The 1993 King of the Ring was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the inaugural King of the Ring event and hosted the finals of the seventh King of the Ring tournament for men. The event took place on June 13, 1993, at the Nutter Center in Fairborn, Ohio. Ten matches were held at the event.
The central focus of the PPV was the tournament. Wrestlers gained entry by participating in qualifying matches on WWF television programs, and the second, third, and fourth rounds of the tournament were televised during the King of the Ring PPV broadcast. The 1991 tournament winner Bret Hart also won the 1993 tournament by defeating Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, and Bam Bam Bigelow. He was attacked by Jerry Lawler during a coronation ceremony, which led to a feud that lasted more than two years. In addition to the tournament, the event featured Yokozuna defeating Hulk Hogan to win the WWF Championship as well as Shawn Michaels retaining the WWF Intercontinental Championship in a match against Crush.
Reviews of the event were mainly positive. Several reviewers called Bret Hart's matches the highlight of the PPV. The match for the Intercontinental Championship received positive reviews, but the ending to the WWF Championship match, which featured Hulk Hogan in his final PPV appearance in the WWF until 2002, was criticized. The event was attended by 6,500 fans—the lowest attendance of any King of the Ring event—while the buyrate was the highest of any King of the Ring event until 1999. The event was released on VHS in North America and on VHS and DVD in the United Kingdom.
Production Background In 1985, the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) established the King of the Ring tournament, a men's single-elimination tournament with the winner crowned the "King of the Ring". It was held annually until 1991, with the exception of 1990. These early tournaments were held as special non-televised house shows in an effort to boost attendance at these events. In 1993, the WWF scheduled a pay-per-view (PPV) event named after the tournament. The inaugural King of the Ring PPV, which featured the seventh tournament, took place on June 13, 1993, at the Nutter Center in Fairborn, Ohio. Unlike the previous non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. There were also other matches that took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view.
Storylines Seven of the eight entrants in the quarter-final matches wrestled in a qualifying round prior to the PPV broadcast, while Bret Hart was entered without needing to qualify. Lex Luger was the first wrestler to qualify, as he defeated Bob Backlund in a match televised on the May 2 episode of Wrestling Challenge. Six days later, Razor Ramon was added to the tournament after he defeated Tito Santana on Superstars of Wrestling. On May 9, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan pinned Papa Shango on Wrestling Challenge to become the fourth entrant. The following night, Bam Bam Bigelow qualified by defeating Typhoon on a live episode of Monday Night Raw. On the May 15 episode of Superstars of Wrestling, Tatanka faced Giant Gonzalez in a qualifying match. Gonzalez choked his opponent and was disqualified by referee Bill Alfonso - whom Gonzalez attacked after the match; as a result, Tatanka advanced to the next round of the tournament. Mr. Perfect and Doink the Clown wrestled three qualifying matches against each other, before a decisive winner could be found to advance in the tournament. They first faced each other on the May 1 episode of Superstars of Wrestling, but the match was declared a draw when the time limit expired. Their next match took place on the May 16 episode of Wrestling Challenge and again resulted in time-limit draw. On the May 24 episode of Monday Night Raw, a third match between the two was ordered, this time with no time limit, and Perfect pinned Doink to advance to the seventh spot in the quarter-finals. In the final qualifying match, Mr. Hughes defeated Kamala on the May 23 episode of Wrestling Challenge.
At WrestleMania IX, Bret Hart dropped the WWF Championship to Yokozuna. At the conclusion of the match, Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna's manager, threw salt in Hart's eyes, enabling Yokozuna to win the match. After the match, Hulk Hogan came to the ring to help Hart. Fuji challenged Hogan to a match for the WWF Championship, which took place immediately. Fuji attempted to throw salt in Hogan's eyes, but Hogan moved and the salt hit Yokozuna instead. Hogan quickly defeated Yokozuna to become the new WWF Champion. Due to a real-life arrangement with WWF owner Vince McMahon, Hogan was supposed to lose the title to Bret Hart, but he changed his mind and refused to lose to Hart. He formed a compromise that allowed him to face Yokozuna in a rematch at King of the Ring. He did not want to be pinned cleanly, so he insisted on a storyline in which he would lose the belt due to outside interference. As a result of Hart's controversial loss, Jack Tunney, who played the on-screen role of WWF President, granted Hart entry into the King of the Ring tournament without requiring him to win a qualifying match.
Crush faced WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels several times in early 1993 but was unable to win the title belt. The pair also faced each other in a qualifying match for the King of the Ring tournament on the May 22 episode of Superstars of Wrestling. The match ended in a double countout and both wrestlers were eliminated from the tournament. It was later announced that they would wrestle each other at King of the Ring 1993, with Michaels's championship on the line.
