Nickrj’s rant for Survivor Series 1988 (Coliseum Video version)

Live from the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland, Ohio on Thanksgiving Day, November 24^th 1988

Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

Tag Team Match: Demolition, The Conquistadors, The Bolsheiviks, The Brain Busters and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (with Mr. Fuji, Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart) VS The Powers Of Pain, The Young Stallions, The Hart Foundation, The Rockers, The British Bulldogs

The tag team match in the 1^st Survivor Series was awesome so I’m looking for more of the same here. This was actually the 2^nd match on the card and for some reason Coliseum Video put this one first as they flipped flopped the first two matches on the card. Oh well. The Conquistadors (Con for short) both look alike and they wear gold. Davey Boy Smith starts with a Con. Con gets slammed and headbutted into Jacques Rougeau who gets press slammed into his brother. Nicolai Volkoff and Shawn Michaels continues. Shawn is dragged into the corner and Boris Zhukoff is tagged and he works over Shawn but Shanw does a backflip to take control. Marty Jeanetty comes in and gets a 2 count. Ax comes in and pounds away on Marty. Arn Anderson is in and gets backdropped and dropkicked. His partner Tully Blanchard comes in and slugs it out with Marty but takes an atomic drop and gets pounded in the wrong corner. He tags Jacques who misses a spinning cross body and Marty gets two. Dynamite Kid comes in and hits a headbutt and a snap suplex for 2. Jim Powers is in and so is Raymond Rougeau. Tie up gets Dynamite back in. Dynamite gets an underhook sunset flip for 2. Jim Powers comes in as does Zhukoff. Powers hits a dropkick but Boris tags in Smash who drags Powers into the wrong corner. Jacques comes in and hits a nice dropkick for 2. Bret Hart comes in and gets nailed. Jacques hits a flying elbow for 2. Raymond comes in but puts his head down and Bret cradles him for the pin at 5:37 eliminating the Rougeaus. Volkoff comes back in as does Paul Roma who gets rammed into the turnbuckle but he hits a spinning high cross body for 2. Jin Neidhart comes in and hits a dropkick but is rammed into the wrong corner. Smash comes in and puts his head down. Barbarian comes in for the first time and the crowd likes him. Barbarian gets nailed by Smash and a Con is back in and takes a high kick. Warlord is in and hammers on the Conquistador. Bret Hart is back in and so is Smash. Smash goes to work on the right arm and tags Ax and they pound on Bret. Bret fights back though but runs into a knee in the corner. Tully comes back in with a 2^nd rope elbow. He runs into a clothesline and Shawn and Ax are back in and Tully grabs the leg to allow Ax to take control. Smash is in and catches Shawn in mid air and puts him in their own corner. Volkoff is pounding on Shawn now and hits a back breaker. Tully is back in and sends Shawn in the ropes and tags Arn who hits the spinebuster for 2. A Con is back in who slams Shawn for 2 but Shawn tags Marty who hits a power slam. Con tags his partner who takes advantage but Marty nicely comes out of a hiptoss and slams Con for 2. Volkoff back in and takes a dropkick that looked like it missed him. Paul Roma back in who grabs the arm of Volkoff and Davey back in and slams Volkoff for 2. Volkoff hits a thrust kick to take control. Tully back in and hits 3 elbow drops but misses a fourth. He his headbutted into the corner. Con tags Warlord who dominates the Con with a press slam. Ax comes in and the crowd is hyped up now. Ax and Warlord hammer each other. Ax dominates and tags Smash. Warlord catches the boot and trips him. Barbarian is back in there and hits a spinning high kick. Smash catches him though and tags Tully. Tully takes a stun gun and Anvil is back in who hits a power slam for 2. Dynamite is back in who hits a clothesline but is pulled out of the ring. Arn is back in and hits Dynamite in the gut. Con is back in as is Boris Zhukoff who misses a knee drop. Powers back in and hits a backdrop and a clothesline but Boris reverses a spinning high cross body to pin Powers at 15:35 eliminating The Young Stallions. Shawn works over Boris now and hits a 2^nd rope fistdrop for 2. Barbarian back in and hits a flying tackle. Tully is tagged in and he immediately walks over and tags Volkoff drawing huge heat there. Volkoff works over Barbarian and tags Ax who pounds away. Con comes back in as does Volkoff. Volkoff hammers away but Barbie fires back and tags