Survivor Series Count-Up – 1991 (2026 Edition): This Is Awful
Survivor Series 1991
Date: November 27, 1991
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 17,500
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan
I haven’t looked at this one in a long time and there’s probably a reason for that. The main event is the Undertaker challenging Hulk Hogan for the WWF Title, but what I always remember from this show is something of a bait and switch. Jake Roberts and Randy Savage were having a white hot feud at this point and Roberts was supposed in a Survivor Series match, with Savage trying to get involved as well. Then the weekend before happened. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Jake Roberts tying Randy Savage in the ropes so a cobra could bite Savage’s arm. Roddy Piper runs off commentary to go make the save, leaving Vince McMahon panicking over the outrage. Elizabeth runs in as well as Roberts beats up the agents and threatens them with the snake. Ever the hero, Savage tries to get back up and swings but falls down as his equilibrium is all off.
No one can get in to make the save because Roberts still has the snake as McMahon keeps going further and further over the top about the poison in the snake. Piper finally gets Savage on the stretcher….and Savage falls off. McMahon panics even more and we cut to a crying child, leaving McMahon audibly cracking up before getting back to his ranting.
Jack Tunney says he believes Roberts’ explanation that it was AN ACCIDENT. Good grief this guy was a buffoon. Savage is officially reinstated and will be facing Savage…..This Tuesday In Texas. Because HAHAHAHAHA YOU HAVE TO BUY THE OTHER SHOW! Savage getting to face Roberts was never confirmed, but teasing it for weeks and then saying you have to buy another pay per view less than a week later is just lame.
Team Flair vs. Team Piper
Ric Flair, Warlord, Ted DiBiase, The Mountie
Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, British Bulldog, Virgil
Flair has the CENSORED title with him. Piper and DiBiase start things off, with Flair’s cheap shot not working. DiBiase gets crotched and bounced on the top rope as Monsoon wonders why Sherri is allowed at ringside. It’s made even worse as Piper drags her inside (with Sherri having to quickly pull her dress strap back up) and then kisses her, sending Sherri bailing to the floor.
Piper starts in on the arm and it’s off to Virgil for a bunch of stomps. Hart works on the arm a bit more properly and the good guys take turns on said arm. Hart’s running knee only hits the buckle though and DiBiase gets to bust out the spinning toehold of all things. That doesn’t last long either as Hart is right back to the armbar. DiBiase breaks out and brings Flair in (the fans approve) to get taken down by Hart (the fans approve even more). Bulldog comes in for the gorilla press and NOW we get the Piper vs. Flair showdown.
Naturally Piper is all over him with the chops and Flair is in trouble. Piper beats him outside for a ram into the steps but Flair gets in a quick tag off to Warlord. Heenan is of course right there to say Piper didn’t pin Flair, which is indeed the case. Piper realizes this isn’t his style so he hands it back to Bulldog, who fires off a dropkick. Warlord gets a boot up in the corner though and Mountie comes in, because that’s always a good idea.
The always nice jumping back elbow drops Bulldog and it’s right back to Hart, meaning the Mountie bails. DiBiase comes in and collides with Hart so Bulldog comes in to power Mountie around. Flair tries the forearms to Bulldog and it’s immediately time to beg off. The running powerslam hits Mountie but he’s not legal, allowing Flair to come in off the top with a shot to pin Bulldog at 10:48.
Piper comes in to slug away but gets caught in the numbers game, allowing Flair to get a lot more confident. As usual that doesn’t last long and it’s Piper getting a Figure Four on Flair. DiBiase makes a save (albeit after waiting a bit) and works on the leg, with Mountie getting in a Boston crab. Shockingly, Mountie can’t do much and Piper is up to tag Virgil. We get the Virgil vs. DiBiase showdown with Virgil sending him into the buckle but getting knocked outside.
Flair gets in another cheap shot and Warlord grabs the full nelson so Hart makes his own top rope save. That’s enough for Piper to come in and tie it up at 17:02, with Heenan freaking out over the injustice. Virgil comes in to grab the Million Dollar Dream, which is broken up rather quickly.
