Video Review: WWF Survivor Series Showdown ’92

WWF Survivor Series Showdown 1992

– Let me set the ground for this. We were just days away from the PPV itself, and as the WWF had been doing for the past 3 years, they aired a special “pre-show” to hype the upcoming PPV to be held on Thanksgiving Eve. This played a VERY important role as it allowed the WWF time to hype the replacement of Mr. Perfect in one of the Main Events. Originally scheduled to be Razor Ramon & Ric Flair v. Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior, the match was changed with very little notice or time to hype as the Warrior once again left the company. The WWF was in trouble and needed a major player name badly to fulfill the Warrior’s shoes, so they quickly, and without much reason turned Mr. Perfect face on the following edition of PTW. Perfect would leave Ric Flair’s side and join the Macho Man in revolt to his former protégé.

– The show kicks off with an outraged Ric Flair & Razor Ramon cutting a promo on Mr. Perfect. Flair is so believable it’s scary. Flair’s first stint WWF promos even toppled his NWA promos of years past.

Match #1: Tatanka vs. Repo Man: Tatanka’s been with the company about a year and remains undefeated, Repo has been working this gimmick for about 14 months and the gimmick has pretty much died out at this point and he usually played midcard fodder. Repo stalls while Rick Martel cuts a promo on Tatanka in the upper corner of the screen. Back to action Tatanka works on Repo’s arm for a bit only taking breaks for pin fall attempts. Tatanka tries an Irish whip but Repo reverses, the Native American then tries a reverse body block but Repo gets out of the way and takes control. Punch, kick, armbar here, not much else. Tatanka hulks up in his own Indian Stereotype dancing way and delivers about 4,000 variations of the tomahawk chop. Tatanka tries a rollup but Repo holds onto the ropes causing Tatanka to take a bump. Repo tries for a clothesline but Tatanka counters with the Samoan Drop for the win at 7:38. Rating: TV match, Repo had little heel offense, but if you love tomahawk chops this match is for you, however I don’t, so 1/4*

– We’re taken back to PTW where we are shown skits from Savage asking Perfect to be his partner at Survivor Series, eventually Perfect accepts and dumps a pitcher of water on former manager Bobby Heenan. This is followed by an interview with Mr. Perfect and Randy Savage together as a team.

Match #2: Marty Jannetty v. Brooklyn Brawler: Marty has just recently returned from a 10 month venture outside of the WWF and he wants at HBK. Brawler starts off the bout pulling Jannetty’s hair and tossing him around repeatedly. The guys try a little bit of chain wrestling but it leads to nothing. Brawler takes control for a moment but Marty hits a hiptoss and the Brawler rolls out of the ring to powder. A shoving match ensues once back inside ending with Marty nailing a Lucha armdrag but Brawler gets in the ropes for the break. Brawler works on Jannetty for a bit but Marty eventually drops Brawler throat first across the top rope. Marty slides back inside under Lombardi’s legs and hits a spinning sunset flip for two. Marty goes to work with a powerslam, a superkick, a hurricanrana and finally the top rope fist drop for the win at 4:56. Rating: Shorter, yet better than the first bout 1/2*

Match #3: IC Champ Davey Boy Smith v. Shawn Michaels: We’re treated to a match aired just days earlier on Saturday Night’s Main Event, this time Shawn Michaels even aids in commentary along side Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan. Bulldog shows off his power early on but HBK takes a shortcut and applies a short arm scissors. Davy Boy shows immense power by picking Shawn’s entire body up with one arm and dropping him. Bulldog clotheslines Michaels to the floor, while Shawn (on commentary) claims he was just setting the Bulldog up. Back inside HBK with some cheap heel cutoffs but the Bulldog fires back with a shoulderblock and then charges at Shawn, but Michaels steps aside sending Smith to the floor as we go to commercial break. As we return we see HBK has loosen a turnbuckle pad and we’re RIGHT where we left off. Smith is selling his back and Shawn is going to work on it. HBK applies an abdominal stretch not once, but twice. Bulldog finally gets out and has Shawn bumping all over the ring. Davey Boy hits a slingshot into the corner and a clothesline drops Shawn for a 2 count. Bulldog hits the delayed suplex for another near fall. Bulldog goes for an Irish whip but HBK reverses, sending Smith into the exposed turnbuckle and both men are down for the count. Smith catches Shawn on the top rope and goes for a superplex but Bulldog’s back gives out and Shawn lands on top for the win to become new IC Champ at 10:20. Rating: Good, but could have been 100 times better. Bulldog was on his way out which is why he did the abrupt job here. **

– The Bret Hart “Making some Noise” Video is next, at the time very cool but was wayyy played out through the next year or so.

