WWE Vintage Collection Report: November 7th 2010
By Shaun Best-Rajah.com Reporter
Hosted by: Mean Gene Okerlund
Welcome aboard. We kick off our annual Survivor Series retrospective with two classic elimination matches. The Perfect Team tangle with The Ultimate Warriors in our Main Event, but first up it’s the 4×4’s squaring off against the King’s Court. Let’s begin like it’s 1989.
A King’s Court promo (taped before the PPV) airs. The Widowmaker (aka Barry Windham) is featured, but departs the WWF before the match occurs. Randy Savage says the 4×4’s are guilty of fighting out of their league, while Greg Valentine says they are no match for the King’s Court. The Widowmaker says the King’s Court won’t lose and Dino Bravo stays silent. Savage closes by saying he feels sorry for Hacksaw and his clowns that he calls the 4×4’s, as his team is better.
Backstage at Survivor Series, the 4×4’s have their say. Bret Hart states this is going to be the 4×4’s finest hour and the King’s Court are going to find out the hard way what they’re all about. Ronnie Garvin has a personal score to settle with Greg Valentine. Garvin vows to shut Valentine’s big mouth and stick a 2×4 in it. Hercules puts over his teammates and doesn’t foresee any problems, while Hacksaw Jim Duggan promises Savage’s team are in for a long night. When the 4×4’s come to the ring they have one thing in mind and that’s to beat people up. The 4×4’s close the segment out by taking aim with their 2×4’s as if they were guns and chanting Hooooo! in unison. Boys will be boys I guess.
November 23rd 1989
The 4 x 4’s (Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Rugged Ronnie Garvin, Bret “Hitman” Hart & Hercules) vs
The King’s Court (Macho King Randy Savage, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Dino Bravo & Canadian Earthquake)
Hacksaw had lost the kingship to Savage one month after SummerSlam. Garvin and Hercules had issues with Bravo and Valentine, with Garvin recently being reinstated after initially losing a retirement match to Valentine. “Canadian” Earthquake replaced the recently departed “Widowmaker” Barry Windham to fill out the team. He had just debuted as a planted fan on Superstars of Wrestling to help Dino Bravo flatten Ultimate Warrior during a strength contest. Jimmy Hart and Sensational Queen Sherri are in the heel corner.
Savage opts to avoid Hacksaw by bailing to the floor. Hacksaw tosses him in to the waiting Hercules who dominates with a clothesline and press slam. Valentine tags in for a slugfest. Both duck clotheslines. Hercules atomic drops, Bret works an arm and Hacksaw sends the Hammer’s shoulder into the corner a couple of times. Garvin applies a sleeper, Valentine sinks to his corner and tags Bravo. Garvin takes an inverted atomic drop, but manages to avoid an elbow drop. Hercules re-enters, jabbing away at Bravo and following up with a gut punch, kneelift and two clotheslines. Bravo reverses Hercules front first into the corner and Earthquake claims his first victim, putting the strongman away with a sit down splash.
Bret lends Hacksaw a hand in toppling Earthquake by crouching behind him as Hacksaw shoulder tackles. Garvin mounts the big man on the mat to punch, then lands a splash, but gets pressed off of a cover. Garvin gets isolated in the wrong corner, but manages to kick off Valentine’s figure four attempt, roll him up then get a backslide on Bravo for a second nearfall. Garvin manages to blind tag Hacksaw in as he sends Valentine off the ropes. Valentine ducks a Garvin clothesline, but runs into Hacksaw’s three point stance to get pinned.
We skip ahead to see Bret hammer away on Bravo in the 4×4 corner and hit his (soon to be patented) elbow from the second rope. Bret mistakenly tags in Garvin (who had only just gotten out) and he gets caught in a sidewalk slam and pinned by Bravo. Savage kicks Garvin on his way out. No need to kick a man when he’s down Randy! Hacksaw rallies the crowd as he hammers Earthquake into the corner, hits a mounted assault then combines with Bret to take him down with a double clothesline. Bret and Hacksaw have some fun with Savage, beating him in their corner, and tying him in the ropes. After the referee unties him, Savage receives a backbreaker by Bret and narrowly escapes a small package. Bret misses a high risk elbow attack, so Bravo takes advantage with a slam and a bearhug, while Earthquake delivers a tree slam and drops a big elbow. Savage accidentally wipes out Bravo with a high knee which was meant for Bret. Savage desperately grabs Bret’s leg, but the Hitman still manages to tag out. Hacksaw enters with clotheslines and a slam to Savage, prompting the King to beg off. Hacksaw opts to bring Bret back in with the Hitman having barely had time to catch his breath. Savage takes advantage to send Bret into Bravo’s boot. Bret reverses Bravo to the corner, charges and posts his shoulder. A shoulderbreaker from Bravo softens Bret up for Savage’s top rope elbow and the Hitman’s a goner. Hacksaw really has the odds stacked against him now.
