Wednesday, November 27th, 1991
Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, Michigan
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Off The Grid, Volume 28:
I begged to go to this show, but with us hosting Thanksgiving the next day, it wasn't meant to be. I was able to order it on pay-per-view and of the shows where the recording actually worked, this was probably the one I watched the least. Let's see how this one holds up.
We start the show off with them showing one of the most memorable moments of my childhood where Jake Roberts had a snake bite the arm of Randy Savage. This is still one of the craziest moments in company history. They then show Jack Tunney's announcement that he can't let Randy Savage wrestle at Survivor Series. All reptiles are now banned from ringside. He then announces that Randy Savage is reinstated and will face Jake Roberts at This Tuesday In Texas, making their Survivor Series match a 3 vs. 3.
Ted DiBiase, Mountie, Warlord & Ric Flair vs. Bret Hart, Virgil, British Bulldog & Roddy Piper
A Flair distraction allows DiBiase to attack Piper, but he quickly hits a clothesline and then crotches him on the top rope the he delight of the crowd. Sherri gets dragged into the ring and gets on the back of Piper. Somehow it's not a DQ and Piper kisses her and sends her out of the ring. We then get quick tags by the faces and they work on the arm of DiBiase. Bret and DiBiase have a nice little nearfall segment together until DiBiase hits a hip toss and tags in Flair. Flair misses an elbow drop and Bret hits him with the inverted atomic drop and tags in Bulldog. He hits a slingshot on Flair and follows up with a press slam before tagging in Piper. The crowd is super hot for this match. Piper unloads on Flair and then slams him into the steel steps. Flair is able to tag in Warlord and Piper asks him for a test of strength. Piper decides to tag in Bulldog instead and he hits him with a dropkick. Bulldog gets hit with a boot to the face and tags in Mountie. Mountie accidentally allows a tag to Bret and he runs out of the ring. We now have Bret and DiBiase again and Bret hits a backbreaker and second rope elbow drop. Bret and DiBiase collide in the middle of the ring and both are down. Mountie and Bulldog both get tagged in and Bulldog hits some elbows. He hits a press slam and things break down. Bulldog double clotheslines DiBiase and Flair and hits the running powerslam on Mountie, but the referee can't count due to the other participants coming in the ring. Flair is able to hit Bulldog and he is eliminated. Piper is in and he's under attack in the wrong corner. Piper is able to slap on the Figure Four on Flair and we get more shenanigans that allows the heels to break the hold. DiBiase goes to work on the knee of Piper and tags in Mountie. Mountie puts on the Boston Crab, but Piper is able to drag him over and tag in Virgil. Virgil takes care of Flair and in comes DiBiase. DiBiase hits a powerslam and tags in Warlord. He dumps Virgil out of the ring and Flair attacks him. Warlord slaps on the Full Nelson, which leads to more guys interfering. Bret hits him off the second rope and Piper scores the pinfall. DiBiase almost gets immediately eliminated, but is able to kick out at 2. Piper hits a suplex and tags in Virgil. Virgil slaps on the Million Dollar Dream, but DiBiase is able to drive Virgil's head into the top turnbuckle. Flair gets tagged in and hits a back suplex. It eventually goes back to Flair and Piper. Piper is unloading on everyone and powerslams Flair off the top rope. He sends Flair over the top and the rest of the men are all in the ring. They are all brawling and the ref rings the bell. They announce that every man has been disqualified except for one, Ric Flair. That is an all time copout finish. They really couldn't have had Virgil and Mountie eliminated? I don't mind Flair winning cheaply, but I don't think they had to do it like this. The match otherwise was really good and one of my favorite traditional Survivor Series matches.
Match Rating: ***3/4
We go to Mean Gene and he brings out the reinstated Macho Man Randy Savage for an interview. This is the giant feather in his hat version of Macho Man. It's kind of cool that there's a giant snake poster for Jake Roberts right behind Savage in this interview. They talk about reptiles being banned from ringside, but Savage informs us that Roberts is the biggest snake of them all. Gene asks what Elizabeth thinks of all of this and Savage says for him to ask her himself. They bring out Miss Elizabeth and she thanks everyone for reinstating her husband.
