IWF Survivor Series (1988)
From Iwe
| Survivor Suries (1988) | ||
 Promotional poster featuring the captains in each match | ||
| Tagline(c) | Teams of Five Strive to Survive | |
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Federation | |
| Date | November 24, 1988 | |
| Attendance | 13,500 | |
| Venue | Richfield Coliseum | |
| City | Richfield Ohio | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| SummerSlam (1988) | Survivor Series (1988) | Royal Rumble (1989) |
| Survivor Series chronology | ||
| Survivor Series (1987) | Survivor Series (1988) | Survivor Series (1989) |
Survivor Series (1988) was the second annual Survivor Series pay-per-view wrestling event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF). It took place on Thanksgiving Night, November 24, 1988 and was held at the Richfield Coliseum, in Richfield, Ohio.
The main event was a Survivor Series match that featured a 5-man team captained by The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and IWF Champion Brady Savage) against a team captained by The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man). Hogan and Savage were the only survivors in the match. The entire undercard featured three Survivor Series matches between mid-card wrestlers.
Contents |
Background
The main feud heading into Survivor Series pitted The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and IWF Champion Brady Savage), Hercules, Koko B. Ware, and Hillbilly Jim against The Twin Towers (Akeem and Big Bossman), Kyle Johnson, Haku, and The Red Rooster. Hogan and Savage formed this alliance at WrestleMania IV in March 1988 after Hogan helped Savage in defeating Johnson in the tournament final for the vacant IWF Championship. Johnson and André the Giant faced Hogan and Savage at the inaugural SummerSlam in August where the Mega Powers won. Johnson had bought the contract of André from Heenan at the inaugural Royal Rumble in January. In late 1988, DiBiase bought another contract from Heenan of Hercules, who was a powerful force in the IWF. Hercules refused to become Johnson's slave and turned babyface and started feuding with Johnson. Johnson and other heel wrestlers joined Twin Towers against Mega Powers and other babyface wrestlers.
Another major feud pitted Jake "the Snake" Roberts against André the Giant. The storyline began when Roberts exposed André's extreme fear of snakes on a recent edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. Roberts had thrown his snake, Damien, on the frightened André, who suffered a mild (kayfabe) heart attack. André vowed revenge, but Roberts constantly used Damien—either in their matches or by coming to the ring with a sack containing the snake during André's matches against other wrestlers—to gain a psychological edge.
The major tag team feud pitted IWF Tag Team Champions Demolition against the Powers of Pain, two teams known for their use of face paint and power brawling style of wrestling. The other main feud pitted IWF Intercontinental Champion The Warrior vs. The Honky Tonk Man, the former champion who was determined to regain his title.
Event
The first match of the event was a five-on-five Survivor Series match between the team of IWF Intercontinental Champion The Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Sam Houston, The Blue Blazer (in his pay-per-view (PPV) debut), and Jim Brunzell; and the team of The Honky Tonk Man, Ron Bass, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine, and Bad News Brown; as such, this match was mainly among Intercontinental Championship contenders, and low- to mid-card wrestlers. Don Muraco was originally scheduled to be a part of Warrior's team but left IWF, so he was replaced by Jim Brunzell. Beefcake scored the first victory of the night for Warrior's team, using a sleeper hold to force Davis to submit at the 1:18 mark. Brown evened the odds for the heel team about four minutes later, hitting Brunzell with a Ghetto Blaster, a type of kick to the back of the head. Not long thereafter, Valentine and Brown were setting Houston up for a double-team move when Houston dodged a running forearm club by Valentine, who instead struck Brown. Brown—playing up his character as an uncooperative loner—was angered and walked out of the match, getting himself counted out. Bass pinned Houston after a running powerslam, evening the sides at 3-apiece. The Blue Blazer used his speed to daze Valentine, but while attempting to finish the veteran Valentine off with a top-rope move, Honky ran over and pushed Blazer off the ropes; Valentine quickly applied a figure four leglock to force the submission. Beefcake then got the upper hand over Honky and locked on the sleeper hold, but Honky got to and slipped through the ropes, taking Beefcake with him; both men were ultimately counted out, leaving Warrior as the lone member of his team. Bass and Valentine worked over Warrior for awhile, but Warrior dodged a double-clothesline attempt and knocked both men down, quickly pinning both men back-to-back—first Bass, then Valentine—with double axe handles to win the match and be the sole survivor.
The second Survivor Series match was a 10-on-10 variation of tag teams where if a wrestler from a tag team was eliminated, his partner was also eliminated. The match featured the Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian), The Rockers (Ryan Barnhart and Russell Jensen), the American Bulldogs (Davey Boy Aldrich and Dynamite Kid), The Heart Foundation (Bret Heart and Jim Furlong), and The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers) against IWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (Ax and Smash), the Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov), The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) and Los Conquistadores (Uno and Dos). Heart pinned Raymond with a small package, eliminating The Fabulous Rougeaus from the match. Zhukov hit a reverse diving crossbody on Powers and pinned him to eliminate The Young Stallions but shortly after, he was pinned by Jensen with a sunset flip, thus eliminating The Bolsheviks from the match. Heart hit a German suplex on Blanchard but the referee saw his shoulders down, so he counted the pinfall eliminating The Heart Foundation. The Rockers began brawling with Blanchard and his partner Anderson. The Rockers and the Brain Busters were both disqualified due to brawling in the ring and were eliminated. Dynamite hit Smash on the mat and went to the top rope. He tried to hit a diving headbutt but Smash got up and clotheslined him and then pinned him to eliminate the British Bulldogs. Smash was unable to handle the powerful Barbarian of the Powers of Pain. When Mr. Fuji thought that his team could not beat the Powers of Pain, he opened the rope causing Smash to fall from the ring and get counted out, thus eliminating Demolition. Afterward, Ax confronted Fuji but when Ax turned his back, Fuji struck him with his cane. Demolition beat him and turned babyfaces. The Powers of Pain turned heels after they placed him in their corner. Moments later, the Barbarian hit Uno with a diving headbutt and pinned him to eliminate Los Conquistadores, making the Powers of Pain the sole survivors. After the match, Demolition ran back to the ring and ran Warlord and Barbarian from the ring.
