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Right Move/Wrong Move 05.22.10: Mabel Wins the 1995 King of the Ring
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Most people that left comments were very complimentary and for that I thank you. As always, there were a few haters that would argue the sky is red if I said it was blue, but such is life. I will reiterate my disclaimer from a couple of weeks ago.
The one thing I will bring to everyone’s attention is this. I am the one that created the Right Move/Wrong Move segment and, more importantly, I am the one who decides which moment I’m going to write about each week. It’s not like Ashish or Csonka say, “Hey Davis, this week is Bam Bam/LT…go!” If there is a moment that I didn’t follow or don’t have a decent recollection of – guess what – I ain’t gonna write about it! I have over 20+ years of wrestling knowledge, histories, libraries and the resources that come with it. If you want to question my integrity, go right ahead. Let me tell you that 411 would not have hired me if I did not have an impressive background and knowledge of professional wrestling. Some have claimed my articles are too long, and admittedly, it is definitely not a “quick read”. Judging by the reaction I’ve received over the past month though, the majority of my readers seem to prefer columns that last longer than a “cup of coffee”. Anyone looking for a half-assed 5 paragraph cliché-fest (or anyone not looking to spend 10 minutes or so reading about past wrestling moments), you can click your browser’s back button now. Some weeks will be longer than others, as I’ll have more to say about certain moments, but if you’d rather get a condensed, canned version of these wrestling angles, there’s always WWE.com if you can find a piece on the moments I review. For the record, I’ve already said once that this column will definitely contain a small portion of fantasy booking in the “Reversed Decision” section, but I intentionally try to keep that fantasy booking to a minimum. Some people enjoy the “What If” scenarios, but I can understand those that do not and I keep that in mind. My article, as a whole, is about reviewing old wrestling moments – not solely fantasy booking. But if you think my column is a total fantasy segment, or a DVD review, or a Pay Per View recap for that matter, that’s fine with me. Call it whatever you want. As long as you continue to read my column, I must be doing something right! Thanks again to all of my supporters!
One thing I neglected to mention last week, but feel should be brought up is the reason Bret was asked to leave the WWF. The generally accepted reason is that Vince was in financial peril and Bret had just signed a huge contract with the WWF tying Vince down for not only millions of dollars, but millions of dollars for the next two decades. Vince had later added the excuse that Bret was “breaking down physically” and no longer had the value that he once possessed as another reason he chose to breach their contract. The skeptics would say that after the June 9 locker room fight between Bret and Shawn Michaels, Vince made the decision shortly after to get rid of Bret Hart. In his book, Shawn admits to Vince implying to him that Bret would probably not see the end of his contract and Shawn cites financial reasons for Vince’s decision. Shawn had walked out of the WWF and “quit” after the altercation and did not return for several months. About a month after his return, Vince broke the news to Bret that he would no longer be able to pay him their agreed upon amount. Some believe it was during Shawn’s absence that Shawn had lobbied for Bret’s departure, even giving Vince an ultimatum. Vince had decided to go with Shawn as “the man” over Bret since he thought Shawn had more value and had more to offer the company. The fact that Bret Hart won the title at SummerSlam lends a little more to the side of Vince’s story, but it certainly could have been part of the plan to make it less obvious. Regardless of whom you believe, the fact is that Bret Hart left SummerSlam and, more importantly, entered Survivor Series as the WWF Champion. Defeating The Undertaker for the title was the right way to go whether the true reason for Bret’s departure was financially driven or not.
Note: Not every Right Move/Wrong Move will focus on a single wrestling match. In the past, I’ve reviewed individual matches and broke the analysis down by each participant involved. In the case that I have something other than a single match to examine, the typical format will be adjusted. For this week’s article, I will still provide a review of the major participant’s career (in this case, Mabel), but since there were many other “participants” in the King of the Ring tournament, I will focus on the mid to upper-mid card talents who might have been in-line for the crown had it not gone to Mabel.
