Survivor Series 1993: A Bad Show Accidentally Finds 1994's Best Story

Booking Verdict Grade: C-. Survivor Series 1993 deserves credit for planting several useful seeds, especially Owen Hart's resentment of Bret and Undertaker's collision with Yokozuna. The opener also makes a smart choice by leaving Marty Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid as survivors instead of defaulting to the biggest stars. That finish gives two smaller wrestlers a memorable accomplishment and quietly sets up their brief tag-team run.

The Hart-family angle is the clearest example of strong long-term thinking buried inside weak immediate execution. Owen's elimination because he collides with Bret is simple, believable and emotionally useful. His post-match anger creates something the previous thirty minutes largely failed to create: urgency. That thread would lead to the Royal Rumble breakup, WrestleMania X and one of 1994's defining programs.

The rest is far less disciplined. The Four Doinks match turns Bam Bam Bigelow, Fatu and Samu into props for comedy that the live crowd openly rejects. The main event makes Luger the sole survivor but still feels like a consolation prize after SummerSlam denied him the WWF Championship. Crush eliminates himself by chasing Randy Savage, Undertaker and Yokozuna eliminate each other by countout, and the whole match spends more time arranging future feuds than producing one satisfying present-tense result.

The show moves stories forward, but too often it does so by reminding the audience that the better match is coming later.

Crowd & Presentation Grade: C-. Boston Garden has real wrestling history in its walls, and the audience can still get loud when the card gives it a reason. Randy Savage receives a major reaction as the surprise replacement in the opener. Undertaker's entrance in the main event feels like a star arriving. The crowd also responds to Owen Hart's frustration because the family story is easy to understand even before it fully ignites.

The SMW tag-title match exposes the opposite problem. Rock 'n' Roll Express and Heavenly Bodies wrestle with polish and pace, but the audience has little investment because WWF has barely taught them why these outside champions matter. The wrestling is better than the reaction, which creates a strange television experience: the most technically accomplished match on the card sounds like it is happening in a room waiting for the next segment.

Then comes the Four Doinks match. The crowd chants for the actual Doink while the show gives them Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission in clown paint. The joke becomes a test of endurance, and Vince McMahon's enthusiasm only makes the disconnect more obvious.

The main event recovers some atmosphere, especially for Undertaker-Yokozuna and Luger's final stretch with Borga, but the Santa Claus celebration cannot make the show feel bigger than it was.

Historical Significance Grade: B-. Survivor Series 1993 is not important because it was good. It is important because several major 1994 stories begin or sharpen here.

Owen Hart's frustration after being the only Hart brother eliminated is the most important development on the entire show. That resentment becomes the engine for his split from Bret, their WrestleMania X match, Owen's King of the Ring victory and the SummerSlam cage match. A disappointing thirty-minute elimination match therefore contains the first unmistakable chapter of one of the decade's best feuds.

Undertaker and Yokozuna also collide long enough to establish the WWF Championship program that would headline Royal Rumble 1994. Randy Savage and Crush continue their personal feud. Razor Ramon and IRS move toward their Intercontinental Championship match. Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid emerge as surprise survivors and would soon win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

The event also captures WWF at one of its clearest low points in 1993. The 0.82 buyrate was the lowest in Survivor Series history to that point, and the card's mixture of substitutions, thin star power and overcooked comedy explains why. As a historical document, it is useful precisely because the company is visibly trying to find the New Generation before the New Generation has fully arrived.