Biggest fall or rise in Survivor Series appearances

[jason1980s]

Thinking about Earthquake got me thinking about who had a great rise or fall in Survivor Series appearances from year to year.
It could be kayfabe or real life though they probably go hand in hand.

For example, Earthquake had a big rise from 89 to 90. He was an alternate in 1989 and by 90 was team captain in a main event feud with Hogan.

1988 to 1989 saw a big fall for Akeem. 1988 saw him as co-captain and by 89 not only was he not on the event (due to injury or surgery) but he wasn't even mentioned once the event took place. It was like Bad News was scheduled all along.

1990 to 91 was huge for the Undertaker. 90 he was just a debuting dead man who we had not known but 1991 saw him not only in a HW title match but winning.

I'm sure we can think of much more. Survivor Series and Rumbles were always my favorite PPVs because almost everyone would be on them but with Survivor Series we normally got to hear guys theme songs which I liked.

[Jindrak Mark]

Savio Vega was one of the survivors alongside Undertaker in 1995 then a year later he's the first person eliminated in his match and by fake Diesel.

[chrom]

Diesel went from first guy eliminated in 93 to eliminating the opposing team single handily in 94 to defending the World Title in 95.

[jason1980s]

Good ones. I was a bit too focused on 89-90 which was about the midway point for the original few years of elimination matches.

I'm not sure if this one really fits with my request but I'm sure in real life it was a huge boost for Owen to go from an opening match loss in 92 to probably the best storyline of the 93 Series. The Taker/Yoko storyline was pretty awesome but the Owen storyline really made his career the next few years.

On the other hand Lex from 93 to 94 was a dip. And really, 93's match wasn't so much about him as it was Taker/Yoko.

[msc]

1996 - Furnas and Lafon cleanly beat OWen and Bulldog.
1997 - Furnas and LaFon job out quickly in the Canada/USA match.

2002 - Scott Steiner debuts as a game changing main event star.
2003 - Scott Steiner is first man eliminated in a survivor match, barely 5 minutes into a 30 minute match.

1997 - 3rd strongest booked man in a heel stable, Rocky Maivia, jobs clean in a Survivor Match on the undercard.
1998 - The Rock becomes World champion.

1999 - Kurt Angle defeats Shawn Stasiak in a nothing singles match.
2000 - Kurt Angle defends the WWF Championship against the Undertaker.

[Aceorton]

Honky in '87 = IC champ and team captain
Honky in '88 = team co-captain and feuding with the guy who took his belt
Honky in '89 and '90 = pinned clean as a sheet after Beefcake's knee and Neidhart's powerslam, respectively

Mr. Perfect from 1992 to 1993 is pretty bad. Went from huge unexpected comeback, turning on Flair to team with Savage, to being buried as a coward and no-show in the intros

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Hercules has a rise from the 1989 to 1990. In 89 he's eliminated first in under four minutes by Earthquake. In 90 he's part of the first team to survive in tact and is the final man eliminated in the entire Survivor Series as that was the only year they did the Grand Finale with all the survivors coming back. At the same time you can then say 90 to 91 was a big fall for him. In 91 he was an alternate for Big Bully Busick (ouch) and eliminated second.

Tito Santana from 1989 to 1990-91. In 89 he was eliminated first by former partner Martel. In 90 he survives, gets the rub of being partners with Hogan and Warrior in the Grand Finale, and eliminates three people across his two matches including the Warlord in twenty seconds in the Grand Finale. In 91 as El Matador he survived again.

Dino Bravo survived in 88 and 89 and then was an early elimination in 90 after getting pinned by a meek Hogan small package.

Oct 26, 2022 11:36:44 GMT -5 msc said:

1996 - Furnas and Lafon cleanly beat OWen and Bulldog.
1997 - Furnas and LaFon job out quickly in the Canada/USA match.

2002 - Scott Steiner debuts as a game changing main event star.
2003 - Scott Steiner is first man eliminated in a survivor match, barely 5 minutes into a 30 minute match.

1997 - 3rd strongest booked man in a heel stable, Rocky Maivia, jobs clean in a Survivor Match on the undercard.
1998 - The Rock becomes World champion.

1999 - Kurt Angle defeats Shawn Stasiak in a nothing singles match.
2000 - Kurt Angle defends the WWF Championship against the Undertaker.

Furnas did alright as he lasted almost until the end (Vader pins him right before Bulldog then whacks Vader with the bell for the final pin) and eliminated Marc Mero which was surprising.

Who were the two guys booked stronger then Rock in the Nation? Faarooq and who else? He was definitely booked stronger then D'Lo and Kama. Also by that Survivor Series he was clearly being presented as the star of the stable. In that match he was the final remaining guy on the team and had two eliminations. Then he was inserted into a feud with Austin I believe the next night.

[Spider2024]

Headshrinkers in 1992: Wasn't in a match with 4 Doinks.

