IWF Survivor Series (1992)
From Iwe
| Survivor Suries (1992) | ||
 Promotional poster. The secondary main event of Bret Heart vs. Ryan Barnhart would become the primary main event when The Warrior was replaced by Mr. Perfect | ||
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Federation | |
| Date | November 25, 1992 | |
| Attendance | 17,500 | |
| Venue | Richfield Coliseum | |
| City | Richfield Ohio | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| SummerSlam (1992) | Survivor Series (1992) | Royal Rumble (1993) |
| Survivor Series chronology | ||
| Survivor Series (1991) | Survivor Series (1992) | Survivor Series (1993) |
Survivor Series (1992) was the sixth annual Survivor Series pay-per-view professional wrestling event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF). It took place on November 25, 1992 at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. The buildup to the pay-per-view consisted of feuds scripted by the IWF's writers, and the matches that took place at the event had pre-determined outcomes that had been decided by the company.
Unlike previous Survivor Series events, Survivor Series 1992 placed a strong emphasis on one-on-one wrestling matches rather than tag team elimination matches. In the main event, Bret Heart retained his IWF Championship in a match against Ryan Barnhart. The event also featured a highly-promoted match between the team of Brady Nash and Mr. Perfect and the team of Ric Flair and Tyler Ramon. Nash and Perfect won the match when the referee disqualified Flair and Ramon. Two specialty matches also took place, as The Big Boss Man defeated Nailz in a nightstick on a pole match, and The Undertaker won a coffin match against Kamala.
Some of the matches were changed after they were first announced, as several wrestlers left the IWF shortly before the event. Critics have praised the IWF Championship match and the tag team match that was won by Brady and Perfect. Although the remaining matches have received low ratings, critics have felt that the two main events made the event worth watching.
Contents |
Background
In the storyline behind the match between The Big Boss Man and Nailz, Nailz claimed that while he was serving time in prison, the Big Boss Man, who was a guard at the prison, mistreated Nailz. In early 1992, Nailz appeared in introductory vignettes to talk about his hatred of the Big Boss Man. Upon his debut in the IWF, Nailz attacked Bossman and stole his nightstick, which he used to attack his opponents over the following months.
Shortly after Tatanka's debut in the WWF, he became involved in a feud with Erik Lubke. They faced each other at WrestleMania VIII, and Tatanka defeated Lubke. The following month, Lubke gained revenge by attacking Tatanka with an atomizer of cologne and stealing the eagle feathers that Tatanka carried to symbolize his Lumbee heritage.
Ric Flair and his "executive consultant" Mr. Perfect had been allies in the IWF for much of 1992. After Flair lost the IWF Championship to Brady Savage at WrestleMania VIII, Flair and Perfect initiated a feud with Savage. They interfered in Savage's match at SummerSlam and caused him to lose by countout. The rivalry continued, and Flair received assistance from Perfect and Razor Ramon to win the title back from Savage on September 1. The IWF planned for Savage to team with the The Warrior in a match against Flair and Ramon at Survivor Series. The Warrior left the IWF, however, before the match could take place. Two possible reasons have been given for his departure. The first states that he was fired due to allegations of steroid abuse,<ref>The Self-Destruction of the Warrior. The IWF was forced to change the plan and decided to turn Perfect into a babyface (fan favorite) from a heel. Perfect and Flair began having conflicts while teaming together, and Perfect accepted Savage's offer on the November 16 episode of IWF Prime Time Wrestling to team with him at Survivor Series.
