King of the ring 1993 review Continue Scott & Justin's Vintage Vault Refresh review is a chronological look back at the history of WWE PPV that began with the WrestleMania I review. PIC has revisited these events and refreshed all their fun facts that provide insight into the game, competitors and the company's country as well as their overview of the action match and opinions and thoughts about the result. In addition, Jeff Jarvis helps in compiling historical information and Fun Facts in every review. In addition, be sure to provide feedback on reviews on our Facebook page. Enjoy! June 13, 1993 Nutter Center Dayton, Ohio Attendance: 6,500 Buy Rate: 1.1 Announcer: Jim Ross, Randy Savage, and Bobby Heenan Dark Match 1) Papa Shango defeated Owen Hart to retain the Fun Fact Pay-Per-View USWA Unified Title: Between 1985 and 1991, WWF held six King of the Ring Tournaments that took place at house shows in Foxborough, MA (1985-86) and Providence, RI (1987-89) , 1991). The winners are as follows: Don Muraco, Harley Race, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Tito Santana and Bret Hart. Quarter-final 1) Bret Hart defeated Razor Ramon with a reverse superplex in a Qualifying match 10:26: Bret Hart receives a bye; Razor Ramon defeated Tito Santana Fun Fact: This match was a few weeks after Ramon was upset by The Kid's jobber on Monday Night Raw. At this point, Razor continues to challenge the now-dubbed 1-2-3 Kid for a rematch by offering him a large amount of money, an amount that increases with each week. Eventually, Ramon offered $10,000 and Kid accepted. When the game's over. The boy knocked ramon down, took money and ran to his getaway car. Scott: Our first tournament match for this fresh PPV concept is a rematch of the Royal Rumble. There is no World Title on the line, but it is as big as the match here for this tournament. We have the same comment team as we had at WrestleMania IX, but I feel in the three months since the chemistry between them became much better. Razor, dressed in green, was being booed by Dayton fans for losing to 1-2-3 Kid on Raw about a month earlier. He has been chasing the Kid since and when summer began it led to a change in attitude to the Bad Guys. As for Hitman, well after getting a creative pivot at WrestleMania he embarked on what would be one of the most historic nights of his career. I'm sure ppv's goal is threefold. First, we definitely need a show to bridge the long gap between WrestleMania and SummerSlam. It's been needed since SummerSlam debuted in 1988. Second, creative cleaning needs to be done. More on that later in the show. Third, this is for Vince to showcase the athleticism and talent of his entire list of little people. That's to distract from the growing steroid scandal in the business. This match is good, a shorter snapshot of their match at the Rumble but still still Good. Razor was intentional in his beating of Bret, but Hitman recovered late to get the win and move on to the Semifinals. It's a solid opener and a great way to start the show. Value: *** Justin: Since 1988, the huge summer gap between pay-per-view has led to some bland stretches for the company. It also led to some heated feuds tapering off and never made it to the big stage blowoff. In 1993, brass were ready to mix things up and add a bridge show to fill that gaping hole. The decision was made to import the annual gimmick from the home show and paste it in ppv. Plus, everyone loves tournaments! So, here we have the King of the Ring. Sandwiched around a pair of title matches and an eight-man tag, we had a strong eight-man tournament set up to determine the King of WWF. After the qualifying round on TV, the field looks pretty good heading to PPV itself. It's also fitting that Jim Ross has arrived just in time to call this show, because it's so sports-based and he's perfect for calling that type of show. Razor Ramon saunters out first and he has been mired in a very embarrassing stretch after he was upset by 1-2-3 Kid on Raw a few weeks before this event. Crowds of people all over his body are soon here and Razor is doing everything he can to lure Kid back into the ring. After a chaotic WWF title at WrestleMania, Bret Hart was positioned as the tournament's number one seed, although there was no seeding, and did not have to wrestle in a qualifying match as a result. He was definitely one of the heavy favorites when the show started. Hart worked Razor on the mat early on, focusing on the arm, knowing that he had to grind it or Razor would beat him as he did for most of their Royal Rumble tilt. This commentary team has been really well glued and done a good job of building the goals of the match as well as the importance of paying attention to the existing time limit. Hart made his first mistake of the match with a wild charge into the corner, allowing Razor to catch him in the face with a kneelift. Ramon follows quickly shooting Bret's shoulder first into the ringpost. Ramon actually whipped him in there with some speed. When Ramon went to work on Hart, cruelly stepping on his hand, the crowd really got up with a 1-2-3 chant. Hart survived a fall slam and a huge powerslam run but Razor booted his face and chest to keep him grounded while he came up with his next point of attack. Hart was able to block it and forge a comeback, flashing through a nearby waterfall storm when he hits the chest first into the corner. After a battle over the backslide, Hart grabbed the heat close to falling on a small package. It must have felt like the end. A minute later, Razor goes for the superplex, but Bret shifts his weight and collapses Top Bad Guy to take the win and advance. It was a very pleasant opener for sure. A notch under their Rumble title tussle, but still works well and keeps pace sharply. Ramon is in a really strange place now and obviously needs a change because he works hard and earns more but is forced to work in these places because of his loyalty. Hitman's moving. Grade: **1/2 2) Mr. Perfect defeated Mr. Hughes with a disqualification in the 6:00 Qualifying Match: Mr. Perfect defeated Doink; Mr. Hughes defeated Kamala Fun Fact: Little background information on Mr. Hughes. Curtis Hughes began his wrestling career training under Sonny Myers and Bob Geigel and debuted in 1987 at Central States Wrestling. He moved to AWA where he wrestled with the name Curtis the Cat Hughes. He signed with WCW in late 1990 where he became a heel enforcer, wearing a suit with a constant pout on his face. He came to WWF in early 1993 after a brief stint at uswa. The highlight of his brief visit to the Federation was the aforementioned altercation with the Undertaker. Fun Fact II: Before this event, Mr. Hughes and Giant Gonzalez attacked the Undertaker and Paul Bearer in Superstars. They stole the urn and put both men out of action for a few weeks. To keep the feud boiling, an unpleasant black wreath was sent to the ringside during Hughes' match. The Hughes/Undertaker feud will end abruptly when Hughes leaves the company at the end of the summer. He will debut at ECW in October. Is this the first match in WWF history to have both men named Mister? You can say this match won't be as good as our first match or any other in the tournament. At one point during this game, Jim Ross spoke about Mr. Hughes's background in college football at Kansas State. As great as the information is, WWF fans are not programmed to know (or care) about the character's background. That's Ross's skill set and in the old NWA/WCW that's fun, but it doesn't seem to fit here. This match is really sad nonsense, which is unfair to Perfect. He won with disqualification, and we got the dream rematch everyone wanted. Hughes is more involved in other storylines with undertakers so really he's just a filler here to get the Perfect win. Not a great match, but we are in line for a classic possibility in the next round. Grade: * Justin: Our second opening round bout featured the PPV debut of giant Mr. Hughes, flanked by Harvey Wippleman, he was brought in to help Giant Gonzalez in their war with On Superstars, Hughes and Gonzalez beat Taker and Paul Bearer, which is why he has an urn here. Hughes is an interesting guy, having run in the WCW before this, but also has a very different look to him, especially that he wrestles with sunglasses. His opponent is the beloved, beloved Mr. Perfect, has been looking to break through since returning to the ring but has yet to find a way to do so. He ran Ric Flair off but took a tough defeat to Lex Luger at WrestleMania.