Michael Ostrofsky

Transcript

Today, I'm not Sam wrestling after a weekend full of news releases and Survivor Series, we look at a pay per view in which WWE was the most influx that maybe it's ever been. This is not Sam wrestling. This is not Sam wrestling, introducing your host from New York. Here is Sam Roberts first. Welcome to the show, everybody. Happy. Not Sam wrestling Monday coming to you on Thanksgiving week here in the United States of America. I feel like I want to figure out something to do to drop on Thanksgiving morning or Thanksgiving Eve or something like that. That's like to me, Thanksgiving. I don't know. I associate it with wrestling podcast. Maybe it's because that's when the infamous punk podcast Drop may just remember being there Thanksgiving morning with earphones in my ear, you know, little earbuds in. And it was before wrestling podcasts were huge and watching like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. As I heard this man pour his soul out, I don't know. Maybe I'll come up with something. If you've got any ideas, feel free to tweet. Well, based on my app mentions right now, they might get lost, but feel free to try. Maybe you could tweet them at me or email not Sam wrestling at gmail.com if you've got any ideas. Maybe that's what we'll do. You know today we're not going to do a Survivor Series 2021 recap I've got something else in store for you. But I will say it was No, we'll either do. We'll either touch on what happened at Survivor Series 2021 Honor Shills Exclusive Podcast. You know, if you're not Sam Shill a patriarchy com slash, not Sam wrestling you get Thursday night, Sam Thursday every week. The additional podcast that we do every tier of the Not Sam shows gets that. And so maybe on Thursday a.m. Thursday, we'll talk about what happened at Survivor Series, or maybe maybe I'll drop something on Thanksgiving morning for everybody and then also do Thursday, not same Thursday for the shows. I don't know yet. We'll figure it out. The week is young and we've got a lot to discuss because I thought, first of all, you have to kind of I don't know if being all being all might be a little bit of an overstatement, but the idea this is what we talked about a lot on Thursday nights and Thursday. This, by the way. Unfortunately, the podcast was taped like three hours this week before all the releases went down because nobody knew that was going to happen. So we'll talk about that in a couple of minutes because it'll lead me into what I want to spend the meat of this show doing. But. The WWE media machine was on full blast for Survivor Series that say, you know, that Survivor Series is still considered one of the big four. It's not in a stadium. It might be a big five. Now I feel like money in the bank has come in. You know, the original Big Four was Survivor Series, SummerSlam, WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, of course, and it became the Big Five for a minute when in 1993. King of the Ring started in June of 93, but. Not long after that, in your house is started, so it was still, I mean, King of the Ring was still one of the big five like throughout 94 95, even when in your house, things were happening because it'd be. It'd be Royal Rumble, then WrestleMania, then king of the ring, then SummerSlam, then Survivor Series in every other month, it was just and in your house. It wasn't until they started naming all the in your houses and then eventually made them three hours and then eventually dropped the title that it just became the Big 12 every year and the King of the Ring Pay-Per-View was dropped. So I think that because the king, the ring pay per view was dropped. Everybody still looked at the original four as almost the pillars of WWE, and that's why the question comes up every year. I don't think anybody questions the importance of SummerSlam, Royal Rumble or WrestleMania, but every year people talk about whether the Survivor Series is really one of the big four or not. And I think that it's not deniable anymore that while Survivor Series, you can debate whether or not Survivor Series is one of the big four, you certainly cannot debate that there are five giant pay per views a year. Money in the bank is absolutely one of the big five, and the evidence of that would be that this year it's happening in a stadium survivor series, not happening in a stadium. Survivor Series happened at the Barclays Center this year, and it's at the TD Bank Center in Boston next year. So Survivor Series is still an arena pay per view. But we've seen, I think the Royal Rumble is in a dome this year. We've seen it in baseball parks. WrestleMania is obviously a stadium show. And as of this year, SummerSlam is a stadium show. So the fact that money in the is also a stadium show would lead you to believe that yes, Survivor Series is now a member of the Big Five, not the Big Four and possibly the fifth of the Big Five. I don't know. But the reason that we know it's definitely in the Big Five is because the media machine that surrounded it a Pay-Per-View that some claimed was not hyped enough became on the tip of the tongue of every wrestling fan by, I would say, most of the week last week, most of the week, you know, they spent two weeks leading up to the pay per view with the focus of Raw and Smackdown being Survivor Series. But then what they did was in the week leading to Survivor Series just rained interview content down on everybody had Big E everywhere, had Charlotte everywhere, had Becky everywhere, had Paul Heyman everywhere. And so every day, as we built up to Survivor Series, there were more and more clips just being thrown on to social media that had everybody talking, and everybody knows the reason why. And something similar happened at SummerSlam. I felt like SummerSlam was the test. And it worked well, so survivor series, they doubled down. I think you'll see something similar around Royal Rumble Week and I can only imagine the media onslaught that is going to be WrestleMania this year when they've got two stadiums that they've got to sell to stadium nights that they've got to sell. But yeah, I mean, I thought, you know? The highlights were like, you know, like, I mean, of course, big and Jim and Sam, that was a highlight. But you know, when you're talking about the newsworthy stuff, it was like Charlotte on The Masked Man and Paul Heyman on with Ariel Helwani and I think Becky Lynch on the May hour. And, you know, there was just stuff. Everywhere. And it really was amazing I was having a conversation with Wade Keller on his show about maybe the fact that people are not 100 percent, one hundred percent of people are not sold. I