PPW Torch.com Nostalgia Review
WWF Survivor Series 1992
By Brian Hoops, PW Torch.com Contributor
This week's look back at nostalgia takes us back 15 years to one of the WWE's annual PPV's, Survivor Series 1992. Survivor Series 1992 was the fifth installment of the annual Thanksgiving PPV and was highlighted by one of the first one on one meetings between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels for the WWF World Heavyweight Title. The show was held on November 25, 1992 from the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. Attendance was strong at 17,500 and the buy rate was 1.4. This was down considerably from the 1991 buy rate of 2.2 but in line with the SummerSlam 1992 buy rate of 1.5. It is interesting to note that the Richfield Coliseum hosted Survivor Series 1987 and 1988, however 1992 would be the last time that the Richfield Coliseum would host the Survivor Series.
Your broadcast team is Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan.
First match is Owen Hart and Koko B. Ware teaming together as High Energy losing to the Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) in 7:38. High Energy get my vote for the worst ring outfits of all time. Headshrinkers worked over Ware most of the match until Owen made the hot tag. Samu splashed Hart off the top rope for the pinfall victory. A standard opening match.
Next match is a "Nightstick on a Pole" match pitting Nailz (Kevin Kelly, Kevin Wacholz) against the Big Bossman. Didn't WCW just do this match in October at Halloween Havoc? Story of the feud was Nailz was a former convict seeking revenge against the former prison guard Bossman. During the summer long feud, Nailz had put Bossman out of action with an injury and this was to be the blowoff to the feud as the Bossman returned to seek his revenge against Nailz. Match was mostly punching and kicking with a couple of rest holds. Bossman finally got the nightstick down from the pole but Nailz got it away and used it on the Bossman. Bossman hit the slam out of nowhere for the pin in 5:43.
Tatanka [artist Robert Wallman (c) PWTorch]
Tatanka pinned Rick Martel in 11:04. They were feuding because Martel stole Tatanka's Indian feathers. Tatanka was the Indian replacement for Chief Jay Strongbow and was being pushed as having never been defeated in the WWF. The action was slow but Martel carried it to a passable match. Finish came when Tatanka gave Martel a fall away slam and pinned him to regain his feathers.
Next match is one of the more eagerly anticipated match ups with Ric Flair & Razor Ramon against Randy Savage & Mr. Perfect. Ramon had just come to the WWF from WCW in August of 1992 and was cast with Flair to be viewed as a main event talent. Flair and Savage had been feuding throughout 1992, in fact their feud won feud of the year in the PW Torch annual awards. Perfect had been acting as a special advisor to Flair so his participation in the match was a surprise. Perfect and Ramon started in the ring together. Although it was never acknowledged by McMahon or Heenan, it was interesting to see the former AWA World Tag Team champions in the ring together again. Crowd had great heat and Flair was a bump machine for Savage and Perfect. Finish came when Flair hit the ref, knocking him down and outside the ring. Perfect hit a "Perfect Plex" on both Ramon and Flair for visual pinfalls but no ref to count. Ref finally recovered and disqualified Ramon and Flair in 16:09. Perfect destroyed Flair and Ramon with a chair to clear the ring. Good match that was cheapened by the dq finish.
In the next match, Yokozuna defeated Virgil in 3:34. I believe this was Yokozuna's PPV debut for the WWF. Mr. Fuji was Yokozuna's manager. This was basically a squash to get Yokozuna over as a monster heel.
Next match was a tag team elimination match. The Nasty Boys teamed with Earthquake and Typhoon to defeat The Beverly Brothers and Money Inc in 15:50. The Nasty Boys were the only surviving tag team. This was the only match on the card that even resembled the original survivor series concept the PPV was built around. Earthquake pinned Beau Beverly, Irwin R. Schyster pinned Typhoon and Jerry Sags pinned Schyster. It was decent for an 8 man tag team elimination match.
The Undertaker and Kamala had been feuding all summer and this next match was meant to be the blowoff to their feud. Undertaker defeated Kamala at SummerSlam by DQ and at Survivor Series they would be having a Casket Match." I believe this was the first ever "Casket Match" in the WWF. Thankfully, this match was kept short and they gave more time to the main event. Kamala had excellent facial expressions acting scared of the casket and the urn. Undertaker hit Kamala with the urn for the pinfall and threw Kamala into the casket.