Mountie comes in for a dropkick and DiBiase is in for a gutwrench suplex (nice one too). A swinging neckbreaker gets Virgil out of trouble and it’s back to Piper to shrug off Flair’s chops. An atomic drop just earns Flair a poke in the eye and everything breaks down. Flair is knocked out to the floor and it’s such a brawl that the referee disqualifies…..EVERYONE but Flair, who is the sole survivor at 22:50.
Rating: B-. The match does have some dry spots, but the big showdowns with people like Flair/Piper/DiBiase/Hart/Bulldog were all rather good. The fans were certainly into this and it made for a nice opener. What made this stand out was just how much basic wrestling you got, as it’s just lacking so much these days. The ending was a bit screwy to say the least, but Flair escaping with a win works very well.
Here is Randy Savage for a chat on the platform. Gene Okerlund talks about how many people wanted Savage back and the whole snake bite mess. Savage says it was a nightmare because he couldn’t see or hear. The one thing he could see and hear was Elizabeth crying, which hurt worse than anything Jake Roberts could have done. He’ll be on Roberts like melting butter This Tuesday In Texas. Elizabeth comes out to join Savage and even Heenan is impressed by how she looks. OH YEAH she’ll be in Texas and Roberts has no chance. This was just a preview for the Tuesday show.
Team Duggan vs. Team Mustafa
Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Sgt. Slaughter, Texas Tornado
Colonel Mustafa, Berzerker, Skinner, Hercules
Skinner backs Santana into the corner to start but the power of the bullfighting beats the power of the alligator hunting. The flying forearm has Skinner out on the floor early and it’s time for a little walking around. Back in and Santana misses another forearm but Berzerker misses a flying…something. Tornado comes in to avoid Berzerker’s dropkick but gets taken into the corner anyway. Thankfully the villains are so inept that Tornado easily gets away for the tag to Duggan, with the fans approving again.
Duggan and Hercules slug it out until Duggan has to beat up everyone on the apron for a bonus. The villains knock Duggan down and Mustafa (with his bright yellow wristbands) grabs a chinlock. Duggan’s eyes bug out as he fights up and shoulders Mustafa down, only to get hit in the throat. The right hands in the corner have Mustafa in trouble though and Duggan suplexes him down. This lets commentary talk about the Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan because…well do you want to talk about this match? Slaughter comes in and hits the Slaughter Cannon to pin Mustafa (thank goodness) at 7:59.
Berzerker adds a big boot to put Slaughter down and the remaining villains get to take over. Naturally that doesn’t last long as Slaughter crotches/bounces Berzerker on the ropes and then kicks him into the splits. Duggan backdrops Berzerker over the top and Tornado hits the Tornado Punch. Somehow that doesn’t put Berzerker down so it’s back to Hercules who…stands there so Tornado can flip over him.
With that weird spot out of the way, Santana comes in for El Paso del Muerte to get rid of Hercules at 12:07. Skinner comes in to jump Santana but it’s right back to Slaughter, who grabs a rollup to get rid of Skinner at 13:31. So Berzerker is left alone and gets rammed into an exposed buckle ten times (GEEZ) and Duggan’s three point clothesline finishes 14:19.
Rating: D-. Yeah the good guys win in a sweep but does it really mean much when they beat up that level of competition? This was an ugly match with no drama and the big showdown of Slaughter vs. Mustafa was all of thirty seconds. Rather terrible stuff here and still one of the weakest Survivor Series matches ever.
Here is Jake Roberts (Trust Me) for a chat on the platform. He promises that he thought the snake was devenomized, cross his heart and hope to die. Okerlund: “You are a sick man Jake Roberts.” Jake: “Thank you very much.” He doesn’t like being cast as the original sinner, because he talked to God this morning and said that some other people are to blame. What about Randy Savage or Jack Tunney?
