Customer Rating:  
Summary: Too Much Editing
Comment: Who would have thought that the original Survivor Series concept would end up being on the most anticipated events every year. However, I would wait until WWE decided to release this event as part of a Anthology because the VHS tape is very lacking. WWF heavily edited the VHS tape & every single match is edited except the main event and that recently became available on the 2006 Survivor Series DVD.
For those interested...here are the elimination matches on the tape but remember, they all are edited except the main event.
"Macho Man" Randy Savage, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, & Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man, "Outlaw" Ron Bass, "King" Harley Race, Hercules, & "Dangerous" Danny Davis
The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin� Robin, Velvet MacIntyre, & The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki) defeated "Sensational" Sherri, Dawn Marie, Donna Christanello, & The Glamour Girls (Judy Martin & Leilani Kai).
WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force (Tito Santana & Rick Martel), The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid), The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Raymond & Jacques Rougeau), The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell), & The Young Stallions (Paul Roma & Jim Powers) defeated Demolition (Ax & Smash), The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart), The Islanders (Haku & Tama), The New Dream Team (Greg Valentine & Dino Bravo), & The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zuchov)
Andre the Giant, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, "The Natural" Butch Reed, & The One Man Gang defeated WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Bam Bam Bigelow, Don "The Rock" Muraco, & Ken Patera - The match was teased as the first Hogan/Andre confrontation since WrestleMania III and it did a good job of leaving the people wanting more but not feeling ripped off. This was classic WWF (not WWE, but World Wrestling FEDERATION) and really showcased how Bam Bam Bigelow was one of the best "big men" wrestlers in the history of the business. Rest In Peace "Beast From The East."
Customer Rating:
Summary: 1987 Survivor Series
Comment: From Richfield, Ohio, the first edition of this long-running annual event is a blast to watch. Unfortunately, the choppy editing to trim the running time down to two hours is the one drawback.
1. Randy Savage, Rick Steamboat, Hacksaw Duggan, Brutus Beefcake, & Jake Roberts vs. Honky Tonk, Harley Race, Hercules, Danny Davis, & Ron Bass:
This is a really fun match! Savage's team routs the Honky Tonk squad, despite yet another cheap finish to save the cowardly then-Intercontinental Champion from losing by pin to any of his top challengers. Savage's newfound popularity was also blooming at this time to rival that of Hulk Hogan.
4 1/2 **** (I would give it 5 if not for the ending)
2. Jumping Bomb Angels, Rockin' Robin, Fabulous Moolah, & Velvet McIntyre vs. the Glamour Girls, Scary Sherri, plus two unknowns:
The Bomb Angels appear far more talented than anyone else participating in this match, and easily survive to win. Jimmy Hart throws in a fun pratfall at the end.
4 1/2 ****
3. British Bulldogs, Strike Force, Killer Bees, the Rougeaus, & the Young Stallions vs. Hart Foundation, Bolsheviks, the Dream Team, the Islanders, & Demolition:
A superb match!!! The only drawback is some poor editing. For example, the Bulldogs are eliminated midway through the match, but you don't see how, as they are there one moment and then gone the next. In a surprise ending, the Bees and the Stallions survive, while Bobby Heenan's Islanders team is impressive in the match's final minutes.
5 *****
4. Hulk Hogan, Muraco, Paul Orndorff, Ken Patera, & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Andre, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Rick Rude, & Butch Reed:
A perfect ending is the shocking main event where Hogan and friends initially appear to have the match well in hand, but then they start dropping one at a time. Only Bigelow is left to face the three largest members of the other team. Bigelow is the MVP of the match.
