The King of the Ring tournament got off to a great start in it's debut on pay-per-view in 1993, as Bret Hart would be crowned King after defeating Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect and Bam Bam Bigelow, all in the same night. You can read my review of that show here, but suffice it to say, it's an event that's well worth checking out. However, the WWF failed hard when it came to keeping that initial momentum going with their fifth major annual event. The 1994 edition was a trainwreck, even though a worthy winner in Owen Hart was crowned, as the ramblings of Art Donovan on commentary and a dull main event between Roddy Piper and Jerry Lawler dragged everything down. King of the Ring '95 was one of the worst WWF pay-per-views ever, somehow crowning King Mabel despite The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels both competing in the tournament. Now in 1996, Vince was intent on finally getting the tournament back on track. The quarterfinal round would no longer take place on the same night, The Ultimate Warrior was brought in for a special appearance to try and pop a buyrate and the Michaels-Bulldog title match the previous month would end in a double pinfall to set up a big rematch. With WCW beginning to step up their game thanks to the recent debuts of former WWF stars Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, Vince needed King of the Ring to deliver once more.
- King of the Ring 1996 comes to you from the then MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Vince and JR on the call. They're joined by Owen Hart, who wasn't booked for this card so he gets a shot to see what he can do as a heel color commentator. He really plays up his outrageous heel act, and is generally on point here, getting me to crack up at a few of his one liners. Not a bad performance at all, especially given his lack of experience in the role.
- We open the night with the first semi-finals match and it's a pretty big one, as Marc Mero faces "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. These two guys are both being pushed as potential stars, but neither can compete with the popularity of Sable, who gets a big pop from the crowd during her entrance with Mero. Austin is definitely starting to display a lot more of his natural charisma and works the crowd well, drawing solid heat during an otherwise boring opening heel beatdown. Mero takes some big chances to try and get himself over, including a plancha to the outside that busts Austin open at the mouth. This isn't one of Austin's more famous bloody battles, but the blood does eventually end up coating his chin in a pretty great visual. Austin gets the win with the Stunner to advance to the finals, ending a match that did get very good down the stretch.
- In the second semi-final match, Jake "The Snake" Roberts takes on Vader. This match is pretty depressing to watch, as Jake is moving about half the speed he had in his prime, and looks gassed just minutes in. The two men attempt to work a stiffer match than the opener, a style that certainly suits Vader, who is still being put over very well at this point of his WWF tenure. Vader gets himself disqualified to avoid being pinned by the DDT, before unleashing a vicious assault on Roberts that ends with a Vader Bomb.
- The tag team titles are on the line in our next contest, as the Smoking Gunns defend against Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn(get it, H.O.G. and P.I.G. because they're pig farmers). That being said, they bring two goats to the ring, so maybe those names were just a coincidence. Bart and Billy Gunn now have Sunny in their corner, whom they stole away from the challengers after Billy engaged in a playful bit of sexual assault, forcefully kissing Sunny, who is now smitten. Yes, the storyline may not have aged well, but in fairness, it's way more interesting than seeing these two teams wrestle. This is 10 minutes of extremely slow and also very bad wrestling, that ends with Bart clocking Phineas with his cowboy boot, the most devastating of weapons, allowing Billy to get the win. This sucked.
- In one of the more hyped matches of the night, Jerry "The King" Lawler takes on The Ultimate Warrior. Lawler cuts an outstanding heel promo on Milwaukee before the match, he's truly outstanding at drawing heat at his best. This match is a very standard variant of a classic Hogan/Warrior match, as the heel uses a foreign object, in this case the tag rope, to administer a beatdown to the face, before hitting his finisher and the face "Hulks up". Lawler's piledriver gets the no-sell treatment, which is a really bad idea as it's one of the only moves in his arsenal. Warrior goes through his comeback and gets the win with a shoulder block, as I guess Jerry didn't want to take the Warrior Splash. These kind of matches can be fun for the live crowd, but once you've seen one you've seen 'em all.
- One of the Raw following WrestleMania 12, Mankind, the new persona of Mick Foley, made his debut by attacking The Undertaker. Their rivalry heated up at In Your House: Beware of Dog, as Mankind cost 'Taker a casket match, leading to several mind games between the two. They face off in a singles match on this night, and whilst it may not be one of the more well remembered bouts between the two, it's still pretty entertaining. It really gets good after Undertaker blocks a chair shot, as Mankind takes a trademark devastating back bump on the concrete floor. We get some creative hardcore spots, with Mankind driving Undertaker's head into the steel steps with a running knee smash and Undertaker blocking an elbow drop with the chair. Paul Bearer gets involved, intending to hit Mankind with the urn but Undertaker is pulled into the way and knocked out by the urn, allowing Mankind to apply the Mandible Claw for victory. Again, these two would have quite a few better matches in the future, but this is a good early sign that Mankind could find a solid spot on the roster.
