wrestling / Video Reviews
Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF King of The Ring ’94
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Written: 12.14.25
-Source: Peacock
-Run-Time 2:45:37
-Back to the WWF as I skipped Mania X because I have a DVD copy and my goal is to get as many shows from Peacock done before they leave the service. Next up is Clash of The Champions and then Bash at The Beach 94. I have an old review of Mania X and you can check it out to hold you over until I get to the redo. Away we go!
-Announce Team: Gorilla Monsoon, Randy Savage, and Art Donovan
-June 19, 1994
-Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, MD
-Attendance: 12,000
-PPV Buys: 185,000
-Ricky Medlocke sings the National Anthem to start.
-They have JR, but they opt to dust off Gorilla Monsoon and have him take Vince’s place. For those wondering, Vince was preparing for the steroid trial. Art Donovan is a retired football player from the Baltimore Colts and he certainly left a mark on this show with his commentary.
King of The Ring Quarterfinals: Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Luna Vachon) vs. Razor Ramon
-Razor beat Kwang in the opening round and Bigelow beat Sparky Thurman Plugg. Bigelow was in the finals in last year’s tournament before losing to Bret Hart. Luna distracts Razor, so he throws his toothpick at her. Bigelow attacks from behind and gets a shoulder block. Slam from Bammer and he drops a head-butt and then a leg drop. Bigelow up top and this is a hot crowd to start which is great to hear and see. Bigelow misses the head-butt and Razor lands a few punches and trips Bigelow in the corner and pulls him balls first into the post. Gorilla and Randy keep making football references to make Art feel comfortable. Gorilla asks Randy if he was invited to Luna/Bammer’s wedding and Randy notes, “I don’t do weddings.” Gorilla laughs, but it made me feels sad. I’ll always have WrestleMania VII! Razor gets tossed to the floor and Luna distracts the ref for some reason. Nothing happened from that so not sure why it happened. Enziguiri from Bigelow as Art wonders if that is even legal. Art sounds like the father-in-law from The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause when he finds out his son-in-law is Santa Claus. Bigelow with a Torture Rack and it’s more a rest hold as he isn’t stretching and pulling down on Razor like Luger would do. Art: “Gorilla, is he dead?” Bieglow finally releases the hold and Razor gets a belly-to-back suplex. Art: “Here I though the poor guy was dead and now they are both out. What happens now?” Gorilla explains the concept of a double count-out, but both men are up. Razor starts his comeback and avoids a charge in the corner. He gets a slam and tries to put Bigelow up top, but Bammer lands an elbow. Slam from Bigelow and he heads up for a Moonsault, but Razor brings him down with a kind of chokeslam and gets the pin at 8:25.
Winner: Razor Ramon via pin at 8:25
-Just a basic match that was fine and gave Razor a name to beat on his way through the tournament. **
King of The Ring Quarterfinals: IRS vs. Mabel (w/ Oscar)
-Mabel got the win over Pierre and IRS beat Scott Steiner in the first round. IRS charges and gets run into the corner. Savage makes a joke about being ready and able, Mabel. I miss Chad Gable! Art wants to know how much Mabel weighs and doesn’t think the weight difference is fair. Mabel with a suplex and a fireman’s carry into another suplex. He drops an elbow, but misses a splash in the corner. IRS buries a knee to the back and that sends Mabel to the floor. Write Off Clothesline connects but no pin as he drops a pair of elbow first. Mabel kicks out at two with some power. Mabel with a LARGE SMALL package for two. IRS boots him and hooks a reverse chinlock. Mabel runs him into the corner to break and starts firing off right hands. Backdrop from Mabel. Clothesline and poor Mabel looks gassed. Back elbow from Mabel and Gorilla notes if that goes long, it will benefit IRS. IRS with a side slam that I at first thought was an IRS DDT, but he sold the move and Mabel got a two count. Slam from Mabel and he heads to the middle ropes. IRS shakes the ropes to knock him off and dives on for the pin with his feet on the ropes at 5:40.