Shawn. He pounds on Volkoff but tags Boris. Shawn makes a blind tag to Marty who pins Boris with a Sunset Flip at 18:18 eliminating the Bolsheviks. Tully comes in and hammers on Marty. Con gets a backdrop but is sunset flipped for 2. Con tags his partner who hits a high back drop. Smash pounds on Marty. Ax is back in and hits a slam. Arn is back in and is face slammed. Davey Boy and Con are back in. Con takes a backdrop. Tully comes back in and suckers Davey Boy and flips him in the corner. Smash back in and goes to a resthold the first one of the match. Con pounds on Davey and tags his partner but runs into a double boot. Anvil comes back in and the Harts nail Demoliton’s finisher for 2. Shawn comes in and hits a dropkick. Marty hits a flying elbow and Con tries to tag one of the faces. Dynamite snap suplexes Con and hits a 2^nd rope kneedrop for 2. He hits a backbreaker for another 2. Barbarian hits a power slam and an elbow but headbutts Con into his own corner. Tully comes back in and is scared again so he gets advice from Bobby Heenan. He suckers Barbie into the wrong corner. Ax and Smash pound away on Barbie. Smash with a chinlock. Barbie powers out of it but takes a knee. Arn is back in as is Con. Con tags his partner who is powered in the wrong corner but gets the tag to Ax somehow and hits back to the chinlock. The Busters double team Barbie but Arn puts his head down. Marty comes in and hits a flying elbow. Anvil in again and puts is head down too. Tully’s back in and tries a suplex but Anvil reverses it. Bret comes in and hits a backbreaker and an inverted atomic drop. He tries a german suplex but Tully rolls Bret’s shoulder over and pins Bret at 27:07. The Harts can’t believe it but they’re gone. Davey Boy comes in and hits a tombstone piledriver on Tully. Dynamite gets a shot. Shawn comes in and is double teamed by the Busters. Marty comes in and it turns into a four man brawl and both the Rockers and Brain Busters are Double DQ’d at 28:51. The two teams continue to brawl in the aisleway. Down to the POP, Bulldogs, Demoliton and Conquistadors now. Smash pounds on Dynamite but takes a kneelift for 2. Con is in and hits a knee. His partner is in and misses a cannonball. Warlord hits a gut wrench suplex and tags Barbie who hits a boot. Con’s partner comes in and Davey Boy hits a vertical suplex for 2. Ax back in there and takes a crucifix for 2. Ax pounds and tags Smash. Davey gets an armdrag. Dynamite is back in and slams his face. Ax back in and takes a clothesline. Con takes a press slam from Davey Boy. He hits the running powerslam but doesn’t cover Con. Barbie comes in and they double headbutt Con back into his own corner. 2^nd time that he’s been saved that way. Barbie pounds on Ax but is sent outside the ring. Ax tags Smash who throws Barbie outside. Cons do some doubleteaming but they can’t knock Barbie down. Barbie gets the tag to Davey Boy and they hit a double elbow for 2. Dynamite back in and hits a gut wrench suplex for 2. Falling headbutt gets another 2. Warlord comes in and hits a legdrop but doesn’t cover. Dynamite is in and puts his head down. Smash is back in and pounds away but runs into a boot. Dynamite hits a snap suplex but misses a diving headbutt. Smash clotheslines Dunamite for the pin at 36:17 eliminating the Bulldogs. Barbie is in and pounds on Smash but is dragged into the wrong corner. The Cons work over Barbie. Warlord comes in and charges Con put shoulders himself into the post. Ax comes in and works over. Smash comes in and goes to an armbar as Mr. Fuji jumps on the apron for whatever reason. The ref brings him back down however. Ax hits a snapmare into an armbar. Smash back in and does another snap mare as Fuji jumps on the apron again. Warlord fights back but runs into a clothesline. Smash goes to the ropes and Fuji pulls the ropes open and sends Smash to the outside and he is counted out at 39:46. Ax comes out and argues with Fuji but he gets nailed in the back with the cane. Smash comes up from behind and sends Fuji into Ax who slams Fuji on the floor to a big pop. The POP then come out and help Fuji up. The cons work on Barbie but Fuji trips one of them and Barbie hits a diving headbutt for the final pin at 42:23. The Powers Of Pain are the sole survivors. They get a pop but it turns into heat as they carry Fuji on their shoulders. Demolition rightfully pissed come back in and the knock the POP out of the ring. The crowd is stunned. Long match but well worth it. It was a very hot matchup but it kinda died after the Bulldogs left. ****

