The Worst Matches in Survivor Series History
Looking at Bad and Pointless Moments at WWE’s November Pay-Per-View
Nov 7, 2009
Survivor Series has a storied history. It is an event that has had many historic matches and star-studded line-ups with legendary wrestlers. But it has also had many head-scratching moments that left fans wondering if things were supposed to happen like that, and if so, what the people in charge were thinking.
The Debut of the Gobbledygooker at Survivor Series 1990
At the same event where The Undertaker debuted, a mysterious creature called The Gobbledygooker debuted. For weeks there had been much speculation about what was inside a giant speckled egg. On November 22, 1990, the world found out. The Gobbledygooker, which was Hector Guerrero in a turkey costume, “hatched” from the egg and proceeded to dance with ring announcer “Mean” Gene Okerlund in the ring. Fans were not amused, and booed the character loudly.
The Gobbledygooker was brought back for the Gimmick Battle Royal at Wrestlemania X-7 in 2001, where goofy and unusual gimmicks of the past wrestled for pure comedic and nostalgic purposes in an every man for himself match. Hector Guerrero again wore the costume, and was quickly eliminated by the Repo Man.
Clowns R Us vs. The Royal Family at Survivor Series 1994
The lack of wrestling ability still ranks this as one Survivor Series’ less historic moments. Jerry Lawler and Doink the Clown had been feuding, and decided to settle their feud at the 1994 Survivor Series in the traditional eight-man tag matches. Each week they unveiled a new little person to add to their teams, so that eventually Lawler’s team consisted of Sleazy, Queasy and Cheesy, while Doink’s team boasted Dink, Wink and Pink.
Very little wrestling was involved in the match, and it ended with Jerry Lawler getting a pie in the face from Doink the Clown after The Royal Family won the match (by cheating, of course). Still, one could not expect to have much of a match with a bunch of clowns in the ring, and for pure entertainment value it must have been worth something.
Montreal Incident Between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1997
Although opinion is divided as to what actually happened in Montreal, most fans were furious with the incident between Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon. One side of the story says that because Hart was soon going to leave the World Wrestling Federation for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Vince McMahon decided that he couldn’t risk Hart insulting his organization by throwing the World Heavyweight title, which Hart currently held, in the trash.
Such an incident had occurred in 1995 when Alundra Blayze, later known as Madusa Miceli, left the WWF for WCW and tossed her WWF Women’s title in the garbage on WCW television. Therefore, McMahon was concerned that if he allowed Bret Hart to keep his World title at Survivor Series, he ran the risk of Hart taking the belt with him to WCW and throwing it in the garbage as well.
So while Shawn Michaels had Bret Hart in the Sharpshooter, Hart’s own submission move, McMahon ordered the timekeeper to ring the bell, and the World Heavyweight title was awarded to Michaels even though Hart had not actually tapped out to the submission move. Hart was furious and claimed he’d never agreed to let such a thing happen.
Whatever the truth of the situation is, it cannot be denied that fans, especially Canadian fans who idolized their hero Bret Hart, were furious with McMahon and Shawn Michaels for taking Bret’s title away under such circumstances. It alienated the Canadian fans and undoubtedly drove some to follow Hart to WCW. Repeating the incident for storyline purposes at September 2009’s Breaking Point match between The Undertaker and CM Punk was thus a strange move.
Mae Young and the Fabulous Moolah Wrestle at Survivor Series 1999
Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah had once been decent women wrestlers many decades ago. But by 1999 they were in their late seventies. When they wrestled in an eight-women tag match at the 1999 Survivor Series, they were obviously not going to be at their best, but only at their worst.
The pointless match, which lasted less than two minutes, consisted of Mae Young, The Fabulous Moolah, Tori and Debra (who had never even been a wrestler) versus Ivory, Luna, Jacqueline and Terri Runnels (who also had never been a wrestler). The farce of a match mercifully ended when Moolah pinned Ivory.
The Great Khali vs. Hornswoggle at Survivor Series 2007
A match between a 7’3” man against a 4’4” man is not likely to have fans guessing the outcome. The match between The Great Khali (the giant) and Hornswoggle (the one who is not a giant) lasted just over three minutes and had very little action between the two opponents but much humiliation of Khali’s translator Ranjin Singh. Khali won by disqualification when Finlay interfered on Hornswoggle’s behalf.
Although Survivor Series is a great, historic wrestling event and has had many significant moments and matches occur on its cards over the decades, the above matches and incidents indicate that there is still room for dreadful and ridiculous moments and bouts even on a top-tier pay-per-view. The mixture of good and bad will probably continue for as long as the event goes on.
Sources:
WWE Survivor Series, Online World of Wrestling
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