Winner: IRS via pin at 5:40
-Not good, but the crowd was into it. 1/2*
King of The Ring Quarterfinals: Tatanka vs. Owen Hart
-Tatanka beat Crush to advance and Owen got the win over Doink in the first round. Art wants to know how much Tatanka weighs and they just ignore him. Owen wants to prove he can do what his brother did last week. Tatanka attacks Owen before the bell which is a dick move. He goes for the pin quickly as he lost out in last year’s tournament due to a draw. I dig that he has urgency this time. Hip-toss from Tatanka followed by a Japanese arm-drag. Tatanka with a shoulder block, but Owen pitches him to the floor. Tatanka lands on his feet and pulls Owen to the floor. They trade blows out there and Owen sends Tatanka shoulder first into the post. We go split screen as we see Razor and IRS fighting backstage while officials try to separate them. Owen chokes Tatanka on the middle rope and jumps on his back. He runs Tatanka’s face on the top rope and hits a sweet gut-wrench suplex. Owen up top and he nails Tatanka with a missile dropkick for two. Art: “I can’t believe the whole thing. They are killing each other.” Art would have a YouTube channel where he reacts to wrestling today. Sleeper from Owen as they are keeping these matches in a low gear. Tatanka starts to rally with his War Dance and he fires off chops. He gets a two count off another chop. He gets the boots up in the corner and follows with a DDT for two. Slam and Tatanka heads up top. He lands a chop to the head and gets another two count. Owen tries to float over in the corner but gets caught with a powerslam for two. Tatanka argues with the ref which is dumb. He lights up Owen with chops and goes for a sunset flip, but Owen falls forward for the pin at 8:19. Similar way to how he beat Bret.
Winner: Owen Hart via pin at 8:19
-Okay, that picked up nicely after the sleeper and they had the crowd going. I do like the urgency we are seeing in some matches. Just cut over the sleepers and reverse chinlock since you know you aren’t getting a lot of time. ***
-Todd is backstage with Diesel and Shawn Michaels. Diesel is the IC Champ and has been rising up the card since his memorable Rumble run. Shawn stumbles over his words a few times and notes he will also be WWF Champion if Diesel wins.
King of The Ring Quarterfinals: Jeff Jarrett vs. The 1-2-3 Kid
-Kid got by Adam Bomb to get here and Jarrett got a win over Luger by count-out. Jarrett is smiling as he is taking this one for granted. Kid chases him to the floor with kicks. Jarrett grabs the leg and runs it off the apron. Back in he sends Kid into the corner with some force. Savage: “That post has been there a long time. Kid just got there!” I like that line! Kid with a roll-up for two, but Jarrett boots him back down. Clothesline from Jarrett, who is rocking some orange gear and looks weird. Victory Roll from Kid gets two. Jarrett boots him down again. SLING-SHOT SUPLEX from Jarrett. SWEET! He comes off the middle rope with a fist to the face. Kid ducks a clothesline and hits a spin kick for two. Slam as they aren’t wasting any time. Kid heads up, but the Swanton misses. Jarrett tries to drop a leg on the ropes, but Kid moves and Jarrett crotches his slapnuts. Kid up top, but Jarrett knocks him off balance. Kid blocks a superplex and comes off with a cross-body for two. Another spin kick from Kid, but he misses another kick in the corner and lands on the back of his head. He is selling the knee and Jarrett smells blood so he goes for the figure-four, but Kid gets a small package for the pin at 4:39.
Winner: The 1-2-3 Kid via pin at 4:39
-Fun, fast paced match! ***
-Jarret is pissed and DRILLS kid with THREE piledrivers. If this was Memphis, they would be bringing a bodybag out for The Kid. Jarrett off the middle ropes with a fist drop and another. He gets booed out of the building, but there are people cheering for him. He comes off the ropes with one more fist drop before getting forced to the back.
-New Generation commercial!
