and on before he gets to his ring introductions and it's not nearly the quality of his WrestleMania VIII intro. 

Shawn Michaels & His Knights vs. Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Keith Hart & Bruce Hart

Bruce, being the legend that he is, dominates the early moments of the match. He tags in Keith and he shows off some of his mat skills. This whole knight story could have been better if they would have built around it more than they did. Instead it just felt like three random jobbers. Bret gets a couple of nearfalls on the Black Knight and then hits the second rope elbow drop. He tags in Owen and he hits the spin kick and then the referee loses control. The Harts throw all four men into each other and Ray Combs just loves it. Owen hits the missile dropkick on the Black Knight and eliminates him. Combs thinks the match is over. This match just feels so pointless, even though it is probably a better match with Michaels over Lawler. Michaels gets launched at Keith, but he moves out of the way and tags in Bret. Bret locks in the Sharpshooter on the Red Knight and he is gone. Owen comes in and hits a second rope elbow drop. Shawn slides underneath Owen and out of the ring. Shawn goes after Stu and he slugs Michaels. Owen comes and hits a dive over the top rope. Owen hits a top rope crossbody on the Blue Knight. Owen gets Shawn out of there and puts the Sharpshooter on the Blue Knight and now it is 4-1. Shawn hits a superkick on Bruce and he kicks out of it. Bret gets tagged in and hits an inverted atomic drop. When Bret goes for a backbreaker, Shawn pokes him in the eye and buys himself some time. Bret tags in Owen and when he's running the ropes, he accidentally knocks Bret off the apron. The distraction allows Michaels to roll up and eliminate Owen. Owen is livid, while Bruce and Keith are checking on Bret. Bret eventually gets back in there and goes for the Sharpshooter. Shawn wiggles his way out and starts running to the back, giving the Harts the victory. After the match, Owen runs out and shoves Bret. Helen is distraught and Stu tries to have a word with both of them. Owen is complaining about never getting recognition and he then celebrates by himself. Todd Pettengill tries to get a word with Owen, but doesn't have any luck. This match seemed to only exist to begin the feud between Bret and Owen. Other than that, it just seemed to exist. I am a huge fan of Bret, Owen and Shawn, but the action here was pretty mediocre. 

Match Rating: **

Bobby and Gorilla have a little encounter. They shift over to Jim Ross and Gorilla on announcing to help promote WWF Radio and probably because Vince didn't want to announce a Rock 'n' Roll Express match. 

Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Championship Match

Heavenly Bodies vs. Rock 'n' Roll Express

This is still one of the most bizarre things to ever take place on a WWF pay-per-view and that says something. Ricky Morton hits a diving double clothesline through the ropes to the floor and Cornette tries to re-group his team. Robert Gibson hits a flying headscissor on Jimmy Del Ray and then a double reverse elbow. Morton hits a series of hip tosses and then avoids a superkick by Del Ray, which hits Prichard. Even though the action is pretty good here, the crowd doesn't care in the least. Morton's mullet is just some next level stuff here. Prichard is able to hit a sit down powerbomb on Morton and the Bodies finally get their chance to be on offense. Del Ray hits a springboard moonsault on Morton on the outside. He throws him back in the ring and Prichard is only able to get a 2 count. Del Ray hits a top rope moonsault, but Gibson breaks up the pin attempt. Morton is able to counter a double team into a double DDT and he makes the hot tag to Gibson. The Bodies throw Morton over the top rope, which is a disqualification in Smoky Mountain, but here in the WWF it isn't. so the match continues. Things start to break down  and Del Ray hits Gibson off the top rope with the tennis racket and we have new champions. This was actually a really fun match, but the crowd was dead silent for it. I'm a little disappointed that a traditional wrestling city like Boston wouldn't care at all about this match. Yes, I know they are a WWF spot, but still. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

We get the team of Bam Bam, Headshrinkers and Bastion Booger going to town on a turkey. Bam Bam claims that this is the best team today. 

Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger & Headshrinkers vs. Men On A Mission & Bushwhackers

Ah yes, the infamous Four Doinks match. Before ever seeing this pay-per-view, I had this match on a "Most Unusual Matches" video that I bought and honestly, younger me didn't hate it. I've only seen it one other time since then and that was about 15 years ago. Bastion Booger is absolutely the worst worker in the WWF in 1993. The Headshrinkers and Bam Bam both deserved so much better than this. Samu bites into a couple of balloons handed to him and then bites another one and this one has liquid in it. So that of course distracts him and he gets rolled up and eliminated. Booger hits a leg drop on Butch. He goes for the squash, which has to be the worst finisher to take in the history of wrestling. He gets up and shoves a banana in his mouth for some reason and goes for another splash. Mabel comes in and pulls him out from under him and he is too stupid to listen to his teammates and he misses. Mabel hits a leg drop and illegally eliminates him. While Fatu is dominating whichever Bushwhacker, Mo is riding around them on a scooter, which for some reason Tim White allows. Bam Bam kicks him off and chucks the scooter out of the ring. This gets White's attention for some reason. Fatu hits a splash and again with the banana. He picks it up and then Butch comes in with a bucket. He throws it at him, but it's empty and Fatu "slips" on the banana peel and he's gone. Bam Bam clears the ring and then Mabel just walks in without being tagged in. Mabel misses with a splash in the corner and Bam Bam hits a shoulder tackle to knock him down. Bam Bam gets distracted and they all pile on him for the victory. This absolutely is one of the worst matches in WWF/E history. This was insulting to the intelligence of every wrestling fan. After the match, Doink is on the screen mocking Bam Bam and Luna. Somehow this feud continued all of the way to WrestleMania.

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Todd Pettengill is with the Foreign Fanatics. Only Jim Cornette gets to talk, which is a shame with Jacques Rougeau there.

Ludvig Borga, Jacques, Crush & Yokozuna vs. Undertaker, Steiner Brothers & Lex Luger

Scott and Jacques start things off and Scott sends Jacques flying with a suplex. In come Rick and Yoko, and Rick is able to knock him through the ropes. He tags in Borga and he gets hit by Rick off the top rope. He goes off the top rope again and Borga botches the powerslam, but yet still pins him. That was terrible. After the elimination, it looks like Rick may have gotten hurt. Scott hits a double underhook suplex on Crush and then hits a clothesline. Crush hits a kick and out comes Savage with a bunch of officials holding him back. Crush press slams Scott out of the ring and that looked impressive, but they were too focused on Savage for it to matter. Savage again comes out and this time Crush goes out to attack him. Obviously Crush is then counted out and we are even at 3-3. Jacques hits a piledriver on Scott for a 2 count. Luger and Undertaker are yet to get in there so far. Luger finally gets tagged in and he hits a second rope elbow drop to eliminate Jacques. Yeah, okay. Borga splashes Scott in the corner and then nearly takes his head off with a clothesline. Borga goes up top, but Steiner gets there and hits a superplex. Yoko comes in and hits a big leg drop, eliminating Scott. We now get the dream match of Yokozuna and Borga vs. Undertaker and Luger. Yoko and Luger square off for a little bit, but nothing worthwhile happens. How in the world did this match main event a pay-per-view in an era where there were only five shows a year? Yoko misses with a splash in the corner and finally Taker is in. Taker hits a running DDT on Yoko and he wakes up the crowd. Borga provides a distraction and Yoko hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Taker sits up, but then gets hit by a clothesline and a leg drop. Yoko hits the Banzai Drop once, but then misses the second one and Taker is on his feet. He hits the leaping clothesline. The action spills outside and both men are counted out. Borga hits a sidewalk slam on Luger for a 2 count. They hit a double clothesline and both men are down. Cornette distracts the ref, allowing Mr. Fuji to hand Borga his basket. Borga hits Luger in the head with it and tosses it out of the ring, but Luger kicks out. Borga even botches running the ropes. Luger hits his forearm on Borga and puts him out of his misery. As Luger is celebrating, out comes Santa Claus and they celebrate in fake snow. The match wasn't awful, but it certainly wasn't very good. Borga was not ready and thankfully we don't see much more of him from here on out. 

Match Rating: *3/4

I'm not quite sure this one deserves to be in the discussion for worst WWF/E show ever, but it's probably in that next tier. There are two good matches on the show, but the whole thing just feels pointless. Nothing gets accomplished and the Doink match is an all time stinker. Unless you really love this era because you grew up on it, I would avoid watching this one. 

Overall Rating: 36%