The 1987 Survivor Series was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the inaugural Survivor Series and took place on Thanksgiving Day in the United States on Thursday, November 26, 1987, and was held at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio. It was one of the first four annual pay-per-view events produced by the WWF, along with WrestleMania, introduced in 1985, and Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, introduced in 1988, referred to as the "Big Four".
The event was named after and centered on the Survivor Series match, a tag team elimination match that pits teams of multiple wrestlers against each other, or also multiple individual tag teams against each other. Each member of a team has to be eliminated individually until all members of a team have been eliminated, or in the case of a Survivor Series match composed of multiple individual tag teams, only one member of an individual tag team has to be eliminated for that individual tag team to be eliminated from the Survivor Series team. Every match on the card at the 1987 event was held as a Survivor Series match for both men and women.
In the main event, André the Giant's team defeated Hulk Hogan's team when André last eliminated Hogan's team member Bam Bam Bigelow to become the first lone survivor in the history of Survivor Series. On the undercard, Macho Man Randy Savage's team defeated The Honky Tonk Man's team and The Fabulous Moolah's team defeated Sensational Sherri's team. The event also featured a 10-man tag team elimination match in which Strike Force and their teammates defeated The Hart Foundation's team.
Production Background
Following WrestleMania III, the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) added an event titled Survivor Series to their pay-per-view (PPV) calendar in November to market the success of Hulk Hogan and André the Giant's rivalry. It was scheduled to be held on Thanksgiving Day in the United States on Thursday, November 26, 1987, and was held at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio. The event was characterized by featuring only tag team elimination matches that were dubbed Survivor Series matches. Of the four matches at the event, three pitted teams of five wrestlers against each other, while the other featured five tag teams against each other (totaling 10 wrestlers per team), but with the stipulation being that if one member of a tag team was eliminated, both members of that particular tag team were eliminated.Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
WWF Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Vince McMahon threatened cable companies who aired the National Wrestling Alliance's Starrcade (which was going head-to-head with Survivor Series on Thanksgiving night, 1987) instead of Survivor Series would not be allowed to broadcast WrestleMania IV. Most cable providers gave into McMahon's threat and only a handful aired Starrcade.
Storylines
The main feud heading into Survivor Series included André the Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed and Rick Rude against Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera and Bam Bam Bigelow. In January 1987, Hogan was awarded a trophy for his third year as WWF World Heavyweight Champion while Hogan's best friend André was awarded a smaller trophy than Hogan's, for being undefeated in WWF for 15 years. Hogan congratulated his friend and said that André was the real champion of superstars all around the world. André surprisingly left the interview before Hogan could even finish. In February, he came with a new manager Bobby Heenan. When Hogan learned of that, he begged André not to keep Heenan as his manager because Heenan was Hogan's longtime enemy. André said that he had come to challenge Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania. He ripped off Hogan's Hulkamania shirt and golden chain, turning heel. This culminated in their historic match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan defeated André to retain the title. On August 22, 1987, edition of Prime Time Wrestling, Paul Orndorff fired Bobby Heenan as his manager when he discovered that Heenan had brought in a new wrestler Rick Rude to replace Orndorff. Orndorff appointed Oliver Humperdink as his manager to feud with Rude. Superstar Billy Graham got involved in a feud with Butch Reed, culminating in a match between the duo. One Man Gang interfered in a match where he hit Graham with a big splash on the concrete floor. Don Muraco came to the rescue of Graham and Graham who was scheduled to participate in the main event of the first-ever Survivor Series retired due to an attack by One Man Gang. Muraco replaced him. Ken Patera got involved in a feud with Bobby Heenan and The Heenan Family and turned babyface, and was chosen to be the fourth member on Hogan's team. Many heel managers wanted to manage Bam Bam Bigelow, but Bigelow chose Oliver Humperdink as his manager thus making his WWF debut as a babyface. He also became a part of Hogan's team.
Randy Savage had been a heel since his WWF debut in the summer of 1985. He turned babyface in late 1987, after WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion The Honky Tonk Man claimed to be the greatest Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion. This led to a feud between Savage and Honky, leading to Savage's face turn. On October 3, 1987, Saturday Night's Main Event XII, Savage challenged Honky for the title, winning by disqualification. The title remained with Honky because a title cannot change hands by a DQ. Harley Race had won the 1986 King of the Ring tournament and was so proud about this that he called himself King Harley Race and wore a crown and cape to the ring. Jim Duggan did not agree with the fact and this placed Duggan and Race into a feud, with Duggan winning most of the matches. Jake Roberts also feuded with Honky Tonk Man after Honky hit Roberts with a guitar on an edition of Snake Pit, completing Roberts' babyface turn. A match was booked for Survivor Series featuring Savage, Roberts, Ricky Steamboat (whom Honky Tonk had defeated to win the Intercontinental Heavyweight Title), Brutus Beefcake and Duggan against Honky, Hercules, Danny Davis, Ron Bass and Race.
