Survivor Series (1989 TV Special) User Reviews

The First Great Survivor Series

[zkonedog · 7/10 · 26 February 2017]

The first two Survivor Series events had not impressed me at all. I was bored by the tag-only format and they just didn't seem all that exciting.

This 1989 edition, however, really turned things around and made the event watchable to me (for the first time in its existence) for a couple of reasons:

-The match pairings seem more logical this go-round. Each matchup is usually comprised of two dueling tag teams paired up with rival WWF superstars. I could see a clear "angle" in every match. -This event may be the peak of the Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura announcing team. The announcing table is oh so important to these events, and in my mind there may not be any better than right here. -Even the production values (in terms of graphic and presentation) seem better in '89.

I won't go into the individual matches here, but suffice it to say that they are all entertaining. I had considering dropping this event altogether in my watching of classic WWF pay-per-views, but was re-energized by this '89 edition.

Snakes Earthquakes Giants & warriors

[paudieconnolly · 7/10 · 14 November 2020]

Survivor series 89 on thanks giving night . The show kicks of with superstars saying what there thankful for. "I am thankful that a am absolutely perfect " Mr Perfect Then Vince gives us the teams of 4 this year and there team names. Gorilla Monsoon wrestling with Jesse the body Ventura on the mics always a dream team. Members of former tag team strike force find themselves on opposite teams in the opening match. Sapphire in the crowd cheering on dusty Rhodes . Can loner Bad news be a team player this year? A pretty average opening match just going through the motions. 4x4 hacksaw Jim Duggans team funny interview If there ring entrance does not make you smile or laugh 😆 I don't know what will. Much better energy & action Tempo in this match. Match 3 Is no holds barred Zeus Hogan building towards movie release. The referee would have the most eliminations in this one but an enjoyable bout . Match 4 again sees Jimmy Hart in the corner a very busy night for him. Match 5 warriors and giants and a Bobby Heenan selling master class. This was funny survivor series. Very focused on Turkey 🦃 dinners and a fun easy watch.

Changing up the format with interesting results

[bh_tafe3 · 7/10 · 15 February 2009]

Wow, a lot can change in three months! Rolling around to Survivor Series 1989 Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage had finished, but the war between Hogan and Zeus raged on as Zeus joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation.

Savage had got some closure on the whole Mega Powers deal. He'd ditched MIss Elizabeth for Sherri Martel and cheered himself up by defeating Hacksaw Jim Duggan to become the new King of Wrestling. Now calling himself the Macho King. Duggan was not pleased and so they both got teams together to go at it here.

The Ultimate Warrior had caused considerable pain to Bobby Heenan and his minions by defeating Rick Rude at Summerslam to become Intercontinental Champion and then beating Andre The Giant, another one of Heenan's cronies, repeatedly at house shows so Warrior got his team of Ultimate Warriors together to take on Bobby Heenan and his evil allies.

Instead of the traditional five on five format, we were going four on four this year, with the 20 man tag team series scrapped and five matches instead of four. All of these changes worked well, though the 20 man tag matches were a lot of fun.

And we start the night off with the feud between Dusty Rhodes and the Twin Towers. One of the Towers, Akeem, was missing. As it was Dusty's team, the Dream Team, consisting of Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, The Red Rooster and Titoi Santana defeated Bossman's team The Enforcers, consisting of Bossman, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel and the Honkt Tonk Man. This was a fun match. In the end it came down to Rhodes and Beefcake vs Bossman, No double team was needed as Rhodes pinned Bossman to win the match for his team.

Next match was the King's Court of Randy Savage, Earthquake, Dino Bravo and Greg Valentine decisively beating Jim Duggan's 4x4s made up of Duggan, Ronnie Garvin (who was in a heated rivalry with Valentine), Bret Hart and Hercules. In the end it came down to Duggan and Hart vs Savage, Bravo and Earthquake. Hart got triple teamed and then pinned. Duggan ran around after Sherri and got counted out. End of match with Savage, Bravo and Earthquake all surviving. One sided and a bit of an anti climax at the end. Probably the weakest Survivor Series match the WWE had put on to this point.

