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The KOTR returns tonight on RAW (3 hours) so I got to checking out years past...oh the memories
The first ever KOTR tournament was held in Foxboro, Mass in July 1985 (quarterfinalists included IC champ Tito Santana, Jim Brunzell, Ricky Steamboat, The Iron Sheik, Don Muraco, Les Thornton and Pedro Morales). Don Muraco pinned the Iron Sheik to become the first king of the ring. As best that I know, this was never acknowledged nationally on television.
WWE returned to Foxboro, Mass in July 1986 for the second annual KOTR house show (quarterfinalists included Billy Jack Haynes, Mr. X, Nikolai Volkoff, JYD, Pedro Morales, Mike Rotundo and Harley Race). Race returned to WWE in May of that year after being one of the top guys in the NWA (to say the least). Race pinned Pedro Morales to win the tournament and would go on to take the gimmick to TV where he became King Harley Race. This was at a time when WWE never acknowledged other promotions or the history of guys coming from other places (the one exception I believe was when David Von Erich passed away) and Race took this as a great sign of respect from the McMahons.
King of the Ring 1987 moved to Providence, Rhode Island in September 1987 (quarterfinalists were Haku, Rick Martel, Danny Davis, King Kong Bundy, SD Jones, JYD, Macho Man and Jim Brunzell). In the finals, Randy Savage defeated King Kong Bundy to become king. This win was never acknowledged on television with Savage slowly turning face. The full fledged and one of the more memorable face turns came about a month later on SNME when the Honky Tonk Man and the Hart Foundation attacked Savage and Elizabeth.
*Meanwhile, Harley Race had maintained the King gimmick into 1988. However, he was legit injured in March on SNME when Hogan moved out of the way of a headbutt and Race fell through the table...I think it was a back injury. Race continued working into April or May before he had surgery. In June 1988 on TV, they acknowledged the injury and Race was gone from WWE TV.
They switched the king gimmick to Haku who became King Haku. Race returned briefly in January 89 and lost at the rumble to King Haku (retained the crown).
KOTR 1988 was again held in Providence (although they sold just over half of the amount of tickets they did the year before) in October 1988 (quarterfinalists were Ron Bass, Shawn Michaels, Ted Dibiase, Ken Patera, The Red Rooster, Iron Mike Sharpe and WWE Champ Savage). In the finals, Ted Dibiase beat Savage via count out. This was never acknowledged on TV.
Later in 1989, Savage beat Duggan and became the Macho King. After Savage lost the retirement match at Wrestlemania 7 in 1991, he lost the Macho King gimmick and the King gimmick was gone until 1993.
KOTR 1989 was also held in Providence (where they sold even less tickets than they did in 88) in October 1989 (quarterfinalists included Tito Santana, Warlord, Bushwacker Luke, Haku, Jimmy Snuka, Rick Martel and Akeem). In the finals, Tito Santana pinned Rick Martel and it was never acknowledged on television.
There was no tournament in 1990 (probably because A) ticket sales for the show had been shit and B) they had Savage as the King)
KOTR returned as a house show in 1991, again in Providence, Rhode Island (they only sold 2400 tickets) in September (quarterfinalists included Jerry Sags, Sid, Undertaker, Bret Hart, Skinner, Jim Duggan and IRS). IC champ Bret pinned IRS to win the tournament. If you're wondering, Sid and Taker were matched up earlier and were both disqualified for attacking the ref. Bret winning was never acknowledged on TV.
There was no tournament in 1992. Perhaps due to declining ticket sales (again) and the fact Jerry Lawler had finally signed with Vince and was on TV as King.
