The Formation
The precursor for the formation of the Natural Disasters happened on a June 1991 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling when Jimmy Hart announced he had signed André the Giant to form a tag team with Earthquake. When asked by interviewer Gene Okerlund to confirm, André denied the claims, leaving Hart angry and humiliated. Earthquake responded by attacking André from behind with Hart's megaphone 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 against the massive Tugboat and The Bushwhackers. 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 who ran off the Natural Disasters and kicked off the Legion of Doom / Natural Disasters feud. Later in the night the Legion of Doom would go on to win the WWF World Tag Team titles 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 profile meeting between the two 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 titles on the house show circuit but usually without a decisive outcome. At the 1992 Royal Rumble the Disasters got their biggest opportunity so far as they received a shot at the titles. The Disasters won the match via count out but not the titles.
Read more about this topic: The Natural Disasters
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