WWF King of the Ring 1993
June 13, 1993
Dayton, OH
Nutter Center

The current WWF Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Hulk Hogan (4/4/1993)
Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels (6/6/1993)
World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (10/13/1992)

Your hosts are Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan & Randy Savage.

– Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon – First Round King of the Ring Match

Yeah! A Royal Rumble rematch. Razor is still suffering from the embarrassment of losing to the Lightning Kid, or the Kid, 1-2-3 Kid or whatever you want to call him back in mid-May. Whenever the crowd wants to make him mad, they just chant 1-2-3 and that’s all it takes to get him real steamed. Bret works an armbar for a while, but stuff happens to keep you interested. Razor sends Bret shoulder-first into the ringpost to turn the tide. Razor stomps the hands, which doesn’t sound all that relevant, but it will be later. He hits the Fallaway Slam for two. Running powerslam follows and gets another two-count. He tries an elbow drop off a side slam, but Bret moves and starts his comeback. Atomic drop/clothesline gets two. Russian Legsweep gets two. Backbreaker gets two. Flying Vertical Elbow Drop gets two. Bret rolls Razor up for another two. Bret wants the Running Bulldog, but Ramon shoves him off into the corner. Razor gives the “It’s over.” sign and attempts the RAZOR’S EDGE, but Bret counters just like at the Rumble into the backslide. He can’t get him down, so he kicks off the ropes, flips over Razor into a small package for 1-2-NO! Oh, that should’ve been the finish. Bret gets in the ref’s face. Probably shouting something about being screwed, I’m sure. Razor nails Bret from behind and goes for the Back Superplex, but Bret falls on top for 1-2-3. (10:28) This was just Bret on auto-pilot. ***

– Mr. Perfect vs. Mr. Hughes (w/Harvey Wippleman) – First Round King of the Ring Match

Hughes and Wippleman stole Taker’s urn on the previous episode of Superstars, so he’s got that with him. How many people stole that freakin’ urn between the years of ’92 and ‘96? Sheesh. If they couldn’t think of anything creative for Taker, they went with somebody just stealing the urn. Hughes grabs a neck wrench on Perfect for a while. Perfect avoids the Bossman straddle and hits the Running Neck Snap. He pounds away on Hughes in the corner and when the ref moves him away, Wippleman slips Hughes the urn. WHAM! Perfect goes down in plain sight of Earl Hebner, which gets Hughes DQ’ed. (6:02) Yes Curtis, you have the urn. We know. ¾*

– Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Bam Bam Bigelow – First Round King of the Ring Match

This is Duggan during his singlet days and was having some pretty decent matches with Shawn Michaels for the IC title. Duggan can’t seem to take the big man off his feet. Oh wait, yes he can. Duggan misses a charge in the corner and hurts his ribs. So Bigelow does what anybody with an ounce of brains would do – he works the ribs. He grabs a bearhug, but the chants of USA gets Duggan going. He avoids a diving headbutt, but Bigelow falls on top of him when he tries a slam for two. Back to the bearhug. Duggan escapes again and finally gets that slam he’s been wanting ever since he hurt his ribs. He goes for the THREE POINT STANCE, but Bigelow moves and Duggan hits face-first into the top turnbuckle. Bigelow climbs up top and connects with the FLYING HEADBUTT for the win. (5:01) Felt like an old SNME match. Quick and inoffensive. *

