King of the Ring 1988

[cawthon777]

I recently received this info from landy1987 who found them in an old Observer. Thought they might be of interest.

 

King of the Ring 88 - Providence, RI - Civic Center - October 16, 1988 (6,700)

 

Opening Round:

 

Ken Patera pinned Nikolai Volkoff with a sunset flip at 10:20

 

Ted Dibiase pinned Brutus Beefcake at 7:32 with a knee to the back after Beefcake became distracted by Ron Bass at ringside

 

Hercules fought Bad News Brown to a double count-out at 6:05

 

WWF World Champion Randy Savage pinned Virgil in a non-title match with the flying elbowsmash at 5:43

 

Ron Bass defeated the Barbarian via disqualification at 7:02 when the Barbarian began choking Bass with his own bullwhip

 

Shawn Michaels pinned Danny Davis at 3:37

 

The Red Rooster pinned Marty Jannetty at 11:00 by using the tights for leverage

 

Iron Mike Sharpe (sub. for the Warlord) pinned Boris Zhukov at 6:27 after hitting him with the loaded forearm

 

Non-tournament match: Jim Duggan pinned Dino Bravo in a flag match at 8:43 after Frenchy Martin's interference with the flagpole backfired

 

Quarter Finals:

 

Ron Bass pinned Shawn Michaels with an elbow drop at 7:39

 

Ted Dibiase pinned Ken Patera at 5:42 with a clothesline as Virgil held Patera's legs down from the outside

 

The Red Rooster defeated Iron Mike Sharpe via submission with the Scorpion Deathlock at 3:27

 

Semi Finals:

 

WWF World Champion Randy Savage pinned the Red Rooster at 7:21 with the flying elbowsmash

 

Ted Dibiase defeated Ron Bass via forfeit when Dibiase paid Bass off to fake an injury and say he was unable to compete as a result

 

Finals: Ted Dibiase defeated WWF World Champion Randy Savage via count-out at 6:11 when Savage became distracted by Virgil on the floor, allowing Dibiase to break the count back inside the ring; after the bout, Hercules chased Dibiase and Virgil backstage as they were celebrating and holding up the KOTR trophy

[JoeDirt]

Wow, Red Roostermania running wild. Even using the Scorpion Deathlock. Cool find.

 

Had they done KOTR tournaments at house shows prior to this?

[cawthon777]

Every year since 85.

 

The Scorpion Deathlock was Taylor's finisher when he came into the WWF in 88.

[1234-5678]

I was unaware that The Red Rooster ever even won a damn match. Well, except when he beat Heenan.

 

Funny story about that one that Bobby always told, about how when Taylor found out they had less then a minute to do their match, he bitched and complained about how none of his spots would get in, and Bobby said, "You idiot, it's Wrestlemania you're on, and we'll still get paid the same!"

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin]

HOLY SHIT! Iron Mike Sharpe won a match!

[Guest LooneyTune]

HOLY SHIT! Iron Mike Sharpe won a match!

Correction... Holy Shit! Iron Mike Sharpe won a match after 1984!

[Frankie Williams]

Ken Patera pinned Nikolai Volkoff with a sunset flip at 10:20

I cant even imagine sitting through that match without the thought of suicide entering my mind less than 25 times.

[alfdogg]

Iron Mike Sharpe wins a match, Red Rooster wins two, and Shawn Michaels jobs to Ron Bass. What a show.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh]

Wow, way to have a big tournament end on a COUNTOUT.

 

 

Pass.

 

WWWF/WWF 1963-1986 = Crap.

[iggymcfly]

Wow, way to have a big tournament end on a COUNTOUT.

 

 

Pass.

 

WWWF/WWF 1963-1996 = Crap.

This isn't going to go over well, but edited for accuracy.

[cawthon777]

WWWF/WWF 1963-1986 = Crap.

...

[Guest LooneyTune]

1983-1986 had a lot of enjoyable house shows... it's just the booking was never too good because you didn't have TV matches every week like RAW to have blow offs.

 

(realized it said 1963) My bad.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh]

I'm all for the nostalgic feel of old time wrestling events, but the matches are horrible, especially with the WWF.

 

If I read a Spider-Man issue from 1967, it's obviously different than say 2003, but the storyline is probably going to be very good.

 

If I see a WWWF match from 1967, chances are its eons different than our product today (but still has the same intelligence insulting storylines), but the ring work sucks.

 

This is why I hate WWWF/WWF from 1963-1988, the ringwork was awful. With the exception of a few now and then matches, esp. WM 3 bouts, Bulldogs/Harts, the main event scene was awful, the tag scene was awful, and the decent IC Title workers had awful challengers.

 

This tournament looks like crap too, but at least by 1988-89, we were seeing the better workers get more of a spotlight, i.e. Savage, DiBiase, Rude, Perfect, Rougeaus, Rockers, Blazer, Jake, etc. and the traditional Pound Away heels/faces get phased out somewhat.

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

I'm all for the nostalgic feel of old time wrestling events, but the matches are horrible, especially with the WWF.

 

If I read a Spider-Man issue from 1967, it's obviously different than say 2003, but the storyline is probably going to be very good.

 

If I see a WWWF match from 1967, chances are its eons different than our product today (but still has the same intelligence insulting storylines), but the ring work sucks.

 

This is why I hate WWWF/WWF from 1963-1988, the ringwork was awful. With the exception of a few now and then matches, esp. WM 3 bouts, Bulldogs/Harts, the main event scene was awful, the tag scene was awful, and the decent IC Title workers had awful challengers.

 

This tournament looks like crap too, but at least by 1988-89, we were seeing the better workers get more of a spotlight, i.e. Savage, DiBiase, Rude, Perfect, Rougeaus, Rockers, Blazer, Jake, etc. and the traditional Pound Away heels/faces get phased out somewhat.

The IC belt had good people going for it, Valentine, Tito, Muraco, Snuka, Savage, etc. etc. Folks like Slaughter, Patterson, Backlund, Stan Hansen, etc. were around too.