King Of The Ring 1994 Review

Sunday, June, 19th 1994
Baltimore Arena
Baltimore, Maryland

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Hey, Gorilla! How much does this blog weigh? 500 posts. That's right, what better way to hit the 500 mark than with King Of The Ring 1994. Meanwhile, the heels argue over who's going to win the tournament and Todd Pettengill runs down the card.

Ricky Medlocke is here to sing the National Anthem and it isn't very good. But man, it's so great to hear Gorilla Monsoon here. He's joined by Randy Savage and of course, Art Donovan. Art picks Razor Ramon to win the crown and Savage picks Diesel will be the new WWF Champion. 

King Of The Ring 1st Round Match
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Razor Ramon

Bam Bam starts off hot early on, but then misses a top rope headbutt. Razor slides under Bam Bam in the corner and trips him up and crotches him on the ring post. Razor hits a second rope bulldog, but doesn't get all of it. Bam Bam sidesteps a charging Razor and sends him over the top rope. Bam Bam gets Razor up in the Torture Rack, which is pretty impressive. They do the arm drop and naturally Razor keeps it up on the third attempt. Bam Bam lets him down and Razor is able to hit him with a back suplex and both men are down. Art wants to know what happens now? Razor is able to hit a body slam and tries to set up him up on the ropes, but Bam Bam nails him with an elbow to the face. Bam Bam goes up top, but Razor counters with a one-armed powerbomb and gets the victory. This was a pretty good match, but a little uneventful overall. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Todd Pettengill is with Mabel and IRS. IRS says he's going to take him out and he's hoping he gets to face IRS in the finals. Mabel says he better not be worried about Razor, he should be worried about him. 

King Of The Ring 1st Round Match
IRS vs. Mabel

This is a main event in any carnival across the country. Mabel attacks IRS from behind and hits him with a body slam. How much does that guy weigh? Art threatens to get out of here, but don't worry fans, he sticks around. IRS is able to knock Mabel out of the ring and then hits him with a clothesline once he comes back. IRS tries to body slam him, but Mabel counters with a small package for a 2 count. Mabel goes up to the second rope, but IRS shakes him off and gets the victory. It clearly looked like Mabel's shoulders were up there. That's two matches in a row with essentially the exact same finish. That's not something you usually saw in this era of WWF. The match stunk, as you would have expected. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We get to see Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji getting their tag team of Yokozuna and Crush getting ready for their match tonight. 

King Of The Ring 1st Round Match
Tatanka vs. Owen Hart

Tatanka attacks Owen before the lights even turn on from Owen's entrance and hits a big backdrop. How much does he weigh? This is probably peak Mike Chioda mullet here. The action spills to the outside and Owen throws Tatanka into the ring post. Owen hits a nice suplex and then hits a missile dropkick. I love that move. Tatanka is able to kick out at 2. Tatanka starts his comeback and hits the chops. The crowd is very into this match. Owen eats a boot to the face and then a DDT for a 2 count. Tatanka goes to the top rope and hits a chop for another 2 count. Tatanka hits a running powerslam and is in shock that Owen kicked out again. Tatanka goes for a sunset flip, but Owen hooks the legs and steals the victory. That was actually a much better match than I remembered. Good stuff.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Todd is backstage with Diesel and Shawn Michaels. Diesel says that he has two words for Bret Hart, jackknife. Still waiting on the second word. 

King Of The Ring 1st Round Match
Jeff Jarrett vs. 1-2-3 Kid

We're at the point now where Savage and Gorilla are just ignoring Donovan. Jarrett throws Kid into the turnbuckles with authority to give him the early advantage. Kid sneaks in a few pin attempts, but Jarrett continues to dominate. Kid lands a roundhouse kick, but misses with the somersault dive off the top rope. Jarrett goes for a superplex, but Kid blocks it and hits him with a flying crossbody for a 2 count. Jarrett sidesteps him in the corner and it ends badly for Kid. Kid is able to roll him up and gets the surprising victory. Jarrett quickly gets up and hits him with a series of piledrivers until the officials come out. He then switches to second rope fists. The refs help carry Kid to the back. This was a good match, even if it was short. 

Match Rating: ***

It's time for them to push the New Generation. Bret Hart is with Todd and he said that he's not going to let Diesel Jackknife him again. 

WWF Championship Match
Diesel vs. Bret Hart

Jim Neidhart is out with Bret Hart as his surprise family member. We get a little bit of back-and-forth to start until Bret is able to get Diesel down on the mat and starts working on his leg. Bret locks in the Figure Four in the middle of the ring. Bret slides him out to the corner and slams his leg into the ring post. Shawn then blindsides Bret and it leads to Neidhart chasing after him. Diesel gets Bret into a bear hug. Bret bites him to get out of it and hits a dropkick to send Diesel out of the ring. Bret goes for the slingshot dive to the floor, but Diesel moves out of the way and Bret falls to the floor. Even with Diesel being nowhere near the performer he would go on to be, these two just had great chemistry. Back in the ring, Diesel goes to work on the back of Bret. We get a semi-ref bump, that allows Diesel to rip off one of the turnbuckles, but Bret starts fighting back. Bret hits three clotheslines and the last one is finally able to knock him down. Bret is able to knock Diesel out of the ring and Neidhart contemplates attacking him. The ref sees him inching closer and checks in on it. Shawn Michaels sneaks in from behind and hits Bret with the title belt. Bret's able to kick out and Diesel hits the Jackknife. Neidhart runs in the ring and attacks Diesel and the bell rings. Neidhart argues with the ref and storms to the back. After the match, Shawn and Diesel attacks Bret until the officials are finally able to break it up. Obviously we didn't get the finish we want to see on a pay per view, but we still got a good match. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Todd is with Jerry Lawler and he takes a shot at Art Donovan. 

