Customer Reviews

WWE: Survivor Series Anthology, Vol. 1 - 1987-1991

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, after WWE has already released anthologies on their other 3 major events...it's time for the final one in their "Big Four" being the Survivor Series. This first Volume is from the early years of the event where the heavy focus was on strickly having tag team elimination matches with wrestlers teaming together based off common hatred for others on the opposite team...to the point where there is only one match on here that wasn't a tag team elimination match. Now keep in mind that I'm doing my reviews from either the VHS version with the unedited event or a replay I caught off WWE Classics On Demand.

1987 - This is going to be a treat for those who already have this event on video because if you remember, the VHS version was edited down to 2 hours there so here you get the full event. This was historic in many ways as this event marked the first ever Survivor Series and also the fact that this PPV ran on the same night as NWA's Starrcade event (which caused Starrcade to be bumped off many cable networks). The main event featured Andre The Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, Rick Rude vs. Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, Bam Bam Bigelow that's remembered for it not only being the first time Hogan & Andre were in the ring for a match since WrestleMania III but the outstanding performance of Bigelow that puts a stamp on the label he's gotten as "one of the best 'big men' in wrestling." Also on here is the first ever 20 man tag team elimination match with 5 tag teams on each team & other matches feature Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake, Jim Duggan vs. Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Danny Davis, Ron Bass, Harley Race...and an all womens match featuring teams headed up by Faboulous Moolah & Sensational Sherri. There were only four matches here but each one went around 20 mins. (the tag went almost 40 mins.) and was all quality in their own right.

1988 - Just like the 1987 edition, the 1988 edition was also edited down on the VHS (only the tag team & main event were shown in full) so this is the first time it's been released unedited. The main event here was Mega Powers, Hercules, Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim vs. Twin Towers, Ted DiBiase, Haku, Red Rooster in a match that continued so many ongoing feuds (Hogan/Boss Man, Hercules/Dibiase) & storylines at that time (problems between Heenan & Rooster, the continued tease of jealously between Hogan & Savage over Elizabeth). Also on here was the final WWE appearence of the Dynamite Kid along with the PPV debut of Shawn Michaels in a 10 man tag team elimination match that's mostly memorable for what happened during the match between Mr. Fuji & Demolition & Powers Of Pain resulting in (to my knowledge) the first double turn in WWE history. Other matches include Rick Rude & Harley Race & Dino Bravo & Mr. Perfect & Andre the Giant vs. Jake Roberts & "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & Tito Santana & Ken Patera & Scott Casey...Ultimate Warrior & Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake & The Blue Blazer & Sam Houston & Jim Brunzell vs. Honky Tonk Man & "Outlaw" Ron Bass & Greg "The Hammer" Valentine & "Dangerous" Danny Davis & Bad News Brown.

1989 - This was a Survivor Series first as this was the first time they started naming the teams. One of the main events was the Hulkamaniacs vs. Million $ Team which was real disappointing since the match seemed heavily one-sided (even Ventura pointing it out on commentary) and the main showdown that was being built up here between Hogan & Zues being the way it was (or wasn't, depending on how you want to look at it). The other main event was the Ultimate Warriors vs. The Heenan Family that's more remembered for the backstage story with Arn Anderson and, more importantly, Tully Blanchard that ended up seeing Bobby Heenan wrestling here instead of Blanchard...however this was a great showcasing of Anderson being the workhorse that older fans remember him for. Other matches include Roddy's Rowdies vs. Rude's Brood that was entertaining down the commentary where Jesse Ventura kept attempting to say the name of Piper's team but just couldn't get it right, Dream Team vs. Enforcers that was a solid match, and the King's Court vs. 4x4's in another solid match that was highlighted by the interaction with Randy Savage facing off against Bret Hart. The only real negative I can say here is that how the monster heels were eliminated in the main events were very disappointing.