WWF Championship: Bret “Hitman” Hart (c) vs. Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels)
-Bret has promised a family member in his corner to off-set Shawn. This is Diesel’s first big time PPV match. Jim Neidhart comes out with Bret and removes Bret’s shades like the old days. Lockup and Diesel shoves Bret across the ring. Another go and Bret gets a go behind, but gets backed into the corner and Diesel lands an elbow. Bret tries to fight back, but Diesel just mauls him in the corner rand then chokes with his boot. Running boot misses and Diesel gets crotched on the top rope. Bret gets him off his feet and drops a head butt to the abdomen. Bret with a roll-up for two. Diesel catches Bret and hits a slam, but misses an elbow. Bret runs Diesel into the top buckle, but gets cut off by a thumb to the eye. Diesel chokes in the corner again. He goes for a running knee, but that misses and Bret gets him off his feet again. He starts working on the legs as he throws kicks trying to knot up the hamstrings. Figure-four and Diesel sells it like a champ as Shawn freaks out on the floor. Bret continues to go after the knee and gets a spinning toe hold. Diesel kicks off and sends Bret to the floor. Diesel gets too close and Bret grabs the legs and rams it off the ring post. Shawn comes flying in with a clothesline and Anvil chases after him. Shawn does a great job of running away and suckers Anvil into getting stopped by the ref and then makes sure to boot Bret in the head. Nice! Bret off the top and Diesel was supposed to catch him, but they collapse to the mat. Diesel powers Bret back up and runs him into the corner. Bret seemed unsure of himself coming off the top as I don’t know if he was questioning it or was waiting for Diesel to get where he needed. Bret back with a shotgun dropkick and pushes Diesel over the top and to the floor. Sling shot plancha, but Diesel moves out of the way. Diesel runs Bret back first into the post and now he has a body part to target. Forearms to the small of the back as Art wonders how they get out of bed in the morning. I know Art gets hate for his performance on this show, but he truly seemed like he was having a good time and was impressed with what pro-wrestlers do. Backbreaker and Diesel holds it for extra pain. He drops an elbow for a two count. Shawn lands another punch from the floor and Diesel drops all his weight on Bret’s back. Shawn with a slap to the face just to be a dick. Bret gets in a couple punches, but Diesel goes to the eyes. Whip to the corner and Bret goes sternum first which always looks great. Bret with a flash roll-up for two, but has nothing behind it. Clothesline gets two for Diesel as well next hit a neck crank. Another backbreaker gets two. Diesel is looking a little winded, but again, this was his first big time match. Shawn works on the loosen the cover. Over the shoulder backbreaker, but Bret fights his way out and gets a sleeper. Diesel with a whip to the corner, but Bret blocks in the corner and gets a sleeper. Diesel breaks by sending Bret into the corner and then throws him into the ref. The buckle pad gets remove as the ref is back on his feet. Diesel ends up going head first into the exposed steel and Bret starts firing away with right hands. Diesel swings wildly but misses. Diesel nearly falls through the ropes at one point. Bret with a series of clotheslines and the third one drops Diesel and that gets Bret two. Side Russian Leg Sweep! Middle Rope Elbow gets two. Middle rope bulldog and Bret sets for the sharpshooter. Shawn is on the apron, so Bret decks him and Shawn nearly bounces into the front row because he has to make sure his lone bump is epic. They fight over a back slide, but Bret kicks off the corner to flip over and gets a small package for two. Diesel goes for Snake Eyes, but Bret slides out and runs into a BIG BOOT! Fantastic! Diesel gloats over Bret, who gets the Sharpshooter from his back. Diesel makes the ropes to force a break. Dropkick sends Diesel to the floor, but he lands on his feet. Diesel decks Anvil and runs him into the stairs. Shawn with a boot shot to the back of Bret as Randy questions why Anvil turned his back. Diesel drops an elbow back in the ring for a great two count. This crowd has been wonderful! Powerbomb hits, but Anvil runs in for the DQ at 22:52.
Winner: Diesel via DQ at 22:52
-Fun match and the best of Diesel’s career to that point (solo match at least). The finish would make sense later in the night, but did not favors in making Bret look good as he was a beaten man. ***1/2
-Anvil storms off and that leaves Bret alone with Shawn and Diesel, who start beating his brakes off. Gorilla notes Anvil saved the WWF Championship for Bret Hart. Now why would he do that and bail on Bret?
-Todd is backstage with Jerry Lawler, who faces Roddy Piper later tonight. Lawler has jokes and says this show was named after him.
King of the Ring Semi-Finals: Razor Ramon vs. IRS
-NWO EXPLODES! This is a rematch from The Rumble where Ramon defended his IC Title against IRS. Razor attacks on the floor, but IRS gets a knee to the gut back in the ring. IRS drops an elbow for a two count. You can see a line of people heading out of their seats as I guess this is the popcorn match. IRS takes a nice bump over the top and to the floor as he misses a charge. He pulls Ramon to the floor and Razor greets him with right hands and a trip to the stairs. More punching back in the ring. Irwin lands a back elbow and hooks a reverse chinlock and makes sure to put his feet on the bottom rope. That goes on for much longer than needed in what ends up being a five minute match. Finally, Razor starts firing off right hands and hits his own back elbow. Hard whip to the corner and he uses the tie to throw Irwin around the ring. IRS back with The Write Off clothesline and he makes sure to adjust his tie. IRS sets too early on a backdrop and Razor’s Edge finishes at 5:12.
