50 Fascinating Facts About WWE in The 1980s
9. Survivor Series & Vince McMahon’s Ultimatum
No beating around the bush needed to kick this entry off: The first ever Survivor Series in 1987 was the WWF's bid to screw with NWA event Starrcade. McMahon launched his own end of year/Thanksgiving special, and warned cable pay-per-view providers they'd be barred from airing the following WrestleMania if they dared show Starrcade on their platforms.
That was a brutal, cut throat tactic, albeit one that was highly effective. A fair number of PPV providers dropped the NWA product because they didn't want to miss out on proven box office winner 'Mania. It didn't even matter that WrestleMania IV wound up being centred around a crummy tournament. Quality? Pah! Quantity was the most important thing to these groups. They were after McMahon's money, not his creative ideas.
Later, Vince did the same thing again (sort of) by airing a free TV version of the first Royal Rumble opposite the NWA's Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view. His product, whilst nowhere near as solid between the ropes as latter day NWA or early WCW overall, was glitzier and had a certain magic to it. The NWA found it difficult to compete there, not least when McMahon was going in two footed on PPV companies who wanted to maximise profits by airing both sides.
Using 'Mania IV as a bartering tool and effectively holding PPV providers hostage was a hostile but genius move from the WWF's higher ups. They knew they had one hell of a bargaining chip there. WrestleMania had quickly surpassed Starrcade as the must have pay-per-view in the marketplace, and there was nothing anybody could do about it.