Survivor Series 1992 Review

Wednesday, November 25th, 1992
Richfield Coliseum
Richfield, Ohio

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If you are a classic WWF fan, Vince's intro here is just perfect. He and Heenan run down the card one last time.

High Energy vs. The Headshrinkers

Oddly enough, the Headshrinkers get no televised entrance. High Energy was the perfect opponent for a new team to face. This was also a good choice to open the show. High Energy uses their quickness early to get the Headshrinkers off their game. Koko tries to do the double headbutt, but it has no effect. Afa is eating his traditional turkey from the bone outside the ring and the Headshrinkers are now in control. The Headshrinkers use some nice old school tag team tricks until Owen gets the hot tag. Owen hits a crossbody from the top rope, but Fatu breaks up the pin. Samu then catches Owen for a body slam and Fatu goes up top and hits the big splash for the victory. That was exactly what it needed to be. Good, solid opener.

Match Rating: **1/2 (out of 5)

Sean Mooney is in the locker room and issues viewer discretion for the upcoming Nightstick Match. In walks Nailz and he talks about how long he has been waiting for this day. If only anyone else felt the same.

Mean Gene is with Big Boss Man in front of a ladder for some reason. He lets us know that he's going to make sure Nailz serves nothing but hard time and he runs out to the ring.

Nightstick Match
Nailz vs. Big Boss Man

Boss Man runs down to the ring right after his interview, giving this a different feel from most matches during this time. The fact that they've made it 60 seconds and Nailz hasn't choked Boss Man yet is a miracle. Boss Man goes for the nightstick, but Nailz slams him off the top rope. Now Nailz goes for the choke and all is right in the world. Heenan claiming that Nailz went to prison for a parking ticket that he didn't know he got is classic Heenan. Nailz goes for it, but Boss Man knocks him off and he hits his leg more than they probably were going for. Heenan calls them out for going slower each time they climb for the nightstick as if it's been a 20 minute match. We are probably about 3 minutes in. Boss Man goes up and grabs the nightstick and hits Nailz a couple of time, but Nailz is able to knock it out of Boss Man's hand. He immediately hits him right in the throat. Boss Man ducks his next shot and hits the Boss Man Slam and gets the victory. The crowd absolutely loved this. This was the best a Nailz match could be, as the climbing attempts kept him from just choking Boss Man over and over. The biggest complaint here is the whole match was built around the nightstick, both guys got some big hits in with it, but it hardly phased either one. Then they finished the match with a regular move. However, the fact that they had a hot crowd, kept it short and moved a quicker pace really helped it.

Match Rating: *

Mean Gene is back with Ric Flair and Razor Ramon. They show the entire recap of Savage choosing Perfect as his new partner. Flair is outraged and Razor says he is going to carve them up.

Rick Martel vs. Tatanka

It's the match that is months in the making here. I really don't understand why this match didn't happen at SummerSlam, but here we are. Martel slaps Tatanka, but that doesn't work out well for him. Martel is able to slow Tatanka down by dropping him throat first on the top rope. Out comes Doink and he's making a balloon animal. After a long heat segement, Martel misses Tatanka and hits his shoulder on the ring post. Tatanka works on the shoulder and Doink is still in the aisle with his balloon animals. Tatanka works on the shoulder. Martel goes up top, but Tatanka counters it and hits him with some chops, including one from the top rope. Tatanka hits End of the Trail for the pinfall victory. They then show Doink giving away the balloons and then popping them. That was nothing special and probably could have been cut down a couple of minutes, but they tried to make time for Doink.

Match Rating: *1/2

Macho Man and Mr. Perfect are back with Sean Mooney. Savage says that he doesn't trust Perfect, but he thinks they could be the perfect team.

Ric Flair & Razor Ramon vs. Randy Savage & Mr. Perfect

Heenan is brilliant as always here during Perfect's entrance. Perfect and Razor kick things off and the crowd is definitely into Perfect. Just out of curiosity, I looked up the ages of everyone in the match. Razor Ramon and Mr. Perfect were 34, Randy Savage was 40 and Ric Flair and Earl Hebner were both 43. Perfect gets the better of Ramon and then is all over Flair. Savage dominates Flair until he gets pushed into the wrong corner and allows Razor to get a cheap shot in. Flair tosses Savage over the top rope and Razor slams him into the steps. Razor slaps on a weak looking half crab on Savage and Perfect is starting to walk towards the back. Perfect thinks about it and decides to head back to the apron. Razor hits him and he distracts the ref, allowing the illegal double team. Savage finally hits the hot tag to Perfect and he hits his signature offense on Razor. Flair and Savage are now going at it on the outside and Flair hits Savage in the head with a chair. Flair comes in the ring and Perfect dumps him out. Razor sends Perfect off the ropes and he accidentally hits Hebner. Perfect counters a Razor's Edge attempt and Perfect hits the Perfect Plex, but there's no ref. A second ref comes in, but Flair breaks it up. Perfect hits a Perfect Plex on Flair, but the ref is distracted by Razor. Flair and Razor continue with a double team and both refs ring the bell. Razor goes and grabs a chair, but Savage takes it away and gives it to Perfect, who is in the Figure Four. Perfect hits Flair with two shots and Flair and Razor retreat. They announce Savage and Perfect as the winners by disqualification. That was a really well worked match and it told a good story. After the match, Savage and Perfect high five and give an awkward thumbs up to one another. That was some good early 90s WWF right there.