Winner: Razor Ramona via pin at 5:12
-Weird match as Razor shook off the clothesline and hit The Edge for the pin. It didn’t really build between those two moves. Like everything else though the crowd was into it. *
-Bret is looking for Anvil in the back, but no dice.
King of The Ring Semi-Finals: Owen Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid
-Kid hobbles to the ring and Owen hits a baseball side before the bell and then a dive through the ropes. Owen off the top with a splash for two. Kid reverses a whip and Owen takes the Bret bump. Kid with a top rope moonsault for two. Cradle for two! Owen pulls the hair but Kid kips up and hits a sweet roundhouse kick for two. Owen back with an enziguiri for two. This is WWE Speed 30 years before that was a thing. Bridge into a suplex gets three for The Kid, but the ref saw Owen’s foot on the ropes as he made the final count. Owen rolls to the floor and Kid slings over with a flip dive. Back in Owen catches kid trying a kick and gets a German Suplex into a bridge for two. Powerslam gets two! Suplex is escaped and they trade roll-ups. This is awesome! Kid goes for a rana, but Owen POWERBOMBS THE CRAP OUT OF HIM. Sharpshooter and Kid taps at 3:37.
Winner: Owen Hart via pin at 3:37
-Just all action and the commentary team could barely keep up with what was happening. The crowd just went ooh and ahh for the entire match. Quite possibly the greatest sub 4 minute match you will ever see. ****
WWF Tag Team Championship: The Headshrinkers (c) (w/ Afa and Capt. Lou) vs. Yokozuna and Crush (w/ Mr. Fuji and James Cornette)
-Lot of Bloodline here! The teams stare each other down and then start brawling. The Shrinkers get run into each other, so they just punch each other repeatedly before turning back to Crush and Yokozuna. They try to head-butt The Shrinkers and that doesn’t work. Head-butts by The Shrinkers sends Yoko and Crush to the floor. Samu and Yoko start us proper and they push each other. Samu with chops and he goes for a slam, but who is he kidding? He blocks a charge with a roundhouse kick. A dropkick followed by a right hand sends Yoko to the floor. Fatu and Crush in next and Fatu sets too early on a backdrop. Crush plants him face first on the mat, but that does nothing. Fatu STICKS Crush with a piledriver and comes off the middle ropes with a head-butt for two. Fuji uses his flag to hit Fatu in the back and that lets Crush hit a clothesline. Now he gets a piledriver for a one count. Wild to kick out of a piledriver at one. Yoko in and he drops a leg which causes the crowd to gasp. Samu in for the save. Crush gets a two count and goes to a nerve hold. Boo! Yoko back in, but he misses a back splash in the corner. Both men down and the crowd was solidly behind The Shrinkers here. Hot tag to Samu and he catches Crush running in with a powerslam. Clothesline drops Yoko. Everyone in the ring as Crush and Yoko get sent into each other. Double super kick sends Yoko to the floor. Back in the ring Samu gets a slam and heads up, but Yoko knocks him off balance and he lands on his balls. Superplex from Crush though it was kind of a weak one. Crush drops a big leg and then decks Fatu off the apron. Yoko in behind the ref’s back and he drops another leg. Lex Luger wanders down as he has beef with Crush, who kept him from advancing in the King of The Ring Tournament. Samu gets a roll-up for two off the distraction. Crush sends Samu to the floor, but Fatu sneaks back in and hits a super kick for the pin at 9:33.
Winner and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: The Headshrinkers via pin at 9:33
-Basic tag match with a weird ending. The crowd was rolling with The Headshrinkers though which was interesting to see. **
-Crush tries to fight Luger and The Shrinkers, but that doesn’t go well.
