[1] The main feud heading into Survivor Series pitted The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and WWF World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage), Hercules, Koko B. Ware, and Hillbilly Jim against The Twin Towers (Akeem and the Big Boss Man), Ted DiBiase, Haku, and The Red Rooster.
[2] DiBiase and André the Giant faced Hogan and Savage at the inaugural SummerSlam in August where the Mega Powers won.
The storyline began when Roberts exposed André's extreme fear of snakes on a recent edition of Saturday Night's Main Event XII.
The Powers, previously heels in Jim Crockett Promotions, had been brought into the WWF as babyface mercenaries by previous champions Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) to avenge both their title loss to Demolition at WrestleMania IV and an injury Demolition had inflicted on Martel back in June.
Don Muraco was originally scheduled to be a part of Warrior's team, but left the WWF, so he was replaced by Jim Brunzell.
Beefcake scored the first victory of the night for Warrior's team, using a sleeper hold to force Davis to submit at the 1:18 mark.
Brown evened the odds for the heel team about four minutes later, hitting Brunzell with a Ghetto Blaster, a type of kick to the back of the head.
The match pitted the Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian), The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty), The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid), The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), and The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers) against WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (Ax and Smash), The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov), The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau), and The Conquistadors.
Both Demolition members took turns to work on Warlord's injured shoulder until the Powers of Pain looked ripe to be defeated.
The sufficiently recovered Smash, who had been watching all this, collared the manager and threw him to Ax, who slammed him to the ringside mat, causing Demolition to turn babyface.
After Demolition strode away to cheers from the crowd, The Powers of Pain momentarily resumed the match with the Conquistadors, but then they suddenly ceased and stepped out of the ring and turned heels when they picked Fuji up off the floor, dusted him down and guided him round to their corner.
Perfect, and Harley Race fought against Jim Duggan, Jake Roberts, Scott Casey, Ken Patera, and Tito Santana.
In the main event, The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and WWF World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage), Hercules, Koko B. Ware, and Hillbilly Jim squared off against The Twin Towers (Akeem and the The Big Boss Man), Ted DiBiase, Haku, and The Red Rooster.
Akeem quickly evened the two sides after overpowering Hillbilly Jim and striking him with the Air Africa splash for the pin.
As DiBiase was taunting Hercules, Savage immediately pinned him with a schoolboy to eliminate him, leaving three members in Twin Towers' corner.
Haku, left as the only member of the heel team, dominated Savage for several minutes as Slick (who remained at ringside) taunted both Hogan and Elizabeth.
Eventually, Haku accidentally kicked Slick from the ring apron (after a mistimed illegal double team on Savage) while Hogan clotheslined Heenan.
After Elizabeth grabbed the key to unlock his handcuffs, Hogan was tagged into the match after Haku kicked an exhausted Savage into his corner.
This all began on January 7, 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event XIX, as Hogan was mercilessly beaten by The Twin Towers after his match with Akeem.
He thought that he was a third wheel and this was the beginning of the breakup of Mega Powers as Savage was angry as to why Miss Elizabeth was used by Hogan as his manager.
[10] On February 3 The Main Event II, Hogan and Savage faced The Twin Towers (Akeem and the Big Boss Man) in a tag team match, filled with controversy.
Following Survivor Series, Rick Rude began targeting The Ultimate Warrior for his WWF Intercontinental Championship, badgering him into a posedown at the Royal Rumble.