King of the Ring

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

The WWF always put the King of the Ring up as an idea to get a wrestler to be elevated to main eventer status. But among the last few Kings of the Ring, I thought things didn't work out too well. Angle and Lesnar worked out, but then again Billy Gun was the King of the Ring '99.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

It was hit or miss.

 

Mabel, Ken Shamrock, Billy Gunn, and to an extent Edge were the misses. It's been three years since Edge won, and he hasn't done anything major since.

 

Bret was already somewhat established in 1993, so he's on the fence.

 

Owen was elevated to Main Event status for a while, Austin took a few months, and HHH took a few years, but did as well.

[stahl 0]

5 (Bret, Austin, HHH, Angle, Lesnar) of the 10 winners (1993- 2002) became World Champions, and 2 of the losing finalists (Foley, Rock) also became champs. I think for the most part it was sucessful.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

And 4 of them (Owen, Mabel, Angle, & Lesnar) got a title shot at SummerSlam in the respective year of their KOTR win. Lesnar being the only one to win it.

[cawthon777 0]

And 4 of them (Owen, Mabel, Angle, & Lesnar) got a title shot at SummerSlam in the respective year of their KOTR win. Lesnar being the only one to win it.

Bret was to have met Hogan in the 93 version and would have won the title off hiim as well.

[1234-5678 0]

I wouldn't call Shamrock a failure. Remember the IC title tourney on Raw? He was a pretty vicious heel at that point.

[Guest krazykat72]

I thought it was pretty much a miss.

 

1993-Bret Hart- already established, used to set him up for a feud with Lawler

1994- Owen Hart, helped a little, I guess, but he was already cemented by the Mania win and was feuding with Bret at the time.

1995- Mabel- well, the less said the better

1996-Austin-the promo was the most memorable part, but Austin was really doing very little until the Bret feud in October/November, i think the win is overrated, but it gave him a forum to launch his catchphrase

1997- Triple H- the win did nothing for him except launch him into a summerlong feud with Foley, it was the birth of DX that really started him moving up.

1998-Shamrock- a failure. He never got back into the main event mix like he was at the end of '97. He was a solid mid carder, but never anything more

1999-Billy Gunn- They tried, but failed, after the Summerslam loss to Rock, the experiment was thankfully dropped

2000-Angle- a really good one actually as it helped his character along and added to his growing resume at the right time

2001-Edge- didn't really do anything for him. The IC title and Christian feud helped him some, but it wasn't until the Angle feud in mid '02 that he really started moving

2002-Lesnar- they botched it terribly with an unconvincing, but thankfully Hogan, of all people, righted the ship and he was back on track soon after.

 

-Paul Jacobi-

[tbondrage99 0]

I think it was effective, in every year but when Mable, Shamrock, Gunn won.

 

Mables win was really stupid because this KOTR also had Yokozuna, Shawn Michaels & The Undertaker in it. It should of went to HBK, it would of helped establish him in the main event even more at the time.

 

Shamrock win was easily the most forgettable for me when only half a year later I forgot who even won it, showing how much Shamrock did with it. The Rock should of won that year without a doubt.

 

Gunns win, well that year the KOTR had, X-Pac, The Road Dogg, Chyna, The Big Show, Kane, Bob Holly, & Ken Shamrock. Shamrock had won the year before and it did nothing for him, another KOTR win wouldnt help. The Big Show & Kane didnt need the win to get established. That left Billy Gunn, X-Pac, The Road Dogg, Chyna, & Bob Holly. Whoever won that year it wasnt much of a choice to pick from.

[cawthon777 0]

1993-Bret Hart- already established, used to set him up for a feud with Lawler

 

1994- Owen Hart, helped a little, I guess, but he was already cemented by the Mania win and was feuding with Bret at the time.

After coming off a major loss at WrestleMania, the KOTR further established Bret as a top guy. He very easily could have been lost in the shuffle at that point, especially now that Hogan was back in town. And the win was to have set up a Bret / Hogan match at Summer Slam. Lawler was plan #2.

 

As for Owen, it takes a LOT to establish a guy as a main event player when only a year prior he was doing jobs to Mr. Hughes and Bastion Booger. The KOTR helped him significantly. He was by no means cemented.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I find it funny about Austins 96 win, that after he won it...he did nothing. He wasn't even on the Summerslam PPV. If Bret never came back in October, would Austin have been put over as a legit Main Eventer?

