The 1989 Survivor Series was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the third annual Survivor Series and took place on Thanksgiving Day in the United States on Thursday, November 23, 1989, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. The event centered on the Survivor Series match, a tag team elimination match that pits teams of multiple wrestlers against each other.
The pay-per-view broadcast consisted of five matches, all of which were Survivor Series matches, and there was also one dark match before the event aired live. The main event was a four-on-four Survivor Series match in which The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts, and Demolition) defeated The Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, Zeus, and The Powers of Pain). This was the first Survivor Series event with named teams and with four members (instead of five).
Production Background Survivor Series is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced every November by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1987, held around Thanksgiving in the United States. In what has become the second longest running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, eventually referred to as the "Big Four".Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160) Like the previous two years, the third Survivor Series only featured Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches. While those two previous events had included three matches that pitted teams of five wrestlers against each other and one that pitted five tag teams against each other, all five of the Survivor Series matches at the 1989 event were teams of four wrestlers against each other. Like the prior two years, the third Survivor Series was scheduled to be held on Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, November 23, 1989, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois."The Survivor Series: All the Results From Thanksgiving Night!" WWF Magazine February 1990 p34
Storylines A major feud heading into Survivor Series was between The Ultimate Warriors (WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Ultimate Warrior and The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) and Jim Neidhart vs. The Heenan Family, The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) and The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard). Bobby Heenan was a very popular heel manager, who led many heel wrestlers to championship victories in the WWF and his clients feuded with all babyface wrestlers. Ultimate Warrior had been placed in a feud with Heenan's client Rick Rude which began at Royal Rumble when Warrior won by fan reaction over Rude in a posedown. Rude followed by attacking him. They feuded with each other until the summer of the year, in which they exchanged the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship with each other. The Rockers were in a feud with Brain Busters, that had also begun since the beginning of the year. The feud began on January 30, 1989 edition of Prime Time Wrestling where The Brain Busters faced The Rockers. In the match, The Brain Busters narrowly defeated the Rockers as Anderson held down Marty Jannetty's leg as Blanchard pinned him. The Rockers and The Brain Busters faced each other in a rematch on March 11 Saturday Night's Main Event XX which resulted in a double countout. They were added to the main event of Survivor Series in opposing teams.
Dusty Rhodes began a feud with Big Boss Man in mid-1989, when Rhodes came to the aid of a preliminary wrestler during the July 22nd episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling (taped June 28), stealing the Big Boss Man's nightstick and handcuffs in the process. Later in the same episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Rhodes was a guest on The Brother Love Show, where he proclaimed that "no one was afraid of the Boss Man anymore." Rhodes captained the Dream Team, while the Big Boss Man captained The Enforcers. Akeem, one half of The Twin Towers, defeated Brutus Beefcake in a King of the Ring tournament qualifying match on October 14, leading to a feud between Beefcake and Akeem. Beefcake joined Dusty's Dream Team while Akeem was scheduled to be a member of Enforcers. Tito Santana and Rick Martel, former Strike Force teammates had been feuding with each other since WrestleMania V, where Martel turned heel by abandoning Santana during their match against Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard). At SummerSlam, Martel and The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond Rougeau) defeated Santana and The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty). Martel became a member of The Enforcers while Santana was added to The Dream Team. The Honky Tonk Man and The Red Rooster wrestled a series of house show matches in the fall of 1989, with Honky winning most of these encounters. Honky was added to The Enforcers, while the Red Rooster joined The Dream Team.
Randy Savage turned heel in early 1989, breaking up The Mega Powers. He defeated Jim Duggan later that same year to win the title of "King of Wrestling", beginning a feud between Duggan and himself. Greg Valentine and Ronnie Garvin had been feuding since a match on December 30, 1988 in Madison Square Garden (MSG) which Valentine won by grabbing the tights for leverage. On April 22, 1989 episode of Superstars, Garvin defeated Valentine in a match. On the following edition of Superstars, they both faced each other in a retirement match in which the loser could not wrestle anymore in WWF. Valentine won the match, sending Garvin into retirement. Garvin became a referee for the WWF. During this time, he punched several wrestlers who physically provoked him, including Valentine in the course of his match against Jimmy Snuka, and he was suspended after the match. Valentine was also involved in a feud with Hercules, which culminated at SummerSlam where Valentine defeated Hercules by pinning him using the ropes for leverage. Garvin was the guest ring announcer for the match, and not only did he verbally mock Valentine during the introduction, but he also announced Hercules as the winner by disqualification. Valentine was so furious that he demanded Garvin be reinstated as a professional wrestler, and his request was accepted. Garvin and Hercules were included as members of 4x4s at Survivor Series, and Valentine was added as a member of King's Court. Dino Bravo was involved in a feud with Bret Hart. At Royal Rumble, Jim Duggan, Hart and Jim Neidhart defeated Bravo and The Fabulous Rougeaus in a two out of three falls match, so Bravo became a member of King's Court at Survivor Series and Hart became a member of 4x4s.