Next match saw the Hulkamaniacs WWE Champion Hulk Hogan, WWE Tag Team Champions Ax and Smash and Jake Roberts defeat the Million Dollar Team Ted DiBiase, Warlord, Barbarian and Zeus. It came down to DiBiase vs Hogan and Roberts. Roberts was distracted by DiBiase's bodyguard Virgil and was eliminated. DiBiase fell to Hogan in short order though. A good match which came down to captain vs captain, which is the way it should be. Hulkamaniacs win with Hogan the only survivor.

Next up comes a match built around the entertaining feud between Rick Rude and Roddy Piper. The Rude Brood, led by Rick Rude and including Mr Perfect and the Fabulous Rougeaus Jacques and Raymond defeated Roddy's Rowdies; Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Luke and Ben the Bushwackers. After Piper and RUde were counted out wrestling on the outside the match came down to the undefeated Mr Perfect and Jimmy Snuka. Snuka hit his flying crossbody, but Perfect kicked out. They duel for a while, but Perfect eventually wins it with a perfect-plex. Rude's Brook your winners, Mr Perfect the only Survivor.

Our main event saw good triumph over evil as The Ultimate Warriors, The Ultimate Warrior, The Rockers Shawn Micheals and Marty Jenetty and Jim Neidhart defeated The Heenan Family Bobby Heenan (Heenan took the place of a fired Tully Blanchard) Andre the Giant, Haku and Arn Anderson. It Came down to Warrior vs Heenan and Anderson. Warrior took care of a tired Anderson and then destroyed Heenan to win the match for his team.

This was an entertaining show built around 5 good rivalries. While the King's Court vs the 4x4s was a little disappointing simply because of the one sided nature, it was still a fun little match. All the rest of the card was solid to good and it left us all wondering just what the future had in store for Hogan and Warrior.

One of the best Survivor Series ever

[NukeIt2 · 14 February 2002]

This 3rd Survivor Series was the first one to feature 4 on 4 matches, rather than 5 on 5. I like it both ways, but the Survivor Series were way better and more entertaining then than any have been in the past few years. The first match is Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Red Rooster (newly turned good guy) and Tito Santana vs. Big Boss Man, Bad News Brown (subbing for Akeem), Rick Martel and Honky Tonk Man. This match was one of the best of the night, with Dusty Rhodes in those polka dots. In my opinion, Dusty vs. Bossman is a good match up. I am not sure why Akeem did not appear, so if anyone who reads this knows please e-mail me to let me know. I think that the outcome might have been different had he been there.

The next match is Macho Man Randy Savage, Dino Bravo, Earthquake (subbing for Barry Windham) and Greg Valentine vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Ronnie Garvin, and Hercules. I really didnt think this one was as cool as the first, but I thought it was cool to see the Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo) together again for this one match. Again, I am not sure why Barry Windham did not appear and I would like to know if anyone knows.

The middle match was billed as the main event, with Hulk Hogan, Jake the Snake and Demolition Smash and Ax vs. Ted Dibiase, Zeus and the Powers of Pain. I thought the team of Hogan, Snake and Demolition looked pretty good together, but the match was pretty dull considering 3 of the 4 'bad guys' were disqualified rather than beaten by the fan favorites.

The next match has Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, and the Bushwackers vs. Mr Perfect, Rick Rude and the Rougeau Brothers. Good match in the second half, unfortunatly the Rougeaus and Bushwackers are just a waste of time at first.

The last match of the night (and the best) is Ultimate Warrior, Jim Neidhart and the Rockers vs. Haku, Arn Anderson, Andre the Giant (who is counted out right when the match starts) and Bobby Heenan. It was cool to see Heenan wrestling again, and I think it was a great idea to have him replace Blanchard when he was fired before the event. I also believe this is Arn Andersons last WWF match. I rate this tape 10 out of 10

Quite different

[wwfhistoryguy · 9/10 · 2 April 2004]

*SPOILERS*





This Survivor Series was kind of strange. The atmosphere was just kind of... off, but in a good way. This was the first time we had 4-on-4, rather than 5-on-5, matches, and not enough tag teams for a 20-man match. I think it made the matches better and faster-paced, plus we got 5 matches rather than 4. With matches of this type, that's a big difference, and you can tell.