Then in 1993, they introduced their 5th PPV of the year in June...the King of the Ring, in Dayton, Ohio. The tournament included two awesome matches (Bret vs. Perfect, Bret vs. Bam Bam) and one very good match (Bret vs. Razor). This show is also notable because it was the final TV appearance for Hogan in WWE until 2002, he lost to Yokozuna in a title match. Bret won the tournament, became king (although they never used the gimmick) and began a feud with Lawler, who attacked him at the conclusion of the PPV.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnlkt1JJktw[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnZJbvWaUI[/ame]
The 1994 PPV was held in Baltimore, Maryland and is notable for having football legend Art Donovan on commentary (he was so bad, halfway through the show, Savage and Monsoon literally ignored him..as did the TV director). Owen Hart won the tournament with help from Jim Neidhart (who turned heel in the process) as he defeated Razor Ramon. Neidhart earlier 'saved' Bret (he was WWE Champ) from losing to Diesel...as we later found out only so Owen could get a shot at his brother. The main event saw Roddy Piper beat Jerry Lawler. A bad show.
The 1995 PPV was held in the now dead Philly Spectrum and this show (like most in 1995 WWE) was god awful. Mabel (as a heel) won the tournament by defeating Savio Vega, although he beat Taker earlier in the night (he ended up legit crushing Taker's face at Summerslam with a legdrop). Bret Hart beat Lawler (talk about long-term feuds) in a kiss my foot match. Horrible show. This show is notable b/c of the ECW chants throughout the show from the crowd. lol
The 1996 PPV is legendary (not b/c it took place in Wisconsin, the westernmost location for any single-night KOTR show) because of the birth of AUSTIN 3:16. In the show opener, Austin beat Marc Mero in a damn good match. During the match, Austin was kicked in the mouth and had to go to the hospital during the show to get stitched up. Mankind and Taker's feud continued here and Ahmed Johnson beat Goldust to become IC champ. In the finals of the tournament, Austin beat Jake Roberts and cut the now famous promo afterwards. ."Jake Roberts, you sit there and you thump your bible and did it didn't get you anywhere. Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16....AUSTIN 3:16 SAYS I JUST WHOOPED YOUR ASS!" The promo was all Austin btw, no stupid scripts. The main event featured a good world title match as Shawn defended against Bulldog.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGM1o8CDLs8[/ame]
The infamous story of KOTR 1996 is that HHH was originally planned to win the tournament and get a big push. However, months earlier the "MSG Curtain Call" took place before Diesel and Razor left and with Shawn as champ, they punished Hunter. So instead of winning the tournament, he ended up in slop with Henry Godwin.
The 1997 PPV returned to Providence (better ticket sales than Wisconsin) and Hunter finally got that push. He beat Mankind in the finals to win and an equally forgettable match was the main event when Taker defeated Faarooq to retain the title. In the co-main, tag champs Austin and Michaels fought to a double DQ although the match was in many ways, better than their Wrestlemania match (granted, Shawn wasn't all pilled up). Plus, watch before the match begins as a "special" kid tries to get in the ring.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhKOCmFjFjI[/ame]
The 1998 PPV was held in Pittsburgh as WWE was finally kicking the fuck out of WCW. I don't remember much about the tournament other than Ken Shamrock beat The Rock in the finals. This show is famous for the first hell in a cell match that saw Undertaker literally throw Mankind off and threw the gigantic structure. I shed many "holy shits" watching this live back then. In the main event, Kane became WWE champion (albeit for one night) when the masked one beat Stone Cold in a first blood match.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ecgFOEmI6w[/ame]
The 1999 PPV was held in Greensboro, North Carolina. A forgettable show although it did have a four-minute tag match between the hardy boys and edge and christian...
Billy Gunn beat X-Pac to become the king of the ring....ugh. Taker retained the championship by beating Rock and in the main event, Shane & Vince beat Stone Cold in a handicap ladder match. One of those atittude era shows that was a lot of crap thrown at the wall.
The 2000 PPV was in Boston and the roster was DEEEEP. By this time Benoit, Guerrero, Angle and Jericho were all in the mid card. Angle beat Jericho in the first round, Rikishi beat Benoit by DQ and Val Venis beat Guerrero (so yeah, Vince likes to break in his former WCW guys). Kurt Angle beat Rikishi in the finals to become the KOTR. The hardcore title changed hands from hall of famer Pat Patterson to Crash Holly. In the main event, Rock/Kane/Taker beat HHH/Vince/Shane. I don't remember much about the show besides Angle beating Rikishi.
