The 1994 Survivor Series was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the eighth annual Survivor Series and took place on Thanksgiving Eve in the United States on Wednesday, November 23, 1994, at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. This was the final edition of Survivor Series to be held on either the eve or day of Thanksgiving itself, with subsequent events held one to two weeks before the holiday or the weekend after. 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, and there was also one dark match before the event aired live. Two main event matches were held; in the first, Bret Hart defended the WWF Championship against Bob Backlund in a special submission match where the only way for a wrestler to win was to have the opponent's second throw a towel into the ring; Owen Hart, Bret's brother and Backlund's second, tricked his mother Helen Hart into throwing in the towel for Bret, which won the match and the championship for Backlund. In the other main event, The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna in a casket match with Chuck Norris as the special guest ring enforcer.
The event's other three matches were Survivor Series matches. Razor Ramon led The Bad Guys against Diesel's team of The Teamsters. Ramon won the match for his team after all members of the other team were counted out. Doink the Clown teamed with three midgets to form Clowns Are Us in a match against The Royal Family, composed of Jerry Lawler and three midgets. The Royal Family won the match, but all seven other competitors attacked Lawler after the match. Lex Luger led Guts and Glory against the Million Dollar Corporation team, which was managed by Ted DiBiase. DiBiase's team won after Luger, the last wrestler from his team, was pinned.
Shawn Michaels and Diesel, the WWF Tag Team Champions going into the event, began feuding after Michaels accidentally kicked Diesel during the match. They vacated their title and began a feud that led to a match at WrestleMania XI. Three days after Survivor Series, Diesel won the WWF Championship by defeating Backlund. The rivalry between Backlund and Bret Hart continued, until they faced each other at WrestleMania XI.
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, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble, referred to as the "Big Four",Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160) and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs with the addition of King of the Ring in 1993. The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically pits teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. Like the prior three years, the eighth Survivor Series was scheduled to be held on Thanksgiving Eve on Wednesday, November 23, 1994, at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas.
Storylines Several storylines formed the background for the opening match, which saw the fan favorite team of The Bad Guys (Razor Ramon, the 1-2-3 Kid, Davey Boy Smith, and The Headshrinkers) square off against the villainous team of The Teamsters (Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart). Razor Ramon had been feuding with Shawn Michaels since September 1993 when Ramon won the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Michaels, the former champion, had been stripped of the belt. WWF President Jack Tunney scheduled a battle royal, in which Ramon and Rick Martel were the final participants remaining. They faced each other on Monday Night Raw, and Ramon won the match and was awarded the title. Michaels claimed that he was the rightful holder of the belt and refused to acknowledge Ramon as the champion. Diesel was serving as Michaels' bodyguard but soon became an active wrestler and carried on Michaels' feud with Ramon. In the months leading up to Survivor Series, Ramon had also developed a feud with Jeff Jarrett, and the two faced each other several times with the Intercontinental Championship on the line. Ramon's friend, the 1-2-3 Kid, took Ramon's side in these feuds, and the two formed an occasional tag team. The Headshrinkers had also been feuding with Michaels and Diesel since dropping the WWF Tag Team Championship to them on August 28. The Headshrinkers had several rematches but were unable to regain the belts. Finally, Davey Boy Smith was involved in a feud with his real-life brother-in-law Owen Hart and Hart's other brother-in-law, Jim Neidhart. Owen Hart had turned on his brother Bret at the 1994 Royal Rumble, after which Smith got involved on Bret's side and Neidhart took Owen's side.
Although Jerry Lawler and Doink the Clown (Matt Osborne) had a storyline rivalry that dated back to when Doink turned on Lawler by dumping a bucket of water on him after SummerSlam 1993, the feud had rarely been mentioned since then. On the September 10, 1994 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, however, Lawler provoked Doink by popping balloons carried by Doink's midget sidekick Dink. The rivalry soon led to Lawler introducing a midget named Queasy, who dressed like Lawler. Doink and Lawler then introduced many more midgets over the following weeks. An elimination match was booked for Survivor Series, with Lawler, Queasy, Sleazy and Cheesy facing Doink, Dink, Wink and Pink.
