Reviews

*SPOILERS*

The Rumble from the previous years had great under cards, with the exception of 90. 89 wasn't so great either, because there was on great match and two other lackluster ones. But this was the first time we had a lackluster battle royal.

The under card was superb. Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett had a fine match. Did anyone notice that he was in 5 Royal Rumbles, but never once fought in the battle royal? The Undertaker-IRS match was fun because of Vince McMahon's commentary. Every time the Undertaker rises miraculously, he makes this weird noise. Vince McMahon's commentary has always been so bad it's good. Bret Hart and Diesel did quite well.

The tag team tournament final stole the show. It was a lengthy, exciting match, with plenty of heat. A few notes: I'm sure the Kid and Bob Holly's combined weight of 344 lbs. was a typo. Either that or they were trying to add to the momentum they were trying to build about Kid and Holly being underdogs. When I saw the match on pay-per-view, I knew Kid and Holly would win just because of McMahon and Lawler constantly pointing out that they didn't stand a chance against Bigelow and Tatanka.

Now, on to the battle royal. The reason Michaels and the Bulldog lasted the whole match is that there was no competition. Was anyone holding his breath when Duke the Dumpster held Michaels over the top rope, or when Eli Blu ran down to face the Bulldog? This was also the reason they shortened the entries from 2 minutes to 1. Out of 30 men, only about 5 of them were A-list stars, and 2 of them got taken out prematurely by Bret Hart. Did anyone want to see Henry Godwinn and Well Dunn slug it out for a solid hour?

Ultimately, this was the first of many Rumbles with a poorly-executed battle royal and a great under card.

*SPOILERS*

The year before, there was only one survival match, pitting two teams no one cared about against each other. And one great match, as Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels took their house feud into the pay per view realm. Otherwise, it was mediocre or less, with a tag team main event that should have been much better than it was.

This one had the same recipe that the previous years provided: lots of exciting, unpredictable matches that you could enjoy and forget about tomorrow. The opening match was vintage Survivor Series: a mixture of big names and second-tier stars, with the big names leaving early and the second-tier stars (Jannetty and the Kid) surviving. For the first time, every member of one team made an elimination.

The Harts-Knights match was pretty good, as Owen Hart finally got his chance to rise to the occasion as one of the WWF's best all-around wrestlers. He was dominant, even if he was the only Hart brother who didn't survive. From this point on, he became one of the premiere WWF stars.

The Smoky Mountain match was a little slow, but the Doinks match was genius.

How they came to the conclusion that the Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission should be the 4 Doinks is beyond me, but it resulted in the most entertaining Survivor Series match since the 20-man tag team matches from the first two years. Plus, the Bushwhackers finally got to have their first moment to shine in a Survivor Series.

The main event was OK, although the Steiners could have done better.

Not the best, but again, better than '92.

*SPOILERS*

This is only the second pay-per-view I've given a perfect 10, the first being the 1991 Royal Rumble. It was full of exciting matches that weren't memorable, just disposable fun. And that's why I love it.

The opening match between Razor and DiBiase, as well as Ludvig Borga vs. Marty Jannetty were the only low points. They were OK matches, but DiBiase deserved better in his final pay per view match. These days, a match like this would have run-ins and a bigger climax for Razor's first major babyface push. And Jannetty, fresh off a Intercontinental title run, could have had a better match with Borga. But I don't think anyone really cared. They just needed a Borga push on pay per view television.

IRS and The Kid were great, as were Michaels and Perfect. I wish Perfect could have won, but Michaels lies down for no one. Notice how right after this, he left the WWF so he wouldn't have to job to Razor. Bret Hart had two great brawls with Doink (notice how everyone's best match is against the Hit-man) and then Lawler. Their rivalry was a classic; that's why that year's Feud of the Year was a no-brainer. How often do you see two legends win Feud of the Year this late in their careers?

The Steiners-Heavenly Bodies match was one of the best of the year. Who knew the Bodies could hold their own against one of the best teams ever?