The opening match was memorable for Brutus Beefcake continuing his short-lived hot streak, eliminating both Honky Tonk Man and Rick Martel. This was one of the best performances up to that point, behind only the Macho Man the year before and Bam Bam Bigelow at the first Series. He survived and overshadowed his team captain, Dusty Rhodes. It was also fun to watch Bad News Brown abandon his team for the second year in a row. Think about how much different this match, as well as his match from the year before, would have been had he stayed. While the Ultimate Warrior would have beaten him, BNB might have put up a good fight against Rhodes and Beefcake. But why did they need him to replace Akeem? Was he injured?

The second match was marred by some inexplicably low heat. It was simply a squash from the beginning, never mind Duggan eliminating Valentine. Toward the end, Earthquake, Dino Bravo, and the Macho King cut the ring off and wear Bret Hart down for about 5 minutes before Macho eliminates him. The same thing happens right afterward, as they beat Duggan to a pulp and he gets counted out. Very anticlimactic. I have never seen a match this one-sided at a pay-per-view.

Then came the supposed main event, which is memorable to me because it is the Powers of Pain's one pay-per-view highlight. Then-tag champs Demolition simply jobbed to the Warlord and Barbarian, continuing the Survivor Series' 15 minutes of fame tradition. And Hulk Hogan gets a lot of hype, even though he only eliminated one opponent. The rest of the Million Dollar Team was disqualified.

Not much to say about the next match, except for Roddy Piper and Rick Rude's feud is highly underrated today.

The Ultimate Warrior got the last match, probably to see if he could handle main event status. He did this time. He was instrumental in all his team's eliminations, and survived. This was one of Shawn Michaels' best performances in his pre-Heartbreak Kid days.

Funny how there were no tag team feuds in this event. If you look at it, all the opposing tag team feuds were leftovers from early '89. And I was disappointed at how the Hart Foundation jobbed. Neidhart was just a piece of meat.

Weak SS...

[amanwhorocks · 5/10 · 17 June 2013]

Admit to me now, that WWF in 1989 has got some abnormal ridiculous wrestlers. Some gimmicks are only laughable, but some... some of them are really terrible.

1. Big Stiff Man/Bad News Brown/Honky Tonk Man/Rick Martel Vs. Tito Santana, Piggy Rhodes/Brutus "Idiot" Beefcake/Red Rooster - Watching some of these guys was painful... 5.5/10

2. Macho King/Greg Valentine/ Dino Bravo/Earthquake Vs. Jim "so ridiculous" Duggan/Hercules/Bret Hart/Garvin 5.5/10

3. Ted Dibiase/Powers of Pain/Zeus Vs. Jake Roberts/ Demolition/Hulk Hogan - I Always hate these wannabe Road Warriors called Powers of Pain. The only points goes to Jake The Snake. 5/10

4. Mr. Perfect/Fabulous Rougeau Brothers/Rick Rude Vs. Jimmy Snuka/ Annoying fools out of the woods/Piper - Curt selling nice! He is perfect for real. And he won above this bunch of non-wrestlers! Thx a lot WWF.7/10

5. The Ultimate Jerk/The Rockers/Jim Neidhart Vs. André/Brainbusters/King Haku - Bad ending 6/10

Mediocre Show. They tried though.

[morantjavonte · 5/10 · 14 April 2023]

Survivor Series 1989 Thoughts

Survivor Series 1989 was the 3rd Annual Survivor Series PPV event produced by the WWF. It took place on November 23, 1989 at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois. Attendance was at 15,294 with buy rate at 385,000.

5 matches were set on the main card with the concept the same as the previous Survivor Series only this time it was teams consisted of 4 members instead of 5 with each team having to be under a name. According to some reports, the decision to cut down to 4 members was because the WWF was lacking heels at the time.

The Good - I say the best match was the opener of the Dream Team vs. The Enforcers. It was a little odd for starting off fast paced and then getting a little sluggish but I enjoyed it for the most part. Lot of duos familiar with one another in the Survivor Series matches made great intense moments when they interacted.

The Meh - I don't feel any of the Survivor Series Matches after the opener were as great of matches as they could have been. Zeus who was terrible in the ring didn't look good even doing a basic move to Hogan. But again when he was out, the match went on to be a basic above average match. Again none of the other Survivor Series matches were really that good.