Col. Mustafa, Skinner, Berzerker & Hercules vs. Texas Tornado, El Matador, Jim Duggan & Sgt. Slaughter
Hercules is a sub for Big Bully Busick, who didn't last long here in 1991. Even with that, we have one of the most random teams in Survivor Series history. El Matador also replaced Ricky Steamboat in a swap of two huge 80s stars that Vince felt the need to repackage. Tito is able to hit the flying forearm on Skinner, but he is knocked out of the ring. I feel like this is a good time for me to talk about how much I love Berzerker. Tito misses with a crossbody and Berzerker misses with a second rope stomp. In comes Texas Tornado and they brawl in the corner. Berzerker misses with both a clothesline and a dropkick. We now get everyone's two favorite punchers in Hercules and Hacksaw in there. The heels cheat and hold Duggan in the corner to attack him. Mustafa is in and uses his illegal but legal boots to the face of Duggan. This one is starting to get a little sloppy. Mustafa just wasn't in ring shape in 1991. Duggan hits a suplex and makes a tag to Slaughter. He hits a clothesline on Mustafa and he's eliminated. Berzerker hits Slaughter's face into an exposed turnbuckle and follows up with a boot for a 2 count. Hercules then throws Slaughter face-first into the ring post and it's still not enough. Berzerker gets crotched and taken for a ride and in comes Duggan. He clotheslines Berzerker over the top and then he comes back in and back body drops him over the top. He comes back with a headbutt to the midsection. Duggan hits a blind tag to Tornado and he hits a spinning punch. It feels like we're at the point of the match where no one knows what is going on in there. Tito gets tagged in despite being nowhere near the corner. He hits the flying forearm and eliminates Herc. Skinner is in and he and Berzerker single Tito out in the corner. Slaughter makes a blind tag and rolls up to eliminate Skinner. It's left to just Berzerker. Slaughter launches Berzerker into a Duggan clothesline and he's gone, with all four men surviving. As much fun as it is with the random grouping of wrestlers here, things got sloppy quickly and it ruined the flow.
Match Rating: *
Now it's time for Jake Roberts to get his interview segment promoting his match that's not on this pay-per-view. I'm surprised no one has stolen Jake's taste in sweaters. Gene brings up that snakes are barred from ringside, but Jake says that he's always been the snake you should worry about. Gorilla informs us that This Tuesday In Texas will be on TV on a pay-per-view basis.
We get the Undertaker/Hulk Hogan video, which features a whole lot of Ric Flair.
WWF Championship Match
Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan
I was never a Hulk Hogan fan, so I was 100% behind Undertaker here, which is kind of ironic since I don't really like him either. Hulk takes casket Undertaker brought out and chucks it on the ground. After the feud with Sgt. Slaughter, this feud just felt so different and Undertaker looked the part as the monster who could actually beat Hogan. I remember many lunch table arguments over this one. We get lots of stalling to start things off and lots of slow Undertaker offense. Hogan finally gets some offense, but can't knock him off his feet. He then gives him the softest looking clothesline to gently knock him over the top rope and Taker lands on his feet. Taker slams Hogan into the steps and then goes back to his slow, boring offense. Paul Bearer joins in on the fun and Heenan plays up that his monitor keeps going out. Taker slaps on the claw to the face for what feels like an eternity. Did they think it was still 1971 here? Hogan fights it off like he always does and hits some shoulder blocks, but Taker fights back with a leaping clothesline. Taker gets him up and hits the Tombstone. Hogan no sells it and is right back on his feet. Taker hits him with a series of right hands and finally gets him down to one knee. Out comes Ric Flair while Hogan hits a body slam. Paul Bearer distracts Hogan and then he sees Flair and greets him with a right hand. Hogan hits the big boot, but when he goes for the leg drop, Bearer grabs his leg. Taker attacks him and puts him up for another Tombstone. Flair slides a chair and he hits the Tombstone on it and picks up the victory. Gorilla is having a fit that it took 3 guys to beat Hogan. This should have been a big heavyweight battle, but so much of the offense looked to have no fire behind it. Add in the fact that half the match felt like it was Hogan in a claw hold, this one was an absolute dud of a match. The moment is historic, the match is garbage.
Match Rating: 1/2*
After the long sell from Hogan, we go to Mean Gene and he's eventually joined to Roddy Piper. He cuts a promo on Flair and how it's a terrible day. We then go to Sean Mooney with Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect and they declare Hulkamania as dead. Now IRS, Earthquake, Typhoon and Jimmy Hart are with Mean Gene. Jimmy thinks this should have been 4 on 3 since he only got bit by a tiny snake. Mooney draws LOD and Big Boss Man and lots of loud noises. Mean Gene has never seen anything so disgusting as Jack Tunney. Oh, he means the Hogan finish. Tunney says Taker's win is final, but Hogan will get his rematch This Tuesday In Texas and Tunney will be ringside. As a youngster who thought wrestling was still real at this point, even I knew Hogan was going to win his title back.
