wrestling / Columns
Right Move/Wrong Move 06.25.2010: Ahmed Johnson Defeats Goldust at King of the Ring 1996
RIGHT MOVE/WRONG MOVE
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I just want to answer some of the questions/comments I’ve read recently for those of you that took the time to post them. I have received several requests for future Right Move/Wrong Move segments, and rest assured I have listened to all of them and will do my best to bring them to you as quickly as I can. I try to focus mostly on the WWF/WWE promotion since this was the most popular brand of professional wrestling over the past thirty years and is the major one that I followed. This isn’t to say I didn’t follow WCW, ECW, TNA or any other promotions, quite the contrary, but my knowledge and background as a fan is rooted in the WWE. As I have always stated, I will not write about a moment that I did not follow live as a fan, because, in my personal opinion, to do that would be a disservice to my readers. While I will admit there are times I did not follow the other promotions as closely as I did the WWE, I was born and raised in the Northeast and the WWF is what we had. I know that as a reader myself, I don’t want some 19 year old writing about why WrestleMania IV sucked and I wouldn’t do that in my column. In other words, while I certainly have a vast knowledge and background on the “other” promotions, I plan to cover the WWF/WWE moments first since those are the ones I took the most interest in and, therefore, have the most to write about. As the months go by, I would imagine that I will discuss moments from Jim Crocket Promotions, ECW, TNA, etc. once I felt that I have exhausted all of the moments from the former Titan Sports. But I would be remiss if I didn’t admit that there are many moments, specifically from WCW, where there seemed to be no logic to their decision-making and had many angles started and dropped for no reason at all. How in the world could I try and make sense of some of these moments when the writers and bookers themselves admittedly didn’t know where they were going? It could be a can of worms that I don’t want to open up. Time will tell. I know many of you loved WCW and rightfully so and while it definitely was the hottest promotion from 1994 through 1997, I feel that the WWF has more moments that could be debated to keep me busy for quite a while. You don’t have to agree with me, but I have been asked about covering other organizations and wanted to address it. So now you know where I stand. Now onto this week’s moment…
Ahmed Johnson defeats Goldust for the Intercontinental Championship at the 1996 King of the Ring.
This match took place at the 1996 King of the Ring and was a clash of two WWF superstars both in the middle of big pushes. Goldust had been the Intercontinental title holder for the better part of the year, while Ahmed Johnson had just come off a seven month undefeated streak since his arrival in November of ’95. The two were pitted to square off against each other with the gold on the line at the annual June PPV. By the time the night was over, Ahmed Johnson had become the first ever African-American Intercontinental Champion.
PARTICIPANT #1
First, we’ll look at the first African-American Intercontinental Champion…
Ahmed Johnson burst on the scene in November of 1995 making his television debut at the Survivor Series in Washington D.C. He was part of the heavily hyped Wild Card Match which was a normal Survivor Series elimination style 8-man tag, but with a twist. In 1995, the WWF was still very old-school in its approach to fans and 95% of the matches featured the white-meat babyface vs. the villainous heel formula. There weren’t very many matches that saw good guys vs. good guys or bad guys vs. bad guys. The twist in the Wild Card Match was that each team had both good guys and bad guys fighting on the same side. Whereas in most Survivor Series matches, you had a team of four or five faces vs. a team of four or five heels; for the first time in the Survivor Series history, that was not going to be the case in this match. So Ahmed Johnson teamed with fellow-babyface, Shawn Michaels as well as two heels, Sycho Sid and the British Bulldog. The opposing team consisted of mostly heels: Yokozuna, Owen Hart and Dean Douglas, along with sole-good guy, and reigning Intercontinental Champion, Razor Ramon. Considering the status of the other participants in the match, Ahmed Johnson was being brought in at a very high part of the card. The Wild Card match ended when Ahmed bodyslammed the 600 lb. plus Yokozuna and, with the help of Shawn Michaels fighting off a betraying British Bulldog, scored the 1-2-3. He immediately was seen as a major player, getting the rub from Shawn Michaels who was one of the company’s top babyfaces at the time, and for his ability to slam the mammoth Yokozuna. His WWF career was off and running.
