I avoided watching this pay-per-view for a very long time, because as a kid, I was depressed it was the end of Hulkamania in such a lifeless way. As an adult, I just didn't care. It was a 1993 WWF PPV, it probably wasn't worth seeing. But modern reviews of this show label it as one of the better tournaments the WWF ever did, and it's mostly because of one man: Bret Hart.
I did tease the idea of possibly reviewing the entire show, but I really don't see the point in reviewing matches with 1993 Lex Luger vs. Tatanka or matches with Curtis Hughes or 1993 Jim Duggan. Therefore, I wanted to focus solely on Bret's road to the 1993 King of the Ring, and boy did it deliver.
He had a tall task in the first round, doing battle with Razor Ramon, whom he previously faced at athe 1993 Royal Rumble. Razor is fresh off his big upset loss to the 1-2-3 Kid.
Bret works frantically with Razor, both because of the size difference which would be done to try and catch him off guard much like Kid did on RAW, and also because they seem to REALLY be selling the time limits on commentary. Bret wants to get this over fast to avoid punishment, knowing it's going to be a long night.
The armwork Bret has on Razor is absolutely phenomenal, and every time Razor tries countering out of it, Bret reverses that counter into yet another bit of armwork. I mean, it's really, really good and fun to watch. Razor is, however, eventually able to use his raw power to take control of the match. He recklessly throws Bret shoulder first into the post and then chest first into the turnbuckle, one of Bret's favorite bumps to take.
Bret does such a great job at making guys like Razor feel even larger than life than they already are. Razor's a big, big dude already, but the way Bret works on him offensively and defends against him makes Razor seem like this otherworldly sized giant. He does this with most of the big guys he faces, but when it's done against one with a modicum of talent like Razor, it's so damn entertaining.
Bret moves back on the offensive, trying to out do Razor at every turn, and his reversals and counters in this part of the match are so crisp and downright genius, as evident here:
Bret goes for the cover, it's a close count, and Bret argues with the ref, allowing Razor to sneak in with a huge lariat to the back of the head. Razor works over Bret a bit more, hopefully trying to build to his finish.
But Bret needing to counter Razor so much because of his size comes into play again in the end, as Razor goes for his middle rope backdrop, and Bret simply is able to use his weight to lateral press Razor on the way down and get the quick pin!
A really fun opener for both the pay-per-view and the tournament, and it's set the pace perfectly for the entire night.
MATCH RATING: ***1/2
Later on, Mr. Perfect would make his way past Mr. Hughes, and set up the semi-finals match against Bret Hart, in a rematch of their incredibly famous Summerslam 1991 match. Unfortunately for both men, Lex Luger vs. Tatanka went to a draw, so when Bam Bam Bigelow beat Jim Duggan, he earned himself a bye to the finals, meaning the winner of Bret/Perfect would be going in beat up against a fresh Bigelow.
Additionally, they do a really good pre-match backstage interview with Mean Gene, Bret and Perfect, where Gene stirs the pot saying Bret noted to him that he was hoping Hughes had beaten Perfect, and while Bret tries to explain himself, Perfect surmises it's because he knows he can't beat him. Things get tense, insults are exchanged about their fathers, and the match is up next!
Commentary notes during the entrances that Bret has a dislocated finger from the first match, and he sells it on the way to the ring. Because of the injury, Bret is working even more frantically to start his match, knowing that if he wins, he's going to have that fresh Bigelow waiting for him.
The match is as great as you'd expect. It starts off very even, right down the middle. Every answer Bret has for Perfect is negated by an answer Perfect has for Bret. Perfect starts to get frustrated, but tries to stay calm and remain respectful. but his old tendencies start to slip out, like when Bret spills to the floor and Perfect holds the ropes open for him to get back in, but then he immediately kicks Bret low. Or hey, this fucking god damner of a bump off the apron:
In kind of a rarity, while Perfect works Bret's knee off the bump, Bret doesn't really do that great at selling it and eventually, it gets abandoned. It's my least favorite bit in the match, but it ultimately doesn't mean much. Then, in an even weirder moment, they randomly decide to have Perfect tweak his knee off of receiving a superplex somehow, and Bret goes to work on his knee instead. Bret gets his receipt on Perfect for the dirty shots by doing some classic, cheap leg sweeps every time Perfect pulls himself up by the ropes.
Bret continues the leg work, getting a figure four on for about a minute or so before Perfect can reach the ropes to break it. Bret tries to stay on him, but Perfect hits him low and then just throws Bret across the ring by his hair. Hell yeah.