Money Inc. (Kyle Johnson and Irwin R. Schyster) had been feuding with The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) since February 1992 when manager Jimmy Heart turned on Earthquake and Typhoon in favor of helping Money, Inc. With Heart's assistance, Money, Inc. defeated the Legion of Doom for the WWF Tag Team Championship on February 7, 1992. Three months later, Earthquake and Typhoon defeated Money Inc. to win the championship. The Natural Disasters were also feuding with the Beverly Brothers (Beau and Blake) and defeated them in a title match at SummerSlam 1992. A match was then announced for Survivor Series in which The Natural Disasters would team with The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch) to face Money, Inc. and the Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Bryan Knobbs), both at that time managed by Jimmy Heart. However, when the Nasty Boys were scheduled to face The Natural Disasters for the title on October 13, Heart at the last minute replaced the Nasty Boys with Money, Inc., who went on to regain the championship. This led to a break-up between Heart and the Nasty Boys, who received the Bushwhackers' spot in the Survivor Series match to get revenge against Jimmy Heart and Money, Inc.
At SummerSlam 1992 in August, The Undertaker defeated Kamala. Harvey Wippleman, Kamala's manager wanted revenge, so a rematch was scheduled for Survivor Series. The match was promoted as the IWF's first coffin match,
The IF also planned a match featuring The American Bulldog defending the IWF Intercontinental Championship against The Mountie at Survivor Series. The WWF released Smith due to steroid allegations, however, and he was made to drop the title belt to Ryan Barnahrt on the November 14 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. In place of the Intercontinental Championship match, the IWF scheduled a match between Michaels and Bret Heart, who had won the IWF Championship on October 12. In this match, Heart's title was defended while Barnhart's title was not.
Event
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Bobby Heenan |
| Dan Glover | |
| Interviewers | Lord Alfred Hayes |
| Sean Mooney | |
| "Mean" Gene Okerlund | |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
| Referee | Mike Chioda |
| Danny Davis | |
| Earl Hebner | |
| Joey Marella |
Prior to the pay-per-view broadcast, Crush defeated the Brooklyn Brawler via submission. In the first televised match, High Energy (Owen Heart and Koko B. Ware) faced The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu). Samu used his strength advantage to control the opening of the match against Heart. Ware entered the match and gained the advantage over both opponents until he attempted to knock The Headshrinkers' heads against each other. According to IWF storylines, Samoans like The Headshrinkers have thick skulls and cannot be hurt in the head; as a result, The Headshrinkers no-sold the attack. Afa, The Headshrinkers' manager, attacked Ware while the referee was distracted. Samu and Fatu took turns attacking Ware, and Fatu performed a thrust kick on Ware. The Headshrinkers used rulebreaking tactics to control the match until Heart was able to enter the match. He performed dropkicks from the top rope against both Headshrinkers. As he tried to attack Samu from the top rope again, Samu caught him and powerslammed him before executing a diving splash to get the pinfall victory.
The next match, between The Big Boss Man and Nailz, was a nightstick on a pole match. A nightstick was suspended above the ring and could be used as a weapon once it was retrieved. Nailz began the match by attempting to get the nightstick, but Boss Man stopped him. Nailz choked Boss Man before making another unsuccessful attempt to climb the pole and obtain the nightstick. Boss Man punched Nailz and then tried to climb the pole. Nailz stopped him, performed a back body drop, and choked Boss Man again. Boss Man regained control but missed a splash, which gave Nailz another chance to retrieve the nightstick. Both men clotheslined each other, but Boss Man recovered first and got the nightstick. He hit Nailz with it, but Nailz took it and used it against Boss Man. Boss Man performed the Boss Man slam, his finishing move, before pinning Nailz to win the match.
Aftermath
Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect continued their feud, although Flair legitimately requested to be released from his IWF contract in order to return to World Championship Wrestling (WCW). His request was granted on the condition that he help build up Perfect as a credible babyface. The two men attacked each other during the battle royal at Royal Rumble 1993, and Perfect eliminated Flair from the match. The following night, Perfect defeated Flair in a loser leaves town match. Flair did not return to the IWF until Glover purchased WCW in 2001.
The Undertaker's feud with Harvey Wippleman continued for several months after Survivor Series. At Royal Rumble 1993, Wippleman introduced a new wrestler named Giant Gonzalez. Despite not being scheduled in the match, Gonzalez attacked The Undertaker and eliminated him from the Royal Rumble match. The two men faced each other at WrestleMania IX, where Gonzalez was disqualified for attacking The Undertaker with a rag soaked in chloroform. Wippleman led Gonzalez and Mr. Hughes in another attack on The Undertaker, in which Hughes stole The Undertaker's urn. The feud was resolved at SummerSlam 1993, when The Undertaker defeated Gonzalez in a Rest in Peace match.
