Rewriting 1991, Part 4 of 4: Survivor Series

[LODemolition]

Actual results:

1. Ric Flair, The Mountie, Ted DiBiase and The Warlord (w/ Mr. Perfect, Jimmy Hart, Sensational Sherri and Harvey Wippleman) def. Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Virgil and The British Bulldog

Survivor: Ric Flair

2. Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan, The Texas Tornado and Tito Santana def. Col. Mustafa, Skinner, The Berzerker and Hercules (w/ Gen. Adnan and Mr. Fuji)

Survivors: Team Slaughter (clean sweep)

3. WWE Championship: The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) def. Hulk Hogan (c)

4. The Nasty Boys and The Beverly Brothers def. The Rockers and The Bushwhackers

Survivors: Brian Knobbs, Jerry Sags and Blake Beverly

5. Big Boss Man and Legion of Doom def. Irwin R. Shyster and The Natural Disasters (w/ Jimmy Hart)

Survivors: Hawk and Animal


The 5th annual Survivor Series was enjoyable enough thanks to the memorable moment of "the gravest challenge" match, but in my opinion they missed out on a golden opportunity. Instead of having Jack Tunney just reinstate Randy Savage for the Tuesday in Texas event, why not make him jump through some hoops? Even back then I thought to myself, wow the word "retirement" is apparently just a very temporary thing. Make Savage and Roberts available for Survivor Series, which I'll explain later, and have the cobra bite incident come shortly thereafter. By the way, did anyone else have that cobra haunt their dreams? I mean, can you imagine if Jake had lost his handle on it and it had slithered its way out of the ring and into the audience? Also, this was originally meant for Sid Justice before a biceps injury that kept him out of action here as well. However, despite some of their best talent being off the card here, it was the WWE ppv debut of "The Nature Boy", the one and only Ric Flair. And he immediately made his presence known in grand fashion, holding a chair flat inside the ring for Undertaker to tombstone Hogan and become new WWE Champion. Perfectly done. And the childrens' reaction to Taker's entrance still cracks me up to this day. They were too scared to even look. Onto the rewrite, here are the changes I would make to the last of the big 4 of 1991.

Rewriting Survivor Series 1991​

1. 15-Man Battle Royal: Big Boss Man won by last eliminating Col. Mustafa

Rather than have the traditional 4-on-4 elimination match between a lot of the guys we've already seen in the past years, this time I thought I'd mix it up in the opener and have a battle royal among the midcarders. Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, The Bushwhackers, Koko B. Ware, Skinner and The Beverly Brothes would be some of the names who had also thrown their hat in.


2. Ric Flair, "The Model" Rick Martel, Hercules and Paul Roma def. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Sid Justice, Smash and Crush

Survivors: Ric Flair and Rick Martel

Flair and Piper were shoe-ins for team captains as they had been feuding since Flair's arrival in WWE, but I would've overhauled the rest of the teams. Sid could have still been used despite his biceps injury in a match like this, as it would be extremely easy to quickly count him out or DQ him. Flair and Martel advance to the sole survivor match that I thought should have become a Survivor Series tradition. I loved it when they did it the one and only time in 1990.


3. Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels def. Marty Jannetty

After winning the IC title at SummerSlam from Davey Boy Smith, Jannetty would be looming over Michaels' shoulder everywhere he went. After being named #1 contender, Jannetty would finally get the rematch he had been waiting for since WrestleMania VII. Although Marty would give Shawn everything he could handle, the Heartbreak Kid would once again get the better of his former Rockers partner and retain his Intercontinental gold.


4. "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, Earthquake and Typhoon def. Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Warlord and Barbarian

Survivor: Randy Savage

Getting back to how I would have had Savage jump through hoops to earn his reinstatement. After weeks of petitioning from the Macho Man, wanting desperately to get his hands on Roberts since crashing his wedding reception, Jack Tunney would make him a deal. If Randy Savage could not only be victorious in a Survivor Series elimination match (with the teammates of his choosing) AND advance to the sole survivor match and win again to prove he still had what it takes to compete in WWE, then and only then would he grant his reinstatement. Sure it may have led to a predictable enough outcome, but nevertheless it's a lot more logical than just handing him his career back out of thin air. Naturally, Jake Roberts would get himself dq'ed in this one as to give away too much too soon in this classic feud.


