King of the Ring
June 23, 1996
Owen Hart joins the commentating team for the night.
Steve Austin vs Mark Mero - KOTR Semi-Finals
The past month had been a grueling month for Austin. At In Your House: Beware of Dog (Last PPV) he lost to Savio Vega which as a result saw Austin's manager, Ted DiBiase fired. He bounced back with an opening round win against Bob Holly and avenged his loss to Savio defeating him in the second round. It was in that match that Austin debuted his new finisher. Perhaps you've heard of it - the Stone Cold Stunner. Meanwhile, newcomer Mark Mero defeated Chris Candi...err Skip and Owen Hart to make it to the PPV. That's kind of depressing though looking back. Austin starts off the match with a little technical wrestling proving that he was far more than just a brawler before the neck injury. Austin goes for the Lou Thesz Press, but ends up just plowing right through Mero. The match drags on a little bit. Mero gets a two count with a flying leg rollup. That move would end up costing Austin 16 stitches in his lip and tongue. On the outside, Mero with a somersault plancha which could of broken the neck of Austin. Looking back, I guess it wouldn't have had made a different though. Austin with an Alley Oop into a Hotshot which leaves Mero wide open for the Stone Cold Stunner (The setup kick still wasn't being done at this point) for the pin.
For 1996 undercard WWE, this was pretty damn good at times. Mero showed that while he was exciting, he was also very careless which would be so dangerous. Mero's mistake would inadvertently make Austin the face for this PPV. Which really just screws up the WWE's booking of Jake Roberts in that role. Anyways, solid opener. 17 Minutes. 3 1/4 Stars. Vader vs Jake 'The Snake' Robert - KOTR Semi-Finals
Vader was still being pushed as the unstoppable monster. He got to this point by beating Ahmed Johnson and getting a bye to the semi finals. Roberts meanwhile, ends up defeating two future WWE World Champions in Hunter and Justin 'Hawk' Bradshaw, both with the DDT. Vader starts off with an arm bar which feels so out of place. Enough of that and we see more common Vader moves using his size. Roberts tries for a DDT, but Vader pushes him in the corner. Short arm Closeline by Roberts sets up another DDT attempt. On the way down, Vader pushes the ref down. The ref quickly calls for the DQ on Vader. Vader isn't happy, so he attacks Roberts. Vader Bomb sets up the angle where Roberts' ribs are broken.
¿Qué? One of the worst DQ calls I've ever seen. Even with the replay, it looked like Vader was just trying to grab the ropes and the ref got in his way. Even if Vader did push the ref down, it was hardly physical enough to draw the DQ. Such a terrible call to make. Attacking the ref so that you don't lose is a tactic for a chicken shit heel, not a monster. This makes Vader look very weak and does little to make Roberts look good either. I mean, fuck, Roberts had Vader down for the DDT, the move that at that time would put away anyone. Why would you call for the DQ?! It would of been so much better for Vader just to have him DQ'd for beating the shit out of Roberts (Say in the corner with punches after the ref tries to get him to stop.) You still have Roberts hurt, but Vader is still the bad ass. The match was looking like it would at least be decent, but the finish killed it for me. 4 Minutes. 1 Star. The Smoking Gunns w/ Sunny vs The Godwins - WWF World Tag Team Titles Match
So Sunny used Phinneas' crush on her to weasel her way into managing the Godwins after they won the tag titles from her Bodydonna's. In their first title defense, they lost the belts to the Gunns. Sunny once again jumped ships to the Texans. So now this is the rematch. JR spends most of the match infuriated with how the Gunns' attitude has changed. I guess that was the problem with the Gunn's in 1996. They were supposed to be heels, yet they never really did anything too heelish. Everything felt so forced. Of course things didn't improve once Bart turned face again once he realized that Billy Gunn's love for Sunny was hurting their team. If you didn't live through the storyline, it was a lot like the Whitmer/Jimmy Jacobs/Lacey storyline. The only differences were that no one cared about this one and no one really benefited from it. Bart nails P.I.G. with a cowboy boat and Billy easily covers Godwin to pick up the win.
Like most 1995/1996 WWE tag team title matches, this was forgettable and terrible. It amazes me that Vince was so dead set on both teams that he couldn't realize how pitiful they were in their feud. 10 Minutes. 1 Star. The Ultimate Warrior vs Jerry Lawler
This feud started over Lawler smashing a painting over the head of Warrior. Okay, to be fair, that's all they showed in the video package. I can barely remember these two even feuding. Lawler spends several minutes insulting the fans before Warrior comes out. Once Warrior comes out, Lawler chokes him with his wrist tape for most of the match. Warrior makes his comeback after no selling the Piledriver and quickly puts away Lawler with his Shoulder block.
