The First Survivor Series In WWE History Sparked Hope For Needed Change

The first-ever WWE Survivor Series in November 1987 proved to be a historical event for many reasons. 

For starters, it was the first ever Survivor Series, kicking off an event/PPV/PLE/whatever you want to call it that is still among WWE's biggest events of the calendar year four decades later. Then there's the fact that the show was created specifically to mess with Jim Crockett Promotions, WWE's competitor at the time. That November, JCP was set to hold its annual Starrcade event on Thanksgiving, prompting WWE to schedule Survivor Series for the same day. Even after Crockett attempted to move the show to the afternoon to give PPV companies the option to air both, a powerplay by Vince McMahon resulted in all but five PPV companies dropping Starrcade and airing Survivor Series instead, kicking off JCP's downfall and eventual sale to Ted Turner, leading to the creation of WCW.

While those are the two main reasons the inaugural Survivor Series is remembered, there is one other reason it has strong historical value. And that, believe it or not, is because of the second match on the card; a five on five all women's Survivor Series match that saw Sensational Sherri, Dawn Marie, Donna Christianello, and The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin) take on The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin' Robin, Velvet McIntyre, and The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki and Noriyo Tateno). Given it was 1987, a time when women's wrestling in the United States was still treated mostly as fodder, a match like this would seem out of place for a WWE show. And yet, the 20-minute bout, one of only four to make the first Survivor Series card, looks like a match that wouldn't be out of place in the modern-day wrestling landscape.

A big reason for that was the talent WWE decided to showcase in this match. From a marquee standpoint, the biggest names WWE fans would've recognized were Moolah, the long-time WWE stalwart, and Christianello, who had worked for the promotion back when it was known as the WWWF. And yet, both were among the two eliminated early in the match, alongside Marie and Robin. As such, the match focus turned to Sherri, the WWE Hall of Famer who was just as renowned for her ring work as her valet skills, McIntyre, a well-renowned Irish wrestler with experience in the US, Europe, and Japan, and arguably the two best women's tag teams at the time in the Jumping Bomb Angels and the Glamour Girls. With the final nine minutes focused on those individuals, the match turned into less of a stereotypical, Moolah style match most fans expected from women at the time, and into something more in line with the All Japan Women's style going on in Japan.

In other words, it offered a glimmer of hope for women's wrestling at the time. Instead of being a sideshow, talents like the Jumping Bomb Angels and Glamour Girls showed they could be the show, offering innovative wrestling that even the men weren't delivering at the time. And briefly, it seemed as though it would carry over, as the Jumping Bomb Angels and Glamour Girls, already feuding before Survivor Series, would have a series of well-received bouts throughout early 1988, and a WrestleMania match between them was supposedly in the cards. Alas, that glimmer quickly faded; by the spring, both teams had left WWE, never to return, and the women's division went from potentially breaking out to having to wait many more years before it got its just due.