King of the Ring '95

Legacy Review

King of the Ring '95

June 25, 1995 from The Spectrum in Philadelphia

Commentary: Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix

Bonus Preshow Match- KOTR Qualifying Match: Savio Vega (w/Razor Ramon) def Irwin R Schyster (w/Ted DiBiase) in 5:01- This is the Coliseum Video copy on Peacock so we get this match from the Sunday Night Slam preshow. Vega is taking the place of an injured Ramon in the tournament. Commentary makes a big deal about how he'd have to wrestle four matches in three hours to win the tournament, pretty much telegraphing he's at worst going to do deep into the night. Flash Vega small package for 2 off the lockup. Sunset flip for 2. Buckle ricochet roll up for 2. While the cameras are on the new international announce tables Vega's thrown to the floor. IRS comes off the top and Vega gets a boot up. IRS grabs the ropes and rolls out to avoid a Vega big boot. Vega throws him back in. The spinning heel kick gets the pin. This would be Rotunda's last wrestling appearance for WWF (his last appearance period was being a lumberjack at the following In Your House 2 PPV) before heading back to WCW. *1/4

The show proper begins with the usual intro and ballyhoo. Vince seems to be genuinely enjoying Hendrix's (Michael Hayes) company which is a nice touch. This is the show that the Hardy Boyz act as the door opening pages at the entrance stage.

Quarterfinals: Savio Vega (w/Razor Ramon) def WWF Tag Team Champion Yokozuna (w/Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji) by countout in 8:24- Vega's right back out again, against a man Thanos could use the Infinity Gauntlet to throw at Iron Man during a fight. Yoko hilariously beat Lex Luger again in his qualifying match, a clear sign Luger was on his way out. Back and forth start with Vega trying to put together a game plan. Yoko misses an elbow drop. Vega gives him buckle shots and the way Yoko's head is gently laying against the buckle pads it almost looks like he wants to take a nap on one. Vega goes for the spinning heel kick again but Yoko dodges it. After a beatdown in the corner he sets up the Banzai Drop. Vega gets the hell out of town. Nerve Pinch of Mandatory Use +1. Arm drops and Vega comeback. Yoko slams him but Vega dodges the big legdrop. After playing a bit of knock the weeble down Vega hits the spinning heel kick. Cornette distracts. It all breaks down outside between Cornette, Ramon and Yoko's champion partner Owen Hart (why the hell is he not booked on this show). Both guys go out, Yoko gets posted, and Vega rolls back in for the countout win. Pretty big pop and commentary puts it over as a massive upset. The match was as much as you're going to get out of Yokozuna at this point. 3/4*

Jerry Lawler is in his locker room wearing one of Lister's or Baldrick's socks for the Kiss My Foot match later tonight. Pure chemical warfare.

 

Quarterfinals: The Roadie (w/WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett) def Bob "Spark Plug" Holly in 7:11- It's so funny hearing commentary talk about Holly like he was a real race car driver. I was huge into NASCAR at the time, I knew the real story. Roadie charges and Holly flips him over for 2. Rapid fire Holly near falls. Roadie gets a cheap shot in the corner. They go speed and Holly wins the collision. More quick Holly offense and another 2 count. Roadie catches and plants Holly with a powerbomb that gets a nice gasp from the Philly crowd. Hard buckle shots for Holly. Roadie struts around like Jarrett and wastes time showboating. Holly backdrops out of a piledriver and hits a flying headscissors. Holly powerslam for 2. Roadie begs off and gets a kick in. He sets up a superplex. Holly fights out. He comes off the top but Roadie gets a boot up, covers, and gets the pin even though Holly might have gotten a shoulder up just in time. Two young guys working their asses off to make an impression. **1/2

 

Quarterfinals: Kama (w/Ted DiBiase) and "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels go to a 15:00 time limit draw- Kama's wearing the necklace he made from Undertaker's melted down urn. It was time for that story crutch to go. Shawn had just turned face, was already super over, and is now fully into the period where in real life he was one of the biggest dicks in the world. Just ask him, he'd say the same thing. Hammerlock tradeoff start and Shawn plays stick and move on the big guy for a bit. Shawn skins the cat, taunts Kama and dumps him over. Back in Shawn works the arm. Kama hits a gut shot and clotheslines Shawn 360 and out, then posts Shawn's back. There's a lot of people around ringside wearing those blue KOTR shirt. Freebies? More Kama back and ribs work in the ring. There's a guy at ringside in a hat and Hawaiian shirt that I'm pretty sure is an ECW superfan that's getting mega agitated. Kama drapes Shawn over the corner and hits more punches and kicks that Shawn super sells. Canadian backbreaker. Shawn leverages them over to the corner, flips over, and covers for a 2 count. They look like they're set up for the bridge up spot but both guys pull out (yes I could have used different phrasing and I don't care). Shawn flip in the corner and he falls to the floor. DiBiase gets some kicks in. Kama wants a countout. Shawn just beats the count back in. Shawn dodges a corner charge, hits a reverse springboard off the second rope and both guys are down. We have a clock on the screen! 2:30 left. Nice to see. And it's gone. Shawn slips out of a slam and hits a flying clothesline. Time announcement! Two minutes left. They're actually counting down the time limit properly. Good. Shawn kips up to a decent pop and goes into full comeback mode. Double ax handle off the top for 2. Mounted punches with 1 minute left. Shawn springboard reverse crossbody. Kama reverses it for a long 2! 30 seconds. Shawn small package for 2. Sunset flip by Shawn as time expires. That was well paced. But, the draw and Shawn getting knocked out early sucks all the air out of the arena so fast everyone almost needs spacesuits. Nearly Daniel Bryan not showing up in the 2014 Royal Rumble level. This was the first indication that there were going to be some, shall we say unpopular booking choices tonight. And in front of a Philly crowd, especially right when ECW was taking off, that's playing with fire. Shawn looks pretty unhappy himself, saying it's bullshit and I think there's some shooting going on there. It's mid-'90s Shawn, when any anger is shown always err on the side of him shooting. **3/4

