WWF Survivor Series 1992 Review

Originally published: December 1, 2012

Updated November 25, 2023

November 25, 1992
Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio

With most of the behemoths of the late 1980s now long gone, replaced by a strange mix of smaller, more technically proficient stars and some of the strangest, most cartoonish combatants seen anywhere on television, 1992 was a strange year for the World Wrestling Federation. 

As a result, the 1992 Survivor series was an altogether weird affair. 

For saying this was a period of only four, well-established PPV events, the show we're about to review came across as something akin to a modern-day WWE B-Show. An enjoyable B-show, sure, but a B-show nonetheless.

Before we get into it, I should point out that this review was originally written from the VHS release of the event which contains several segments not featured in the version on WWE Network/Peacock. It was updated in 2023 with better quality screenshots from Peacock. 

Anyway, let's dive into it.

Welcome to Survivor Series 1992 

For reasons unbeknownst to just about everybody, The Reverend Slick (now a gospel-preaching good guy), welcomed us to Survivor Series '92 by rambling on about how awesome of a show we were about to watch.

The Slickster wasn't very coherent, but at least he got a PPV payday I suppose.

From there, our commentary team of Vince McMahon and Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan welcomed us to the show, and we were right on to the action.

High Energy (Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware) vs. The Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu, w/ Afa)

Winning all sorts of awards for the Worst Pro Wrestling Attire This Side of Damien Demento, undercard team High Energy were fed to relative newcomers The Headshrinkers in an admittedly entertaining opening contest.

As the first Survivor Series show not centered around 'traditional' elimination matches, it was an interesting change of pace to see the annual November show open up with what was essentially a throw-away tag match. 

Owen Hart and The Headshrinkers looked good in their exchanges, while Koko B. Ware had no problem playing the proverbial babyface-in-peril, though it was during The Bird Man's lengthy time between the ropes that the match sagged somewhat.

Alas, The Headshrinkers went over thanks to a big fat splash (that's the technical term for it, in case you were wondering),  furthering their rise in the WWF Tag Team Ranks.
Your Winners: The Headshrinkers

Backstage, Lord Alfred Hayes pointed a microphone at The Big Boss Man. 

An enraged Boss Man insisted that he stood for Law, Order, and Justice and that his rival, Nailz, would get what's coming to him in their upcoming Nightstick on a Pole match.

Offering a retort, Nailz himself swore revenge on the Boss Man for apparently beating him up when the man in the orange jumpsuit was serving 'hard time.' The sad thing (or not), is that this would have actually been a halfway decent promo if Nailz didn't sound like a slightly constipated old man doing his best 'Ole Anderson as The Shockmaster' impression.

In a fairly bizarre move, we then cut to Mean Gene Okerlund, standing by with none other than The Big Boss Man, who essentially gave us exactly the same promo as he'd done just a few minutes ago.

Either this was a funky move from Coliseum Home Video, or WWF producers really couldn't get enough of Ray Traylor.

Nightstick on a Pole match.
The Big Boss Man vs. Nailz

Prior to his interview with Nailz, Sean Mooney had issued us a grave warning; this was going to be a brutal match.

And I mean, brutal. To hear Mooney talk, we were about to watch a No Holds Barred First-Blood Ladder Match inside a Hell in a Cell cage wrapped in barbed wire and surrounded by flames in which the only way to win is to physically murder your opponent (No stealing my ideas, WWE Creative).

Instead, what we got was two big dudes punching and kicking and occasionally slamming each other until Boss Man retrieved the nightstick from the pole, dropped it, and eventually defeated his rival with the Boss Man Slam.

For what it was and given who was involved, this was at least a watchable contest with a hot crowd, but honestly Mooney, the last time I stubbed my toe it was more brutal than this.
Your Winner: Big Boss Man

Out in the back, Sean Mooney tried to get a few words with the loser of the match. 

Nailz, sounding for all the world like his voice had been disguised in a manner akin to those anonymous, shadowed-out crime victims you see on TV, claimed yet more injustice and stormed off.

Killing time with yet more promos, Tatanka told Lord Alfred Hayes that he would defeat Rick 'The Model' Martel and take back his sacred eagle feathers when the two met in the ring later that evening. The undefeated Native American at least showed signs of charisma, though I dare say he did little to make this reviewer care about his rivalry, unlike Ric Flair and Razor Ramon.

Speaking to Okerlund, the dastardly duo were enraged by footage of Mr. Perfect turning face by pouring a jug of water over Bobby Heenan and agreeing to team up with Macho Man Randy Savage in what was easily the most anticipated match of the night.

After Flair lost his damn mind in true Nature Boy fashion, Ramon threatened to 'carve...(Mr. Perfect)...Up.'

