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In defence of KOTR 95'

By

Hi Scott

This one has been on my mind for a while

Now obviously, Mabel winning the KOTR in 1995 ended up being a big flop and the show itself is remembered with scorn. That being said, I think the reason this is less to do with Mabel actually winning, but more to do with how he won.

Mabel won the tournament by beating Savio Vega in the final. Vega had only been in the company for less than a month and hadn't had any sufficient time to get over to where fans would be prepared to route for him in a main event match.

The original plan for the tournament was that the Savio role would have been played by Sean Waltman, but Waltman was too injured at the time to compete for that many matches.

When you think about that, the story not only makes sense but also sounds pretty cool.

Savio was in the tournament because Razor Ramon had to be taken out. The Kid was known at the time as Razor's buddy, so it would have made sense for him to take his friends place.

Kid was liked enough by the fans that they would have bought into him in the role as the under dog. Being in the tournament would have allowed for him to get a pinfall win over IRS, that had alluded him prior to the show, and he would have also gotten a win over Yokozuna, that would have raised his stock in the eyes of the fans. His semi final opponent could have then been Roadie or Bob Holly. He not only was feuding with Roadie at the time but he had also held the tag titles that year with Holly, thus adding intrigue to either one of those matches.

Kid was not only more of an established star but he was also a much better worker than Savio, which would have bumped up the match ratings on the show and also elevated the tournament itself and Kid's standing in the company.

I still maintain that you could book the show exactly the same, but have Kid in place of Savio, and the show wouldn't be anywhere near as hated. I've always enjoyed the Bret Vs Lawler match from the show and think it gets a bum rap as people just hate the show in general.

I'd be interested to see what the doomers think

All the best and I hope yourself and the family have a great holiday season

Regards

Mikey

Wow, don't get many KOTR 95 defense pieces on here.  Kudos for bravery, if nothing else.  

Look, there was so much wrong with that show that inserting 123 Waltman in there wouldn't even scratch the surface.  It was the wrong guy at the wrong time in the wrong place, as Mabel was the perfect storm of suck.  The fanbase DESPERATELY wanted Shawn Michaels to win that thing and anyone else was just rubbing salt in the wound.  Even Razor would have been pretty awesome and different, but instead it was Vince panicking and doing what he always does -- pushing the biggest slugs he can find when business is down.  Not to mention running with a Savio v. Mabel final in PHILLY during the height of ECW's underground rise was madness.  Fuck, even WCW was smart enough to turn Slamboree 94 into an ECW-themed show when it was apparent, a year before that mind you, that the market was turning that way.  

The idea was doomed from the start.


Comments

  1. MikeyMike2323December 30, 2013 at 5:12 PM

    This is WWF 1995 were talking about. A lot of things didn't make sense. I wonder what happened in late 1995 that made Vince think "What were doing right now is really really bad."

    ReplyDelete
  2. LSciscoDecember 30, 2013 at 5:16 PM

    The 1-2-3 Kid would've been interesting in the Savio role, but Mabel had no business winning that tournament. He was a tag wrestler that lost most of his singles matches to other stars like Bam Bam Bigelow, IRS, and Jeff Jarrett. The WWF really booked that tournament bad in the sense that several stars were left out: Owen, the Bulldog (both of whom wrestled themselves to a draw in the qualifiers and were eliminated), Hakushi, and Lex Luger (eliminated by Yoko in the qualifiers). As a mark, I gave Mabel ZERO chance of winning that thing, especially since he was facing the Undertaker in round 1. I didn't think we'd really get Undertaker-Shawn, but I thought Shawn or the Undertaker were definitely winning the tournament. People can argue "well Shawn or the Undertaker didn't need to win," but that doesn't mean that it wasn't a good call for them not to win if the fan base wanted it. That'd be like saying that Bret didn't need to win the KOTR in 1993 since he was a former WWF champ.

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  3. LSciscoDecember 30, 2013 at 5:17 PM

    I think it was that awful Diesel-Bulldog main event at IYH 4. I remember reading that Vince threw his headset down after the show and cursed out Diesel.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Biscuit!December 30, 2013 at 5:18 PM

    WWF booking made zero sense period. You're in Philly and you've got Jerry Lawler in a match that DOESN'T degenerate into a wild Memphis brawl?