5 ***** (an added bonus for the surprise outcome)
Overall, despite the obvious editing, it's a superb effort from the WWF! It leaves you wanting more instead of less, as a fifth Survivor elimination match for this event would have been welcome.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Way To Start A November Tradition
Comment: Survivor Series 1987 was the first ever yearly pay-per-view besides WrestleMania which had started two years earlier. Survivor Series only came about due to the huge success of WrestleMania III. The event was advertized solely on the main event which was to be another chapter in the Hogan/Andre feud. Fans at the time were clamoring for more of this feud and Survivor Series made pretty good ratings off of that fact alone. Now, the event may have been advertised on it's main event, but that was almost the least entertaining match of the night. The Randy Savage team vs. Honky Tonk man team was the second best match of the night with the main event and the ladies elimination match tying at number three. By far the best and most entertaining match of not just that Survivor Series, but of any Survivor Series to come, was the 5 tag teams team vs. 5 tag teams team. Yes, that's five tag teams on each team equalling a total of twenty guys grouped in ten tag teams which were split into two teams of five tag teams, it worked like a typical tag match once one member of a tag team was eliminated he and his partner were eliminated, it's like the idea of the normal five on five except instead of five guys on five guys it's five tag teams on five tag teams, but in a sense each team stands alone because once one member of that tag team is eliminated so is his partner which makes it impossibly to see something like 17 guys against 11. This match by far showcased the best in the WWF tag teams of the time and it featured some of the biggest including Strike Force, the Killer Bees, Hart Foundation, Demolition to name a few. This event is really a great one to watch, the only problem I have with the version of this tape I currently own is it is, like many WWF tapes of that time, heavily editied which I frankly can't stand, but still a five star tape in my mind the best Survivor Series I've ever seen.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The WWF begins their Thanksgiving Night Tradition!
Comment: The first annual Survivor Series is considerably old and unpolished compared to the later installments throughout the WWF's history. Instead of teams of 4, originally it was actually teams of 5 and that didn't change until the third Survivor Series rolled around in 1989. When it comes to classic WWF like this, Survivor Series was always my favourite ppv's because some solid wrestling could be found at these events rather than short matches thrown onto an overflowing card at Wrestlemania while Summerslam and Royal Rumble didn't mean much until the early 90's. When this Survivor Series rolled around on the US Thanksgiving Night in 1987 we got a pretty good wrestling event. The Hulk Hogan/Andre The Giant fued was still going on well after Wrestlemania 3 and this event was billed up as the rematch, where Hulk Hogan's team battled Andre The Giant's team in a Survivor match. Hulk's team consisted of Bam Bam Bigelow, The Rock Don Muraco (no not the great one), Ken Patera and Paul Orndroff, while Andre's team consisted of The One Man Gang, Ravishing Rick Rude, Butch Reed and King Kong Bundy. It was the main event and a failry decent Survivor match but it wasn't the best match at all considering the ending was really disappointing. 'Macho Man' Randy Savage led his team of Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat, Brutus 'The Barber' Beefcake and 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan to battle against the Honky Tonk Man's team of Hercules, King Harley Race, 'The Outlaw' Ron Bass and Dangerous Danny Davis in a hot opener to the event. The women's match was suprisingly good as well but that mainly was because of the Japanese tag team of the Jumping Bomb Angels. The best match on the card has to be the 20 man tag team elimination match. The WWF only did this at the first two Survivor Series events which is too bad cause it was a great idea. Strike Force led it's team of The British Bulldogs, The Rougeau Brothers, The Young Stallions and The Killer Bees against The Hart Foundation's team of Demolition, The Islanders, The New Dream Team and The Bolsheviks in a bout that was very long and full of great wrestling action with tons of talent. This match alone is worth the rice of this tape. Overall a pretty good event for old WWF wrestling. It's unpolished but that's usually the case with the first annual event. The Hulk/Andre match and Macho Man/Honky Tonk Man matches are both good. The womens match is suprising but the tag team match just outshines everything.
Unfortuantely don't expect the WWE to release this on DVD anytime soon. People will have to make do with the heavily edited Coliseum video version unless they were lucky enough to tape it straight off ppv when it aired in November of 1987.
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