Survivor Series (1988) Poster

(1988 TV Special)

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7/10
Another solid one
wwfhistoryguy2 April 2004
I gave this one a 7, because I love the opening tag teams' match, but the 2 mid card matches were edited severely for VHS. About 3/4 of those matches were cut!

The tag match was great, because all teams were exceptional, even the Bolsheviks. The Powers of Pain, however, weren't. This is another example of their mediocrity. They survived the match, but all they had to do was beat the Conquistadors! The real story of this match was Bret Hart, who made 2 eliminations, although one was overturned. And the face turn of Demolition wasn't handled right. This is true because the fans didn't react the way they were supposed to. I'd like to know how Demolition was able to make the turn successfully.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan continued his tradition of eliminating himself and not caring, while Tito Santana was decent. Jake the Snake did surprisingly well when he was left alone against Andre, Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, and Dino Bravo (I just realized that all four men have passed since then). His elimination of Rude was the highlight of the night.

Hulk Hogan was mediocre again in his second Survivor Series, eliminating Haku, someone who no one doubts he can beat. The real hero of this one was the Macho Man, who got rid of Terry Taylor (I loved the angle of him losing all the time and Heenan kicking him out for it) and Ted DiBiase. This match was good but could have been better; they used the Mega Powers-Twin Towers feud here for the sake of spectacle rather than substance. Did anyone want to see the Twin Towers blatantly get themselves disqualified?

No feuds were settled, except maybe the one between the Young Stallions and the Bolsheviks. But the role reversal of Demolition and the Powers of Pain was good for historians. And the matches were solid.
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7/10
Survivor series 2
paudieconnolly10 October 2020
The second annual survivor series. Starts off with a tag team match. Still in it's five man form. So 20 men in the ring at the beginning looks more like a battle Royal . After last year rather than considering reducing numbers. They have instead looked at camera angles. There is improvement in this aspect. So many great tag teams during this time a big double cross make it hard not enjoy this match. What follows is A night full of world champions future hall of famers making for an enjoyable evening
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6/10
Passable!
markovd1118 December 2020
Your usual wrestling farce. It could have been better, as the second match is too long for it's own good, but it doesn't matter. If you are in for a wrestling history trip, you will get your fair share of fun along with the usual sense of repetition. 6.5/10!
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6/10
This is an above average event that had a bit of a weak main event.
callanvass22 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Live from Richfield, OH

Attendance: 13,500

Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Jessie Ventura

The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, The Blue Blazer, Jim Brunzell & Sam Houston Vs The Honky Tonk Man, Greg "The Hammer Valentine, "Dangerous" Danny Davis, Bad News Brown, and "The Outlaw" Ron Bass

Order of Elimination

Danny Davis by Brutus Beefcake (sleeper hold)

Jim Brunzell by Bad News Brown (Ghetto Blaster)

Bad News Brown by himself. (He walked out on his teammates after Greg Valentine accidentally hits him)

Sam Houston by Ron Bass (powerslam)

The Blue Blazer by Greg Valentine (Figure Four)

The Honky Tonk Man and Brutus Beefcake (double countout)

Ron Bass by The Ultimate Warrior (double axe handle)

Greg Valentine by The Ultimate Warrior (double axe handle)

Your sole survivor: The Ultimate Warrior

This was a decent way to start the show, but this one kinda suffers from a lack of talent. There aren't any memorable moments at all. I also felt the ending was anti-climatic. It's certainly watchable and above average, though. It's notable for an early appearance by Owen Hart (The Blue Blazer) Of course, nobody knew who he was at the time.

**1/2

Demolition, The Brainbusters, The Conquistadors, The Fabulous Rogeaus & The Bolsheviks Vs The Powers of Pain, The Young Stallions, The Hart Foundation, The Rockers, and The British Bulldogs

Order of Elimination

The Fabulous Rogeaus by The Hart Foundation

The Young Stallions by The Bolsheviks

The Bolsheviks by The Rockers

The Hart Foundation by The Brainbusters

The Brainbusters and The Rockers eliminate each other by disqualification after a huge brawl breaks out between them.

The British Bulldogs by Demolition

Demolition by countout. (Mr. Fuji turns on Demolition and gets Smash counted out)

The Conquistadors by Powers of Pain

Your sole survivors: The Powers of Pain

The Powers of Pain celebrate with Mr. Fuji after the match, solidifying the double turn. This was quite the match! It was fast and furious, full of quick tags, and it rarely lets up. It's action packed from the outset. The double turn between Demolition and The Powers of Pain is awesome. Demolition was starting to get a lot of cheers, and it was the right move. I felt the turn was brilliantly executed. Overall, I rank this as one of the greatest Survivor Series matches ever.