    ReplyDelete
  5. ZanatudeDecember 30, 2013 at 5:32 PM

    Didn't they use the same finish the following year, when the winner beat a guy who got to the finals on a fluke and didn't deserve the victory? I think that one turned out okay.

    A guy is either going to get over or not get over on his personality. The nature of his wins and losses really matter very little.

    ReplyDelete
  6. cultstatusDecember 30, 2013 at 5:33 PM

    Best option was probably Bret again, then run Bret/Diesel at Summerslam and do the heel turn there.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Matt JohnsonDecember 30, 2013 at 5:34 PM

    Even if they didn't want to run with HBK, you still had Bret, Taker, Lawler, etc on the roster. At the very least, use the tournament as a vehicle to blow off the Lawler/Bret feud.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Steven FerrariDecember 30, 2013 at 5:43 PM

    Christ, Kama would have been a better choice than Mabel to win the tournament. With the gimmick he had, he probably could have been built up enough quickly for a one-off challenge against Diesel at SummerSlam, and I bet he would have had a better match than Mabel. Another option would have been to put Adam Bomb over in the qualifiers and have him win the tournament.

    Watching the show back in 1995, I REALLY wanted to see the HBK-Undertaker match that could have been, and as soon as the HBK-Kama match went to a draw, I was baffled as to what they were thinking.

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  9. Biscuit!December 30, 2013 at 5:57 PM

    Michaels should have been in the world title match, and Lawler should have won the tournament through good old-fashioned Memphis cartoon brawling/cheating. Have him start cutting paranoid promos on RAW about being the real King and desperate times calling for desperate measures, etc. before winning with salt in Bret's eyes in the final. You can do that silly Kiss My Foot garbage after Lawler gets his heat.

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  10. Amsterdam_Adam_CurryDecember 30, 2013 at 6:18 PM

    Not only did Kama steal Taker's urn, but he fucking melted it down and made it into a gold chain. Yes, they should have done more with that character.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Vince JordanDecember 30, 2013 at 6:19 PM

    Another thing is, when Dibiase announced that Sid and Tatanka were gonna challenge Diesel and Bam Bam to a tag match, I thought "Meh, that's an ok RAW main event, I guess". And keep in mind this was at a time where big RAW matches were very rare. But it turns out it was the main event of a PPV... OUCH...

    Then they have Sid literally walk away from a confrontation with Diesel during that match... Then they set up a world title match between the 2 at the next In Your House... Umm... WHY WOULD I BUY SID AS A THREAT? HE JUST PROVED THAT HE IS SCARED!! Very strange...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nick SaikleyDecember 30, 2013 at 6:24 PM

    Kid wouldn't have increased the star ratings if it still included matches vs. Yoko and Mabel.

    ReplyDelete
  13. TheDHDecember 30, 2013 at 6:58 PM

    Also, didn't The Clique confront Vince at a House Show and tell him point blank that the product sucked and he needed to change things or they were all going on strike.

    ReplyDelete
  14. richard householderDecember 30, 2013 at 7:30 PM

    I was at the show. It was half for HBK and half for Undertaker and when both were gone the arena died dead. But the best was how pissed the crowd was behind the coronation stage. I think people were emptying their pockets throwing shit at Mabel. There were security guys everywhere ejecting people. One guy chucked a full soda and it hit one of the guys who held wire for the camera man right square in the head. It exploded on his head so perfectly it looked like JFKs head on the Zapruder Film. I'll never forget it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. jobber123December 30, 2013 at 8:13 PM

    Yeah Vince's booking of this show was typical wwe head up their ass shit

    ReplyDelete
  16. Scream09_HartKillerDecember 30, 2013 at 8:27 PM

    There's two schools of thought - Sid proves to be a coward and now you want to see Diesel defeat the coward, or Sid proves he's a coward and now you don't care about the match because Diesel's going to beat him.

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  17. Scream09_HartKillerDecember 30, 2013 at 8:30 PM

    I think 1995 is Vince trying to use the same formula in the mid 90's that worked in the 80's. A big, dominant champion. A fat heel. A midcard champion you should hate because he wants to be a country music singer. An angle being built on one guy stealing another guy's jacket.