Beverly Brothers & Nasty Boys vs. Bushwhackers & Rockers
Only the Rockers really get a good ovation here. Danny Davis's hair is a sight to behold. After a bunch of nothing, Knobbs all of a sudden jumps off the second rope onto Luke and pins him. No one tries to save him and no one in the building thought he would get pinned from that. This one just has no flow to it so far. They do a weird spot where Marty barely touches the referee but he checks on him and Beau regains control. The Nasty Boys really lost their heat after losing to LOD at SummerSlam. These guys were also at a tough spot in the card after Hogan lost and then a long intermission. The Beverly Brothers hit their finisher and Butch is gone. I don't care what anyone says, the Beverly Brothers were great. I still don't get the gimmick, but they were fun in the ring. The heels now have the 2 on 4 advantage and have Michaels singled out. Michaels counters out of a backbreaker and hits a backslide to eliminate Beau. Blake comes right in and hits a powerslam. Michaels is able to dropkick Sags out of the ring and hits a flying shoulder tackle off the apron. He hits a superkick on Knobbs. They are selling the fact that Michaels isn't making the tag though. He goes flying off the top rope, but gets hit by Sags. Blake hits a big leg drop, but gets hit in the face with a kick. Gorilla is begging for a tag and he finally does. Sags hits a pump handle slam on Marty and he's really proud of himself. Marty is able to make the tag and Michaels hits a clothesline on Sags. All 5 men end up in the ring and Blake gets sandwiched by the Nasty Boys. Marty accidentally hits Michaels with one of the Nasty Boys legs and he gets pinned. Michaels is furious and chews out Marty. He calms down and walks away, but Gorilla doesn't realize that he was eliminated. Marty gets dumped out of the ring and the heels gloat. Marty is able to throw Knobbs into the ring post and then leaps off the top rope onto both Nasty Boys. He goes for an inside cradle and they roll Sags over and he picks up the victory. There were just a lot of awkward spots in this one with some good action sprinkled in between. The crowd was pretty dead and it probably should have been the opener, but wasn't because of the Rockers angle.
Match Rating: **3/4
After the match they still are claiming that Michaels left the match.
IRS & Natural Disasters vs. Big Boss Man & Legion Of Doom
I know that this is not technically the main event, but in general terms it is the last match on the card. With that being said, has there ever been a more random final match on a pay-per-view than this match? I love this era of Boss Man. There were no big men moving like he was here in 1991. Earthquake is tagged in and calls for Animal to get tagged in. Quake catches him and hits a backbreaker. Animal moves out of the way on the splash and hits a dropkick. After the others get in a little bit of action, we eventually get back to Boss Man and IRS again. The ref is distracted by the LOD on the outside and that allows IRS to hit Boss Man with a briefcase and he eliminates him. Gorilla loves Detroit because his good friend, Bobo Brazil lives here. Hawk hits Typhoon with a leaping shoulder tackle, but then IRS attacks him from behind. Earthquake hands him the briefcase, but Hawk ducks and he hits Typhoon. Typhoon is eliminated and we're even now. Earthquake is not happy with IRS. The Natural Disasters are the original bromance. Earthquake decides to leave with his buddy, so now it's just IRS vs. Legion Of Doom. Hawk misses him in the corner and rams his shoulder into the ring post. IRS on the outside then throws Hawk into the steps. We get a really awkward spot where they run into each other. IRS goes for a suplex, but Hawk blocks it and hits one of his own. IRS starts to head to the back for the countout loss, but Boss Man comes out and makes him go back to the ring. Animal suplexes him back in the ring and Hawk hits a clothesline off the top rope for the victory. The first half of the match was fun, but it lost all of it's steam after the Boss Man elimination.
Match Rating: **1/4
Sean Mooney basically just tells us that Hulk doesn't want to talk to us. Gorilla has breaking news and Mean Gene has found the Undertaker. He says that Hulkamania died at the Survivor Series.
This was the Survivor Series that confirmed that this gimmick was dead. The brought in a championship match to help make it more intriguing and while the finish is historic, it didn't really accomplish much else. The opening match is one of my more favorite traditional Survivor Series match, but everything else is skippable.
Overall Rating: 46%
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