Many say that the Undertaker-Giant Gonzalez match was a waste of time. But I loved it. Remember, what made the old WWF (as in, pre-WWE) great was the mix of athleticism and freak show. Is there a soul out there who didn't like Akeem?

The main event wasn't bad, although nowhere near match of the year status. They put Lex Luger over well, but made a wise choice in having Yokozuna keep the belt. He was the first heel since Superstar Graham to hold the belt for more than two months. Nowadays, heels are champions all the time. But from the beginning of the WWWF through the WWF of the 90s, if you blinked, you missed a heel title reign.

As an old school wrestling fan, this one and SummerSlam '88 are my favorites.

*SPOILERS*





The Royal Rumble seems to follow an inverse proportion: the better the Rumble, the worse the undercard. The exception is 1991, which had a great undercard and the best battle royal yet. Nowadays, the undercard is always fantastic, while the battle royal is just short of pathetic.

In 1993, the undercard was fine, while the battle royal started off well and just ended horribly. The Steiners had about as good a match as was possible with the Beverly Brothers. The Big Bossman and Bam Bam Bigelow, the two best superheavyweight performers ever, did quite well.

The two title matches were outstanding. Few remember that Razor Ramon was actually favored to beat Bret Hart. This match showed us that Bret was not a fluke champion and solidified him as one of the better champions. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty put on a great match. Remember, later that year they would wrestle in 1993's Match of the Year. The aftermath of this match is a treat, as Sensational Sherri gets really emotional and Gene Okerlund uses language that is still WWE taboo.

The battle royal was mixed. Curt Hennig was impressive, eliminating three legends (Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler and Skinner). The Undertaker also accounted for himself well. Bob Backlund performed none of the heroics of Ric Flair from the year before and probably should not have broken iron man record. Backlund's record will never be broken. Once Yokozuna showed up, it was downhill. The match had a really boring ending, and they probably could have done better. Still, it was a good surprise having him win. So see it if you can.

*SPOILERS*





This was the first WrestleMania with a majority of at least solid matches. Shawn Michaels stood out, being the only heel to win. The Martel-Tatanka match should have been longer. And with the Disasters- Money Inc. match, they "Pulled a WCW" by making the heavily favored team lose (or in this case, win but not in a matter to win the title), then have them win the belts later at a tv taping.

But the rest of it was great. Randy Savage eclipsed his WMIII match here against Ric Flair. Savage might be the best all-around wrestler ever, followed closely by Sting. I thought the Owen Hart-Skinner match was a hoot. Skinner will someday get Brooklyn Brawler and Johnny Rodz status as one of the greatest jobbers ever. And the Ultimate Warrior's return was a total surprise for those of us who saw it happen as it unfolded. This alone would have made it worth the price, but The Undertaker vs. Roberts, Savage vs. Flair, and Piper vs. Hart made this one the best at the time.

*SPOILERS*

This one was highly entertaining, if not pointless. It's as though nothing was settled and the fans weren't satisfied, so they tacked "Tuesday in Texas" on to make us happy.

The opening match had its moments, like Rowdy Roddy Piper getting a great push by eliminating the Warlord. Once again, the British Bulldog got the Survivor Series shaft. And I was thoroughly dissatisfied with the ending. Imagine if they had let the match run its course and we got treated to a 45-minute marathon, like in the past? Ric Flair and Bret Hart could have put on a real show at the end of it.

Hacksaw's team vs. Mustafa's team: I liked watching good, popular wrestlers who had mediocre careers (Duggan, Slaughter, Tito Santana and Kerry von Erich) dominate a group of washed-up jobbers. This was Skinner's first pay-per-view, and I think he will one day get cult status for his Brooklyn Brawler-like WWF career. In one vignet, he actually said "I've won more than fifty percent of my WWF matches."

The Hogan-Undertaker match was just about the most boring main event ever.

As for the last match, the Big Bossman got the shaft, but I liked watching Earthquake stand up for Typhoon and walk out of the match. Bossman stopping IRS from fleeing was great. Giving the Legion of Doom and Big Bossman a post-match celebration was a fine ending to an entertaining, adequate pay-per-view.

