Question About Survivor Series 1992

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Why was there only one traditional Survivor Series elimination tag match at the event? I know some guys left the WWF before the event, but it was only about 3 or 4 if I remember correctly. They still had enough people for a few of them. So, why didn't they do more?

[BlackoutCreature]

I think the WWF just felt the concept had ran its course and decided to try something different. But that's only a guess.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I think they really didn't know what to do with this PPV. The title match wasn't even a title match until weeks before the show, I don't even recall a build for it. They were having a match anyway, suddenly Bret was champion, so hey title match!

Seems like it snuck up on them for some reason.

[jason1980s]

There were not enough stars this year to make good four on four matches. It would be a team captain star and three low to mid card guys. In year's past they also had enough guys managed by the same guy that you could have two, three or even four guys on the same team to make sense. By 1992 the managers were fading out.

[mrjl]

Sept 29, 2013 6:52:24 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

There were not enough stars this year to make good four on four matches. It would be a team captain star and three low to mid card guys. In year's past they also had enough guys managed by the same guy that you could have two, three or even four guys on the same team to make sense. By 1992 the managers were fading out.

I disagree with this.

They could have had three or four Survivor Series matches along with a few regular ones.

Bret vs Shawn for the title

Kamala vs Undertaker in the casket match

Big Bossman vs Nailz in the Nightstick on a pole match

Yokozuna, the Headshrinkers and Kato vs The Natural Disasters, Virgil and Tito Santana

The Nasty Boyz and High Energy vs Money Inc and the Beverly Brothers

Macho Man, Mr Perfect, Tatanka and Crush vs Ric Flair, Razor Ramon, Rick Martel and Papa Shango or Repo Man

[cabbageboy]

Honestly I think the WWF's business was tanking in 1992 so they tried some different things PPV wise. Summerslam was a PPV where they thought outside the box a lot (foreign venue, face vs. face matches, heel vs. heel). Survivor Series was much the same. After 4 years of nothing but the tag matches they wanted to do less of it and more regular matches, most of which didn't have a blow off as of yet. It was a fun change of pace actually and makes the show stand out among the early Series PPVs.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Sept 29, 2013 11:19:23 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

Honestly I think the WWF's business was tanking in 1992 so they tried some different things PPV wise. Summerslam was a PPV where they thought outside the box a lot (foreign venue, face vs. face matches, heel vs. heel). Survivor Series was much the same. After 4 years of nothing but the tag matches they wanted to do less of it and more regular matches, most of which didn't have a blow off as of yet. It was a fun change of pace actually and makes the show stand out among the early Series PPVs.

I understand that, but I figured they could have had at least 2 of them on the venue. It seems like they could have added 2 more people to the Savage/Perfect VS Flair/Ramon match.

[Deleted]

Back then, Survivor Series tended to be events that prolonged feuds. But in '92, it seemed like - as far as the booking went - they were ending a couple feuds at that time.

Bossman/Nailz and Kamala/Taker ended, Savage/Flair ended (while picking up Perfect/Flair and, to a lesser extent, Savage/Razor), and Bret/Shawn just.....kinda happened. Not sure why other matches had to happen the way they did (Tatanka/Martel.....again, and High Energy/'Shrinkers) instead of traditional matches, but at that point why stick to the old format and try something new?

Whatever the thinking, they didn't really like it, because SSeries '93 went right back to being the traditional matches (with the USWA tag match smack in the middle). It was only over time that the traditional match mentality faded, but it sure took a while.

[molson5]

I think the whole booking and promotion of the world title match was a deliberate means of elevating both guys. HBK and Hart were both total midcarders leading up to that show, and then Hart wins the title out of nowhere on a house show. But HBK/Hart still wasn't hyped that strongly. Both WWF and WCW did this occasionally over the years. Promote a non-championship match as the top match on a PPV, as a way to sneak new guys into the World Title scene, in a more gradual way, lower on the card, in a spot where it's more likely the fans will accept it. And of course, in this case, throw the world title match on last despite not promoting it as the main event as a way to ease HBK and Hart to the top of the card.

They did the same thing at the next PPV, and had Hart/Razor for the title on a show built around the Royal Rumble. It may seem a little too cautious in retrospect, and by today's thinking, the WWF would have been criticized for not "fully getting behind" Bret Hart, but at the time, Hart had been a tag team guy and midcarder for a long time, it made sense to make the big-star-push more gradual, especially after the way he won the title.

[lildude8218]

I looked at the roster from that time and it was a tad thin. I came up with something like this:

Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart, Tatanka vs Ric Flair, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, Rick Martel

Big Bossman, Virgil, High Energy vs Nailz, Yokozuna, The Headshrinkers

Undertaker, Crush, Max Moon, Jim Duggan vs Kamala, Papa Shango, The Berzerker, Damien Demento

The Natural Disasters and The Nasty Boys vs Money Inc. and The Beverly Brothers


other guys you had around were Bob Backlund, Terry Taylor, Marty Jannetty, Lance Cassidy, Skinner, Bam Bam Bigelow (hadn't re-debuted on TV yet)

[Jiren]

I think this has to be one of the most altered PPV lead ups

It seemed on every report there was a change

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Sept 30, 2013 15:55:09 GMT -5 Jiren said:

I think this has to be one of the most altered PPV lead ups

It seemed on every report there was a change

That's one of the reasons I figured they went with the regular PPV line-up. I believe there was gonna be a match between The British Bulldog and The Mountie on it, but both left the company.

I still think they could have done at least 3. Here's how I would have booked it:

4-on-4 Survivor Series Match: Crush, Virgil, and High Energy VS The Berzerker, Rick "The Model" Martel, and The Beverly Brothers.

Nightstick on a Pole Match: Big Bossman VS Nailz (this was too big of a feud to have them wrestle in a Survivor Series Match.

4-on-4 Survivor Series Match: The Undertaker, Tatanka, and The Natural Disasters VS Kamala, The Headshrinkers, and a mystery opponent (revealed to have been Yokozuna; this would have made for a better debut for him, and I was never a fan of that casket match, especially since it led to Kamala's face turn.)

Max Moon VS Papa Shango (just a regular match to fill out the card.)

4-on-4 Survivor Series Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect, and The Nasty Boys VS Ric Flair, Razor Ramon, and Money Inc.

WWF Title Match: Bret Hart VS Shawn Michaels.