Survivor Series

The First Annual Survivor Series from 1987 marked a major development in American wrestling. After the success of Wrestlemania 3 earlier in the same year, WWE created a new event that would take the company's popularity to a whole new level - the Survivor Series. The concept, was that teams of 4 or 5 would compete in a match up until all members of a team had been defeated. All ways of being eliminated applied, be it via a count out, pinfall, disqualication, submission or at the referee's discretion. It was a simple but very effective concept. This first event, is one of the very best of its kind. It is vintage American wrestling where you have many stars and great workers involved. Included are: Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Honky Tonk Man, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The Killer Bees, The Islanders and others. Hogan and Andre were right in the middle of their story angle during 1987 and they are Captains of their respectable teams. Andre the Giant had put together a team which totalled an excess of 2,000 pounds!! I remember as a kid, feeling slightly awe-struck when I first found out. There are 4 matches altogether - including a women's elimination match - and they don't disappoint at all. The version that was released on video by "Silvervision" is heavily edited as it was stipulated that the Survivor Series event had to be within a running time of 120 minutes. As a result, some of the footage of the wrestling action is paused and the footage moves on by about 3 or 4 minutes. There is is a longer version available, which includes about an additional 40 minutes. The commentary by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura is excellent and Ventura even manages to remain a bit more neutral than he usually was. The two of them commentated together on many PPV events in the 1980s and very early 1990s. The action in the First Survivor Series comes thick and fast, the choreography is impeccable. I won't give away any of the match results but you won't want to miss this.

A new event that is a survivor still to this day . Beginning with commentary team of the great Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse the body Ventura. Starts a who's who of wrestling 🤼‍♀️ names. Cameras 🎥 blocked by the large number of athletes in the ring. Didn't take away from the fact that this was an event, And felt like it could and did have longevity . can still been in it's near original format on tagged classics 📀 instead of the network. The imperfections of the event is part of the charm of what would lead to arguably the greatest few years of Wrestling's near unscripted best characters.

While heavily edited today, this event is a real treat considering the action and quality of fighting in it. It really marks the point where wrestling entertainment understood the right recipe for success! It's fun and tense, all three matches, while woman wrestlers do a really good job in their part, being completely equal to their male counterparts. I enjoyed watching this and give it 8.5/10 and recommend it for relaxation and fun, as it should be with wrestling entertainment!

The 1987 "Survivor Series" the first one ever which started the "WWF's" annual "Thanksgiving" super card in which teams would assemble together and face each other as elimination was the theme of each bout and the team with the last standing participants were declared winners of the match! Taking place in Richfield, Ohio at the Coliseum the action was entertaining, fast pace and moving. The best series involved the match up of "Randy Macho Man Savage's" team against the "Honky Tonk Man's" team as Honky just couldn't sing up a victory tune and as the last man standing he pulls an Elvis left the building thing! The tag matches were okay with many foes and wrestlers yet the women's series was a treat watching "The Jumping Bomb Angels" as the Japanese duo worked their high flying moves and magic up and down the ropes and onto the mat for a victory! And in the main event the showdown of the team of "Hulk Hogan" and "Andre the Giant" it was a grudge match of the greatest, only the Giant still steaming mad from his "Wrestle Mania 3" defeat gets revenge in some form by defeating the team of the "Hulk". Memorable and new approach event by the "WWF" that would become an annual treasure, this 87 and first edition featured so many legendary greats like "Jake the Snake", Steamboat, Beefcake, Race, Moolah, Martel, Valentine, Demolition, Hart Foundation, Rude, Bundy, and others. Without a doubt it was one of the greatest events ever in the "WWF".

The concept behind the Survivor Series (this 1987 edition being the first of its kind) is an interesting one. Squash together a bunch of WWF superstars into large tag teams and let them battle it out!

The problem, however, is that all four of the matches in this event are essentially the same. This is a limitation of all tag matches (especially those without partners that work together all the time)...they all seem to follow the same pattern: One guy gets beat up for awhile, then tags in the fresh man who clears house (Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart made his career on this!).

Thus, the fact that this is essentially all tag-team work makes me give it no more than a middling three-star rating. Fortunately, the WWF had a ridiculous surplus of superstars at this particular point in time, so at least the personalities were fun to watch, but it just seemed to grow stale as it went along.

If you like tag-team action more than I, you'll love the '87 Survivor Series. I, for one, am hoping that the next edition throws a few more wrinkles into the proceedings.