    ReplyDelete
  18. jvc113December 30, 2013 at 9:15 PM

    There's a Kid/Yokozuna match on a Coliseum video that... wasn't terrible.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Johnny PoloDecember 30, 2013 at 9:37 PM

    I actually was there. As a Bret mark who enjoyed the Lawler feud, I was all about that kiss my foot match. But otherwise, it was pretty horrible and deserves it's rank near the bottom of all-time PPVs. What bummed me out most was the prospect of seeing Shawn and/or Undertaker wrestle more than once (and possibly against each other) and both going out in the first round. Total ripoff.

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  20. theJawasDecember 30, 2013 at 9:40 PM

    Good call on Slamboree '94- it was everything this show was not. That's why I'd have to struggle to come up with the card of KOTR '95, and I made a DVD copy recently of my worn Slamboree tape.

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  21. LSciscoDecember 30, 2013 at 9:41 PM

    And then magically it was turned back into the urn for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  22. LSciscoDecember 30, 2013 at 9:43 PM

    As a mark it made me excited for IYH 2 because it was a Lumberjack match and I wanted to see Diesel destroy Sid. From a smark perspective, though, I can see where Jordan is coming from. I think sometimes the smarks overestimate the logic that marks have when they look at the product since the marks tend to be easily brainwashed by what the company tells them to believe.

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  23. LSciscoDecember 30, 2013 at 9:45 PM

    Agreed. It was really deflating to see HBK and the Undertaker eliminated so soon. Even Yoko was knocked out in round 1, so the three guys most likely to win the thing were eliminated from the get go. Horrible booking.

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  24. Patrick BurkeDecember 30, 2013 at 9:58 PM

    The lumberjack match works when the heel is the champion because he cannot escape the face. It's those little things that escape the booker's/writer's minds sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  25. McMeatfaceDecember 30, 2013 at 11:05 PM

    I was at that show for my first ever PPV. Needless to say, it was such a turnoff I stopped attending live shows until Stone Cold was a few months into his championship reign. It was atrocious.

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  26. BeardMoneyDecember 30, 2013 at 11:35 PM

    You are all failing to realize that Mabel had to win the tournament; otherwise he wouldn't have been a credible challenge to Diesel at Summerslam. Consider this: you hear Diesel vs. King Mabel w/ Sir Moe for the title and you're ready to trade your wallet for a ticket, but Diesel vs. Mabel the Unroyal just sounds like an ill thought out main-event. Vince knew what he was doing when headlined a "prestigious" tournament with Savio Vega vs the really fat Men on a Mission guy.

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  27. Tom DawkingsDecember 30, 2013 at 11:51 PM

    In some ways WWF was hampered by this event due to injuries. Oringinally Razor was suppose to make his way into the finals before getting injured, then the spot would have gone to Kid, but he was hurt too.

    If Vince really insisted that Mabel go over, the best way they could have gone about it was doing another Bulldog/Owen match. They had a match previously that ended in a draw, so you can give a kayfabe reason that they want to see a winner. Bulldog makes it to the finals and then you have someone with credibility that Mabel can beat.

    Or hey, thinking outside the box, Owen can turn face for one night, make it to the finals with the story being that Owen wants to keep his KOTR title. Owen was liked well enough that fans would have gotten behind him.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Tom DawkingsDecember 31, 2013 at 12:12 AM

    I was a total mark back then too, but even I found the whole Diesel/Sid angle strange. I've always like Sid and I WANTED to like him in 1995, but because he was booked as a coward, I just couldn't. Now if they did a Diesel/Jarrett feud, where Jarrett was booked as a coward, that would have made sense and you would have paid to see Jarrett get his comeuppance, but the angle didn't work with Sid because if you had the look and size of Sid, you wouldn't run away. It'd be the equivalent of Ivan Drago running away from Rocky.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Tom DawkingsDecember 31, 2013 at 12:21 AM

    Established stars don't need to win all the time. Hogan didn't need to win the 1990 Rumble match, and it would have served Perfect a lot better to win the thing and give him main event credibility. That's why KOTR/Rumble matches are great; you can have an underdog come in, win the thing and instantly be over. It's a great vehicle to create a new star. Steve Austin was heatless before KOTR and in terms of his win/loss record, was no better than Mabel, but he won the thing and instantly became a star. The only problem is that WWF chose the wrong guy when they wanted to create that new star.

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  30. YJ2310December 31, 2013 at 12:23 AM

    And it turned Kama into a pimp....

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  31. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 12:50 AM

    This might be the best piece of news. I've ever read about the 1995 KOTR.