Say what you will about Warrior, but the guy was booked like shit in 1996. It's no wonder he gave up not long after this match and left the WWE for good. The sad part is that the WWE never booked the ONE match that could of draw some money with Warrior. But more on that later. The match was terrible, but you can't even blame Warrior on that since it's just 90% Lawler with cheap heat. 4 Minutes. 1/2 Star. The Undertaker vs Mankind
This would be the first PPV (Non dark match) that these two ever had. The match ends up being a hybrid between Taker's typical slow sluggish match with all of the freaks of the past 4 years and a hardcore brawl. Even though Vader was DQ'd for only touching the ref, these two use weapons all throughout the match with the referee having to find excuses to yell at Paul Bearer so he doesn't see it. Mankind tries a Cactus elbow, but Taker uses a chair to block it. Sick looking running knee strike against the steel steps on the outside to Taker. Back in, Mankind tries to use the urn to hit Taker, but Bearer takes it away. Paul Bearer winds back, but Mankind ducks causing Taker to be knocked out by his own manager. Mankind forces the Mandible Claw on and the referee stops the match in favor of Mankind.
While not as exciting as their other matches, it did show the hints of the hardcore greatness that would follow later in the year. Bonus points for showing hints of what's to come at Summerslam 1996. Compared to the rest of this PPV, this match is great. 19 Minutes. 2 1/2 Stars. Goldust vs Ahmed Johnson - IC Title Match
After being knocked out by Owen Hart's cast following a match, Ahmed Johnson was stretched to the back. Upon seeing Ahmed out cold, Goldust being the kind fellow he is, begins CPR. Ahmed wakes up and realizes what happen and is pissed off. Cut to the match and Ahmed runs to the ring and attacks Goldust. Goldust tries to escape, but Johnson dives to the outside taking Goldust out. He nearly missed Goldust altogether, but we'll choose to not notice that. Back in, Goludst takes over and the match drags on...and on. Skip ahead and Goldust keeps feeling up Ahmed Johnson. That at least gets a reaction from this half asleep crowd. Ahmed comes back with a Spinebuster and finishes Goldust off with the Pearl River Plunge becoming the 3rd IC champion of 1996.
For anyone who never saw Ahmed, he's the 1990's version of Bobby Lashley. One thing that always aggravated me about Bobby Lashley was how everyone called him Black Lesnar. While Bobby and Brock both have impressive physiques, Bobby didn't have the mic skills or the in ring talent of Lesnar. What Lashley did have was the inability of talking, being prune to botch and being an overall mess in the ring. Which is why he reminds me so much of Ahmed. To Ahmed's credit, he was insanely over from his debut to this point. Forget about Steve Austin, Triple H, Rocky Mavia or anyone else. If there was one rookie around this time that I would of had to guess would become the WWE Champion, it was Ahmed Johnson. The guy was destined for big things. That all came to a screeching halt when Farooq made his debut and injured (Legit) Ahmed on an edition of Raw. After that, Ahmed couldn't remain healthy long enough to see a push. I guess the only thing to be said is thank-you Ron. Outside of the very brief exciting start, the match was terrible. Avoid. 16 Minutes. 3/4 Star. Steve Austin vs Jake 'The Snake' Roberts - KOTR Finals
So while the WWE spent a lot of time from the semi-finals to this match promoting Roberts heroic never say die determination to finish this tournament, Austin went to the local emergency room to get his 16 stitches from Mero's botch. Jim Ross mentions Austin's injury without realizing that it makes Austin sound a lot more of a bad ass then Roberts' storyline. It's all Austin in this matchup working on the injured ribs of Jake Roberts. Finally, WWF President, Gorilla Monsoon comes to the ring ordering the match to be stopped for Jake's own safety. With that, Austin wins the King of the Ring.
This was pretty much a squash from the outside, but when looking at it deeper, it shows just how incredible of a wrestler Austin was. In one night, the WWE made Austin a star while trying to put Roberts over. This whole issue is what I find to be the most interesting aspect of this show. It's almost as if even though Austin was going to win the KOTR, it was going to be a minor story compared to Roberts. More on this later on. 4 Minutes. 1 Star.