should say on this idea of brand versus brands to primacy. That may be the way to do it is not try to get four weeks. Of story out of this thing, but just due to heavy weeks of publicity for it that way, people are not burned out by it. And, you know, by the time you get there, nobody's tired of it and you've gotten it slammed into everybody's faces because I think that's the way it happened this year. That's the way it felt anyway. Of course, as all of this stuff was happening, we did get the latest batch of releases, which I feel like every time there's a batch of WWE releases, it's. At least some of the people on the list are fairly shocking. It comes out of nowhere and it's a bummer like. No matter how you feel about the people that are on the list, I think every wrestling fan gets bummed out when a list of talent gets released from WWE, I think ultimately. It is making the industry as a whole healthier, and you're seeing like you're seeing Jonah, the former Bronson Reed, pop up on impact over the weekend, like you're seeing, oh, you're seeing all of these people end up in different spots that will probably work for them, you know, like I think. I think Swerve Scott, for example, could easily end up in A.W., but realistically could also go on a hell of an indie run. You know, I saw that Wrestle Pro already has Karrion Kross booked for a show in February. So you these these people getting released are all so talented. I think John Morrison will probably end up back in. I would imagine back in impact, but you never know. I mean, you could always use the experience, I think. But we saw. John Morrison. Isaiah, Swerve, Scott, Top Dollar Ashanti, the Adonis, Tegan NOx, Drake Maverick, Shane Thorne and Jaxson Ryker all released from their WWE contracts. This news came down on Thursday night of last week. You know, I think I think if you want to teach a master class in how to handle something like this and how to immediately show how valuable you are. Look no further than Drake Maverick. Drake Maverick is such an incredibly underrated talent, and he was utilized by WWE, but it's almost like. It's one of those things where. Drake Maverick cannot look. At anything he's done and say, Oh, I didn't I didn't do it right or I didn't do it well enough. Drake Maverick hit a home run every single time he was at bat, whether it was being the ALP's manager, whether it was being the GM of 205 Live, whether it was the 24-7 Championship, I mean, everything that he did. It was like, wow, and then when he got released that first time. And he put out that emotional video. It was so good that they brought it back, turned it into a storyline. This time he made a visit and he had this video ready to go. He must have known like, Look, I see what's going on around me just in case let me be ready to go, because he dropped this video immediately and the video was a take on the original video. But it was him talking to himself saying, like, Look, you're the man you're going to, you're going to be fine, you're going to take your talents elsewhere because they're your talents, which I think is the message that everybody has to remember. That ultimately, WWE is a platform. But they're not the creators of talent. Somebody is talented, they can move to another or create their own platform. That's the beauty of the world that we live in right now. But Drake Maverick's video that he put out was so good. John Cena tweeted it. John Cena tweeted it When you get the John Cena love, you know you're doing something right. I hope Drake Maverick is feeling pretty good about himself right now. John Morrison, I think that was a shock to people, you know, I don't, you know, it's weird because we never really got the payoff. On The Miz and Morrison break up because Miz went off to do Dancing With the Stars and just as he's ready to come back from Dancing With the Stars. Morrison's gone like, I don't know if maybe they came up with something else for The Miz to do. And since there wasn't going to be a feud with Morrison, they didn't know what to do with Morrison. So they released him. I don't know. I mean, I thought John Morrison came back to the company to tell time that it was difficult, you know, over the pandemic and stuff and or at least was a highlight during the pandemic and. You know, again, it's one of these guys that everything that I thought Johnny Drip Drip was working. You know. And, John, I mean, talk about a freak of nature. To be in the game as long as he's been in the game and still be as good as he is and athletic as he is, you know he's not gonna have any problem either. The ones and Tegan NOx, you know, I think Teague and Iaw needs to grab Tegan NOx like yesterday, like Tegan NOx vs. Britt Baker for the Women's Championship. Forget about it. Like, that's the match. You know, Tegan NOx will go to A.W. and be the biggest star ever. Like Tegan NOx is one of those talents that if she goes to A.W. and jumps in with that women's roster that they've got, people will be like, Who would ever release this talent? I really think so. I hope that's what our plan is. I hope that's what Old Tony Khan's plan is. The hero thing is crazy to me when I look at all the releases that have been going down and look, the releases are a part of life. You know, I mean, it's one of those things like when WWE is going through a phase where they're just hiring everybody and just have this mass of talent under contract. You've got to realize that at some point there's going to be another side of this coin. At any point, they could decide, you know, this isn't how we want to do things and then they do things differently, and that's fine. Like, I don't. It's just how you're going to run your business. It is what it is. But. I feel like with every group I sit there, every group of releases. There's like somebody on there where I go, I can't wrap my head around this one. You know, you don't want to wrap your head around any of them, but some you're like, OK, I mean, I guess this isn't the most pleasant thing in the world or even I think they're wrong about this, but this might be the way they're thinking. I can't imagine, like right now. If I were to start a wrestling promotion. It's like. The idea that. Alistair Black. The Fiend. The IIconics. And hit row all available, and this is no disrespect to anybody. This is just respect and on those people, those four acts just resonate with me and I think a lot of the audience so much that I cannot explain how or why that would happen. I can not explain why any wrestling company. Would not want those four acts involved, I feel like if you have those four acts, you can build an entire TV show around it. I feel like those four acts along with Roman Reigns on one show and, you know, Big E ! Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, like those four. Have you got Roman Drew? Bobby and Biggie? And then you've got Alistair Black, The Fiend, the IIconics and hit row. Look, I don't know how, even just with those elements, you don't have everything you could possibly need for an incredible wrestling show. It blows my mind. I hope I hope specifically swerve, I don't think we ever got to see what a shot the Adonis was capable of. You know, you popped in in a few matches here and there, but you know, I don't think that that he ever got the opportunity to really showcase what he's got. Interesting. The top dollar thing because I mean, it felt like. He had everything that you could why he's a big guy. He could move, you know, he could host a show if he wasn't wrestling, he could do so. You know, who knows? But swerve Scott specifically? I was a fan of of swerve Scott. What, Shane Strickland, long before he was in WWE? I mean, there's a reason why he was on the he was on the podcast here pre hit row because I talked to him and I was like, Man, I would love to talk to you on the podcast just because he's good at everything. I mean, this guy was all over the independents before he got to next. And he's amazing. And I think that he's going to remind people how good he is coming off of this. You know, I think there's a good chance he ends up in A.W. But if I had my druthers, I would hope. That he doesn't end up in A.W. I'd like to see Swerve Scott everywhere, like I want to see him on a CW show. I want to see him. I don't know. I final battle is probably calling it too close, but I'd love to see him on Ring of Honor Return. I'd love to see him pop up everywhere, and maybe he will. Maybe he'll be in A.W. and everywhere else. I think it'd be great. But yeah. I don't understand it, but I don't have to understand it. It's not my job. I did read a comment from somebody that I thought was interesting because it made me think that. It's one thing to be like somebody like I am or I think most of the people listening this are people who are kind of analytical in their approach to watching wrestling. You know, people that read all the stuff on the internet and are interested in the behind the scenes stuff in the business side and kind of know what's going on and you know, as much as any of us do. But this person pointed out, imagine how crazy it is right now to be a little kid. Watching wrestling. And going, like, where are all these guys like, I just started getting into Hero, where did they go? Like what's happening here with all these guys getting released? And I was like, Yeah, that would be wild. But then I was like, It's not like, it's unprecedented. Because I go, is this going on when I was a kid? And the answer's yes, like regardless of when you are a kid, if you were a kid during the attitude era, you're probably wondering why the hell ravishing Rick Rude was on two shows at the exact same time. What the hell happened to Lex Luger? If you were a kid during the pre attitude era, you were like, Why aren't razor and diesel on my TV anymore? Why did Shawn Michaels just hand the Championship over and leave TV for all this time? Why after stone-Cold beat Shawn Michaels, did we not see him again until months later, and he came out as the commissioner and then disappeared again? What the hell is going on? Where did this guy go? Where did that guy go? Why at WrestleMania eight? Was it supposed to be Hogan's last match and he doesn't show up again until WrestleMania nine? What is happening here? Well, I thought about this a lot. And I thought about WWE and its transitional periods and the fact that. In 1992, I would have been turning nine, right? 1992 is my first live WWE show, SummerSlam 92, I was living in England at the time in Wembley Stadium. I've told a story many times, but that was August of 92, so I still would have been eight years old and I saw wrestling live for the first time and it really was kind of that eye opening experience. You know, I remember my parents being worried about me going to the show because they thought that I would see wrestling a little bit more for what it was than maybe I saw it. You know, I'd see maybe not all of the blows making contact. I'd see maybe some of the theatrics involved, some of the cooperation involved. But for me, I didn't see it as anything different than I saw it before. For me, when I saw it live, I was just more. It was more of a sensory overload. I fell more in love with it and it's been that way. I mean, in the years that followed. The more I found out about wrestling, the more I loved it. I'm not one of these guys that says, you know, don't meet your heroes, don't get close to your heroes for me. It's like get as close as humanly possible, and then if you have to back up, back up. But don't not get close because you're worried it might get bad. That's a that's a failure's mentality, but I thought about it and I was like in 1992, and then I was thinking about SummerSlam and I was like, For God's sakes, that was the first show without Hulk Hogan mention being a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s and then going to a Pay-Per-View and Hulk Hogan is just gone. Why? I don't know. How to make your partner like you again with Postmates here, that that salmon sashimi fresh so fresh, you muting email now, Carol, because you busy using chopsticks and not venting about traffic on the 405, such as soy drips on your stretches, wet pants get sashimi on Postmates for $30 off your first three orders of $35 or more. Use code L.A. Throw terms apply. But I was thinking about transitional periods, and I, uh, I came up with a little something, if you would allow me. Hmm. To take you on a journey, there are a few major transitional periods that have happened within the WWE. One was in the early 2000s as they lost not only stone cold Steve Austin, but the rock on a full time basis and possibly most importantly, WCW as competition. One could argue that the post John Cena era was also a major transition for the WWE. But for me, one of the most interesting was the period that followed the loss of the first mega superstar in the WWE. Hulk Hogan. This is 1992. We're talking about in 1992, we got to see for the first time what a post WrestleMania era WWE would look like without Hulk Hogan, Hulk Hogan and WWE were synonymous to brands that built each other. But in 1992, at WrestleMania eight, Hogan had what at the time was advertised as possibly his last match. It wasn't even close to his last match, but it did leave WWE headlining multiple Big Four