10 Things WWE Fans Should Know About The Natural Disasters Tag Team

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The early 1990s of WWE featured the formation of a literally massive tag team when John Tenta (aka Earthquake) and Fred Ottman (aka Tugboat and later Typhoon) banded together as the Natural Disasters. Initially managed by “the Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart, the Natural Disasters looked to be a dominant monster heel force in the tag team division.

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However, the Natural Disasters proved to be a moderately successful tag team, capturing a couple of tag team titles before breaking up. Their run together lasted a couple of years, but there’s a decent amount to cover in that time, so let’s dive into what fans should know about such an impressive looking tag team.

THESPORTSTER VIDEO OF THE DAY 10 Formed As Part of Jimmy Hart’s Feud With Andre The Giant

Curiously, the origins of the Natural Disaster stem from another monster heel tag team that never came to fruition. In mid-1991, manager Jimmy Hart claimed that he had gained Andre the Giant as a client so he could team him up with Earthquake. When the Giant vehemently denied this, Hart sicced Earthquake on Andre as revenge, leading to an injured Andre accompanying the Bushwhackers to the ring for a match at SummerSlam 1991 against Earthquake and a different sizable partner, Typhoon. Earthquake and Typhoon ended up squashing the Bushwhackers with ease, albeit in a poorly received effort.

9 Started With Tugboat’s Heel Turn

Before teaming up, Typhoon was an adversary of sorts to Earthquake. The previous year, Earthquake set his sights on Hulk Hogan, who was backed up by Hogan’s best friend that season, a giant sailor named Tugboat. Shortly before Jimmy Hart’s spat with Andre the Giant, Tugboat was starting to grow more heelish, which would pay off on an episode of Superstars, where Tugboat would turn on the Bushwhackers in a six-man tag team match against Earthquake and the Nasty Boys. With his heel turn, Tugboat would reinvent himself as Typhoon, adopting a new look and attitude.

8 Feuded With The Legion of Doom

In the post-match of the Natural Disasters’ SummerSlam 1991 bout, Earthquake and Typhoon turned their attention to Andre the Giant, but a post-match attack was thwarted by another tag team in Animal and Hawk, the Legion of Doom. This, of course, fed into a feud between LOD and the Natural Disasters, which gained an even higher profile once Animal and Hawk won the World Tag Team Championship.

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After a clash in a Survivor Series elimination match in 1991, Earthquake and Typhoon got their televised shot at LOD’s tag title at Royal Rumble in January of 1992. The Natural Disasters would come out victorious in the match, albeit via countout, so Legion of Doom retained the belts.

7 Turned Face Due To Jimmy Hart’s Treachery

The Natural Disasters were unable to beat Legion of Doom for the tag team belts, but Jimmy Hart’s other clients, Money Inc. — Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster — managed to dethrone LOD at a house show in early February of 1992. In kayfabe, that title shot was meant for Earthquake and Typhoon, so the Natural Disasters turned babyface and began feuding with Money Inc., ditting Jimmy Hart as a manager in the process. This would lead to a title match at WrestleMania 8, where the Natural Disasters would once again score a countout victory.

6 World Tag Team Champions

Following WrestleMania 8, the Natural Disasters and Money Inc. would clash at house shows until a taping of Superstars in late July, where they’d finally capture the World Tag Team Championship. During the 85-day reign that ensued, Earthquake and Typhoon would mostly defend the belts against jobbers in televised matches, with their most high-profile defense being against the Beverly Brothers at SummerSlam. Their run as tag champs would end at the hands of Money Inc. as they dropped the belts back to their rivals on an episode of Wrestling Challenge.

5 Won A Tag Team Championship In Japan

While their WWE World Tag Team Championship is arguably the biggest moment of the Earthquake and Typhoon’s run as a tag team, the Natural Disasters actually scored another championship win overseas. The short-lived Japanese promotion Super World of Sports had a working relationship with WWE that resulted in many WWE stars showing up in the company, including the Natural Disasters. In mid-April 1992, Typhoon and Earthquake defeated George and Shunji Takano to capture the SWS Tag Team Title only to drop the belts the next day to King Haku and Yoshiaki Yatsu.

4 Last Major Match Together Was At Survivor Series 1992

The aforementioned Survivor Series 1991 match was randomly the main event of the show, with Earthquake and Typhoon teaming with Irwin R. Schyster against Big Boss Man and the Legion of Doom. But the following year the Natural Disasters and IRS would be on opposite sides of the ring as Earthquake and Typhoon wrestled their last televised match together.

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At the 1992 Survivor Series, the Nasty Boys and the Natural Disasters wrestled against Money Inc. and the Beverly Brothers, with the former scoring the win. From there, the Natural Disasters would disappear from television, appearing at house shows against the Headshrinkers and losing every match.

3 Broke Up In 1993

The Natural Disasters’ final match together would be yet another house show loss to the Headshrinkers in mid-December of 1992, but that wouldn’t be the end of their interactions. In the 1993 Royal Rumble, the Earthquake attacked Typhoon as soon as the former entered the Rumble, eliminating his self tag team partner while Earthquake would later be eliminated by Yokozuna. This was meant to kick off a big break-up angle between the two, but it never came to fruition as Earthquake left WWE days later.

2 Typhoon Became The Shockmaster

Following his departure from WWE in the summer fo 1993, the former Typhoon made his way over to rival WCW where he was the focus of one of the most infamous blunders in wrestling history. At Clash of the Champions 24, was introduced as the Shockmaster, Sting’s teammate for the upcoming War Games match, but something went wrong. Shockmaster was meant to burst through a wall as pyrotechnics exploded, but tripped on his way in, spilling to the floor and losing his helmet in the smoke.

1 Crossed Paths Again At WrestleMania 17

In April of 2000, Earthquake and Typhoon reunited as a tag team for the South Florida based indie Future of Wrestling, but the two would interact in a more high-profile match about a year later. WrestleMania 17’s Gimmick Battle Royal featured a number of old school wrestlers making quick nostalgia appearances, including both members of the Natural Disasters. In this case, Typhoon wrestled as Tugboat, but he and Earthquake still clashed reign the match with Earthquake once again eliminating his former partner.

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