Okerlund brings up the ban on reptiles for the match but Roberts says that in six years, no one has gotten that the snake is just the tool. Roberts himself is the real weapon and we’ll see that This Tuesday In Texas. Elizabeth won’t be there to wake Savage up either, because it’s the end of the beginning. As usual, I’m not even sure I get what Roberts was talking about, but dang it sounded great.
Commentary tells us that YES, we will be able to buy This Tuesday In Texas!
We recap the Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan. Ric Flair interrupted Hogan on the Funeral Parlor a few weeks back, where Flair ranted about how long he had heard about Hogan over the years. So what is Hogan going to do when Flair runs wild on him? Hogan went after him but Undertaker popped out of a casket and laid Hogan out with an urn shot. Roddy Piper and Randy Savage ran in with chairs for the save and Undertaker didn’t seem to care. Undertaker even broke Hogan’s cross, ala Andre (which makes sense, as Undertaker felt more like an Andre replacement than the next Hogan anyway).
WWF Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Undertaker
Undertaker, with Paul Bearer, is challenging and we see a kid terrified in the crowd (as he should be). Hogan turns over the casket at ringside before getting inside for the usual intro. They start slowly as Hogan isn’t sure what to do with Undertaker here. A headlock lets Hogan grind away a bit but Undertaker shoulders him out to the floor. Back in and Undertaker chokes him down in the corner (that’s an image that was on a bunch of Undertaker videos over the years), allowing Bearer to get in a cheap shot.
The big elbow misses and Hogan is back up with the right hands. Hogan tries a weird slam (looked more like a t-bone suplex) and gets hit in the back, leaving Hogan to forearm him in the head instead. A clothesline puts Undertaker on the floor, which doesn’t seem to be the best idea. Indeed Undertaker sends him into the steps and chokes with a mic cable, followed by more basic choking back inside. Bearer gets in his own choking, followed by a standing smother, because that’s a mixture of legal and the best idea they had.
This goes on long enough that it has me longing for an old stomach claw, which at least….well, isn’t this thing. Hogan finally fights up and is immature cut off with the jumping clothesline, with the fans seemingly approving. The Tombstone…is no sold as Hogan pops up (Bearer’s face is great) and Monsoon gets WAY too cocky in his regular argument with Heenan. The right hands only do so much so Hogan calls for the slam, but here is Ric Flair.
Bearer (allegedly) trips Hogan as Flair goes after the WWF Title. Hogan drops him with a right hand and then hits a big boot to Undertaker. Bearer offers another distraction though and it’s a Tombstone onto (eh) a chair to give Undertaker the title at 12:43. Of note: Hogan reportedly said Undertaker hurt his neck with the Tombstone onto the chair, despite Undertaker doing a different kind of grip to protect Hogan (fine) and Hogan’s head clearly not coming anywhere close to the chair. In other news, Hogan lies a lot for no particularly necessary reason.
Rating: D+. The match itself was dull as Hogan didn’t really have much to do, but this was also a very different Undertaker than what he would become later on. Undertaker was basically choking and the Tombstone at this point, but it was all about the character and the presence. At the end of the day, Undertaker pretty much had to win here, as Hogan just beating him would have killed anything Undertaker had going. It’s also good evidence of the title win meaning more than the reign, as Undertaker would drop it back to Hogan six days later, but this is the part people remember far more, as they should.
Undertaker staggers off with the title as Heenan is ELATED. Monsoon: “Brain, give me a break.” Hogan takes his sweet time getting up, which really does sell the beating in a “what the heck happened to me” way.
In the back, Gene Okerlund is freaking out over the title change as Roddy Piper pops up. Piper says it’s a dark day in the WWF and wonders where Jack Tunney is this time. Revenge seems to be promised.
Mr. Perfect and Ric Flair are very happy with the results. Perfect says Hulkamania is dead and Flair is now the REAL World Champion. Flair mocks the Hulkamaniacs for believing in Hogan for so long because it’s all over. There is just one World’s Heavyweight Champion and Hogan is MORTAL! Flair blames Jack Tunney for distorting the title and now it’s all over again. Flair being all happy over Hogan’s loss is so on point.
