WWF King of the Ring 1993

Date: 06/13/1993

Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, OH

Announcers: Jim Ross, Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan

The Setup

This was the first King of the Ring PPV after the first six tournaments occurred at house shows between 1985 and 1991. It was the company’s first foray into PPV outside the traditional Big Four PPVs. 

Besides the eight-man tournament, this show also featured Hulk Hogan’s first defense of the WWF title since his return at Wrestlemania IX, facing Yokoxuna in a rematch. 

The Business

According to WrestleTalk, the show had 245,000 PPV buys, putting it fourth out of five PPVs in 1993, just slightly behind Summerslam with Lex vs. Yoko. This had to be a huge disappointment, given that it was Hogan’s first WWF title defense after his return. While doing very good business for his return at Wrestlemania IX, the bloom was already off the rose, and Hogan didn’t have staying power in his now-dated incarnation. 

Results

-Bret Hart def. Razor Ramon in a King of the Ring quarterfinal (10:27) ***1/2

-Mr. Perfect def. Mr. Hughes by DQ in a King of the Ring quarterfinal (6:02) **

-Bam Bam Bigelow def. Jim Duggan in a King of the Ring quarterfinal (4:59) *1/4 

-Lex Luger vs. Tatanka in a King of the Ring quarterfinal went to a time-limit draw (15:00) * 

-Bret Hart def. Mr. Perfect in a King of the Ring semifinal (18:56) ****1/4 

-Yokozuna def. Hulk Hogan (c) to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship (13:09) *3/4 

-The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott) & The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart) def. Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & IRS) & The Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu) in an 8-man tag team match (6:49) * 

-Shawn Michaels (c) def. Crush to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship (11:14) ***

-Bret Hart def. Bam Bam Bigelow in the King of the Ring final (18:11) ***3/4 

Snap Bumps

-Bret was phenomenal all night. He was the only guy who worked three times and had the three best matches on the show. 

-Of course, this show concluded with Jerry Lawler’s epic beatdown of Bret Hart during the coronation ceremony, where Lawler legit fucked up Bret’s back with the throne. It had so much heat and looked so fucking good. Unfortunately, they wasted it by having Bret destroy Lawler at Summerslam, only after Lawler showed up with bandages and an ice bag on his head like a fucking cartoon character, not wanting to fight.

-They did a fake finish to the Hart/Bigelow finals where Luna attacked Bret with a chair, leading to what we thought was a Bam Bam victory. When he was celebrating, another ref ran down and had the match restarted due to the interference. What? You can injure your opponent illegally, and instead of being disqualified, Bret is just asked to suck it up? 

-Since Bam Bam was announced the winner and ref reversals are so uncommon, I thought they blew it by not running with that more after this show. They could have done Bam Bam vs. Luger as a top program instead of the dreadful Luger vs. Ludvig Borga they ended up running with. 

-Everyone remembers Hogan being unable to slam Yoko and Harvey Whippleman’s camera fireball, but I don’t think people remember just how much Yoko dominated the match. Say what you will about Hogan (and Lord knows there’s plenty), but no one can say he didn’t do business here. 

-Shawn was excellent here. Crush still showed potential at this point, but Shawn bumped his ass off and made this match so much better. The Shawn vs. Marty match at the Rumble was better, but Shawn’s performance shone more. 

-The eight-man tag was such a waste. It did nothing for the Steiners or the pending Steiners vs. Money Inc. house show program. Billy Gunn pinned DiBiase for no real conceivable reason. 

-Jim Duggan should have rocked the red, white, and blue singlet for the rest of his career. 

-Did Luger vs. Tatanka ever have a good singles match? Did Tatanka ever have a good singles match on PPV? 

-I always go back and forth between whether this show’s match or the Summerslam ‘91 match was the better Bret/Perfect match. They’re two entirely different matches, but I enjoyed this for a babyface match. There was an intensity as each man tried to prove he was the better wrestler. 

-They did the two Doinks distracting Crush, leading to the finish of the IC title match, but their feud pretty much ends here. 

-This was also Bret’s second consecutive KOTR tournament win since he won the last tournament in 1991. 

-The Dayton crowd was mostly excellent throughout, except for when they were being fed horse shit. 

The Verdict:

Thumbs up. This is the Bret Hart show. He had the three best matches and a phenomenal angle to close the show. They killed all the heat of Bret vs. Lawler at Summerslam, but everything they did here was right. The IC title match was good, and even if the wrestling wasn’t great throughout, the finish to the Hogan match was really well done, and they made the Yoko win feel like a big deal.