After the match, Steve Austin joins Doc Hendrix and begins to coin the catchphrase that would be synonymous with this time period. "You sit there, and you thump your bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere. Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16 – AUSTIN 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!" Honestly, how could anyone support Jake Roberts on a night where Austin came out of nowhere to put on the best match of the night (Up to this point), had little to no hype and ended the KOTR tournament with such an intense promo? I truly feel as if the greatest thing Triple H ever (Inadvertently) did was end up in trouble with the MSG break of kayfabe resulting in Austin being made the winner of the KOTR, not him. I'm sure Hunter fans would try to say he has accomplished much bigger things in wrestling, but I just don't believe it.
Shawn Michaels vs Davey Boy Smith - WWE World Title Match
These two wrestled at the previous PPV resulting in a double pin. The whole storyline was that Shawn Michaels tried to have his way with Diane Smith (1996's cute way of saying Michaels tried to rape her). Mr. Perfect was hyped as being the referee for the match, but Gorilla Monsoon switched him to being the special guest ring enforcer (Ref on the outside) at the last minute. A lot of technical slow pace wrestling in the early going. Surfboard by Davey Boy almost results in another double pin. Davey Boy prevents a Superkick, but misses a flying head butt. Well, by miss I mean botched terribly. I guess Davey showed why Dynamite is the only Bulldog who used to go to the top rope. But it's okay, Davey Boy is still the man, so I can forgive him. It's a bit off topic, but one of my favorite things about Davey Boy was how he somehow made botches look cool. He just had a way about himself that he could fix things from being total disasters at the last moment. Anyways, back to the match. Bulldog catches Michaels in mid air for a sitdown powerbomb. Huge corner bump by Davey Boy. Shawn slams Davey Boy, hitting Earl Hebner on the way down. SOMEONE DQ HIM~!!! Weak looking Sweet Chin Music by Shawn. Earl Hebner starts to count when Mr. Perfect jumped in and begins counting with him. Special guest commentator Owen Hart pulls Mr. Perfect out of the ring, but Hebner still counts to three. Post match has Owen attacking Shawn Michaels only to have Ahmed Johnson run down to help out the champ. Vader joins in making it 2 to 3 until the Ultimate Warrior runs out to even the odds. PPV ends with the faces celebrating and we have the next PPV's main event set up...kinda.
First things first, the finish for the match looked very awkward. Someone obviously fucked up, but it's anyone's guess who did. Perfect's jumping in to count even though Hebner already was was the first problem. Then Owen pulling out Hennig was the second. I don't know, but what I do know is that the misunderstanding hurt the match some. The match itself was pretty entertaining up until that point. While Bret Hart may be the most talked about Hart in regards to Shawn Michaels, both Owen and Bulldog managed to have great matches with Shawn as well. In my opinion, Bulldog managed to have even better matches with Shawn than his brothers-in-law had. The run outs would set up the International Incident 6 man tag main event of Shawn, Ahmed and Warrior vs Bulldog, Owen and Vader. However, once Warrior quit/was fired, Sycho Sid was brought back as the replacement. As I mentioned earlier, the WWE managed to miss the money match for Warrior. That match was a WWE title match against Shawn Michaels on PPV. Looking at the buyrates from around this time, they took a hit after IYH 7 (Diesel vs Michaels). While I'm not saying that Bulldog was a poor choice for a number 1 contender, a Warrior title match I believe could of been a major seller. 27 Minutes. 3 1/2 Stars. Overall
It's a post Bret Hart 1996, which means the PPV success was put entirely on the shoulders of Shawn Michaels. Luckily, among the pure crap that the WWE had at the time, they found someone talented enough for Michael to be pitted against. Unlike every other heel in the WWE at the time (Besides Owen), Bulldog could put on a good match without the need of being carried. Now, what makes this PPV so important is what was happening in pro wrestling around this time. Over at WCW, they Outsiders storyline was heating up with the Outsiders attacking Eric Bischoff at the Great American Bash (The same month as this PPV). One month later, nWo would be born and the WWE would begin to suffer majorly. It's this exact time period that the thing that almost killed the WWE was picking up speed. Over at the WWE, without knowing it, the WWE inadvertently began the character of the man who would end up saving the WWE and lead the frontline of the WWE in not only surviving, but defeating WCW. Steve Austin is the main reason to watch this PPV. Even after all this time, I find his entire climb to becoming KOTR fascinating. Let's not forget that just one month prior, he lost the feud against Savio Vega. It's just so amazing. Outside of the Mero/Austin, Austin's speech and Bulldog/Michaels, everything else is pure crap and is totally skipable.
Best Match: Shawn Michaels vs The British Bulldog
Worst Match: Jerry Lawler vs The Ultimate Warrior
Grade: C+ (Historical significance saves this grade)
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