Okerlund talks to the Natural Disasters and IRS before their there on three main event. Earthquake doesn’t really care about Undertaker winning the title and promises to crush the Big Boss Man and Legion Of Doom. Jimmy Hart says it’s unfair that this is 3-3 because Jake Roberts didn’t do anything wrong. Randy Savage was just too scared to get in the ring with these guys and blamed a little snake bite. Typhoon doesn’t have much to say.
The Legion Of Doom and Big Boss Man give their rather calm and measured response, including promises of violence and denials of tax issues. Hawk promises to make them like soggy sweat socks. Sean Mooney almost interrupts Hawk, who tells him to NEVER do that before hitting the catchphrase.
Jack Tunney announces that Hulk Hogan will get his rematch with Undertaker at This Tuesday In Texas. He’ll even be at ringside to ensure everything is fair and just.
Commentary recaps what Tunny just spent a minute explaining as the intermission is strong with this one.
Team Nasty Boys vs. Team Rockers
Nasty Boys: Brian Knobbs, Jerry Sags, Blake Beverly, Beau Beverly
Rockers: Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Luke, Butch
It’s a regular Survivor Series match as there are individual eliminations. Butch and Knobbs eventually start with Butch taking over off an early knee lift. Luke and Sags come in as well, with the Bushwhackers easily cleaning house. The Beverlys come in and are beaten up just as fast, this time with a pair of Battering Rams. The Rockers get in some double dropkicks and it’s already time for an evil meeting on the floor.
Back in and Michaels neckbreaker Blake, who grabs a quick backbreaker to cut him off. A jumping knee cuts off the cutting off though and it’s off to Luke to step on Knobbs’ foot. That lets Luke yell a lot, which lets Knobbs get in a middle rope clothesline for the pin at 5:21.
Michaels is right in with a high crossbody to Sags and the Rockers start in on his arm. This includes Jannetty hitting a splash on the arm and grabbing an armbar, which doesn’t last all that long. Beau is in with a neckbreaker of his own and puts Jannetty on top and…that doesn’t really go anywhere. A suplex gives Beau a delayed two but they collide for a double down. Butch comes in to make the clothesline comeback, only to walk into the Shaker Heights Spike for the elimination at 10:14.
Jannetty comes in with an enziguri but Blake is in for the jumping shot to Michaels’ back. Beau stays on the back with a backbreaker but Michaels reverses another into a backslide for the pin at 13:55. Blake is back in with a powerslam and Sags comes in, where he is dropkicked out to the floor.
Michaels hits a heck of a diving clothesline from the apron to Sags and a superkick hits Knobbs on the floor. Rather than tagging though, Michaels goes up and gets punched out of the air, leaving Jannetty looking…well it’s hard to say with him really. Even Monsoon gets on Michaels for not tagging and you do not argue with Gorilla, so it’s back to Jannetty for the house cleaning. A snapmare of all things gets two on Knobbs (well it is the Survivor Series so that’s not crazy) and the armbar has Blake down.
That doesn’t last long either as Knobbs is back in with a powerslam. Michaels doesn’t even have his arm out for the tag and Sags is back in for a pumphandle slam. Knobbs dives onto raised knees though and Michaels gets the tag to quite the non-reaction. Everything breaks down and Jannetty picks Sags up but kicks Michaels in the face by mistake. That’s enough for Knobbs to get the pin on Michaels at 19:44 and Michaels isn’t exactly happy.
Jannetty tries to calm things down but Michaels leaves in a huff (ignore Monsoon somehow missing Michaels getting pinned and accusing him of walking out). That leaves Jannetty to hit a middle rope faceplant for two on Knobbs, with Blake making the save. A powerslam gives Blake one, as he pulls Jannetty up like a moron. Jannetty is back up to send Knobbs outside and into the post, followed by a big dive onto the Nastys. Back in and Jannetty small packages Knobbs, but Sags turns it over to give Knobbs the final pin at 23:19.