Warning: Given the unconventional nature of this week’s wrestling moment, the article is peppered with “What If” scenarios and fantasy booking discussions throughout. There are still tons of facts and historical information in the article, but if you haven’t liked my previous “Reversed Decision” segments, you may as well turn back now…
For those of you still with me, I thank you and hope you enjoy this week’s review of…
Mabel wins the 1995 King of the Ring
1995 was a year like no other in the World Wrestling Federation. Many of the stars that made the WWF a popular piece of pop culture were no longer under the employ of Vince McMahon. The New Generation was in full swing and Vince was constantly attempting to create new stars; some attempts were successful, others were not. Guys like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon and Diesel were obvious successes, while wrestlers like The Goon, Who, Mantaur and Techno Team 2000 were not. Many of the stars portrayed over-the-top, hokey gimmicks at the time and it seemed that the company was full of wrestlers that were either hit-or-miss, with many of them falling under the “miss” category. Today we take a look at one of the biggest superstars of 1995 and arguably the highlight of his career…
By 1995, the King of the Ring Pay Per View had become a staple in the WWF television programming and fans had looked forward to the June PPV to see which WWF superstar would be elevated to the next level. The previous two winners, Bret Hart and Owen Hart, had used the King of the Ring to catapult them to the main event scene. In Bret’s case, he had already won the WWF Championship prior to winning the crown, but had been supplanted at the top of the card by Hulk Hogan and Yokozuna. The King of the Ring title was a way to keep him in the forefront of fans’ minds and get him back to the main event. Not that he had fallen to the mid-card or anything, but throughout the 1993 KOTR broadcast, the announce team of JR, Heenan and Savage make constant mention to the winner of the tournament being the #1 contender to the WWF title. That didn’t actually happen since, behind the scenes, Hogan refused to put over Bret and left the company after losing to Yokozuna at the very same event Bret won the crown. And the new Champion, Yokozuna, was thrown into a program with Lex Luger, but the rumored plan was Bret Hart vs. Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam ’93 with Hogan as Champion. In mid-1994, Owen Hart’s name had not yet been on the grand marquis, and the King Of the Ring gave him that boost that he needed to get there. If history was any indicator, the winner of the 1995 King of the Ring was in for a big push. So that begs the question, “Who would benefit most from being the next King of the Ring?”
The participants for the tournament had been determined by “qualifying matches” that took place on the WWF television programming like WWF Superstars, Action Zone and Monday Night Raw. The first qualifying match had taken place at the very first In Your House which saw the eventual winner, Mabel, defeat Adam Bomb. By the time the event had come to the Spectrum in Philadelphia, all but one participant was set. Mabel, The Undertaker, Kama, Shawn Michaels, The Roadie, Bob Holly and Yokozuna were all set to compete in the single-elimination tournament. Other wrestlers had participated in qualifying matches but lost, most notably, Lex Luger and Jeff Jarrett. The only spot left in the bracket would be determined 30 minutes prior to the event when Savio Vega would face I.R.S. This match came to be after Razor Ramon, who had previously qualified for the tournament by defeating Jacob Blu, suffered a legitimate rib injury at a house show just a couple of weeks before the King of the Ring and would not be able to compete.
Around this time in the WWF, there weren’t many main event heels for the Champion, Diesel, to feud with. Another occurrence of this was discussed in last week’s Right Move/Wrong Move article, when the Undertaker faced a similar problem during his run as Champion in 1997. Diesel had previously feuded with Shawn Michaels who had just turned babyface, screwing up future plans. Shawn was the top heel of the company in early 1995, and turning babyface left a void at the top of the card which was filled by Sid. By June, Diesel had already gone through several months of matches with Sid, one taking place at the inaugural In Your House PPV, and was set to continue the feud in a tag match at the King of the Ring. Aside from Shawn and then Sid, Bam Bam Bigelow was another heel that had reached the main event due to his feud with NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, culminating in a match at WrestleMania XI. Soon after this match, however, Bam Bam also turned face and sided with Big Daddy Cool, Diesel. So going into the ’95 King of the Ring, the WWF was in desperate need of some top flight “bad guys” to feed to Diesel for the foreseeable future.