1990 - This Survivor Series debuted three new ideas into WWE with one turning out to be one of the greatest superstars in the history of the WWE. One new idea WWE introduced here was that the surviving faces of the elimination matches would meet the surviving heels in a "Grand Finale Match Of Survival." Also during this PPV, a huge egg that was seen on WWE TV for weeks finally hatched (to the crowd's boos) to reveal the Gooblygooker (Hector Guerrero). One of the main events here featured The Warriors vs. The Pefect Team which saw the Demolition vs. Legion Of Doom fight that longtime WWE/NWA fans wanted to see. The other main event was the Hulkamaniacs vs. The Natural Disasters in a solid match. Other matches included the Vipers vs. the Visionaries where history was made as it was the first time an entire team survived, the Alliance vs. Mercenaries in a short one-sided match, and a match with the Dream Team vs. The Million $ Team that had an outstanding battle between Ted Dibiase vs. Bret Hart but more importantly, this PPV featured the dominate debut of The Undertaker. Another note to make on here is that eventhough Randy Savage didn't wrestle on the card, he did make an appearence for an interview.

1991 - The PPV had the nickname "The Gravest Challenge" in reference to the first ever non-elimination match as Hulk Hogan defended the WWF Championship against the then-undefeated Undertaker that saw Ric Flair make an appearence leading to Taker winning his first WWE Championship. The other main event on here was the Legion Of Doom & Big Boss Man vs. Natural Disasters & I.R.S. which was as good as you expected it to be with the bigger story being that after teasing Randy Savage of being reinstated & returning to the ring against Jake Roberts in this match...WWE decided to just remove Jake Roberts from this match and hold off their match for the "Tuesday In Texas" PPV reducing both men's roles on this show to just having an interview. This event also marked the WWE PPV debut of Ric Flair (pay REAL CLOSE attention to what belt he wears to the ring...you'll get a chuckle out of it) in the match of the night with Ted DiBiase, Mountie, Warlord vs. Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, British Bulldog, Virgil that was filled with comedy, brawling, and straight wrestling (with one very comedic moment between Piper & Sherri) that was only hurt by how the match ended. Other matches on here include "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & Sgt. Slaughter & "El Matador" Tito Santana & "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich vs. Colonel Mustafa & Hercules & The Berzerker & Skinner that was a one-sides squash with this becoming the second time an entire team survived....and Rockers & Bushwackers vs. Beverly Brothers & Nasty Boys that was all about the continued tease of problems between Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty. This edition of the Survivor Series was is easily the worst edition on this set as this PPV was really just an informercal to promote another PPV that WWE was having less than a week later. The two main attractions that people wanted to see for this event were nothing more than bait to have you turn into that event & WWF seemed to put more focus into that "Tuesday In Texas" event than their yearly tradition of Survivor Series because alot of the matches weren't as good in quality as the years before with some booking that just looked stupid in the end. At least watching this on tape years later, you know what these plot twist are & how the event shaped up afterall but this year's Survivor Series was just a plain disappointment.

So overall, if your a heavy fan of the elimination matches then this is the set for you to check out as the first three years were excellent quality while the 1990 edition was solid with some questionable booking when it came to some of the eliminations and the 1991 edition was weak minus the opening elimination match & Taker/Hogan for the WWE Title so I recommend this volume.

On the whole, this is a huge improvement from the Coliseum Video releases, at least the first 2 years.

1987 - we get to see the full match of Savage's team vs. Honky's team, which was pretty brutally clipped on Colisuem.

we also get the full version of the tag match, which cut out a lot, including the Bulldog's elimination.

we also get 2 segments that weren't on the Coliseum video at all. A Honky Tonk Man interview and Thanksgiving with Ted Dibiase. Lots of vignettes are shown as Ted offers money to fans by asking them to do stuff. He asks a kid to do 10 pushups, but the kid collapses on the 9th one. He asks another kid to dribble a basketball 15 times consecutively, and kicks the ball away from him on the 14th one. He has a woman get down on all fours and bark like a dog, but not to his satisfaction so she doesn't get the money. Then he has a young guy kiss his feet after a match. This was tremendous heel heat.

I was disappointed that these new releases cut out the part where Gorilla and Jesse discuss and analyze the match after each match, which was on the Coliseum video. Also, the Jumping Bomb Angels have different music, which is not as good. But overall, a huge imrovement.

