Review: WWF/WWE King of the Ring 1995 DVD

August 31, 2010 by Brett Mix

Brett Mix’s- WWF King of the Ring 1995 Review:

“EC DUB, EC DUB, EC DUB!” -WWF Fans

-WWF King of the Ring 1995 took place on Sunday, June 25th, 1995 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

-This was the 3rd Annual King of the Ring event.

-This King of the Ring is widely considered to be one of the worst PPV events of all time.

-Because the event was held in Philadelphia, many familiar faces from the ECW Arena were present. During the “King of the Ring” final between Mabel and Savio Vega, these fans began chanting “ECW, ECW” in protest at what they were watching unfold in the ring. This public support of ECW , then an independent entity and not a third WWE-approved brand, gained the attention of Vince McMahon, and he later booked small invasion-type angles involving the ECW promotion in 1996 and 1997 with the cooperation of Paul Heyman.

-Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith wrestled to a 15:00 Time Limit Draw on WWF Monday Night Raw on 6/5/95 in a King of the Ring Qualifying Match. Yokozuna would defeat Luger the next week on Raw for the final slot in the King of the Ring Tournament.

-Dok Hendrix and Vince McMahon did commentary for this event.

-Before the pay-per-view aired, Savio Vega defeated Irwin R. Schyster in a match, to fill the vacancy left due to Razor Ramon’s rib injury suffered on June 9 in Uniondale, New York in a ladder match against Jeff Jarrett. Ramon had qualified on May 16 in Danbury, Connecticut over Jacob Blu.

-Now onto the PPV……………

1) Opening Contest- Savio Vega (W/Razor Ramon) vs Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) in a King of the Ring Quarter-Final match

Dok Hendrix delivers one of the worst opening speeches to any PPV as a color guy in history.

Even if you were excited for the night you would definitely already feel let-down. Savio Vega wasn’t over with the crowd and that’s what makes this even more painful as it was.

We had to hear his music once before when he defeated IRS prior to the event beginning and now we hear it again. We had to hear it I believe seven times before the night ended.
They had to slap Scott Hall with him to gain any decent reaction. A bad start to a bad show here.

It’s just hilarious how everything was so painfully bad. Almost nothing clicked. I feel terrible for the fans who were in attendance. Infact I almost feel bad for having to view this show again, I swore to never watch it once more after the first time but that’s obviously not going to be the case.

Even the girl they hired as a new interviewer was flat out ugly to start the show. As I said, NOTHING clicked.

Savio Vega is quickly dropped by Yoko. Vega from Puerto Rico now fights back dropping the Japanese Sumo headfirst into the buckle. Savio Vega with momentum off the ropes went for the same spinning heel kick he beat IRS with in the same hour but Yokozuna moved out of the way and kicked at the back of Savio Vega. Yokozuna clobbered Vega in the corner and brought him down to the mat over and over. They show Owen Hart on the TV monitor telling somebody on the phone he won the King of the Ring the year before.

Yokozuna was another large stepping stone for Savio Vega, the underdog story of the night that nobody cared about.

Yokozuna drops Vega with headbutts and then a snapmare before a trap weardown which nobody wanted to watch.

Fans get on the match here and rightfully so.

Fans chant USA when Savio Vega is not even from there. Typical for Wrestling fans to do though, in all fairness. I too would probably be chanting something else by this point if I was there.
Yoko STILL wearing down Vega backfirst on the mat. Yokozuna is hit by clotheslines by Savio and he drops Cornette off the apron.

Owen runs out in a suit and attacks Razor in the injured rib area, the man he beat in the finals the previous year. I wish I could be watching that event by now.

Yoko charged into the ring post and Savio Vega slides back into the ring at the nine count.

In the end at 8:14 Savio got the upset victory and he’s on a roll now. It really is a shame nobody cared.

This match had a HUGE contrast in style’s and not in the good way.

As an opener it was slow and very frustrating. Pretty much the opposite you would want to be done when opening a show.

1/2*

2) The Roadie (with Jeff Jarrett) vs Bob Holly in a King of the Ring Quarter-Final match

The Roadie’s hair was about as bad as everything else on the night. He dominated the race driver by throwing him viciously to the buckle twice. Roadie struts.

It must sound like I am nitpicking by now, but honestly everything was just bad.

The Roadie does a dance and drops an elbow to Holly twice. Roadie with a snapmare. Holly comes out of no where with an inside cradle but Roadie kicks out and slaps on a reverse chinlock. Eventually Bob Holly gets out and hits a backdrop.