*SPOILERS*



In all respects, this one was very good but not quite as good as the year before.

The opening tag team match between the New Foundation and Orient Express was exciting, but doesn't quite measure up to the Rockers and Orient Express. This was the only time the New Foundation faced the Express; the Express and the Rockers had the thing down to an art by the time of their Royal Rumble match.

As far as comparing the title changes from '91 and '92, I think everyone was more satisfied with Rowdy Roddy Piper dominating the Mountie than with the Slaughter-Warrior match. Piper was truly inspiring here, standing up for Bret Hart and becoming the first wrestler to perform in both the undercard and main event of a Royal Rumble. The end of the match is great, as he throws away his wild man persona and smiles broadly about his first WWF title win. In my opinion, he was the true star of this Rumble.

The two other tag team matches were diverting.

Now, the Rumble had only a few great performances, and for this reason, I don't put it in as high regards as the one from the year before, which had about fifteen. Still, it was one of the great ones. The set-up was perfect, letting the second-tier wrestlers (Davey Boy Smith, Shawn Michaels, Tito Santana, Big Bossman, Kerry von Erich) have their moments; then giving the stage over to the top level (Piper, Savage, Undertaker, Sid Justice, Hulk Hogan, Skinner). This was Ric Flair's WWF highlight, and it's good that they made it unique to his great WCW moments. In WCW, he had great singles matches; here, he had a great match with 28 other men.

Perhaps I'm too old school. This was, after all, part of a much different era from the year before. So it's definitely worth it to buy the video if you can find it.

*SPOILERS*



Until the last three segments, this one was really good.

The opening six-man match was a good way of putting over two guys in one match. I say "two" because all the Texas Tornado did was punch. But it took the British Bulldog a year to go over at least that well again, and The Dragon was gone soon after.

The big reason the Bret-Perfect match is so memorable is that it was Bret's first great high-profile match. He has said that most wrestlers had their best match against him, and no one can deny it.\

The Bushwhackers put up a great fight against the Disasters, and the spot with the Legion of Doom afterward was almost as big a highlight as what the LOD did later on that afternoon.

The Big Bossman always was an underrated performer. He and Jake the Snake are the only wrestlers who I remember could have a good match with the late Hercules. Here, he dominated the Mountie, but the real show went on afterward. Look closely and you'll see the Mountie give a jailer the finger. And the end of his segment is too funny for words. Kudos to Jacques Rougeau in selling this spot so well.

While the LOD's match against the Nasty Boys was good, why did they bother making it a "No Disqualification, No Countout" match? The Nasty Boys make sure to do all of their cheating behind the ref's back, and Animal spends most of the match on the apron waiting for Hawk's tag. He would not have been disqualified for running in! That's the whole point!

After that, we get a mediocre match between Valentine and IRS, followed by the worst main event in SummerSlam history. That includes the one from '89. Then the ludicrous wedding, which was an elaborate setup for the major feuds of the next few months.

So rent it, but just hit "stop" after LOD's match.

*SPOILERS*



This WrestleMania had some good matches, and unlike most others, no bad ones. And lots of careers took drastic turns after this.

The opening match between the Rockers and Barbarian & Haku was what we'd expect more from a TV taping than a PPV. It was fast and fun, without too much drama or storyline. The Rockers won only their second PPV match here, and it was right after their first at the Royal Rumble. This occurred right before the Rockers' lengthy split-up angle.

The Nasty Boys' win over the Harts was a blessing in disguise; it was now time for Bret Hart to blossom as a singles wrestler after years of being in the best WWF tag team ever and yet knowing he could do so much more. This was the best match.

The Warrior-Savage match could have gone the other way and things afterward would have been the same. Savage just took a break from active competition, while the Warrior became more or less non-existent in a non-televised feud with the Undertaker. Not to mention two of the most ridiculous vignets ever, as he got locked into a coffin and later bitten by a snake. These days, Savage would win.

This was not the way to see Demolition go. Jobbing to a team that was just making a guest appearance? Tenryu and Kitao could have fought Barbarian and Haku in the opening match, with the Rockers and Demolition settling their non-televised feud here.

