King of the Ring 1993: Who Should Have Won?

[RIPbossman]

Who should have won King of the Ring in 1993? This was the first KOTR tournament on ppv.


The tournament traditionally became used as a launching pad for new stars. Bret Hart won, but was a former champion by then.

I would have picked Bret or Razor. Bret main evented WrestleMania, but wasnt seen as being big enough to carry on Hogan's legacy. Razor obviously was a rising star with great potential.

Keep in mind Shawn Michaels was the Intercontinental Champion at the time.

 

[Wolf Pac]

It had to be Bret in order for his feud with Jerry Lawler to work as Lawler's beef was that he was the one true king, not Bret. Without Bret winning KOTR, there's no reason for the two to feud.

And with Yokozuna feuding with Hogan and then Luger over the WWF Title, Bret needed someone big to feud with and that was Lawler.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Bam Bam Bigelow should have won it - he was the best Big Man in the WWF at the time. Bret should not have even been in the tournament - he should have been main eventing for the WWF title in a rematch with Yoko. Bret was the peoples choice of champion. The way Yoko beat Hogan for the belt was rubbish anyway so it did not boost Yoko as a heel world champ. Bret should have been facing Yoko and should have been cheated out the belt in order to build him for a main event match at Survivor Series 1993 for the belt against Yoko or All American Lex Luger. But as Bret was in the tournament - he was the only choice as he was such a big star compared to the rest of the roster at the time.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I think it worked perfectly having Bret win it, Since losing the world title a couple of months before it and Hogan refusing to wrestle him he had nothing to do at that point, Winning it and becoming king also worked into his feud with Lawler,
It also led to the storyline of Owen trying to match Bret's accomplishment by winning it the following year which then led to the Bret and Owen feud.

 

[relentless1]

..Bret did win OP.... and he was the perfect choice to do so

 

[GoochOwnsYou]

The tournament was designed to push Bret, because Hulk was hogging the spotlight on the way out.

The KOTR tournament only really launched one career: Austin.

Triple H was already a member of the Kliq so he was always going to be a star, and HBK did more for his career than the KOTR tournament did. Angle already had a rocket up his ass. Same goes for Lesnar.

What about Mabel? Billy Gunn? Ken Shamrock? what happened to those guys?

 

[relentless1]

HBK never won King of the Ring dude

 

[Goldie]

HBK never won King of the Ring dude

I think he was referring to what HBK did for elevating Trippers career... not HBK winning KOTR.

As for this thread.... I still think it makes sense for Bret to win this.... despite it being used to (well attempt to) springboard talent to the next level for rising stars from 1994.
This was the first time KOTR was on PPV and having an established star like Bret win would help cement the event (it lasted on PPV for a decade)

After the debacle at Wrestlemania 9, this was Vince appeasing Bret after Bret had lost the world title to compensate Hogans ego

 

[sikkbones]

The tournament was designed to push Bret, because Hulk was hogging the spotlight on the way out.

The KOTR tournament only really launched one career: Austin.

Triple H was already a member of the Kliq so he was always going to be a star, and HBK did more for his career than the KOTR tournament did. Angle already had a rocket up his ass. Same goes for Lesnar.

What about Mabel? Billy Gunn? Ken Shamrock? what happened to those guys?

Owen hart? What about him? It helped launch him into superstardom.

 

[LBGetBack]

Owen hart? What about him? It helped launch him into superstardom.

I think feuding with and beating Bret at Mania did more for that. But winning King of the Ring did give Owen something to brag about for the entire year. It definitely helped elevate him even more.

 

[sikkbones]

I think feuding with and beating Bret at Mania did more for that. But winning King of the Ring did give Owen something to brag about for the entire year. It definitely helped elevate him even more.

Operative word was helped. But without neidharts turn, we would not have seen Owen being the 1994 top heel till survivor.

 

[HBKperfect23]

Bret was the only real choice and the best choice for KOTR 93. Also he put on 3 awesome matches that night. I really liked the finals with BamBam, one of my favorite Bret matches. It's possible that this was penciled in while the plan was still Hogan/Bret at summerslam.

Just for arguments sake, I guess you could go with Luger since he will be main eventing Summerslam. Not like he needed the push.....I think the bus was enough indication the WWF was behind him. Plus he hadn't turned face yet.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The original plan was for Bret to go to Summerslam... so him as KOTR helped solidify that claim to face Hogan. By KOTR itself though it was clear Hogan was dropping the belt and leaving... so Bret was made to wait until WMX and they had to put him with Lawler as there wasn't really any other feuds to keep him busy.

To me they missed a trick as Vince was so intent on Savage being a commentator. They could have had Bret win but Savage attack him, saying there's only one "King" and he never lost that title. The problem with Bret v Lawler was always that they needed to pad it with matches with others like Doink, Yankem, Hakushi etc. Bret v Savage would have headlined Summerslam and taken the pressure off Lex... likewise had Savage won KOTR by going heel on Bret.

I'd wager Lex would have have gotten over and been able to win the title if Savage v Bret had been the Main Event...

If you're choosing someone else completely, then it's hard because there weren't the people on the roster. Razor didn't really go face until after KOTR... so giving it to him sacrifices the whole Kid angle. DiBiase was on the outs and the King title didn't really fit with him and it would have killed someone like Bam Bam worse than it did Barrett.

I think Tatanka would have been a good choice... he could have used it to "become a Chief" and it could have helped him get over Shawn's hissy fit which meant he didn't get the IC as planned. Failing that, Curt Hennig would have been a safe pair of hands for it.

 

[Makaveli31]

The original plan was for Bret to go to Summerslam... so him as KOTR helped solidify that claim to face Hogan. By KOTR itself though it was clear Hogan was dropping the belt and leaving... so Bret was made to wait until WMX and they had to put him with Lawler as there wasn't really any other feuds to keep him busy.

To me they missed a trick as Vince was so intent on Savage being a commentator. They could have had Bret win but Savage attack him, saying there's only one "King" and he never lost that title. The problem with Bret v Lawler was always that they needed to pad it with matches with others like Doink, Yankem, Hakushi etc. Bret v Savage would have headlined Summerslam and taken the pressure off Lex... likewise had Savage won KOTR by going heel on Bret.

I'd wager Lex would have have gotten over and been able to win the title if Savage v Bret had been the Main Event...

Well "King of the Ring" was done to appease Bret Hart for losing the WWF title to Hogan via Yokozuna at WM 9. Bret was the ultimate WWE employee, never questioning Vince, and ultimately it became his detriment. Vince never had any plans for Hogan v. Bret at SummerSlam. Hogan confirms he was just brought in for WrestleMania 9 and his short WWF title run was just to get another PPV out of the deal. It was Hogan's idea to drop to the strap to Yoko. Again, Vince knew that giving Bret "King of the Ring" would buy him time to try to Lex over. Ultimately it failed and Vince HAD to go back to Bret a year later.

 

[Nature Boy]

I think Bret Hart was the right choice to win in 1993.

However I've always thought his match with Perfect should have been the final match, especially seeing as they played on their SummerSlam history.

Bam Bam did a great job in that final though!