The Natural Disasters were a
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...
tag team
Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...
composed of
Earthquake (John Tenta) and
Typhoon (Fred Ottman) who worked in the
World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
between 1991 and 1993.
They won the WWF Tag Team Championship once.
Formation and feud with Legion of Doom (1991-1992)
Their precursor to formation happened on a June 1991 episode of ''
WWF Superstars of Wrestling
''WWF Superstars of Wrestling'' (later shortened to ''WWF Superstars'' and to ''Sunday Morning Superstars ''), also referred to as ''Maple Leaf Wrestling'' in Canada was an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by ...
'' when
Jimmy Hart
James Ray Hart (born January 1, 1944) is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician currently signed with WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World ...
announced he had signed
André the Giant
André René Roussimoff (; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by exce ...
to form a tag team with Earthquake. When asked by interviewer
Gene Okerlund
Eugene Arthur Okerlund (December 19, 1942 – January 2, 2019), better known by his ring name "Mean Gene" Okerlund, was an American professional wrestling interviewer, announcer and television host. He was best known for his work in the World Wres ...
to confirm, André denied the claims, leaving Hart angry and humiliated. Earthquake responded by attacking André from behind with Hart's
megaphone
A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loudhailer is usually a portable or hand-held, cone-shaped acoustic horn used to amplify a person's voice or other sounds and direct it in a given direction. The sound is introduced into ...
and injuring André's knee.
Jimmy Hart got revenge for the humiliation a few weeks later during a six-man tag team match featuring Earthquake and
The Nasty Boys
The Nasty Boys are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags. The team were active from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. Their gimmick was that of anti-social punks who specialized in hardcore wrestling and brawl ...
against the massive Tugboat and
The Bushwhackers
The Bushwhackers are a professional wrestling tag team who competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promotions, ...
. It was revealed in this match that Hart secretly signed Tugboat, who turned on his partners after a few minutes of action and joined the Earthquake in laying the two New Zealanders out cold with a big splash. After the heel turn Tugboat changed his name to Typhoon and together they became known as “The Natural Disasters”.
The Natural Disasters faced the Bushwhackers, with André in their corner, at
the 1991 SummerSlam pay-per-view, whom they made very short work of. After destroying the Bushwhackers, the Disasters targeted André, but the assault was stopped by
the Legion of Doom
The Legion of Doom is a group of supervillains who originated in ''Challenge of the Super Friends'', an animated series from Hanna-Barbera based on DC Comics' Justice League. The Legion of Doom has since been incorporated into the main DC Univers ...
who ran off the Natural Disasters and kicked off the Legion of Doom / Natural Disasters feud. Later that night, the Legion of Doom won the WWF World Tag Team Championship from the Nasty Boys,
which meant that the Natural Disasters became first in line to get a shot at the new champions.
The first big meeting between the teams came at the
1991 Survivor Series where they were on opposing sides in an elimination match. Typhoon was eliminated due to a miscommunication with team member
Irwin R. Schyster followed by Earthquake walking out with him, leaving the Legion of Doom as the eventual winners. From November to January the Disasters challenged for the tag team championship on the house show circuit, usually without a decisive outcome. At the
1992 Royal Rumble, they won a title match via countout, but not the title.
Face turn and feud with Money Inc. (1992)
In February, Natural Disasters' manager
Jimmy Hart
James Ray Hart (born January 1, 1944) is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician currently signed with WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World ...
led
Money Inc.
Money Inc. was a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from February 1992 to August 1993. The team consisted of "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.). They held the WWF Tag Team Champi ...
(
Ted DiBiase
Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. (born January 18, 1954) is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE working in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship ...
and Irwin R. Schyster) to the WWF Tag Team Championship over the Legion of Doom, who briefly left the WWF.
The Natural Disasters were outraged that their manager would go behind their backs and get another team a shot at the title, the storyline explanation was that Jimmy Hart used the Disasters' guaranteed return match for Money Inc. When the Natural Disasters challenged Money Inc. they won the fan support as they fired manager Jimmy Hart.
The Disasters first got their hands on Money Inc. at
WrestleMania VIII
WrestleMania VIII was the eighth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 5, 1992, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana in the Un ...