pay per views without Hulk Hogan for the first time. Add to all of this the real life steroid trial that was starting putting into question the very future of the WWE is a business, and things were ripe for change. Up until 1992, there had only been one match at a survivor series that wasn't a traditional elimination tag. It was the year before a World Championship singles match between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker. But even with that match on the card, everything on that show was built around four on four elimination tag matches. Survivor Series, it was a total break from tradition when in 1992, the Survivor Series card was announced and there would be no classic rules elimination tag matches on the entire show. They had gone from making a huge deal about the fact that one match on the show. Would not be an elimination tactic. We were actually going to have a WWE championship at the Survivor Series two only one year later. Putting on the Survivor Series with no survivor series. Without Hogan, WWE decided to start from scratch and attempt to redefine their Thanksgiving tradition as they redefined their entire company. Survivor Series 92 would be advertised as a night full of firsts. Not only was it the first Survivor Series without Hulk Hogan and the first Survivor Series without any Survivor Series matches, but it would also be the first nightstick match on WWE Pay-Per-View. The first coffin match on WWE Pay per view, and the first time that Bret the Hitman Hart would be wrestling on pay per view as the WWE Champion of the world. Survivor Series 92 started with a standard good guy versus bad guy, tag team match samu and fat to the head drinkers with original wild Samoan IPA at ringside as their manager. Taking on high energy, own heart and Coco beware. The most interesting thing about this match is probably the realization after the fact. When you look at the fact that with Owen in the first match, this Pay-Per-View was actually bookended by Hart's own and Coco vs. the hedge drinkers as your opener and Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, which would go on to be your final match of the night, of course. That was not guaranteed to be your final match of the night until we found out it was the final match of the night. APHA sat ringside or stood ringside, I guess, devouring a turkey carcass as the first match of the show started the night before Thanksgiving in Ridgefield, Ohio, at the Ridgefield Coliseum. While we did see some bright baggy pants and sick dropkicks from high energy, it would end up being the hedge drinkers that got the victory in fairly short order. Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan were the commentators for the night, and shockingly, with Bobby cheering on all the villains, things start to pick up with the second match of the night the first ever WWE Pay-Per-View nightstick match where a nightstick would be hung on a pole in one of the ring corners. The first combatant to grab the nightstick got to use it. In an era of well before the on a pole match had become a trope in nationally televised wrestling. This was a first for WWE only TV fans. There had been pole matches in wrestling prior to this, but WWE had never done one on Pay-Per-View, certainly. The Big Boss man was one of the WWE most recognizable heroes. His character as a hero cop, however, had become so recognizable that most of his storylines were centered around his former vocation. A year prior, the boss man was just finishing up his high profile rivalry against the evil Canadian Mountie. So what could be a more natural rivalry than an American policeman versus a Canadian Mountie? Enter nails. A newly released prisoner formerly under the guard of the Bosnian? In the second quarter of 1992, Vignette started airing in which we heard the voice of a man claiming to have been convicted of a crime that he quote did not do. He vowed revenge against the boss man for the way the boss man treated him while nails was incarcerated at the end of May. Nails appeared on television for the first time in the flesh. After the Big Boss man won a singles match, a giant in a bright orange prison jumpsuit, I guess they let him keep the uniform. Ran into the ring, jumped the boss man and beat him unmercifully with the Big Boss man's own nightstick. The beat down was taken far more seriously than most. This was not the Big Boss man beating up Bobby the Brain Heenan for making jokes about Boss Man's mom. No nails was shown to have done real damage. The boss man would be out of action for months. The WWE magazine would run a story showing the bruising and the injuries and damage that nails had done with the nightstick. They would go so far as to say that the Bigg Boss man's career was threatened. At the hands of nails beat down that we didn't know if we would ever see the Big Boss man in a WWE ring again. Nails would brutalize Virgil at SummerSlam 92 two nails was credited with ending the career of Sgt. Slaughter, and he went on a tremendous run of destroying local talent on WWE TV. Finally, Big Boss man did return, and when he did, he was the one searching for vengeance, swearing to make nails suffer for the brutality that boss man had to go through, as well as Boss Man's peers. And for the baseless accusations against him. Survivor Series was determined as the spot where vengeance could be served. Sean Mooney interviewed both men before the match. Nails with his intensity, his enhanced speech and trademark spitting went first, which was important because halfway through his interview, the Big Boss man realized that nails had already gone to the ring and was trying to grab the nightstick before Bossman even had a chance. Bosman ran off the interview set and immediately to the ring, stopping the ex-con from grabbing the weapon. Fans had waited months to watch these to finally settle the score in the ring and honestly. The nightstick on a pole seemed like like a distraction. This was not the final blow off in a series of matches. This was the first time Bosman and nails had ever had a televised match at all. And while watching and while at first there was a satisfaction to watching them finally come to blows. Seeing them pause a beat down so that they could effectively climb a pole to grab a weapon so they could pull it down and use it was in practice, kind of an anti-climax. That said, once the nightstick was in play, it was it was there to add some drama. Bosman got the nightstick first, and he used it first, although he didn't use it as bad as nails did, he didn't and nails his career almost with it and eventually lost possession. Once nails had it, flashbacks to