Growing up in Northeast Ohio had a few perks, especially as a wrestling fan.

I attended the very first WWF Survivor Series at the Richfield Coliseum, headlined by the WrestleMania III rematch between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.

This wouldn’t be a singles match. Each man brought four teammates to the main event for a 10-man elimination match.

This was a new concept that would kick off a series of pay-per-views that will continue on Saturday with the WWE Survivor Series in Vancouver. These days, Survivor Series is about War Games, another concept that started in the 1980s.

THE FIRST SURVIVOR SERIES

The Honky Tonk Man captained his team for the first Survivor Series match. His crew included Harley Race, Ron Bass, Danny Davis and Hercules.

Randy Savage was the top challenger for Honky’s Intercontinental title. He teamed with Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Brutus Beefcake, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Steamboat had lost the IC title to Honky in a huge upset. The Dragon teamed up with Savage and Roberts, his former mortal enemies, to gain some revenge.

At the end of the match, Honky was left alone against those three men, so he high-tailed it to the dressing room and lost by countout.

MORE ELIMINATION MATCHES

The Fabulous Moolah, who had had been a heel for decades, captained the babyface women’s team against new champion Sensational Sherri’s squad. The Jumping Bomb Angels, a high-flying duo from Japan, emerged as the survivors.

The WWF showed off its tag team division in a hilariously overstuffed 20-man tag team match. Some of the top teams included The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, Strike Force, and Demolition.

Despite all of this star power, two underdog teams came out on top: The Killer Bees (Jim Brunzell & B. Brian Blair) and The Young Stallions (Paul Roma & Jim Powers).

THE MAIN EVENT

Hogan teamed up with Paul Orndorff, Ken Patera, Don Muraco and Bam Bam Bigelow against Andre’s team of One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Rick Rude, and Butch Reed.

Before Hogan and Andre could have their big confrontation, the Hulkster got counted out while bodyslamming Bundy and Gang on the floor.

Bigelow faced the monumental task of beating all three monsters by himself. He managed to pin Bundy and Gang, but Andre emerged as the sole survivor.

Since Andre was a villain at the time, Hogan came back to beat him up and send the crowd home happy.