WWF King of the Ring 1993

The 1993 King of the Ring was actually a major show for the WWF, as they added a fifth pay per view to their yearly roster, as well as made a drastic change of direction – with what would effectively be Hulk Hogan’s last WWF appearance until his second run, post WCW merger.

As a kid, I absolutely loved this show – a one night tournament to showcase Bret Hart, plus Hulk Hogan! – and must have rented it from our local video store a dozen times on VHS. I always enjoyed renting VHS to the DVDs that are available today – they felt more substantial, and the box always had that great plasticy smell you’d get whiffs of while pouring over the cover art.

From Dayton, Ohio – Your hosts are Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage.


Opening King of the Ring Quarter Final Match: Bret Hart v Razor Ramon: Razor was still a heel at this point, though he had already begun working the angle that would turn him face. They do a couple of false tie-ups to start, to establish that they've met before. I loved when guys used to do bits like that - and when the announcers would call it. Bret works an armbar, and they work a bunch of nice spots where Razor powers out, but misses moves that ram him right into the bad arm. See there are Mabel armbars and then there are Bret Hart armbars. Razor gets a bit of revenge, posting Bret shoulder first, and hits a blockbuster. Running powerslam gets two, and a sidewalk slam sets up the obvious finisher after all of that: an elbowdrop - but Hart moves, and hits an inverted atomic drop. Russian legsweep gets two. Backbreaker for two, and the 2^nd rope elbow finds its mark. Bulldog, but Razor counters, sending Bret into the corner with his chest-first bump. Razors Edge, but Bret blocks by running the ropes (like he did to Piper at WrestleMania VIII, or would do to Austin at Survivor Series in '96), and somersaults into an inside cradle for two, in you'd think would be the finish. Even he argues with the referee over the count, and Ramon jumps him. Side superplex looks to finish, but Bret counters into a bodyblock in midair (right onto the bad shoulder) to get the pin, and advance, at 10:25. Match wasn't anything special, but it had some really memorable bits towards the end, and a nice finish. Smart booking – leaving everyone smiling at the end, and it must have worked, because people continue to remember this match for much more than it actually was, and I remember loving it as a kid. * ¾

King of the Ring Quarter Final Match: Mr. Hughes v Mr. Perfect: I don't think I have to explain how the bookers came up with this match. Kinky sex game angle involving bukkake, of course. Hughes tosses him around a bit to start, giving Perfect a chance to showoff his dramatic overselling ability – including flying clear over the top rope off of a punch. Inside, Hughes grabs a headvice, but misses a blind charge, and crotches himself. Perfect with a backdrop, and the necksnap, but Hughes grabs the Undertaker's urn (he was involved in an un-notable angle with him over stealing it – though, really, were any of the ‘urn stealing angles’ particularly notable aside from the fact that so many of them existed?), and whacks Perfect with it for the disqualification at 6:02, giving us Hart/Perfect in the semi-finals. Mr. Hughes wrestled wearing a business suit, and sunglasses. That's about all you need to know to understand this match. DUD.

King of the Ring Quarter Final Match: Jim Duggan v Bam Bam Bigelow: They do a standard power showdown to start, both no selling shoulderblocks, until Duggan gets the best of one, knocking Bigelow to the outside. Slugfest, but Bam Bam counters a slam with a headbutt. He works the ribs, and grabs a bearhug. Eye poke breaks the hold, and Duggan gets the slam, but misses the 3-Point Stance, and Bigelow finishes with the flying headbutt at 4:59 to advance. Well, Duggan got his cardio in, at least. This was just a squash, and thankfully kept short. DUD.

King of the Ring Quarter Final Match: Lex Luger v Tatanka: Both guys were undefeated at this point (at least in the WWF), and this match had some intrigue going in. Before they can get started, the WWF Officials make an issue about Luger having to wear an elbow pad, as they had been working a great angle that he had a 'surgically implanted steel plate' in his arm, which he had been using to knock guys out with since his debut in January. Tatanka jumps him to start, and they spill to the outside for a slam on the floor. Back in with a backdrop for two, and Tatanka works a long armbar sequence - though he doesn't even bother working the 'loaded' arm, which might have made the hold a bit more interesting. Or, like, 'interesting.' Luger comes back with a backbreaker, and hits his jumping elbowdrop for two. Luger decides to take a break from the breakneck pace, and grabs a reverse chinlock, as Jim Ross actually has the balls to call this a 'variety of high impact, power maneuvers.' Luger pinballs him around a bit, but Tatanka STEREOTYPES UP!! and a powerslam gets two. Flying tomahawk for two. He tries another, but Luger ducks, and Tatanka hits the mat. Running Forearm Smash, but he's wearing the pad, so it only gets two. Powerslam gets two. Backdrop, and a suplex get two, frustrating Luger. Backbreaker again, but the bell sounds as the time limit goes at 15:00, giving Bam Bam a bye to the finals. That's smart booking, as both Luger and Tatanka stay undefeated, and the babyface winner of Hart/Perfect goes into the finals looking like they don't stand a chance against the very fresh Bam Bam. It certainly worked on me as a kid. Weird pacing for the finish, however, as usually the time limit runs out when the babyface is making a comeback push - not the heel. Match certainly heated up towards the end, but working towards the time limit clearly held them back, as they stalled with restholds for most of the bout – not skilled (or maybe just not motivated, in Luger's case) enough to arrange a fifteen minute match. ½*. This would also be the last notable appearance of Luger's 'Narcissist' gimmick, before showing up on the deck of the USS Intrepid to slam Yokozuna on July 4, and begin one of the biggest face turns in WWF history.