5. Tag Team Championship Detroit Street Fight: The Nasty Boys def. The Legion of Doom (c)

Basically the same match they had at SummerSlam, only with Knobbs and Sags getting their first title win here instead of at WM7 over the Hart Foundation. I had the LOD win the titles there versus Demolition, so it would have been a nice 6-month run for Hawk and Animal as champs.


6. Bret "Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, The British Bulldog and Owen Hart def. The Mountie, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Irwin R. Shyster and The Berzerker

Survivor: Bret Hart

This would have been a great opportunity in my mind to showcase Bret Hart as a breakout star since I decided to not give him the Intercontinental Championship in 1991. Neidhart was still around at this time and Owen was a relative unknown, so Bret being the sole survivor would be hardly out of reach.


7. WWE Championship: The Undertaker def. Hulk Hogan (c)

Absolutely nothing needs to be changed here except I think it should have gone on second to last, but that's just nitpicking. The interference from Flair was outstanding and it of course planted the seeds for the match we all thought we'd see at WrestleMania VIII. One other slight change I would make is I would not have had Hogan regain the title at This Tuesday in Texas. Instead, with all of the confusion that had already taken place in the title match here at Survivor Series, Jack Tunney would have come to the conclusion that the championship would be vacated and that his decision as to how a new champion would be decided will come in the following weeks. That of course being that the 1992 Royal Rumble winner would also become new WWE Champion. This keeps the fans from missing another title change who had just paid for Survivor Series and likely couldn't afford another ppv so soon after (they were 6 days apart).


8. Sole Survivor Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Bret "Hitman" Hart def. Ric Flair and "The Model" Rick Martel

Sole Survivor: Randy Savage

I admit, the finish is predictable, but it certainly beats the lame 6-man tag that they chose to close the show with in reality. That was a head scratcher to me. Mr. Perfect would make his presence known on the outside and help get Bret Hart counted out, stocking the odds against Savage at 2 to 1. Perfect would also get Flair disqualified in his ppv debut however by attacking Savage on his behalf. After a back and forth between Savage and Martel however, the Macho Man would "do the impossible" and become the sole survivor after a 6-month absence from in-ring action. It would now be open season on Jake Roberts, who would look on with an evil grin from the end of the aisleway.


Let's recap the title changes from all of 1991 now:

WWE Championship

Ultimate Warrior
Hulk Hogan (SummerSlam)
The Undertaker (Survivor Series)
*Vacated in December*


Intercontinental Championship

Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Mr. Perfect (Royal Rumble)
The British Bulldog (WrestleMania VII)
Shawn Michaels (SummerSlam)


Tag Team Championship

Demolition
Legion of Doom (WrestleMania VII)
Nasty Boys (Survivor Series)

​

Thanks for reading my Survivor Series '91 rewrite. Feel free to comment and/or post your changes to this card.

 

[sikkbones]

What was the real reason for Tuesday in Texas?

Did not enough people buy the ppv?

Were more people watching clash of champions over survivor?

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

What was the real reason for Tuesday in Texas?

Did not enough people buy the ppv?

Were more people watching clash of champions over survivor?

According to Wikipedia, it was to "attempt to establish Tuesday as a secondary ppv night", though I don't buy that as Sunday's hadn't yet been established as the premier night - many WWE ppvs before this has taken place on Saturdays, one Wrestlemania I believe was even on a Monday (!) and Surbivor Series was traditionally a Wednesday night, on thanksgiving eve until 1993 I think. The SS 1991 ppv was definitely on a Wednesday evening.

I think more likely that the Tuesday in Texas date was planned earlier in the year, and Survivor Series plans changed once the Ultimate Warrior got fired and Sid got injured, as I feel that had they been available, the main event would most definitely have been Hogan, Sid, the Warrior and maybe even Savage (but probably more likely the Boss Man) against Jake the Snake, the Undertaker and two others (Slaughter and Mustafa maybe); therefore they could have an all-elimination Survivor Series as normal, followed by a 'regular' ppv to blow off feuds in single and tag matches before the clean slate of the Royal Rumble.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Further to this, is LODemolition going to be a completist and do a rewrite of theos Tuesday in Texas? Otherwise I shall put my opinion of that clusterf**k on this thread with my still-to-come Survivor Series rewrite

 

[LODemolition]

No, I'm only doing rewrites of the big 4.