PARTICIPANT #1
Let’s take a look at the 1995 King of the Ring winner…
Mabel joined the WWF in late ’93 as part of a tag team called Men On a Mission, M.O.M. for short. He was a 6’6″, 500 lb monster of a man that was initially a babyface upon his arrival. He partnered with Mo, a much shorter individual, who was also quite stocky. They were both managed by Oscar and came to the WWF as street-dwelling babyface rappers. Together, they captured the WWF Tag Team Championships in mid-’94 by defeating the Quebecers, but lost the titles back to Jacques and Pierre only days later. Mabel started to be used in singles competition during the summer of ’94, but was always placed at the bottom of the card and very rarely did he come out victorious. Although not considered a glorified jobber, Mabel wasn’t as successful as a 6’6″, 500 pounder probably should have been. It was until the weekend before WrestleMania XI that he started to climb the card and it took a change of allegiances to facilitate the climb.
Mabel and Mo turned heel when they turned on their manager, Oscar, following a post-match attack on then-Tag Team Champions, the Smoking Gunns. Shortly after this turn, Mabel was once again used in singles competition and started on a winning streak by defeating Adam Bomb at May’s In Your House earning a spot in the annual June tournament.
At the King of the Ring, Mabel scored a pinfall victory over The Undertaker in the first round, becoming only the second person in WWF history to do so (on television). Mabel received a bye in the next round, thanks to the Kama/Shawn Michaels draw, and defeated Savio Vega in the finals. During the match with Vega, chants of E-C-W broke out amongst the Philadelphia crowd due to their displeasure with the final round matchup. Immediately following his victory, Mabel proceeded to the stage by the entrance curtain to receive his coronation ceremony. The Philadelphia crowd just crapped all over this. They littered the coronation area with garbage and debris, forcing the newly named King Mabel to have to dodge and block incoming flying objects. Many of the fans in attendance had expected one of the WWF’s newest babyfaces, Shawn Michaels, to be crowned King and as my collegue, Ronny Sarnecky, discussed in his great piece on HBK found here. In a tournament that involved The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Yokozuna, for Mabel to be crowned King was quite an unpleasant surprise.
Following his King of the Ring victory, King Mabel continued to wrestle in singles action and his next big moment came at the July In Your House PPV. The main event was a Lumberjack match between WWF Champion, Diesel, and Sid, where Mabel was one of the heel lumberjacks. Diesel concluded his feud with Sid after a boot to the face allowed Diesel to get the 1-2-3, but not before Mabel had introduced himself to Big Daddy Cool. During the match with Sid, Mabel pulled Diesel outside the ring and splashed Diesel into the ring post before slamming him onto the floor and legdropping him. This set up their match at SummerSlam ’95 where Diesel would defend his WWF Championship against the 1995 King of the Ring.
The WWF continued to book King Mabel’s dominance over the competition leading upto the biggest event of the summer. The height of which may have taken place at Madison Square Garden on August 12 where in the main event, Men On a Mission battled both singles Champions, Diesel and Shawn Michaels. After the match, the heels left both Champions laying which prompted run-ins from Davey Boy Smith and former Intercontinental Champion, Razor Ramon, both of whom ended up unconscious. The last major development before their Championship match took place on the Monday Night Raw 6 days before SummerSlam. Diesel was in need of a tag team partner when Davey Boy Smith, the British Bulldog, offered his services to help take on Men On a Mission. During the match, Davey Boy betrayed the WWF Champion by clotheslining him from behind, allowing Mabel to get the pinfall on Diesel. Ater the match, the Bulldog would deliver his running powerslam fininsher to Diesel to continue the beatdown. As part of King Mabel’s “Royal Plan”, he had secured the allegiances of the Bulldog, who was one-half of the Allied Powers tag team along with Lex Luger. With Davey Boy turning heel, the fans were anxious to see where his tag team partner’s loyalty would lie.