Perfect wraps Bret in a sleeper, AGAIN USING IT AS A MOVE NOT JUST A REST HOLD (read Flair/Steamboat '84, also posted today, to understand my excitement), but Bret smartly positions himself by the ropes so he naturally falls into them as he starts to fade from the sleeper, which then forces the referee to make the hold break. So when Perfect tries to reposition himself to pull Bret away from the ropes and keep the hold applied, his bad knee buckles and Bret's freed. SO GOOD.
Bret starts his march to the finish, setting up the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM~, but on the Sharpshooter set up, PERFECT WRENCHES BRET'S BAD FINGER IN A LAST DITCH EFFORT! Perfect gets up quick and starts stomping away on Bret's hand, really punishing him, and goes to set up a quick Perfectplex, BUT BRET HAS AN INCREDIBLE REVERSAL!
They're both slow to get back in the ring, and both are beaten to absolute hell by this point. Perfect tries for a surprise inside cradle, but the surprise is on him as Bret uses his own momentum to swing the cradle in his favor and get the quick pin on Perfect instead!
A near perfect match! Almost as good as their Summerslam '91 bout, just lacking some of the drama, the hot crowd and the Bret not selling bit really bothered me more than it should. But otherwise, hell yeah baby, seek this one out!
MATCH RATING: ****1/2
Now it's time for the finals to determine the "first ever" King of the Ring, although this was like the 6th or 7th, just the first ever broadcast. Bret tries to straight up fight Bigelow to start, so Bigelow just pummels him to back him off. Bigelow then press slams Bret straight on the floor, and Bret's DYING on almost everything tonight.
Bigelow targets Bret's back and is mostly just using strong Irish whips into the turnbuckle, clubberin' blows and a few high angle back suplexes. And as simplistic as it sounds, it works! But no matter how much punishment Bigelow inflicts, Bret keeps kicking out or breaking up pins with the ropes. As long as he's got a pulse, he's in this thing, and he's making Bigelow wear himself out in the process.
Bret mounts a small offensive comeback, but on a dive to Bigelow on the floor, Bigelow catches him and rams him back first into the post and then slams him on the concrete entry way! Bigelow gets back inside the ring and distracts the ref, and this allows Luna to run out with a steel chair and WALLOP Bret in the back with it!
Bigelow brings Bret back in, hits his diving headbutt, pins Bret...AND WINS?!
But no! Another referee runs out to inform the original ref of what Luna did. In a hilarious blunder, Finkel announces that the referee has REVERSED his decision, which would imply that Bret has automatically won, so both refs frantically yell at Finkel and Fink quick changes it to "the referee has decided the match will continue", and commentary mocks the Hell out of Finkel. Poor guy.
Bigelow immediately goes back to work on Bret's back, same game plan as before. The match starts to become repetitive and a bit long in the tooth. It's just the same 3-4 bits repeated over and over again, and honestly, they could've trimmed a few minutes off of this or at least had Bret get the quick win after the restart. This just feels needless to me.
Bret finally works his way out of a backbreaker hold being applied by Bigelow, and he starts wearing Bammer down little by little. He gets a few near falls, but can barely keep Bigelow down for 2, mainly due to the size difference and the angle he has to try and pin Bigelow. He does eventually get Bigelow off a corner, coming off the middle rope and jumping on Bigelow's shoulders to nab a victory roll, using Bigelow's weight against him to hold him down and pin him! And with that, Bret Hart is your 1993 King of the Ring!
MATCH RATING: ***1/4
This was a really good tournament for what I seen of it. I don't think I necessarily needed to subject myself to the other first round matches to get the full picture on what they were trying to accomplish. What I loved most about this was that, in all three of the matches, Bret never came out looking superior to any of his opponents. In defeat, Razor, Perfect and Bigelow still come out looking strong. None of them tapped out, none of them even had the Sharpshooter applied. All three were beaten by quick, almost fluke pins, and it really helped put over the "Anything Can Happen in the WWF" feeling. Not to mention, Bret's not cemented as "the guy" yet. He just had a humiliating moment both in and out of kayfabe at WrestleMania IX, and is only a year removed from being firmly in the midcard, so him winning this isn't a guarantee to the casual fans. Just a beautifully done bit of work here by Bret.
And then of course, they don't really do anything to get him back to where he needs to be on the card for another 9 months, but that's a different review for a different time.
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