The event also featured an eight-man tag team match that pitted the fan favorite team of The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) and The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) against the villain team of Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) and The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu). The Steiners and The Headshrinkers had faced each other at WrestleMania in a match won by the Steiners. The Steiners then moved on to feud with Money Inc., the WWF Tag Team Champions. The Gunns made their WWF debut in the spring of 1993 and faced The Headshrinkers in a series of matches. The match was not a standard tag team match so the championship was not on the line.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorsJim RossBobby HeenanRandy SavageRefereesMike ChiodaEarl HebnerJoey MarellaInterviewersGene OkerlundTerry TaylorRing announcerHoward FinkelOtherRene Goulet
Pre-show Before the live PPV broadcast began, a dark match took place between Owen Hart and Papa Shango. Papa Shango pinned Hart to retain the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship, which was being defended in the WWF as part of a talent exchange program between the WWF and the United States Wrestling Association (USWA).
Tournament matches In the first televised match of the event, Bret Hart fought Razor Ramon. Hart got the early advantage, but Ramon used his size advantage to control much of the match. He performed a fallaway slam and a running powerslam but was unable to pin Hart. Hart performed several of his signature moves, including a Russian legsweep and an elbow drop from the second rope. Ramon regained control of the match and attempted to execute a suplex from the top rope. Hart landed on top of Ramon and pinned him to win the match.
Mr. Hughes used his strength advantage to control the early stages of the following match against Mr. Perfect. After he missed a leg drop, Perfect used the opportunity to perform a neckbreaker on Hughes. Hughes picked up the urn that he had stolen from The Undertaker and hit Perfect with it. As a result, Hughes was disqualified and Mr. Perfect advanced to the next round.
In the next match, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan faced Bam Bam Bigelow. Neither wrestler was able to gain an advantage until Duggan was thrown into the corner of the ring. He suffered a storyline injury, which allowed Bigelow to place Duggan in a bear hug. Duggan bit Bigelow to escape from the hold. He executed a powerslam and attempted to perform his signature move, a charging clothesline. Bigelow moved out of the way and performed a diving headbutt on Duggan to get the pinfall victory.
Tatanka gained the early advantage over Lex Luger in the next match. He performed a crossbody to knock Luger down to the mat. Luger elbowed Tatanka to escape from a hold and then executed a chinlock on Tatanka. Tatanka came back by performing a knife-edge chop on Luger. He attempted the same move from the top rope, but Luger blocked him. Luger performed a clothesline on Tatanka to knock him down, but he was unable to pin him. The time limit expired, and both wrestlers were eliminated from the tournament. As a result, Bigelow received a bye into the final round.
The semi-final round of the tournament took place immediately after the first round, and Mr. Perfect gained the early advantage over Bret Hart. Hart reversed the momentum of the match by applying a series of headlocks on Perfect. Perfect then performed a dropkick on Hart and followed it up by pushing him off the edge of the ring into the steel barricade on the arena floor. Perfect then performed another dropkick, but Hart recovered and executed a superplex on Perfect. Hart wore down Perfect's leg with a figure four leglock and attempted to perform the Sharpshooter, his finishing maneuver. Perfect blocked the move and attempted to perform the Perfectplex, his finishing move, on Hart. Hart reversed it, and both men were thrown out of the ring. When they returned, Perfect tried to pin Hart with a small package. Hart reversed the move to get the pinfall victory and advance to the tournament final.
Other matches The WWF Championship match came next, as Hulk Hogan defended his title against Yokozuna. Yokozuna controlled the beginning of the match until he ran at Hogan in the corner but missed an avalanche splash. Hogan tried twice to body slam Yokozuna but could not pick him up. Yokozuna performed a bear hug on Hogan and tried to pin him after executing a belly to belly suplex. Hogan kicked Yokozuna in the face three times and knocked him down to the mat. He performed a leg drop, his signature move, on Yokozuna but was unable to pin him. As Hogan prepared to attempt to body slam Yokozuna, manager Harvey Wippleman, disguised as a planted photographer, jumped up onto the edge of the ring. His camera exploded in Hogan's face, which allowed Yokozuna to knock Hogan down and perform a leg drop. Yokozuna pinned Hogan to regain the WWF Championship and performed a Banzai drop on Hogan after the match.
In the next match, the team of the Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) and The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) faced the team of Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) and The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu). The match began with the Steiners in control as they took turns attacking DiBiase. Fatu and Bart Gunn entered the match, and Fatu and his teammates wore Bart down while preventing him from tagging in a partner. Billy Gunn fought DiBiase and controlled the match until DiBiase performed the Million Dollar Dream on Billy. DiBiase released the hold and gloated about his performance. This enabled Billy Gunn to surprise DiBiase with a small package pinfall to win the match. After the match, the teams continued to fight until the Steiners and Gunns cleared their opponents from the ring.