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  32. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 12:51 AM

    Yeah, I totally get that. I mean Sid looked vicious when he powerbombed HBK several times after WrestleMania, but he really got neutered as part of the Corporation.

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  33. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 12:55 AM

    I'm not saying all the time, but I just don't see what Vince saw in Mabel. The guy really couldn't cut a great promo and had not been an established singles star, unlike Austin. Austin was bland before the 1996 KOTR but he had good matches with Savio at least and had a pretty good singles record that put him in the midcard at the time. Mabel was low midcard at best.

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  34. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 12:59 AM

    Haha, at least the jacket thing tied in with LaFitte's pirate gimmick. It was funny seeing Bret try to sell that in the hype of IYH 3 where he said his mom made his jacket so it was special to him.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Tom DawkingsDecember 31, 2013 at 1:00 AM

    At that point Austin lost a feud to friggin' Savio, so he was pretty low on the totem pole and I don't want to hear Austin intentionally lost to get his freedom crap. A real man would had beaten Savio within an inch of his life and fired DiBiase anyways.

    ReplyDelete
  36. ARRRRGH THE BARBARIANDecember 31, 2013 at 1:04 AM

    There's no defense for that pile of shit when you have Taker and HBK in the tournament and don't do it. And with the pile of rancid jobbers in this thing, the entire crowd probably expected it.

    ReplyDelete
  37. OfficerFarvaDecember 31, 2013 at 2:17 AM

    Such a random topic 13 years later. Good question tho

    ReplyDelete
  38. Bill DeBarrDecember 31, 2013 at 3:48 AM

    I was there and the only thing i recall fondly of the whole night was being an Alabama boy getting to be part of an honest to god ECW chant in Philly. The whole show was just abysmal.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Michael KehmDecember 31, 2013 at 3:51 AM

    Everything sucked: Shawns early elimination, Mabels win, Savio Vega (who??? Kwang was so much better ;-) in the tournament?, The Roaddog???, Bob Holly???? Kiss my Foot Match???, Tatanka and Bam Bam in the main event???

    The roster was still good, even WCW took many old stars.

    They could have made something like this:

    Tournament
    Undertaker vs Kama
    Yokozuna vs Lex Luger
    HBK vs Owen Hart
    Bam Bam vs Tatanka

    1/2 Final
    Undertaker vs Yokozuna
    Owen Hart vs Bam Bam

    Final Match
    Undertaker vs Owen Hart
    And then Bulldog turns Heel and helps Owen to win the KOTR for the second time, leading to Summer Slam with

    WWF Title
    Diesel vs Owen Hart
    Lex Luger vs British Bulldog
    IC Title
    Razor vs HBK
    Bret Hart vs Sid (instead of Fake Kane Isaac Yankem Dentist)
    or so

    ReplyDelete
  40. Mike FitzgeraldDecember 31, 2013 at 4:04 AM

    This show is known as "the crappy show where Mabel won the KOTR"


    If they used Kid, I honestly think it would be known as "A largely average show that elevated Kid up the card"


    He would have gotten something close to a good match out of Mabel in the final and the semi final match with either Roadie or Holly would have been good to excellent, given enough time

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  41. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonDecember 31, 2013 at 6:25 AM

    Mabel and his "King of the Ring" belt:

    http://retrowrestling.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/rare-wrestling-belt/
    http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s145/deadpitradio/KOTRbelt3.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  42. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonDecember 31, 2013 at 6:30 AM

    I would have loved to see Lawler cheat his way through the King of the Ring.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonDecember 31, 2013 at 6:31 AM

    Is that the match where he legit broke takers eye socket?

    ReplyDelete
  44. ONITA100December 31, 2013 at 8:03 AM

    WOW can something be more random

    ReplyDelete
  45. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonDecember 31, 2013 at 8:17 AM

    How about this?

    http://www.sugarsays.com/.a/6a00e54ff18131883401127907be4f28a4-pi

    ReplyDelete
  46. AverageJoeEverymanDecember 31, 2013 at 8:25 AM

    Bottle of Surge
    Back . . and to the left
    Back . . and to the left

    ReplyDelete
  47. Stuart_ChartockDecember 31, 2013 at 8:47 AM

    Popular theory is that Vince didn't really see much of a problem, it was Shane and Vince Russo that really got on him about going in a different direction.


    Vince may have disappointed with a match or angle, but it was Shane and Russo that basically told him that EVERYTHING was disappointing.


