What name in wrestling goes better hand and hand with Survivor Series than The Undertaker? From traditional elimination matches, to specialty matches, to the world title matches, no one in the history of the business has had more intriguing storylines and matches than the Dead Man himself. For one of my two themed columns in November, I’m going to look back at The Undertaker’s history at the Survivor Series! I hope you enjoy it!
Survivor Series November 22, 1990 from Hartford, CT
The Undertaker made his official WWF debut at the 1990 Survivor Series. He had wrestled previously as Cain The Undertaker in a squash match but had not yet had any real exposure. He was introduced by Ted Dibiase as the fourth man on his Million Dollar Team, alongside the Honky Tonk Man and Greg “the hammer” Valentine. Their opponents in the match were Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware and the Hart Foundation. Undertaker started the match with Koko B. Ware, and eliminated him in under two minutes with a Tombstone piledriver. Later in the match, he did a flying axe handle off the top rope onto Dusty Rhodes and eliminated him as well! He then attacked Dusty all the way to the back and got himself counted out. Ted Dibiase was able to score a clean pinfall on Bret Hart to get the victory for his team in this match. It was an impressive debut outing for the Dead Man, as he had only appeared on WWF tv one time four days prior. This was also the first time The Undertaker was involved with Ted Dibiase in his career, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.
Undertaker would squash jobbers after his debut match for a short time and was almost immediately thrusted into the main event scene. He battled guys like Warrior, Savage and Sid throughout 1991.
Survivor Series November 21, 1991 from Detroit, MI
The Undertaker challenged Hulk Hogan for his WWF Championship. To a lot of people, this match appeared to be just another monster heel for Hogan to run through. In the big picture, they would’ve been correct. However, Hulk did drop the WWF Title to The Undertaker on this night, with the help of Ric Flair and a steel chair. Undertaker would hold onto the title for six days before dropping the title back to Hogan(who also used outside help with the Urn) at the This Tuesday in Texas event. In a surprising storyline twist, the title was actually vacated after Hogan won it back and held up until the 1992 Royal Rumble, where the winner would become the champion. Undertaker’s next title shot wouldn’t occur until the 1994 Royal Rumble event.
Undertaker would feud with Jake the Snake Roberts in early 1992, and move onto Kamala at Summerslam, where their match ended in disqualification.
Survivor Series November 25, 1992 from Richfield, OH
The Undertaker fought Kamala in the first ever Casket Match held in the WWF. The stipulation was a bit different than what you’re used to seeing in a Casket Match. The winner of the match would have to score the pinfall or submission, and they would then be able to shut their opponent in the Casket. This match was somewhat short(under six minutes) due to the lengthy card, but between this specialty match and the bodybag match that Undertaker had with Warrior in 1991, Undertaker was well on his way to being the innovator of a lot of specialty matches in the WWF(Hell in a Cell and the Inferno Match would come later).
Undertaker’s next feud would be with another wrestler managed by Harvey Wippleman, the Giant Gonzales. He battled him through most of 1993(WrestleMania victory by dq and a pinfall victory at Summerslam) before setting his sights on a much bigger fish, Yokozuna.
Survivor Series November 24, 1993 from Boston, MA
Undertaker would team with the All Americans, Lex Luger and the Steiner Brothers to take on the Foreign Fanatics, who consisted of Crush, Ludvig Borga, Yokozuna, and Jacques of the Quebecers tag team. Rick Steiner was the first eliminated by Borga, and then Crush got himself counted out of the match because of distraction by Macho Man Randy Savage(Savage and Crush were in a feud that went all the way to Wrestlemania X). Luger next eliminated Jacques. Yokozuna would then pin Scott Steiner and the match was down to 2 on 2. Yokozuna and Undertaker battled until The Undertaker moved out of receiving a second Banzai Drop. The two then battled outside the ring and got themselves counted out of the match. Lex Luger ultimately scored the pinfall on Borga to win the match for the All Americans.
The Undertaker would cut a creepy promo in December where he was shown building a casket for his Royal Rumble match with Yokozuna for the WWF Title. He would ultimately be locked in that coffin when a bunch of other superstars came to the aide of Yokozuna during their match and beat down the Dead Man. Undertaker would be gone from the WWF until Summerslam, when he came back to defeat his imposter, who had been brought in by the Million Dollar Man. He then set his sights on Yokozuna for revenge.
Survivor Series November 23, 1994 from San Antonio, TX
The Undertaker took on Yokozuna in a rematch Casket Match from their Royal Rumble encounter. Chuck Norris served as guest outside enforcer to make sure that nobody would interfere this time. He served his role well when he busted Jeff Jarrett’s face up with a super kick and kept Bam Bam Bigelow and King Kong Bundy at bay. Unfortunately, IRS was able to get involved in the match, but it didn’t cost the Dead Man. Undertaker was able to hit a clothesline, a DDT, and then a big boot on Yokozuna, knocking him into the Casket and allowing the Undertaker to slam the lid for the victory.
