10 Fascinating WWE Survivor Series 1996 Facts

9. Furnas And Lafon's Match Marked Their WWE Debut

Sid Shawn Michaels Survivor Series 1996
WWE.com

As the roster of the time was clearly one in flux, the 1996 Survivor Series featured three elimination matches in which at least one wrestler made their on-camera WWE debut. The opener was just the occasion for multi-time AJPW All-Asian Tag Team champions Doug Furnas and Philip Lafon to be unleashed upon the New York crowd.

Furnas and Lafon's complex movesets and world-class athleticism (on par with the British Bulldogs of a decade earlier) were eaten up with glee by the Garden fans. The two even got to eliminate the reigning WWE Tag Team champions in Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith.

That Furnas and Lafon got to do so in their first WWE match (with no guarantee that they'd even get over) demonstrates high faith in them from the office, and opens a window into the fly-by-night nature of WWE's whims at the time.

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.