Dark Pegasus Video Review: The Best of King of the Ring (Disc Two)

The Best of King of the Ring by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 Your host is King Booker. WWF Heavyweight Title: Shawn Michaels vs. The British Bulldog (w/Jim Cornette & Diana Hart-Smith – 06/23/96). Mr. Perfect was hyped as the referee, but he takes a spot as the outside official because Gorilla doesn’t trust him. The whole Diana thing has been dropped in favor of Bulldog getting screwed at Beware of Dog. Shawn controls early, headscissoring Bulldog to the floor and hitting a rana from the apron to the floor. Back in, Bulldog controls with a side headlock. Shawn slips out of a press slam and goes to work on the arm. There’s some intrigue as Bulldog reverses and grabs a handful of ropes, and Perfect takes his time breaking it up. Shawn grabs a sleeper, but Bulldog backs him into the corner and whips him to the far side for a hard bump. Shawn comes back with a single-arm DDT and a double ax-handle. He goes back to the arm, but Bulldog presses him to the floor. Bulldog presses him back in for two. A Mexican Surfboard works Shawn’s back a little more, and Bulldog drops a leg for two. Shawn fights back and hits a crossbody for two. Shawn goes for a shoulderbreaker, but Bulldog reverses to a powerslam attempt. Shawn slips out of it, but Bulldog avoids Sweet Chin Music and levels him with a clothesline. A diving headbutt misses badly, but Bulldog hits a superplex for two. Shawn tries a rana, but Bulldog reverses to a powerbomb for two. Shawn reverses a whip this time, and Bulldog takes the Shawn “flip bump” in the corner. Shawn comes back with the usual, bumping the ref on the bodyslam. Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music, and both Hebner and Perfect count three, although Cornette pulls Perfect to the outside. Not sure what in the hell was supposed to happen, but I can guarantee you it wasn’t that. Shawn retains at 26:13, though. On par with their Beware of Dog match. ***1/4 After the match, Owen tries to sucker punch Shawn, but Shawn makes his own save. Bulldog and Owen get the best of Shawn until Ahmed Johnson makes the save. Vader turn the tide back to the heels, though, until Ultimate Warrior chases them off. This was supposed to set up a six man between all involved, but Warrior turned back into Bill Bixby and no-showed, forcing the WWF to turn back to **gulp** Sid. Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels (06/08/97). This is one of those “tag champs who don’t like each other” angles that Vince Russo became famous for. The short story is that both guys hate Bret Hart, so they agreed to team up against Davey Boy and Owen and wound up winning the tag titles. This was scheduled to be Bret versus Shawn, but Bret was afraid that Shawn was too drugged up to protect his injured knee (Bret’s story) or Vince decided that the situation was too volatile (and lucrative) to have it here (the official story). A kid from the Special Olympics falls over the railing, and Shawn decides to help him out, so Austin, even the sportsman, jumps Shawn from behind. Shawn controls early with a side headlock. Austin gets pissed and calls for a test of strength and then kicks Shawn in the gut a half dozen times. Austin hits the Thesz Press and pummels Shawn. Shawn reverses, and they go into a series of nearfalls á la ECW. Shawn goes for the usual comeback sequence, but Austin actually ducks the flying forearm! See, that’s what makes great wrestles. Instead of going the usual route of “you do your stuff, and I’ll do my stuff,” they’re finding ways to work in new spots from the routine ones. The FU elbow gets two, and Austin settles into a chinlock. Shawn sends Austin to the floor drawing a chorus of boos from the males in the audience and cheers from the women. See, “Cena Heat” is nothing new. Back in, Shawn posts himself, and Austin yanks down his tights. The ref gets bumped, so Shawn goes for Sweet Chin Music. Austin blocks and hits the Stunner, but there’s no ref. Austin hauls up the ref and gives the Stunner for having the audacity to be unconscious during his pinfall. Shawn waits for Austin to turn around and…SWEET CHIN MUSIC! A second ref runs down as Shawn is covering, but instead of counting, the second ref checks on the first one. That pisses of Shawn, so he superkicks the second ref! This is turning into a bloodbath. That leads senior official Earl Hebner to run down and disqualify both guys at 22:33. The fans don’t like that finish at all, and neither do Austin and Shawn who argue all the way up the ramp. *Very* different from their WrestleMania match a year later. This was also the final PPV appearance of the Austin that liked to do some actual *wrestling* in his matches instead of turning the whole damned thing into a bar fight. **** King of the Ring Finals: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) vs. Mankind (06/08/97). These guys faced each other a *lot* in 1997, and this is probably their worst match. Mankind tries to generate a lot of sympathy heat by getting his ass kicked a lot. The problem is, Hunter’s offense is too calculated and methodical at this point, and he doesn’t have any big moves where the fans think Mankind is in danger of losing the match. Plus, to have that style, you really have to work one body part to generate a storyline. That ain’t happenin’ here. Chyna gives Mankind a