callanvass Live from Dayton, OHAttendance 6,500Your commentators are Jim Ross, Randy Savage & Bobby HeenanKOTR: First RoundBret Hart Vs Razor RamonBret wins after a countering a suplex from the top in mid-air. This was a fun opener. Bret was a godsend around this time, but the two really had good chemistry and the last 5 minutes are almost breathtakingly exciting. They have another good match at the Rumble.***1/4 out of 5KOTR: First RoundMr. Perfect Vs Mr. HughesThe battle of the Mister's! Perfect wins by DQ after Hughes foolishly nails Hennig with The Undertaker's urn. Personally, I would have had Perfect win clean here. Hughes was garbage. That said, Perfect did his best to get a good match out of him. He was semi-successful.** out of 5KOTR: First Round Bam Bam Bigelow Vs 'Hacksaw' Jim DugganThis is gonna suck, big time. Bigelow wins with a diving headbutt. Well, this could have been a lot worse, considering Duggan was wrestling. That's about the best compliment I can give it.*1/2 out of 5KOTR: First Round'The Narcissit' Lex Luger Vs TatankaThe match ends in a draw after the 15 minute time limit expires. This was actually well above average. Both men worked pretty hard and this was much better than I remembered it to be. The finish makes sense since you had to protect both men. Tatanka had the undefeated streak and Luger was a new heel.**3/4 out of 5There is a great interview segment between Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect.KOTR: Quarter FinalsBret Hart Vs Mr. PerfectBret wins with a small package. Perfect teases a heel turn after the match but ends up shaking Bret's hand and patting him on the back. This was one beautiful match. Amazing action, perfect storytelling, and flawlessly executed. Not quite as good as their Summerslam match, but it's a classic for sure. It's got everything. I love how desperate Perfect was and I loved Bret's resiliency. Close to 5 stars as you can get.****3/4 out of 5WWF ChampionshipHulk Hogan (C) Vs YokozunaAs much as I love Heenan, he makes one of the stupidest comments I've ever heard. "The longer the match goes, the advantage goes to Yokozuna. He'll wear Hogan down" Bahahahahahaha. Yokozuna wins the title after a photographer flashes fire in Hogan's eyes. Yokozuna beats Hogan with his own leg drop. Man, even as an adult, this is still upsetting. Hogan put Yokozuna over big time and I'm not sure people realize that. Yokozuna kicked out of the leg drop, beat Hogan with Hogan's own maneuver, and looked very strong. Hogan barely got in any offense. Personally, I think Hogan should have done the honors to Bret Hart, but that's just me. The match was pretty awful, but it wasn't expected to be a masterpiece. Hogan did the job and that's the last we would see of Hulkamania in the WWF until 2002. *1/4 out of 5Promos from Mr. Perfect and Shawn Michaels, where Michaels introduces Diesel as his bodyguard.The Steiner Brothers & The Smoking Gunns Vs Money INC & The HeadshrinkersThe Steiner Brothers and The Gunns win. This was a throwaway match if there ever was one to calm the crowd down. The crowd was completely dead and still in shock from Hogan's demise. Don't blame them either. I barely paid attention to it.* out of 5Intercontinental ChampionshipShawn Michaels (C) (W/Diesel) Vs CrushHBK retains with a superkick to the back of the head after three Doinks come out and distract Crush. This was actually decent stuff. Shawn bumped like a mad man for Crush and Crush looked solid as well. Much better than I remembered.**1/4 out of 5King of the RingBret Hart Vs Bam Bam BigelowBigelow initially pins Bret with a diving headbutt after Luna Vachon interferes. The referee reverses the decision when Earl Hebner tells the main ref what transpired. The match restarts and Bret wins King of the Ring with a victory roll. This was a very good big man vs little man match. It was a tad overbooked, but the match quality cannot be denied. This was Bret's consolation prize after kinda being screwed out of the WWF Title.***1/2 out of 5Jerry 'The King' Lawler says Bret is a pretender and doesn't deserve to be king. He'll make Bret a prince if Bret kneels down and kisses Lawler's feet. Bret calls Lawler a Burger King. Lawler responds by beating the crap out of Bret to end the show.Well, this was a memorable show for a lot of reasons. Bret winning King of the Ring, multiple great matches, and the end of Hulkamania in the WWF for 9 years. Hart Vs Perfect is worth watching for the PPV alone, but there is plenty of other great stuff too. It may have been the end of Hulkamania, but this was Bret's night. He proved he was the workhorse. One of the best King of the Ring PPV's and the best PPV of 93 by far. Highly recommended.8/10

zkonedog The introduction of a new event into the WWF canon should be cause for excitement. Unfortunately, that isn't necessarily the case with "King of the Ring", as the tournament format comes in with limitations of its own.Let's start with the "single" matches (non-tournament):-A six-man tag jumble that is exactly that...a jumble -Shawn Michaels vs. the wooden Crush -Yokozuna vs. Hulk Hogan in perhaps the dumbest ending I've ever seen in a matchOf course, the KoTR tournament is the big draw, and even that is uneven. If you don't want spoilers, stop reading here.The trouble here is that Bret Hart has to carry the whole show, so his matches have to be paced accordingly. All three contests (Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, Bam Bam Bigelow) might have been epic confrontations had they been on a single card each, but in this tournament format they had to pace Hart to make it through the night. Of course, that means a lot of headlocks and "rest time" outside the floor and on the mat.Thus, my final verdict on this event is that it seems like it should succeed but never really does. The tournament format zaps the energy out of many matches, and the singles/tag matches are total duds.