In what would prove to be King Mabel’s only main event match, he competed in a losing effort to Diesel. Having to follow Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon in a ladder match would have been difficult for anyone, but for the two super-heavyweights it was a death knell. The crowd was dead and the match came off pretty awful. The only bright spot was the run-in by Lex Luger as the crowd was unsure of whom he would favor. It turned out that this would be Luger’s last appearance in the WWF as he appeared on the rival WCW’s premiere episode of Monday Nitro eight days after SummerSlam. Luger had sided with Diesel at SummerSlam, but it is still unknown just how this angle would have played out down the road. Mabel did the job after Luger cleared Mo from ringside and Diesel delivered a clothesline from the top rope.
Although this would be his only true main event match, King Mabel was still featured prominently on WWF programming throughout the Fall of ’95. He would next be involved with The Undertaker, since he had previously stolen a pinfall victory over him at the King of the Ring. An angle was shot where Mabel, along with Yokozuna, double-teamed the Undertaker, giving him numerous legdrops en route to “crushing his face”. In reality, the Phenom had injured his eye socket, was given several weeks off to heal and even upon his return needed to wear a protective mask to shield his eyes. The Undertaker returned at December’s In Your House, later named Season’s Beatings, and defeated King Mabel in a Casket Match, thus avenging his loss at the King of the Ring six months prior. This would prove to be Mabel’s last big feud during his first WWF run.
The 1996 Royal Rumble was Mabel’s last PPV appearance in the WWF for several years as he was given his release shortly after the January Pay Per View. By this point, his gimmick had pretty much run its course and he was no longer a viable threat to the WWF Championship, nor thought of as a main event level star. Considering he started as a happy-go-lucky rapper with two meatball sidekicks in a tag team going nowhere, it’s safe to say Mabel overachieved in his first run with Titan Sports.
Despite playing a powerful heel in the USWA prior to joining the WWF, Mabel came into the Federation as a good guy. At first, it looked like his move to New York and the WWF was going to be a massive failure, but he was persistent, patient and, most importantly, BIG enough to eventually attract Vince’s attention. Still, the fact remains that he was out of the WWF less than a year after getting his big push. Within that year though, Mabel main evented the second biggest show of the year, earned a pinfall victory over The Undertaker, and was crowned King of the Ring during a time in which that crown was very prestigious.
Now let’s go back to June of ’95, when the King of the Ring event helped propel Mabel to the main event scene. Could this event have been better used to boost another talent instead of Mabel? For the readers that were not fans of the WWF/WWE around this time, let me clarify one major misconception about the King of the Ring tournament. The crown was not meant for bottom card talent to get to the mid card, and it wasn’t meant for mid card talent to get to the upper-mid card. In 1995, the King of the Ring was used to get guys already on the mid to upper-mid card to the main event almost instantly. In the later KOTR tourneys, it was used on different stars at different levels, always with the intention to enhance their status, but not necessarily to the tip-top and the winners were given a little more patience (i.e. Hunter, Shamrock, Billy Gunn, Edge come to mind). Some of the later Kings would make it to the main event scene eventually, but not by that year’s SummerSlam and not as a direct result of becoming the King of the Ring. Bret was supposed to main event SummerSlam ’93, Owen main evented SummerSlam ’94, Mable the same in ’95, Austin took a little longer in ’96 but not much; by the beginning of ’97 Austin was a main eventer. Helmsley was elevated by the tournament victory, but wouldn’t reach the main event scene ‘til ’99. Shamrock came close but if he was ever a main event star, it was more before June of ’98 rather than after. Billy Gunn and Edge failed to reach the main event scene as a direct result of their royal status (Edge would reach the top of the card but not until years after his KOTR win). Angle and Brock both won the tournament and main evented their respective SummerSlams. The point here is that as the years went on, the King of the Ring was still used to help talents to the next level, but it was no longer the sure-fire rocket to the top it had been from ’93 through ‘95 with two exceptions.
