[1993-11-24-WWF-Survivor Series] All-Americans vs Foreign Fanatics

[Superstar Sleeze]

All-Americans (Lex Luger, Undertaker, Steiner Brothers) vs Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Crush, Jacques Rougeau) - WWF Survivor series 1993 

A match that always intrigued me as a kid because of the teams. Luger & Steiners have that NWA/WCW feel but then you throw in the curveball of the Undertaker. Undertaker is replacing Tatanka who was put of action by Ludvig Borga who snapped Tatanka’s undefeated streak. Besides a house show run with Luger, Borga really only had this match and the Tatanka match to show for his WWF tenure. I saw some Tony Halme vs Shinya Hashimotom from New Japan, my memory was it was alright. I am interested to see what Borga brings to the table. It is clear that going into the Rumble they want to do the switch. Flip Yoko/Luger into Yoko/Taker and Luger/Borga which is smart to separate them and then bring them back together for Mania. The logical pairing would be Steiners vs Quebecers as they are feuding over the Tag Team Titles BUT Luger took out Pierre with his Bionic Forearm leading to the Hawaiian turncoat Crush joining the foreigners in a fit of “if you can’t beat em, join em” mentality. I think this makes sense as they wanted to keep Savage and Crush a part. This was a way to interject Crush into the main event have Savage interfere and keep the heat on this feud. 
 

First Elimination: Jacques is the bumper of his team so not surprisingly he takes a Scotty Steiner belly to belly to start. Rick and Yoko square off. It is THREE Steinerlines to take the Big Man off his feet. Big pop. Best part of the first 15 minutes. Borga shows his boxing/MMA skills with some good punches. He is a bit clunky but he feels like someone Inoki would use. His outfit with the Finnish colors and capris is pretty bad. I like the hair cut. They should have just billed him from Germany. Finland just doesn’t inspire much passion. Rick Steiner goes up top but is caught and slammed. It was kinda botched but Borga got him over. It was sudden and anti-climatic but that’s kinda how these Survivor Series go.

Second Elimination: Like the first it starts with Scotty throwing Jacques around. Crush enters. On cue, out comes the Macho Man. Crush press slams Scotty to the floor in what must have been a sick bump. Scotty sells the leg. Crush gets distracted by Savage. Scotty drop kicks him out. Crush/Savage brawl to a count out.  Good use of Crush/Savage.

Third Elimination: Still no Luger or Taker. Jacques picks up where Crush left off. Scotty gets the hot tag. The crowd popped for Luger. Body slam and a second rope elbow which I have never seen Luger use gets the job done for Luger. Lame finish. 
 

Fourth Elimination: Scotty vs Borga as Borga calls Luger a chicken. The silence is deafening. Luger and Yoko have been the only ones to get reactions so far and they have only been mild. Borga would have been a huge curveball stylistically if he said around. He was so much more strike oriented than anyone else. He could have ushered in a new style. Borga eats a super Plex but nosireebob. Yoko comes in misses the elbow but nails the Leg Drop to eliminate Scotty that’s the best elimination so far.

We are down to the big four. Lackluster match so far. 
 

Fifth & Sixth Elimination: Did Luger forget how to wrestle? It was painful as Luger fan watch how utterly heat-less this was. He was flopping as the Ace Babyface before our eyes. It was magnified by the hot tag to the Undertaker. Holy shit Boston woke the fuck up for Taker. They were living and dying by his every move. He jacked up the energy level hundredfold. The Belly 2 Belly -> sit-up was great. The Banzai, 2nd Banzai Sit-up causing Yoko to miss was awesome. The slam into the steps SNAP BACK LOOK SLAM YOKO INTO THE STEPS WAS INSANE! Taker is a man who understands and kills the No Selling Game. Taker easily was the best wrestler in this match. I have hope now for the Taker/Yoko ‘94 series. 
 

Seventh Elimination: I felt so bad for Luger/Borga nobody gave a fuck about this. Borga hit some slams and suplexes. Luger hit a Powerslam and then the Bionic Forearm to win. Before the Bionic Forearm, Borga ducked low and instead of leapfrogging Luger ran by and kicked his leg over him. I think that’s a microcosm of Luger’s WWF run lame & pathetic. Who cares about these two?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the decision to switch to Bret happened on this night or within a week of this. This night which was all about Luger showed he didn’t have it. His segments didn’t have heat and Taker blew the roof off the Boston Garden. Luger really doesn’t have anyone but himself to blame. He laid an egg. Besides Taker/Yoko don’t bother.