jfgibson73 The King of the Ring 1993 is an uneven pay-per-view overall, as there are some matches that don't really deliver. All of those matches are lacking the same thing: Bret Hart. This show was all about the Hit-man. He wrestled three times this night, against three different styles, and each one was great in its own way. They call Bret one of the greatest storytellers in all of wrestling, and this is my favorite story: Bret had recently lost the world title that he still deserved to have, but now he had to climb his way back to the top of the mountain. This show was like a b-line to the top of Mt. Everest. I totally felt like I was watching a man claw his way to the top over the course of these three matches. The inspiring was the final match against the much larger Bam Bam Bigelow. There were so many times when it looked like Bret was beaten or couldn't keep going, but he never gave up. For me, this was as important as any championship or title. The outcome in wrestling is pre-planned. Most of the time you can guess who is going to win. You are fully aware watching that it is choreographed and discussed beforehand. Yet, every time I watch this back, I am charged with a feeling of wanting to go out and accomplish great things in my own life. For me, this was the best of all time.

bh_tafe3 King of the Ring 1993 was a fine PPV. It was the night where Hart finally established himself as a big time star, and also Hulk Hogan's final WWE PPV appearance for nearly nine years.The king of the ring tournament had actually been around for quite a while. Harley Race and Randy Savage were both famous wrestlers who'd taken on King gimmicks after winning the tournament in the 1980s.Bret Hart had been the most recent winner of the event, taking out the tournament in 1991 (there was no tournament in 1992). This, and the screwy way he lost the WWE Title at Wrestlemania meant that he didn't have to wrestle a match to qualify but was granted a bye straight through to the PPV.The night began with Bret Hart defeating Razor Ramon in a stellar match to advance to the second round. The match was entertaining and went back and forth. It ended with Ramon attempting to suplex Hart off the top rope, but Hart was able to land on top of Razor and get the pin.The next match saw Mr Perfect defeat Mr Hughes by DQ after he used an urn he'd stolen from the Undertaker to knock out Perfect. Perfect would now face Hart in the next round.Bam Bam Bigelow then won through with a victory over Jim Duggan following a flying head butt. He received a bye through to final after Tatanka and Lex Luger fought to a time limit draw in the next match. Both men were undefeated in the WWE at that stage.This left Bret Hart to defeat Mr Perfect in one of the best matches in WWE history in the semi final. This was a thrilling, fast paced and absorbing match up, almost the equal of their match from Summerslam 1991.This bought us to the main event of the evening as Hulk Hogan put his WWE Title on the line against Yokozuna. Hogan had defeated Yokozuna in a few seconds to win the title at Wrestlemania IX and hadn't wrestled since. Yokozuna kicked out of the Hogan leg drop (!) and then Hogan was distracted by a photographer and then had the camera explode in front of his face. Yokozuna hit a leg drop of his own and was the new WWE Champion in a pretty silly match really.Next up it was filler time as we had an eight man tag match. The team of the Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) and the Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy) defeated Money Inc (Ted DiBIase and Irwin R Shyster) and the Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu). Billy Gunn won the match for his team by pinning DiBIase who was busy bragging to the crowd about a perfectly executed million dollar dream. This was fun, but a little chaotic for some tastes.In the penultimate match of the evening Shawn Michaels retained the Intercontinental Title against Crush. Crush had long been trying to win the IC Title from Michaels, but on this night was foiled by Doink the Clown, who came to the rung with a look alike to distract Crush just long enough for Michaels to hit a super kick and get the win. Doink had also been a feud with Crush coming into the match. This was a fun match.And finally we end up with the tournament final with Bam Bam Bigelow, relatively fresh coming off a bye in the second round, taking on Bret Hart who'd wrestled two grueling matches earlier in the night. The two put on a classic big man vs little man match, with Hart winning with a victory roll to be crowned King of the Ring for the second time, and the first time on PPV.This was a performance that really put Hart on the map as a star of the future, but he would not have much time to celebrate tonight as commentator Jerry Lawler, King of the Memphis Territory interrupted Hart's coronation. Lawler made it very clear that we'd have to wait and see who the real King of the WWE is when Hart and he got in the ring together.