Please Note: Colsieum Video heavily edited portions of the next two matches. I’m going with the time of each fall on my counter with the actual match time in parentheses.

Brutus Beefcake, The Blue Blazer (Owen Hart), Sam Houston, Jim Brunzell and Ultimate Warrior VS Honky Tonk Man, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine, Ron Bass and Bad News Brown (with Jimmy Hart)

This is the actual opening match on the card. Valentine starts with Beefcake. Valentine misses an elbow and they go into a slugfest. Valentine pokes Beefcake in the eyes and tags Davis who stomps on Beefcake. But Beefcake hooks the Sleeper and puts out Davis at 1:17 (1:17). We cut to Brown hitting a fistdrop on Brunzell. Brunzell starts to fight back but he misses a charge in the corner and Brown hits the Ghetto Blaster for the pin at 2:24 (5:12). Cut to Valentine pounding Houston. He tags Brown and Valentine inadvertanly nails Brown. Brown gets into a shoving match with his teammates and leaves the ring and heads for the locker room in disgust. He is counted out at 3:26 (7:50). Cut to Houston hitting a spinning cross body on Bass for 2. Bass hits a lariat and an elbow for 2. He puts his head down and Houston works on him. He tries a monkey flip but takes a powerslam and is pinned at 4:16 (10:09). Cut to Blazer hitting a gut wrench suplex and kneedrop for 2. Owen hits a back drop and a powerslam. He goes to the top but gets shoved off by Honky and lands on both knees. Valentine hooks the Figure Four for the submission at 5:10 (12:29). Cut to Beefcake giving Honky an atomic drop. He hits a clothesline and hooks the sleeper but Honky pulls Beefcake outside. They slug outside and Beefcake hooks the sleeper again and both men are counted out at 6:00 (15:44). Valentine and Bass work on the Warrior now. Valentine hits an elbow for 2. Bass comes back in and they hit a double boot. Valentine is tagged in and hits an elbow. UW fights back but is run into a boot. Bass comes in and UW hits a double clothesline and hits a double axhandle on Bass for the pin at 7:46 (17:30). Valentine works on UW but UW hits another double axhandle at 8:09 (17:50). The Ultimate Warrior is your sole survivor. Ending was bad but the earlier action in this clipped version was decent *1/4

Jake Roberts, Ken Patera, Tito Santana, Scott Casey and Hacksaw Jim Duggan VS Dino Bravo, Harley Race, Mr. Perfect, Ravishing Rick Rude and Andre The Giant (with Frenchy Martin and Bobby Heenan)

