STW - King of the Ring 1995 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’re continuing our look back at past King of the Ring PPVs and today it’s the 1995 version from Philadelphia.

Bruce….. You have a lot of explaining to do and I’m gonna get right to it.

KING MABEL. KING MABEL.

Why Bruce? Please explain yourself and the company’s decision here. Or are you gonna make us wait until we get to that moment as we review the show?

Well, let’s look at who was in the tournament in the weeks leading up before the PPV and you can try and defend all these decisions for us.

In the first qualifying match, Mabel defeated Adam Bomb at the first In Your House PPV on May 14 in a very short match - Bruce we have covered this show before in the archives - but we know this begins Mabel’s quest to be King…

Was it already known here the month before that Mabel was going to be the eventual King of the Ring winner?

What didn’t work with the Adam Bomb character? In 1995 he looked like the coolest dude on the roster, and has been a babyface for about a year. But by August 95 he’s out of the company.

On Monday Night Raw the next night on May 15, Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly defeated Mantaur in the second qualifying round.

Well King Spark Plugg sounds better than King Mantaur.

From the Observer and we must discuss this Bruce…”At a Thursday lengthy "team meeting" on 5/18 at Titan Towers, designed to bridge the gap between talent and office, the World Wrestling Federation informed its wrestlers of a new and far more restrictive company drug policy and Vince McMahon gave an upbeat speech, informing wrestlers of the current financial condition of Titan Sports and said there were already signs of a turnaround.

The seminar with all the contract wrestlers (the only wrestler not appearing on television currently who is under contract was Dan Spivey who will debut shortly as Waylon Mercy so rumors regarding anyone else having signed a contract are premature) included showing the wrestlers an information videotape of what the various departments of the company such as marketing, TV production, etc. do. The wrestlers were told that the company wants to remove the barriers that had previously separated "office" from "talent."

McMahon told the wrestlers that Titan Sports grossed $83.7 million in 1994, but that after expenses, the company's bottom line was a $3.8 million loss. Reportedly in its best year in the late 80s, Titan grossed $186 million and even in a recent interview with Financial World magazine McMahon was still claiming the company gross as being well in excess of $100 million and in the past Titan p.r. had claimed figures ranging from $300 million to $500 million publicly.”

Bruce…are you there for this meeting? What do you remember of this?

From there…JJ Dillon speaks and well… “During the meeting, J.J. Dillon informed wrestlers of a new drug policy which if enforced to the letter and there was no hint whatsoever that it wouldn't be, would be easily the most stringent in any sport or entertainment company. Within the policy, marijuana has been reclassified to the same position as anabolic steroids and cocaine in that a positive test result constitutes a six-week suspension on first offense, suspension and rehab on second offense and termination on third offense. Previously it is believed marijuana positives were subject to fines but not suspensions, at least on first offense.”

How much is all going on in the WWF offices at this time? Bret Hart has talked before about marijuana and the virtues of it…do you agree with Bret?

Next on Superstars on May 20, Razor Ramon defeated Jacob Blu. So after the first 3 matches we gotta think Razor is the favorite, right?

Also during the time Razor and Jeff are trading the IC title in Ladder matches in Canada. Why do you think this was done?

I love this from the Observer: “The highlight was Bob Backlund announcing he was running for President, which was one of the funniest interviews in a long time. It was funny both intentionally and unintentionally since Backlund had to memorize all these dates and got most of them right, but had one unintentionally hilarious screw-ups (saying the first Olympics was in 1776 BC) and the best one when he said that on December 27, 1983, that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Actually that was the day that Hulk Hogan debuted as a babyface in the WWF and Kennedy had been dead for more than 20 years.”

Is that a shoot or a work…or a rib?

Well up next, Shawn Michaels defeated King Kong Bundy on the May 22nd edition of Raw, so who knows maybe Shawn vs Razor is a possibility later on in the tournament, which would have been great. Did this show go through a lineup shuffle or change? I mean you’re going to have Razor and Shawn…and they’re #3 and #4 in the tourney behind Mabel and Sparky Plugg…did you realize you needed some star power in it?

Superstars on May 27th and Kama ‘the Supreme Fighting Machine’ defeated Duke ‘The Dumpster’ Droese in the next qualifying round. So no King of the Dumpsters.

