WWF Survivor Series 1992 (Version II)

Original Airdate: November 25, 1992

From Richfield, Ohio; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan

Opening Match: High Energy v The Headshrinkers: Owen Hart starts with Samu, and nearly gets shoved halfway across the ring during the first couple of lockups. He forces Samu to criss cross until he tires himself out, and that allows Hart a pair of dropkicks ahead of tagging Koko B. Ware in. Samu tries to force Koko into the heel corner, but the Birdman fights them both off with dropkicks - only to make the cardinal mistake of trying to bash their Samoan heads together. Koko must have been hoping he'd know the trick to that one. The Headshrinkers cut the ring in half on Ware, but a missed charge in the corner allows the hot tag to Owen! He hits Samu with a backdrop and a flying bodypress for two, then nails Fatu with a spinheel kick. Another bodypress on Samu, but it's countered with a powerslam, and the Headshrinker Splash finishes at 7:40. Too short to really build to anything of significance, but it was energetic (HIGH energetic?!), and competently worked. High Energy looked like jobbers here though. ** (Original rating: ¾*)

Nightstick Match: Big Boss Man v Nailz: Nailz tries to climb for the stick before Boss Man even makes his entrance (nice touch - why would a con play by the rules?), but Boss Man runs out to stop him. Nailz responds by choking him down and unloading a bunch of mounted punches, but Boss Man cuts off another climb attempt. Nailz hammers him with jabs, but a cross corner charge misses, and Boss Man slugs him down. He climbs the pole, but Nailz slams him down off the top rope, and adds a backbreaker. More choking, but Boss Man manages a shoulderblock - only to miss a splash follow-up. That allows Nailz to climb again, but Boss Man grabs his ankle, and crotches his big ass on the top rope! Boss Man throws a clothesline before climbing, and this time he's able to retrieve the nightstick! The crowd is super into Boss Man - I'm surprised they didn't do more with him during this period. He uses it to abuse Nailz some, but Nailz kicks it away from him after only a few shots. He returns the favor with the nightstick, but runs into the Boss Man Slam at 5:44. Not great as a match, and kind of failed as a blow off too, since Boss Man didn't really get much in on the villain. ¼* (Original rating: ¼*)

Rick Martel v Tatanka: Martel tries to slap him at the bell, but that just enrages Tatanka, and Rick ends up having to bail to the floor following a flurry of offense. Tatanka with an atomic drop on the way back in, and a clothesline sends Rick right back to the outside! Back in again, Tatanka keeps the fire going, but runs into a hotshot, and Martel takes over. He hooks a front-facelock, so Tatanka uses a hanging vertical suplex to escape, but is too battered to follow-up, and ends up on the facelock again. Meanwhile, Doink the Clown shows up in the aisle, making balloon animals, and generally acting creepy. Tatanka escapes the facelock again, but Martel blocks the suplex this time, so Tatanka uses the top rope as a slingshot instead - only to get cutoff with a swinging neckbreaker. Back to the facelock, but Tatanka escapes with a clothesline, and this time adds chops in the corner. Martel tries to keep control with a charge, but Tatanka sidesteps him, and hammers the bashed shoulder with more chops. Backslide gets two, and Tatanka armdrags him down for an armbar. Way too late into this one for an armbar. Martel escapes and tosses him over the top, and back in, the Model tries a 2^nd rope flying axehandle, but Tatanka counters with a gutpunch. He mounts his comeback, and a bodyslam sets up a flying tomahawk chop. End of the Trail finishes at 11:07. I was always really bored with this one as a kid, and that hasn't changed. That facelock went on forever. Not a bad match, it just overstayed its welcome by about a third, and would have been much better off without all the facelock stuff. ¾* (Original rating: ¼*)