Throughout the next couple of months Ahmed wrestled Buddy Landell, Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith and Yokozuna all across the country on house shows and a couple of Pay Per Views. He had always gone over and had put together a nice little undefeated streak before setting his sights on more important things, like some WWF gold. He participated in a King of the Ring qualifying match on a June episode of Monday Night Raw, in which he suffered his first televised loss to Vader. Ahmed had Vader covered and it looked like he would get the victory, until Owen Hart, who had been guest commentating at ringside, came off the top rope and onto the back of Johnson’s head with his “protective” cast. This allowed Vader to steal the win, ended Ahmed’s undefeated streak, furthered Vader’s push and, in kayfabe, knocked Ahmed unconscious. He was out cold for several minutes which led to EMTs bringing out the stretcher and assisting the big man to the back where he was “revived” by Goldust. In a highly controversial scene, Goldust had given Ahmed Johnson mouth-to-mouth resuscitation despite it not being warranted or necessary. Upon awakening, Ahmed had noticed the gold makeup on his mouth and immediately went on the warpath. Destroying everything in his sight, Ahmed tore threw the backstage area looking for The Bizarre One, but was unsuccessful in his search. Now that Johnson had been eliminated from the King of the Ring tournament, this opened up an opportunity for him to challenge for the Intercontinental Championship. Ahmed would get his chance for revenge on the controversial Champion in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the King of the Ring.
Ahmed came into the match as the favorite to win the title due to the impressive push he had been receiving. Goldust was also receiving a nice push (he was the Intercontinental Champion afterall), but he had not had many impressive, successful title defenses in several weeks and seemed vulnerable. In reality, he was nursing some injuries and needed the time to heal. Ahmed cashed in on his opportunity after delivering his finishing maneuver, the Pearl River Plunge, on Goldust and earned a clean pinfall victory in the middle of the ring. This was supposed to be the beginning of a successful run as Intercontinental Champion for the man from Mississippi, but as we would soon find out, it only turned out to be a false start.
The title match with Goldust was not the last time we would see Ahmed on this evening. Later on at the conclusion of the main event between WWF Champion Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog, Michaels was the recipient of a group beatdown thanks to Camp Cornette. Ahmed made the run-in and came to
The International Incident was Ahmed’s first appearance in the main event and was another step on the way to superstardom. Although the Warrior was replaced by a returning, and now babyface Sycho Sid, Johnson still got the rub by once again partnering with WWF Champion Shawn Michaels. Unfortunately for Ahmed, their team lost the match, but Shawn was the one that took the fall after Vader delivered his Vader Bomb. Ahmed was next set to feud with the WWF’s newest superstar, Ron Simmons, aka Farooq Asad.
Upon his arrival in the World Wrestling Federation, Ron Simmons was given the gimmick of a gladiator and Sunny as his manager/valet. Sporting an atrocious blue Trojan helmet and matching gladiator ring attire, Asad set his sights immediately on the Intercontinental Champion and the plan was for the two to meet at SummerSlam with the gold on the line. This never happened though because shortly after Asad’s debut, Ahmed was diagnosed with legitimate kidney failure that would keep him sidelined for over four months. In addition to the SummerSlam match with Asad being thrown out, Ahmed also lost out on a chance to challenge for the WWF Championship. Back in 1996, the WWF would tape multiple episodes of Monday Night Raw on a single night, and spread the airings out over the course of a month. During one of these multiple-show tapings in August, Ahmed Johnson competed in a battle royal that was announced as being for the #1 contender for the WWF Championship, and Ahmed won it. This taping obviously occurred before Ahmed had been fully diagnosed with kidney problems and by the time the episode aired on television, he had already been sidelined because of the injury. The battle royal still aired, but voiceover work was done to explain how Ahmed was competing against doctors’ orders. The WWF then began replaying a clip from several weeks earlier that saw Asad attack Ahmed during a tag match and gave him a hard kick in the kidney area. This was the kayfabed reason for Ahmed’s injury; it was suffered at the hands of Farooq Asad. Unfortunately, this would not be the first time injuries derailed Ahmed Johnson’s career.
He returned at the 1997 Royal Rumble and resumed his feud with Simmons, now known simply as Farooq, who had a new gimmick. No longer was he the goofy looking client of Sunny, but rather a hard-nosed, gang leader of the Nation of Domination. Ahmed feuded off and on with the N.O.D. for over an entire year, before ultimately leaving the company in early 1998. Ahmed was scheduled to wrestle The Undertaker at In Your House: Canadian Stampede in July of 1997, but was once again sidelined due to injuries. This was the ultimate nail in his coffin (pun not intended), as he could no longer be counted on to remain healthy.
He was once a promising powerhouse that Vince McMahon was very fond of. He was pushed extremely hard by McMahon and was a sure main eventer-to-be if he had been able to stay injury-free. Since he was unable to remain healthy, he was lost in the mid-card by the time he had left the WWF.
PARTICIPANT #2
Now let’s look at one of the most controversial superstars in WWE history…
Goldust burst onto the scene in the fall of 1995 with one of the most anticipated debuts of the year. In a year that saw the debut of Hunter Hearst Helsmley, Ahmed Johnson, The Ringmaster (Steve Austin) and others, Goldust was the superstar that received the most hype upon his entrance in the WWF. Prior to his official debut at In Your House in October, vignettes were shown on television programming that had the Bizarre One sporting a long, platinum-blonde wig talking in movie quotes all the while appearing before a Hollywood backdrop. While not on the wavelength of the Razor Ramon or Mr. Perfect vignettes, the short videos did a good job in showing the audience just how different Goldust was when compared to the other wrestlers at the time.