 

[King Patrick Star]

1991

This one is a little more difficult than rebooking Survivor Series 1988, 1989, and 1990, only because I wasn't able to create Teams based on the Managers and their respective Stables. I really don’t think I would change a thing anyway, except for adding forth members to the 3-on-3 Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team match. If we really couldn’t get Sid Justice or Macho Man, Randy Savage on the Face team and Jake the Snake Roberts on the Heel team in this match, we should have gotten…

The Immortals – Hulk Hogan, Big Bossman, and the Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animial)
vs.
Death and Taxes – the Undertaker, Irwin R. Schyster, and the Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) (with Paul Bearer and Jimmy Hart)

They could have saved the WWE Championship Title match between Hulk Hogan and the Undertaker at This Tuesday Night In Texas. I’d have the Undertaker win the Winged Eagle at This Tuesday Night In Texas, in a controversial manor, where President Jack Tunney would strip the Undertaker of the Title and place it up for grabs at the 1992 Royal Rumble as planned.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The biggest thing they botched here was Ric Flair's proper debut... that 3 man did nothing for him at all.

Here's how I'd have gone, based on the difference I already mentioned in previous threads.

Team Hulk vs The Death Squad (Title On The Line)
Hulk Hogan, Big Bossman, Tugboat & Sid Justice vs The Undertaker, Earthquake, Papa Shango & The Berserker

This match is different in that the title is on the line, if Hogan is pinned he loses the belt... both teams are made up of "big hitters" with a view to protecting Hulk/Helping Taker. I do the Tugboat turn here rather than earlier, setting up Bossman to find a tag partner. Papa Shango debuts strong and goes to the double countout with Sid and setting Hogan up to face insurmountable odds. He eventually falls to Undertaker after a "mystery masked man" interferes.

The Horsemen vs The Pipers of Doom
Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Jim Neidhart & Haku vs Roddy Piper, Legion of Doom & Ricky Steamboat

Flair recently made his debut with the "Real World's Title" and goes about setting up his "Four Horsemen" for the WWF, he inspires Shawn Michaels to hurl Marty Jannetty through the Barbershop window and become the first member of The Horsemen. With Heenan in the JJ role, Flair turns to Jim The Anvil Neidhart and Haku who recently started teaming to become dual Enforcers. Piper counters by recruiting a team who know all about Flair and The Horsemen.... With Jannetty on the shelf, he picks Ricky Steamboat and The Legion of Doom join when Neidhart and Haku steal their tag titles after interference from Shawn and Flair. Naitch ends up sole survivor, but it's a starmaking performance for Shawn who steals the show with Steamboat...

The Million Dollar Team vs Team USA

Ted DiBiase, Rick Rude & The Steiner Brothers vs Jim Duggan, Virgil & Crush & Smash

For the second year running, Ted DiBiase promises to shock the world at The Survivor Series and prove that everyone has a price. Since Heenan became a defacto Horseman manager, Rick Rude has formed an alliance with DiBiase and Sherri getting into a feud with Jim Duggan and Virgil, who had recently turned on DiBiase. Rude was offended by Duggan's uncouth nature while DiBiase had a big score to settle with his former valet. Demolition are reeling from the real life health problems of Bill "Ax" Eadie, who is now reduced to an occasional manager role. Rumors begin of The Steiners being interested in the WWE in the sheets but their debut is a total shock to most fans, especially when they show up unexpectedly on the night of the show on DiBiase's team. A clean sweep follows with the Steiners causing Demoliton to permanently split at the next SNME.

The Madness vs The King Cobras

Randy Savage, The Bushwhackers & Kerry Von Erich vs Jake Roberts, The Nasty Boys & Skinner

This is all about Jake and Savage... the Whackers get taken out quickly by the resurgent Nasty Boys while Kerry makes short work of Skinner but gets shocked by a DDT leaving the two mortal enemies. Savage gets the win after Liz steals the snake bag and distracts Jake long enough for Savage to use brass knux.

The Visionaries vs The Corps

Rick Martel, The Warlord & Power & Glory vs Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, IRS & The Mountie

In one of the more bizarre moments of the year, we saw a whole Survivor Team turn face... Last year, the Visionaries were the first team to clean-sweep and Rick Martel was keen to get them back together. They agreed to do so but fell foul of the heel Sgt. Slaughter, whose team are also looking to make a big splash.