The King’s Court hold a quick in-ring meeting. Hacksaw manages a brief rally, avoiding an Earthquake avalanche, catching Savage coming off the top rope and backdropping Bravo. Hacksaw bounces both Bravo and Savage off of Earthquake to clear the ring. Hacksaw ducks under Bravo and Savage to give them a double clothesline. Earthquake mows Hacksaw down from behind, slams, drops an elbow, but Hacksaw kicks out of a pin. Savage misses a running spike and gets caught in the ropes. Hacksaw atomic drops Savage, Bravo distracts the referee enabling Sherri to pull the top rope down on Hacksaw and send him to the floor. Earthquake makes sure Hacksaw stays down by dropping a double sledge across his back. The referee counts Hacksaw out, who gains a measure of post match revenge by clobbering Bravo and Savage with his 2×4 to send the King’s Court packing. Survivors: MACHO KING RANDY SAVAGE, DINO BRAVO & CANADIAN EARTHQUAKE.
Before our Main Event, we hear promos from both the Perfect Team and the Ultimate Warriors. Demolition Ax puts over his team and mentions they have a few bones to pick. Crush claims it’s survival of the biggest, strongest, fastest, smartest and states they’re the total package, while Smash pokes fun at the Ultimate Meathead, Legion of Dumb and Texas Tornado. He doesn’t like any of them and when they get in the ring they’ll see how Perfect the Perfect team is. Perfect gloats that Demolition are the strongest force alongside him and when you talk about survivors, you talk about the Perfect Team.
Mean Gene Okerlund is with the Ultimate Warriors and asks for their thoughts. Hawk doesn’t know his thoughts, Texas Tornado adopts a wait and see attitude, while Animal promises they won’t let the little Warriors, Tornados and Doomers down. Warrior has asked all the skeletons that have already made the sacrifice to follow him and his three warriors into this battle. Whether they walk further than anyone else or stay behind to make the sacrifice it makes no difference as Warrior has surrounded his team in a forcefield. They have become one, formed a bond like no other and no-one can break what they have created. Warrior states there is no poison, creation or menace that can destroy what they have, before promising that Mr Perfect and Demolition will not survive. This was actually a good promo from the Warrior which sort of made sense in a Warrior wisdom kind of way.
November 22nd 1990
The Perfect Team (Mr Perfect & Demolition) vs The Ultimate Warriors (Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado & Legion of Doom)
Mr Fuji and Bobby Heenan are ringside for the Perfect Team. Smash and Animal start us off with a brawl. Both men briefly find themselves in the wrong corners. Animal catches Smash in a powerslam. Perfect gets atomic dropped by both LOD members, avoids a Tornado claw, turns into a Warrior clothesline and gets punched over the top rope by Animal. Back inside, Tornado finds himself in trouble as Ax hammers away. Tornado reverses an irish whip and sinks in the claw. Smash comes to his partner’s aid by breaking it up. Warrior tags in (and hilariously nearly knocks Tornado off the apron as he runs the ropes) taking down Ax with a couple of tackles and pinning him after a splash. That’s all she wrote for Ax in the WWF. Warrior slams the remaining members of Demolition, shoves Perfect over the top rope, then turns into a big clothesline from Crush.
Warrior is worked over by a Smash backbreaker and a top rope kneedrop from Crush. Warrior clotheslines his way out of a corner and tags Hawk, who blocks Perfect’s punches and lifts him into a tree choke. Perfect gets thrown around the ring, manages to avoid a corner charge and Hawk posts his shoulder. Demolition isolate Hawk until he hits Smash with a flying tackle and lands a top rope clothesline. Crush breaks up a cover and the action breaks down between Legion of Doom and Demolition. Smash shoves the referee, and Hawk kicks him out of the way, which leads to all four men being DQed. Perfect is all alone against both the Intercontinental and WWF Champion.
Perfect makes frequent trips over the top rope courtesy of a Tornado discus punch and running clothesline. Warrior runs around to bang Perfect and Heenan’s heads together before carelessly throwing Heenan into/over the guardrail. Tornado has things in hand until he misses a charge and posts his shoulder. Jeez, how many times is that going to happen in this show. Perfect delivers a running kneelift, cuts off a fightback with a thumb to the eye and rams Tornado’s head into an exposed corner, before putting him away with the Perfect plex. An overzealous Warrior misses a stinger splash, but manages to kick out of the Perfect plex at two. Perfect gets further nearfalls from a standing dropkick and clothesline. Warrior finds his extra wind, Warrior’s up and hits three clotheslines, a flying tackle and splash to progress to the “Ultimate Survivor” match, contested between all the winners later in the night. He would win that match too alongside Hulk Hogan. Survivor: ULTIMATE WARRIOR. It’s too bad that the WWF were a year too late in giving us the much anticipated Legion of Doom/Demolition feud. That could have been a serious moneymaker.
Our lookback continues next week. Two passable matches to kick things off, good in parts, but nothing spectacular. Hopefully we’ll get more classic elimination matches in the coming weeks. Shaun.
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