We cut to about 8 minutes into the match. Patera slams Rude and hits him in the face. Takeover into a pin for 2. Patera misses a charge in the corner and takes the Rude Awakning for the pin at :33 (8:18). Scott Casey comes in and is run into the wrong corner. Race is in and hits a dropkick. Bravo is in and Casey hits a backslide for 2. Bravo holds on to the top rope on a reverse sunset flip and hits the sidewalk slam to pin Casey at 1:37 (9:27). Cut to Santana with a nice roll up on Bravo for 2. Bravo pulls the hair on Santana and tags in Race who hits a piledriver for 2. He hits a weak clothesline for another 2. Tito hits the flying forearm to pin Race at 2:42 (13:19). Andre comes in and chokes out Tito on the ropes. He hits a chop and sits on Santana twice. Santana tries to fight back and gets a sunset flip but Andre sits on him and pins him at 4:06 (14:40). Down to 4 VS 2. Duggan comes in and ties up Andre in the ropes with a blow waking up the crowd. Jake gets the tag and hammers on everybody and chokes out Andre but Andre breaks free, nails Jake and tags Rude who sends him hard into the corner twice. Perfect comes in and continues to work on Jake. Cut to Duggan hammering Bravo and tries the 3 point stance but Frenchy grabs the leg and Bravo hits him sending Duggan to the outside and Bravo comes out and slams him. Duggan gets the 2X4 and hits Bravo with it and is DQ’d at 6:58 (21:22). 4 VS 1 now. Cut to Rude slapping a bearhug on Jake. He hits a snapmare and hits a top rope fist. He swivels his hips and slowly goes over to tag someone but Jake pulls the tights exposing Rude’s butt and Jake hits the DDT for the pin at 8:07 (28:45). Andre comes in and starts pounding on Jake and he is literally choking and biting Jake in the corner. Usually Andre’s a nice guy but this is the most angry I’ve ever seen him. The ref finally DQ’s Andre at 9:01 (29:39). Andre hits a headbutt before leaving and Mr. Perfect comes in and covers Roberts at 9:22 (30:03) for the final pin. Survivors are Dino Bravo and Mr. Perfect. Match sucked and the full version would’ve been even worse 3/4* Jake then sends the snake in the ring sending the heels running.

Randy Savage, Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim, Hercules and Hulk Hogan (with Elizabeth) VS Akeem, The Red Rooster (Terry Taylor), King Haku, Ted Dibiase and Big Boss Man (with Slick, Bobby Heenan and Virgil)