In a strong opening match, Martel is left on his own as his team are decimated. He manages to eliminate Col. Mustafa and The Mountie before a miscommunication between Slaughter and IRS leads to a shock pinfall over Sarge.... Martel comes close to pulling out the win and really gets over with the fans for his gutsy performance before falling to IRS when Slaughter attacks out of sour grapes.

 

[dd23beatlesfan1]

The biggest thing they botched here was Ric Flair's proper debut... that 3 man did nothing for him at all.

Here's how I'd have gone, based on the difference I already mentioned in previous threads.

Team Hulk vs The Death Squad (Title On The Line)
Hulk Hogan, Big Bossman, Tugboat & Sid Justice vs The Undertaker, Earthquake, Papa Shango & The Berserker

This match is different in that the title is on the line, if Hogan is pinned he loses the belt... both teams are made up of "big hitters" with a view to protecting Hulk/Helping Taker. I do the Tugboat turn here rather than earlier, setting up Bossman to find a tag partner. Papa Shango debuts strong and goes to the double countout with Sid and setting Hogan up to face insurmountable odds. He eventually falls to Undertaker after a "mystery masked man" interferes.

The Horsemen vs The Pipers of Doom
Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Jim Neidhart & Haku vs Roddy Piper, Legion of Doom & Ricky Steamboat

Flair recently made his debut with the "Real World's Title" and goes about setting up his "Four Horsemen" for the WWF, he inspires Shawn Michaels to hurl Marty Jannetty through the Barbershop window and become the first member of The Horsemen. With Heenan in the JJ role, Flair turns to Jim The Anvil Neidhart and Haku who recently started teaming to become dual Enforcers. Piper counters by recruiting a team who know all about Flair and The Horsemen.... With Jannetty on the shelf, he picks Ricky Steamboat and The Legion of Doom join when Neidhart and Haku steal their tag titles after interference from Shawn and Flair. Naitch ends up sole survivor, but it's a starmaking performance for Shawn who steals the show with Steamboat...

The Million Dollar Team vs Team USA

Ted DiBiase, Rick Rude & The Steiner Brothers vs Jim Duggan, Virgil & Crush & Smash

For the second year running, Ted DiBiase promises to shock the world at The Survivor Series and prove that everyone has a price. Since Heenan became a defacto Horseman manager, Rick Rude has formed an alliance with DiBiase and Sherri getting into a feud with Jim Duggan and Virgil, who had recently turned on DiBiase. Rude was offended by Duggan's uncouth nature while DiBiase had a big score to settle with his former valet. Demolition are reeling from the real life health problems of Bill "Ax" Eadie, who is now reduced to an occasional manager role. Rumors begin of The Steiners being interested in the WWE in the sheets but their debut is a total shock to most fans, especially when they show up unexpectedly on the night of the show on DiBiase's team. A clean sweep follows with the Steiners causing Demoliton to permanently split at the next SNME.

The Madness vs The King Cobras

Randy Savage, The Bushwhackers & Kerry Von Erich vs Jake Roberts, The Nasty Boys & Skinner

This is all about Jake and Savage... the Whackers get taken out quickly by the resurgent Nasty Boys while Kerry makes short work of Skinner but gets shocked by a DDT leaving the two mortal enemies. Savage gets the win after Liz steals the snake bag and distracts Jake long enough for Savage to use brass knux.

The Visionaries vs The Corps

Rick Martel, The Warlord & Power & Glory vs Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, IRS & The Mountie

In one of the more bizarre moments of the year, we saw a whole Survivor Team turn face... Last year, the Visionaries were the first team to clean-sweep and Rick Martel was keen to get them back together. They agreed to do so but fell foul of the heel Sgt. Slaughter, whose team are also looking to make a big splash.

In a strong opening match, Martel is left on his own as his team are decimated. He manages to eliminate Col. Mustafa and The Mountie before a miscommunication between Slaughter and IRS leads to a shock pinfall over Sarge.... Martel comes close to pulling out the win and really gets over with the fans for his gutsy performance before falling to IRS when Slaughter attacks out of sour grapes.

Where's Bret Hart on the card? I don't see him anywhere.

 

[dd23beatlesfan1]

I generally love the 1991 Survivor Series event, even though it could've been better.