the brutality that have put boss man out of action previously started coming forward. I mean, and nobody had been able to stop nails. I tell you this nail saying that he was not a legitimate convict. The way you would brutalize his opponents, it made it very difficult to believe that. Well, holding that nightstick. Nails have been unstoppable. You see, when he took Boss Man out of action, he didn't take the nightstick out of action. All the months the boss man was at home healing from the beat down he received, it nails his hands nails, was coming to the ring with the boss man's nightstick, just holding in such a tight grip on that thing. However, even after nails got possession of it, man did eventually get the nightstick back, and he used it to help get the victory over nails. This was the Khan's first defeat in the WWE and it was at the hands of the prison guard that drove him crazy. For all those years? This match certainly wouldn't make any best of playlists, but the anticipation for the battle, as well as for what it would look like to see a nightstick match in 90s WWE was a big deal at the time. At least to me. A new villain in a new type of match on a night where WWE was clearly beginning to enter a new phase. Another rivalry that ate up a lot of 1992 was Rick, the motto Martell and Tatanka from the time to Tonka debuted in the WWE earlier that year. Martell had a problem with him, and it led to the two having a match at WrestleMania eight. After Gitonga beat the model, the two moved on to and started his undefeated streak. Martell ended up in a rivalry over the summer that would take him to a heel vs. heel match with Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 92, in which neither man would be allowed to punch their opponent in the face. The ban on face damage at the personal request of Shawn Michaels, manager I suppose sensational, Sherri. After SummerSlam, though, Rick Martel reignited his feud with the Native American to Taka spraying his arrogance cologne in the eyes of Tatanka, a stunt that had cost Jake the snake, roberts his vision just a couple of years prior and stole to Tonga's sacred feathers. He would pin the feathers to his beret, wearing them almost as a fashion accessory, jumping on the trend of cultural appropriation far earlier than most supermodels, Survivor Series was the night that Ataka aimed to get those feathers back. It's one of the things that made the Survivor Series so interesting. While there were no Survivor Series matches, there were far more personal rivalry personal grudge matches than most WWE Pay per views, especially personal rivalry, personal grudge matches that were all based around an item, a nightstick, a feather, a coffin. There were no specific stipulations, and the feather was not on a pole. But just having a traditional singles grudge match was atypical for a survivor series pay per view notable. Was drinks first WWE pay per view appearance in this match? This was before he was actually named, but he was in the aisle during this match, making balloon animals for fans. This was the era when it was out. There's that clown again, and you didn't know what his motivations were. You didn't know if he was a mascot. You didn't know he was there to entertain fans. You didn't know views on the model side to talk aside, neither person side. It wasn't throwing buckets on anybody yet. Certainly didn't have a fake army, and there was only one doing. This was so early. Instead of wearing white gloves, doing had white face paint sloppily rubbed on his hands, which did subtly add to his creepiness. All clowns aside, however, Tatanka ended up winning this match afterward, clipping his feathers off Martell's corner and reclaiming them forever. I'm not exactly sure why to Tiger had one of those hiking clips on his feathers. I guess it makes it easier to have them as an accessory to anything. And he reclaimed them forever. And less importantly than the feathers, tetangco, of course, maintained his undefeated streak. What was billed as the main event for this show came on in the middle, I guess it was the fourth match, the same thing and happened earlier that year at SummerSlam, when Bret Hart and the British bulldog went on last instead of the world title match between Macho Man and Ultimate Warrior. That was technically the main event and went on in the middle. Macho Man, back in the main event of Survivor Series, as at first, was the ultimate warrior, but again it goes on in the middle. It was easily justified at SummerSlam, if not expected by the fact that they were in England. But it should be noted that while SummerSlam 92 was the first Pay-Per-View without Hulk Hogan. The world title match had been between the Ultimate Warrior and the Macho Man, two megastars from Hogan's era. The main event got complicated for Survivor Series. All in 1992, Ric Flair won the vacant WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. He then lost it to Macho Man at WrestleMania eight. That was in, I guess, April. Macho then lost it to Ric Flair at an UN televised show. The match would later be shown on television, of course, in September of that year, and then Flair lost the title only a month before Survivor Series in October of that year to Bret Hart and another UN televised show clearly just a way to move the title from Macho Man to Bret Hart without having one fan favorite have to beat another. Although I'm not sure it wouldn't have made more sense to just headline Survivor Series with Bret Hart vs. Macho Man Randy Savage and what would have been an absolute classic. After losing the title, Macho Man and his SummerSlam opponent, the ultimate warrior, would form a union. They would create a super team called The Ultimate Maniacs, and they set their sights on Ric Flair. Mr. Perfect and Bobby Heenan, who had forced the count out finish for the Macho Man Ultimate Warrior SummerSlam match, still, follow me here. Bobby Heenan was a manager. Mr. Perfect, an executive consultant. So they did not wrestle. Somewhere along the way, Ric Flair befriended a new UP-AND-COMING villain, Razor Ramon, and a match was made for the Survivor Series, the ultimate maniacs, macho man Randy Savage and the ultimate warrior going to want to with Ric Flair and Razor Ramon. Unfortunately. We are not finished, so even to this day, if you go on Peac**k and you look at the poster for Survivor Series 92, the advertisement for Survivor Series 92. This is the match that you'll see. But once you click on it, this is not the match that you'll see. Between the forming of the ultimate maniacs, the announcement of the Match and Survivor Series, the ultimate warrior would disappear