There’s a lot of issues with injuries as Diesel is hurt and on the shelf until the pay-per-view and it’s announced that he’ll be teaming with Bam Bam Bigelow and taking on Sid & Tatanka. That’s…quite the hard sell for a pay-per-view main event isn’t it?

The hope is after Bam Bam loses to LT at WrestleMania and the Million Dollar Corporation kicks him out he’d be a top babyface but it doesn’t really work that way does it?

Raw on May 29th and this is a big one, the Undertaker defeated Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett with the tombstone to qualify.

Well you have to think Undertaker is a clear favorite now - but it doesn’t feel like an Undertaker thing to do…to be in a tournament right?

This Raw set the record for the show up until this point with a 3.9 rating. You think that’s because of Good Ol’ Double J?

Chris Candido as Skip debuts at this time and it’s reported in the Observer that this is when talks with Dustin Rhodes began. I mean you got Waylon Mercy debuting at this time as well, and let’s not forget Techno Team 2000!…Lots of moving parts in the talent roster around this time is there not?

Superstars on June 3rd and The Roadie, yes the Roadie in only his second WWF televised match defeated Doink the Clown. No plans for a King Doink huh? Has the babyface Clown gimmick run it’s course by this point after nearly 2 years?

On June 4th there is supposed to be a big time moment for the WWF. NBC is scheduled to air Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel and LT vs. Bam Bam in a replay of WrestleMania in prime time but it’s canceled 5 days before. Do you remember what went down here? (FOX would later pick up this WrestleMania special and air it in September)

June 5th there’s a television taping and Chris Benoit has a dark match against Bob Holly. Was it Benoit’s Japanese commitments that stopped him from joining the company?

Also Shane Douglas is backstage at that TV…is this where Dean Douglas begins to form?

So we’ve got 7 entrants so far and the final qualifying match is gonna be on Raw.

It’s last year's King of the Ring, Owen Hart vs the British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith.

But they go to a 15-minute time-limit draw on a match that was taped three weeks prior.

So unfortunately both are out of the tournament. How different does this tournament look with Owen do you think?

So we need a new qualifying match, the following week on Raw, Yokozuna defeated Lex Luger via count-out to qualify for the last spot. Is Luger frustrated he’s not getting a push in the tournament and missing a PPV payoff?

Before that match though…the professional wrestling world is shaken up when on June 5th…Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff announce a new professional wrestling prime time show to run opposite of Raw. Bruce…where are you when this is announced? Where is Vince? How does this all get to your desk and announced?

So a few big names are gone from the tournament, with Owen, Bulldog and Luger. But we’ve still got the likes of Razor, Shawn and Taker left in the final 8, so this tournament is shaping up nicely! Right?

Well… the day before the PPV it’s announced that Razor Ramon has a rib injury, and won’t be able to compete in the tournament, and so on the live pre show before the PPV, we’re gonna have Razor’s new buddy Savio Vega vs. Irwin R Schyster to fill that final spot.

Was the Razor injury a work or shoot?

With coming off the first In Your House…this is the first time since Survivor Series and Tuesday in Texas in 1991 that you have pay-per-views two months in a row as we go to the new monthly PPV format…how nervous are you over this?

The night before is the second Hall of Fame ceremony the WWF ever did. You had Miguel Perez induct Antonino Rocca, Bill Watts induct Ernie Ladd, Pat Myers induct George Steele, Scott Putski induct Ivan Putski, Alundra Blayze induct the Fabulous Moolah, Lou Albano induct the Grand Wizard, and Gorilla Monsoon induct Pedro Morales. What do you remember of the ceremony and how special were these back then when it was much smaller and intimate?

“They aired a video from the Hall of Fame banquet the previous night at the new Philadelphia Downtown Marriott. Yes, that was Bill Watts on the video talking with Ernie Ladd. Like last year, the video piece was excellent with Antonino Rocca's widow crying during her acceptance speech.