Roadie irishwhipped Holly and he hit a headscissors out of desperation gaining back some momentum. Roadie is hit with a powerslam off the ropes and he is practically begging by this point for Holly to back off. The man who would later be known as Road Dogg sets up “HARDCORE” on the top but is pushed off the top falling backfirst.

Holly comes crashing down with a slam but caught the worst of it as Roadie got a boot up. Holly KICKS out even though the official counts a three. Strange.

In the end at 7:40, The Roadie went over.

This match was a definate upgrade on the one previous to it.

One of the only fair matches of the night.

3) “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs Kama (with Ted DiBiase) in a King of the Ring Quarter-Final match

Shawn Michaels in 1995, this should be good…right? Well like most things on this night, it’s not a good idea to hold your breath. They have win win the Rumble, lose at Mania and then lose here. Incredible.

Perhaps if they booked this a bit better it could of had potential. For crying out loud it was the only Shawn Michaels match of the night afterall.
I shake my head when I see names like Undertaker, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels ALL on this show but all booked so poorly.

Michaels had some momentum at the time after headlining Mania and winning a Rumble, the fans were very into him here.

Kama obviously was the tough, powerhouse heel that just meant business in the Million Dollar Corporation.

Michaels takes off his attire like only he does and the bell rings.

Kama and Shawn begin with a chain-wrestling exchange, how about that. A go behind-waistlock and Kama lifts Shawn up and he lands on his feet before connecting with rights to Kama. Shawn

Michaels with a lot of early momentum and it’s clear they wanted to dictate the pace from the early stages knowing this match would go the distance as both men go for a breather after any exchange.

Kama throws Michaels over the top rope and he swings back in and thend rops Kama to the mat. Kama again leaves the ring and goes for a talk with DiBiase.

Kama tossed Shawn out of the ring as he was beginning to use his power advantage to exactly that. Kama outside the ring scoops up Shawn with a bearhug and proceeds to driving his spine into the ring post.

Kama began to methodically weardown Shawn with power moves, most of which focused on the back. Kama scooped up Michaels and held him with a high back breaker submission hold until Shawn used his quick reflexes to flip backwards.

Kama tried to bridge out of Shawn’s sunset flip attempt and it failed. Kama uses his power again to once again send Shawn to the outside, he just breaks the ten count and unfortunately the match isn’t over. Kama scoops up Michaels and drives him into his knee with a bacbreaker, not once, not twice, but three times.

Now Kama continues the back work the way Diesel did to Bret the year before driving the point of his knee into the lower spine of Shawn. Kama had the damage done but Michaels began using his quickness although fatigued to fight back out of desperation.

Shawn down though can’t capitalize on anything and Kama makes it up first. Kama goes for an elbow drop to the bad back of Shawn but he rolls out of the way.

Shawn Michaels connects now with a flying forearm and kicks up before attacking Kama. Shawn goes up high and drops a double axehandle onto Kama and gets a long two count. Shawn gets the big man in the corner and he drops righthands to Kama as DiBiase looks on concerned.

By now Shawn was on a roll and he hit a sunsetflip to Kama which looked to put him away but they show the time limit and surely enough the bell rings.

For a time limit draw this was not nearly as good as Tatanka-Luger from 1993.

In the end at 15:00 the two men wrestled to a time-limit draw as Philly booed accordingly.

This match was beyond slow for a Shawn Michaels match and the time limit ending didn’t help matters at all. For what they were trying to accomplish it told a decent story but the finish left a bad taste in people’s mouths. Unfortunately that taste just didn’t seem to leave.

Why Shawn didn’t advance at the time was simply mind-boggling. Even if he wasn’t going to win, having him lose in the opening round was just bad business.

* 1/4

4) Mabel (with Mo) vs The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) in a King of the Ring Quarter-Final match

The Undertaker when he moved like a Zombie up against HEEL Mabel. This should be gold.

Unfortunately and quite obviously, it was anything but.

As long as this is kept short it could be watchable. Again, it wasn’t.

Vince was trying his hardest to get Mabel over here. The Undertaker had the early offense hitting old school with nice agility off the top until Mabel ran him over with a powerslam. As Mabel kicked the Phenom to the outside he clotheslined him on the top rope, and drove his mass into his body as Taker layed with his boot caught in the ropes.

Mabel hit a powerslam on Taker in mid-ring and our worst fears became instant nightmares as he slaps on a reverse chinlock.

Make it stop.

Undertaker a few minutes later fights out but Mabel continues his slow offense with strikes here and there before a headbutt. Mabel puts his entire bodyweight on the man from the Darside and his hand is in the air, however Taker kicks out. Mabel charged to Taker in the corner and he got his boot up before dropping him with a clothesline.