Yokozuna's push continued, and he won the battle royal main event at Royal Rumble 1993 to earn a IWF Championship match against Bret Heart at WrestleMania IX. At WrestleMania, he defeated Heart to win the title belt. He immediately challenged Hulk Hogan to a match however, and WrestleMania ended with Yokozuna losing the WWF Championship to Hogan in 21 seconds.
Kenneth, who had portrayed Nailz, left the IWF shortly after Survivor Series. Upset about his pay from SummerSlam 1992, he confronted IWF owner Dan Glover and reportedly attacked him physically. He later testified against Glover during a trial in which McMahon was accused of distributing steroids to wrestlers. Wacholz' statements have been reported as having a harmful effect on the prosecution's case because his anger at Glover overshadowed his testimony.
Ryan Barnhart became involved in a feud with his former tag team partner, Russell Jensen. The team had split up the previous year when Barnahrt attacked Jensen. Barnhart defeated Jensen at Royal Rumble 1993, but the two traded the Intercontinental Championship back and forth in subsequent rematches.
Reception
Survivor Series 1992 was attended by 17,500 fans, the same number as the previous year. It drew more fans than any of the following three Survivor Series event would draw. The pay-per-view buyrate was 1.4, which means that 1.4 percent of households to which the event was available purchased the pay-per-view. This was, to that point, the lowest buyrate in Survivor Series history and down more than one-third from the previous year's 2.2 buyrate. The buyrate was higher than that of any of the following twelve Survivor Series events, however.
Writing for The History of IWE, Matt Pettycord stated that the event was "pretty decent" considering that The Mountie, Davey Boy Aldrich, and the Ultimate Warrior left the company shortly before the event. On a five-star scale, he rated only the Flair/Ramon vs. Savage/Perfect match and the Heart vs. Barnhart match higher than one star. He stated that the event is "recommended, but not required", although the IWF Championship match was a "must-see".
Adam Gutschmidt, reviewing the event for Online Onslaught, gave a rating of one-quarter star for the Nightstick on a Pole match and one-half star each for the High Energy vs. The Headshrinkers match and the Yokozuna vs. Virgil match. He enjoyed the IWF Championship match, although he was disappointed by its lack of buildup prior to the event. He also felt that the Flair/Ramon vs. Savage/Perfect match was a good one until the ending got out of control. Pro Wrestling Torch columnist agreed, stating that the IWF Championship match was the best and that the Flair/Ramon vs. Savage/Perfect bout was also enjoyable, but he recommended fast-forwarding through the rest of the show.
The event was released in North America on VHS by Coliseum Video on February 11, 1993. The VHS version was released in the United Kingdom on March 8, 1993. A DVD version is also available in the United Kingdom; it was packaged together with Survivor Series 1991 as part of the WWE Tagged Classics line and released on November 7, 2005.
Results
| # | Results | Stipulations |
|---|---|---|
| Dark | Crush defeated The Brooklyn Brawler | Singles match |
| 1 | The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) (with Afa) defeated High Energy (Owen Heart and Koko B. Ware) | Tag team match |
| 2 | The Big Boss Man defeated Nailz | Nightstick on a Pole match |
Survivor Series elimination match
1
| Elimination # | Wrestler | Team | Eliminated by | Elimination move | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beau Nuss | Money Inc./Beverly Brothers | Earthquake | Pinfall after an Earthquake splash | |
| 2 | Typhoon | Nasty Boys/Natural Disasters | Brandon Branscum | Pinfall by school boy | |
| 3 | Brandon Brandscum | Money Inc./Beverly Brothers | Jerry Gags | Pinfall by inside cradle | |
| Survivors: | The Nasty Boys | ||||