Ric Flair and Razor Ramon v Randy Savage and Mr. Perfect: The heels are decked out in matching purple tonight. Perfect actually looks to be in pretty good shape for a guy who hasn't wrestled in fifteen months. Razor starts with Perfect, and they feel each other out - Ramon using power, but getting outwrestled. Over to Flair, so Perfect hits him with a backdrop and a dropkick, then throws a pair of clotheslines. He unloads some chops on the Nature Boy, and a cross corner whip flips Flair onto the apron - where Savage is waiting for him with a right hand! He tags in to hit a flying axehandle, so Ramon comes in illegally, and Macho's in a war! He hits a hangman's clothesline on Ric, but gets pounded by Ramon in the corner, and they double team him a bit. Flair cracks him with chops, and Ramon throws a bunch of forearms to the lower back before slapping on an abdominal stretch. They continue to cut the ring in half on Savage, working really smoothly together for two guys who aren't an experienced team. After watching Macho get destroyed for a while, Perfect gets tired of it, and decides to walk out of the match. He gets halfway up the aisle, but ends up having a change of heart, and halfheartedly coming back onto the apron - where Ramon punches him, giving Perfect renewed energy for this fight. That was a nice touch, showing that just because Perfect is on the face team tonight that doesn't overnight change the fact that he spent the last four years being a heel, and the last year opposing his now-partner. Randy continues to get destroyed, and Ramon hits a chokeslam for two - Perfect actually breaking the count this time, as now he's invested in this. He's still frustrated with Savage though, and isn't shy about making that very clear. Flair gets cocky and takes too long getting to the top rope, and Macho slams him down. That looked like a miscommunication there - like Flair was expecting his usual 'slam off the top' spot, but Savage was going for a superplex, or something. Either way, it's enough for the tag to Perfect, and he comes in hot on Ramon with a somersault necksnap and an atomic drop. Kneelift brings Flair in, but Perfect quickly dispatches him, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! Ric takes Macho out with a chair on the outside, allowing the heels to double team him. Razors Edge looks to finish, but Perfect counters with a backdrop, and the Perfect-Plex connects - Flair saving at two! Perfect responds with a Perfect-Plex for Ric, but Razor saves at two. They keep double teaming, and refuse to listen to the referee's repeated warnings, and we have a lame DQ at 16:38. Good storytelling, but the finish sucked ass. ** ½ (Original rating: ** ¾)

Virgil v Yokozuna: Virgil repeatedly bounces off of the big man in the early going, so he tries a few dropkicks, but it does little more than slightly rattle Yokozuna. Yoko fights him off with a superkick, and a uranage follows. Virgil tries slugging back, but he can't get any traction against him, and Yokozuna hits a sloppy sidewalk slam to setup a legdrop - drawing dropped jaw reactions from the crowd. Avalanche misses, so Virgil tries to capitalize with a schoolboy, but gets sat on. Another try at the avalanche is successful, however, and the Banzi Drop ends it at 3:34. A total and complete squash, but not a waste of time. ¼* (Original rating: ¼*)

Four Tag Team Survivor Series Elimination Match: Money Inc and The Beverly Brothers v The Natural Disasters and The Nasty Boys: This is the one and only classic elimination match this year. This is team rules, so if your partner goes, so do you. Blake Beverly starts with Typhoon, and he tries to play mind games, but gets shoved around. Yeah, maybe next time don't try and play mind games with a guy called 'Typhoon.' Typhoon hits a backbreaker before passing over to Earthquake for a bearhug (it takes a special kind of wrestler to immediately go to a bearhug when first tagging into an eight-man), so Beau Beverly comes in for the save, but both Brothers end up getting avalanched. Earthquake scoop powerslams Blake once the dust settles, then tags Brian Knobbs in - Blake selling like fucking Marty Jannetty for him. Over to Jerry Sags, but he gets distracted by Money Inc, and Beau tags in. He hammers away, and delivers a butterfly suplex before passing to Ted DiBiase. Ted with a cross corner whip and a clothesline, but Sags reverses a vertical suplex, so Ted brings Irwin R. Schyster in for a double team. The heels cut the ring in half on Jerry, until a double knockout spot with Blake allows the tag to Earthquake - Roseanne Barr the door. The face side cleans house, and Earthquake sends the Beverly's home with the Earthquake Splash at 9:25. Hilarious bit, as Earthquake does some quick math, and realizes they have an advantage. No wonder IRS hated these guys. DiBiase comes in, but gets destroyed, and the entire face side take turns beating him up. Earthquake misses an avalanche to allow the tag to IRS for a tandem side suplex for two, and Money Inc cut the ring in half on the big man. DiBiase goes to the middle rope one time too often to allow the hot tag to Typhoon, and he splashes IRS for two. That triggers a cheap shot from Ted, and IRS quickly covers at 15:45. Unfortunately for him, he's so excited that he doesn't notice Sags sneaking in with a schoolboy at 15:50.
Survivors: The Nasty Boys
As an example of how much turnover they had during this period, all four teams wouldn't even be in the WWF within less than a year of this. Very basic stuff throughout, but this was surprisingly energetic and not shitty considering how much I dislike three-quarters of the participating teams. The heat segment on Earthquake did drag a bit, though. And I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out which of those teams is the remaining quarter. * ½ (Original rating: ¾*)