The Bad - Wasn't thrilled with the main event. The whole matchup felt like an angle rather than a match. I think any of the other matches would have been more suited to be the conclusion of the show over it. But Warrior was over and rightfully deserved what he got at WrestleMania months later. Also felt like Piper didn't get much chance to do much after his return from "retirement".

Overall - Weak show overall. I can't call it bad or anything. Just not much of a big show all around. Some of the sloppy angles for Eliminations once more kicked in and they did not work out too well. I mean one of them saw something similar happened the 2 previous years like a copy and paste.

Score - 5 out of 10: Mediocre

0 = Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time :

1. The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake, Dusty Rhodes, The Red Rooster & Tito Santana) vs. The Enforcers (Bad News Brown, Rick Martel, The Big Boss Man & The Honky Tonk Man) (Elimination Tag) - 3/5 2. The 4x4s (Bret Hart, Hercules, Jim Duggan & Ronnie Garvin) vs. The King's Court (Dino Bravo, Earthquake, Greg Valentine & Randy Savage) (Elimination Tag) - 2.5/5 3. The Hulkamaniacs (Ax, Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts & Smash) vs. The Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, The Barbarian, The Warlord & Zeus) (Elimination Tag) - 2/5 4. Roddy's Rowdies (Bushwhacker Butch, Bushwhacker Luke, Jimmy Snuka & Roddy Piper) vs. The Rude Brood (Jacques Rougeau, Mr. Perfect, Raymond Rougeau & Rick Rude) (Elimination Tag) - 2/5 5. The Heenan Family (Andre The Giant, Arn Anderson, Bobby Heenan & Haku) vs. The Ultimate Warriors (Jim Neidhart, Marty Jannetty, Shawn Michaels & The Ultimate Warrior)(Elimination Tag) - 2/5

Best Match - Dream Team vs. The Enforcers

Worst Match - Roddy's Rowdies vs. Rude Brood

Most Memorable Moment - Warrior running through Heenan at the end

Top 5 Performers

1. Ultimate Warrior - Good Performance 2. Bret Hart - Underrated at the time 3. Randy Savage - Good Performance 4. Mr. Perfect - Good Performance 5. Rick Rude - Heelish Heat.

Recap

[Spawn Devil · 1 July 2002]

Dusty Rhodes, Brutus 'the Barber" Beefcake, Terry Taylor and Tito Santana vs. Big Boss Man, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel and Honky Tonk Man Survivors: Dusty Rhodes and Brutus Beefcake

Randy Savage, Dino Bravo, Earthquake and Greg "the Hammer" Valentine vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Bret "Hitman" Hart, Hercules and "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin Survivors: Earthquake, Dino Bravo and Randy Savage

Hulk Hogan, Demolition and Jake "the Snake" Roberts vs. Ted DiBiase, Powers of Pain and Zeus Survivor: Hulk Hogan

Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect and the Rougeau Brothers vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and the Bushwackers Survivor: Mr. Perfect

The Ultimate Warrior, Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart and the Rockers vs. Andre the Giant, Bobby "the Brain" Heenan, Arn Anderson and Haku Survivor: Ultimate Warrior

Overall Mark: C

THREE TIMES LUCKY

[Big Movie Fan · 26 April 2002]

This was the third annual Survivor Series and just as good as the previous two events.

This time round we had teams of four against teams of four because back in the 80's the WWF had enough great wrestlers to book an event like this. And as usual, it was good VS evil.

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS)The Dream Team battled The Enforcers in the opening match and it was quite a brutal affair. Then we got to see The King's Court VS The 4x4's in a classic match up. The third match was superb. Hulk Hogan teamed up with Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Demolition to face top heel Ted DiBiase, the unstoppable Zeus and the devastating Powers of Pain. This was another brutal affair in which good triumphed over evil. Then came a wild brawl between The Rude Brood captained by the late Rick Rude and Roddy's Rowdies captained by Roddy Piper. The main event featured the Ultimate Warrior leading his team to victory against a team headed by the monstrous Andre the Giant.

If you want action then this is the video for you.