Survivor Series
Promotional poster
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	November 22, 1990
City	Hartford, Connecticut
Venue	Hartford Civic Center
Attendance	16,000[1]
Tagline	The WWF Thanksgiving Night Tradition!
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous SummerSlam Next → Royal Rumble
Survivor Series chronology
← Previous 1989 Next → 1991

The 1990Survivor Series was the fourth annualSurvivor Seriesprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event produced by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place onThanksgiving Day on November 22, 1990, at theHartford Civic Center inHartford, Connecticut. Seven matches were contested at the event, including onedark match before thelive broadcast.

This event is well known for the on-screen debut ofThe Undertaker, who would become one of the most prolific figures within the company.^[2] In addition,Sgt. Slaughter, who thenportrayed an Iraqi sympathizer, insulted servicemen stationed inIraq for Thanksgiving duringOperation Desert Shield. In an interview,Randy Savage challengedThe Ultimate Warrior for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.Haku replacedRick Rude, who had left the WWF over a pay dispute. In the storyline, he was suspended by WWF PresidentJack Tunney for insulting the mother of theBig Boss Man.Boris Zhukov replacedAkeem, who had left the WWF in October.

Survivor Series is an annualgimmickpay-per-view (PPV) produced every November by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1987. In what has become the second longest-running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE'sWrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania,Royal Rumble, andSummerSlam; which were dubbed the "Big Four".^[3] Continuing the tradition of the previous years' events, the fourth event in the Survivor Series chronology only featuredSurvivor Series matches, which aretag team elimination matches. The event was scheduled to be held onThanksgiving Day on November 22, 1990, at theHartford Civic Center inHartford, Connecticut.^[1]

The card included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, in which wrestlers portrayedheroes,villains, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers,^[4][5] with storylines produced on their weekly television shows.

This was the only Survivor Series to feature a "Grand Finale Match of Survival", wherein the survivors of each announced Survivor Series elimination match would take part in a final elimination match in the main event, split based on their heel-or-face alignments. The match ended with the three-man face team of Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan (the two survivors) and Tito Santana defeating the five-man heel team of Ted DiBiase and the full Visionaries team from earlier in the night (Rick Martel, the Warlord, and Power & Glory).

Crowd reaction toThe Gobbledy Gooker was extremely negative, with fans loudly booing as the costumedHéctor Guerrero danced in the ring with announcerGene Okerlund. Although the character made a handful of appearances in taped promos following the Survivor Series,^[6] the Gobbledy Gooker soon disappeared and was not mentioned again until the Gimmick Battle Royal atWrestleMania X-Seven. Several years later,WrestleCrap used the name for its "Gooker Award", presented for the worst gimmicks, storylines, or events in wrestling.

Sgt. Slaughter and Randy Savage both challenged the Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Championship. Slaughter and his manager,General Adnan, also cut several anti-American, pro-Iraqi promos – all airing at a time when the United States was engaged inOperation Desert Shield, all to build up heat for his match against Warrior at the1991 Royal Rumble, held two days after the start of the war against Iraq. Slaughter – with help from both Savage and his manager, Sensational Sherri – won the title from Warrior at the Royal Rumble. Warrior defeated Savage in a career-ending match atWrestlemania VII, after which Savage turnedface and reunited with former managerMiss Elizabeth, ultimately winning back the belt a year later atWrestlemania VIII. Savage and Warrior fought one more time for the title atSummerSlam (1992) in a match plagued by interference fromRic Flair andMr Perfect.

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 WWF title.

Since the formation of Demolition in 1987, they have been compared to theLegion of Doom (LOD). The feud between the LOD and Demolition (which by now wasCrush andSmash) continued to rage into the end of 1990, with LOD eventually coming out on top. (In part because the feud had not had the anticipated intensity due toAx's reduced role from his health problems at the time.) Demolition's last pay-per-view appearance was atWrestleMania VII, where the team lost toGenichiro Tenryu andKoji Kitao. LOD eventually became WWF Tag Team Champions.

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• "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts".Wrestling's historical cards. Kappa Publishing. 2007. pp. 88–89.
• Survivor Series '90 Review
• 1990 Survivor Series Results

• Official 1990 Survivor Series page at WWE.com

• Survivor Series
• 1990 in Connecticut
• 20th century in Hartford, Connecticut
• Professional wrestling shows in Hartford, Connecticut
• 1990 WWF pay-per-view events
• November 1990 in the United States

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