Scott Putski gave a speech about his father; Watts gave a speech introducing Ladd; Alundra Blayze gave a speech introducing Fabulous Moolah; Lou Albano introduced the late Grand Wizard whose award was accepted by his former roommate and protege Beautiful Bobby; Miguel Perez Sr. introduced Rocca, his former tag team partner in the 1950s when they frequently sold out Madison Square Garden, whose award was accepted by Rocca's widow. Gorilla Monsoon introduced Savio Vega, who accepted the award for no-showing Pedro Morales. Morales, who is the spanish language announcer for WCW, canceled out of appearing at the banquet for fear it would create heat within his own company. Famous movie comedian Bill Murray did a taped introduction of George Steele.

A crowd of about 750 attended and it was considered a major success by almost everyone.”

This is a great segment and I recommend everyone check this out. The Pedro Morales thing had to be tough though right?

Let’s get to the show Bruce!

It’s June 25th in Philadelphia at the CoreStates Spectrum and the show is close to a sell out. Philadelphia was just one of those markets you announce a pay-per-view taking place there and they came in droves did they not?

The Wrestling Observer readers voted the show only a 7.6% thumbs up and a whopping 85.8% thumbs down!

It drew 150,000 buys compared to the year before with 185,000 buys main evented by Roddy Piper vs Jerry Lawler and Bret Hart vs Diesel.

This was actually the lowest buy rate of all 10 King of the Ring PPVs.

From Meltzer:

“So how bad was it?

Bad enough that when it ended 11 minutes early, nobody complained

Bad enough that the fans were chanting the promotion's name during the bad matches. The problems were there were too many bad matches. And the name they were chanting was of the wrong promotion.”

Bruce - hindsight is 20/20…but man this show doesn’t hold up now compared to then…

“Bad enough that somebody putting it together actually thought watching someone throw up on camera, at dinner time on the West Coast, was family entertainment

Bad enough that watching someone throwing up on camera was more entertaining than many of the matches

Bad enough that the worst wrestler on the show, Mabel, won the tournament and that the best wrestler, Shawn Michaels, was eliminated in the first round. Although this "surprise" wasn't just for the sake of delivering a "surprise," it certainly made a show that looked weak going in on paper be even worse than expected

Bad enough that numerous callers claimed it was the worst PPV show that they had ever seen. It wasn't just a negative response but a vehement negative response. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was the worst ever, or even the worst in a long time, but it was one really bad show

King of the Ring '95 was the worst WWF PPV in a long time. It was so bad one can only speculate on how those booking the show together in the first place thought they'd be able to pull it off. On the positive side, it was an extremely well produced show.”

I mean…that’s positive right?!?!

When a show is bad…what’s the reaction internally…while watching it…walk us through it.

“The announcing was damn good, with Dok Hendrix going back into his old Hayes character rather than trying to be something he isn't. When Hendrix wasn't in Michael Hayes character, he was reciting Jim Ross trivia. It was obvious that either Ross had prepared a ton of notes for him to read off, or Ross was on the headsets with him throughout the show feeding him with points to bring up as soon as he recognized the opening. No bad camera shots. Excellent atmosphere at the beginning of the show although as the matches got worse, the show got deader.”

Tell me Bruce - JR producing Doot Doot Doot?

“The only thing bad were the matches themselves. And for the most part, they were really bad. Although it was announced on the air that the show drew a sellout of 19,767 and turned away many. The figure was exaggerated by about 5,000 as the actual crowd was estimated at 15,000. The upper tier of the building was almost vacant. It was a high ticket scale with $200 ringside so the gate was likely in excess of $300,000 which would trail only Wrestlemania as the largest of the year.”

So yeah, besides the look of the show, not a favorable review by Meltzer, but as we go through it here Bruce, you can explain to us why everything happened as it did, sound fair?

Two things to point out before we go to the matches. First the “door openers” at the entrance way for the entire show are the Hardy Boyz. What do you remember about them getting this gig Bruce? They were occasionally TV jobbers at the time.

Also Manny Garcia replaced Howard Finkel as the PPV ring announcer starting with this show, and did the rest of the shows in 1995, too.

Why Manny over Fink? Vince just on a youth movement?