The Legion of Doom were very fun to watch when they squashed another team, like the Orient Express. I didn't expect them to get by Power and Glory so easily, but it was a nice set-up feud to get them over in time for title contention.

This was the Big Bossman's last great win in the WWF. After this was a go-nowhere feud with the Mountie, then an embarrassing feud he lost to IRS.

Tito Santana and the Mountie could have had a great match, but it ended too soon. This was Tito's last match before his transformation, which somehow made him win more while making his matches less fun to watch. Remember his feud with Mr. Perfect? They put on some shows!

*SPOILERS*



In some ways, this one was terrible. Santana vs. Warlord, Bad News Brown vs. Jake, and Savage vs. Rhodes were just painful to watch. Savage and Rhodes actually had a great match months later on Saturday Night's Main Event (Dustin Rhodes' first tv appearance). The late Sapphire vs. Scary Sherri, potentially the worst match in SummerSlam history, didn't even happen.

Marty Jannetty vs. Hercules and Paul Roma wasn't actually that bad. Marty actually came very close to winning. I'm sure they wanted to include Michaels in the match, but they had to stage the knee injury that occurred days before the event. Notice how Marty and Shawn walk to the ring rather than run.

Mr. Perfect really started jobbing after WM VI. This was Kerry Von Erich's single WWF highlight. He was a fantastic person (I met him once in Honolulu), but he used even fewer wrestling moves than the Ultimate Warrior. After this, he would lose several times to Perfect, and besides winning a non-televised feud with DiBiase, his WWF career went nowhere.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan sure made quite a career out of SummerSlam tag team matches. Before this, the Orient Express had a great string of countout wins over the Rockers, and, yes, even Demolition. This was the beginning of their downfall.

The Hart Foundation-"Demolition" match was superior to their match from '88, and almost as good as Bret and Jim's match against the Brain Busters the year before. I don't know about any of you, but Ax and Smash look nothing alike. We really had to suspend our disbelief here. The Hart Foundation cemented their place here as the best tag team ever. We had lots of talented teams, but LOD, the Bulldogs, and the Steiners had disappointing careers. The Harts always did great, winning almost all their feuds: the Bulldogs, Killer Bees, Strike Force, Rougeaus, Rhythm & Blues (twice), Hercules and Paul Roma, and the Powers of Pain. Plus quick wins over the Orient Express and Bolsheviks. Strangely, the only team they never beat was the Rockers.

Both of the main event matches were surprisingly good. I like how the referee allowed all the cheating in the Hogan-Earthquake match. And Rick Rude was fine in his last big WWF match. Strangely, he lost all his feuds: Jake the Snake, the Ultimate Warrior, and Roddy Piper.

So watch the show, but know where to fast-forward. Especially the Jake-Bad News match. But the Harts-Demolition match and the main events are great.

*SPOILERS*



I gave this one the first 10 I've given for any WWF show. All matches were just great. Keep in mind, the obligatory Koko B. Ware putting over debuting heel (in this case, the Mountie) match is not on the video. I'm sure it was nothing special, besides one of Koko's great dropkicks.

The Rockers-Orient Express opener was just great, lasting nearly 20 minutes. The action never lets up, and there are several very inventive spots. The end is quite original. Amazingly, this was the Rockers' first pay-per-view win ever, from their debut at the '88 Survivor Series.

The Warrior-Slaughter match was at its best at the outset, when the Warrior beat the stuffing out of him and tortured him with the Iraqi flag. Did you know that Slaughter had to wait until 3am to leave the arena?

I think I remember Virgil's turn the most. This feud would not have been as good had it not been for Piper's involvement.

The battle royal was the best ever. That includes Ric Flair's performance the year after. This one didn't depend on just one performance, because it had several, including two Iron Men, Greg Valentine and Rick Martel. Valentine had one elimination, while Martel collected several over the course of the match. Earthquake is an overlooked participant, and the British Bulldog got an immediate push, eliminating Haku, Martel, and I-C champ Mr. Perfect. He would spend the next 19 months in mediocrity. I guess the bookers forgot that Jim Duggan had won a Rumble before and made him mail it in.

