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Kellen and Tom discuss the biggest match of the weekend, and it never aired on television or pay-per-view. After months of buildup, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels finally throw down backstage in the locker room, for real, before Raw goes live on air. Oh, and on the actual wrestling side of things, there's the King of the Ring, Steve Austin v Shawn Michaels, and The Nation of Domination implodes. [ 4:34:42 || 128.0 MB ]

 

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While listening to this episode, I got to thinking: Who has had the most success off of a King of the Ring victory?

From Wiki, the results are:

EventDateCityVenueWinner
King of the Ring (1985)July 8, 1985Foxborough, MassachusettsSullivan StadiumDon Muraco
King of the Ring (1986)July 14, 1986Harley Race
King of the Ring (1987)September 4, 1987Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence Civic CenterRandy Savage
King of the Ring (1988)October 16, 1988Ted DiBiase
King of the Ring (1989)October 14, 1989Tito Santana
King of the Ring (1991)September 7, 1991Bret Hart
King of the Ring (1993)June 13, 1993Dayton, OhioNutter Center
King of the Ring (1994)June 19, 1994BaltimoreBaltimore ArenaOwen Hart
King of the Ring (1995)June 25, 1995PhiladelphiaThe SpectrumMabel
King of the Ring (1996)June 23, 1996MilwaukeeMECCA ArenaStone Cold Steve Austin
King of the Ring (1997)June 8, 1997Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence Civic CenterTriple H
King of the Ring (1998)June 28, 1998PittsburghPittsburgh Civic ArenaKen Shamrock
King of the Ring (1999)June 27, 1999Greensboro, North CarolinaGreensboro ColiseumBilly Gunn
King of the Ring (2000)June 25, 2000BostonFleet CenterKurt Angle
King of the Ring (2001)June 24, 2001East Rutherford, New JerseyContinental Airlines ArenaEdge
King of the Ring (2002)June 23, 2002Columbus, OhioNationwide ArenaBrock Lesnar
King of the Ring (2006)May 21, 2006Phoenix, Arizona[a 1]America West ArenaBooker T
King of the Ring (2008)April 21, 2008Greenville, South CarolinaBI-LO CenterWilliam Regal
King of the Ring (2010)November 29, 2010Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaWells Fargo CenterSheamus
King of the Ring (2015)April 28, 2015Moline, Illinois[a 2]iWireless CenterBad News Barrett

Of those, I would say the only ones we should really look at are:

  • Randy Savage
  • Bret Hart
  • Steve Austin
  • Triple H
  • Edge

Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar didn't need it; they would have soared to the moon regardless, and winning KOTR was more of a formality than anything else. Whereas, the other guys needed it as a stepping stone.

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My official list

3. Booker T- Gave a platform for him to have a main event heel run and a well remembered character. Probably the best of the dumb actual king gimmicks.

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin- First major accomplishment and a statement made. Little initial traction but without it who knows if he faces Bret at Survivor Series?

1. Owen Hart- A key accomplishment that Owen held up to prove he was every bit as good as Bret. Back when the prestige was still high winning this was a big deal and solidified Owen as the dark mirror of Bret heading into Summerslam.

Hon mentions

William Regal was on track to be the best before he failed his test. Dude took the classic King gimmick to wonderful dark power crazed places.

Kurt Angle- underrated amongst his other accolades. He actually got his first main event at Summerslam coming off this.

 

Edited by Stavros
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It's Austin by miles.

Savage was made before then.  Bret's first win was untelevised, and by the second he was already the guy.  Edge got over from the Angle feud and then the Lita stuff.

We know where Hunter's push came from.

Edit: I'd agree mostly with Tom.

Edited by Guest
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I'd echo that insofar that Owen made the most of his win whereas Austin would've been pushed regardless of the Curtain Call granting him his opportunity over HHH.

On that note, the audio of HHH's interview genuinely annoyed me on the grounds that cutting insider promos is hugely self-serving and doesn't help the product in any way. And yet, 1997 WWF seems to verbally fellate Michaels wherever possible despite his overt lack of professionalism, whilst obviously HHH was...allowed to do this for the rest of his career & handed the reins of the company.

I've no qualms about the actual ability of HBK/HHH, but fuck their self-serving power plays.

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Oh god. 

Firstly, Doink makeup isn't hard. Of all the disappointing things about that doink I think that's the worst, the laziness if using a mask.

Secondly, so I assume Jon is now working a gimmick where he's a blend of great IC champions each night. This week- What if Jeff Jarrett was the Mountie. Next week, what if The One Billy Gunn was the Honky Tonk man. Actually that might work.

Edited by Stavros
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