I absolutely loved the opening match of Piper/Hart/Bulldog/Virgil against Flair/Dibiase/Warlord/Mountie. One of the best Survivor Series elimination matches ever.

And of course the Hogan/Taker match was a seminal moment in WWE history as it was kind of the beginning of the end of Hogan's peak in WWE, and the Undertaker's rise. And it made a Flair an even bigger impact player. A perfectly booked match.


That being said, Sid's injury and them just not putting Savage or Roberts on the card hurt things. Sid had a major feud with Roberts coming as did Savage, and ending the show with a 6 man elimination of the Bossman/LOD against the Natural Disasters and IRS just seemed lame and disappointing.


That being said, I would love the keep the Hogan/Taker match, because it's a huge moment, but at the same time, we could've had the greatest Survivor Series elimination match ever, as far as star power goes. That match would be as follows....


The Hulkamaniacs (Captain: Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Bret Hart)

vs.

Death & Money (Captain: The Undertaker, Jake Roberts, Ric Flair, and either Mr. Perfect or Ted Dibiase) (someone can probably come up with a better name, I'm not good with names haha)


With the heel team, you can either have Perfect continue his feud with Bret in segments and not matches, and then continue on for one more match and be eliminated quickly, or you can start Bret off right away with his first major I-C title feud against Ted Dibiase. Dibiase can retain the Million Dollar Belt at Summerslam and move on from Virgil, or he can lose the belt to Virgil at Summerslam, and then weeks later attack Virgil on an episode of Superstars or Wrestling Challenge and take the Million Dollar Belt back from Virgil without winning it and keep it for himself while Virgil is on the shelf, and then go after Bret for the I-C title, a title Ted never won. I would've loved to have seen a proper feud between Bret Hart and Ted Dibiase, as both were great wrestlers, had some history going back to Survivor Series 90 and a SNME episode in April of 91. Plus, I don't like that Bret never really had any proper feuds during his first I-C title run (and most of his second really) and his first World Title run. He just had random matches with everyone. I feel like him feuding with Dibiase would've helped Bret get over, and also keep Dibiase relevant as a Singles wrestler. Plus, Dibiase was never involved in the I-C title scene so this would've been something new for him. Also this helps get Bret over tremendously huge as he gets the rub from 3 of the 4 biggest babyfaces of the Hogan era (obviously not counting Warrior, who's no longer in the company at this point). In the match, you can actually have Virgil come out and interfere and help get Dibiase eliminated which can spark back up their feud, so Bret can move onto the Mountie after the Survivor Series. And having Virgil involved with 8 of the biggest stars in WWE history would've really made Virgil look important as well.


Actually, I kind of like that idea, so go ahead and take Perfect out, and let's go with Hogan/Macho/Piper/Hart against Taker/Roberts/Flair/Dibiase.


In real life, Hogan and Piper were both feuding with Flair. Hogan and Macho (and Sid) were feuding with the Taker/Roberts alliance, (Hogan against Taker, and Macho and Sid against Roberts). So in reality, Hogan, Macho, Piper, Flair, Roberts, and Taker were all involved with each other during this period, so why not combine them into the most star-studded Survivor Series elimination match ever? Add in the the main I-C title feud at the time with Bret and Dibiase, and you have the makings of an absolute classic.

Building up to the match, I'd do exactly what WWE did in real life. Flair debuts, challenges Hogan, and taunts Piper, jumps him in the commentary area, Piper while blinded hits Vince with the wooden chair. All of that, now Flair's involved with both Hogan and Piper. The Funeral Parlor incident happens at the same time where Flair taunts Hogan, til Taker attacks him from behind, and Macho and Piper come to the rescue, just like in real life. The only difference is I have Jake get involved too and have him join Taker in attacking Hogan. This is where you begin the Jake/Macho feud too. Macho, still a commentator, by helping Hulk "sticks his nose where it doesn't belong," so then Jake starts taunting him while Macho is on commentary. He makes his comments about Liz, which fires Macho up, and the snake bite incident happens. Meanwhile the Survivor Series match is booked, and Hogan and Piper plead with Jack Tunny to reinstate Macho so he can join their team, and Tunny relents after the snake bite incident.

So now all of the amazing build-up in September and October and early November leads to the biggest Surivor Series elimination match of all-time.

Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, and Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker, Jake Roberts, Ric Flair, and Ted Dibiase!


Have this match close the show and have it go 40 minutes or so. Here's how I'd book it.


1. Dibiase gets eliminated by Bret Hart around the 11:00 minute mark thanks to a distraction from Virgil.

2. Jake Roberts eliminates Bret Hart at about the 25 minute mark, thanks to an Undertaker tombstone piledriver on Bret, while Jake and Flair have the ref distracted, who's arguing with Hogan, Savage, and Piper.

3. Jake Roberts and Macho Man both get eliminated at the 26 minute mark from a double count out. Macho enters the match immediately after Jake eliminates Bret, which prompts Jake to run from the ring, and Macho going nuts, chases after him. They both fight in the aisleway with officials trying to break it up. Both men are the legal men, so both get counted out. We're now down to Hogan and Piper against Taker and Flair.


4. Hogan gets eliminated at the 32 minute mark after being counted out. Hogan and Taker are the legal men in the ring, Flair distracts him, and Hogan goes to the outside and chases him around, meanwhile Paul Bearer hits Hogan with the urn from behind, making Hogan groggy enough to where he can't make it in before the 10 count. Piper is now the sole remaining babyface against the heel team of Taker and Flair.


5. Piper fights valiantly, but ultimately gets eliminated at the 39 minute mark from an Undertaker tombstone piledriver.


Aftermath: Taker and Flair beat up on Piper after the match, causing referees to get involved. Hogan then comes out to the rescue to make things even. Jake Roberts then, having escaped Macho Man, comes out to attack Hogan, so it's 3 on 2. Macho Man then comes out and attacks Roberts, and we have a huge, chaotic brawl between all 6 guys, with chairs being thrown, guardrails being pushed to the side, referees and officials, including Jack Tunny trying to restore order, and the show ends!


Over the following week or so, Jack Tunny determines that a new, special, one-time-only ppv event will be held in December to settle the issues between these 6 guys once and for all, This Tuesday in Texas!

The show will feature Ric Flair vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper, Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts, Virgil vs. Ted Dibiase, Bret Hart vs. Skinner in an I-C title match, and in the main event, Hulk Hogan vs. The Undertaker for the World Championship. Jack Tunny will be at ringside for the world title match to ensure everything is in order and fair.


Piper loses to Flair

Roberts and Macho Man get double DQed keeping their feud going.

And the Undertaker wins the title from Hulk Hogan after interference from Ric Flair. (the exact same thing that happened at the real Survivor Series would happen here, in addition to Jack Tunny being knocked out like what happened at the real This Tuesday in Texas). After the screwy finish, Tunny makes the world title vacant, with the winner of the 1992 Royal Rumble being the official, undisputed WWF Champion!

And the rest is history.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Survivor Series 1991 was another poor ppv in my opinion, the booking team focussing too much on one match and not enough on logically booking the rest of the card. It was also, I'm sure, only released in just over two hours on the VHS, so there is certainly scope to improve.

In my booking thus far, championship reigns largely remained the same as I tweaked ppvs rather than completely overhauling them. The one difference is that Jake the Snake Roberts is the WWF Champion, having beaten the Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam. Otherwise, Bret Hart and the Legion of Doom both carried their respective titles into Survivor Series the way that they did in real life.

Given that This Tuesday in Texas was a thing, this slightly affects the booking of Survivor Series, where I think I would stick to an elimination match format.

The opening contest had serious potential, and they messed it up by having just two 'normal' eliminations and then proceeding to eliminate 5 wrestlers in one go. This didn't make Flair look strong on his ppv debut, and since huge things were in the pipeline for the Nature Boy, he absolutely HAS to look strong here.

I would amend the teams slightly and make it Piper, Hart, Bulldog and Virgil against Flair, DiBiase, IRS and the Model Rick Martel (Money Inc weren't a thing at this point, but I switched Bulldog to face IRS at Summerslam because I was inherently bored by the Warlord feud), I'd add a few minutes to the run time and I'd still have Flair as sole survivor, but with a 'proper' win. He can eliminate Virgil with the figure four and then roll up Piper for the pinfall victory. In order, Bret makes Martel tap, Bulldog hits the powerslam on DiBiase but doesn't see the blind tag to IRS, who pins Davey Boy (after Davey beat him at Summerslam), Virgil gets submitted by Flair, Hart gets pinned by DiBiase, leaving Piper v three, but he manages to get DiBiase counted out and pin IRS before losing to Flair.

