The First Annual Survivor Series from 1987 marked a major development in American wrestling. After the success of Wrestlemania 3 earlier in the same year, WWE created a new event that would take the company's popularity to a whole new level - the Survivor Series. The concept, was that teams of 4 or 5 would compete in a match up until all members of a team had been defeated. All ways of being eliminated applied, be it via a count out, pinfall, disqualication, submission or at the referee's discretion. It was a simple but very effective concept. This first event, is one of the very best of its kind. It is vintage American wrestling where you have many stars and great workers involved. Included are: Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Honky Tonk Man, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The Killer Bees, The Islanders and others. Hogan and Andre were right in the middle of their story angle during 1987 and they are Captains of their respectable teams. Andre the Giant had put together a team which totalled an excess of 2,000 pounds!! I remember as a kid, feeling slightly awe-struck when I first found out. There are 4 matches altogether - including a women's elimination match - and they don't disappoint at all. The version that was released on video by "Silvervision" is heavily edited as it was stipulated that the Survivor Series event had to be within a running time of 120 minutes. As a result, some of the footage of the wrestling action is paused and the footage moves on by about 3 or 4 minutes. There is is a longer version available, which includes about an additional 40 minutes. The commentary by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura is excellent and Ventura even manages to remain a bit more neutral than he usually was. The two of them commentated together on many PPV events in the 1980s and very early 1990s. The action in the First Survivor Series comes thick and fast, the choreography is impeccable. I won't give away any of the match results but you won't want to miss this.