- The Intercontinental Championship is on the line up next, as Goldust defends against rising star Ahmed Johnson. This feud kicked off with a very controversial angle, as after Johnson was knocked unconscious by Owen Hart during a match with Vader, Goldust stopped the EMTs backstage to apply his own version of "CPR" to Johnson. However you feel about that segment, there's no doubt it added a ton of extra heat to this match, and really got Johnson over. He's all over the place early on, using both his power and athleticism, though he's perhaps going a bit too fast, attempting a very scary looking suicide dive that barely connected. Goldust manages to make a comeback and draw nuclear heat for a suggestive pin attempt, before putting Johnson down with a sleeper hold and attempting more "CPR". That fires Ahmed up and the crowd is completely with him down the stretch, as the Pearl River Plunge connects to a massive pop and we have a new champion. Ahmed gets a hero's welcome in the back afterwards, including a celebration with WWF Champion Shawn Michaels, as those two continue to orbit each other. Not a terrible match, though admittedly it wouldn't have worked without Goldust, think whatever you want about the gimmick but Dustin Rhodes was on fire at this time.
- It's time for the crowning of a new King of the Ring, but it's not much of a match. The story is heavily focused on Jake's injuries following the Vader attack, and Austin gets a pretty easy ride. Gorilla Monsoon comes out to consider stopping the fight, but Roberts manages to find a second wind and almost connects with the DDT. In the end, Austin puts him down with an honestly pretty lackluster Stunner to score his biggest win of his career to this point.
- With Roberts being helped to the back, Austin heads to the stage where the crowning is set to take place for possibly the most famous promo in wrestling history. Obviously, the "Austin 3:16" line is the most famous one and is the only part of the promo that gets a pop, as the crowd really enjoyed that one. The entire promo is great though, and well worth checking out if you haven't before. Even though this is meant to be a heel promo, it is nearly identical to the type of verbiage and cadence he'd be using as the biggest face in the business, so it's impossible to view as heelish in any way. There may not be any more obvious star making performance in wrestling history as what Austin did on this night, especially considering where he was in the first few months of his tenure, and I think this shows just how close any guy might be to breaking out at any time. All you need is one chance, and "Stone Cold" got it, and the rest is history.
- It's main event time, as Shawn Michaels defends the WWF Championship against The British Bulldog, with Mr. Perfect serving as special guest referee. Perfect was chosen by Jim Cornette as the official after the non-finish at Beware of Dog, but before the match can get underway, Monsoon interrupts. Perfect's status as an unbiased official is under question after an earlier segment where he was shown in Camp Cornette's locker room, and Monsoon decides to make Perfect the outside referee, with Earl Hebner the main official in charge. The match itself, once it finally begins, is very good, Bulldog and HBK are a perfect pairing for each other, with Shawn bumping all over the place for Bulldog's power offense. There are quite a few moving parts here, with Perfect, Cornette, Shawn's trainer Jose Lothario and Owen Hart all hanging around outside, not to mention constant shots of Diana Hart-Smith in the crowd, but I thought the storyline intrigue never got in the way of the match and added plenty of extra drama. The action really picks up down the stretch, with Shawn attempting to hit a hurricanrana and being caught and planted with a stiff powerbomb, a great spot. The crowd goes berserk for Shawn's comeback, with the flying forearm, kip-up, elbow drop and Sweet Chin Music all getting big reactions. Perfect wants to make the count with Hebner, but before he can count to three, Owen pulls Hennig out of the ring. Earl did count to three, so he awards the win to Michaels, before the heels go on the attack. It's two on one with Shawn against both Bulldog and Owen, before Ahmed Johnson runs in to even the odds. Vader then hits the ring, and Shawn looks set to receive a Vader Bomb, before The Ultimate Warrior runs down, and the heels are finally cleared out. The three big babyfaces celebrate as the crowd goes wild, setting up the possibility for a great six man tag down the line that unfortunately wouldn't come to pass. Warrior would get into another pay dispute with Vince, departing the company before the next pay-per-view. This is Warrior's final pay-per-view appearance in the WWF, as he would join WCW for his disastrous rematch with Hogan, before making just one showing on Raw in 2014 before his death. That's a pretty bleak way to end the show, though the match and post-match angle were very entertaining otherwise.
8/10
There's a lot to like about King of the Ring 1996. Obviously, the historical relevance of this show is entirely centered around "Stone Cold", but his performance, while great, wasn't the only highlight on the night. The IC Title win for Ahmed Johnson was a good moment and the biggest moment of his career, Mankind and Undertaker was fun and showed glimpses of what both men were capable of in a hardcore environment, Owen Hart did well on commentary and the main event was very good save for a couple long rest holds. 1993's King of the Ring may have provided better wrestling but 1996 was much more entertaining, and with the Attitude Era approaching, entertainment is all that matters.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: I move forward to WrestleMania 13, featuring what many consider to be the greatest match in WWE history. See you soon.
- Henry
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