****

Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Ken Patera & Scott Casey Vs Andre The Giant, Dino Bravo, Mr. Perfect, Harley Race, and "Ravishing" Rick Rude.

Order of Elimination.

Ken Patera by Rick Rude (Rude Awakening)

Scott Casey by Dino Bravo (side suplex)

Harley Race by Tito Santana (flying forearm)

Tito Santana by Andre The Giant (sit-down splash)

Jim Duggan by disqualification (Since Duggan is a moron, he decides to waffle Bravo with a 2 x 4, leaving Jake Roberts in a 1 on 4 situation.)

Rick Rude by Jake Roberts (DDT)

Andre The Giant by disqualification (Choking out Roberts)

Jake Roberts by Mr. Perfect (Perfect takes advantage of the damage done by Andre)

Your sole survivors: Mr. Perfect & Dino Bravo

This was a solid little match. Roberts played the perfect underdog here. He's easy to root for and I felt it was a much better choice than Duggan. For the life of me, I can't understand Duggan's popularity. His character is a foolish buffoon. I also didn't like that Dino Bravo survived. Rick Rude would have been a much better decision than Bravo. This PPV has been pretty good so far!

***1/4

Akeem, The Big Bossman, Ted Dibiase, The Red Rooster & King Haku Vs Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Hercules, Hillbilly Jim & Koko B. Ware

The Red Rooster by Randy Savage (flying elbow from the top)

Hillbilly Jim by Akeem (big splash)

Koko B. Ware by The Big Bossman (Bossman slam)

Hercules by Ted Dibiase (roll-up, thanks to a distraction from Virgil)

Ted Dibiase by Randy Savage (roll-up)

The Big Bossman (countout)

Akeem by disqualification

Haku by Hulk Hogan (legdrop)

Sole Survivors: Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage

The main event was totally overbooked. It was storyline progression in the long run for Hogan and Savage, but overbooked is still overbooked. At one point, Hogan is handcuffed to the apron, and The Big Bossman starts using his night stick. As far as the match itself is concerned, it was average. When you have talent like Akeem in there, you shouldn't expect quality wrestling. Overall, this match is all about the build of the Megapowers.

**

6.5/10 overall.
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7/10
The Second Annual Survivor Series
bh_tafe312 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Survivor Series made a return in 1988 and found itself in a world of Million Dollar Men and Mega Powers, a world of Rockers and new superstars who were "absolutely perfect." It found itself in 1988 and the WWE were building to one of their most successful angles ever.

Now, last year's Survivor Series PPV had started with a Survivor Series match built around the Intercontinental Championship rivalry and so it would be this year. The Ultimate Warrior was in a feud with the Honky Tonk Man around this time and so they got teams together and had a match. And it was the Ultimate Warrior who was the only man standing as his team of the Blue Blazer (Owen hart making his PPV debut), Brutis Beefcake, Sam Houston and Jim Brunzell defeated the Honky Tonk Man, Greg Valentine, Danndy Davis, Ron Bass and Bad News Brown. It came down to the Warrior taking on Bass and Valentine, but he took out both of them to win the match for his team.

Next up is another one of those twenty men tag team matches with a lot of cool spots that lasted forever. Powers of Pain The Warlord and The Barbarian, The Rockers Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, The British Bulldogs Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid, The Hart Foundation Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, and The Young Stallions Jim Powers and Paul Roma defeated Demolition Ax and Smash, The Brain Busters Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, The Bolsheviks Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov, The Fabulous Rougeaus Raymond and Jacques, and The Conquistadors Uno and Dos. The Powers of Pain were the sole survivors, meaning the good guys won, but the match is just as well known for Demolition beating up Mr Fuji and becoming good guys.

The next match on the card was a combination of other feuds gong on in the WWE at that time. The evil team of Andre the Giant, Dino Bravo, Rick Rude, Harley Race and Mr. Perfect defeated the good guy team of Jim Duggan, Scott Casey, Jake Roberts, Ken Patera and Tito Santana. It came down to Roberts left against Rick Rude, Andre the Giant, Dino Bravo and Mr Perfect. Roberts was able to fight off all four, pinning Rude, Andre was then disqualified for not breaking a chokehold. He head butted Roberts as he left leaving Perfect to pin Roberts, making Bravo and Perfect the survivors. Evil triumphed. What a downer.