1988. Also much improvement here, as the Warrior's team vs. Honky's team, and Jake Robert's team vs Andre's team matches are in their entirety here and were hacked to death in the Coliseum release. We get to see Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) turn an arm-lock into a head-scissors in an awesome moment.

the 1987 was a rare WWF event that had no duds. The others have their highs and lows, but i would recommend it, especially if you're looking to upgrade those Coliseum videos.

These were my favorite years of the WWF as a kid, and the Survivor series was such a great concept and tradition, but I just remember that the original vhs releases never showed the whole events, and we could not order paperview where I was, but I still loved them, and used to watch them over and over again. Its great to be able to see these again and uncut as an adult.

I am looking forward to these as I was stationed overseas for 88 and 89 versions and want to see them in their entirety. I miss the old WWF(E) days. I think this will be the best set, and will (probably) be the only one I buy.

Great throwback of my all time favorite wrestlers throwing it down in the squared circle. Went down memory lane watching this DVD, brought it as a christmas gift for a big wrestling fan and he loved every minute if it, so much he shares it with other family members.
Even the new generation WWE fans can appreciate this DVD volume 1 & 2.

I got this for my brother for Christmas as well as Volume 2. This was the glory days of wrestling when it was well done and not just a big soap opera. The rivalries seemed real and the wrestling was quality. Check this out for all the classics.

It's mega-handy (haha) to have such great matches in one collection. This is the best of the WWE's anthologies. Top to bottom every match is epic!

I'm a huge fan of classic WWE from the 80's and early 90's!! And besides the Wrestlemania events each year, the Survivor Series was my second favorite event, since it was a very unpredictable event. For me, my favorite Survivor Series years were from these 5 year era (1987-1991). What was so good about this event was the great 5-5 elimination matches, tag team elimination matches, and the format later changed to a 4-4 elimination matches. Which in my opinion was a great change, since having too many tag teams at once, in one ring, was very hard to follow the action at times. When i saw that this collection was coming out, i was very happy!! I bought this Survivor Series Anthology the first week it came out in Amazon.com, and I'm totally satisfied with my purchase!! You get the complete Survivor Series event of every year (1987-1991) in its entirety!!, on 5 discs; one dvd disc for each event. What was surprising was the fact that WWE included almost all the songs of the classic wrestlers from that era. Usually, WWE replaces a few songs from that era on previous dvds, because of rights issues. I completely recommend this Awesome!! Survivor Series Anthology to any wrestling fan of the 80's and 90's, you will not be dissappointed. Last but not least, i'm also very impressed with how fast i got my purchase from Amazon.com.

You can buy both of these sets on wwe's website for 59.99 total if you put in a code for free shipping....I will warn you however, that their shipping is reeeeallly slow, i live in Utah and it took like 10 days to get here, but at least it was free so i cant complain!

The former Thanksgiving tradition was one set I couldnt wait for, I was even willing to buy the set as a whole but they released them as sets rather then a whole. I could give you yearly results but I thought i'd give you a few things I enjoyed about the set rather then year by year.

Pros
The classic WWF yellow logo is on the bottom of the screen rather then the WWE logo. It looks pretty good when your watching an old PPV. There is even a slip up as a wrestler says WWF in full rather then getting beeped.

I love the interviews they do before and during the events. It makes the PPV seem worthwhile rather then they are fighting because we couldnt think of anything else. WWF use to have so much talent it was crazy. 87 and 88 both have a 4-on-4 elimination matches that feature tag teams.

The picture is excellent as usual that WWE should get an award for there dvds. There is a few instances of the arena lights creating a glare in the camera but nothing effects the match.

Cons-
Nothing is wrong with the dvds. I know they changed some entrance music but I could careless about that. I also notice that every match on this set features a pointless count out. I wonder if they did this as a way to speed up a match or what but it happens in every damn match.

The way the dvd case is set up you could easily scratch the dvd. Well i've had the Summerslam anthology and it has been crushed under other differents by accident and i've viewed the several times. I've never had a problem with them scratching but I can see why people worry.

This is a must own if your a fan of classic wrestling. I'll be watching this on Thanksgiving.