    I really wish Shane and Russo were in his ear right now.

    ReplyDelete
  48. jdg9December 31, 2013 at 8:49 AM

    It was not physically possible for Kid or anyone else to get anything resembling a good match out of Mabel. Plug in 1986 Ric Flair in that slot and you might get something that is watchable.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Stuart_ChartockDecember 31, 2013 at 8:49 AM

    Damn, looks like my comment from yesterday didn't post due to the maintenance.


    Anyway, it didn't really matter who it was putting Mabel over, as nobody was buying or enjoying Mabel in that position anyway. Waltman jobbing to Mabel would have transferred as much heat as Taker jobbing to Khali or Bryan jobbing to Orton.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Mike FitzgeraldDecember 31, 2013 at 9:01 AM

    It depends how it was structured


    Kid getting squashed but making comebacks and selling would have made the match interesting to watch


    Workrate wise, Mabel wasn't up to much, but he could put on an entertaining spectacle when put in the right situation


    The tag match against Razor and Savio the next month is a good example. Put Mabel in the ring with someone the fans cared about and there would be heat.


    I can enjoy a crappy match is the fans are in to it

    ReplyDelete
  51. spicollidriverDecember 31, 2013 at 9:41 AM

    the problem was: he wasn't a credible challenger anyone.


    and if you consider the standing that the "big 5" still had at that point (in contrast to those "In Your House" b ppvs) that decision is even more weird.


    there are dozens of alternatives that would have been better than what we actually got.

    ReplyDelete
  52. spicollidriverDecember 31, 2013 at 9:42 AM

    maybe he rubbed the urn and made a wish or something.

    ReplyDelete
  53. spicollidriverDecember 31, 2013 at 9:43 AM

    Bulldog. Ramon. Yokozuna. Lex Luger. Owen Hart.

    is any of those worse than Mabel?

    ReplyDelete
  54. spicollidriverDecember 31, 2013 at 9:47 AM

    you can say what you want about Brets ego but in 1995 he was doing EVERYTHING he could to make even the silliest angles work.

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  55. spicollidriverDecember 31, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    this.


    prime example: Triple H vs. Orton at WrestleMania 25.

    ReplyDelete
  56. spicollidriverDecember 31, 2013 at 9:51 AM

    then wouldn't Bulldog, who was about to turn heel anyway, not have been a better choice? at least he had a certain singles credibility.

    ReplyDelete
  57. spicollidriverDecember 31, 2013 at 9:54 AM

    exactly. Yokozuna doesn't get enough credit. he obviously is no Vader oder Bigelow - but compared to the usual Mabels, Bastion Boogers etc. he was pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Tom DawkingsDecember 31, 2013 at 10:07 AM

    That what I was saying, Bulldog, Owen or hey ANYBODY would have been better than Savio Vega in that spot.

    ReplyDelete
  59. BobbyDecember 31, 2013 at 10:53 AM

    Uh, Austin wasn't booking himself. lol

    ReplyDelete
  60. ATL2013December 31, 2013 at 10:56 AM

    This was absolutely the no-brainer time to showcase Shawn Michaels. Let him do the Bret Hart "three matches in one night" thing en route to winning the tournament. If he was always getting the belt at WM12, it's the perfect progression.


    Razor also would have been cool as KOTR, I must agree

    ReplyDelete
  61. BobbyDecember 31, 2013 at 10:58 AM

    Everything around Diesel in 1995 was awful, it wasn't just him.

    ReplyDelete
  62. JamesDecember 31, 2013 at 11:35 AM

    THERE HAD TO BE A SECOND THROWER!

    ReplyDelete
  63. markn95December 31, 2013 at 11:48 AM

    No, that happened on a Raw episode in early-OCtober, IIRC. I know the match was a six man tag with Diesel, Shawn, and Taker on the face side and I think Yoko, OWen, and BUlldog on the other. mAbel interfered and potatoes TAker.

    ReplyDelete
  64. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 2:48 PM

    This planned booking would have sucked also if Ramon had been in the tournament since he would've ended up as the runner-up two years running.

    ReplyDelete
  65. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 2:50 PM

    I'm a mark for "race car" Bob Holly (not sure why because I don't care that much for NASCAR), so I was excited as a kid for him to be in the tournament. I was actually shocked the Roadie won the match and CLEANLY!

