WWF Superstars 10/24/1992

Written by: Tom Hopkins

It’s another cold opener for Superstars and it is Gene Okerlund again holding the honors of doing an interview to start Superstars. He brings out the Ultimate Maniacs and the fans are happy to see them. Warrior inadvertently leaves Savage hanging and I think that was part of the reason Warrior was fired before Survivor Series. You know, I’d rather this was on midway through the show because now after the high of this interview we really have nothing to look forward to except a bunch of squash matches and Event/Update Center segments. Anyway, onto the interview – Savage says that he and the Warrior are survivors and then goes into a little rhyme that his brother, the Genius, would be proud of. Warrior chimes in and tells Razor and Flair that their Ultimate destiny will be their Ultimate defeat.

Vince and Perfect are here to call the action for this episode as they have been for the last two years. Perfect is still sore about Flair being a FORMER World champion.

–Crush vs. Ken Johnson–
Johnson offers a handshake but quickly stomps Crush in the gut. That’s not a good tactic and Crush no-sells. The squash is on, folks. I just thought of something a bit depressing. Aside from the jobbers (who don’t really count) there have been 6 people on the show (Warrior, Savage, Crush, Okerlund, Hennig and McMahon) and half of them are now dead only 20 years later. Crush ends with the Kona Crush Brain Squasher at 2:14. Perfect complains that Crush’s finisher is worse than a choke hold because it damages the brain and Perfect does have a case there.

Survivor Series 1992 – Who Will Survive?

–Natural Disasters vs. Bill Jordan & Tom Stone–
And, unfortunately, the death rate stays at 50%. Next week on the show the Disasters will take on the #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Titles and we will hear who will be facing them later in the show. Earthquake actually dropkicks Jordan. Jordan tags in Stone who wants nothing to do with Earthquake and instead calls for Typhoon. McMahon likens this from going from the fire into the frying pan. I don’t know if he meant to mess up the saying like that. Perfect tells McMahon that he has no ring psychology because he’s never been in the ring before. McMahon would go on to wrestle at too many Wrestlemania’s and PPV’s only 7 years after this was taped. Stone is pinned after a big splash/butt splash combo at 3:15.

Sean Mooney is in the Event Center and it is brought to us by IcoPro. We hear from Hacksaw Jim Duggan who tells us that we all should vote. Say what you want about McMahon, but the man was a big patriot who seems to love America and what she stands for, so it would make sense he urged people to vote.

–Nailz vs. Scott Something or Other–
Nailz dumps the jobber and then gets on the microphone to call out the Big Boss Man. He jeeps kicking the jobber out and says he won’t leave until the Boss Man comes out. There was no match.

We take a break and return with Nailz still in the ring. So the next wrestler comes out for his match and it is none other than the Undertaker. Nailz, spit and snot all over his face, doesn’t back down from the Undertaker, but he doesn’t actually do anything either. Slaughter comes down to the ring and tells Nailz that he must leave and referee Bill Alphonso tells him he must leave. Nailz eventually leaves. I watched WWE a lot back then but I don’t really remember a blow-off between the two. Did they ever wrestle each other?

–Undertaker vs. Jason Helton–
Helton attacks Undertaker from behind but Taker calmly chokeslams him and ends with a Tombstone at 0:39. Undertaker didn’t even take off his jacket.

We go back to Mooney and the Event Center. We hear from the Beverly Brothers (with the Genius) who call out the lower tier tag teams before saying they are gunning for the Disasters’ tag team titles. I have to say the alive to dead ratio has gotten better since the first part of the show. The tag team promo’s continue with some comments from the Bushwhackers that I will ignore here.

McMahon and Perfect have the Nasty Boys in the studio and the Nasty’s reveal they are the #1 contender’s and will be challenging the Natural Disasters for the tag titles.

–Rick Martel vs. Butch Banks–
Martel has a raincoat, hat and umbrella with him, but Tatanka’s feathers are no longer with him. When was that match blown off? Martel works the arm, does a handstand to avoid a monkey flip attempt and then works the knee. Martel then ends with a Boston Crab at 2:35. That was some wacky psychology, no?

Gene Okerlund brings us to the Survivor Series Update section of the show. He runs down the card, starting with the main event of Flair/Ramon vs. The Ultimate Maniacs. We hear from the heel portion of the team. Undertaker and Kamala will be wrestling in a Coffin Match and The Natural Disasters & Bushwhackers will be challenging the Beverly Brothers and Money Inc. A new match was just announced, too! The Mountie will be taking on the British Bulldog for the WWE Intercontinental Title and we hear from both. Bret Hart will be defending his WWE Title against none other than Shawn Michaels. They’d reprise this match 5 years later in a match that’s gained some fame over the years. Michaels says he will win the title when Earl Hebner rings the fucking bell while Hart says he’s leaving the WWE with his dignity.

–Papa Shango vs. Victor Reed–
There’s about 7-minutes left of this show and I’m running on fumes now. A Papa Shango match isn’t going to help my lethargy tonight. Bill Alphonso is the referee again – he’s been all over this show! Shango ends this with a shoulderbreaker at 1:34. McMahon mentions Shango’s curse of Bret Hart which many thought cost him the WWE IC title. Could you imagine a story point like that going on for more than a week on the current product?

Sean Mooney’s still at the Event Center. We hear from Skinner (who hasn’t been on the show in ages) and Tatanka. Next week on Superstars will be the debut of Yokozuna, action from Tatanka, Shawn Michaels, an interview from Ramon and Flair and the Nasty Boys taking on the Natural Disasters for the Tag Team Titles. We hear from the Disasters and Jimmy Hart to close out the show. Hart reveals that it will be Money Inc who will be taking on the Disasters next week, not the Nasty Boys.

–The Bottom Line–
This was a much better episode just because we had some interesting developments on the show that made it more interesting to watch. I’m referring to the Undertaker/Nailz confrontation here. It made me excited to watch the show and see what would happen between the two. The episode also built nicely to a big match for next week as well as the Survivor Series.