[DiBiase is Good]

Oct 26, 2022 10:50:55 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Thinking about Earthquake got me thinking about who had a great rise or fall in Survivor Series appearances from year to year.
It could be kayfabe or real life though they probably go hand in hand.

For example, Earthquake had a big rise from 89 to 90. He was an alternate in 1989 and by 90 was team captain in a main event feud with Hogan.

1988 to 1989 saw a big fall for Akeem. 1988 saw him as co-captain and by 89 not only was he not on the event (due to injury or surgery) but he wasn't even mentioned once the event took place. It was like Bad News was scheduled all along.

1990 to 91 was huge for the Undertaker. 90 he was just a debuting dead man who we had not known but 1991 saw him not only in a HW title match but winning.

I'm sure we can think of much more. Survivor Series and Rumbles were always my favorite PPVs because almost everyone would be on them but with Survivor Series we normally got to hear guys theme songs which I liked.

Akeem was also initially named as part of Slaughter’s team at the 1990 event but for whatever reason he was replaced by Boris Zhukov. It was strange as after Wrestlemania VI, I recall seeing Akeem wrestle only twice on TV (once in a a SNME just after Mania and then as part of the tournament for the vacant I/C belt) and that was about it for the year. Then he was randomly put into a team despite hardly being seen for six months.

[msc]

Oct 26, 2022 15:03:37 GMT -5 ThankGodForSidJustice said:

Hercules has a rise from the 1989 to 1990. In 89 he's eliminated first in under four minutes by Earthquake. In 90 he's part of the first team to survive in tact and is the final man eliminated in the entire Survivor Series as that was the only year they did the Grand Finale with all the survivors coming back. At the same time you can then say 90 to 91 was a big fall for him. In 91 he was an alternate for Big Bully Busick (ouch) and eliminated second.

Tito Santana from 1989 to 1990-91. In 89 he was eliminated first by former partner Martel. In 90 he survives, gets the rub of being partners with Hogan and Warrior in the Grand Finale, and eliminates three people across his two matches including the Warlord in twenty seconds in the Grand Finale. In 91 as El Matador he survived again.

Dino Bravo survived in 88 and 89 and then was an early elimination in 90 after getting pinned by a meek Hogan small package.

Oct 26, 2022 11:36:44 GMT -5 msc said:

1996 - Furnas and Lafon cleanly beat OWen and Bulldog.
1997 - Furnas and LaFon job out quickly in the Canada/USA match.

2002 - Scott Steiner debuts as a game changing main event star.
2003 - Scott Steiner is first man eliminated in a survivor match, barely 5 minutes into a 30 minute match.

1997 - 3rd strongest booked man in a heel stable, Rocky Maivia, jobs clean in a Survivor Match on the undercard.
1998 - The Rock becomes World champion.

1999 - Kurt Angle defeats Shawn Stasiak in a nothing singles match.
2000 - Kurt Angle defends the WWF Championship against the Undertaker.

Furnas did alright as he lasted almost until the end (Vader pins him right before Bulldog then whacks Vader with the bell for the final pin) and eliminated Marc Mero which was surprising.

Who were the two guys booked stronger then Rock in the Nation? Faarooq and who else? He was definitely booked stronger then D'Lo and Kama. Also by that Survivor Series he was clearly being presented as the star of the stable. In that match he was the final remaining guy on the team and had two eliminations. Then he was inserted into a feud with Austin I believe the next night.

tbh I started with Furnas and Lafon and then thought of far better examples. But man, they went from Hot New Tag Stars to also runs very quickly.

Rock, badly phrased, I meant third strongest booked in that tag match AND in a heel stable. Not the third strongest in the Nation. Faarooq was still the leader on TV, and Shamrock was pushed well above both. About a week later Rock started his first mini feud with Austin though and well, the rest is history.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Oct 26, 2022 15:31:13 GMT -5 DiBiase is Good said:

Oct 26, 2022 10:50:55 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Thinking about Earthquake got me thinking about who had a great rise or fall in Survivor Series appearances from year to year.
It could be kayfabe or real life though they probably go hand in hand.

For example, Earthquake had a big rise from 89 to 90. He was an alternate in 1989 and by 90 was team captain in a main event feud with Hogan.

1988 to 1989 saw a big fall for Akeem. 1988 saw him as co-captain and by 89 not only was he not on the event (due to injury or surgery) but he wasn't even mentioned once the event took place. It was like Bad News was scheduled all along.

1990 to 91 was huge for the Undertaker. 90 he was just a debuting dead man who we had not known but 1991 saw him not only in a HW title match but winning.

I'm sure we can think of much more. Survivor Series and Rumbles were always my favorite PPVs because almost everyone would be on them but with Survivor Series we normally got to hear guys theme songs which I liked.

Akeem was also initially named as part of Slaughter’s team at the 1990 event but for whatever reason he was replaced by Boris Zhukov. It was strange as after Wrestlemania VI, I recall seeing Akeem wrestle only twice on TV (once in a a SNME just after Mania and then as part of the tournament for the vacant I/C belt) and that was about it for the year. Then he was randomly put into a team despite hardly being seen for six months.