Rick 'The Model' Martel vs. Tatanka

Returning to the ring, Tatanka looked to retain his undefeated streak, and reclaim those all-important eagle feathers against a barely-interested Martel, who came to the ring dressed like the world's most effeminate sailor.

Only a few minutes into the very mediocre action, Doink The Clown strutted out to tease and torment the crowd.

Whether it was the distraction of the clown's presence or the fact that nothing interesting happened in the ring, this came across as nothing more than a filler match in which Tatanka defeated The Model with a flying chop to bring about a welcome end.
Your winner: Tatanka

Backstage, Sean Mooney spoke to Randy Savage and Mr. Perfect. In an entertaining promo, Perfect claimed that The Nature Boy wanted to be just like him.

Adding his own tuppence' worth, an ever-intense Macho Man told Perfect that he neither liked nor trusted him, but that they'd still make The Perfect Team regardless.

Ric Flair & Razor Ramon vs. Randy 'Macho Man' Randy Savage

Elsewhere, I've seen this likened to a modern-day Raw main event, which I don't think is a fair comparison.

For one thing, this was a well put thought-out match with a decent back-story reaching beyond merely 'let's throw four feuding wrestlers in a tag match.

Even despite the absence of Savage's original partner, The Ultimate Warrior (who abandoned ship mere weeks earlier), this was still a well-built match with a replacement who made sense.

Perfect, as Flair's now-former Executive Consultant and one-time AWA tag team partner of Scott 'Razor Ramon' Hall (something vaguely alluded to on screen), supposedly knew Savage's opponents better than anybody, and thus was the 'perfect partner' for the Macho Man.
As for the match itself, it was by far the most entertaining bout of the night to this point. 

Flair pulled out his trademark I'm Getting my Ass Kicked routine (seriously, is there anyone in the history of wrestling whose moves while selling a beating are arguably better than his offense?), Perfect displayed not an inch of ring-rust after being out of action for a year (with back trouble), while Ramon and Savage also played their parts well.

Though far from a classic, this match becomes one of only two 'highly recommended' bouts on the whole card, and ended via disqualification when the referee got fed up with the heels and called for the bell.
Your Winners via disqualification: Randy Savage & Mr. Perfect

Razor and Flair continued their beatdown in the post-match, only for a chair to enter the party, used by the good guys to gain a measure of revenge.

If you thought Flair blew his lid in his pre-match promo, you should really hear him lose his freakin' mind following their DQ loss. Mad as ever, the bad guys both raved about how unfair the outcome of their match had been.

Lord Alfred Gets a Massage

Prior to the PPV debut of future WWF Champion, Yokozuna, we were shown a pre-recorded video in which Lord Alfred Hayes entered the sumo star's dressing room, only to find Yoko receiving a massage from a couple of geisha girls.

Mr. Fuji then invited Hayes to receive a massage, kicking him right back out of the room as soon as the microphone man began to enjoy himself a little too much.

Intentionally or not, this was really rather funny.

Yokozuna vs. Virgil

'Yokozuna hasn't really been tested yet in the World Wrestling Federation, but he's about to be tested RIGHT NOW!' lied Vince McMahon as Virgil charged to the ring to meet his doom.

For a squash match (and it's impossible to view this as anything else), this was actually a reasonably enjoyable affair.

Virgil tried to hold his own against his colossal opponent but was quickly squashed, quite literally by the future world champion.
Your Winner: Yokozuna

Out in the back with Sean Mooney once more, he interviewed an elated Perfect and Savage. Now firmly on the same page following their earlier tension, the two threw turkeys around the room and called each other 'the best.'

It was entirely pointless, though admittedly kind of entertaining.

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match:
WWF Tag Team Champions Money Inc & The Beverley Brothers (w/ Jimmy Hart and The Genius) vs. The Natural Disasters and The Nasty Boys.

The only traditional elimination match on this year's Survivor Series card saw a bunch of tag teams going at it for no other apparent reason than to give them something to do. 

Though the match itself was a fairly fun affair, it was hardly memorable and did little more than help pass the time.

Indeed, it's possible that the most interesting thing in this match was Ted Dibiase's all-white ring attire. You know, Dibiase, the guy who wore black trunks throughout the bulk of his WWF career. Seeing him in white was just odd, as though he'd turned face without bothering to tell anybody.

Also, as I'm updating this review a few years later, I'm reminded of the helpful comment from a long-time reader that Dibiase had no luck on PPV whatsoever whenever he switched to those white trunks.

Even McMahon and Heenan seemed to lose interest pretty quick here, turning their attention instead to hyping the company's upcoming tour of Europe.

Still, this was a pretty decent time-filler that ended with a win for sole survivors The Nasty Boys.
Your Winners: The Nasty Boys 

After the match, Alfred Hayes caught up with Virgil, who warned defending WWF Champion Bret 'The Hitman' Hart to be wary of Yokozuna. 