Royal Rumbles always tended to lose steam about the 30- or 40-minute mark, but this one never let up on the action. There were still oodles of men in the ring when Tugboat, number 30, came in. That and a great undercard make this the best Rumble in history.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*



The undercard was just pointless. One feud that no one cared about was solved as a result of a boring match. Bossman vs. Duggan was ok and would have made a good feud in retrospect, but they both were better suited for the battle royal. Duggan wins a Rumble, then spends two of them in the undercard. There was no reason for the Bushwhackers-Rougeaus match. They had already fought in a PPV, with the same result. The Rockers were wasted in the battle royal, they should have fought the Rougeaus. It would have been a good match.

I gave it a 7, because the battle royal itself was very entertaining, with plenty of high points: DiBiase breaking the Iron Man record... Demolition avenging themselves from the year before on Andre... Jimmy Snuka's surprising performance... Earthquake's showstopping elimination... The Ultimate Warrior collecting six eliminations, making up for the previous 2 Rumbles (mailing it in at the first one, boring posedown in '89)... And, of course, The Warrior and Hogan squaring off for the first time.

Definitely worth a look. Just make sure the fast-forward button works during the first four matches.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*



Great WrestleManias were still a few years away. But this one was certainly good, with lots of good matches, and one great match.

Demolition was always at their best at WrestleMania. I'm glad their last WM hoorah (I refuse to include the other version) was a win over the Colossal Connection. I liked the gag of Andre never tagging in.

Few fans know that this was the first time anyone ever beat Mr. Perfect. For some reason, Brutus Beefcake's feat was never recognized. Or the fact that he did it pretty easily.

The Hart Foundation's win over the Bolsheviks was the shortest in WM history, including the 24/9 second match between King Kong Bundy and S.D. Jones.

I'm glad Jake and DiBiase got to fight at WrestleMania. This made up for the fact that the feud had to be put on hold for so long.

I expected the Big Bossman-Akeem feud to heat up, but the Bossman just clobbered him. As good as Bossman was as a heel, he was just great as a face. He was always intense and obviously loved his job.

If the Warrior just had a better work ethic and maybe tried to learn to wrestle, he would have been a great WWF champion.

Worth a watch, especially since the boring matches are too short to complain about. And the tag team matches are all very exciting.

*SPOILERS*





This one had only one good singles match, The Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude. Warrior was not a wrestler by any stretch of the imagination, but he always had excellent matches against Rude.

The opening tag team match was about as good as they get. The Hart Foundation got cheated out of yet another SummerSlam win against the Brain Busters, but they probably could have gotten away with letting Tully and Arn win cleanly. But why weren't the titles on the line? I can't figure out any reason for this.

I liked both of the six-man matches. Duggan, Demolition, Akeem, Andre, and Bossman in the same match is just fun to think about. And Duggan had the time of his life teaming with Ax and Smash. The other six-man match was incredibly good, but it would have worked better had the Rockers fought the Rougeaus and Martel faced Tito one on one. Although the Rockers would eventually dominate their feud with the Rougeaus, Jacques and Ray got the high-profile win at SummerSlam.

Tiny Lister sure was a good sport with his Zeus gimmick. He's a serious actor, and this would be embarrassing to most actors. And I'm glad Brutus Beefcake got to be in the main event. This almost made up for the fact that he was cheated out of a title shot at the previous and next SummerSlam.

Good show, worth a look. Honestly, you might want to fast-forward through the singles matches.

*SPOILERS*





This Survivor Series was kind of strange. The atmosphere was just kind of... off, but in a good way. This was the first time we had 4-on-4, rather than 5-on-5, matches, and not enough tag teams for a 20-man match. I think it made the matches better and faster-paced, plus we got 5 matches rather than 4. With matches of this type, that's a big difference, and you can tell.

