The King of the Ring Memorial Thread

[Guest The Hollywood Fashion Plate]

If the rumors are true, and KOTR is officially gone from the WWE calendar, then I will have lost my favorite yearly PPV. I ordered it nearly every year and especially enjoyed the KOTR tournaments themselves. Anybody else feel the same way?

[Guest nWoScorpion]

KOTR sucked on a yearly basis after 1994. Nothing really memorable except Owen following in Brets foot steps to win KOTR.

[Guest Caliban]

What about Austin's breakout promo in 1996? The Hell In A Cell Match in 1998? The Streetfight in 2001? And... and... erm... oh yeah. King Mabel being pounded with rubbish during his coronation.

[cawthon777 0]

1993 was the best, without a doubt. The 2nd PPV I ever ordered. Bret Hart's finest hour. All the tournaments after that, for the most part, blew.

[Guest converge241]

I love tournaments

 

even if the matches are lously i still like seeing the brackets et all

 

i would have pushed them stronger if i was in WWE especially with the popularity or march madness and all

 

 

KOR memories:

Shamrock over Rock (i always liked when these two fought), HITC II, Bret's win, Owen's win, The Bret- diesel 1st major encounter, and being live at 1997 (even though the card sucked except for Shawn- Austin)

[Guest papacita]

I went to KOTR 95...didn't seem that bad live...was also the first KOTR I saw.

 

96 is one of my favorites too, for Austin, Michaels/Bulldog, Taker/Mankind (screw the nervehold, I liked it), and even Ahmed/Goldust.

 

Kurt attempting to put Shane through the glass at KOTR 2001 was sick.

[Guest Plushy Al Logan]

Come on, I said this last year. How can you not like KOTR 95, we see the WWF turn to shit before our very eyes, and even Vince admits it on the air.

 

Vince: Can we please get this over with?!

 

It was also funny to see garbage bouncing off of Mable's head.

[Guest Aero]

Definitely sucks that KOTR is being scrapped, as it was also one of my favorite PPVs.

 

Unfortunately, I've never seen 1993, the only one I've missed.

 

1994: I think one of the better KOTRs due to a great tournament and the crowning of the King of Harts. The Owen-123 Kid match is phenomenal for its 2-3 minutes it had.

 

1995: Worst WWF PPV, ever. As said before, the only real highlight the fans throwing garbage at Mabel. Everything sucks, especially the main event.

 

1996: A decent show, with of course the birth of Austin 3:16 baby!

 

1997: This show actually happened on my birthday... thats about it. HBK-Austin was decent, and I didn't think the Final between HHH and Mankind was that bad.

 

1998: Another decent show with of course Foley's HIAC bumps. Not a pretty site. Other than that, nothing is really terrible.

 

1999: Second worst KOTR, behind 1995. The tournament sucks, as Billy Gunn walks out King. However, I like ONE part, and thats when Vince announces Steve Blackman as his partner in the MAIN EVENT, until that damn HBK comes out and ruins it.

 

2000: Pretty bad show, despite being right in the middle of 2000's streak of good PPVs. The tournament was totally screwed up. Putting Rikishi in the Finals was so wrong. Everyone knew that either Angle or Jericho was going to win, and maybe even Benoit, so why they didn't make Angle-Jericho the Final is beyond me. Main event sucks, and Patterson-Brisco is brutal.

 

2001: The last great KOTR, as this show is all Kurt Angle. He faces both Edge & Christian in decent, although not great, Tournament matches and later faces Shane in a ****1/4 street fight. The main event is also good, with Austin, Jericho, & Benoit in a Triple Threat.

 

2002: What a bad way to go out... HHH-Undertaker is brutally slow and plodding. The only good match is really Jericho vs. RVD. I'll give credit to Hogan on this show, though, because he tapped out to Kurt Angle.

 

Bottom line, 1993 (from what I hear), 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2001 are good, and the rest are horrible.

[Guest papacita]

1999: Second worst KOTR, behind 1995. The tournament sucks, as Billy Gunn walks out King. However, I like ONE part, and thats when Vince announces Steve Blackman as his partner in the MAIN EVENT, until that damn HBK comes out and ruins it.

I must be the only person alive who liked KOTR 99.

[Guest The_Radical]

KOTR was a decent PPV, but that's about it. The tournament format became predictably boring within a few years and the other matches on the card were generally not great. Notable exceptions have already been listed so I won't bother to list them again, but I will mention that Mabel and Savio Vega's match was the only time I have ever fallen asleep to any wrestling...including the current WWE product!!!

 

The Radical has spoken.

[Guest JHawk]

1999: Second worst KOTR, behind 1995. The tournament sucks, as Billy Gunn walks out King. However, I like ONE part, and thats when Vince announces Steve Blackman as his partner in the MAIN EVENT, until that damn HBK comes out and ruins it.

I must be the only person alive who liked KOTR 99.

You only liked it because Chyna was in the tournament itself that year and helped to ruin the credibility of the whole thing. 32 people in that year, and CHYNA made the elite eight?

[Guest bob_barron]

1999: Second worst KOTR, behind 1995. The tournament sucks, as Billy Gunn walks out King. However, I like ONE part, and thats when Vince announces Steve Blackman as his partner in the MAIN EVENT, until that damn HBK comes out and ruins it.

I must be the only person alive who liked KOTR 99.

You only liked it because Chyna was in the tournament itself that year and helped to ruin the credibility of the whole thing. 32 people in that year, and CHYNA made the elite eight?

There were only 16 people in KOTR 99.

 

32 People were in KOTR 2000

[Guest papacita]

1999: Second worst KOTR, behind 1995. The tournament sucks, as Billy Gunn walks out King. However, I like ONE part, and thats when Vince announces Steve Blackman as his partner in the MAIN EVENT, until that damn HBK comes out and ruins it.

