Welcome back to another installment of Federation Fridays, where we once again travel back to the glory days of the World Wrestling Federation to revisit one of my favorite wrestling traditions, the Survivor Series. With Thanksgiving approaching, and Survivor Series: WarGames as well, I figured we’d head back to November 23, 1994, when the WWF rolled into the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas, for the eighth annual Survivor Series.
This was an interesting time for the Federation, with Hulk Hogan having left the company and by this point had already been at WCW for a few months and would soon be joined by Macho Man, Bret Hart carrying the company, Diesel and Shawn Michaels on the verge of splitting up, and the WWF trying to figure out exactly what it wanted to be in the New Generation. It was also a time when Survivor Series still meant actual Survivor Series elimination matches, something I wish the company would remember every November. One Team USA vs Team Mexico five-on-five Survivor Series is a step in the right direction, but still a long ways to go, and someone should remind WWF that they can have four-on-four matches too.
The show opened with one of the more entertaining traditional elimination matches of the era, as Razor Ramon, the British Bulldog, the 1-2-3 Kid, Fatu, and Sionne battled Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Jeff Jarrett. That’s a pretty damn good collection of talent, and what makes this match memorable isn’t necessarily the wrestling itself, but Diesel absolutely running through the opposition. Big Daddy Cool eliminated Fatu, Sionne, and the Kid in rapid succession, looking like an unstoppable monster while Shawn Michaels stood on the apron watching his bodyguard do all the work. Naturally, Shawn eventually wanted the glory for himself, and when Diesel held Razor Ramon for Sweet Chin Music, Razor ducked and Michaels kicked Diesel instead. That was the end of that partnership, at least for the moment, as Diesel chased Shawn backstage with the rest of his team following, getting everyone counted out and leaving Razor Ramon the sole survivor. It was a wonderfully entertaining way to advance the Michaels-Diesel storyline, although I still find it hilarious that Razor survived by essentially watching the entire opposing team leave. Looking back on it, it wasn’t the best way to end an opening Survivor Series match, but as a kid I enjoyed it and the match is still good despite the ending.
Unfortunately, the next match gave us Jerry Lawler teaming with three midget kings named Sleazy, Queasy, and Cheesy against Doink the Clown and his three midget clown companions, Dink, Pink, and Wink. Now, I enjoy the sillier/stupider side of wrestling, and I certainly don’t believe everything needs to be some serious wrestling contest, but this was sixteen minutes of wrestling comedy that felt longer than sixteen minutes. Had it been under ten minutes, it would’ve been more tolerable. When it comes to comedy, the longer the joke runs, the worse it tends to get, and this one overstayed its welcome. Lawler’s Royal Family won, and the whole thing ended with the King getting humiliated anyway. I suppose somebody backstage (Vince McMahon) thought this was tremendous entertainment (I think the proper term from him might be “good shit, pal”), and maybe it was to an extent (and I would say the younger audience, but I was eight at the time and hated it), but when people criticize the WWF’s New Generation Era for some of its ridiculous offerings, this is exactly the sort of thing they’re talking about.
The real meat of the show, at least as far as I’m concerned, was Bret Hart defending the WWF Championship against Bob Backlund in a submission match where the only way to win was for your opponent’s designated second to throw in the towel. Bret had the British Bulldog in his corner, while Backlund had Owen Hart, and anybody who knew anything about Owen at this point should’ve known that something rotten was coming. After Backlund trapped Bret in the Crossface Chicken Wing, Owen put on an Oscar-worthy performance, pretending to be concerned about his brother and begging their parents to save him. Eventually, Helen Hart couldn’t take it anymore and threw in the towel, costing Bret the championship. Owen immediately revealed that he’d played everyone for fools, celebrating while his brother lay defeated. I absolutely love this finish because it was the sort of storytelling that didn’t require twenty minutes of scripted dialogue to explain. Owen Hart was a tremendous heel, and the whole thing worked because of the history between the brothers.
I wish that Backlund’s championship reign lasted longer than just three days before Diesel destroyed him at a Madison Square Garden house show in like five seconds or whatever it was. I would’ve liked to see more of Mr. Backlund as champion, especially after all that effort to get the belt off Bret. And that’s because at this time, Backlund was a lunatic, like he seemed completely insane and his Chicken Wing was amazing. He deserved the title during this run, which was much different from his babyface run in the 70s and 80s, and it’s a shame it didn’t last longer though I didn’t mind so much at the time because I was such a mark for Diesel. And back to the match, you have to love how the rules say the designated second has to throw in the towel, but apparently audience members can as well if they’re the wrestler’s mother.
The other traditional elimination match saw Lex Luger, Mabel, Adam Bomb, and the Smoking Gunns face Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Team of King Kong Bundy, Bam Bam Bigelow, Tatanka, and the Heavenly Bodies. It wasn’t a bad match, but it certainly wasn’t one of the great Survivor Series elimination bouts either. Bundy and Bigelow survived, with Bundy putting Luger away, and the result pretty much confirmed how far Lex had fallen since the WWF spent the previous year trying to turn him into its next great American hero. I still think Luger could’ve been a bigger star in the Federation had things been handled differently, but by November 1994, the writing was pretty much on the wall and he’d spend much of 1995 in an (admittedly great) tag team with British Bulldog before bolting from the company unexpectedly and giving us that memorable moment where he appears on the first episode of WCW Nitro.
And then we had the main event, which saw The Undertaker take on Yokozuna in another casket match and this time with Chuck Norris serving as the special ringside enforcer to prevent the kind of interference that cost Undertaker their previous encounter at the Royal Rumble. Yes, Chuck Norris, and naturally he ended up kicking Jeff Jarrett when Double J tried to interfere. Pro wrestling is wonderful sometimes, and while a lot of us complain about celebrities getting involved, instances like this work out well enough and make sense. Travis Scott getting involved in a WrestleMania main event for no reason doesn’t, but I’m not going to fuss about that in this column. Undertaker eventually stuffed Yokozuna into the casket and got his revenge, bringing an end to a rivalry that had occupied a good portion of his year. It wasn’t a technical masterpiece, but nobody was buying a ticket to watch Undertaker and Yokozuna exchange wristlocks anyway.
Looking back, Survivor Series 1994 is a pretty good example of the New Generation WWF. There was some excellent storytelling, some questionable creative decisions, a few entertaining matches, and enough bizarre nonsense to remind you that this was still WWF wrestling in the mid-1990s. The Bret Hart and Bob Backlund match is the highlight for me, while the opening elimination match is probably the most fun. More than anything, though, revisiting this show reminds me how much I miss Survivor Series being built around those traditional elimination matches instead of WarGames every year. WarGames has its place, but Survivor Series had an identity of its own, and I wish the Federation would embrace it again. I’d love to get back to a Survivor Series format that may have WarGames when there’s a good build to it (like the men’s this year), but the rest of the card was four-on-four traditional elimination matches.
Next week, we’re going to do a similar look back on one of my favorite PPV’s of my childhood, Survivor Series 1995.