Hulk Hogan starred in the WWF-financed professional-wrestling movie No Holds Barred as the protagonist, Rip. Tommy Lister Jr. portrayed Rip's arch rival Zeus in the movie, who is defeated by Rip. It turned into a rivalry that took place in the WWF. Lister was billed as Zeus, who wanted to take revenge of the movie from Hogan in real-life. He debuted on May 27, 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event XXI before Hogan's WWF World Heavyweight Championship title defense against Big Boss Man in a steel cage. Boss Man's manager Slick introduced him. Zeus attacked Hogan during Hogan's entrance. The feud culminated at SummerSlam where Hogan and Brutus Beefcake defeated Randy Savage and Zeus. Zeus was scheduled to become a part of Million $ Team against Hogan's Hulkamaniacs team at Survivor Series. At WrestleMania V, Ted DiBiase attempted to steal Jake Roberts' snake Damien during Roberts' match against André the Giant beginning a rivalry between Roberts and DiBiase. Roberts defeated DiBiase's manager Virgil on Superstars but after the match, DiBiase injured him and sidelined him for months. Roberts returned in late 1989 and signed to become a part of Hogan's Hulkamaniacs team against DiBiase's Million $ Team. Demolition (Ax and Smash) were pushed as a heel tag team in the WWF in 1988 under the tutelage of Mr. Fuji. A stronger and powerful babyface tag team The Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian) debuted in the summer of 1988 and challenged Demolition for the WWF Tag Team Championship. At Survivor Series, Fuji caused Demolition to get eliminated in a Survivor Series match resulting in a double turn as Powers of Pain turned heels and Demolition turned babyfaces. At WrestleMania V, Demolition defeated Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji in a handicap match to retain the tag titles, culminating in Demolition joining Hulkamaniacs at Survivor Series and Powers of Pain joining Million $ Team in Survivor Series.
At SummerSlam, Roddy Piper interfered in Rick Rude's WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship title defense against Ultimate Warrior and distracted Rude, causing Rude to lose the title to Warrior. This led to Rude and Piper captaining teams against each other at Survivor Series. Rude's team was dubbed "Rude Brood", and Piper's team was dubbed "Roddy's Rowdies". Jimmy Snuka became a part of Rowdy's Rowdies and Mr. Perfect became a part of Rude Brood. The Bushwhackers (Bushwhacker Butch and Bushwhacker Luke) feuded with The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond Rougeau) in early 1989. This led to their WrestleMania V encounter where Bushwhackers won, leading to Bushwhackers joining Roddy's Rowdies and Rougeaus joining Rude Brood.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorGorilla MonsoonJesse VenturaInterviewerGene OkerlundSean MooneyRing announcerHoward FinkelRefereeEarl HebnerJoey MarellaTim WhiteMike ChiodaJohn BonelloRene GouletShane Stevens
Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Boris Zhukov defeated Paul Roma in a dark match. The opening included superstars expressing what they were thankful for, followed by a rundown of the card narrated by Vince McMahon. The first Survivor Series match was between The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, The Red Rooster and Tito Santana) and The Enforcers (Big Boss Man, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel and The Honky Tonk Man). Originally, Boss Man's tag team The Twin Towers partner Akeem was scheduled to be a part of The Enforcers but was replaced by Brown. Rick Martel and Tito Santana, two former Strike Force partners and current rivals began the match. Martel pinned Santana with a roll-up, eliminating Santana, leaving Dream Team with three members. Sapphire made another appearance in the audience, after appearing the previous week on TV cheering on Dusty Rhodes in a match against Akeem. Like the previous year, Bad News Brown walked out on his team after arguing with team captain Big Boss Man and getting counted out. Both teams continued with three members each until Brutus Beefcake pinned Honky Tonk Man after a high knee, eliminating Honky and leaving Enforcers with only two members – Boss Man and Martel. Martel entered but failed to eliminate Beefcake. Instead, Beefcake pinned Martel with a roll-up, eliminating him and leaving Enforcers' captain Boss Man as the remaining member. He managed to pin Red Rooster after a Boss Man Slam. He fought the opposing Dream Team's captain Dusty Rhodes. The two captains had a battle with each other, which Rhodes won after he pinned Boss Man with a flying crossbody. Dream Team won with Rhodes and Beefcake as the survivors.