OTHER PARTICIPANTS
Now let’s take a look, individually and in no particular order, at the mid and upper-mid card talents of ’95 that might have been considered for the King of the Ring crown:
Although Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Yokozuna were very much in the thick of the WWF picture in 1995, I excluded them from the following list since they were already bona-fide main eventers. Though an argument could be made that their careers would have been furthered by the King of the Ring, by this point in 1995 all three of these men were former WWF Champions and had appeared in over 15 main events between the three of them. Simply put, they didn’t need the King of the Ring. This list will focus on individuals who were not former-WWF Champions:
Shawn Michaels – At this point in 1995, Shawn had not yet reached “Hitman” or “Taker” status and seemed primed for a King of the Ring win. He was well on his way to the top and nearly a year later won his first WWF Championship, but in June of 1995 he had just started his singles run as a babyface. Just a few months earlier, Shawn had begun a feud with Diesel that forced plans to be changed when Shawn turned babyface. Depending on who you believe, Shawn either turned himself face on purpose the way he worked during his WrestleMania XI match, or was “accidentally” turned when Vince McMahon insisted that he and Diesel work a spot where Diesel would kick out of Shawn’s Superkick. Shawn had already started to amass an undercurrent of fans based on his in-ring ability and because he was such a good heel, that he had become “cool”. He was so bad that people began to like him. Conversely, Diesel went from being this bad-ass biker powerhouse to a baby-kissing, joke-telling smiley good guy, seemingly overnight. And so, according to Shawn, they worked the spot Vince wanted, against both of their wishes, and as Shawn claims to have predicted, the crowd booed when Diesel kicked out. They had now wanted the bad guy, Shawn Michaels, to win. This caused their feud to be abruptly stopped and switched from Diesel vs. Shawn to Diesel vs. Sid. So the next night on Raw, Sid powerbombs Shawn 3 times putting him on the shelf for several weeks. He returned shortly after the inaugural In Your House and his first PPV appearance back was to be the King of the Ring in Philadelphia, where he was clearly the favorite to take the crown. So far in 1995, Shawn had won the Royal Rumble as a heel, main evented WrestleMania in a losing effort, turned babyface after years of brilliant work as a heel and was taken off TV to increase his anticipated return. What better way to further his star and pop the fans by crowning him King? Say what you will about his previous accomplishments in ’95, but none of them came as a babyface and as any wrestling fan knows, once you go from the dark side to the light (or visa-versa) you need to prove yourself. You can’t live off old accomplishments forever, and if you’ve recently switched allegiances, you have to show the fans you can do it both ways. Or you could fall off the radar fast. Shawn obviously had the talent to main event regardless of whether he won the King of the Ring or not, because that’s exactly what happened. But this would have done so much more for the King of the Ring title in the long run than what Mabel brought to the crown. With Shawn as a former winner, the King of the Ring would have become even more prestigious than what it became.
Razor Ramon – This one’s a bit tricky, because it involves a legitimate injury. Normally, I won’t spend too much time on a situation that involves injury since there is no way to plan for it and no way to fix it. So although I will take a look at Razor Ramon and his status in mid-’95, I’ll try and keep it brief. Razor was a two-time IC Champion and seemed poised to make “the leap”. In the previous year, he had feuded with Shawn Michaels and Diesel almost exclusively for the IC strap. Shawn and Diesel had been promoted to main event the biggest show of the year, and Razor had beaten both of them all over the country for most of 1994. Kayfabe, he had as good a reason as anyone to fight for the WWF Championship and probably deserved it more than anybody else. As entertaining as his matches with Shawn and Diesel were for the IC belt, you have to imagine they would have been that much better with the big belt on the line. More on that later. He had participated in each of the last two tournaments against the eventual winners – Bret Hart and Owen Hart. He even made it all the way to the finals in ’94 before Jim Neidhart assured Owen’s victory by attacking Ramon on the outside. Razor was main eventing on a lot of house shows in 1995, mostly B towns, but was never fully utilized to his full main event potential. He went over to WCW in 1996 and changed the face of wrestling. For a guy that made such an impact to never truly compete in the WWF title picture, save for one match early in his stint, is a big mistake. Vince missed the boat on this one.