The 2001 PPV was a great show (from what I remember, haven't seen if it holds up). This was the first time the PPV only featured three tournament matches (semi-finals and the final) which pretty much killed it for me. Despite that, we had great workers in the tournament this year. Angle beat Christian and Edge beat Rhyno in the semis. Edge then beat Angle to become King. Edge took the KOTR trophy with him and it led to the break-up with Christian when Christian attacked Edge later in the year. In the co-main, Angle and Shane beat the fuck out of each other in a street fight. Both men were lucky to walk out alive they were so damn careless. In the main event, Austin retained the title against Benoit and Jericho in a triple threat match. Also at this event, DDP got beat up by Taker for stalking his then-girlfriend Sarah. Booker T debuted in the main event by attacking Stone Cold, too.
*one month later, they held the InVasion PPV
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb8IJpZJdjE[/ame]
The 2002 PPV was the first KOTR to feature both "brands" as Raw and Smackdown split earlier in the year. The show was held in Columbus, Ohio and featured the UBERPUSH of Brock Lesnar. The tournament featured RVD over Jericho and Lesnar over Test. Brock steamrolled RVD in the finals to become King. Also in the show was a Flair/Guerrero match plus Angle beating Hogan (Hulk returned in February). The main event saw Taker retain the undisputed championship over HHH.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDqtWtoL9EQ[/ame]
That was the last KOTR PPV as by then, it stopped doing good business. The concept returned in 2006 on Smackdown as Booker T won and became King Booker for well over a year. The tournament returned in 2008 (after Booker left WWE) on RAW...what an awful show that was...with William Regal beating CM Punk in six minutes to become king. Shortly thereafter, Regal would get popped for steroids and his push was killed (he was supposedly being pushed to feud with Triple H).
And now the KOTR returns tonight on RAW in Philly. Sheamus vs. Ezekiel Jackson....Daniel Bryan vs. John Morrison (
).....Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto del Rio....Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes (match-ups according to wiki)
The first ever KOTR tournament was held in Foxboro, Mass in July 1985 (quarterfinalists included IC champ Tito Santana, Jim Brunzell, Ricky Steamboat, The Iron Sheik, Don Muraco, Les Thornton and Pedro Morales). Don Muraco pinned the Iron Sheik to become the first king of the ring. As best that I know, this was never acknowledged nationally on television.
WWE returned to Foxboro, Mass in July 1986 for the second annual KOTR house show (quarterfinalists included Billy Jack Haynes, Mr. X, Nikolai Volkoff, JYD, Pedro Morales, Mike Rotundo and Harley Race). Race returned to WWE in May of that year after being one of the top guys in the NWA (to say the least). Race pinned Pedro Morales to win the tournament and would go on to take the gimmick to TV where he became King Harley Race. This was at a time when WWE never acknowledged other promotions or the history of guys coming from other places (the one exception I believe was when David Von Erich passed away) and Race took this as a great sign of respect from the McMahons.
King of the Ring 1987 moved to Providence, Rhode Island in September 1987 (quarterfinalists were Haku, Rick Martel, Danny Davis, King Kong Bundy, SD Jones, JYD, Macho Man and Jim Brunzell). In the finals, Randy Savage defeated King Kong Bundy to become king. This win was never acknowledged on television with Savage slowly turning face. The full fledged and one of the more memorable face turns came about a month later on SNME when the Honky Tonk Man and the Hart Foundation attacked Savage and Elizabeth.
*Meanwhile, Harley Race had maintained the King gimmick into 1988. However, he was legit injured in March on SNME when Hogan moved out of the way of a headbutt and Race fell through the table...I think it was a back injury. Race continued working into April or May before he had surgery. In June 1988 on TV, they acknowledged the injury and Race was gone from WWE TV.
They switched the king gimmick to Haku who became King Haku. Race returned briefly in January 89 and lost at the rumble to King Haku (retained the crown).