Next up is a presidential campaign commercial for Mr. Bob Backlund. The whole gloriously insane things feels like Backlund took a camera crew to random spots in Philly and did one take improv. One take! I really think it was because he stumbles on his lines a couple of times.

 

Quarterfinals: Mabel (w/Mo) def The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) in 10:44- After the draw the winner of this match goes straight to the final. That should be an ominous indication, as there's only one man in this match that obviously needs a longer rest than usual if he's wrestling again tonight. They go big man nose to nose before the bell. Taker starts out hot and knocks Mabel down with a clothesline. Rope walk drop. They have a bad fumble on a whip reverse spot and Mabel hits a rock bottomish slam. Taker gets clotheslined 360 and out and as usual lands on his feet. As he's coming back in Mabel runs into him and he gets a boot caught in the rope, dangling upside down outside the ring. Mabel gets some shots in before Taker gets free. Back in Taker comes back with more throat thrusts. Mabel hits a belly to belly suplex and locks on a double chinlock. ECW guy still going nuts is the most entertaining thing in this match so far. Big Mabel suplex for 2. Taker gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. Mabel is hitting the ropes at barely half speed now, but he hits a piledriver for 2. Midring collision. Taker hits a Stinger splash! After some whip reversals the ref gets squashed in the corner. Taker hits the flying clothesline....and the choke slam! Kama runs in and takes Taker out. Mabel hits a legdrop and the ref crawls over for the 3 count. Oh no, that is not a popular decision in Philly at all. Mabel gets the hell out of town. Kama brags a bit and Taker chases him off. 1/4*

We get a video package of the '95 WWF Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which was held at odd times of the year back in it's original run before it became a WM weekend staple starting with WM 20.

 

Semifinals: Savio Vega (w/Razor Ramon) def The Roadie (w/Jeff Jarrett) in 6:46- After some back and forth Vega gets a hiptoss and 360 clothesline. Roadie hits his face on the Hardest Part of the Ring TM on the way down and needs recovery time. Back in Vega works the arm. Roadie comes back with a shake, rattle and roll! Honky Tonk Man shoutout. Diving Roadie headbutt off the second rope for 2. After a chop exchange the crowd gets agitated by something offscreen. Philly. Vega dodges another second rope dive and goes into comeback mode. The crowd's stopped giving a shit. Big boot for 2. Jarrett tries to trip him. Roadie comes from behind. Vega dodges, the heels barely stop from colliding, so Vega pushes Roadie into Jarrett and rolls him up for 3. Road Dogg was still pushing hard, clearly wanting to show the people that mattered that he could wrestle, not just manage. It would pay off eventually. *3/4

Hendrix does some live translation of Vega's Spanish promo but is about as accurate as Google translate. Yeah I know, you saw that joke coming a mile away. Ramon doesn't even bother keeping character and laughs.

 

Kiss My Foot Match: Bret "Hitman" Hart def Jerry "The King" Lawler in 9:20- In this latest round of The Feud That Won't Die the loser has to kiss the winner's foot. This whole thing actually started pretty good at Summerslam '93, it's amazing how it's gone off a cliff since. Bret pounds away in the corner. Lawler bails and takes a guardrail shot. After going back in and back out Lawler pulls Bret by the tights into the stairs. Slooooooooow Lawler offense with plenty of crowd interaction. This stuff worked great in Memphis in the '80s, not so much now. Lawler hits a piledriver. A second one. A third one! He finally covers and Bret kicks out. More crowd play to the (light) Burger King chants. Bret's comeback is cut off with an eye rake and toss outside. Lawler takes his boot off to reveal his disgusting sock foot and whacks Bret with the boot behind Hebner's back. Cover for 2. Bret blocks a choke with the sock foot, trips Lawler and hits the gut stomp. Lawler gets another sneaky style (copyright Rocky Romero) boot shot in. Fist drop off the second rope. He goes outside to try to wrap Bret's legs around the post but Bret pulls Lawler into the post. Hakushi comes out. The double team attempt backfires as Hakushi hits Lawler. The Five Moves of Doom is truncated to three, Bret hooks on the Sharpshooter, and it's over. After some more Hakushi nonsense Bret sticks his bare foot in Lawler's mouth. He starts to leave, has another idea, and sticks Lawler's fully prepped disgusting sock foot in Lawler's own mouth. After Bret's epic year in 1994, seriously almost '89 Ric Flair-esque, it's painful to see him stuck with this crap. 1/2*