After ending the rivalry with Yokozuna, Undertaker would spend the majority of 1995 feuding with the Million Dollar Corporation’s own IRS and Kama. His biggest rivalry of the year, however, would start at the 1995 King of the Ring when Kama cost the Undertaker a victory over the eventual winner, King Mabel. Mabel would attack the Dead Man in October of that year, severely injuring his face.
Survivor Series November 19, 1995 from Landover, MD
Undertaker would return at the event, wearing a phantom white mask that protected his injured face(broken orbital bone). He would wrestle as the captain of team Darkside with Savio Vega, Fatu(later became the Sultan and Rikishi), and Henry Godwinn. Their opponents were the royal team of Mabel, Jerry Lawler, Isaac Yankem(later Kane), and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Undertaker first eliminated Lawler and Yankem on his own with the Tombstone, and then set his sights on Helmsley. Helmsley had tried to run off and was chased back to the ring by Henry Godwinn(the two were feuding at the time and led to their eventual Hog Pen Match at In Your House the following month). As Helmsley got on the apron, he was chokeslammed by the Dead Man back into the ring and eliminated. Undertaker was then beatdown by Mabel, but recovered and sat up just as quick. Mabel would not allow the feud to end on this night and would allow himself to be counted out as he ran from the ring(as much as a guy like Mabel can actually run). The Undertaker had eliminated the entire team by himself.
He would finish his feud with Mabel the following month when he defeated him in a Casket Match. He would go on to face Bret Hart for the WWF Title at the 1996 Royal Rumble, but the match would end by dq when Diesel interfered. Undertaker quickly cost Diesel a title opportunity himself in February and would defeat Big Daddy Cool at WrestleMania 12(Diesel then lost to HBK the following month at In Your House and then went to WCW to form the nWo). Undertaker would be attacked by the debuting Mankind the night after WrestleMania 12 and would feud with him(as well as the Executioner and Paul Bearer) for the remainder of the year.
Survivor Series November 17, 1996 from New York, NY
Undertaker would face Mankind with Paul Bearer hanging in a small cage 20 ft above the ring. The stipulation was that if Undertaker could beat Mankind, he would get his hands on Paul Bearer. You could hear Paul yelling down throughout most of this match(very obnoxious but good character sell). Undertaker was able to defeat Mankind in a pretty entertaining bout, but was unable to get his hands on Paul as stipulated because of a run in by the Executioner. His feud with Mankind was also far from over.
Undertaker would go on to defeat the Executioner the following the month, and would put his feud with Mankind on hold. After being eliminated by Steve Austin in the 1997 Royal Rumble illegally, the Undertaker was put in the final four battle royal with Bret Hart, Steve Austin, and Psycho Sid to crown a new WWF Champion after Shawn Michaels “lost his smile” and vacated the title. Psycho Sid ended up costing him the match and the two were booked for WrestleMania. After Sid defeated Bret Hart in a cage match for the WWF Title on RAW in March, his match with Sid was now for the title. He would go on to win his second world title at WrestleMania 13 by defeating the Master and Ruler of the World. Undertaker would go on to feud with Shawn Michaels after being cost the title at Summerslam against Bret Hart. Their rivalry would result in a Hell in a Cell match(the first ever) where his storyline brother, Kane, made his debut. Kane would attack the Undertaker and the Undertaker would not appear at Survivor Series in 1997. Kane, however, went into a feud with Mankind and faced him at the November event in Montreal. Undertaker would get another shot at the WWF Title against Shawn Michaels in January of 1998, but would be cost the match by Kane. Kane not only locked the Undertaker in the casket, but he set it on fire as well. Undertaker returned and defeated Kane at WrestleMania 14. The two would rival each other and yet help each other over the next few months as they both went after Stone Cold Steve Austin’s WWF Title. The title would eventually be declared vacant after both men pinned Austin in a triple threat match.
Survivor Series November 15, 1998 from St. Louis, MO
The WWF Title was to be decided in a 16 man tournament. The Undertaker had turned a new form of evil at this point and had regained the managerial services of Paul Bearer. Undertaker and Kane both received first round byes courtesy of Vince McMahon and faced off in quarter finals of the tournament. Undertaker was able to defeat Kane in a solid match with help from Paul Bearer. The victory over Kane would come back to haunt him as he faced The Rock in the semi finals of the tournament. After a brutal beatdown on The Great One, Undertaker was nearing victory with a chokeslam pending. Kane then came down to the ring and hit a huge chokeslam himself on The Rock. This act cost the Undertaker the match and advanced The Rock into the finals by disqualification.
Undertaker would form the Ministry of darkness in early 1999 and would capture the WWE Title in the process. After losing the title in June of 1999 to Steve Austin on one of the highest rated RAW episodes in history, the ministry disbanded in July and the Undertaker formed a tag team with the Big Show until he suffered a legitimate groin injury that kept him out of action until 2000. Because of this, Undertaker missed the 1999 Survivor Series event.
That will do it for part one. Before I post part two, I’ll be posting my piece on WCW’s World War 3 event. Those two pieces will be out in time for the Survivor Series on November 21. Feel free to leave thoughts and feedback below! Until next time, thanks for reading!
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