from WWE leaving module man without a partner. So you see, this is what I mean. Imagine looking at a main event scene at a main event for a Pay-Per-View Ultimate Warrior, a household name, and one day he's just gone. Yeah, he's not going to be there. He needs macho man needs a new partner. Things were hinted at, but nothing was officially said about the ultimate warrior until days before the pay per view. Mr. Perfect and Ric Flair had had some minor disagreements over the previous few weeks, and when the time came for Macho Man to pick a new partner on an episode of primetime wrestling right before Survivor Series, he announced his pick was the perfect partner again. Mr. Perfect had not wrestled. He was not a wrestler. He was a commentator. He was a broadcaster. He was the executive consultant to Ric Flair. But for some reason, Macho Man found himself without a partner and in a pinch went to Rick Flair's guy. Both Mr. Perfect and Bobby Heenan at the time were panelists on prime time wrestling. Macho Man made this announcement on primetime wrestling via satellite. While both Mr. Perfect and Bobby Heenan were on the panel upon hearing the news, Perfect looked flattered by it. But Heenan laughed it off, saying that Mr. Perfect works for Ric Flair and works for Bobby Heenan. So, of course, Perfect would not be teaming with Savage. Perfect took umbrage with Heenan speaking for him, and as Bobby begged for mercy, Perfect poured an entire glass of water over the head of Bobby the Brain Heenan. He then looked right into the camera and accepted the invitation of the macho man Randy Savage. The announcement at that time was made at Survivor Series. Mr. Perfect would step back into the ring for the first time in over a year to team with the macho man Randy Savage against the very man. The perfect was the executive consultant for Ric Flair and his partner, Razor Ramon. Mr. Perfect stepping back in the WWE Ring Another Survivor Series 1990 to WWE First. There was always the possibility that Perfect could turn on Macho Man. But regardless, the headlines was that Mr. Perfect was returning to the WWE ring. The other headline was out of nowhere. The ultimate warrior was gone from WWE. While Mr. Perfect was a big deal, the ultimate warrior was a household name, second only in the WWE to Hulk Hogan. Barely eight months after his return from his previous disappearance, fans were given no explanation whatsoever as to where the most famous superstar in a post Hulk Hogan world had gone. Once the night came, Ultimate Warrior was no longer the story. After Razor Ramon and Ric Flair made their entrances. Former champion macho man Randy Savage came out and before hitting the ring, grabbed a mic to introduce his perfect partner, Mr. Perfect. That familiar Mr. Perfect music played and out came the former villain in a singlet for the first time since leaving the ring, abandoning the two tone look that he become famous for and instead donning a singlet that was all black with a glittery Mr Perfect logo airbrushed on the back of the tights that matched the logo that he had put on the suit jacket he had worn with Ric Flair for the last year or so. There was a concern for flare and razor in the voice of Bobby, the Brain Heenan on commentary, as well as a bitterness toward Mr. Perfect. Perfect was not in peak physical condition, but not bad either. It was amazing seeing him back in the ring. Finally, especially on such short notice, but it was also confusing. Having someone as big as the warrior to replace was, of course, next to impossible, but adding Mr. Perfect so quickly left some of us wondering why Perfect would so quickly join forces with Macho Man to begin with. And while that was never fully explained, the paranoia was utilised halfway through the match. While Ric Flair and Razor Ramon had an advantage beating down the Macho Man, Mr. Perfect jumped off the apron and left the ring. He started walking back down the aisle. His face appeared to tell the story of a man wondering if he had made the right move at the last minute. Perfect apparently decided he had, and that even though his former associates had the advantage in this match, that Mr. Perfect was the one that could make all the difference. He decided to rush back to the ring to save his partner, Rick. Macho Man Randy Savage, obviously Ric Flair and Razor Ramon would end up both being victims to the perfect Plex. However, the referee had been knocked out, so no one was there to count the fall. When a second official came to join the match. He came upon Ric Flair and Razor Ramon, double teaming Mr Perfect, the combatants ignored the referee's count. The illegal man refused to leave the ring, while the referee had no choice. He disqualified Razor Ramon and Ric Flair. And that's how the match ended. What was originally advertised as a clashing of WWE's top superpowers ended with a double team disqualification. This was the second big Macho Man Pay-Per-View match in a row to end in a count out or a disqualification. Pretty far from the victorious visual of holding the title up after his WrestleMania eight win. The idea of the disqualification was probably that Randy Savage was going to be returning to the broadcast team primarily. So while WWE wanted a victory for the fan favorites, they did not want the bad guys, the villains, the ones that would be wrestling at the top of the card after Survivor Series to lose by pin or submission. That said, Ric Flair would never return to the top of the card and he'd be out of the WWE in a couple of months. Mr. Perfect would be a hero at the upper part of the middle card for a year or so before once again stopping his in-ring work. Razer, however, would be one of the top people in the industry for almost the next decade. Perfect and Savage would get a measure of satisfaction over their foes with a post-match beatdown and an embrace that solidified Mr. Perfect position as a good guy. But. Randy Savage repeatedly. Holding up his arm in victory. While not pinning or submitting his opponent on pay per view made it tough to believe that this was the top guy in the WWE and quite frankly, at that time, it wasn't. After this huge tag team match, the next event at Survivor Series 92 was even more of a focus on the future and yet another Survivor Series 1990. First, it was the first Pay-Per-View match of Yokozuna. Yoko had arrived on the scene about a month earlier, and although he absolutely dominated, nobody could have predicted the rocket ship ride that he was about to go on. On this night, his opponent was Virgil now. In more recent years, Virgil has become a bit of a meme. But in 1992, Virgil was about a year removed from