Meltzer:

“A. Savio Vega pinned IRS in 4:01 It was announced on television over the weekend that Razor Ramon's rib injury hadn't healed sufficiently and that this match would be added to the show with the winner going into the tournament. With IRS about to retire to become a road agent, not to mention the winner facing Yokozuna, the finish was guaranteed. They played the show as a story of Vega somehow being equated to Rocky Balboa. Both worked hard but a lot of stuff wasn't well-timed. Vega won with a spin kick. *½”

Was Mike Rotunda originally to become a road agent back in 1995? He left the WWF a month later but would be in WCW by September.

Meltzer says:

“In the pre-game show, they brought out Michaels to do an interview where he gave a shoot line about not being the most popular wrestler among the wrestlers but being popular with the fans. A lot of WWF wrestlers have to be brought into grudgingly admitting Michaels' talent and most reaction we've gotten is that as a rule the wrestlers themselves will have a lot more nice things to say about Bret Hart.”

Is Shawn just going into business for himself here?

What the hell Bruce! Why are you plugging all the merchandise?! And why is it in the dark?!

Barry Didinsky normally did this role around the time, did he just have the night off as he was back by next month’s PPV?

Meltzer:

“1. Vega beat Yokozuna via count out in 8:24. It's very hard to work with Yokozuna because of his size and physical condition. After Vega missed a spin kick, Yokozuna went to a lengthy nerve hold. Vega got out but was thrown over the top rope. Yoko missed a legdrop. The fans then started chanting "USA, USA." Go figure. Vega came back with four clotheslines that didn't budge Yoko, but a spin kick knocked him down. He then punched Jim Cornette. Razor Ramon, at ringside for all Vega's bouts, wound up chasing Cornette. Owen Hart, who was at the show doing the 900 line segment, ran to the ring and attacked Ramon. Vega went out to save Ramon. As Yoko went to attack Vega from behind, Vega moved and Yokozuna ran into the ringpost and Vega got back in the ring to beat the count. 3/4*”

So let’s point out, Owen Hart is not wrestling on this show, and is in the Superstar Line room.

Even though Savio replaced Razor, did this change any of the booking decisions? Or everything went as originally planned, just it’s Savio instead of Razor?

Savio is through to the next round and will face the winner of the next match, Roadie vs Bob Holly.

Meltzer:

2. The Roadie pinned Bob Holly in 7:30. Fast paced with a lot of near falls early. Holly was very impressive here. Roadie takes good bumps. He's green on offense but has great potential. Finish saw Holly come off the top rope, Roadie stuck his foot up and hit Holly in the face and scored the pin. **½

This is actually a decent match, and maybe a surprising clean win for Roadie here in only his third televised match in the company, even with Jeff Jarrett at ringside with him.

So we have Roadie and Savio Vega in the final four. Yes that’s right, Roadie & Savio in the final four, and one of them is in the final. Yes we know it should be Razor but did we really think Savio was the best replacement?

Maybe 1-2-3 Kid would have worked better instead as an established star? He had been injured but we’ll see him later on this show and he’s wrestling the next night on Raw.

Before the next match, we have a Bruce run in again, trying to sell all this King of the Ring merchandise. I want to hear more of you Bruce so let’s listen in as Shawn Michaels does a run in too.

“3. Shawn Michaels drew Kama in 15:00 to eliminate both of them. They had the Creatures of the Night at ringside. Michaels did about as good a job as possible considering the handicap of working with someone for 15:00 who outweighed him by probably 120 pounds legit and who is marginal at best. Michaels used his speed early until Kama caught him with a clothesline over the top at 3:55. Kama rammed Michaels back first into the post. Kama kept the advantage until putting him in a backbreaker over the shoulder. Michaels kicked off the turnbuckle and flipped over for a near fall. Michaels took a flip bump over the turnbuckle and out of the ring where Ted DiBiase put the boots

to him. The last 2:00 consisted of Michaels getting several near falls before time expired. **¾”

Manny Garcia by the way calls this match a “Double Draw” when announcing the result.

What’s a double draw Bruce?

Where’s Howard Finkel again?

So this means the winner of the next match gets a bye into the finals.

You just didn’t want Shawn losing to Mabel. Is that correct?