Match Rating: ***1/2

Flair and Razor are back with Mean Gene in front of the ladder and of course they are not happy. Razor says that he has only been double crossed once before and tells them to ask him what happened if they can find him.

Yokozuna vs. Virgil

Yokozuna gets the full entrance with the geisha girls and flowers. Yoko's facial expressions are very underrated, as I always thought they were a big part of what made him so successful. Viril hits a series of dropkicks, but he can't knock him down and then eats a back kick to the face. Yokozuna hits a leg drop and the reaction from the crowd says it all. Virgil tries to roll him up, but Yokozuna falls on him and I don't know how that doesn't hurt. Yoko hits the Banzai Drop and that's all for poor Virgil. This was obviously a squash match and an effective one.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Savage and Perfect are back with Mooney again. Perfect has some turkeys for Razor and Flair and a small chicken for Heenan. They then go all out bromance on us and tell each other they're the best.

Survivor Series Elimination Match
The Beverly Brothers & Money, Inc. vs. The Natural Disasters & The Nasty Boys

I don't know why, but I have grown to love the Beverly Brothers. The Natural Disasters squash the Beverly's early on. Sags hits a pump handle slam on Beau. Dibiase finally gets in there and takes down Sags with a clothesline, but Sags counters a suplex. Vince speculates that Sags is hurt, but it looks more like he's just blown up already. The heels make frequent tags and continue to work on Saggs. Blake and Sags collide and both men are down.. Earthquake and Beau get the tags in, but all 8 men end up in the ring. This leads to Beau eating a splash from Earthquake and the Beverly Brothers are eliminated. Dibiase avoids a splash in the corner and he and IRS hits a double suplex, but Earthquake kicks out with authority. Heenan makes a Lloyds of London reference. Money, Inc. dominates for awhile until Quake tags in Typhoon. Dibiase trips up Typhoon behind the refs back and the Natural Disasters are eliminated. Not to be outdone, the Nasty Boys roll up IRS and gets the quick pinfall and are the lone survivors. The match was pretty dull overall and was the beginning of the end for the tag division in the WWF.

Match Rating: *3/4

They hype up the WWF hotline and then show the same Kamala/Undertaker stuff we have been seeing for weeks

Coffin Match
Kamala vs. Undertaker

Kamala sells that he is frightened by the coffin. Taker hits Old School early on and they are working at a snail's pace. Kamala hits two body slams, but Taker immediately gets up after both. He hits a third one, but Taker is able to get up this time. Kamala follows up with three splashes. Paul Bearer comes up on the apron and Kim Chee trips him up and Bearer drops the urn. They give it to Kamala, but he is scared of it and drops it. Taker picks it up and nails Kamala with it. Undertaker gets a 3 count and then rolls Kamala in the coffin. They put the lid on and they hammer it shut. Well, that sucked.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Sean Mooney is with Shawn Michaels and asks about Sherri. Shawn continues to drive home the fact that he beat the man who beat Bret Hart.

As Shawn is making his way down to the ring, Bret is with Mean Gene. Bret clues us in that Thanksgiving is known for giving thanks. Bret also has nothing but respect for Shawn.

WWF Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart

We get a lot of actual back and forth wrestling, which is something we never saw in the Hogan era. They clearly are pacing themselves for a longer match here. Michaels hits a stun gun on Bret and then we get the classic Irish whip chest first by Bret. They double down on the mat wrestling here, which is kind of an interesting choice. I feel like they had a chance to do something really unique here and are kind of playing it safe. Bret makes his comeback and hits a slingshot, sending Michaels right into the ring post. Bret picks up the pace and then hits a superplex, but takes too long to make the cover. Bret goes for a sleeper, but Michaels pushes him into the ref, allowing him to get out of the hold. Michaels then sends Bret to the outside. Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music before it was considered his finisher. He hits his suplex finisher, but Bret kicks out. Bret knocks into Michaels, which causes Michaels to get tied up in the ropes. Bret goes after him, but Michaels moves and Bret hits the ropes hard. Michaels goes off the second rope, but Bret grabs his feet and locks in the Sharpshooter and Michaels submits. That was a solid match, but they never really got in any signature moments to make it memorable. After the match, Santa Claus comes down and he hugs Bret. Fake snow falls down from the ceiling, as the two of them celebrate.

Match Rating: ***1/4

The funny thing about the pay-per-views from this era is that the matches don't all have to be good for the shows to be entertaining. The wrestlers felt like larger than life personalities and carried the shows on personality to make up for the lack of in ring excitement. With that being said, the Perfect Team match was well done and the main event was solid, if not a little disappointing. Nothing else really stood out beyond that, but the pacing was good and the crowd was into almost everything. There's no reason to go out of your way to see this show, but you could do a lot worse.

Overall Rating: 62%