KOTR 1988 was again held in Providence (although they sold just over half of the amount of tickets they did the year before) in October 1988 (quarterfinalists were Ron Bass, Shawn Michaels, Ted Dibiase, Ken Patera, The Red Rooster, Iron Mike Sharpe and WWE Champ Savage). In the finals, Ted Dibiase beat Savage via count out. This was never acknowledged on TV.
Later in 1989, Savage beat Duggan and became the Macho King. After Savage lost the retirement match at Wrestlemania 7 in 1991, he lost the Macho King gimmick and the King gimmick was gone until 1993.
KOTR 1989 was also held in Providence (where they sold even less tickets than they did in 88) in October 1989 (quarterfinalists included Tito Santana, Warlord, Bushwacker Luke, Haku, Jimmy Snuka, Rick Martel and Akeem). In the finals, Tito Santana pinned Rick Martel and it was never acknowledged on television.
There was no tournament in 1990 (probably because A) ticket sales for the show had been shit and B) they had Savage as the King)
KOTR returned as a house show in 1991, again in Providence, Rhode Island (they only sold 2400 tickets) in September (quarterfinalists included Jerry Sags, Sid, Undertaker, Bret Hart, Skinner, Jim Duggan and IRS). IC champ Bret pinned IRS to win the tournament. If you're wondering, Sid and Taker were matched up earlier and were both disqualified for attacking the ref. Bret winning was never acknowledged on TV.
There was no tournament in 1992. Perhaps due to declining ticket sales (again) and the fact Jerry Lawler had finally signed with Vince and was on TV as King.
Then in 1993, they introduced their 5th PPV of the year in June...the King of the Ring, in Dayton, Ohio. The tournament included two awesome matches (Bret vs. Perfect, Bret vs. Bam Bam) and one very good match (Bret vs. Razor). This show is also notable because it was the final TV appearance for Hogan in WWE until 2002, he lost to Yokozuna in a title match. Bret won the tournament, became king (although they never used the gimmick) and began a feud with Lawler, who attacked him at the conclusion of the PPV.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnlkt1JJktw[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnZJbvWaUI[/ame]
The 1994 PPV was held in Baltimore, Maryland and is notable for having football legend Art Donovan on commentary (he was so bad, halfway through the show, Savage and Monsoon literally ignored him..as did the TV director). Owen Hart won the tournament with help from Jim Neidhart (who turned heel in the process) as he defeated Razor Ramon. Neidhart earlier 'saved' Bret (he was WWE Champ) from losing to Diesel...as we later found out only so Owen could get a shot at his brother. The main event saw Roddy Piper beat Jerry Lawler. A bad show.
The 1995 PPV was held in the now dead Philly Spectrum and this show (like most in 1995 WWE) was god awful. Mabel (as a heel) won the tournament by defeating Savio Vega, although he beat Taker earlier in the night (he ended up legit crushing Taker's face at Summerslam with a legdrop). Bret Hart beat Lawler (talk about long-term feuds) in a kiss my foot match. Horrible show. This show is notable b/c of the ECW chants throughout the show from the crowd. lol
The 1996 PPV is legendary (not b/c it took place in Wisconsin, the westernmost location for any single-night KOTR show) because of the birth of AUSTIN 3:16. In the show opener, Austin beat Marc Mero in a damn good match. During the match, Austin was kicked in the mouth and had to go to the hospital during the show to get stitched up. Mankind and Taker's feud continued here and Ahmed Johnson beat Goldust to become IC champ. In the finals of the tournament, Austin beat Jake Roberts and cut the now famous promo afterwards. ."Jake Roberts, you sit there and you thump your bible and did it didn't get you anywhere. Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16....AUSTIN 3:16 SAYS I JUST WHOOPED YOUR ASS!" The promo was all Austin btw, no stupid scripts. The main event featured a good world title match as Shawn defended against Bulldog.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGM1o8CDLs8[/ame]
The infamous story of KOTR 1996 is that HHH was originally planned to win the tournament and get a big push. However, months earlier the "MSG Curtain Call" took place before Diesel and Razor left and with Shawn as champ, they punished Hunter. So instead of winning the tournament, he ended up in slop with Henry Godwin.