“4. Mabel pinned Undertaker in 10:44. It was the first pinfall loss I can recall Undertaker taking since challenging Hogan for the WWF title back around 1991. Because of the draw in the previous match, the winner of this match would go to the finals. Match was terrible. Undertaker had the early advantage until Mo distracted him allowing Mabel to use a belly-to-belly. Mabel went into a lengthy camel clutch and chinlock and rammed Undertaker into the steps. After a lengthy slow period, Mabel ran into Undertaker's foot and a clothesline. Mabel used a piledriver for a near fall. After a collision, Mabel missed an elbow drop and Undertaker made the big comeback. After a ref bump, Undertaker had Mabel pinned with a flying clothesline. After a choke slam, Mo interfered but Undertaker decked him. Kama did a run-in and kicked Undertaker in the face, Mabel gave him a legdrop and the revived ref counted the in. After the match Kama slapped Undertaker in the face which "woke him up" and Kama then ran away from him. -1/2*”

Unbelievable Bruce, Mabel PINNED the Undertaker! This was only Taker’s second pinfall loss shown to a national TV audience, the first being when Hogan pinned him at the Tuesday in Texas PPV in 1991.

So hypothetically, would it have been better for Shawn to win his match earlier, and then if we’re really going with Mabel as the King, have him defeat both Taker AND Shawn to get him over as the super monster heel ready for Diesel later?

But anyway get this we’re gonna have either King Mabel, King Roadie or King Savio. Not something people were expecting before the show.

“5. Vega pinned Roadie in the semifinal in 6:36. Roadie took some great bumps and scored a head-butt off the top for a near fall. He missed a second heat-butt. No heat at all. Jeff Jarrett tripped Vega at one point. Finish saw Jarrett and Roadie collide and Vega pinned him with a schoolboy off the collision. *

After the match Carlos Cabrera, a lead announcer of the Spanish language announcing team (mainly for Puerto Rico as WWF PPV doesn't go into Mexico) did an interview with Vega in spanish. Hendrix did a translation of both men saying that Cabrera was telling Vega that Mabel was going to kill him and Vega agreeing. It was really funny.”

It’s safe to say taking both Undertaker and Michaels out of the tournament left the crowd very flat, as they figured out who was left.

Next up, in perhaps the only real highlight of the show it’s Jerry Lawler vs Bret Hart in a kiss my foot match.

We are of course rekindling their feud from 1993 which never got a blow off as Lawler had to take time off to take care of some legal problems.

So last month at In Your House Lawler sneaked by with a victory over Bret thanks to Hakushi.

A pissed off Bret then challenges Lawler to any kind of rematch he wants, and this how we have the kiss my foot stipulation.

In the weeks leading up, Lawler did fun promos on TV saying he wasn’t washing his feet and was making them as grotesque as possible, and even forced Aldo Montoya to kiss his filthy foot after a match.

What do you remember about those promos leading up to the show?

Who’s idea is this gimmick?

Stephanie Wiand interviews Lawler as he’s walking to the ring. She would leave the company a few weeks after this. What did you think of Stephanie’s work in the company Bruce? She seemed to do OK right? What were the circumstances behind her leaving?

“6. Bret Hart beat Jerry Lawler in the kiss my foot match in 9:20. Lawler hit three piledrivers at the onset but Hart kicked out. Lawler took off his boot and hit Hart in the face, but Hart again kicked out. Lawler tried to rub his ripped up sock in Hart's face but Hart made a comeback using a head-butt to the groin. Lawler came back again hitting Hart with his boot and used a fist-drop but Hart kicked out. Lawler tried to run Hart's groin into the post but Hart did a reversal and Lawler's face went into the post. Hart started his comeback when Hakushi and Shinja came to ringside. Lawler held Hart and Hakushi threw a chop but Hart ducked and Lawler took it. Hart did his typical finishing sequence of a leg sweep (sloppily executed which appeared to be Lawler's fault), a backbreaker (it appeared Lawler didn't get up right for it so it was also sloppy) and the forearm off the ropes before using the sharpshooter for the submission. After the match Hakushi and Shinja showed up once again. Hakushi went for a springboard shoulderblock on Hart, who moved again and hit Lawler. With Lawler "KO'd" from the move, Hart knocked Hakushi out of the ring and shoved his foot in Lawler's face. He then twisted Lawler's own foot and put it in Lawler's face. Lawler sold it like he was going to throw up, which he did later in the show. Not a good match technically but Hart was the most over person on the show, and Lawler did a great job working the crowd so the match had by far the most crowd heat and interest. **¾”

Then they aired a video of Lawler backstage vomiting and washing his mouth out with toothpaste and mouthwash. The former segment fell flat. The latter would have been funny without the vomiting which made it disgusting.”