King of the Ring Semi Final Match: Bret Hart v Mr. Perfect: These two had a very well regarded match at SummerSlam in '91 - where Bret won his first singles title, and that essentially ended up becoming his coming out party as a singles star - so anticipation for a re-match was high, though of course, technically this wasn't built up at all. Feeling out process to start, with both guys going for simple holds, and countering, or bailing into the ropes to show their cautiousness. They follow with a nice mirror sequence, taking turns ineffectively trying the same moves, until Bret gets a mat-based side-headlock. Perfect wrestles him up to a vertical base, so Bret dives with a bodypress, only to get dumped to the floor. He bounces back like... that bouncy ball type substance... and sunset flips in for two. Perfect charges him in frustration, only to get caught right back in the side-headlock on the mat again. This time Perfect is less gentlemanly in his escape tactics, and hits a standing dropkick. Perfect with a kneelift for two, and Bret bails to the floor to regroup. Perfect gives him no breathing room, however, chasing after him with chops, then goes back in to take his nice countout trip to the finals. Bret has the nerve to actually try to continue to compete, however, so Perfect whips the ropes into a slingshot, and fires him into the guardrail – a famous bump that was pretty brutal for 1993, and one which Bret would magnify a few years later in a match with Kevin Nash. Bret's knee is shot, but he still crawls his way back in, and Perfect gets two off of the slingshot spot. Missile dropkick gets two, and the chest first corner bump gets two. Perfect up top again, but Bret catches him with a superplex for two - giving half of Dayton a heart attack. Bret starts bucking wildly, kicking at Perfect's knee, and slaps on a figure four. Perfect tries an eye rake to escape, but Hart's expecting it, and forces him to fight to the ropes. Leglock next, but this time Perfect gets him with the eye poke (I guess when he wasn't looking...), and starts throwing him around with hairpull slams. Sleeper, and these two have the crowd so firmly in the palms of their hands that they're easily buying that as the finish. Bret refuses to go cheap, and makes the ropes, with Perfect taking the full five-count to break the hold. Another sleeper, and this time Perfect tentatively uses the ropes for leverage - a brilliant bit, as he literally 'only sticks a toe in,' as if he doesn't really have his heart in it. Bret fights out, and tosses Perfect around with a hairpull slam of his own. Inverted atomic drop, and a Russian legsweep get two. Backbreaker, and the 2nd rope elbowdrop get two. Sharpshooter, but Perfect goes to the eyes to stop the effort. Perfect-plex, but Bret blocks, and counters with a suplex over the top, taking both men tumbling to the floor. Inside, Perfect shoots him a quick inside cradle, but Bret reverses, and gets the pin at 18:56 at give us a Hart/Bigelow finals. This was just a brilliant match, as it was technically face/face, but Perfect played the heel so subtly at first, then more and more blatantly as the match went on – with beautiful little touches such as the 'just a toe' rope spot, or first wrestling out of Bret's holds, then going to the ropes, then using cheap shots, and eye rakes. This was nineteen minutes in the hands of two masters. It wasn't highspot-highspot-highspot – though it did have some great spots – but, rather, a psychological thriller. ****.

WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan v Yokozuna: At WrestleMania IX, Hogan made his return after a year off, and, despite not being booked in the WWF Title picture, ended up with the WWF Title to close the show. Vince McMahon then wanted to book Hogan/Hart for SummerSlam, but Hogan felt Hart 'wasn't in his league,' and ended up deciding to leave the promotion - in a decision that probably had more to do with the steroid investigation and trial than we know. However, before all of that fun stuff happened, he had to actually drop the WWF Title, so that puts us here. Yoko over powers him during the lockup, and goes to work, even throwing in backscrathes, which is just cold. I mean, beat the guy, sure, but don't steal his girly offensive moves. Slam, and Hogan ends up at Yoko's feet - begging for mercy. He misses a blind charge, however, and Hogan hammers, hitting a cross corner clothesline. Slam fails, so he goes to the eyes and tries again, but still can't do it. Remember in the last match, when Perfect subtly worked a heelish style, slowly, and masterfully building to it? Notice the difference here as pure and virtuous babyface Hulk Hogan resorts to eye rakes immediately, and isn’t playing a subtle heel? He's just a hypocrite, who'll cheat to win, and tell you to play it fair, and 'never take shortcuts.' I dunno, Brother, I'd say poking the obese man in the eyes and then trying to lift him against his will is kind of a 'shortcut,' but whatever. Yoko with a bearhug, and a belly to belly suplex gets two as Hogan's HULKING UP!! Three big boots knocks him over, but the Big Legdrop only gets two. He calls for the slam, but a Japanese photographer hops up on the apron, and when Hogan goes after him, his camera explodes in his face, allowing Yoko an even BIGGER legdrop for the pin at 13:09, in what would be Hogan's last notable WWF appearance for some nine years. Afterwards, Yokozuna gives Hogan a Banzai Drop for good measure. People say a lot about Hogan's backstage personality - and I don't doubt that much of it is true, as he has always come off as shrewd – but you can't say he didn't go out there and put Yokozuna over as a monster. He couldn't slam him (and he slammed everybody before - including Andre the Giant), he let him kick out of his finisher, he took and sold Yoko's finisher like death after the match, and while the loss wasn't 100% clean, the entire match had Yokozuna dominating, and Hogan looking weak. As for the match - about what you'd expect from the standard Hulk Hogan/Fat Bad Guy formula, except with a twist ending. ¼*

Eight-Man Tag Team Match: The Steiner Brothers and The Smoking Gunns v Money Inc and The Headshrinkers: Scott Steiner and Ted DiBiase start off, and Scott catches him with a dropkick off of a criss cross, and a clothesline puts DiBiase on the floor. Both guys tag out, and we get Bart Gunn/Samu, and Bart stupidly tries a faceslam, which goes about as well as you'd expect on a Samoan professional wrestler. The heels work Bart over, and DiBiase catches him with a nice vertical suplex. IRS looks to finish up, but a double knockout spot leads to both guys tagging out - to DiBiase, and Billy Gunn. Ted hits a quick stungun, and locks the Million Dollar Dream, but lets off before the submission – which is ridiculous, considering he’s about the most experienced guy in the whole match, and certainly more experienced than Billy Gunn. He gets quickly cradled for the pin, of course, at 6:49. Silly ending aside this was a fine quickie to cool down the crowd after the Hogan shocker, showcasing a bunch of new teams working their way around the WWF in 1993, and allowing Money Inc to put the Gunns over, as DiBiase would be heading into retirement within a couple of months. ¾*

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Shawn Michaels v Crush: Shawn has the bodyguard Diesel with him, who was just introduced in a great angle involving Marty Jannetty earlier in the month. That was actually an interesting bit, as Shawn was watching WCW TV one afternoon, and saw Kevin Nash working his Vinnie Vegas gimmick, and thought he seemed like a fun guy. Through a mutual friend, he got in touch, and told him he should come over to the WWF instead, so Nash gave WCW notice, saying wrestling 'wasn't for him,' only to show up on RAW as Shawn Michaels' bodyguard shortly after... and win every title within two years. Guess it pays to have Shawn Michaels channel surfing sometimes. He seemed to be doing a lot of that, too, as he'd bulked up a lot during this period - and not in the Lex Luger sense. Shawn pinballs around off of a shoulderblock to start, flying to the floor, but inside, he teases Crush with a jab to the jaw off of a criss cross. Shawn works an armbar, but a series of dropkicks puts him onto the floor again. Back in, Crush with an impressive press slam - actually pressing him several times over his head before the 'slam' part. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, so Diesel tugs Shawn out to take the count. Crush follows, but runs into Diesel, and gets posted a couple of times. The psychology made sense there, though, as Shawn would retain the title by countout, so, even though it was dangerous territory, Crush had to risk chasing Shawn onto the floor, or else risk his shot at the title. Inside, Shawn with a flying axehandle, and he grabs a front-facelock. Crush powers up, tossing Michaels off, and clear out of the ring. He SURFS UP!! and a backdrop hits. Backbreaker gets two. Big boot and a legdrop get two (maybe hey was angling to replace Hogan? I’m joking, but that was actually rumored at one point, before they went with Luger), and Shawn spills outside as twin Doink the Clown's make their way to ringside, smoking cigars. They distract Crush (the Doink's had an issue with Sir Crush at the time), and Michaels schoolboys him to retain at 11:14. Michaels was very spotty in 1993 – sometimes delivering ‘match of the year’ candidates like he was picking his nose, other times sleepwalking through formula stuff – before getting really consistently great about a year after later. This hovered between the two ends of the spectrum. **.