Now the second match of the card would still be my quickest, and it suffered in reality from a cluster of withdrawals: Neidhart got injured, Steamboat and Bug Bully Busick both quit, so Santana, Slaughter and Hercules were brought in as alternates. No such dice in my SS91: Duggan is always the team captain, with the Texas Tornado, El Matador Tito Santana and Hercules (Power and Glory were turned face for Summerslam) against Skinner, the Berserker and Demolition (Smash and Crush), who were now finally in the winding down stage of their career, but they certainly a longer wind-down than they actually got. This would possibly be the final time they would team together. Indeed, they can even have one last hurrah in eliminating Hercules but otherwise the faces would run through the heels with consummate ease. The only difference is I would have Skinner as team captain and also the final man elimanted, as he was the best wrestler on the heel team. So Hercules eliminated by Demolition, then Tornado pins Smash after a discuss punch, Santana with a flying firearm to Crush, Duggan with the same 3-point stance clothesline he pinned Berserker with in the actual event, and again to Skinner. I was never a big fan of Duggan but you simply couldn't fault how over his patriotic gimmick was with the fans.

The tag team elimination match would pretty much stay the same, with the same result, as you absolutely HAVE to sow seeds of dissention between the Rockers.

Now here's the major change. There would be no world title match in my Survivor Series 1991. As I stated in an earlier post, I believe that the original plan, before Summerslam, was to have an epic Survivor Series main event featuring all the major players, but that plans were hurriedly changed when Warruor was suspended/fired. Undertaker certainly wasn't ready for a world title run at this point, and his feud was supposed to be with the Warrior. So I would keep the elimination match, and given how my Summerslam went down, the teams would be Hogan, Sid, the Big Boss Man and Sgt Slaughter. They would fight Jake Roberts, the Undertaker, Col. Mustafa (I know, but he was feuding with a Slaughter at the time) and the Mountie. Mustafa would be quickly eliminated by a slaughter, as would the Mountie by the Boss Man, before Sid (who had the bicep injury but as others had said, it's the one ppv you can cover for that so he can make a short appearance here) gets into a double countout with the Undertaker. This preserves both men but also ignites the potential for a feud between them. Now this leaves Jake the Snake as the only member of his team, but remember he's champion here so he will be booked very strong. DDT pingalls over Slaughter and the Boss Man follow but Hogan is the hero of the day (as usual in early 90s WWF) and wins with a leg drop. It is important that Hogan pins Roberts as it leads directly into him getting a title shot a Tuesday in Texas the following week, where the World and his wife will expect the Hulkster to become a 3-time champion (as in my write up he didn't win the title at WM7).

This leaves one final match - though rather than be the main event, this would go on before the Hogan v Roberts elimination match

It always puzzled me why Vince didn't just add two wrestlers to this match. He clearly had the roster available. Even if he switched around this and the lower-card match. But I digress.

Since Boss Man and IRS have both been utilised elsewhere, this match, which is centred around the Legion of Doom and the Natural Disasters as the behemoths chase the tag titles, will now be Hawk, Animal, Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo against Earthquake, Typhoon, Haku and the Barbarian. Bravo and Valentine would go pretty early, both victims of the Earthquake Splash, LOD would then pin Haku and Barbarian, at least one of whom falls victim to the Doomsday Device clothesline. Anything you can do, and all that... then an all-out brawl which culminates in the referee throwing the match out. Essentially using the real-life Flair-Piper match finish for the LOD and Disasters here; it makes far more sense, as Flair needed to looked strong, whereas having both these teams counted out simply furthers their story, could the Disasters, big as they are, finally be the ones to dethrone Hawk and Animal? Also having this as a double countout is another reason to move it down the card and have Hogan celebrating to close out the show.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Right, following the Survivor Series comes this Tuesday in Texas, a card which is largely forgotten about when discussing the worst WWE(F) ppvs of all time. As with the SS six days earlier, the booking decisions made for this one were absolutely nuts. First off, did you know there were actually 13 matches presented to fans in attendance in San Antonio that evening? But only five made the actual ppv? And one of the matches cut was a HUGE omission which absolutely needed to be shown on ppv.