Your writer isn't certain, but I'm pretty sure Virgil referred to Yoko as Yakamuza. 

Also, there was this fan doing an awesome Paul Bearer cosplay, which seems worth mentioning.

Coffin Match
The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Kamala (w/ Harvey Wippleman and Kimchee)

So here's your back story: Kamala is a big guy who doesn't like The Undertaker and is afraid of coffins. 

With that in mind, the two went at it in the WWF's first-ever coffin match (later better known as Casket Matches), in which the loser would be nailed into a big coffin.

The picture to your left is a Paul Bearer fan in the crowd. Of course, he had nothing to do with the match itself, but I just thought the fan did such a good job cosplaying 'Taker's manager that he deserved to be immortalized in this review.

As matches go, this was piss poor, and yet for some reason, the crowd was into it enough that you hardly noticed.

After a contest mostly dominated by Undertaker, The Dead Man eventually pinned his opponent, tossed the Ugandan Giant into the coffin, and did a shoddy job of nailing it shut.
Your Winner: The Undertaker 

Prior to our main event, we received words from both Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels and reigning WWF Champion Bret 'The Hitman' Hart.

Michaels claimed that since the recently-released British Bulldog had defeated Hart for the IC title and he (Michaels) in turn had defeated The Bulldog for the gold, all evidence suggested that Shawn could therefore defeat Bret for the title.

That was smart and well-delivered by HBK.

In response, Hart put Michaels over as a great professional wrestler, though he obviously claimed to be better, and vowed to win their upcoming battle.

Between the two interviews, we saw Harvey Wippleman screaming at Kimchee to get Kamala out of the coffin. When the Ugandan Giant did emerge, he was quite visibly shaken.

World Wrestling Federation Championship Match
WWF Champion Bret 'The Hitman' Hart vs. WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels

As you've probably gathered by now, the bulk of WWF Survivor Series 1992 hardly made for essential viewing. Though mostly enjoyable in their own right, you can pretty much live a full and happy life without having seen any of the other matches on this card.

That said, the main event is certainly must-see viewing.

A far cry from the gimmicks galore that surrounded the WWF at the time, and even further from the wild, heated brawl these two men would have five years later at Survivor Series '97 this was simply two awesome wrestlers on the verge of their peak being allowed to hit the ring and wrestle.

And oh did they ever wrestle.

We had that all-important ring psychology, we had technical mat-based wrestling and moves off the ropes, and we had fast-paced action and slow, methodical action. We had both champ and challenger trading the advantage and we had a crowd eating up every minute of it.

Sure, there's been better pro wrestling matches before and since, some of which even involved one or both men, but this was an outstanding main event match all the same and would still be so even if it didn't come on the back of a rather mediocre undercard.

As for who won? The Hitman slapped Michaels in a sharp-shooter to retain the title after almost thirty minutes of solid action.
Your Winner and Still WWF Champion: Bret 'The Hitman' Hart

In the post-match, Santa Claus made his way to the ring, handed Hart a piece of blue paper, and then proceeded to celebrate with the WWF Champion to close the show.

And that, my friends, was that. Though about a thousand times better than the dire 1991 show, there was still nothing beyond the world title match that really fills this writer with the kind of fuzzy-warm memories usually reserved for old-school wrestling.
As I said earlier, your life won't be any worse off if you never see this show, but if you do decide that you want to see WWF in the final days of their bridging the gap between the Hogan Era and the New Generation, you'll at least be moderately entertained in doing so. 

---

Other 1992 pro wrestling event reviews

1. WWF Royal Rumble 1992
2. WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII
3. WCW Superbrawl II 
4. WWF UK Rampage 1992
   
5. WWF Wrestlemania 8
6. Wrestlewar 92
   
7. WCW Clash of the Champions XIX
8. WCW Beach Blast '92
   
9. WCW Great American Bash 1992
   
10. WWF Summerslam 1992
11. WWF Survivor Series '92
12. WWF 1992 - The Year in Review

Other WWF/WWE Survivor Series reviews:

1. WWF Survivor Series 1987
2. WWF Survivor Series 1988
3. WWF Survivor Series 1989
4. WWF Survivor Series 1990
5. WWF Survivor Series 1991
6. WWF Survivor Series 1993
7. WWF Survivor Series 1994
8. WWF Survivor Series 1995
9. WWF Survivor Series 1996
10. WWF Survivor Series 1997
11. WWF Survivor Series 1998
12. WWF Survivor Series 1999
13. WWF Survivor Sereies 2000
14. WWF Survivor Series 2001
15. WWE Survivor Series 2002
16. WWE Survivor Series 2009
17. Top Ten Matches from the First 10 Survivor Series events

 Be the first to catch the latest Retro Pro Wrestling reviews by following on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads.