WWF Survivor Series Showdown (November 22, 1992)

 

Original Airdate: November 22, 1992 (taped October 26)

From Springfield, Illinois; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan

Ric Flair and Razor Ramon open the show by cutting a backstage promo on Randy Savage's new partner for Survivor Series, Mr. Perfect. And then on commentary, Heenan is fuming as well, of course. I love how Gorilla is just openly smiling at his misery. And I know the whole angle was thrown together after Ultimate Warrior left, but man, talk about making lemons into lemonade

Tatanka v Repo Man: Repo initially controls, but gets caught in a flurry of offense, and bails. Tatanka works the arm as Repo comes back in, and a schoolboy gets two. 2nd rope flying bodypress misses, however, and Repo takes over with an armbar of his own. Repo tries a 2nd rope flying axehandle, but Tatanka slugs him out of the air, and starts making his comeback. Flying tomahawk chop gets two, and the End of the Trail finishes at 7:42. How this dull shit made three separate compilation videos I'll never know. I get putting a dull match on multiple tapes if it at least had star power, but was Tatanka and Repo Man trading armbars seriously something that needed to be showcased multiple times? DUD

We take a look back at Prime Time Wrestling, where Randy Savage recruited Mr. Perfect to be his partner for Survivor Series, drawing a hilarious breakdown from Bobby Heenan

Gene Okerlund is backstage with Savage and Perfect, where Perfect is settling in to his babyface role quite nicely. Savage also notes that Razor Ramon better understand that there's only one 'macho man' in the WWF, and honestly, how did they not do a full blown feud over that at some point?

Marty Jannetty v Brooklyn Brawler: Hard to believe Marty is only 32 at this point, he looks much older. Hard living, I guess. Brawler takes cheap shots and hides in the ropes to frustrate Jannetty in the early going, as a still unnamed Doink the Clown hangs out in the crowd. Jannetty forces a criss cross to put Brawler out of his element, and he ends up on the outside after getting thoroughly winded. Poor Heenan is going a hundred miles an hour here, trying to get multiple angles over at the same time. And doing a good job of it, too. Inside, Brawler manages to grab a wristlock, but Marty reverses, and armdrags him over. Brawler's in the ropes, and he nails Jannetty with a boot on the break, but Marty snaps his throat across the top rope to fight him off. Sunset cradle gets two, and another armdrag leads to an armbar away from the ropes, so Brawler goes to the eyes to escape. Irish whip, but Jannetty manages a powerslam, and a superkick. Sunset flip, but Brawler blocks, so Marty uses a rana into mounted punches instead. Flying fistdrop finishes at 4:51. Nothing special, but perfectly competent. *

New WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels joins Gorilla and Bobby in the booth, fresh off of winning the belt from Davey Boy Smith on Saturday Night's Main Event about a week prior. Though, the in-ring portion of this show was actually taped the day before the SNME match was taped, so this is some WCW level time traveling here. I wasn't regularly watching yet at this point, but it must have been quite jarring if you didn't watch for a couple of weeks, and then turned on Superstars one morning to find that Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were suddenly holding the two top titles - and main eventing the next pay per view. I love Heenan going over the top in repeatedly noting that Shawn is the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time already - all of a week after winning the title - just to stick it to Perfect. And then they brought up that same point later on when Shawn and Perfect eventually feuded in 1993

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Davey Boy Smith v Shawn Michaels: They air the match from SNME in full, with Shawn doing commentary over it with Gorilla and Bobby. Which is actually kind of fun. Feeling out process to start, with Bulldog overpowering him. Shawn manages to hang with him until he's able to get Davey down in a short-armscissors, but Smith powers to his feet in the hold for an electric chair. Press-slam follows, and a clothesline sends Michaels over the top. Shawn beats the count, and tries to unload in the corner, but Bulldog fights him off with a few monkeyflips, and he grounds his challenger in an armbar. Shawn slugs free in the corner, but a cross corner whip is reversed, and Davey blasts him with a shoulderblock. Another, but this time Michaels sidesteps, and Bulldog goes crashing out of the ring! Shawn uses the time to expose a top turnbuckle, and he snapmares Smith on the way back in to setup a couple of kneedrops to the lower back. Abdominal stretch keeps the hurt on the part, but Smith hiptosses free - only to miss an elbowdrop. Shawn goes right back after the back with an axehandle drop, and a springboard kneedrop, then slaps on another abdominal stretch. Smith manages to escape again, and this time does hit the elbowdrop follow-up, then adds a facebuster. Corner whip and a clothesline setup a slingshot into the turnbuckles for two, and a hanging vertical suplex is worth two. Cross corner whip, but Michaels reverses, and Smith hits the exposed buckle with the worked over back! Shawn tries another cross corner whip, but Bulldog reverses this time, and he takes Shawn to the top for a vertical superplex - only to have the back give out in the process, and Michaels toppling him for the title at 10:26! Good psychology here, with Shawn working the back, and Bulldog ultimately losing because of it. *** (Original rating: *** ½)