Final match of the evening is the main event, WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels against WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart. Shawn had just defeated the British Bulldog for the title in October while Hart had also just won the title from Ric Flair in October. This was Hart's first run with the belt. Since they were going so long, they started off slow with a lot of rest holds. The slow pace early, allowed them to build to a more dramatic finish. After some great action with plenty of false finishes, Hart locked Michaels in the Sharpshooter and Michaels submitted in 26:40. A very good match.
Summary: This wasn't a bad show, but there wasn't anything special about the PPV either. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels was easily the best match of the evening with the Razor Ramon/Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage/Curt Hennig match a close second. Watch it if you want to see those two matches and forward through everything else.
Next week, we will go back and look at the Survivor Series 1997, arguably the most famous and most important Survivor Series PPV in history.
As always, your questions and feedback are welcomed. You can reach me at HYPERLINK "mailto:bhoops@iw.net" bhoops@iw.net.
submission to the figure four leglock in 7:17. Valentine was way past his prime and Bagwell was an up and coming star and Valentine should have put over Bagwell, instead Valentine was given the victory.
Next was a Falls Count Anywhere match as Cactus Jack took on WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting. The WCW World title was not on the line. Cactus met Sting on the ramp and they spent the first 5 minutes fighting outside the ring. Sting was on offense outside the ring and Cactus was great at taking many crazy suplexes outside the ring and making Sting look great in this match. Finish came when Sting suplexed Cactus on the ramp and came off the top rope with a clothesline for the win in 11:24. An excellent falls count anywhere match.
Next match is a non-title Ironman match, featuring the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion, Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat. These two were having an excellent feud in 1992 and this would be the blowoff to the feud. The U.S. title was not on the line and the rules were whoever had the most pinfalls in the 30 minute time limit would be the winner. Steamboat worked over Rude for the early part of the match until Rude got a pinfall out of nowhere to go ahead 1-0 (7:42). With Steamboat dazed, Rude hit the "Rude Awakening" and another pinfall to go ahead 2-0 (8:39). Rude then came off the top rope and was disqualified for a 2-1 lead (9:40). Rude then rolled Steamboat up for another pinfall and a 3-1 lead (10:50). Rude then worked over Steamboat and hit a piledriver but Steamboat kicked out for a good near fall. Rude went for a Tombstone piledriver but Steamboat reversed it into a fall and now the match is 3-2 in favor of Rude (17:39). Steamboat reversed a backslide into another pinfall to tie it at 3-3 (20:22). Rude tried for the Rude Awakening but Steamboat reversed it for a great near fall. With 3 minutes to go, Rude locked in a sleeper and it looked like Rude would win with the sleeper. However Steamboat kicked the top turnbuckle and fell back on Rude for the pin with only 30 seconds remaining. Rude tried desperately to get a quick pin to tie it, but Steamboat kicked out and won the match 4-3. A great match, better than their Superbrawl match, as it was well laid out and perfectly executed.
Up next is a six-man challenge with the Dangerous Alliance of Arn Anderson & Steve Austin & Bobby Eaton taking on Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham & Nikita Koloff. It was a basic match that ended in 15:32 by disqualification when Anderson came off the top rope, giving the match to Rhodes, Windham and Koloff. I personally felt the Dangerous Alliance should have gone over clean in this match to keep the Alliance as a strong heel team, since they lost at the Wrestle War PPV in May.
Final match is the main event for the WCW World Tag Team Title. The Steiner Brothers were the champions and were defending against Terry Gordy & Steve Williams. Four days earlier at the Clash of the Champions 19, Williams and Gordy had defeated the Steiners to eliminate them from the NWA Tag Team tournament. Similar to Brian Pillman, Watts was in the process of phasing out the Steiner Brothers due to contractual problems so the Steiners lost to Williams and Gordy earlier at the Clash in the NWA tournament, they drew with Williams and Gordy in this match and then lost the WCW World Tag Team titles on July 5. Obviously, Watts was trying to job them out for their refusal to re-negotiate their contracts. Watts was also trying to create house show interest and to give the house shows meaning, he had the tag team titles as well as the heavyweight title change hands at house shows instead of on PPVs. This explains why they went to the 30:00 time limit draw. A decent match that was hard hitting and contained a lot of amateur wrestling.
Summary: This wasn’t a bad show by any means but it wasn't great either. The Pillman match was a huge disappointment but that wasn’t necessarily Pillman's fault. Rude and Steamboat was a very good if not great match and the Sting-Cactus Jack match was very good also. Watch this PPV for those two matches. The rest was average to above average.
Next week will go back 15 years to the November WCW Clash of Champions show, Clash #21.
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at bhoops@iw.net.
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