As stated earlier, he made his debut in October of 1995 and defeated Marty Jannetty after a lengthy, movie-scene type entrance that caught the attention of the Winnipeg audience. He then moved on to wrestle and defeat Bam Bam Bigelow at the 1995 Survivor Series in what would prove to be Bam Bam’s last PPV appearance with the WWF. By the time 1996 came, Goldust had introduced himself, in a very edgy fashion, to the Intercontinental Champion, Razor Ramon. At the Raw Bowl in January, Razor was competing when Goldust’s “usher” presented the Bad Guy with a dozen roses. Over the next few weeks, this same usher would shower the Champ with even more gifts, most notably a crude picture of Goldust. It was obvious that the WWF decided to go down a road they had never traveled before by having an angle that involved a homosexual wrestler. This was during a time that had pig farmers, clowns, plumbers, trashmen, hockey players and other over-the-top gimmicky wrestlers competing in the Federation. Goldust was a lot more serious of a gimmick than that of, say, an aggressive dentist with terrible hygiene. So for Vince McMahon to take that direction with his newest acquisition was a very unique and risky move to say the least.
The 1996 Royal Rumble saw Goldust challenge Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship. It also marked the debut of Marlena, the mysterious “director” and real-life wife of Dustin Runnels. The match concluded when Razor’s newest rival and the WWF’s newest heel, the 1-2-3 Kid, delivered a spinning heel kick off the top rope onto the Bad Guy which allowed Goldust to score the pinfall victory. The man from Hollywood now was in possession of another piece of gold, the Intercontinental Championship. Following the match, Goldust celebrated on the outside with this unnamed woman and even shared a tongue kiss which raised even more questions about the motivations of Goldust.
Off-screen, Vince McMahon had started to receive a ton of criticism for the risqué actions and angles involving the believed-to-be-gay Goldust. As Dustin Runnels has admitted to in shoot interviews conducted many years later, the Goldust character had to be toned down for a little while to quiet the critics and public organizations. After some time, Vince gave the go ahead to turn the volume back up on the character, only to pull the reigns in shortly after. Aside from the offended viewers and organizations that began opposing Titan Sports, Vince had also experienced problems internally about the Goldust character. Scott Hall/Razor Ramon refused to work with Runnels following the Royal Rumble, in what many have claimed to stem from Hall’s homophobia. It had to be a roller-coaster of a ride for Dustin Runnels, who experienced more success when he could really get into the edgier side of the Goldust character, and was equally frustrated when told to scale it back. Had the Attitude era begun in the winter of 1996, Goldust might very well have reached the main event level on a consistent basis. Unfortunately for Goldust, by the time the 1996 Survivor Series came around, he had made a full turn as a babyface and dropped any ambiguity about his sual preference. He was now just another good-guy wrestler, but with a lot of theatrics and some outlandish ring attire.
Getting back to early 1996, Goldust was now Intercontinental Champion and since the Razor Ramon feud was dropped, he needed an opponent for WrestleMania XII. This lead to the Hollywood Backlot Brawl between Goldust and the interim-WWF President, Rowdy Roddy Piper. It was the first time ever in WrestleMania history that the Intercontinental Championship was not defended. The street fight was very physical, very stiff and was one of the more memorable moments of WrestleMania XII. Following the April Pay Per View, Goldust would move onto short feuds with Savio Vega, The Undertaker and the Ultimate Warrior before taking on Ahmed Johnson.
It was around this time that the Goldust character was able to push the envelope once again by giving the gratuitous CPR revival to Ahmed. This setup their title match and at the ’96 King of the Ring, Goldust lost his IC strap to the challenger after falling to the Pearl River Plunge. In what had become a pattern in Goldust’s career up to this point, his opponents and feuds were short-lived and usually didn’t last longer than one Pay Per View. This would be no different with Ahmed Johnson.
Following the title loss, Goldust would go on to wrestle Marc Mero and Shawn Michaels before making his babyface turn right before the ’96 Survivor Series. Following this event, he would enter into a feud with Hunter Hearst Helmsley and chase him for the Intercontinental Championship for several months. Goldust never did regain the Intercontinental Championship during this feud and was seldom used as the controversial superstar that he was upon his arrival until the Attitude era was born in late 1997.
PARTICIPANT #2 WRAP-UP
Upon his arrival, Goldust made a huge impact on the WWF both on-screen and off-screen, in both good ways and bad. Mere months after his debut, Goldust captured Championship gold and many thought he would make it to the top of the WWF before long. Unfortunately for him, Runnels played the character too well and it drew the ire of many organizations that caused the original Goldust character (not the Goldust character of today) to die a slow death.
REVERSED DECISION
