10 Fascinating WWE Survivor Series 1989 Facts

2. Bobby Heenan Replaced Tully Blanchard, Who Was Fired

survivor series 89
WWE.com

Weeks after SummerSlam 1989, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson (reigning as Tag Team champions at the time) gave their notice to WWE that they would be finishing up later that year, and returning to NWA. Reportedly, Vince McMahon didn't take this news well.

Two weeks later, the Brain Busters understandably dropped the belts back to Demolition, and were set upon a job-duty tour on their way out of the company. For Blanchard, his tour would not end with him rejoining NWA.

In early-November, after filming his last TV matches for the company (save for one last scheduled appearance at Survivor Series), Blanchard was fired for failing a drug test. The test fail led to NWA refusing to rehire him, only bringing Anderson back into the fold. As a result, manager Bobby Heenan stepped in to fill out the Heenan Family quartet at the pay-per-view.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.