– Tatanka vs. “The Narcissist” Lex Luger – First Round King of the Ring Match

Because of Luger’s motorcycle accident in ’92, he had a metal plate inserted in his elbow. Vince decided to take advantage of it and included that in his gimmick. When Lex would hit you with the loaded elbow, it would knock out anybody it hit. WWF officials finally decided to do something about it by making Luger wear an elbow pad. I guess that would make all the difference? Tatanka’s entrance interrupts Luger’s posing in the mirror, so he throws Tatanka out of the ring so he can finish. Haha, I love that. Tatanka gets back in and turns the HUGE mirror over on top of Luger and then chops him out to the floor. Back in, Tatanka grabs an armbar. That eats up a couple minutes. Luger finally elbows Tatanka away and starts working on the chest by burying elbows and such. He now goes to the neck with a chinlock. Luger’s getting those same positive crowd reactions he received in 1989 when he worked heel. Tatanka tries a couple desperation rollups, but Luger stays on top of him. When Luger starts turnbuckle smashing, Tatanka begins his war dance. Chops abound, including a Wahoo chop for 1-2-NO! Powerslam gets another two. Tatanka hits a Flying Judo Chop for 1-2-NO! He tries a Flying Crossbody, but Luger moves out of the way. Luger hits his own Powerslam for 1-2-NO! Suplex connects for another two. Apparently unaware of the time limit, Luger hits the backbreaker as we reach the 15-minute mark. (15:00) Boring start, but it more than delivered at the end. Because they went the time limit, both guys are eliminated. That puts Bigelow right into the finals to meet the winner of Bret/Perfect. Luger wants five more minutes because he came here to win the King of the Ring (duh). Well they aren’t getting five more minutes. Instead, Luger pulls of the elbow pad and KO’s Tatanka. Once Hogan leaves and Luger slams Yokozuna, there would be no more “narcissism” for Lex – at least not from a gimmick standpoint. **¼

– Mr. Perfect vs. Bret Hart – King of the Ring Semi-Finals

Bret’s selling the stomps done to his hand earlier in his match with Razor, as his left hand is taped up. It’s the little things. This one picks up quick from the get-go once Perfect shoves off the headlock. They trade slams and then Bret catches Perfect with a crucifix for two. Bret hits a crossbody, but the momentum off the cover puts him on the floor. He shoots back in with a sunset flip for two. Perfect plays the “shades of gray” heel by burying a knee in Bret’s gut to break away from the headlock. Standing dropkick puts Bret on the floor. Perfect holds the ropes to help Bret back in, but then he kicks him when Bret doesn’t see it coming. Knee lift from Perfect gets two. Perfect then kicks Bret out to ringside. Once he’s on the apron, Perfect shoves him off into the guardrail! Awesome! Bret’s knee is killing him now. Perfect hits another knee lift and then connects with a missile dropkick! Cover, 1-2-NO! Perfect whips Bret in the corner for the chest-first bump for 1-2-NO! Perfect heads up top again, but Bret is there to crotch him and superplex him to the canvas! Cover, 1-2-NO! Bret starts kicking Perfect in the back of the knee, causing him to flip all over the ropes. That leads to the figure-four. Perfect finally makes the ropes. Bret grapevines the leg, but Perfect legdrops to escape. He puts Bret in the corner and throws Bret across the ring by his hair! Perfect grabs the sleeper. Bret’s too close to the ropes though. Perfect holds on until the 4.99999 count just before he would’ve been DQ’ed. I love it. Now he reapplies the sleeper in the middle of the ring, using the ropes for leverage. Bret escapes by slamming Perfect’s face into the turnbuckle. European forearm nearly takes Perfect’s head off. Now Bret tosses Perfect across the ring by his hair, which ends with Perfect splitting himself on the ringpost. Bret hits an atomic drop/Russian legsweep combo for 1-2-NO! Backbreaker/vertical elbow drop connects for 1-2-NO! Bret wants the SHARPSHOOTER, but Perfect grabs and twists the taped up hand to block. Perfect wants the PERFECT-PLEX, but Bret keeps a wide vertical base and counters by giving Perfect a suplex over the top rope to the floor below. They just barely make it back in before the countout. Perfect cradles Bret for 1-2-NO! Oh wait, it’s reversed and Bret gets 1-2-3! (19:08) Without a doubt, one of my all-time favorites. I liked this one better than their SummerSlam ’91 match because it felt like Bret and Perfect were more evenly matched here, as where in ’91 Bret was the underdog. By the way, they shake hands afterwards. ****½

In the back, Jimmy Hart recites a bunch of lines to Hulk’s WCW theme song.

– WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Yokozuna (Mr. Fuji)

Well this will calm the crowd down after that last barn burner. This would be Hogan’s last WWF PPV appearance until February 2002. We get a near two-minute stallfest to start. Once they lock-up, it’s WrestleMania 6 all over again, as they take turns shoving one another out of a tie-up. Yoko takes over with throat thrusts and a slam. He whips Hulk from corner to corner and then tries for the Running Butt Splash, but there’s nobody home. Hogan fires back and tries a slam, but nah uh .He fires back and attempts another slam, but still not going to happen. Hogan hits a pair of clotheslines, but then Yoko stops him on the third try with a clothesline of his own. Hogan avoids a splash, but then runs into a bearhug. It’s the typical bearhug segment where Hogan fights it for as long as possible and then he starts to pass out, but then he wakes up and makes sure his arm doesn’t fall three times to kickstart his comeback. On the comeback part, scratch that. Yoko levels him with a Belly-to-Belly Suplex. Cover, 1-2-NO! It’s HULK UP time! He punches Yoko three times, whips him in the ropes for the Big Boot and connects! But he doesn’t go down. A second Big Boot connects, but Yoko will not fall. How about a third Big Boot? Ok, he finally falls. Hogan hits the LEGDROP for 1-2-NO! Whoa! Mr. Fuji’s on the apron and he gets nailed. Wait a minute, some strange looking photographer is standing on the other side of the apron. Maybe his camera doesn’t have zoom? Hulk walks over to him and gets blasted with a fireball! Talk about a defective camera! Yoko throat-thrusts and LEGDROPS Hogan for 1-2-3. (13:12) Yokozuna has regained the belt. Pretty much your standard Hogan vs. Monster match, except this time he gets screwed out of the belt. To put the final squash on Hogan’s WWF career, Yokozuna gives him a BANZAI DROP. So long, Hulk. Have fun in WCW! ½*

In the back, Shawn Michaels announces the name of his new bodyguard, Diesel.

– The Headshrinkers & Money Inc. (w/Afa) vs. The Steiner Brothers & The Smokin’ Gunns

This was originally supposed to include the Nasty Boys instead of the Smokin’ Gunns, but they were suspended and then eventually fired. Therefore, here you have the PPV debuts of both Billy & Bart Gunn. DiBiase gets PWNT by the Steiners to start. Next up, Fatu slows Bart down with a superkick, making your face-in-peril. He gets tossed around like fresh meat in prison for quite some time. Billy gets a hot tag, but DiBiase cools him off with a sick hotshot. DiBiase grabs the MILLION DOLLAR DREAM until it looks like Billy is out of it. All a sudden, he releases the hold and starts to gloat about how great he is. Next thing he knows, Billy Gunn has him in a small package for 1-2-3. (7:03) Huge upset back in the day. Just a filler match. Over the next five days, the Steiners would trade the tag team belts back and forth with Money Inc. **

– WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel) vs. Crush

Shawn had just regained the IC belt a week earlier at a house show in Albany thanks to his new “insurance policy” Diesel. All Diesel did at this point was stand there and look intimidating in his white leather gold-studded jacket and his jeans tucked inside his cowboy boots. Michaels grabs an armbar to start, but Crush dropkicks him out to the floor. Back in, Crush press slams him and then gives him the Tour of the Islands (tilt-a-whirl backbreaker). Crush has him visibly beat, so Shawn’s “insurance policy” drags him out to safety. Crush follows HBK out and then forgets about him as he goes after Diesel. With Crush unaware, Shawn comes off the apron and knocks Crush into the ringpost. Shawn heads back in the ring so Diesel can slam Crush’s head into the ringpost again. Now Diesel distracts the ref while Shawn comes back out and smashes the back of Crush’s head into the ringpost a good five or six more times. Why hasn’t anybody else done that since? HBK pretty much has this match won by countout, but he brings Crush into the ring anyway to try for the pin. Cover, 1-2-NO! Shawn grabs a front facelock, but Crush eventually powers out like a good babyface and throws HBK across the top rope. Crush regroups and then slams HBK down stomach-first as he flies off the top turnbuckle. Crush whips Shawn into the corner and follows up with a backbreaker for 1-2-NO! Crush then clotheslines HBK out as the two Doinks waltz down to screw with Crush. By having him distracted by their presence alone, that gives HBK the opportunity to superkick Crush in the back of the head! Cover, 1-2-3. (11:14) I knew those Doinks had to be on this PPV somewhere. When will this Crush/Doink business end? Anyways, got to love the head psychology~! Much better match than I thought it would be. *½

– Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow – King of the Ring Finals

So after Bret’s two other matches that together lasted 30 minutes, he’s got a hurt knee and a damaged left hand. Bigelow had only one match and beat Duggan with no trouble in five minutes. I mean, who do you think is going to win? Bret actually controls to start, but Bigelow’s mass quickly takes over. Wow, Bigelow literally throws Bret from inside the ring and out to the floor. Heenan and Savage pretty much proclaim the match history after that. Bigelow wants to pin Bret, so he brings him back in the ring. He whips Bret hard into the corner and headbutts him on the back for two. Back suplex gets two. Another hard whip into the corner sets up a diving headbutt for two. Bigelow grabs a bearhug and when Bret tries to escape, Bigelow spins him around for a second back suplex. Cover, 1-2-NO! They go to the floor again where Bret reverses a whip into the guardrail. Bret comes off the apron, but he’s caught and backed spine-first into the ringpost. Then Bigelow slams Bret in the aisleway and heads back into the ring to distract the ref while his new main squeeze Luna Vachon runs down and nails Bret in the back with a chair. Even Ross has Bret written off at this point. Back in, Bigelow hits the FLYING HEADBUTT for 1-2-3. (9:25) Bigelow has WON the King of the Ring! Not. Other Ref Earl Hebner runs down and tells ref Joey Marella what happened with Luna, so the match continues. Bigelow doesn’t let it bother him and remains on the back with the bearhug. Now he goes over to a Canadian backbreaker. Ventura would be proud. Bret eventually manages to flip out and then gives Bigelow a desperation back suplex. Bigelow’s up first and tries a senton, but Bret moves out of the way. Bigelow grabs hold of the Canadian backbreaker again, but Bret maneuvers out of that into a sleeper! When Bigelow starts to fade, he flips Bret over to escape. With Bigelow dazed, Bret dropkicks him out to the floor and follows him out with a pescado! Back in, Bret hits a second-rope clothesline for 1-2-NO! Russian legsweep/second-rope bulldog gets two. Bret wants a SHARPSHOOTER, but Bigelow kicks him away. Bret wants a back suplex, but Bigelow falls on top for 1-2-NO! Next up, Bigelow runs into a boot in the corner, setting up a victory roll for Bret that gets 1-2-3! (18:20) While the King of the Ring had been an annual tournament held from 1985-1991, this was the first time that it actually mattered instead of just trying to boost a house show sale. After losing to Yokozuna at WrestleMania, Bret needed to beat a big guy in a big match situation to show he could hang with the big boys, and this was *that* match. These two seemed to have good chemistry together, so it definitely worked. ***½

During the coronation ceremony, Jerry “The King” Lawler comes out to say that he’s the REAL king of the WWF and that Bret needs to kiss his feet. Bret scoffs at his remarks and starts up a Burger King chant. That pretty much pisses Lawler off to a degree where he’s about to do bad things, which is exactly what happens. Lawler beats Bret down with the scepter, stomps on the crown, and then drops the throne down hard on Bret’s back. Lawler then makes Bret kiss his feet by kicking him in the mouth! Ahh, such classic stuff here.

Final Thoughts: This was a perfect example of a tournament done well. Still to this day, I would call this the best King of the Ring tournament ever. As per usual for these King of the Ring shows, the non-tournament matches are (arguably) pretty weak and this was no different. If you like Bret Hart, this is definitely the show for you. Bret’s matches time-wise take up half the show (fifty minutes!), which is incredible. Even with the weak non-tournament matches, I have to go thumbs up for King of the Ring 1993 because the tournament was just that entertaining.