    ReplyDelete
  66. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 2:56 PM

    If Bulldog had won he would've been the third straight Hart relative to win the KOTR. Interesting historical story there.

    ReplyDelete
  67. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 2:57 PM

    When I think of Surge I think of those huge Surge bins that WCW had on their shows in like 1999 or so.

    ReplyDelete
  68. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 3:00 PM

    I felt Yoko always played his size well. He really had that "I'm going to fall over....BUT not quite yet unless you hit me one more time" spot down pat. He made just knocking him over an event unto itself and when a guy did it you were like "OKAY! This guy can beat Yoko!" The WWF did a great job protecting him as well, since only 2 guys slammed him his entire WWF career: Luger and Ahmed. Ahmed slamming him prior to Survivor Series 1995 gave Ahmed INSTANT credibility.

    ReplyDelete
  69. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 3:01 PM

    Yeah, that could've been something fun. Lawler weasels his way into the 8 man pay-per-view portion through a RAW qualifier and then cheats or relies on interference to get to the finals. He works the Philadelphia crowd into a riot on the mic and then Bret just proceeds to beat his ass for five or seven minutes and wins.

    ReplyDelete
  70. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 3:03 PM

    Well...he was Papa Shango so it's possible. It's too bad Vince wasn't on commentary by the time the Godfather came around because if someone was like "Wasn't this guy Kama?" then he could give his quip "ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION!"

    ReplyDelete
  71. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 3:06 PM

    But when he lost the feud at least he lost it in Savio's match in one of the best strap matches of all-time. He also beat Savio in the KOTR quarters that year and debuted the Stunner in that match.

    ReplyDelete
  72. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 3:07 PM

    Yeah, I'd love to hear Shane got on Austin's podcast and give his opinion about the company.

    ReplyDelete
  73. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 3:08 PM

    This show MIGHT have been redeemed if Bigelow had turned on Diesel in the main event tag team match. Bigelow as a face and as the odd man out of the Kliq was HORRIBLE. Look at that old footage and see how awkward he is when Diesel and Shawn are all buddy-buddy on screen. Bigelow turning heel again would've set up a SummerSlam match and Bigelow could've justified the turn by saying that he only aligned with Diesel so he could learn more about him and his weaknesses.


    Only problem is that Bigelow lost clean to a football player at WrestleMania, so credibility MIGHT have been a problem...

    ReplyDelete
  74. ATL2013December 31, 2013 at 3:25 PM

    Razor ended up just fine. The Mabel win sucked, but it didn't hurt Razor. I suspect that losing a finale to Michaels would have been OK and might have even worked as a catalyst for their 2nd Ladder match a couple months later at SummerSlam

    ReplyDelete
  75. BeardMoneyDecember 31, 2013 at 3:25 PM

    I don't get the whole "he lost to a football player" thing. Football players are elite athletes and LT was considered one of the best of the best. The PPV was sold on his name, so he had to win, but that really shouldn't have been such a black eye upon his career. Better booking in the aftermath could have easily kept him in contention.

    ReplyDelete
  76. BeardMoneyDecember 31, 2013 at 3:26 PM

    I might not have pitched my sarcasm hard enough.

    ReplyDelete
  77. ATL2013December 31, 2013 at 3:41 PM

    I lol'd

    ReplyDelete
  78. LSciscoDecember 31, 2013 at 5:45 PM

    Probably, but I think some guys didn't want to job to a guy that lost to a football player, even if it was LT. I didn't understand why Bigelow used his moonsault and flying headbutt in that match and had LT kick out of both of them. That seemed more devastating for his character than anything. Running some interference for LT from his All-Pro squad wouldn't have hurt Bigelow either.


    I remember going to a Thunder taping in 1999 in Lexington, Kentucky and Bigelow wrestled Meng and people got a loud "LT" chant going.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Michael KehmJanuary 2, 2014 at 8:22 AM

    A question to the real experts :-) :

    Why didn't they use guys like Owen Hart, British Bulldog or Lex Luger for the King of the Ring PPV? Why bother with Bob Holly or Roadie or Savio Vega?

    Bonus question: Why didn't they use Lex Luger, British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Bam Bam Bigelow, Sid, Yokozuna, Tatanka and so on for the even bigger Summer Slam?

    Compared to 96 or 97 the roster in 95 was still full of stars, but during the summer, they had more star power at the IYH events than at the big 5 events. Why?

    ReplyDelete

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