This is probably the most well known ppv I reviewed so far. Well maybe WM7 was. After all it was Mania. This, however, is a very famous show. Of course everyone knows King of the Ring 96 as the birth of Austin 3:16. While that was a huge moment for the WWF, I am here to talk about the entire show.
What stands out to me most is all the new talent in the WWF. In 1996 everyone was talking about all the WWF stars that were jumping to WCW and the nwo. What is overlooked is all the stars WWF got in return. I say in return like there was a trade, which was not the case, but you get my point. We said goodbye to Diesel, Razor, The Kid, Dibiase, Jarrett, etc. WWF picked up Austin, Vader, Pillman, Goldust, Mero, Faarooq, and Mankind from WCW. Hall and Nash may have gotten more attention, but WWF took some pretty nice talent off the competition too. Anyway on to the show.
This year there are only two rounds of the tournament on ppv. I always liked it better when there were three, but fewer matches for the tournament did make for more big matches overall. In the opener Steve Austin took on Marc Mero. I thought this was a good match between two of the new stars in WWF. Good way to open the show. Austin gets kicked in the mouth and goes to the hospital after the match. He gets stitches in his lip and comes back to the arena to wrestle again. They don't call him the toughest sob for nothing.
Next is Vader vs. Jake the Snake. I was a big Vader fan and was disappointed he didn't win. Looking back it was a good thing Jake won so Austin could deliver his famous speech later.
I am not going to go in order of matches because I just don't remember. When I do my little reviews it is from memory. I haven't actually seen these shows for quite a while. Let's move on to Undertaker vs. Mankind. I love this feud. We have seen big men such as Giant Gonzalez, King Kong Bundy, and Mabel beat Undertaker down before. Every time something like this happened the announcers claim no one has ever done this to the Undertaker before. They still say that to this day. I guess they don't pay much attention to Taker's feuds. Anyway this was the first time someone really gave Taker a run for his money. Mankind actually dominated this feud at first. These two just had great chemistry together and this was a good match. A nice surprise as Mankind actually picks up the win.
I also enjoyed the feud between Goldust and Ahmed Johnson. Goldust was the craziest thing going during the first half of 96. Everyone took notice anytime he was on tv. Johnson was clearly being groomed as the next big star. Here we had two fresh faces feuding over the IC title.
There wasn't really much to Jerry Lawler vs. Ultimate Warrior. Lawler had worked with pretty much every big name in the business and wanted to add Warrior to the list. It was weird seeing Warrior in 1996.
There was also a tag title match. Was it the Gunns vs. the Godwinns? Maybe Gunns vs. Bodydonnas. Or was it the Godwinns vs. Bodydonnas? Who knows? It was actually the first, but my point is these three teams seemed to wrestle each other in some combination every week.
I like the main event. It's been too long since I've seen it. I remember it being good. Wouldn't a match between Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith have to be good? Mr. Perfect was the guest ref. I just remember thinking Perfect was getting ready to make a comeback to the ring. It seemed like he was coming back to feud with Michaels. Damn them for teasing me like that.
As I said, and as you know, the most famous part of this show is Austin's victory speech. Now Austin would have become a big star with or without this speech, but we wouldn't have had the famous 3:16 line. How much money did the WWF make because of one line? It's amazing to think about. I also remember Brian Pillman cutting a promo before the finals match. This was a cutting edge promo for 1996 too. It's such a shame Pillman died when he did. The attitude era was perfect for him. I think Pillman could have been almost a big of star as Austin in the late 90's. Nothing really happened, but one of my favorite parts of the show was when Pillman and Austin passed each other in the aisle before the finals match. I just got a vision of the future with these two at the top of the WWF for several years to come.
I think this was the best King of the Ring ever. There was a good main event, there were a lot of fresh new faces and fresh feuds, we saw one of the most famous moments in WWF history, and the future looked bright. One last small note: I loved Owen on commentary. He was a little green at the announce table, but very entertaining.
What stands out to me most is all the new talent in the WWF. In 1996 everyone was talking about all the WWF stars that were jumping to WCW and the nwo. What is overlooked is all the stars WWF got in return. I say in return like there was a trade, which was not the case, but you get my point. We said goodbye to Diesel, Razor, The Kid, Dibiase, Jarrett, etc. WWF picked up Austin, Vader, Pillman, Goldust, Mero, Faarooq, and Mankind from WCW. Hall and Nash may have gotten more attention, but WWF took some pretty nice talent off the competition too. Anyway on to the show.
This year there are only two rounds of the tournament on ppv. I always liked it better when there were three, but fewer matches for the tournament did make for more big matches overall. In the opener Steve Austin took on Marc Mero. I thought this was a good match between two of the new stars in WWF. Good way to open the show. Austin gets kicked in the mouth and goes to the hospital after the match. He gets stitches in his lip and comes back to the arena to wrestle again. They don't call him the toughest sob for nothing.
Next is Vader vs. Jake the Snake. I was a big Vader fan and was disappointed he didn't win. Looking back it was a good thing Jake won so Austin could deliver his famous speech later.
I am not going to go in order of matches because I just don't remember. When I do my little reviews it is from memory. I haven't actually seen these shows for quite a while. Let's move on to Undertaker vs. Mankind. I love this feud. We have seen big men such as Giant Gonzalez, King Kong Bundy, and Mabel beat Undertaker down before. Every time something like this happened the announcers claim no one has ever done this to the Undertaker before. They still say that to this day. I guess they don't pay much attention to Taker's feuds. Anyway this was the first time someone really gave Taker a run for his money. Mankind actually dominated this feud at first. These two just had great chemistry together and this was a good match. A nice surprise as Mankind actually picks up the win.
I also enjoyed the feud between Goldust and Ahmed Johnson. Goldust was the craziest thing going during the first half of 96. Everyone took notice anytime he was on tv. Johnson was clearly being groomed as the next big star. Here we had two fresh faces feuding over the IC title.
There wasn't really much to Jerry Lawler vs. Ultimate Warrior. Lawler had worked with pretty much every big name in the business and wanted to add Warrior to the list. It was weird seeing Warrior in 1996.
There was also a tag title match. Was it the Gunns vs. the Godwinns? Maybe Gunns vs. Bodydonnas. Or was it the Godwinns vs. Bodydonnas? Who knows? It was actually the first, but my point is these three teams seemed to wrestle each other in some combination every week.
I like the main event. It's been too long since I've seen it. I remember it being good. Wouldn't a match between Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith have to be good? Mr. Perfect was the guest ref. I just remember thinking Perfect was getting ready to make a comeback to the ring. It seemed like he was coming back to feud with Michaels. Damn them for teasing me like that.
As I said, and as you know, the most famous part of this show is Austin's victory speech. Now Austin would have become a big star with or without this speech, but we wouldn't have had the famous 3:16 line. How much money did the WWF make because of one line? It's amazing to think about. I also remember Brian Pillman cutting a promo before the finals match. This was a cutting edge promo for 1996 too. It's such a shame Pillman died when he did. The attitude era was perfect for him. I think Pillman could have been almost a big of star as Austin in the late 90's. Nothing really happened, but one of my favorite parts of the show was when Pillman and Austin passed each other in the aisle before the finals match. I just got a vision of the future with these two at the top of the WWF for several years to come.
I think this was the best King of the Ring ever. There was a good main event, there were a lot of fresh new faces and fresh feuds, we saw one of the most famous moments in WWF history, and the future looked bright. One last small note: I loved Owen on commentary. He was a little green at the announce table, but very entertaining.