The final match of the night was built around the rivalry between the Mega Powers Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase. But heat was added to rivalry in the build up with DiBiase's former slave Hercules, turning on his old boss and siding with the powers. DiBiase bought together his evil forces to take on he Mega Powers and their friends.

And it was the Team of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Hercules, Koko B Ware and Hillbilly Jim who pulled out the victory defeating the team of Ted DiBiase, Haku, The Red Rooster and The Twin Towers Big Boss Man and Akeem (formerly the One Man Gang). Hogan and Savage were the survivors. Bossman and Akeem both got themselves disqualified and Hogan (who was earlier handcuffed to the ring ropes by the Big Boss Man) and Savage were able to double team Haku, eventually putting him away with a Hogan legdrop. The Mega Powers had won again! Savage lifted Elizabeh on his shoulders and we were left wondering once again, who would be able to stop the Mega Powers? Within the next couple of months we would know the shocking answer.
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7/10
Good show but not great. Falls short to the previous.
morantjavonte12 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Survivor Series 1988 Thoughts

Survivor Series 1988 was the 2nd annual Survivor Series PPV event produced by the WWF. It took place on November 24, 1988 at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio for the second straight year. The event for the second consecutive year featured the new concept of multiple elimination tag team matches of 5 men dubbed the Survivor Series match lead by 1 or 2 captains where many stars who participated were in rivalries or set to build rivalries for the future.

4 matches were included on the show with the same set of matches as the first Survivor Series PPV with only the women getting replaced by men. The most hyped and build match was the team lead by the Mega Powers vs. The team lead by the Twin Towers in the main event.

The Good - I thought the biggest pros of the show was the main event and the crowd. Crowd was on fire all night and hyped for just about every babyface out here. The main event was fun and great. Not as good as the previous year but still entertaining. Truth be told Hogan & Savage alone made up for not such a team with big names. I mean Hercules was always someone more suited for a heel and Koko B. Ware & Hillbilly at the time were lower card guys not too suited for the main event. The opening was also good and Ultimate Warrior was sooo over with the crowd and clearly was showed to be ready for the main events in the future.

The Meh - I thought the tag team Survivor Series match which featured 10 teams was a bit too long and got a bit sloppy later. It wasn't awful but it was the weakest match of the night. A clever double turn played out so well though between Powers of Pain and Demolition.

The Bad - A mini negative was a bit of questionable eliminations or cheap ways to cut out some stars. Some were for protection but others I believed could have taken a pin or submit.

Overall - Not as good as the inaugural Survivor Series but it still delivered. Enjoyed it for the most part and it surely will get a thumbs up from me.

Score 7 out of 10: Good

0 = Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time :

1. Bad News Brown, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine, Ron Bass and Honky Tonk Man vs. Brutus Beefcake, Jim Brunzell, Sam Houston, Blue Blazer and Ultimate Warrior (Elimination Tag) - 3/5

2. The British Bulldogs, The Hart Foundation, The Powers Of Pain, The Rockers & The Young Stallions vs. Demolition, The Bolsheviks, The Brain Busters, Los Conquistadores & The Fabulous Rougeaus (Elimination Tag) - 2.5/5

3. Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan, Ken Patera, Scott Casey and Tito Santana vs. Dino Bravo, Mr. Perfect and The Heenan Family (Andre The Giant, Harley Race & Rick Rude) - 3/5

4. The Mega Powers (Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan), Hercules, Koko B. Ware and Hillbilly Jim vs. The Twin Towers (Akeem & Big Boss Man), Ted DiBiase, Haku and Red Rooster (Elimination Tag) - 3/5

Best Match - Team Mega Powers vs. Team Twin Towers

Worst Match - 20 Man Tag Team Survivor Series Match

Most Memorable Moment - Mr. Fugi's betrayel

Top 5 Performers

1. Randy Savage - Great Performance

2. Hulk Hogan - Great Performance

3. Ultimate Warrior - Great Performance. So Over.

4. Mr. Perfect - Good Performance

5. Blue Blazer - Underrated at the time.
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4/10
Adds Absolutely Nothing New
zkonedog25 February 2017
After watching/reviewing the first edition of the Survivor Series recently, I gave it a rather average rating with the caveat that it needed to add something to the simple tag-team format. Unfortunately, the 2nd Annual Survivor Series (1988) stagnates instead, adding absolutely nothing to the proceedings.

If you like tag-team action, you'll like this event more than I. The tag format just isn't may favorite, and may prevent me from watching subsequent installments of this event.

What drags this '88 edition down even further is that I didn't really even get the feeling that too many character arcs were being advanced or created here. It just seemed like place-holding. The WWF still had some great personalities at this time in history, so it isn't a completely train wreck, but this is coasting in its highest form.

Thus, overall I was disappointed in the second installment of Survivor Series. If the event doesn't throw a few new things into the mix or find a fresher overall formula, I may not be tuning into subsequent installments.
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5/10
Agree with "step down from previous year"
amanwhorocks8 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
1. The Demolition/The Bolsheviks/The Brainbusters/The Rougeaus Brothers Vs. The powers of Pain/The Hart Foundation/The British Bulldogs/Jim powers Team/ The Rockers - Noooo The winners are OMG variation on Road Warriors :/ Tss. 6/10

2. Brutus Beefcake/The Blue Leader/The Warrior/Jumping Jim Vs. Honky Tonk Man/Bad News Brown/Cowboy/Greg Valentine/Denny Davis - Please no more Mr. of 1000 Gimmicks Brutus Beefcake with gay outfit. Hate this man. 5 /10

3. Jake Roberts/Patera/Santana/Hacksaw/Scotty Moustache Vs. Dino Bravo/Harley Race/Curt Hennig/Rick Rude/Andre The Giant - Finally, Mr. Perfect! And with victory! 6/10

4. Barry Windham/KingHaku/Ted DiBiase/Big Boss Stiff/Idiot Vs. Machoman/Bob/Hercules/Hulk Hogan/Koko B. Ware 6/10
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Recap S.S. 1988
Spawn Devil1 July 2002
Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake, the Blue Blazer, Sam Houston, Ultimate Warrior and Jim Brunzell vs. Honky Tonk Man, Bad News Brown, Greg "the Hammer" Valentine, Ron Bass and Danny Davis Survivor: Ultimate Warrior

The Rockers, Powers of Pain, Young Stallions, Hart Foundation and the British Bulldogs vs. The Rougeau Brothers, Demolition, Los Conquistadores, the Bolsheviks and the Brainbusters Survivors: Powers of Pain

Andre the Giant, Dino Bravo, Rick Rude, Harley Race and Mr. Perfect vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Scott Casey, Jake "the Snake" Roberts, Ken Patera and Tito Santana Survivors: Mr. Perfect and Dino Bravo

Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Koko B. Ware, Hercules and Hillbilly Jim vs. Haku, Ted DiBiase, Akeem, Big Boss Man and the Red Rooster Survivors: Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage

Overall Mark: C (A bit better)
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GREAT WRESTLING CARD
Big Movie Fan26 April 2002
This event took place in 1988. Back in 1988 the WWF employed a huge amount of wrestlers most of which were charismatic and good at what they did. This was an era when the WWF had enough quality wrestlers that it could promote an event featuring teams of five against teams of five and even a twenty man tag team elimination match.

The tag team elimination match was awesome. Back in 1988 the WWF had no shortage of exceptional tag teams. It was a hard hitting affair and at the end it boiled down to the two strongest teams at the time-Demolition and The Powers Of Pain!

We also got to see The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan (two of the top wrestlers at the time) lead their teams to victory against the forces of evil!

The really great thing about these events was that there were clear cut good guys such as Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior-and clear cut bad guys such as The Million Dollar Man and Bad News Brown. Today, it's hard to figure out if a wrestler is good or bad.

All in all, a phenomenal event!
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A step down from the previous year.
saintpuck3621 July 2001
For its second year, Survivor Series once again took place in Richfield, OH, although the magic of the previous year's show was not there. Perhaps because Survivor Series '88 did not have any significant matches other than the tag team elimination bout. Survivor Series '87 had a women's bout, and was also an experiment. This show was also ravaged by injuries beforehand (legitimate ones), forcing several un-Pay Per View calibur wrestlers into some big matches. The only real good wrestling match on the card turned out to be the Tag Team Match. It was incredible. Superb moves, plus legends like the Rougeaus, Bret Hart, Arn Anderson, and the Dynamite Kid in the ring with each other. 20 guys, and they almost surrounded the ring on all four sides. All in all, for wrestling historians, check it out, but nothing special for passive fans.
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