The Undertaker with some momentum irishwhipped Mabel to the ropes and as he bends down Mabel capitalizes putting The Undertaker down with a piledriver but he STILL kicked out.
The Undertaker lands an uppercut and both men fall down. Guess who sits up? Well it’s Mabel and when he goes for an elbow drop The Undertaker gets up this time. Mabel is kicked at and thrown into the corner by Taker. With the official ran into The Undertaker kept up his offense and landed a flying clothesline on Mabel.

The Undertaker manages a sloppy clothesline to the big man but no official is there to count. Kama runs in and kicks The Undertaker in the head. Mabel hits a splash to Taker and look, Keota is up. If I didn’t know any better I would of thought he had fallen asleep from the match.

Looking back now I wish I was.

In the end at 10:44 Mabel got the win.

One of the slowest moving matches in wrestling history. And again, why the Undertaker didn’t advance is mind-boggling. Even if he isn’t a top notch guy in 95, at least he gained a reaction.

1/4*

5) Savio Vega (with Razor Ramon) vs The Roadie (with Jeff Jarrett) in a KOTR Semi-Final match

Savio Vega is out again waving his hands around.

Great.

I’m sure if the crowd weren’t dead by this point they’d surely be giving him the Rocky Maivia treatment by now.

Roadie still does his usual tactics in an attempt to get the crowd behind Vega who attacks early and often here.

Savio Vega hits an inside cradle on Roadie but he lifted a knee up, Roadie fought back dropping Vega down. Roadie choked him out on the middle rope. Roadie couldn’t come up with any offense and now Vega hit a series of powerslams before a boot to the face.

Savio Vega irishwhipped into the ropes gets a leg taken out by Double J. From behind Roadie drops Vega and Savio reverses an irishwhip sending Roadie into Double J on the apron. When Roadie realizes what has happened he is distracted and Vega goes for the inside cradle victory.

In the end at 6:36 Savio picked up the win.

This match was to the point but nothing even remotely good at all. It wasn’t quite as bad as some of the other matches on the night and that’s about all I can say good.

6) Bret “Hitman” Hart vs Jerry “The King” Lawler in a “Kiss My Foot” match

The feud between “The Burger King” and “The Hitman” had been going on exactly two years since Jerry broke up Bret’s celebration at the original King of the Ring.
Now to end the feud the loser would have to kiss the winner’s feet.

The King had been making sure his feet would stink before the match even happened. This match could be uses as Symbolism for the entire night.

It’s not often Bret has a bad match on PPV and while it’s not quite as bad as his dissapointment with Backlund at Mania this same year, it’s still pretty bad for resume.

For some reason Lawler dominated the early stages of the match, I can’t buy that for a second. Surely Bret would of been tired of the King by now.

Anyway King hits a Piledriver on Bret. Lawler then hits another. Jerry Lawler hits a third piledriver and now poses for the crowd. I have no idea why they put Lawler on this event again after his embarassment the year before with Piper.

King can’t get a three on Hart and he beats on him from the corner. The crowd are full of chants by now and from the corner the Hitman kicks at Lawler and punches back. Jerry Lawler drives Bret into the corner before taking him out to the floor. King takes off his wrestling boot to reveal a sock which has been giving extra smell too as of late as seen before the match. King hits Hart with a boot and still only manages a two count.

King getting frustrated chokes out Bret in the corner. Bret now decides to fight back taking King down and then he drops an elbow onto his head before choking him out until Lawler rakes the eye.

Bret Hart is down and King is again in control. Lawler signals to damage the legs of Hart but he gets out of that predicament and begins fighting back on the outside.
Out runs Hakushi who goes to drop Bret but he ends up dropping Lawler. Bret would wrestle both men later at the first In Your House PPV which was also terrible. Bret back in the ring regains control hitting a side russian legsweep, then a back breaker and a signature elbow drop to King from the second rope.

Just standard material here but the fans loved the fact Bret was getting his revenge on Lawler as he slapped on the Sharpshooter and King tapped out to the delight of the crowd.

In the end at 9:20 Bret got his revenge on Lawler by beating him with his hold.

Then he made Jerry kiss his own feet.

This match consisted of basic spots and was very tiring through the first half, it got better as it continued but it still was no where near great overall.

* 3/4

7) Savio Vega vs Mabel (W/Mo) in the King of the Ring Final

Savio Vega comes out ..again… and we’re now underway. And yeah, you read the title to this match right.

