The main event was a four-on-four Survivor Series match in which The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts and Demolition) defeated The Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, Zeus and The Powers of Pain).

Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every November by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1987.

The Heenan Family, The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) and The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard).

The feud began on January 30, 1989 edition of Prime Time Wrestling where The Brain Busters faced The Rockers.

In the match, The Brain Busters narrowly defeated the Rockers as Anderson held down Marty Jannetty's leg as Blanchard pinned him.

[8] The Rockers and The Brain Busters faced each other in a rematch on March 11 Saturday Night's Main Event XX which resulted in a double countout.

Dusty Rhodes began a feud with Big Boss Man in mid-1989, when Rhodes came to the aid of a preliminary wrestler during the July 22nd episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling (taped June 28), stealing the Big Boss Man's nightstick and handcuffs in the process.

Later in the same episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Rhodes was a guest on The Brother Love Show, where he proclaimed that "no one was afraid of the Boss Man anymore.

[13] At SummerSlam, Martel and The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond Rougeau) defeated Santana and The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty).

He debuted on May 27, 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event XXI before Hogan's WWF World Heavyweight Championship title defense against Big Boss Man in a steel cage.

[23] At WrestleMania V, Demolition defeated Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji in a handicap match to retain the tag titles,[4] culminating in Demolition joining Hulkamaniacs at Survivor Series and Powers of Pain joining Million $ Team in Survivor Series.

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Boris Zhukov defeated Paul Roma in a dark match.

Originally, Boss Man's tag team The Twin Towers partner Akeem was scheduled to be a part of The Enforcers but was replaced by Brown.

[26] Rick Martel and Tito Santana, two former Strike Force partners and current rivals began the match.

Instead, Beefcake pinned Martel with a roll-up, eliminating him and leaving Enforcers' captain Boss Man as the remaining member.

[27][28] The second Survivor Series match was between The King's Court (Randy Savage, Canadian Earthquake, Dino Bravo and Greg Valentine) and 4x4s (Jim Duggan, Bret Hart, Ronnie Garvin and Hercules).

Canadian Earthquake was a replacement for The Widowmaker,[26] after Windham left the company in October due to his family’s involvement in a counterfeit scandal.

The main event was a third Survivor Series match between The Hulkamaniacs (WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (Ax and Smash) and Jake Roberts and Million Dollar Team (Ted DiBiase, Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian) and Zeus).

Zeus shoved the referee at the 3:21 minute mark, so he was disqualified and got eliminated, leaving Million Dollar Team with three members.

Warlord and Barbarian double-teamed Hogan, so they were disqualified and eliminated, leaving Million Dollar Team's captain Ted DiBiase as the only member remaining in the match.

Jacques' brother and Fabulous Rougeaus partner Raymond battled opposing team captain Roddy Piper.

[27][28] The fifth Survivor Series match was between The Ultimate Warriors (WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Warrior, The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) and Jim Neidhart) and The Heenan Family (manager Bobby Heenan, The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) and Arn Anderson).

Arn Anderson's Brain Busters partner Tully Blanchard was originally scheduled to be a part of The Heenan Family but was fired from the WWF on November 1 for failing a drug test.

At this point, Anderson began showing signs of frustration with Heenan but was still able to eliminate Michaels after hitting him with a Spinebuster.

Warrior grabbed Heenan, whipped him across the ring and after knocking him down with a shoulder tackle, hit him with a big splash to score the pin and become the sole survivor for his team.

[30][27][28] Warrior, after briefly posing in the ring with his Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship belt, knocked down a groggy Heenan in the aisle, shortly before the pay-per-view signed off.

The biggest match of Warrior's career was at WrestleMania VI where he defeated Hulk Hogan to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in a title vs. title match in which Warrior's WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship was also on the line.

After Survivor Series, the two formally formed a tag team known as The Colossal Connection, in part to fill a void in the Heenan Family left by the imminent departure of Anderson and Blanchard, but also to prolong the ailing Andre's career – the effects of his real-life acromegaly were starting to take their toll – by including him in a team in which the younger, healthy Haku would handle most of the wrestling.

On December 13, 1989, André and Haku would win the WWF Tag Team Championship by defeating Demolition at a television taping in Huntsville, Alabama, and would hold on to the titles until Demolition gained revenge at WrestleMania VI, defeating The Colossal Connection and setting in motion André's face turn in what was the final WWF match of his career.