This event is known for seeing the on-screen debut of The Undertaker, who went on to become the WWF Champion at the next Survivor Series, and the appearance of the Gobbledy Gooker. In addition, Sgt. Slaughter, who then portrayed an Iraqi sympathizer, insulted servicemen stationed in Iraq for Thanksgiving during Operation Desert Shield. Randy Savage gave an interview in which he challenged The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Championship. Rick Rude was replaced by Haku after being suspended by WWF President Jack Tunney for insulting the mother of the Big Boss Man; in reality, the suspension explained Rude's departure from the WWF over a dispute.
Crowd reaction to the Gobbledy Gooker was extremely negative, with fans loudly booing as the costumed Héctor Guerrero danced in the ring with announcer Gene Okerlund. Although the character made a handful of appearances in taped promos following the Survivor Series, the Gobbledy Gooker soon disappeared and was not mentioned again until the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven. Several years later, WrestleCrap would use the name for its "Gooker Award", presented for the worst gimmicks, storylines or events in wrestling.
Sgt. Slaughter and Randy Savage both received matches against the Ultimate Warrior for the World Heavyweight Championship. Warrior was initially successful in answering both foes' challenges. Meanwhile, Slaughter and his manager, General Adnan, cut several anti-American promos – all airing at a time when the United States was engaged in Operation Desert Shield, all to build up heat for his match against Warrior at the 1991 Royal Rumble. Slaughter – with help from both Savage and Savage's manager, Sensational Sherri – won the World title from Warrior at the Royal Rumble, with the event taking place two days after the start of the Persian Gulf War. Warrior defeated Savage in a career-ending match at Wrestlemania VII after which Savage turned face by splitting from Sherri and reuniting with former manager Miss Elizabeth, ultimately winning back the World title a year later at Wrestlemania VIII. Savage and Warrior would fight one more time for the title at SummerSlam 1992 in a match plagued by interference from Ric Flair and Curt Hennig and which ended with the two rivals finally burying their feud and forming an alliance.
Hogan went on to focus on wrapping up his feud with Earthquake with a series of stretcher matches, which Hogan won, before going on to challenge Slaughter for the WWE World Heavyweight title.
Since the formation of Demolition in 1987, they had been compared to the Legion of Doom as to who the best power-brawling tag team was. The feud between Demolition (which by now was Brian Adams and Barry Darsow as Crush and Smash, respectively) and LOD continued to rage into the end of 1990, with LOD eventually proving decisively they were the best team. (In part, the feud had not had the anticipated intensity because of Bill Eadie's reduced role in the tag team; he had competed as Ax, due to health problems and his focus on gaining an office role.) As such, Demolition began losing their push, Mr. Fuji was phased back in as their manager (after dramatically splitting from them two years earlier) and their last major tag team appearance at a United States pay-per-view event was at WrestleMania VII, where the team lost to Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao. LOD, meanwhile, would eventually become World Tag Team Champions.
The Undertaker would quickly become over with fans as he easily handled lower-card competition during his first months in the WWF. He quickly earned his first main-event feud with the Ultimate Warrior, with that feud starting shortly after WrestleMania VII and kick-starting a career with WWE that lasted until his retirement at WrestleMania 33, more than 26 years later.
Results[]
Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
(c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
The Gobbledygooker was a human-turkey hybrid (Hector Guerrero in a turkey costume) that hatched from a giant "egg". In an interview found the on the DVD Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story, Hector said that he was convinced the character would be very popular with children, but was proven wrong when the Gooker was jeered at by the entire crowd.
The Visionaries was the first team to have all its members survive. They are also only the second team to have four survivors, the first being the face team in the 20-man, 10-tag team elimination match in the inaugural Series three years prior. Both teams feature Paul Roma as one of the four survivors.
Boris Zhukov replaced Akeem on Sgt. Slaughter's team, who had left the WWF. This was the second Series in a row in which Akeem was replaced. Akeem was replaced in 1989 due to injury.
Haku replaced Rick Rude on Earthquake's team, because Rude left the WWF after a contract dispute with Vince McMahon.
The Undertaker made his WWF debut as Ted DiBiase's mystery teammate.
As of 2007, this is the only Survivor Series to feature a match involving the survivors of each match in another Survivor Series rules match.
Tagged Classics - Survivor Series 1989 / 1990 DVD