WWF King of the Ring Match: Bret Hart v Bam Bam Bigelow: Bam Bam charges him like a raging bull, hammering away, but Bret topples him on a press slam attempt for two, and tries to go to the armbar, but gets smacked. Bam Bam properly press slams him - this time to the floor, as he'll teach him what happens if he doesn't want to take the regular version. Inside, Bam Bam unloads with the falling headbutts for two. Delayed side suplex gets two, and he grabs an overhead bearhug. Bret keeps struggling, however, so he dumps him to the floor to try to use the rail to finish him, but Hart reverses an Irish whip into them. Bret tries an axehandle off of the apron, but gets caught, and rammed into the post. Slam on the floor (with Bigelow making sure to move over to the floor area, and not where the padding is), and a chair shot from Bam Bam's lover Luna Vachon leave him laying, but he stupidly drags the king of comebacks back inside, instead of taking an easy countout victory. But, hey, flying headbutt finishes at... but hold on... a second referee appears, flipping out about the chair shot, and acting like an addict who needs a fix, ordering the match to continue. Good thing, too - that fucker was one wrong move away from stabbing the first referee, Bam Bam, Luna, and maybe Hart for not getting the job done right the first time. Bam Bam with an overhead backbreaker to try to get the submission, but Bret wrestles out into a side suplex. Bam Bam tries a senton, but eats mat with his butt. He still has control, however, and takes Bret for a ride into another overhead backbreaker, but Hart counters into a sleeper. Dropkick puts Bam Bam out, and Bret follows with a slingshot dive. In, Bret hits a crisp 2^nd rope clothesline for two. Russian legsweep and the 2^nd rope flying bulldog hit, leading to the Sharpshooter – but Bigelow shoves him off. He tries for the overhead backbreaker again, but Bret's prepared this time, countering into a side suplex, but Bam Bam's prepared or that, turning it into a bodyblock for two - in a nice callback to Hart's defeat of Ramon in the opener. Avalanche, but Bret catches him coming in, and hits a victory roll to win the King of the Ring at 18:11. Randy Savage immediately throws down his headset, and dives into the ring to give him a congratulatory hug, in one of my favorite little moments from the era. Bret has long said that Bam Bam Bigelow was one of his favorite opponents (he included one of their matches from a European tour on his 2005 DVD), and I can see why - they had a lot of chemistry together. Match had some slow spots with the multiple bearhugs and backbreakers – but it was psychology. It wasn’t an nervehold for the sake of resting – it was Bam Bam trying to finish off the battered Hart, whose back was the weakest of an already broken body. ***.

Bret heads over to the special set to get his kingly goodies (the robe! The scepter! The crown! The wenches!), but Jerry Lawler (who had recently made his WWF debut) interrupts to make his claim as the real king. Hart writes him off, and starts a ‘Burger King’ chant, causing Lawler to wallop him (in a legitimately stiff shot, that caused Hart to hold a bit of a grudge, and exact some revenge at SummerSlam – potatoing Lawler in their match), and kicking off a feud that would for last years in the WWF.

BUExperience: While it may not make any ‘all time best’ lists, the WWF knew how to book shows in an enjoyable manner – one easy to sit through – unlike WCW at the time. It was fun. It had a fun atmosphere, and felt exciting, even when the wrestling wasn’t top notch. The wrestling itself wasn’t horrible, as Bret Hart put on two good-great matches, and Hart/Perfect is something every aspiring wrestler – let alone fan – should see at least once.

It’s also a very historically significant show, being the first pay per view King of the Ring (the WWF had previously held similar tournaments on television), the start of Yokozuna’s nine month heel title run, and the end of Hulk Hogan in the WWF for a generation.

People have often talked about Hulk Hogan’s fading popularity during this period, and the various causes – usually landing on the fact that fans were tired of seeing the same act night after night. And, while I do agree that that is partially true, I think there’s more to it than that. I think with the 1980s over, the rise of stars like Bret Hart – who came off like an easy hero – tore down the veil of Hulk Hogan heroism. Hart didn’t resort to cheap patriotism, preaching, or blatant cheating, and hypocrisy. A lot of fans catching on in the 90s – and those left over from the 80s – were ready for a new hero, and Bret Hart was exactly the kind they were looking for, myself included. I don’t think Bret Hart wasn’t ‘in (his) league,’ as Hogan claimed, but rather, that Hogan wasn’t so much in Hart’s by that point, as evidenced by shows like this one – where Hogan wrestles a match that would be more at home in 1987, cheats like a heel, wraps himself in the flag, and expects cheers – and Bret Hart wrestles three unique, modern matches – filled with more nuance than an HBO Sunday night drama – and comes off looking like the hero based on his actions, as opposed to his words.  ***.