 

King of the Ring Final: Mabel (w/Mo) def Savio Vega (w/Razor Ramon) in 8:32- This was probably about the last finals matchup anyone expected to see. Vega dodges a charge and hits some chops. After a Mabel slam Vega dodges an elbow. He clotheslines Mabel 360 and over! They trade stair shots. Back in Mabel hooks in a bear hug. That goes on. And on. They do the arm drops, Vega tries to fight back, Mabel wrenches it again. Finally Mabel lets go and hits a clothesline for 2 for variety, then lock in a chinlock. I mean sure, the match has been moving so quick I'm almost breathless. Slow it down a little. Ramon tries to get the crowd going and there's not many takers. While Vega's coming back they start to get noisy again, but it's not what you expect. Vince: "Listen to this!" Yeah! Listen to that! It's ECDub chants! We have a full blown Philly crowd rebellion in progress, at least as much as you're going to get in 1995. Vega dodges an avalanche and rolls Mabel up for 2. Spinning heel kick! Vega's slow to cover and Mabel kicks out. Mabel catches a Vega crossbody and hits a powerslam. Vega kicks out! Mabel splats him with a big splash and the count is almost academic after that. Mabel winning the King of the Ring is something no one came to see and the crowd lets them know it. There's a bit of trash thrown in the ring while Mabel gets serious "piss off" heat. There's good heat and bad heat. This is bad heat. Bad, bad heat. Yes, there is such a thing. Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid both try to take Mabel on and get taken out for their trouble as well. DUD

Mo crowns Mabel King of the Ring, taking absolutely forever as he's reading the proclamation. Dude, this is not the kind of reaction you're looking for. Speed it up and get the hell out of there. You can see security being more active than usual as more trash is thrown into the coronation area. That guy with the Cowboys shirt on back there, he's the bravest man in Philadelphia. This is a disaster of epic proportions. After the torture finally ends we cut to Lawler puking in a bathroom.

 

 

WWF Champion Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow def Sycho Sid and Tatanka (w/Ted DiBiase) in 17:35- The story here is Diesel is wrestling for the first time since (I'm pretty sure kayfabe) minor elbow surgery and it's still a bit tender. Bigelow's face outfit is something else. He's got fireball shooting wrist gauntlets! Sid tries to jump as Diesel gets in the ring and we're ON. The faces clean house. Long, long reset, because this show hasn't drug enough already. In fact, even though I'm very much from the Just Say No generation, watching this show could drive a man to do some drugs. Finally we restart with Diesel and Tatanka. Diesel uses the right elbow to show it's just fine...until Sid kicks it from the apron and posts it. It's less fine now. Tatanka dances around and hits moves on the elbow when he feels like it. Sid of all people injects a little energy into the elbow beatdown. A little. Diesel barely moves to dodge a Sid legdrop and Sid gives possibly the best sell of his entire career. Diesel finally tags out and Bigelow cleans house. DDT on Sid. Headbutt from the top rope. DiBiase has Hebner distracted. Sid takes over with kicks and chokes. He choke slams Bigelow from the second rope! Tatanka hits a back suplex. A Sid big boot sends Bigelow to the floor. Bigelow pulls Sid down and sets up a potentially cool move, but Tatanka pulls him down off the apron because we sure can't have anything resembling fun tonight, no sir. Finally Bigelow tags out and we have a short donnybrook. Diesel goes for an elbow drop with his hurt elbow which has the predictable result. He manages to quickly tag out. Tatanka crossbody on Bigelow for 2. DDT for 2. Bigelow hulks up and they do a double clothesline. Bigelow rolls over and covers for 2. After a speed run Bigelow hits a senton, an enzuguri and tags. Side suplex on Tatanka. Jackknife! Diesel pulls Tatanka out of the pin! He wants Sid. Sid obliges by jumping off the apron and leaving the arena, much to DiBiase's dismay. Diesel says screw it and pins Tatanka for the win. Well. That was long and dull, but it threatened to almost get interesting toward the end. Just like Diesel's WWF title reign in a lot of ways. *

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- If you want a single example of why WWF's business was in the toilet in the mid-'90s, look no further than this show. Very questionable booking calls, general apathy and lots of uninspired wrestling. The only reason they were treading water is WCW was doing little better, running with an extremely stale face Hulk Hogan on top and putting on atrocious angles like the Dungeon of Doom. This show has no redeeming features whatsoever, but from a historical perspective it's worth watching as a time capsule into a very troubled era of professional wrestling.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: F