having a legit singles push. After leaving the side of the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase, whom Virgil was bodyguard of Verge, would end up feuding with Ted DiBiase, accusing him of mistreatment. He'd even gained victories and at one point became a million dollar champion in 1991. However, by the middle of 1992, the audience had grown a little bit cold to Virgil. Virgil spot had become that of an enhancement talent who had a recognizable name and a superstar that you knew was going to get squashed, but would add some credibility to the opponent who squashed him more so than a name that you might not have heard of before. SummerSlam 92 had been Virgil's last Pay-Per-View match, where, as I said before, he was dominated by nails in what was nails pay per view debut and Survivor Series would actually be no different. Virgil did get some offense in, but it generally felt like it was designed to display that. Even after an onslaught of dropkicks, the mighty Yokozuna could not be knocked off his feet, let alone beaten. You'll go with Mr. Fuji in his corner, would end up defeating Virgil via the bonsai drop to the surprise of no one. And when I told you that this guy was on a rocket ship ride. That's because after this match, it would lead Yoko into 1993, where he would go on to win the Royal Rumble. Then win the WWE Championship. Then beat Hulk Hogan. Yoko had himself a year. But we're not quite there yet. The only match at Survivor Series 1992 that even resembled a traditional Survivor Series match was the tag team elimination match that went down after the Yokozuna Vergil match. This match was the Beverley brothers who were accompanied by the genius teaming with Money Inc., accompanied by their manager, Jimmy Hart. Those tag teams would be taking on two of Jimmy Hart's former teams. Now fan favorites The Nasty Boys and the natural disasters. What made the rules different about this match than a traditional Survivor Series match was that once one team member was eliminated, his tag team mate would also be eliminated. So if you were to eliminate if you were to pin one Beverly brother, the other Beverly brother was gone too. If you were to a pin, Jerry SAG's Brian Nobs was out of the match to win. A team would need to score two decisions, not the traditional four or even five decisions. Both the nasty boys and the natural disasters felt misrepresented by Jimmy Hart, as if Jimmy was showing favoritism to Money Inc. The fact that the Beverley's would associate with money and get all was enough to make them guilty by association in the eyes of the fan favorite natural disasters and nasty boys. The match went a little longer than I would have expected or maybe even thought. But this was kind of the end of WWE golden era of tag teams. I mean, talk about a transitional period. You look at the Beverly brothers, the nasty boys strictly tag teams. Even Money Inc was kind of put together when you knew that Ted DiBiase was kind of winding down as a singles competitor, but they weren't looked at as a team that would break up. They were looked at as a permanent team. Same thing with the natural disasters. Once earthquake had gone through his run with Hulk Hogan and had gone through his run with Jake Roberts, it was like, OK, it's time to turn tugboat. And enter the tag team division. But the natural disasters were a strict tag team. They even had tag team name. But if you look at the 80s and 90s, you're looking at the Heart Foundation and demolition and the rockers in the bushwalkers and all four of these teams and every other team going forward, you would have teams that were together on a lot more short term basis, teams that maybe didn't necessarily come across like a tag team act. I mean, even when they would try to, the head drinkers would be around for a little bit. But within a couple of years, Fatu would be make a difference. Fatu, the smoking guns would come out and be together for a little bit. But you get bad a*s Billy Gunn and even more famously, brawl for all Bart Gun. The earthquake was able to eliminate the Beverley brothers first, and then it was the nasty boys who eliminated Money Inc., leaving the heroes of this match without Jimmy Hart standing in victory. Did I mention that there were some first Survivor Series 1990 two for the first time on WWE Pay per view, a coffin mattress presented Kamala was one of the first in what would become a series of monsters that The Undertaker had to conquer. Kamala would lose a match to The Undertaker by disqualification at SummerSlam 92. Yes, a second major match at SummerSlam 92 that was ended in disqualification, but he would leave the ring terrified after the Undertaker was able to sit up unfazed following the attacks of the Ugandan giant. The only thing that made Kamala more scared than The Undertaker's imperviousness to his pain. Physical coffins, yes, the undertakers manager pallbearer would begin bringing coffins to ringside during Kamala's matches as soon as Kamala would see the casket. He'd run out of the ring, not bothering to finish off his opponent, more focused on escaping. I mean, it must have been done terrible things to his win loss record because he was losing all those matches via count out. Neither his handler, kimchee or his manager, Dr Harvey Whipple men could calm Kamala down. And so I guess Jack Tunney saw that and decided to make the match in order to get a measure of revenge from The Undertaker and to simply find a decisive victor between the two. The Undertaker and Kamala would meet at Survivor Series 92 in the first ever coffin match. Vignettes ran in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series, showing Undertaker building a coffin specifically for Kamala. He was hammering on the iron, he was nailing the wood, he was bending the metal, making it all hot. I mean, The Undertaker is a talented guy. When Kamala came to the ring at Survivor Series, he looked like anything. But a hunter. He actually. Entered the match in a very, very timid space, apparently worried over what The Undertaker had in store for him. Kimchee, Harvey Whipple men, they tried to calm Carmela. They tried to let him know. Don't worry, you're going to defeat this man. But Carmela simply did not have the blind confidence that we had seen from him in literally every other match Kamala had ever been a part of. Undertaker would come to the ring with pallbearer at SummerSlam. The two rode into Wembley in a hearse. This time, pallbearer would be holding the urn as always, but also brought a wooden casket to the ring. That casket was painted on the top with the same design that Kamala painted on his torso and talking pectoral