Survivor Series (1993) - Background

Background

Several feuds surrounded the opening match, which saw the team of Razor Ramon, Marty Jannetty, the 1–2–3 Kid and Mr. Perfect face the team of Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.), Diesel, Rick Martel, and Adam Bomb. Diesel made his WWF debut on June 6, 1993 as a bodyguard for Shawn Michaels in a match between Michaels and Jannetty. Diesel's interference in the match helped Michaels to defeat Jannetty and win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Diesel was also at ringside to help Michaels when Michaels faced Mr. Perfect for the title belt at SummerSlam 1993. Diesel attacked Perfect on multiple occasions during the match and ultimately caused Perfect to lose the match via countout. In September 1993, Michaels was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship by WWF President Jack Tunney. A battle royal was scheduled to determine the top two contenders for the championship. Ramon and Martel were the last two wrestlers in the ring, and they faced each other in a title match on the September 27 episode of Monday Night Raw. Ramon won the match and was awarded the championship belt.

Schyster had initiated a feud with Ramon in May 1993 after Ramon lost a match to The Kid (later the 1–2–3 Kid), who was competing as a jobber at the time. Schyster and his tag team partner Ted DiBiase made fun of Ramon for the loss and offered him a job as a servant. In response, Ramon teamed with the 1–2–3 Kid for a series of matches against Schyster and DiBiase, and he also distracted Schyster during a match and caused him to lose to jobber P.J. Walker. Adam Bomb was not involved in any feuds with his opponents at Survivor Series, but there was animosity between Bomb and his teammate Rick Martel. Bomb's manager, Harvey Wippleman, was at ringside to help Martel in a match against Ramon. Wippleman was standing in the way of the match, and Martel ran in to him. While Martel was distracted, Ramon pinned him to win the match. Martel then yelled at Wippleman and pushed him. Bomb came to the ring to defend his manager, and an argument ensued until Diesel and Schyster came to the ring to calm their teammates.

Jerry Lawler spent much of 1993 building a feud with the Hart family. Lawler had been using the nickname "The King" since defeating Jackie Fargo for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship in 1974. After Bret Hart won the WWF's 1993 King of the Ring tournament, Lawler confronted him and claimed to be the only king in the WWF. Lawler then attacked Hart from behind, hitting Hart with the scepter and throne that had been set up for the coronation ceremony. The feud escalated when Lawler involved Helen and Stu Hart, Bret's parents, by insulting them while serving as commentator for WWF television programs. In what was billed as a "Family Feud" match, Bret Hart was joined by his brother Owen, who also worked for the WWF at the time, as well as his brothers Bruce and Keith, both of whom had also wrestled professionally. Lawler's partners were three masked wrestlers known only as the Blue Knight, the Red Knight, and the Black Knight.

Lawler was unable to appear at the event, however, as he was indicted after being accusing of raping and sodomizing a teenage girl, who later admitted to making up the story. Shawn Michaels, who replaced Lawler in the match, also had a rivalry with Bret Hart dating back to the previous year. Hart, who held the Intercontinental Championship for much of 1992, defended the belt against Michaels many times, including in the WWF's first ladder match. They had also wrestled each other in the main event of Survivor Series 1992, when Hart defended his newly-won WWF Championship against Michaels.

The Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Championship was defended at Survivor Series as part of a working agreement between WWF owner Vince McMahon and Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) owner Jim Cornette. The Rock 'n' Roll Express, who held the belts going into the event, had been feuding with The Heavenly Bodies over the title for over a year. The rivalry had been violent at times, including a barbed wire cage match and a Texas deathmatch.

Doink the Clown had annoyed Bam Bam Bigelow throughout October and November with such pranks as throwing water and confetti on him and dumping a pail of water on Bigelow's on-screen girlfriend Luna Vachon. He also tied a tripwire across the aisle during one of Bigelow's matches; after Bigelow fell over the wire, Doink attacked him with a broom. Bigelow responded by coming to the ring during one of Doink's matches and destroying Doink's toy wagon. The character of Doink was played by several wrestlers, who occasionally appeared at the same time. The match booked for Survivor Series advertised Bigelow teaming with Bastion Booger, who portrayed an overweight and dirty glutton, and The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu), a team of Samoans who were portrayed as savages, to face four Doinks. To promote the match, Doink appeared on the video wall that was part of the set during Bigelow's matches leading up to the event. The wall used a split screen to show multiple Doinks talking and laughing at the same time.

The main event match featured the team of the All-Americans, which consisted of Lex Luger, Tatanka, and the Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner) facing the Foreign Fanatics, which consisted of Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, and The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre). The main storyline behind the match began that summer when Yokozuna, a Japanese sumo wrestler, challenged any American athlete to bodyslam him on the deck of the USS Intrepid during an event on Independence Day. After several challengers were unable to lift Yokozuna, Luger arrived via helicopter and successfully performed what was termed "the bodyslam heard around the world". Luger was granted a match for Yokozuna's WWF Championship at SummerSlam. Luger got a victory via countout but did not win the title. In the dressing room after the match, Borga, a Finnish wrestler, interrupted Luger's celebration by criticizing Luger and initiating a new feud.

The Steiner Brothers spent the fall 1993 feuding with The Quebecers, a Canadian tag team. They had faced each other several times since The Quebecers had won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Steiners on September 13. Since arriving in the WWF, Tatanka had been on a two-year winning streak. Borga ended the streak on the October 30, 1993 episode of WWF Superstars by pinning Tatanka after hitting him with a chair. After the match, Borga and Yokozuna attacked Tatanka, causing kayfabe injuries that forced Tatanka to withdraw from the match at Survivor Series. The All-Americans recruited The Undertaker to replace Tatanka. On the November 15 episode of Monday Night Raw, Luger defeated Pierre; as a result of a kayfabe injury in the match, the Foreign Fanatics had to replace Pierre with Crush, the sole American of the team.

Crush was feuding with Randy Savage going into the event. They had been on-screen friends, but Crush was angry that Savage had not saved him from an attack by Yokozuna on the July 12, 1993 episode of Monday Night Raw. To make his injuries seem real, Crush did not appear on WWF television programming for several months. He made his return on October 18, accompanied by Yokozuna's manager, Mr. Fuji, claiming that they sympathized with Crush's sense of betrayal by Savage. Savage tried to make amends with Crush, who then attacked Savage and announced that he had turned against Savage and the United States and was aligning himself with Yokozuna, Fuji, and Japan.