So anyways Savio Vega knows he’s in tough here, this is his fourth match in two hours and he had already gone through a guy like Yokozuna and now he has Mabel.

Savio was in control until Mabel turned things around and choked him out in the corner.

By this point everyone in the crowd were beyond shocked the show was this bad. ECW chants start up as Mabel applies a dreadful looking bearhug to Savio Vega wearing him down in the middle of the ring.

Hendrix says “All this excitement” ironically when Mabel has a bearhug on Savio Vega. As he is pushed to the corner he goes right back into it and the fans groan in a negative way.

Absolutely terrible.

Mabel clotheslines Savio Vega and hits another clothesline. Mabel again drops to the canvas floor holding a sleeper.

You can read the harcore ECW’ fans lips in the front row as he looks at Mabel holding the sleeper on Savio Vega as he says “Terrible Match.”

Priceless.

McMahon tried to drown out the ECW chants with an annoying pitch in his voice.

Mabel caught Savio Vega in the air and slammed him to the mat. Mabel covered him and the fans cheered as it was over. I’m not making that up.

In the end at 8:32 Mabel beat Savio Vega to become King.

What? All of that for nothing. I don’t mean to pretend like anyone cared about Savio Vega but they pushed him the whole night only for him to lose to Mabel at the end like this?

Who’s writing this? Better yet, why is MABEL the King of the Ring?

This match is beyond terrible, all things considered.

Thankfully any credibility that was lost by this King of the Ring winner would be built back up the next year, in a major way, but I don’t think the event’s credibility as a whole ever recovered.

DUD

8) Main Event- Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow vs Tatanka and Sycho Sid (with Ted DiBiase)

Hey look, it’s a random tag team match that’s closing the PPV. Seems fitting.

To make matters worse, these four men aren’t the greatest of workers, Bam Bam and Tatanka were alright.

God knows what Bam Bam Bigelow was wearing to the ring. This was fresh after his thirty seconds of fame with LT at Wrestlemania.

This was also when Kevin Nash had his horrid, year long title reign. But instead of putting his title on the line against Bam Bam or Tatanka which would a hell of a lot more then this, we get a standard tag match. To MAIN EVENT this show.

I can’t stress how unimportant this felt, enough.

Tatanka and Diesel begin and Tatanka who had just recently joined the Million Dollar Corporation. Tatanka held Diesel against the ropes and tagged in Sid. Sid drove his knee into the mid-section of Diesel. Sid hammered away at the arm of Nash hanging above the rope. Sid scooped up Diesel and slammed him to the mat. Diesel made the tag to Bam Bam and he hit some power moves on Sid which some of the crowd liked.

Sid regained control and hit Bam Bam with a chokeslam after choking him out in the corner, Tatanka came in and went to work on Bam Bam delivering kicks in the corner before a suplex driving the beast from the east to the mat.

Bam Bam Bigelow is controlled by Tatanka until Sid tags back in. Once the master of the world comes back in Bam Bam Bigelow fights back but quickly runs into a big boot and goes to the outside. Back in the ring Sid locks on a reverse chinlock.

Bam Bam manages out and Diesel comes in for a sequence but Bam Bam thinking he can take on the load comes back in and quickly finds Tatanka has tagged in. Bam Bam Bigelow then gets put back in a reverse chinlock, this time from the Native American.

Beyond boring.

Bam Bam Bigelow manages out for a moment but Tatanka off the ropes hits a ddt to Bam Bam which scored him a nearfall.

Bam Bam Bigelow stayed in this hold for at least three minutes. I can’t even believe what I’m seeing by this point.

Then out of no where Bam Bam began a comeback swinging Tatanka back to the mat while Diesel encouraged him. Bam Bam Bigelow went for a tag but Tatanka hung on and Bam Bam hit him with an inziguri and in comes Diesel. The federation Champion dropped rights to Tatanka and hit a side suplex.

Diesel hit his powerslam on Tatanka and the official couldn’t even make the count in the ring and had to go to the floor to count.

Diesel then says he wants Sid but he walks away and has stuff thrown at him.

Diesel finishes Tatanka off after another powerbomb.

So in the end at 17:35 Diesel and Bam Bam get the win.

The misery was over. Just a bad match, let alone main event.

Everybody in attendance truely deserved a refund. And I deserve a nice long sleep after enduring this again.

3/4*

————————————————————————-

Final Rating for WWF King of the Ring 1995 = 0.5/10

This is the absolute worst Wrestling PPV in company history.

It only gets a 0.5 overall because of one match basically.

Everything else was an absolute disaster.