King of The Ring Final: Razor Ramon vs. Owen Hart
-Lockup and Owen gets a hammerlock. Razor shoots him off and lands a right hand. Owen is rather annoyed and questions the ref. Razor grabs the arm, but Owen escapes and gets a slap to the face. They kind of botch the SOS Slam spot, so Razor just hits a regular slam. Owen with another slap and throws right hands. Owen goes for a dropkick, but Razor catches him and sling shots him into the post. That gets two and Razor goes to a side headlock. Owen counters to a head scissors. Razor floats over for a two count, but Owen bridges out and they fight over a back slide. Razor gets the back slide for two and then back to the side headlock. Owen shoves off and lands a spinning heel kick for two. Abdominal stretch and Owen makes sure to use the top rope. He isn’t hiding it well, so the ref catches him rather easily. Razor gets a hip-toss to escape. He catches Owen with a choke slam for two. Now we get the SOS Slam and that gets two. Owen slides out of a suplex and gets a Side Russian Leg Sweep thought it was kind of rough. Owen up, but Razor decks him and hits a belly-to-back suplex from the top. Razor’s Edge is countered as Owen backdrops him to the floor. Owen pulls the ref away and here’s The Anvil to check on Razor. Well, check on him before hitting a clothesline and running Razor into the post. Owen comes off the top with an elbow for the pin at 6:34.
Winner and King of The Ring: Owen Hart via pin at 6:34
-This never got going and they had some issues in places. Not sure if they were trying to sell the face they each had two earlier matches or what. **
-Owen yelling out “I did it,” made me smile. Owen and Anvil beat Razor down after the match as the crowd chants, “we want Bret.”
-Owen heads to the the throne where he gets crowned as The King of The Ring. He wants everyone to start giving him the respect of a king. He makes Todd bow to one knee as Anvil hands him his scepter, puts on his cape, and crowns Owen. Fun moment and Owen ran with this gimmick. He was just so proud! He dubs himself as The King of Hearts and that’s just so awesome!
-Recap of the Piper/Lawler feud and all I remember is the kid Lawler had do a Piper impression on The King’s Court. The kid did a heck of a job.
Roddy Piper vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler
-Kind of interesting as Gorilla hypes “this is the new generation,” and then we get Piper vs. Lawler in the Main Event of this show. I assume they didn’t want Bret losing by DQ or Owen becoming King to close the show, so here we are. Piper has the kid do did the impression of him, in his corner. Lawler gets to talk and insult the crowd and Piper before the match. Piper gets promo time as well and the kid gets to do another Piper impression as they talk about being out of bubble gum. It sounded cooler in the movie. Piper throws his kilt at Lawler and tosses him across the ring. He claps the ears and lands a right hook. Lawler bails up the aisle, but Piper runs him down and brings him back to the ring in a Full Nelson. He lets the kid land a slap and really, that should be a DQ as the ref looked right at it. Piper fires off rights and lefts to the body and then another round hook. Lawler begs off and tries to lay on the mat but Piper kicks him in the head. Lawler tries to boot Piper, he the legs gets caught and Piper fires off kicks to the quad. Atomic drop sends Lawler to the floor. We around the ring as Lawler chases the kid, but Piper cuts him off. Piper catches Lawler’s hand and runs it into the post. Lalwer has looked like a moron here as he continues to ignore Piper and run after the kid. They nearly fall over each other trying to fight on the floor. Should have been a double count-out at this point. Lawler stomps as Piper covers the kid like he was Kingston covering Mox. No weak explosion here though. Just a mess of a match. Lawler throws jabs as this has been all punching and kicking. Choke hold from Lawler followed by a fist drop for two. This match would likely be better if this was Memphis. Sleeper from Lawler and today they would get yelled at for working with their backs to the hard camera. Piper fades as some fans call Lawler a piece of garbage and a piece of shit. Can you imagine someone getting so much hate for trying to win a match against a legend with a sleeper? Piledriver and if this was Memphis we would be out of here. However, this is Baltimore and Piper is out at two. Savage keeps yelling for Roddy to do it for the kids in a Toronto Hospital and I don’t remember how that played into this one. Piper takes some right hands, but staggers to his feet and spits on Lawler. They start trading punches and Piper wins the exchange. He gets an eye poke and follows with a bulldog. Another one! A third one is blocked and the ref gets bumped. Lawler goes phantom object as he reaches into his trunks and decks Piper. He covers and puts his feet on the ropes and we get a slow count that is so slow the kid has to just stand there looking at Lawler’s feet and wait for the two count before pushing them off. Lawler goes after the kid and Piper gets a belly-to-baclk suplex for the pin at 12:18.
Winner: Roddy Piper via pin at 12:18
-Randy Savage was put behind a desk, but they let Piper and Lawler close a PPV? One of the weirdest decision to close a PPV and a bad match to boot. DUD
-Thanks for reading!