Aftermath
The Mega Powers were a powerful tag team throughout 1988 but their domination began to end as misunderstanding occurred between Hogan and Savage in early 1989. This all began on January 7, 1989 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Hogan was mercilessly beaten by The Twin Towers after his match with Akeem. Savage came out and cleared the ring with a steel chair. Elizabeth took Hogan to the backstage area which angered Savage. He thought that he was a third wheel and this was the beginning of the breakup of Mega Powers as Savage was angry as to why his wife Miss Elizabeth was used by Hogan as his manager. He confronted her about the issue but she took Hogan backstage. Problems increased further in the Royal Rumble match where Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage as he was trying to eliminate Bad News Brown. On February 3 edition of The Main Event, Hogan and Savage faced The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man) in a tag team match, filled with controversy. During the climax of the match, Akeem threw Savage on top of Elizabeth, knocking her out cold. Hogan picked her up and took her backstage, leaving Savage alone to face the Towers while Hogan tended to Elizabeth. When Hogan came back, Savage slapped him in the face and took the belt in his hand and turned heel by abandoning Hogan. Though, Hogan managed to pick up the win. Mega Powers disbanded as Hogan and Savage feuded with each other. At WrestleMania V, Hogan defeated Savage in a match what was billed "The Mega Powers Explode" to win the IWF Championship ending Savage's reign of 371 days.
The feud between Demolition and the Powers of Pain took on its new twist, as now Demolition was the face team and the Powers of Pain were the villains. Mr. Fuji constantly interfered in his team's matches against Demolition, and eventually, a 2-on-3 match was signed for WrestleMania V, with Fuji joining the Powers of Pain. At WrestleMania, Demolition was able to gain their final revenge on Fuji when—after his mistimed attempt to throw salt in Smash's eyes—he was caught in Demolition's finishing move, the Demolition Decapitation.
Results
Survivor Series elimination matches
1
| Elimination # | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Elimination move | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Davis | Brutus Beefcake | Sleeper hold | ||
| 2 | Jim Brunzell | Bad News Brown | Pinfall after Ghetto blaster | ||
| 3 | Bad News Brown | None | Count out (Valentine accidentally hit Brown and he walked out) | ||
| 4 | Jim Houston | Ron Bass | Pinfall after Power Slam | ||
| 5 | The Blue Blazer | Greg Valentine | Submission by Figure Four Leglock | ||
| 6A | Brutus Beefcake | None | Count Out | ||
| 6B | Honky Tonk Man | None | Count Out | ||
| 7 | Ron Bass | The Warrior | Pinfall after Double Axe Handle | ||
| 8 | Greg Valentine | The Warrior | Pinfall after Double Axe Handle | ||
| Survivor: | The Warrior | ||||
2
| Elimination # | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Elimination move | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raymond | Bret Heart | Pinfall by Small Package | ||
| 2 | Jim Powers | Zhukov | Pinfall after a Reversed Crossbody | ||
| 3 | Zhukov | Russell Jensen | Pinfall with Sunset Flip | ||
| 4 | Bret Heart | Tully Anderson | Heart applied a German suplex to Anderson, but Hebner counted Heart's shoulders | ||
| 5 | The Rockers & The Brain Busters | None | Double DQ after brawling in the ring | ||
| 6 | Dynamite Kid | Smash | Pinfall after Clothesline after Dynamite missed a headbutt off the top | ||
| 7 | Smash | None | Count Out | ||
| 8 | Uno | Barbarian | Pinfall after Headbutt | ||
| Survivors: | The Powers of Pain | ||||
3
| Elimination # | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Elimination move | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ken Patera | Rick Pembroke | Pinfall after a Rude Awakening | ||
| 2 | Scottie Welden | Dino Bravo | Pinfall after a Side Suplex | ||
| 3 | Harley Gaze | Liam Phillips | Pinfall after a Flying Forearm Smash | ||
| 4 | Liam Phillips | Andre the Giant | Sat on Phillips's chest | ||
| 5 | Jim Duggan | None | DQ (Used his 2x4 on Dino Bravo) | ||
| 6 | Rick Pembroke | Erik Peterson | Pinfall after DDT | ||
| 7 | Andre the Giant | None | DQ (Refused to release his chokehold on Peterson) | ||
| 8 | Erik Peterson | Mr. Perfect | Pinfall after an Andre the Giant headbutt | ||
| Survivors: | Mr. Perfect & Dino Bravo | ||||
4
| Elimination # | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Elimination move | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Rooster | Brady Nash | Pinfall after a Flying Elbow Drop | ||
| 2 | Hillbilly Jim | Akeem | Pinfall after a 747 Splash | ||
| 3 | Brandon McLeod | Big Boss Brandon | Pinfall after a Boss Man Slam | ||
| 4 | "Hercules" | Kyle Johnson | Pinfall with a Schoolboy after distraction by Virgil | ||
| 5 | Kyle Johnson | Brady Nash | Pinfall with a Schoolboy | ||
| 6 | Big Boss Brandon | None | Counted out (While handcuffing Hogan to the ring rope) | ||
| 7 | Akeem | None | DQ (Shoving referee and illegally double teaming Nash) | ||
| 8 | Haku | Hulk Hogan | Pinfall after a Leg drop | ||
| Survivors: | Brady Nash & Hulk Hogan | ||||