[cawthon777 0]

I think so. I think they were just holding Austin at bay, not wanting to commit to anything long-term with him until they were sure Bret was coming back.

 

He humiliated Yoko in a matter of minutes at Summer Slam then at Mindgames talked trash about Bret.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

I enjoyed King of the Ring.

 

It made for an entertaining tournament, hyped SummerSlam more as a big show and elevated Superstars.

 

... But, it did give Billy Gunn a tournament victory...

 

And look, just look at how effective that little endeavour was!

[chaosrage 0]

I find it funny about Austins 96 win, that after he won it...he did nothing. He wasn't even on the Summerslam PPV. If Bret never came back in October, would Austin have been put over as a legit Main Eventer? 

He went on a winning streak after KOTR. I don't think he lost a match until he fought Bret. Before KOTR, he was losing to Savio Vega every week. Beating Marc Mero was an upset.

 

Would Bret be able to put him over as a legit main eventer if he hadn't won the KOTR? I mean, Why would he (or anyone else) even take Austin seriously if he hadn't done anything to made a name for himself yet?

[cawthon777 0]

Before KOTR, he was losing to Savio Vega every week.

Savio beat him in the strap match ... I don't know about the every week part.

[chaosrage 0]

Didn't they have a couple of other matches on raw?

[cawthon777 0]

The only two free TV matches, off the top of my head:

 

March 96 - which was used as buildup for Mania

June 96 - KOTR Quarter Finals or Qualifying match ... could be wrong but I believe this was the match in which Austin busted out the Stunner for the first time

 

Savio did beat him in the Beware of Dog 1 strap match that didn't air due to the power going out.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

He went on a winning streak after KOTR. I don't think he lost a match until he fought Bret. Before KOTR, he was losing to Savio Vega every week. Beating Marc Mero was an upset.

 

If I remember correctly, KOTR 96 marked Marc Mero's first televised loss also. Austin would beat Mero again at International Incident thanks to a distraction from Goldust's bellboy. Then beat Yokozuna at SummerSlam's Free For All. Didn't have a match at Mind Games and then defeated HHH (who was subbing for Savio) in the opening match of Buried Alive. Ironically, both men would face each other in the main event of the October PPV 3 years later.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Savio defeated Austin on an episode of Superstars as "the Carribean Kid". He unmasked after he won the match. This was about a few weeks before Beware of Dog...where he won both times.

[Precious Roy 0]

I'm of the opinion that KOTR was one of the WWF's better PPVS and did a lot to advance the careers of most of the winners (excluding the obvious mis-steps of Gunn and Mabel).

 

Bret, Owen, Austin, HHH, and Angle all immediately benefited.

 

Lesnar's win would have been better if they hadn't had the stupid "winner gets a title shot at SS" stip. That was the deathblow of the tourny as far as I was concerned as it completely telegraphed the winner, plus they fucked up by trying to make the RVD-Lesnar feud a big deal when nobody was really buying into it. They REALLY blew that PPV.

 

Shamrock had been in the midst of a fairly long feud with Rocky at the time of his win, and as much as you can say he didn't advance past IC Title level and that Rock should have got the win, he was MAJORLY over at that point in time and the final match against Rock got HUGE heat, PLUS Rock was put over huge due to the nature of the finish. That match was really the start of Rock's face turn and it came soon after, I don't think Rock winning was the right booking at the time. Shamrock always got heat, I think the WWE dropped the ball with him more than anything, turning him heel and putting him in the corporation (in a tag team with Bossman no less) shortly after winning. Anyone remember his three way team/feud with Mankind and The Rock that summer during Rock's brief face period before turning heel again at Survivor Series? Shamrock was mad over.

 

Edge didn't get his huge push until 2002 with Angle, but at the time of KOTR he was still a tag wrestler and the win was the impetus for his breakup with Christian (remember Christian being jealous of Edge and wanting to carry the trophy around with him all the time?). So in that regard it was an important step in breaking them up and moving Edge into serious singles competition, even if the benefits were staggered a bit.......

 

I wish they'd bring KOTR back, they have a TON of young talent who could really benefit from being put over in that format and getting to brag about being "The King" for a whole year (see: Owen Hart, the guy's "King of Harts" gimmick was classic, classic heel work).