Kama – A guy whose name will probably raise some eyebrows, but believe it or not, The Supreme Fighting Machine was featured pretty prominently on WWF television since Charles Wright adopted this gimmick. Wright had previously been used as Papa Shango and was thrust on the main event scene in ‘92, so it was obvious that Vince McMahon saw something that he liked in Wright and was prepared to give him a push. Once he was brought in as Kama in the winter of ‘95, he amassed an undefeated streak that wasn’t ended on television until SummerSlam in a Casket Match against The Undertaker. At the King of the Ring he wrestled Shawn Michaels to a first round, 15 minute time-limit draw that at the time didn’t seem so crazy, but now is looked at as a joke. Shawn Michaels couldn’t defeat Kama? And couldn’t do it in less than 15 minutes? But that was how Kama was being used in 1995 – as a threat to the upper mid-card – and it was no coincidence that prior to and following KOTR he was involved in a high profile feud with The Undertaker. He had stolen The Undertaker’s urn at WrestleMania XI, melted it down so he could wear it as a chain, and interfered in the Undertaker’s first round tournament match, causing him to lose to Mabel. The tournament victory for Kama could have ended the same way Mabel’s run did, but you never know. Vince sure had a liking for Wright, as he would go on to play two or three different gimmicks before his career was over with the WWF/WWE. It was clear that Vince had patience with the man; patience that may have given Wright a longer time to shine than what Mabel was given. That’s not to say that Mabel’s run was wrongly cut short, but the Kama gimmick would have probably had a longer stay in the upper mid-card and maybe even the main event scene assuming the crown helped him get there. Some wrestlers don’t find their stride at the time the company pushes them, but they might find it eventually. Some guys are lucky enough to still be in the company when they hit it and others are not, having been shown the door since they weren’t quick enough. Kama might have benefited from a sustained run with this gimmick, but after the SummerSlam Casket Match, he was pretty much done. Wright worked the ’96 Royal Rumble and actually made it to the final four, but this was his last PPV appearance before being somewhat repackaged as Kama Mustafa, member of the Nation of Domination, in the summer of 1997.
Bam Bam Bigelow – Here was a guy who had been around for a while and the fans had known his name, dating back to the mid 80s when Hogan was on top. He returned to the WWF in ’93 and was the runner-up in the first KOTR PPV, losing to Bret Hart in the finals. Bam Bam makes this list despite having already main evented two of the “Big 5” PPVs of 1995. He wrestled Lawrence Taylor in the closeout match of WrestleMania XI to end a feud that began at the Royal Rumble, and turned face shortly after his loss to LT. The Million Dollar Man’s Corporation was a stable of wrestlers under the management of Ted DiBiase and Bam Bam Bigelow was one of its main members since it formed in the summer of ’94. Having “embarrassed” the Corporation one time too many, Bam Bam Biglow was fired by DiBiase moments after losing to Diesel in a WWF Championship match. Although it had been obvious that Bigelow would be fired by DiBiase, instead he claimed to have “quit”, thus turning babyface. He was then paired with Diesel at the King of the Ring PPV to battle his former tag team partner, Tatanka, and the new “crown jewel” of the Million Dollar Corporation, Sid. Part of the change in plans due to Shawn Michaels’ babyface turn involved an angle that claimed Sid was under DiBiase’s influence since he returned to the WWF and that Ted DiBiase was equally responsible for Shawn being on the shelf. The point of all this is that Bam Bam was receiving a decent push in 1995 and although he had been at the top of the card as a heel, he was almost always on the losing end. Becoming King of the Ring would have greatly improved his success and the timing would have worked out nicely with his babyface turn. With Shawn on the shelf, Bam Bam was already benefitting from more TV time and the rub of being new friends (on-screen) with WWF Champion Diesel. Winning the King of the Ring would have been very believable for the WWF’s newest babyface. Had he entered the King of the Ring tournament and been successful, then his spot at the top might have been solidified instead of temporary. Unfortunately for Bam Bam, after winning the tag team main event at the King of the Ring, he fell back down the card and was last seen jobbing to Vince’s newest creation, Goldust, at the 1995 Survivor Series.
