WWE Special - King of the Ring

I was watching the WWE Special on King of the Ring on Sky Sports yesterday and was struck by something I had never realised before.

Austin vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts is one of the worst matches ever. Austin just attacks Jake's ribs for about 5 minutes, then hits a rubbish version of the Stone Cold Stunner.

If this match had happened these days, people would cry foul - yet this is considered one of the pivotal moments in WWE history.

Proves a point that sometimes it's story over wrestling that lives long in the memory, no?

Can you remember any other occasions where a stinking match has been followed by something which immediately rewrites it as a classic?

Aren't most KotR finals pretty terrible matches though? Given the fact that there are multiple matches fought by the finalists it isn't surprising!

Not quite the same but, the Undertaker vs Mankind Hell In A Cell match is pretty bad with hardly anything happening. Aside from the two spots it is massively boring, yet it is always remembered fondly.

Warrior vs Hogan, that could be considered because that was a stinker of a match but because of the finish and the fact Hogan was pinned at WM and Warrior was the new face of the company, (granted for only a short while) imo its considered better then it was.

The match itself isnt iconic, it's the speech afterwards.

It's not really the technical quality that makes a match, some of the greatest in ring action ever would be boring if it were a battle for a pint of milk. The Mankind Taker match is ridiculous really, but intrigue makes a match, and it was interesting because of that.

I thought the Lesnar-RVD match was quite good.

The match itself is not a great viewing expereience, but taken in the context of the tournament itself, Austin's Stone Cold persona and what Jake Roberts represented at the time, the match is actually perfect.

As for the Stunner, it was early days and I don't think the kick set-up was introduced until 1997.

couldn't be any worse than Hulk V Andre could it?

I was thinking. Since in recent years the ppv in June has been a complete dissapointment they should bring back King of the ring ppv to use as the June ppv. With the winner not only winning the king of the ring but they get to main event summer slam and face world champion or wwe champion of there choosing.

That's was the old premise of king of the ring, the winner would get a title shot at summerslam. I think they should bring this back as a ppv but not half hearted, the whole night should be a knock out tournament with the winner getting the title shot.

MtotheC wrote:That's was the old premise of king of the ring, the winner would get a title shot at summerslam. I think they should bring this back as a ppv but not half hearted, the whole night should be a knock out tournament with the winner getting the title shot.

I liked the old idea whereby you had two semi-finals and a final match. It could be extended to four semis and a four way elimination match final... either way that with a quick tag match, two world title matches and a squash match would make a full PPV. I suppose the issue is with MITB there are already three (with RR) matches that provide a guaranteed title match, would another be needed?...

JoshSansom wrote:

MtotheC wrote:That's was the old premise of king of the ring, the winner would get a title shot at summerslam. I think they should bring this back as a ppv but not half hearted, the whole night should be a knock out tournament with the winner getting the title shot.

I liked the old idea whereby you had two semi-finals and a final match. It could be extended to four semis and a four way elimination match final... either way that with a quick tag match, two world title matches and a squash match would make a full PPV. I suppose the issue is with MITB there are already three (with RR) matches that provide a guaranteed title match, would another be needed?...

Good point but it adds a bit of prestigious to main event Summer Slam

Beer is right, nobody talks about that being a classic match. The reason it's remembered is because Austin did the 3:16 promo afterwards.

It's like survivor series 97 or bash at the beach 96 - two of the most memorable main events ever, but not because of match quality.