Casket Match: Undertaker v Kamala: This is the first of many, many Casket matches for the Undertaker - at this point called a 'Coffin' match, and you have to actually pin the opponent first. Kamala is terrified, and takes off running at the bell. Undertaker catches up with him (how fucking slow do you have to be to get caught by early 90s Undertaker?), and he hits the ropewalk forearm. Undertaker with a turnbuckle smash and a short clothesline to setup some choking, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets pounded. Kamala clotheslines him over the top, but Undertaker lands on his feet and chokes out Kamala's entourage, so the Ugandan Giant attacks with a chair. Back in, Kamala hits a bodyslam, but Undertaker completely no-sells it. Again, but Undertaker sits right back up. I love how Kamala's shocked at that, as if he'd just hit a brainbuster, or something. It's a basic bodyslam, dude. A third slam seems to get some traction, however, and Kamala adds a series of three splashes. Kimchee grabs the urn from Paul Bearer, but Kamala is too scared of it, and Undertaker knocks him out with it for the pin at 5:27. Terrible, but at least it was short. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Main Event: WWF Title Match: Bret Hart v Shawn Michaels: Michaels is the WWF Intercontinental Champion, but that isn't on the line. Even by the time I first saw this in 1994, this was a big deal matchup, but that wasn't the way people felt in 1992, when Bret had just cracked the top of the card for the first time, and Shawn was less than a year removed from being a midcard tag act. This would be the equivalent of, like, Dean Ambrose and Kofi Kingston headlining SummerSlam this year. Both of the title belts look beat to hell, and in dire need of replacement. It's interesting that, had SummerSlam not been moved to England, this was originally going to take place at that show, in a Ladder Match over the IC belt. Feeling out process to start, with Shawn's arrogance shining through, but not enough to outwork the Excellence of Execution. Hart with a bodypress for two, and a slingshot sunset flip for two, then down into an armbar as he controls his challenger. Shawn forces a criss cross to escape, and he catches Hart with a hotshot to turn the tide. Hart stays in it by reversing a cross corner whip, but a charge in misses, and the Hitman hits the post shoulder first. That's enough to put control firmly in the challenger's court, and he goes after the shoulder with a single-arm DDT. Hart takes his chest-first cross corner bump for two, and Michaels grounds the champion in a chinlock. That really should have been an arm related hold, given that Bret had just hurt his shoulder. It's worth noting that you can see people in the crowd leaving early to beat traffic throughout this one, which just goes to show that they weren't at that level yet at this point. I mean, no one was walking out when Hulk Hogan was closing, no matter what the traffic was going to be like. Hart fights out of the hold, so Michaels throws a dropkick for two, and delivers a backbreaker for two before going back to the chinlock. Hart escapes and hits a swinging neckbreaker, but fails to follow-up before Shawn can ground him again with a front-facelock. Hart fights out and hits a bulldog to setup a 2^nd rope flying elbowdrop, but Shawn rolls out of the way for two. Jumping backelbow gets two, and he goes back to the facelock. He picked something up from Rick Martel in that SummerSlam match, I guess. Bret uses an inside cradle for two to force a break, so Shawn tries to whip him into the corner, but Hart counters with a side suplex. Criss cross ends in Hart hitting a slingshot into the corner, and Shawn ends up crotched on the top rope before long. Bret with a backdrop for two, and a Russian legsweep is worth two. Backbreaker sets up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, and Bret vertical superplexes him for two. Sleeper, but Shawn railroads him into the corner to escape, so Bret tries grabbing a waistlock - only to get dumped to the outside. The challenger follows out to send Bret into the post, then adds a bodyslam on the floor before bringing it back in for a cross corner whip for two. Backdrop gets two, but Shawn makes the mistake of arguing the count, and gets rolled up for two. Michaels throws a superkick to cut off the comeback, and the Teardrop Suplex looks to finish, but only gets two! Hart tries throwing a bodypress, but Shawn sidesteps, and the Hitman takes a bump into the ropes. That allows Shawn to climb up to the middle rope, but a 2^nd rope flying dropkick is countered into the Sharpshooter at 26:40! A little slow and maybe even a little underwhelming, but well worked. *** ¼ (Original rating: ****)

BUExperience: Not really a great show, but like many WWF pay per views from this era, it’s more entertaining than the sum of its star ratings.

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