Match #4: Kamala (w/Harvey Wippleman & Kim Chee) v. Red Tyler : Wippleman snatches the mic from Mike McGuirk, threatens her, then announces his man, the Mighty Kamala! Kamala now with African chops (much more deadly than Native American chops). Kamala steps on Tyler for good measure before hitting a superkick of sorts. Kamala then alternates choking, stepping on, and chopping away at Tyler for a minute or so. Kamala hits a back elbow and a not so Super kick and tries for a pin but Red is on his stomach and the referee won’t count. Kamala rolls him over and hits a splash. After rolling Red around for a bit Kamala gets the win at 3:25. Rating: Squashes usually get DUD’s, this is one of those.

– Paul Bearer speaks while the Undertaker is making Kamala’s coffin in the background for their upcoming match up. We get a shot of Kamala fleeing from a match against Tatanka from a recent edition of PTW after Bearer & the Taker came to ringside with a coffin. You see Kamala knows what a coffin is yet he doesn’t understand how to pin someone. Apparently coffin’s are used quite often in the jungles of Uganda.

Match #5: Irwin R. Schyster (w/Jimmy Hart) v. Earthquake: Before the match we are shown a clip of the Nasty Boys recent face turn and Money Inc. winning the tag belts from the Disasters. To start the bout Quake tosses Irwin and around and bounces him out to the floor. Back inside Quake hits an avalanche in the corner before IRS gets the cut off and applies a sleeper hold. Quake breaks the hold and catches IRS with a bear hug. EQ breaks the hold and IRS takes a swing but Quake atomic drops Irwin to the floor, which brings Ted Dibiase to ringside. Dibiase distracts Quake as we go to break. Returning from commercial Typhoon has made his way to ringside while Quake works over IRS in the ring. Quake misses an elbow drop and IRS takes control with a heelish chin lock. Quake finally works his way up and Irwin charges with a clothesline but nobodies home which sends IRS to the floor. Irwin is back in yet tries to escape but Quake puts a stop to that by standing on his tie. Quake takes a charge on IRS but nobodies there. IRS tries something off the top but catches a foot to the face. Quake comes back with a clothesline and elbow drop and sets IRS up for the butt drop. Quake hits the ropes for the Earthquake but is tripped up by Dibiase and the referee dq’s IRS at 11:08. After the bout we see an instant replay of the finish, and from the new camera angle we see Quake’s rather large posterior damn near knock Dibiase out as the tripping was going on, pretty funny actually. After the match Money Inc. try to blind the Quake, but that story is dropped by PPV time. Rating: Had this been Typhoon I’m guessing it woulda been negative stars, but with Tenta I’ll give it *

– Backstage we get an interview from Money Inc. as well as their partners for the Survivor Series, The Beverly Brothers, with the Genius.

– Up next we are shown highlights of Nailz’ debut in the WWF when he attacked the Boss Man from out of the stands for several minutes, because fans can just do that, at least if they’re wearing an orange jumpsuit anyway.

Match #6: Big Boss Man v. Barry Horowitz: Big Boss Man is now 100% again after the beating he took from Nailz and is ready to face the former Prisoner in a nightstick match at the Series. Horowitz takes control with a hammerlock but that doesn’t last long. Bossman drops Horowitz and stomps on his hand before Barry rolls to the floor. Bossman applies a headlock and rings Barry’s bell in the process. Bossman with a few uppercuts but misses a charge in the corner. Seeing the Boss in pain, Horowitz goes after Bossman’s arm, but BBM hits a Boss Man Slam out of NOWHERE at 3:26. Rating: Kinda short squash considering Horowitz was involved, DUD of course

– Nailz does an interview talking about the upcoming nightstick match.

– Survivor Series Report w/Sean Mooney: Mean Gene conducts an interview with Ric Flair & Razor Ramon, Flair is again just totally into the storyline with this interview.

Match #7: The Headshrinkers (w/Afa) v. Randy Fox & Royce Royal: This is very early on in the Shrinkers WWF tenure. Royce is sent to the floor and the Shrinkers just totally mutilate Fox with several variations of the face slam. Fatu picks his nose and wipes it on Fox before allowing him to tag in Royal. Fatu gets a powerslam on Royal. Samu is tagged in and the Shrinkers deliver the double reverse legsweep dropping Royal on his face before Fatu hits the top rope splash for the win in 3:20. Rating: They totally destroyed these guys with stiff shots galore, DUD. Maybe 1/4* just for the stiff shots.

– Vince McMahon conducts a candid sit-down interview with Bret Hart in some park, somewhere.

– The show closes with a Paul Bearer & Undertaker interview where they show off Kamala’s coffin, complete with stars and a moon painted on it.

Final Thoughts: This wasn’t bad for a TV program, they made sure to put over all of the upcoming bouts at the Series. While there weren’t many competitive bouts, the program definitely served it’s purpose and entertained at the same time. Match of the Night: Davey Boy Smith v. Shawn Michaels (neither of their best, but not their worst either)