The opening match was memorable for Brutus Beefcake continuing his short-lived hot streak, eliminating both Honky Tonk Man and Rick Martel. This was one of the best performances up to that point, behind only the Macho Man the year before and Bam Bam Bigelow at the first Series. He survived and overshadowed his team captain, Dusty Rhodes. It was also fun to watch Bad News Brown abandon his team for the second year in a row. Think about how much different this match, as well as his match from the year before, would have been had he stayed. While the Ultimate Warrior would have beaten him, BNB might have put up a good fight against Rhodes and Beefcake. But why did they need him to replace Akeem? Was he injured?

The second match was marred by some inexplicably low heat. It was simply a squash from the beginning, never mind Duggan eliminating Valentine. Toward the end, Earthquake, Dino Bravo, and the Macho King cut the ring off and wear Bret Hart down for about 5 minutes before Macho eliminates him. The same thing happens right afterward, as they beat Duggan to a pulp and he gets counted out. Very anticlimactic. I have never seen a match this one-sided at a pay-per-view.

Then came the supposed main event, which is memorable to me because it is the Powers of Pain's one pay-per-view highlight. Then-tag champs Demolition simply jobbed to the Warlord and Barbarian, continuing the Survivor Series' 15 minutes of fame tradition. And Hulk Hogan gets a lot of hype, even though he only eliminated one opponent. The rest of the Million Dollar Team was disqualified.

Not much to say about the next match, except for Roddy Piper and Rick Rude's feud is highly underrated today.

The Ultimate Warrior got the last match, probably to see if he could handle main event status. He did this time. He was instrumental in all his team's eliminations, and survived. This was one of Shawn Michaels' best performances in his pre-Heartbreak Kid days.

Funny how there were no tag team feuds in this event. If you look at it, all the opposing tag team feuds were leftovers from early '89. And I was disappointed at how the Hart Foundation jobbed. Neidhart was just a piece of meat.

*SPOILERS*

Rumbles started getting really good in '90, but this one wasn't bad.

The opening six-man match was very good. Listen closely after the second fall and you'll hear Jim Duggan say "Get off my (expletive)" to the ref. Remember, this was back in the day. Wrestlers never cussed. It was nice to see two major feuds settled in one match.

Why was King Haku vs. Harley Race edited from the tape? In fact, the commentators never even mention this match. I know nothing about this apparent feud, and if either of them was a face in this match.

The Rumble: Ax and Smash, the most dominant tag team in WWF history, did simply poorly here. Smash barely lasted till number 4, and Ax didn't do much better. And they never cross paths with the Powers of Pain. Usually, this was a great opportunity for all rivals to fight. Mr. Perfect and the Brain Busters did the best here before a fresh Hulk Hogan disposed of them. The Warlord proved his mediocrity by stepping in and right back out courtesy of a Hogan clothesline. The Barbarian fared surprisingly well, by eliminating Brutus Beefcake AND Hercules, two men who have defeated him several times. I liked seeing Butch eliminate the Honky Tonk Man.

Hulk Hogan kind of shocked me by getting easily eliminated by the Towers, then just reaching in and pulling Bossman out. Did he even lose any popularity at all? This wasn't the best Rumble match, not even close; but it was much better than some of them, too. It was somewhere in the middle.

It was also an interesting decision to put the previous year's winner, Duggan, and its iron man, Bret Hart, in an undercard match, but hey, it was actually a better match than the Rumble.

*SPOILERS*

Looking at this card, it appears to be great. But all the matches were just a little on the unspectacular side.

Most WrestleManias were filled with mismatches, but not this one. All of the competitors were well-matched, making for unpredictable outcomes. This also made for some upsets, like Rick Rude beating the Ultimate Warrior, and the Bushwhackers stampeding over the Rougeaus. The talented tag team, fresh out of a feud with the Hart Foundation, really did the job to Luke and Butch.

Speaking of the Harts, it's hard to believe there were so many years between their title reigns. They destroyed Honky Tonk Man and Valentine, in the best match of the night. Pretty much all the tag team matches were better than the one-on-one encounters. The Rockers were totally overpowered, but they really gave Bossman and Akeem a run for their money. This was the first in a long string of high-profile losses for Marty and Shawn, who are now inexplicably remembered as one of the most successful tag teams ever. The Strike Force-Brain Busters match could have been a Match of the Year candidate, if not for Martel leaving so quickly.