stars and belly button moon right on the top of this casket, exactly where ideally Kamala would be laying. Kamala would display an offense, but any time he was near the coffin, he would recoil in fear. It'd be like being in a ladder match, but being afraid of heights. The first coffin match would be fought under much different rules than we're used to now. The winner would actually have to pin their opponent, then roll them into the casket, then shut the casket. Eventually, this month's long rivalry would end when The Undertaker would not come out with the urn, then pinned him for a three count taker would win the match by rolling the unconscious giant into the casket, closing the lid and actually having to nail it shut. I can only imagine the state of absolute panic. Kamala must have been in when he came to. It wasn't as iconic as when The Undertaker did it to the ultimate warrior, but it was an important step in setting up The Undertaker to go on a run of facing monsters like Giant Gonzalez, Karma, King Kong, Bundy and eventually The Undertaker himself. It really is interesting when you look at these beat downs in these attacks and the way it was portrayed when a bad guy did it versus when a good guy did it. When The Undertaker was a villain and he trapped the heroic ultimate warrior in a casket, it was looked at as something unfathomable, something unheard of. The casket was portrayed as being airtight. Dozens of people had to come out to help the warrior. The Undertaker was looked at as a total monster. When nails took out, the Big Boss man with that nightstick nails was a complete monster hell bent on a destruction that us normal human beings could simply not relate to. But when the good guy undertaker put Kamala in a coffin, it was just a way to win the match and, quite frankly, comeuppance for Kamala. When the Big Boss man got his hands on the nightstick, it was good nails is getting what he deserves. Finally, after Kamala was put and men laid to rest, the main event had come five years before they would take part in the most infamous finish in WWE history. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart main event did Survivor Series 1992. Earlier, we discussed how Bret Hart had won the WWE Championship, and Ultimate Warrior had completely disappeared weeks prior to Survivor Series at Saturday night's main event. Shawn Michaels beat the British Bulldog for the Intercontinental title. As we said earlier, the Bulldog beat Bret Hart for that title, originally at SummerSlam 92 in the match. That would close that show. But when Shawn Michaels won the title from the Bulldog in what was quite an upset, it was only six weeks removed from the Bulldog winning it from Bret. The Bulldog would follow the warrior disappearing from the WWE. You want to talk about an era in which talent was in flux. I understand that we look at it now and go like, Oh man, that guy was just getting a push. How can he be disappeared from TV in 1992? The good guys in the two biggest match. Well, I guess the two biggest matches on the show were actually good guy versus good guy, but. Heroes from the two biggest matches at SummerSlam 92 were both disappeared from the WWE by Survivor Series 92, and let me tell you something about November of 1992. Thanksgiving Eve 1992 we didn't have no internet. Certainly didn't have Twitter. In the meantime, Shawn Michaels was Intercontinental Champion, and he would walk into Survivor Series with the ultimate advantage. You see, Shawn Michaels Intercontinental Championship was not on the line, while Bret Hart's WWE Championship was that meant at best for Shawn. Bret could lose everything, but even at worst, Shawn could only gain. When Bret Hart and British Bulldog headlined SummerSlam, it was a tremendous departure from the typical WWE main event, a more athletic style based around in-ring work was not something that we saw every day on WWE Pay per view, especially at the top of the show. But because the Bulldog was a hometown hero, it worked. Survivor Series was the true experiment to see if without a homer, this policy could be something that the WWE did going forward. Was Bret Hart, the guy that was going to be able to change the way WWE presented their business? Regardless, it was a tremendous elevation for both Bret and even more for Shawn Michaels, who only a year before this pay per view was still a member of the rocker's. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels both cut promos before the match and had as athletic a match as you'd think. Brett Story was told as if you were a competitor who'd outworked everyone who had fought, scratched and clawed for everything he'd accomplished in WWE. Bret Hart was not portrayed as a superhero. Bret Hart was not portrayed as a cartoon character come to life. Bret Hart was a new kind of main event star in WWE. Bret Hart. Was the guy who truly showcased he fans just work hard, and no matter what anybody says, one day you can make your dreams come true if you want to be the best. Just keep trying and keep trying and keep trying. Bret Hart in November of 1992 was basically the little engine that could. His time as both Intercontinental Champion and Tag Team Champion were highlighted. As for the first time on Pay-Per-View, Bret Hart, a working class hero, was being portrayed as the new top star in WWE. Bret Hart did conquer Shawn Michaels, to no one's surprise. But both superstars shined even brighter in the spot that they were in. The night closed, with snow falling from the Ridgefield Coliseum ceiling and Santa Claus himself coming out to congratulate WWE is new poster boy for the 90s. Bret the Hitman Hart. Of course, the journey would not be easy for Brett, as WWE attempted to make stars out of the returning Hulk Hogan, out of Diesel, out of Yokozuna and more before eventually realizing Brett was their guy. Sean would also continue to elevate over the next five years. And the two would build what would arguably become WWE is most notorious rivalry, both inside and out of the ring. For the first time since Hulkamania began, WWE was refocusing their entire company in 1992, and while they would have about five years of growing pains, there may be no pay per view, more indicative of a company wide shift than Survivor Series 92. So if you're watching the show now. Thinking, Oh my God. WWE keeps changing everything. WWE keeps throwing things out the window. This is not the WWE that I'm used to. Just imagine how you might feel at the end of 1992. Thanks, everybody. Thanks for listening. Follow not Sam, on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Read, review and subscribe. This has been not Sam wrestling.