Akeem left the company the month before which was why he was replaced by Zhukov. He was still appearing on TV fairly regularly through that summer but only on Wrestling Challenge and Prime Time and not on the A Show Superstars and he also wasn't involved in any feuds and was clearly on the backburner which is why it probably felt like he was gone even though he wasn't. Oddly enough right before he left they were in the midst of starting to do something with him again as they started a program with him and newcomer Saba Simba over who the one true African of the WWF was. However due to Akeem leaving it didn't even get of the inset promo phase.

[James Fabiano]

Ken Patera: Main eventer in 1987, cannon fodder on Jake's team in 1988 in a midcard match.

Andre the Giant: the same, though he was still booked nigh invincible. But in 1989, he gets to be throttled by Warrior and be first to be eliminated.

Killer Bees get to survive the tag team match in 1987, in 1988 Jim Brunzell is cannon fodder on Ultimate Warrior's team.

Koko B. Ware: Main eventer in 1988, first to taste Undertaker's tombstone 2 years later ;-).

Ted DiBiase has his own team twice over, one in a main event (1989) and one where something legendary happens (1990). In 1991 he's just one of Flair's backups.

[DiBiase is Good]

Oct 26, 2022 11:03:24 GMT -5 chrom said:

Diesel went from first guy eliminated in 93 to eliminating the opposing team single handily in 94 to defending the World Title in 95.

Nash’s early WWF time is weird. Maybe Vince wasn’t 100% sure on him being much more than a valet at Survivor Series but then he’s booked like a monster a couple of months later at the Rumble. Then at their biggest show he’s valeting again and is sent to the back minutes in. A few weeks later he beats Razor for the I/C title and the push starts again.

[James Fabiano]

On the other hand, Earthquake went from being team captain in 1990 to one of the grunts in a team that lost its captain. Then in 1992, half of the face tag team that was there to do the JOB on their team.

[jason1980s]

Oct 26, 2022 17:04:05 GMT -5 DiBiase is Good said:

Oct 26, 2022 11:03:24 GMT -5 chrom said:

Diesel went from first guy eliminated in 93 to eliminating the opposing team single handily in 94 to defending the World Title in 95.

Nash’s early WWF time is weird. Maybe Vince wasn’t 100% sure on him being much more than a valet at Survivor Series but then he’s booked like a monster a couple of months later at the Rumble. Then at their biggest show he’s valeting again and is sent to the back minutes in. A few weeks later he beats Razor for the I/C title and the push starts again.

I have wondered what Nash was thinking around that Survivor Series taking such a quick loss. Granted, it was to Macho Man but he had to have been thinking a loss like that wasn't much better than his time in WCW. The old rumor had it his spot in the Rumble 94 was slated for Ludvig Borga so that would have been interesting to see how he fared if Ludvig had been in there.

I wonder how many guys bolt before a PPV pay day. Bad News obviously the same PPV in 1990 and I think Shane Douglas and Scott Norton at Slamboree 93. Akeem told the story in a shoot about telling Vince he was leaving, tired of the travel as a big man in small cars and planes. Vince was disappointed in him and said he had plans for Akeem for Survivor Series (doubt anything other than just being a fourth wheel) but Akeem didn't care-he was done.

[thegame415]

Ryback
2012 - Challenging for WWE title with Punk and Cena
2013 - Jobbing to Mark Henry

R-Truth
2011 - Teaming with Miz against Rock and Cena
2012- Jobbing to Cesaro

[XaviersSS2015hair]

Oct 26, 2022 14:30:13 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

Honky in '87 = IC champ and team captain
Honky in '88 = team co-captain and feuding with the guy who took his belt
Honky in '89 and '90 = pinned clean as a sheet after Beefcake's knee and Neidhart's powerslam, respectively

Mr. Perfect from 1992 to 1993 is pretty bad. Went from huge unexpected comeback, turning on Flair to team with Savage, to being buried as a coward and no-show in the intros

Perfect went from replacing Warrior and teaming with Savage in 92, to being replaced by Savage in 93 due to his own no-show.

For that matter, Savage. Went from being in the advertised main event in 92 (even though the actual match went on in the middle of the card). To being completely left off the card if they hadn't needed him in a pinch to replace Perfect.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Inside their own match…Pink, Wink and Dink. Doink gets eliminated, leaving them to get destroyed in a match it’s impossible for them to win because they can’t compete against Lawler.

[theghostofalwilson]

Doink
92: Seen in the crowd during Tatanka's match against Rick Martel, all being part of a big introduction/push.
93: Replaced by four imposters.

[jason1980s]

I'm surprised Scott Hall did that burial of Curt/Mr. Perfect. He seems like a guy who would go against the company to protect his buddies.
I wonder what would come of Macho Man if Mr. Perfect were at the event. Having Macho at the announce booth would probably kill Bobby's last PPV appearance but Macho would have to be involved somehow in the show for the Crush skits.