The most important thing about Survivor Series 1987 was what went on behind the scenes. And no, I don’t mean interesting backstage stories about performers. I’m talking business and finance. About six months after the third Wrestlemania, Survivor Series seems almost destined to be a big deal in terms of a wrestling event. Vince McMahon wasn’t the only person to think this, as rival organization NWA had the exact same day (November 26, 1987, Thanksgiving Day) picked for its biggest event of the year, Starrcade. That PPV name should sound familiar to casual 90’s wrestling fans.

Vince McMahon threatened cable companies by telling them that he wouldn’t allow them to broadcast Wrestlemania IV if they attempted to air Starrcade. Cable companies largely complied, as Wrestlemania had a more widespread, casual draw than any other wrestling promotion at the time. As a result of the low profits for Starrcade, NWA unified several territories and was bought by Ted Turner, forming the WCW. WCW would keep the Starrcade name and lineage, and for several years in the 90’s gave the WWE weekly panic attacks.

I’ll just say it. Survivor Series 1987 is responsible for the Monday Night Wars and the Attitude Era. Let’s do a match by match breakdown.

As far as judging by today’s standards is concerned, the PPV is very frontloaded. The first match five-on-five elimination tag match, which is in many ways the Survivor Series standard. The team of faces (good guys) included Randy Savage, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. That’s really the holy trinity of 80’s wrestlers. Savage was untouchable on the microphone, Steamboat was an incredible in-ring performer, and Roberts understands in-ring storytelling in a truly uncanny way. The team of heels (bad guys) had a lot of mostly forgettable wrestlers to modern casual fans, but the Honkey Tonk Man is significant. He currently has the longest running Intercontinental Championship reign, a belt that he won off of Steamboat and held during this match. When he was outnumbered three to one by the end of the match, he just walked away and allowed himself to be counted out. He wasn’t the greatest in-ring performer of his time, and his style certainly hasn’t aged well, but he did have a knack for drawing some serious heel heat, with the end of this match being one of the best examples during his title reign.

Next was the women’s five-on-five elimination match. Women’s wrestling in the 80’s isn’t as drastically different from women’s wrestling in 2016 as men’s wrestling is. It wasn’t given the opportunity in the 90’s to evolve and gain the respect that it now commands today. This is largely the fault of WWE and their predisposition toward swimsuit models instead of skilled workers. Luckily, this has since become an antiquated notion, barring a few exceptions, and women’s wrestling today is the best that it has ever been. The Jumping Bomb Angels steal the show here, displaying tremendous in-ring skill. And the worst worker in the match is easily the Fabulous Moolah. The fact that Moolah is arguably the evilest wrestler not named Chris Benoit aside, Moolah was at her worst in this match, and she was never particularly good. If you have a stomach for the horrible ways people can treat one another, check out Moolah’s Wikipedia page, but don’t say that I sent you.

If you were watching Survivor Series 1987 and thought, “Gee, these five-on-five matches are great, but they aren’t quite confusing enough.” Good news for you, as the next match was a ten-on-ten elimination tag team match. All of the best spots in this match come from wrestlers connected in some way to the Hart family. Big surprise there. Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart were on one side of the match while Davey Boy Smith (most widely known as the British Bulldog) and the Dynamite Kid were on the opposing side. This match also saw the debut of Demolition, who will always hold the award for worst costumes on any wrestling team. The match is weak. I mean, it’s just a serious drag to try to get through. Do you need to vacuum your apartment, and also maybe run to the store to pick up some eggs, and then maybe cook the eggs but drop them on the floor, and then begrudgingly cook more eggs, eat those eggs, and do all of your dishes? If so, you’ll still have about ten minutes of this obnoxious mess of a half hour wrestling match to suffer through. It is the worst match on the card and one of the worst in Survivor Series history.

The final match wasn’t awful. It wasn’t as great as the first match was, but it’s also important to remember that novelty attractions were a bigger deal than talented wrestlers in the 1980’s. This is another five-on-five elimination tag match, with Hulk Hogan and Bam Bam Bigelow being some of the most notable members of the face team. Hogan wasn’t pinned, of course. Shenanigans led to him being counted out because the Hulkster doesn’t job, brother. The heel team’s biggest deals, no pun intended, were Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, and Rick Rude. Andre wound up being the final man standing in a surprisingly entertaining match. Part of what makes this match work is that the crowd is absolutely insane overseeing the sheer amount of star power in the ring at the time. After the match, Hogan hit Andre with his championship belt to be the last man standing in the ring because the 80’s.

Overall, Survivor Series 1987 is important more than its good, but it’s worth watching as an interesting look at what wrestling was in the 80’s, and especially to see what got over with the crowd before flippy lucha things.

Two things are immediately striking within the first few pages of Andre the Giant: Closer to Heaven. The first has to do with the art, gorgeously drawn by Denis Medri (link). This Lion Forge Comics graphic novel is a deeply nostalgic affair. The art has the sepia tint of a flashback scene, which gets washed out for the actual flashback scenes. The sepia is an interesting and important choice. We are no strangers to neon at NRW; it gives us a hyper-energetic, vibrant, and largely imagined past. The sepia permeating the pages of the comic is like beautiful rust. It adds tenderness and charm, while also giving a strange kind of sadness. Andre Roussimoff is iconic of an age of wrestling where the wrestlers had folk hero Paul Bunyon-esque charm. In a world of larger than life characters, he was the largest. He died young, as a result of heart failure, and so the gentle giant never had the chance to age as poorly in the public eye as Hulk Hogan, his greatest rival.  This ties in to the second thing that struck me early in my experience reading the comic. It has to do with the story that Brandon Easton (link) has carved out of the life of one of the most immediately recognizable and loved figures of all pop culture. Unlike the narrative of professional wrestling, with its revolving door of caricatures and overly simple face vs. heel mentality, the narrative of the graphic novel explores the tension between optimism and pessimism.

Easton’s script presents itself in the form Andre narrating his own life. This creates a pretty tricky needle to thread. It allows us to feel closer to Andre the person, as opposed to Andre the Giant. On the other hand, the immense difficulty of adequately portraying the inner life of a real-life mythic figure shows itself occasionally with minor awkward lines. The majority of the narration works, and even finds several moments where it presents profound and insightful lines.  The dialogue is more successful, and you can hear Andre’s distinct voice in your head as you read him.

Throughout the transcontinental life that he led, it’s impossible to not love him. As he learns of his shorter-than-average life expectancy, as he turns to the bottle to cope, as he really begins to understand that he is outgrowing the world, there is a heart to him that carries the story. He makes a racist joke and is reprimanded for it, but he owns up to his mistake. His defeat at the hands of Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III is gracefully portrayed before transitioning to a touching resolution. It would be interesting to do a Buddhist reading of this comic, as the driving force for Andre is his search for happiness. Fans of old wrestling, unique art, or heartfelt storytelling shouldn’t miss this.  

Does anybody have a peanut?