cheapshot. Mankind gets hung up in the “hangman.” Not a whole lot comes from it, though. The fans are *really* getting grumpy here. Even the Cactus Elbow off the apron doesn’t get them into it. Back in, Mankind hits the Kobashi Driver, but Chyna has the ref distracted. Mankind backdrops out of a Pedigree and locks in the Mandible Claw. Chyna pulls him off, but the ref doesn’t catch it. It seems to reinvigorate Mankind, though, as he hits an atomic drop and clotheslines Hunter to the floor. He tries an elbow off the apron, but Chyna pulls Hunter out of the way. The ref admonishes Chyna, so Hunter pulls Mankind over the announce table and puts him through it with a Pedigree. Mick still struggles to his feet, so Chyna hits him with a scepter. Mankind *still* gets to the apron, so Hunter knees him off into one of the photographers. Back in, Mankind kicks out at two, so Hunter finishes with the Pedigree at 19:25. That fans were bored for the first 2/3 of the match, but Hunter and Mick nearly got the match to average through sheer force of willpower, which is probably why they got the chance to do it over again several times in 1997 (and why Mick was the go-to guy on getting Hunter over as a main-eventer in 2000). *3/4 King of the Ring Finals: The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock (06/28/98). Triple H joins the commentary team for some facetious inside talk and a few jabs at the Rock. This is what amounts to a blowoff between these two as Shamrock had chased the Intercontinental Title and been screwed out of it for months on end. In fact, the Rock spent about nine months as champion and didn’t get his first pin until nearly seven months into his reign! Slow start thanks to Rock’s tendency to head to the floor when things get heated. He turns and jaws with Hunter and gets a facefull of Evian mist. Rock finally takes over and gets two off a neckbreaker. The People’s Elbow gets two. The People’s DDT gets two, and they tease a double KO. Shamrock recovers and makes a comeback before charging right into a powerslam. Rock looks for another People’s DDT, but Shamrock counters to a Northern Lights Suplex for two. Shamrock goes for a rana, but Rock counters to a hotshot for two. Rock thinks it’s three and tells the ref about it, allowing Shamrock to recover and trip Rock down into the Anklelock at 14:10. Shamrock finally gets a measure of revenge after months of getting bamboozled by the Rock. Solid match outside of Rocky’s penchant for resting at this point in his career. **3/4 Yay, it’s this match again. This match has been released more times than Night of the Living Dead. It is to Vince McMahon what the original Star Wars trilogy is to George Lucas. The only thing missing is James Earl Jones dubbing “Noooooooooo!” as Mick falls through the roof of the cell. Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker vs. Mankind (06/29/98). “The pain that these two men are preparing to endure is inhuman”. Well, Jim Ross was half right. This is, of course, the match that gave Mick Foley a rebirth to his career and cemented the Hell in the Cell a reputation as the way to blow off a feud. They start on the top of the cell, which must have seemed like a good idea at the time. About a minute later, Mankind goes flying off in one of the most iconic wrestling images of the 1990s. “Good God almighty! Good God almighty! That killed him!” shouts Jim Ross. The next four minutes are spent putting Mick’s pancreas back in him and wheeling him out on a stretcher. Mankind ain’t going out like that, though. He gets up off the stretcher and staggers back ringside. They both scurry up the cage and slug it out once again. Mistake #2. Taker gets the best of Mankind and chokeslams him through the top of the cage. Mankind just kind of lands with a thud, and not the good kind where he bounces a little. Just SPLAT! Terry Funk and a number of officials hurry into the cage to check on Mick, who is by now unconscious. Taker gingerly drops down into the ring from above and starts attacking officials. Mankind finally recovers enough for the match to begin. He vacantly breaks up the Ropewalk Forearm, buying himself some more time. Taker slams the ringsteps into his shoulder but misses a tope. Back in, Mankind piledrives the Taker on a chair for two. He ups the ante by introducing a bag of THUMBTACKS into the match. Mistake #3. Taker goes for a Tombstone, countered by Mankind to the Mandible Claw. Taker powers up, hoisting Mick onto his back. Uh-oh. Taker drives them both backward, sending Mankind’s back into the tacks. Mankind rolls around in agony, covering himself in the metal tacks. From there it’s all academic (with Mick audibly saying, “Tell him to goozle me”). Taker hits him with chokeslam into the tacks and finishes with a Tombstone Piledriver at 17:08. Arguably your 1998 MOTY for the WWE based on long-term impact and sheer excitement. I don’t buy the “well, if you take those two big bumps out” argument. That’s like saying that if you take out all the armdrags and chops from Flair/Steamboat it would suck. It’s true, but those two big bumps are there, and they are the story of the match. Taker deserves a huge amount of credit for spoonfeeding Mick throughout the match too. ****

The 411: Good stuff from Shawn and, of course, the legendary Hell in a Cell that changed wrestling in a big way.
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]