, and again won a championship match but not the title, as the champions were counted out. They challenged for the title repeatedly on house shows until winning it on July 20, 1992.
After losing the title, Money Inc. focused on the challenges from the Legion of Doom, which gave the Natural Disasters the opportunity to defend the belts against new competition. They defeated
The Beverly Brothers (managed by
The Genius) at
SummerSlam 1992, the Disasters' first PPV pinfall in a year. They faced the Nasty Boys and Money Inc., both managed by Jimmy Hart. After the Nasty Boys fell out with Hart, Money Inc. regained the title in October 1992.
While the now-babyface Nasty Boys feuded with the champions, the Natural Disasters were phased out of the tag team division, last teaming on PPV at the
1992 Survivor Series, where they were eliminated by Money Inc.
Split and aftermath (1993, 2001)
In 1993, Earthquake and Typhoon began showing signs of dissention, most noticeably at the
1993 Royal Rumble. Typhoon was already in the ring when Earthquake entered as #23 and he immediately went after his tag team partner, focusing only on him until Typhoon was eliminated. The Disasters’ feud never came to fruition as Earthquake left the WWF very early in 1993.
Typhoon briefly stayed with the WWF after Earthquake left. In mid-1993, he signed with WCW and made an infamous debut as The Shockmaster. Typhoon briefly returned to the WWF midcard in 1994.
Earthquake traveled to Japan in 1993 and returned in 1994 for a short “Sumo Vs Sumo” feud with
Yokozuna
, or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments.
This is the on ...
. For the few months Earthquake was in the WWF, no mention of the tag team was made. He then went to WCW, where he wrestled as Avalanche at first and later became The Shark and finally wrestled under his real name before leaving. Earthquake briefly returned to the WWF in 1998 as the masked mute Golga, as a member of
The Oddities.
In 2001, the WWF hosted a quasireunion of the Natural Disasters as they were both involved in the Gimmick Battle Royal of
WrestleMania X-Seven
WrestleMania 17 (stylized as WrestleMania X-Seven) was the 17th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 1, 2001, at the Reliant Astrodo ...
, but Fred Ottman wrestled as Tugboat instead of Typhoon.
Commentator
Bobby Heenan
Raymond Louis Heenan (November 1, 1944 – September 17, 2017) was an American professional wrestling manager, color commentator, wrestler, and comedian. He performed with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation ...
alluded to their previous alliance. Earthquake wound up eliminating Tugboat. That December, he failed a tryout dark match at a ''SmackDown!'' taping.
Earthquake died from metastatic
bladder cancer
Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become mali ...
in 2006.
The Natural Disasters appear in
WWE 2K16
''WWE 2K16'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K Sports for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It is the sequel to ''WWE 2K15'', and was succeeded by ''WWE 2K17''. ...
,
WWE 2K17
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...
and
WWE 2K18
''WWE 2K18'' is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by 2K Sports. It is the nineteenth installment in the WWE game series (fifth under the ''WWE 2K'' banner) and a follow-up to '' WWE 2K17''. It was released wor ...
.
Championships and accomplishments
*
Super World of Sports
Super World of Sports, more commonly known as SWS, was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion from 1990 to 1992. Its motto was "Straight and Strong".
History Formation
In April 1990, Genichiro Tenryu, one of the top stars of All Japan Pro Wr ...
**
SWS Tag Team Championship (1 time)
*
World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
**
WWF Tag Team Championship
The World Tag Team Championship was the original professional wrestling world tag team championship in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion, and the promotion's third tag team championship overall. Originally established by the then- ...
(
1 time)
See also
*
The Dungeon of Doom
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
*
The Three Faces of Fear
The Three Faces of Fear was a professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling, from late 1994 to early 1995. Composed of Kevin Sullivan, The Butcher and Avalanche, the group fought against Hulk Hogan.
History Origins
When Hulk ...
*
The Oddities
References
External links
“Wrestling Accelerator” profile: Earthquake
{{DEFAULTSORT:Natural Disasters, The
WWE teams and stables
WWE World Tag Team Champions