The first four of these matches were understandably not on the ppv broadcast, feauturing talent thatwas yet to debut, like Papa Shamgi and Tatanka before either of them has those names, or they were having try outs, such as Brian Lee and the Harris twins. But the other dark matches could certainly have added to This Tuesday in Texas, so for the purposes of this rewrite, I will discuss it as a nine match card.

Actual results:
(Dark) Greg Valentine b Brooklyn Brawler
(Dark) the Nasty Boys b the Bushwhackers
(Dark) tag titles: LOD b the Beverley Brothers
(Dark) Ric Flair b Roddy Piper - WHY was this a dark match??
IC title: Bret Hart b Skinner
Randy Savage b Jake Roberts
British Bulldog b the Warlord zzzzz
Repo Man & Ted DiBiase b Virgil & El Matador Tito Santana
WWF title: Hulk Hogan b Undertaker

First and foremost, who on earth decided those matches would form the ppv portion of the show? And who made the decision to bump Flair and Piper, a match which absolutely should have happened on ppv given their story and inconclusive finish at Survivor Series, to a dark match pre-show? Sometimes, Vince, I really don't understand you. And you wonder why this ppv struggled??

I'm absolutely fine with Valentine v Brawler ramianing a dark match. Brawler had no business being on a ppv at this time.

I would open with the Nasty Boys v the Rockers, a rematch from the battle Royal at the Albert Hall event two months earlier in London. That match was decent, as would this match be, with Michaels again being frustrated by losing. Remember how their split up started with a WWF magazine article about whether or not they were heading for a split? Events like this are where you really amp up the dissension.

British Bulldog beats Rick Martel here in a solid technical match. Pairing Bulldog against good wrestlers and not the Warlord would have ignited his push rather than giving it a tepid start of facing off against a limited muscle head over four different ppvs... Martel was criminally underused following his 1991 feud with Jack the Snake.

LOD against the Beverley Brothers for the tag titles can stay. No reason for it but not every match needs a reason.

DiBiase beats Virgil in a straight one on one match to blow off their feud, with assistance from IRS as the foundations are being laid for Money Inc (who still won't be an official team for a little while)

Bret Hart loses the IC belt here to the Mountie. I'm not a fan of really short reigns, though I'm happy with the Mountie losing to Piper who in turn loses to Hart, so that remains, but I would bump up Mountie's win to here. If you are going to try and push a new ppv, you need to have some big things happen, and this is the first of those. Hart can play up an injury received in the previous week's Survivor Series match (I didn't account for it in the previous write-up but Hart had a knack for playing injured, the 'Bret Hart limp' was genuinely a thing for most of his singles career.

Flair absolutely HAS to go over Piper here. No questions asked, this is on the main card.

Prior to the main event I would have the Natural Disasters squash the Bushwhackers, then in a post-match interview call out the Legion of Doom for a tag title shot.

This brings us to our main event. Jake the Snake defending his WWF title against Hulk Hogan, the man who beat him a week earlier at Survivor Series. This is going to be WCW-style overbooking, but overbooking is necessary to lead into the title getting vacated and being up for grabs in the Royal Rumble. Undertaker will attempt to interfere on Roberts' behalf, nailing Hogan with the urn behind the refree's back, but Hogan being Hogan, he hulks up and kicks out of the pinfall. Usually shtick, finger wag, blocks two punches, big boot, leg drop, 1, 2... Ric Flair suddenly appears out of nowhere and pulls the referee out of the ring. This leads to chaos and confusion, until finally Jack Tunney comes to ringside, but HE gets caught in the crossfire and gets knocked out (as happened in reality), and whilst the referee checks on him, the Macho Man Randy Savage appears through the crowd, nails the Snake with a double axe handle from the top rope and Hogan then hits a second leg drop for the pin and the title.

Now, having said earlier how much I generally dislike short title runs, Tunney holding up the belt here actually made perfect sense. After reviewing the footage, the title is vacated and placed as a prize for the upcoming Royal Rumble. The Rumble field is announced, and Savage is still officially retired; however, when Shawn Michaels throws Marty Jannetty through the barber shop window (which aired only a week or so before the Rumble), Tunney has little time to find an alternate, and announces a man who is ready willing and able to return: the Macho Man (meaning the Royal Rumble match would be his first official match back in my timeline)'