I must be the only person alive who liked KOTR 99.

You only liked it because Chyna was in the tournament itself that year and helped to ruin the credibility of the whole thing. 32 people in that year, and CHYNA made the elite eight?

Not really. I found most of the show surprisingly entertaining for whatever reason. JR's "What a no good, lousy sonuvabitch!" made my night.

[Guest razazteca]

Even the house shows that gave pushes to Harley Race, Haku, Randy Savage were entertaining.

[HurriShane 0]

I never really liked the KOTR format for some reason, but I always did like watching just how far they would push the winner. Sometimes, they would get a main event push, Brock & Austin, others would just fade into bolivian, such as Mabel & The One Mr Ass RockaBilly Gunn.

[Guest The_Radical]

I never really liked the KOTR format for some reason, but I always did like watching just how far they would push the winner. Sometimes, they would get a main event push, Brock & Austin, others would just fade into bolivian, such as Mabel & The One Mr Ass RockaBilly Gunn.

Well there is a reason for some becoming stars and others not...mainly that little thing called talent. Some winners had it, some didn't.

[Guest Dmann2000]

1993 was the best, without a doubt. The 2nd PPV I ever ordered. Bret Hart's finest hour. All the tournaments after that, for the most part, blew.

And I was there live. I have the video and still spot my geeky 14 year old self jumping up 10 rows back.

[Guest dpac]

I think getting rid of the KOTR PPV was a good idea, but i would not mind a interpromtional tourney between Raw and SD, and have the finals at a PPV.

[cawthon777 0]

Even the house shows that gave pushes to Harley Race, Haku, Randy Savage were entertaining.

Just a minor thing - Haku was given the title of King by Bobby Heenan when Race was out with an injury in 88. Other non-televised KOTR winners were Don Muraco (85, the first) and Bret Hart (91).

[cawthon777 0]

1993 was the best, without a doubt.  The 2nd PPV I ever ordered.  Bret Hart's finest hour.  All the tournaments after that, for the most part, blew.

And I was there live. I have the video and still spot my geeky 14 year old self jumping up 10 rows back.

lol I'm jealous.

 

The 93 edition had so much intrigue going into it that every tournament thereafter lacked.

 

You had Bret Hart who had just been robbed of the world title after 5 months of beating everyone on the roster. This was his chance to either bounce back or fall further down the rankings ...

 

Lex Luger and Tatanka were both undefeated - Luger had been knocking people out left and right (including Bret) while Tatanka had picked up a big win over HBK a few months prior ...

 

Bam Bam Bigelow had just begun his feud with Tatanka and prior to that had dominated just about everyone he got in the ring with ...

 

Razor Ramon was looking to redeem himself after the Rumble loss to Bret as well as the humiliating defeat to the 1-2-3 Kid on Raw ...

 

Jim Duggan was more of a sentimental favorite since he had recently returned to action after almost being forced into retirement at the hands of Yokozuna ...

 

Mr. Perfect was in the midst of a great rivalry with Shawn Michaels and also looking to redeem himself after a tough loss to Luger at WrestleMania ...

 

Mr. Hughes had brutally beaten the Undertaker and Paul Bearer on WWF Superstars just 1 day before the tournament, stealing the urn in the process and putting Taker on the shelf until August.

 

The only guys here that, from my naive 11 year-old perspective, didn't have a chance were Duggan and Razor. Everyone else was fair game. Bret and Perfect were my two picks.

[Guest The Hollywood Fashion Plate]

Nice breakdown of the tournament, cawthon777. It's like you knew this off the top of your head or something.

 

Of course, when you're running the only house show records site in the world, being able to remember minutiae like that is part of the job requirement.

[cawthon777 0]

Of course, when you're running the only house show records site in the world, being able to remember minutiae like that is part of the job requirement.

It's not a very good paying job

[Guest bob_barron]

I've seen and reviewed several of the KOTRs-

 

KOTR 94-http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/videos/article.php?videos_id=527

KOTR 95-http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/videos/article.php?videos_id=150

KOTR 96- http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/videos/a...p?videos_id=147

KOTR 98-http://www.geocities.com/thewrestlingrepute/bobkingofthering98

KOTR 01-http://www.geocities.com/thewrestlingrepute/bobkingofthering2001

 

 

Too bad the last KOTR had to suck hardcore

[Guest T®ITEC]

Absolutely Bob...

 

I marked so hard for KOTR '93, '94, '96, '00, and especially '01 that it just kills me to see it go. Nevermind that I've been betting that my city would get it this year... Now we probably will, but who cares! Damn those ghey WWE office members.

 

 

Any word as to what it will become?

[Guest bob_barron]

A RAW brand PPV

[Guest juvvy]

I think getting rid of the KOTR PPV was a good idea, but i would not mind a interpromtional tourney between Raw and SD, and have the finals at a PPV.

If they did have a KOTR this year I would have said they should have Randy Orton or John Cena win

[Guest BAR]

I liked the '93 one. Yeah.....like I said, I like the '93 one.

[Gert T 0]

Yeah the 2002 KOTR should be an 80 dollar right-off for me, seriously when the hell is a live show let alone a PPV so bad?

[Guest Michael Joel Benoit]

1999: Second worst KOTR, behind 1995. The tournament sucks, as Billy Gunn walks out King. However, I like ONE part, and thats when Vince announces Steve Blackman as his partner in the MAIN EVENT, until that damn HBK comes out and ruins it.

I must be the only person alive who liked KOTR 99.

Not necessarily Papacita. I also liked KOTR 99 but only and ONLY because I have a bias towards WWF PPVs from January to September of that year because of my life back then. So as a result I have a special place in my heart for WWF TV from those 9 months.