Bret Hart and Bob Backlund's rivalry stemmed from a match the two men had on the July 30 edition of Superstars for Hart's WWF Championship. Despite Backlund's best efforts to regain the title he had held for over five years, Hart emerged victorious. However, when Hart tried to shake Backlund's hand after the match, Backlund slapped him in the face and locked him in a crossface chickenwing, refusing to let go until he was finally pulled off of the champion. Once Hart was freed, Backlund stared at his hands in apparent shock at what he had just done..
Shortly after the incident, Backlund appeared on Monday Night Raw to explain his actions. He claimed that he had never truly been beaten for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship on December 26, 1983, as the match ended when his manager, Arnold Skaaland, threw a towel into the ring rather than allowing Backlund to submit to The Iron Sheik's camel clutch; he also demanded that everyone start referring to him as "Mr. Backlund" and that if anyone was able to break out of the crossface chickenwing, he would retire.
Backlund and Hart signed for a rematch at Survivor Series. The match was a non-traditional submission match; the only way for the other competitor to win was to force the opponent to throw in the towel. This would require both champion and challenger to have a second accompany them to the ring. Hart chose Davey Boy Smith, while Owen Hart agreed to be in Backlund's corner.
The central feud in the match between Guts & Glory and The Million Dollar Team was between Lex Luger and Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. During 1994, DiBiase had "purchased" the contracts of several wrestlers to form a heel stable. Among the members to join were Bam Bam Bigelow and King Kong Bundy. Prior to SummerSlam 1994, DiBiase claimed to have added Luger to the group. Luger denied having joined, despite Tatanka claiming that he had evidence that Luger had "sold out" to DiBiase. Luger and Tatanka faced each other at SummerSlam, where it was revealed that the storyline was a swerve, as Tatanka turned on Luger to join the Million Dollar Corporation. Bigelow and Adam Bomb had also been feuding since the September 10, 1994 episode of Superstars of Wrestling. Bigelow attacked his opponent, a jobber, before the match. DiBiase then claimed that the company was not providing suitable competition, and he challenged any wrestler to face Bigelow. Bomb responded, and the two brawled briefly. Leading up to Survivor Series, Bomb and Bigelow faced each other at several house shows. The Heavenly Bodies were not members of DiBiase's stable, but they competed on behalf of the group. At the time, they were involved in a feud with The Smoking Gunns as a result of a match on the September 3 episode of Superstars of Wrestling. The Heavenly Bodies attacked the Gunns prior to the match and stole the Gunns' cowboy hats. They put on the hats to mock the Gunns and then threw them on the ground and stomped on them. To get revenge, the Gunns stole The Heavenly Bodies' ring robes and tore the wings off them.
The feud between The Undertaker and Yokozuna began at Survivor Series 1993. During an elimination match, Yokozuna was unable to injure The Undertaker, despite slamming The Undertaker's head into the ring steps and performing the Banzai drop on him. A match was booked for Royal Rumble 1994, in which The Undertaker would challenge WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna for the title in a Casket match. During the match, which featured a no-disqualification clause, Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna's manager, hired nine other wrestlers to interfere on Yokozuna's behalf. Yokozuna won the match after opening The Undertaker's urn, which, according to the storyline, contained the secret to The Undertaker's powers. After the match, The Undertaker appeared on the video screen and vowed to return to the World Wrestling Federation one day. He was not seen for several months, although, in reality, he was taking time off wrestling to allow injuries to heal. The Undertaker returned at SummerSlam 1994, defeating an Undertaker look-alike. A rematch against Yokozuna was scheduled for Survivor Series. This was also to be a Casket match, but Chuck Norris was brought in as a special outside referee to prevent interference.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorVince McMahonGorilla MonsoonInterviewerTodd PettengillRing announcerHoward FinkelRefereeMike ChiodaDanny DavisJack DoanEarl Hebner