This is all great stuff Bruce, Lawler is a real pro.

Can you kiss your own foot like Lawler?

Oh no, here we go, it’s Mabel vs Savio Vega (wrestling his fourth match of the night mind you) in the King of the Ring finals.

“7. Mabel pinned Vega to win King of the Ring in 8:32. Horrible match. Mabel held a long bearhug and then a long chinlock. Fans started chanting "ECW." It wasn't a surprise to hear the chant, but was to hear just how many were doing it and how loud it was. Apparently there were several other "ECW" chants during the show but this was the only one really audible on camera. Apparently after the show in front of the building and in the building, there were tons of "ECW" chants, which was explained to me as more of a negative reaction to the quality of the show than anything else. There were also tons of banners confiscated before the show for the ECW promotion and characters. Vince McMahon didn't know what was going on because he said, "Listen to the crowd" thinking they were chanting for Vega and it was a very loud chant. They quickly turned down the crowd audio when they figured out what was going on. The guys got up and went right to the finish with Mabel kicking out of Vega's spin kick, then Mabel hit a powerslam for a near fall before winning with a big splash. After the match, Ramon decked Mo and started beating on Mabel. Mo attacked Ramon from behind and Mabel gave him a bodyslam, elbow drop and dropped an elbow onto Ramon's bad ribs. 1-2-3 Kid did a run-in and threw a few kicks before Mo & Mabel laid him out as well. -*

Afterwards they did a long coronation ceremony with Mabel which saw fans pelt him with garbage.

So, a lot to take in here Bruce. Did Vince really not get what the fans were chanting with “ECW, ECW”?

I’m sure he had some idea of what the promotion was but probably never had watched any of it.

Meltzer gave both Mabel matches negative star reviews, is he just being overly critical?

Of course we know King Mabel got the title shot at SummerSlam vs Diesel, but it’s not the same as all the old Hogan vs big guy main event mindset for the fans anymore.

People wanted the youth and faster action, and Mabel wasn’t it, and by January 96 he’s gone from the company.

Oh it’s not over Bruce. We have a main event to cover. Diesel has taken a few weeks off prior to the match with an injured elbow, and probably wasn’t 100% still here.

Also we have Tatanka in a main event on a WWF PPV. Let that sentence sink in a moment.

“8. Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow beat Tatanka & Sid in 17:35. Bigelow worked most of the early portion. When Diesel tagged in, the heels went to work on his bad elbow for several minutes. Bigelow did the hot tag in but after a brief flurry, was distracted by DiBiase and cut off. Sid gave him some lame looking punches from behind and a choke slam off the middle rope. Tatanka used a back suplex. When Bigelow was in with Tatanka the match was good, but the rest of the time it was bad. Bigelow went for a slingshot over the ropes but Tatanka grabbed his foot and dragged him to the floor. Bigelow was pounded on until Diesel hot tagged in at 11:20. Diesel used an elbow drop but then started selling his elbow and immediately tagged out. Bigelow was worked over including Tatanka doing a nice leaping DDT. Bigelow made a comeback with an Edouardo Carpentier somersault splash and an enzuigiri leading to tag to Diesel. Diesel gave Tatanka a side slam and foot to the nice and a very sloppy jackknife. Diesel picked Tatanka up at two and signalled he wanted Sid to tag in. Sid simply walked to the dressing room to build up their rematch next month leaving Tatanka alone to be pinned after an elbow drop. Finish was flat and did wonders for Sid as a killer heel, making him more a Buddy Landel/Lawler type of coward heel. *½”

Over 17 minutes Bruce! Come on!

You have to agree with Dave, it’s a poor finish of Sid just walking out, when has the title match again next month. Or is that the idea as it’ll be a lumberjack match and so he can’t walk out again?

It just came across very flat.

Anyway Bruce are you with the thumbs up or the overwhelming thumbs down crowd on this one?