The 1997 PPV returned to Providence (better ticket sales than Wisconsin) and Hunter finally got that push. He beat Mankind in the finals to win and an equally forgettable match was the main event when Taker defeated Faarooq to retain the title. In the co-main, tag champs Austin and Michaels fought to a double DQ although the match was in many ways, better than their Wrestlemania match (granted, Shawn wasn't all pilled up). Plus, watch before the match begins as a "special" kid tries to get in the ring.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhKOCmFjFjI[/ame]
The 1998 PPV was held in Pittsburgh as WWE was finally kicking the fuck out of WCW. I don't remember much about the tournament other than Ken Shamrock beat The Rock in the finals. This show is famous for the first hell in a cell match that saw Undertaker literally throw Mankind off and threw the gigantic structure. I shed many "holy shits" watching this live back then. In the main event, Kane became WWE champion (albeit for one night) when the masked one beat Stone Cold in a first blood match.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ecgFOEmI6w[/ame]
The 1999 PPV was held in Greensboro, North Carolina. A forgettable show although it did have a four-minute tag match between the hardy boys and edge and christian...
Billy Gunn beat X-Pac to become the king of the ring....ugh. Taker retained the championship by beating Rock and in the main event, Shane & Vince beat Stone Cold in a handicap ladder match. One of those atittude era shows that was a lot of crap thrown at the wall.The 2000 PPV was in Boston and the roster was DEEEEP. By this time Benoit, Guerrero, Angle and Jericho were all in the mid card. Angle beat Jericho in the first round, Rikishi beat Benoit by DQ and Val Venis beat Guerrero (so yeah, Vince likes to break in his former WCW guys). Kurt Angle beat Rikishi in the finals to become the KOTR. The hardcore title changed hands from hall of famer Pat Patterson to Crash Holly. In the main event, Rock/Kane/Taker beat HHH/Vince/Shane. I don't remember much about the show besides Angle beating Rikishi.
The 2001 PPV was a great show (from what I remember, haven't seen if it holds up). This was the first time the PPV only featured three tournament matches (semi-finals and the final) which pretty much killed it for me. Despite that, we had great workers in the tournament this year. Angle beat Christian and Edge beat Rhyno in the semis. Edge then beat Angle to become King. Edge took the KOTR trophy with him and it led to the break-up with Christian when Christian attacked Edge later in the year. In the co-main, Angle and Shane beat the fuck out of each other in a street fight. Both men were lucky to walk out alive they were so damn careless. In the main event, Austin retained the title against Benoit and Jericho in a triple threat match. Also at this event, DDP got beat up by Taker for stalking his then-girlfriend Sarah. Booker T debuted in the main event by attacking Stone Cold, too.
*one month later, they held the InVasion PPV
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb8IJpZJdjE[/ame]
The 2002 PPV was the first KOTR to feature both "brands" as Raw and Smackdown split earlier in the year. The show was held in Columbus, Ohio and featured the UBERPUSH of Brock Lesnar. The tournament featured RVD over Jericho and Lesnar over Test. Brock steamrolled RVD in the finals to become King. Also in the show was a Flair/Guerrero match plus Angle beating Hogan (Hulk returned in February). The main event saw Taker retain the undisputed championship over HHH.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDqtWtoL9EQ[/ame]
That was the last KOTR PPV as by then, it stopped doing good business. The concept returned in 2006 on Smackdown as Booker T won and became King Booker for well over a year. The tournament returned in 2008 (after Booker left WWE) on RAW...what an awful show that was...with William Regal beating CM Punk in six minutes to become king. Shortly thereafter, Regal would get popped for steroids and his push was killed (he was supposedly being pushed to feud with Triple H).
And now the KOTR returns tonight on RAW in Philly. Sheamus vs. Ezekiel Jackson....Daniel Bryan vs. John Morrison (
).....Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto del Rio....Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes (match-ups according to wiki)
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