King Of The Ring Semi-Final Match
Razor Ramon vs. IRS

Razor attacks IRS before he even gets into the ring, but once they get into the ring, he eats a knee to the gut. IRS hits a sloppy backbreaker and Gorilla calls him out on it. IRS goes for a crossbody, but Razor moves out of the way and IRS ends up out flying out of the ring. We get some IRS rest holds that lead to nothing. Razor makes his comeback, hits the Razor's Edge and that's all. That was about as uneventful as it gets here. Sort of like IRS's career. 

Match Rating: *3/4

We go to Bret backstage looking for Neidhart and he isn't happy. 

King Of The Ring Semi-Final Match
Owen Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid

I actually will say that the booking here wasn't bad. Owen was pretty obvious to make the finals, but you could see the possibility of them doing a Razor/Kid final due to their history. After a delay, Kid comes out limping from his attack earlier. Owen hits him with a baseball slide dropkick on his way in and then hits a dive over the top. Owen hits a splash off the top rope for a 2 count. Kid is able to throw Owen into the turnbuckle sternum-first. Kid hits a reverse crossbody off the top rope, but Owen kicks out. Kid hits a Northern Lights suplex with a bridge, but Owen barely gets his foot on the bottom rope in time. Kid hits a somersault dive over the top rope. They trade some pinfall attempts, but can't get the job done. Owen catches Kid in midair and hits a powerbomb. He locks in the Sharpshooter and that is all. 27 years later, this is still the gold standard for 4 minute matches in terms of just going pedal to the metal to make the most of your time. Excellent stuff. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

We go backstage to Roddy Piper and he cuts another promo that makes no sense. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Yokozuna & Crush vs. Headshrinkers

You better believe Art is dying to know how much Yokozuna weighs. The Headshrinkers are able to knock both opponents out of the ring to start off the match. Fatu gets hit with Mr. Fuji's flag while running the ropes and Crush takes advantage with a clothesline. A Yokozuna leg drop finds the mark, but Samu is able to break up the pin attempt. Yokozuna goes to squash Fatu in the corner, but Fatu is able to move out of the way and makes the hot tag to Samu. Crush hits a superplex on Samu and then Yokozuna hits a leg drop on him behind the referee's back. Out comes Lex Luger and distracts Crush. Samu rolls him up, but Crush is able to kick out. Fatu hits Crush with a superkick and gets the victory. That was a pretty weak finish to an otherwise decent big man tag match. Crush and Luger begin to go at it. The Headshrinkers help Luger out and and Yokozuna pulls Crush out of the ring. Luger's gear here is extremely dorky. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Todd is with Owen Hart and calls Bret a loser. Shoutout to the guy in the crowd wearing a Fred Flintstone t-shirt. 

King Of The Ring Finals
Razor Ramon vs. Owen Hart

This was the best possible match out of the brackets we were given and is a good example of sometimes the obvious choice is the right choice. Art tells us that he's changed his mind and Owen is now his pick to become King. Owen pulls out a move out of Razor's playbook with the abdominal stretch. Razor fights back with a fall away slam and a 2 count. Owen is able to hit the side Russian leg sweep and heads up top. Razor crotches him and hits the back suplex off the second rope. Razor goes for the Razor's Edge, but Owen hits the back body drop and it sends Razor to the floor. Out comes Jim Neidhart and he's pretending to check on Razor. He clotheslines Razor and throws him into the ring post. Owen hits a top rope elbow drop and becomes the King Of The Ring. That was too short to be anything great, but it was well executed and built on the story of Owen and Bret. After the match, Owen and Neidhart hit the Hart Attack on Razor. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Bret has no comment for Ray Rougeau backstage. 

We get the coronation ceremony and Owen says that he doesn't want Jack Tunney and has Neidhart do it. 

Jerry Lawler vs. Roddy Piper

I still can't believe that they let this main event the show. "The New Generation is alive and well here in the WWF" as Roddy Piper is about to come out. Piper is out with the impersonator from Raw, if this couldn't get any worse. Piper definitely is in good shape, possibly the best he ever looked. Roddy takes it to Lawler early on and sends Lawler to the floor with an atomic drop. Lawler naturally takes over and slows things down. He puts a sleeper hold on Piper in the middle of the ring for what feels like forever. Lawler hits the piledriver, but stalls for the pin and only gets a 2. Piper starts to fight back and hits a bulldog. Lawler throws Piper into the ref and then hits Piper with a foreign object. Lawler goes for the pin with his feet on the rope, but the impersonator shoves him off. Piper rolls Lawler up and we get a slow count for the victory. That was another weak finish here tonight. The match wasn't terrible, but the story was and this just didn't deserve to be a main event match. The involvement of the impersonator was also just a bad choice. 

Match Rating: *3/4

They show Shawn talking up a disappointed Diesel. 

I don't know what it is about this show, but overall I like it. There are some good matches, Owen getting his big moment, Gorilla on commentary and honestly the annoyance of Art Donovan. I have no nostalgic attachment to this show, as I didn't see it at least 10 years after it happened. I just thought it had enough memorability (both good and bad) to make this a recommendation from me. 

Overall Rating: 75%