Davey Boy Smith – Davey Boy Smith had a very successful career in the WWF and wrestled in his fair share of main event matches, most notably against Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Diesel. At the beginning of ’95, Davey had received a bit of a push that stemmed from his involvement in the Bret Hart/Owen Hart/Bob Backlund storyline. The push was furthered when it looked like he would be the winner of the 1995 Royal Rumble before being tossed out by Michaels, after his famous one-foot-elimination-saving performance. By the time June came around, he had formed a tag team with Lex Luger known as the Allied Powers. While the team had a decent run, they never were able to capture the Tag Team titles. The King of the Ring took place right in the middle of the Powers’ tag team run. Had the WWF planned differently, Davey Boy would have made a nice addition to the King of the Ring tournament and could have done well as the winner. The timing of his heel turn could have worked beautifully with a tournament victory and might have even propelled him to the WWF Championship. Winning the June tournament would have given him even more momentum after coming back into singles competition from the tag ranks, thus increasing his chances of success.
Also, as a side note, I’ve always enjoyed when certain wrestlers would adopt the “King” moniker as part of their gimmick whether from winning the King of the Ring tournament or defeating the tournament’s winner (Harley Race, Randy Savage, Mabel, Booker T to name a few). I think Davey Boy could have used this gimmick to freshen up his own character. Not that the Bulldog never changed his look throughout the years, actually its quite the contrary. But I just think Davey could have worked the whole royalty, English, blueblood stereotype wonderfully, especially as a heel, but you can call me crazy if you want. More on this in the “Reversed Decision”.
Lex Luger – I won’t spend too much time on Luger since I covered a good portion of his WWF career in Right Move/Wrong Move #2
Jeff Jarrett – Jarrett was still Intercontinental Champion by the time KOTR came and at this time in the WWF, the IC strap was an extremely high honor. At one point in time, it was seen as the “Workhorse belt”, meaning it was put on the guy who was thought to be the best in-ring worker of the time (i.e Savage, Perfect, Bret, Shawn). Although not always, it was mostly given to athletes that had earned the right, usually by their performance and ability to “get over”, to wear a belt as a test to see if they were ready for the next step. That next step being the main event or the WWF Championship scene. If they succeeded as IC Champion like Savage, Warrior, Bret, Diesel, and Shawn did, they would move onto the WWF Championship picture after dropping the IC strap. In some cases, the wrestler didn’t have as good a run with the IC belt as anticipated, or was given it merely for transitional purposes, and would not get that main event push. Jarrett was an OK Intercontinental Champion. He certainly wasn’t a terrible Champ, but he did have a tough act to follow. The last two years in the WWF saw the belt go from Shawn to Razor to Diesel to Razor (with a brief Marty Jannetty run thrown in the middle), so Jarrett would need to be exceptionally good to follow that. He was good, but not great. He had a lot of talent in the ring and was decent on the mic, but never did reach that top level. The 1995 King of the Ring might have helped propel him there, but he was already Intercontinental Champion and that was an opportunity all its own. Plus, he had already feuded with Diesel all across the country right after Diesel’s title win. To put him back at the top for a run with the same Champion would have been a poor business decision. Jarrett might have been one of those “eventual main event” success stories had he captured the crown, but in 1995 the WWF needed their new King to produce immediate results and Jarrett just wasn’t ready. He dropped the strap a month later to Shawn and was off TV for the rest of the year. He left the WWF immediately after dropping the Intercontinental belt and the fans never got to see whether he would rise to that next level like several other former IC Champs. Instead he was gone, and made a brief return in the Winter of ’95 before leaving again shortly after. He never did reach it to the main event while in the WWF, but was a multi-time Intercontinental Champion and Tag Team Champion.
If you look at these names as a group (Michaels, Razor, Jarrett, Luger, Bulldog, Bigelow, Kama) only one name sticks out as not having any long-term success in wrestling and that’s the Kama character. Had the King of the Ring been awarded to any one of these competitors, they would almost certainly have had more success with it than what Mabel ended up with.
REVERSED DECISION