Rating: C-. It’s kind of amazing to see how often the Bushwhackers are just warm bodies in a Survivor Series match. That was certainly the case here, as they somehow couldn’t even keep up with the Beverly Brothers. This was of course all about the Rockers falling apart and they only had about a month left, which pretty much had to be the case. Not a good match here, but I’ll take it over the “one partner gets pinned and they’re both out”.
Team Big Boss Man vs. Team IRS
Big Boss Man, Hawk, Animal
IRS, Earthquake, Typhoon
To show you how important this is, the graphics for the match just have blank spaces rather than making new ones of the three on three version. Pre-match, IRS insults the crowd for cheating on their taxes, as he did for, well, always. They all stare at each other to start until IRS and Boss Man get things going. Boss Man knocks him down and tries to go up before realizing that’s a bad idea and hopping off. A boot to the face knocks IRS out of the corner so it’s off to Earthquake vs., eventually, Animal.
They trade shoulders before Earthquake catches the crossbody attempt, only to miss the big splash. Animal’s flying shoulder gets two so it’s off to Hawk to work on IRS’ arm. Hawk throws IRS at Typhoon, who pulls him out of the air, allowing Hawk to dropkick the two of them down. Typhoon gets sent into the corner and beaten up because Typhoon isn’t very good.
That’s enough for Typhoon to stagger over for the tag to Earthquake, who powers Hawk into the corner. As usual, that doesn’t last long either and it’s back to Boss Man for the running crotch attack to IRS’ back. IRS sneaks in the briefcase though and knocks Boss Man silly for the pin at 6:23. Animal comes in and gets bearhugged by Earthquake as we hit the heat segment. Typhoon grabs a bearhug of his own, with Animal breaking out and easily tagging Hawk. House is cleaned and IRS tries the briefcase, only to hit Typhoon by mistake so Hawk can get the pin at 9:39.
Earthquake is so mad that he just walks out at 10:53 so IRS is on his own. Hawk misses a charge into the post and is sent into the steps as IRS actually beats him up on the floor. The chinlock goes on back inside as I try to fathom why this didn’t just end with a quick Doomsday Device. Hawk gets up and they kind of collide, with IRS popping up to get suplexed. Animal is in to clean house and IRS goes to walk out, with Boss Man cutting him off in the aisle. A suplex brings IRS back in and Hawk adds a top rope clothesline to win at 15:23.
Rating: D+. I’ve seen this show a bunch of times and it is so weak that I was expecting IRS to just take another countout for the loss here. This was about as good as it was going to be, as IRS was firmly a midcarder and there wasn’t much that even the LOD could do against the Disasters. Throw in the fact that the whole appeal of the match was Roberts and potentially Savage and this was a rather pathetic main event. In other words, it fits the show perfectly.
We go to the back where Sean Mooney says he has talked to Hulk Hogan, who is ready to get the title back but will do his talking in the ring. WOW this show is another level of lazy.
Commentary wraps it up but throws us to Gene Okerlund one more time.
Okerlund has found Paul Bearer and Undertaker, with Bearer declaring Hulkamania dead. That means it will need funeral services, which will take place This Tuesday In Texas. Undertaker opens a casket and says Hulkamania has died, with Okerlund looking sick until the casket is closed to end the show.
Overall Rating: D. The opener is still good, but that’s the only thing on this wretched show worth seeing. The show is remembered for Undertaker winning the title but people forget how terrible everything else was. You had a bunch of weak Survivor Series matches around the boring title match and that’s really not enough.
At the same time though, what might arguably even even worse, or at least more frustrating, is how commentary and everyone involved basically explained how little this show mattered. Undertaker vs. Hogan is happening again next week, as is the hottest match in the company. Until then, enjoy a bunch of filler matches and little more on one of the weakest traditional PPVs (read as not In Your House) the company has ever put out.
Results
Team Flair b. Team Piper – Triple DQ
Team Duggan b. Team Mustafa last eliminating Berzerker
Undertaker b. Hulk Hogan – Tombstone onto a chair
Team Nasty Boys b. Team Rockers last eliminating Jannetty
Team Big Boss Man b. Team IRS last eliminating IRS
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