Kamala v Red Tyler: Tyler looks like a cross between Kerry Von Erich and Mean Mark Callous. Maybe we should call him Booger Red Tyler? Makes sense as a guy for Kamala to squash in preparation for the actual Mean Mark at Survivor Series, anyway. See, and you guys say they can't book! Kamala is sporting the crescent moon on his belly, so this version of him is worth more on the resale market. Though, unfortunately, he's in 'played with' condition. Kamala with a weak looking spinkick and a splash for the pin at 3:27. Weak squash. DUD

The Undertaker is in his private workshop, building the casket for the first Casket Match at Survivor Series. One of my earliest memories of seeing wrestling is actually the similar segments they did the following year to build-up the Yokozuna match for Royal Rumble '94, so I have a soft spot for these

On Prime Time Wrestling, Kamala was wrestling Tatanka, when Paul Bearer wheeled out a casket containing Undertaker - sending Kamala hightailing it into the crowd in fear. Man, they went to that well again and again in the 90s, to diminishing returns each time

Last month on Wrestling Challenge the Nasty Boys got all pissy that Jimmy Hart got Money Inc a title shot over them, so Money Inc try to pay them off to get over it, but they decide to turn face instead. But keep the money anyway. Hey, Ted DiBiase should have been smarter and had them sign paperwork before forking over the cash. That's his own fault

Irwin R. Schyster v Earthquake: The crowd sweetening has been really over the top all night, and it's getting super annoying. Like, by the sound of things here, Earthquake is on the verge of becoming the next Hulk Hogan out there. IRS with the usual stalling to start, between getting knocked around by Earthquake. Heenan makes the most of his time, still going on about how he carried Perfect to the Intercontinental title, while quickly noting that he was no longer his manager when he lost it. Earthquake gets Irwin in a bearhug, and then dumps him to the outside, drawing Ted DiBiase down for moral support. That draws Typhoon out to balance the scales - though, really, Money Inc together were probably equal to Earthquake alone, so he should tug his boat back to the dressing rooms. And he's totally useless too, with IRS using the ropes during a chinlock right in front of him, and he doesn't do anything but bitch and moan about it. Push his foot off, you sack of shit! No wonder you guys lost the tag title! IRS takes a bump to the outside after missing a charge, and Earthquake starts making a comeback. Avalanche misses, however, allowing IRS to get to the top rope, but a distraction from Typhoon slows him down, and Earthquake lifts his boot to block the dive. Well, at least he's finally being a useful partner. Earthquake with a clothesline and an elbowdrop to set up the Earthquake Splash, but DiBiase hooks the ankle to cause a DQ at 12:13. See, that's a good partner! Yeah, he cost him the match, but it's a nothing match anyway, and he protected his partner from not only eating a pinfall, but potentially getting hurt, which could jeopardize their belts. This was really boring, and far too long for the story being told. DUD

Backstage, Money Inc and the Beverly Brothers gloat, and hype up the elimination match for Survivor Series

Big Boss Man v Barry Horowitz: We get clips of Nailz's debut attack on Boss Man back in May. Man, this thing went on forever before they faced off. Yeah, they did stuff on house shows and dark matches and such, but Nailz showed up in May, and they didn't have a single televised match of any sort before November - and that turned out to be the final blow off, too. I feel like they needed to have a double DQ or something at SummerSlam in between to set up the gimmick match. That would have been hotter than what they ended up doing with both guys at that show anyway. Boss Man Slam finishes at 3:12. ¼*

Nailz is very constipated. Well, Thanksgiving food does that to some people

Survivor Series Report with Sean Mooney! I miss these, and thought it was kind of cool when they brought it back (albeit in very different form) recently on RAW with a SNL Weekend Update theme

Gene Okerlund is backstage with Flair and Ramon to get their side of things, and again they're pushing the 'macho man/macho man' angle, and they could have done sooooo much more with that than they did. Anyway, as usual, if you need a guy to hard sell a show, you could do a lot worse than Ric Flair

The Headshrinkers v Red Fox and Royce Royal: TWO jobbers named 'Red' on the same show?! Boy, I sure hope someone got fired for that blunder. Doink shows up again during this one, this time hanging out in the aisle. Actually, he tended to show up a lot during Headshrinker matches, even though the character never had anything to do with them whatsoever. I guess they just knew the crowd would need some entertainment during those matches. And meanwhile, Heenan is STILL fuming about Perfect. I have to give it to these announcers... I know they have a job to do, but how they can call literally every event 'the greatest in history' with a straight face each time is a skill. Headshrinkers with the flying splash combo at 2:40. ¼*

Vince McMahon is hanging out in a park somewhere with WWF Champion Bret Hart. And both guys are dressed... let's just say I won't be taking any fashion tips from either guy soon. What's with those boots, Bret? Anyway, this is really long and actually pretty boring. It's just too quiet and PBS-like, with Bret analyzing matches, and Vince so muted that it's almost hard to believe that it's Vince

We wrap with another look at Undertaker in his workshop, where the casket is ready

BUExperience: I generally enjoy these hype shows regardless of actual content, and though this one puts that theory to the test, I still got something out of it, and didn’t consider it a waste of time.