The major ongoing tag team feud pitted the face Strike Force and the villainous Hart Foundation. Tito Santana and Rick Martel formed Strike Force in the summer of 1987 after Santana rescued Martel from a beating by The Islanders. Strike Force quickly became a top contender for the WWF Tag Team Championship, held by the Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), and on October 28, 1987, Strike Force won the titles when Neidhart was trapped in Martel's Boston crab.
Event +Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorGorilla MonsoonJesse VenturaInterviewerGene OkerlundCraig DeGeorgeRing AnnouncerHoward FinkelRefereesDave HebnerJack KrugerJim KorderasJoey Marella The first match of the first Survivor Series was the first Survivor Series elimination match. Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake, and Jim Duggan faced The Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Danny Davis, Ron Bass, and Harley Race. Savage's team was seconded by his wife Miss Elizabeth while Honky's team was seconded by Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart. Beefcake and Hercules started off before Duggan and Race were tagged in. Duggan knocked Race out of the ring and followed him out where they brawled and both men were counted out and eliminated, leaving four men on each team. Beefcake hit a high knee on Bass, and went on to eliminate him. Team captain Honky himself joined the match and hit his Shake, Rattle and Roll on Beefcake and eliminated him, evening the match at three all. Roberts hit a DDT on Davis and only two men remained in Honky's team, Honky and Hercules. Savage hit the Savage Elbow on Hercules and pinned him, leaving Honky the only member in his team. After being dominated by Savage, Roberts and Steamboat for a couple of minutes, Honky was atomic dropped over the top rope by Savage and ran from the ring with Jimmy Hart and his IC Belt and was counted out. Honky's self-elimination made Savage, Roberts and Steamboat the survivors of the match.
The next match was a women's match featuring the team of The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin' Robin, Velvet McIntyre, and The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki and Noriyo Tateno) against Sensational Sherri, The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin), Donna Christianello, and Dawn Marie. McIntyre did the first elimination by pinning Christianello with a victory roll. Robin hit a running crossbody on Marie and pinned her with the crossbody, leading to three wrestlers on Sherri's team while none of Moolah's team members had been eliminated. Team captain Sherri came into the match and hit Robin with a vertical suplex to eliminate her. Glamour Girls hit a double clothesline on Moolah and Judy Martin, one half of Glamour Girls pinned Moolah to eliminate her. McIntyre pinned Sherri with a victory roll pin. Leilani Kai joined the match and then pinned McIntyre after an electric chair drop. Yamazaki hit a diving crossbody from the top rope on Kai and pinned her to eliminate her. Tateno hit a flying clothesline on Martin and pinned her to win the match. Jumping Bomb Angels became the survivors for Moolah's team.
The third match was a tag team variation of the Survivor Series match with 10 tag teams. If a person from a tag team was eliminated, their partner was also eliminated. The match featured Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel), The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers), The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond Rougeau), The Killer Bees (Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair), and The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) against The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), The Islanders (Haku and Tama), Demolition (Ax and Smash), The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov), and The New Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo). Santana hit a flying forearm smash on Zhukov and pinned him to eliminate Bolsheviks for the first elimination of the match. Jacques hit a diving crossbody on Ax but missed the move and was pinned by Ax, eliminating Fabulous Rougeaus. Ax's partner Smash was disqualified for hitting referee Dave Hebner, eliminating Demolition. Neidhart pinned Santana to eliminate Strike Force and Haku pinned Dynamite Kid to eliminate British Bulldogs. Next came Roma and Valentine. Roma hit a diving sunset flip on Valentine to eliminate The New Dream Team. Bret Hart and Jim Brunzell were next. Tama dropkicked Hart and then Brunzell rolled over Hart to eliminate Hart Foundation. Brian Blair put on his Killer Bees mask and pinned Tama with a sunset flip to eliminate Islanders. As a results, Young Stallions and Killer Bees won the match and became survivors for their team.