And let's not forget the last tag team match in a pay-per-view we saw the Powers of Pain in. Do you realize they only won one of their feuds (against the Rockers, of course)?

The biggest mismatch was Jake vs. Andre, but it was done well. And it sparked what could have been a great feud between Jake and Ted DiBiase, if not for the neck injury.

While it was obvious Hogan would beat Savage, Savage was really impressive and dominant, especially considering the fact that he was under a lot of pressure, including dangerous surgery and steroid allegations.

Worth a look, but not one of the great WrestleManias. Those were still years away.

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The main event was great, and I love the tradition they used to have of a tag team match in the main event. I wish they had kept that gimmick.

The match between the Bulldogs and Rougeaus was fantastic, but had the stupid ending made famous by the NWA/WCW: the time limit expires right before the 3-count. And they question the realism of wrestling! An interesting sidebar: The Bulldogs were fired because of a backstage fight with the Rougeaus.

This event featured the PERFECT ending to Honky Tonk Man's long, cheap title reign: The Ultimate Warrior runs in, clotheslines him, tackles him, and pins him. The fans' reaction inspired many pressings of my rewind button.

Jake the Snake and Hercules put on a surprisingly good, suspense-filled match. Hercules was always on the verge of stardom, but never quite made it. I was saddened to learn he had passed last month.

Finally, there's the Powers of Pain. If you keep up with my user comments, you will read much more about their mediocre careers. They made their pay-per-view debut with an unspectacular win over the jobber tag team of the Bolsheviks.

Good show, worth a watch.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

This one is a classic.

Brutus Beefcake and Jake Roberts started their tradition of good Survivor Series performances here. It would have been nice to see Rick Steamboat make an elimination, though. And I love the angle they played with the Honky Tonk Man. This match summed up his career perfectly: he got lucky and cheated his way to the longest I-C title reign ever.

This event had the best women's match I have ever seen. Not bad for a SS match.

Strangely, the VHS release of this event has the British Bulldogs' elimination from the 20-man match edited out. Does anyone know how they were eliminated? If you know the specifics, that would be great. I thought it was weird to have the mediocre team of the Young Stallions survive, but I did like seeing the only highlight of the Killer Bees' pay-per-view career. They were a very talented tag team.

The main event featured many examples of what I call the "15 Minutes of Survivor Series Fame" in which mediocre wrestlers do quite well(which includes the aforementioned young Stallions), as well as the weird turnaround in which top wrestlers get mediocre attention (i.e. the British Bulldogs). Hulk Hogan's only elimination was Butch Reed, who was pretty good - but nowhere near the status of his four teammates. Don Muraco got his 15 mins by dominating Rick Rude, while former WrestleMania main-eventer King Kong Bundy accomplished nothing. The real story here was Bam Bam Bigelow, who dominated Bundy and overcame One Man Gang (who had just gotten rid of Ken Patera and Don Muraco). This was his greatest WWF accomplishment, even counting his second WWF stint.

Overall, great nostalgia and surprisingly well-performed.

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*

I'll only say what hasn't already been said here (and I'll continue this for the rest of my WWF/WWE comments).

If you're going to have a Women's title match, at least make it interesting, rather than just a squash to put over the current champion. I guess Moolah couldn't handle an intense match but they wanted to have the legend in a WrestleMania.

I thought the Killer Bees were wasted in WrestleManias, especially here. I became a fan in 1989, about a year after the B. Brian Blair was gone and Jim Brunzell became a canvas back. So I didn't realize for a while that they were a top tag team, even top contenders.

But I loved seeing Bill Fralic in the battle royal. He really came into his own here, creating a cocky heel character in a pre-match interview and even making an elimination in the battle royal. Besides Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene, he is the only professional athlete from my generation with any respect for wrestling (anyone remember Dennis Rodman?). And what was with the Hart Foundation's ridiculous green tights?