The crowd pops for Savage and his team and go nuts when Hogan is introduced. Savage and Dibiase start it off since they know each other. Dibiase hits a clothesline but misses an elbow in the corner. Savage hits a clothesline and tags Herc who was feuding with Dibiase at the time. Ted goes to the outside but tags the Rooster in the interim. He works over Herc and tries a sharpshooter but is poked in the eyes. Herc hits a clothesline and tags Koko. Koko works over Taylor but runs into a boot. Akeem is in and pounds on Koko and tags Haku who hits a knifedge and a slam but misses a legdrop. Herc is back in and this is the match for WM V right here. Herc pounds Haku and tags Hogan who hits a clothesline and 3 quick elbow drops and stomps Haku’s eyes. Hillbilly Jim comes in and they hit a double boot. Haku fights back and tags Akeem who cockily punches Jim and tags Rooster. Jim reverses a slam and he kicks Taylor in the stomach. Koko is back in and hits a sloppy powerslam for 2. Rooster rams Koko into the corner which Koko no sells. Koko hits a missle dropkick for 2. Hogan back in and Taylor takes a big boot. Savage comes in and hits the flying elbow smash for the pin at 6:11. The faces celebrate but it’s only the beginning. Bobby Heenan gives crap to the Rooster as Taylor leaves. This is what led to their breakup about a month and a half later. Savage continues with Haku. Hogan gets the tag and Haku hits a drop kick. Hogan comes back with a clothesline and a slam. Hercules gets the tag and hits an elbow for 2. Haku hits a back suplex though and tags Akeem. Akeem misses an elbow and Jim is tagged in. He hits a headbutt and catches Akeem on an avalanche attempt. Akeem nails a clothesline and the 747 splash finishes Jim at 9:54. Koko comes in and dropkicks Akeem and uses him as a punching bag. Hogan comes in and works over the big guy. Savage hits a double axhandle from the 2^nd rope. Herc comes in and they just can’t knock Akeem down. Herc hits an elbow and tags Koko who uses him as a punching bag again but Akeem tosses him into the corner and Boss Man comes in and hits his Boss Man slam at 11:46 to pin Koko. Hogan comes in and he’s got something to settle with the Boss Man. Crowd is getting hot now. Hogan hammers Boss Man but can’t knock him down. He hits an atomic drop and everybody gets shots. Hogan bites Boss Man and hits a boot. He slams the 355lb Boss Man. Boss Man comes back with a spinebuster though and Hogan is hurt. Akeem comes in and the Towers hit a double elbow. Haku hits some chops and covers him for 2. Boss Man gets the tag and hits a mule kick and a sitting butt splash. Dibiase comes in for the first time since the beginning and hits a clothesline and 3 fist drops right to the forehead. He covers Hogan but Hogan hulks up, pounds Dibiase and tags Herc. Herc has some fun pounding on Teddy but he goes to the ropes and Virgil trips him. He grabs Virgil on the apron and Dibiase nails Herc from behind and rolls up up for the pin at 16:35. Herc then nails Virgil on the outside distracting Dibiase and Savage rolls up Dibiase and pins him at 16:57. Savage continues with Haku and takes a knifeedge but Haku misses a diving headbutt. Hogan comes in and works on the King but puts his head down and takes a semisuperkick. Boss Man comes in and works on Hogan’s back. He hits a slam and covers him for 2. Akeem gets the tag and pounds on Hogan. Haku gets the tag and hits a suplex for 2 and goes to the nerve pinch. Hogan has his shoulder up the third time but takes an eye gouge. Boss Man comes in and hits the Boss Man slam. He stalls for a long time before deciding to go to the top rope and misses a splash. Idiot. Savage gets the hot tag and pounds on all 3 heels. Slick hits Savage in the back with his cane though. Liz tries to tell the ref what happened and Slick starts giving crap to Liz and kidnaps her. Hogan nails Slick on the outside but is caught from behind by the Twin Towers. Boss Man brings out some handcuffs and cuffs Hogan to the bottom rope. Boss Man is counted out at 23:23 because he wasn’t paying attention. Bossman grabs his knifestick and starts killing Hogan with it and chokes him out. Savage goes after Akeem but BossMan hits Savage in the back with the knifestick. The Towers kill Savage inside and Akeem hits the 747 splash but since the Boss Man who was already out helped him he is DQ’d at 25:01. Down to 2 VS 1 now except Hogan is still cuffed to the bottom rope. Haku works over the champ as Slick taunts Hogan outside the ring with the handcuff key. Pretty funny stuff there. Haku misses an elbow and Savage goes to his corner but Hogan isn’t there. Haku misses a dropkick and once again Savage goes to the corner and once again Hogan isn’t there. Liz tries to get Hogan loose and gets the ref tied up. Slick hold Savage but Haku hits a superkick on the Slickster. Heenan is also nailed by Hogan. Liz goes over and steals the handcuff key from Slick and frees Hogan from the cuffs. Hogan is back in the match. Haku slams Savage and goes to the top and hits a flying splash for 2. Haku superkicks Savage into Hogan and Hogan hits the big boot/elbowdrop combo for the pin at 29:10. Pretty good main event with a good deal of drama. ***1/4. Afterwards the Mega Powers celebrate and Hogan gives Elizabeth a big hug for saving him and Savage has a look of jealousy in his eyes.

Summary: Pretty damn good show here with good effort from mostly everyone around. Two matches are clipped and probally would’ve sucked in their full versions but the other two matches are pretty good. I would say RECOMMENDED for the CV version and MILDLY RECOMMENDED for the PPV version if you can find it.