I recently watched King of the Ring 1994.

We’ve got our tournament, plus Bret Hart vs. Diesel in a champ vs. champ match, plus the tag team belts being defended, plus a grudge match between Roddy Piper and Jerry Lawler!

Vince McMahon sits this one out with neck surgery. We’ve got Gorilla Monsoon and Randy Savage on commentary, along with local football legend Art Donovan. Art Donovan as a wrestling announcer. Boy, I don’t even know where to begin. His announcing is...something. It’s too easy to pick on his commentary, so I won’t bother too much. This guy has clearly never seen a professional wrestling match in his life, and whoever thought it would be a good idea to hire him for this gig should be fired, except that it was probably Vince McMahon’s idea. One of my favorite Art quotes, when Bam Bam had Razon in a Torture Rack: “Gorilla, is he dead?”. And he was being serious. He mostly just asked inane questions throughout the broadcast like somebody's clueless grandpa and also kept asking how much everybody weighed. Honestly, I found it a bit distracting to have to listen to him. Well, the silver lining is that this debacle apparently helped convince McMahon to hire back Jim Ross.

Unfortunately, this will be the last PPV for Joey Morella, as he dies in a car accident falling asleep at the wheel driving back from a show a couple of weeks after this. They say that his father, Gorilla Monsoon, was never the same after that.

Going back to Art Donovan, he was 70 years old at the time of this event and it’s incredible (and sad) to think of how many wrestlers (and refs, and commentators) at this PPV he would outlive, even though he was considerably older than all of them.

They push the use of the term “New Generation” a lot on this PPV.

Unlike last year when Bret Hart was declared #1 seed and didn’t have to wrestle in a qualifying match, all 8 wrestlers in this one had to win a qualifying match on either Raw or Superstars.


First match is Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) vs. Razor Ramon.

Razon wins in a little over 8 minutes when Bam Bam goes to the top for a moonsault and Razor grabs him and powerbombs him. This was a good, back and forth match, with both guys getting in some offencse and Bam Bam working Razor’s back, as he wasn’t going to get someone Bam Bam’s size up for the Razor’s Edge anyway. As with all of the tournament matches here, this thing clocked in at under 10 minutes.

Razor advances to the semifinals to fac the winner of the next match.


Next up in the tournament is Irwin R. Schyster vs. Mabel (w/Oscar).

IRS wins in about five and a half minutes when Mabel goes to the middle rope and IRS shakes the rope, knocking him off, then IRS covers him (with his arm on the rope, though oddly none of the commentators mentioned that) for the win. This was not a very good match, but at least it was relatively short.

IRS will face Razor in the semifinal.


Next tournament match is Owen Hart vs. Tatanka.

Tatanka blindsides Owen before the bell, in a heelish move. This was a good match with a lot of nearfalls that got the crowd into it (the crowd was great throughout this PPV, by the way) and Owen wins in about 8 and a half minutes by sitting on Tatanka during Tatanka’s sunset flip attempt and hooking his legs. Another example of Owen being clever and coming up with different ways to win. This was a fun, face paced match.

Owen advances to the semis.


Final first round match is The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Jeff Jarrett.

This was another fun, face paced match with good storytelling. The kid missed a corner charge, smashing his knee. Double J attacked the knee a couple of times, then went for the figure four, but Kid grabs him during the figure four attempt and rolls him up into a small package for the win. Another good plucky underdog win for the Kid. After the match, Jarrett hits 3 piledrivers on Kid then goes up top for two or three elbows off the middle rope, and the Kid’s ability to be able to compete in the next round after that beatdown is in question.

1-2-3 Kid advances to the semis vs. Owen Hart – if he’s physically able!


Next is the WWF Title Match: Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels) vs. Bret Hart (c) (w/ Jim Neidhart).



Diesel is Intercontinental champs, and I don’t understand why they keep saying he can own both belts. When Warrior won the WWF championship while Intercontinental champ, he had to vacate the Intercontinental, which makes sense, and I don’t know why that wouldn’t be the case here. Of course, the WWF never acknowledges that event anyway.

I saw a “Greaseball” sign being held up during this match, which I assume is a reference to Bret Hart. Pretty harsh! Overall though, the crowd was VERY much behind Bret here.

So anyhoo, at the King’s Court a few weeks ago, Diesel, with help from Shawn Michaels and Jerry Lawler, gave Bret a serious beatdown after a Diesel jackknife (powerbomb) so Bret has said that he will have a family member present at ringside for this match to offset the presence of Michaels. A lot of stupid guesses as to who that might be, but of course it’s his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart.

Excellent match here. Good storytelling with Bret working the leg to set up for his sharpshooter and Diesel working the back to set up for his powerbomb. Bret made Diesel look good here (surprise surprise). Diesel wins by DQ (after nearly 23 miutes) when Neidhart comes in an clotheslines Diesel after Diesel jackknifed Bret Hart. So Diesel wins the match but Neidhart’s actions did save the belt for Bret Hart since you can’t win the title on a DQ. Neidhart then walks off. As he does, Diesel and Michaels give Hart a serious beatdown, and the announcers are wondering where Neidhart is. Later on in the show, Bret goes looking for Neidhart, but can’t find him. The ending could have been better, but it did leave open the question of whether or not Bret could have kicked out of the Jackknife, so that set up a future rematch.

I read that Diesel wrestled this match with a torn groin. If that is true, kudos to him!


Next match is a King of the Ring Semifinal: Razor Ramon vs. Irwin R. Schyster

Razor wins with his Razor’s Edge (after just a couple kicks to the stomach) in a little over 5 minutes. An okay match, but nothing special. They’re keeping these matches short since the two guys in the final will need to wrestle 3 times. That’s a shortcoming of this format.


Next match is a King of the Ring Semifinal: Owen Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid.

Frankly, this was my favorite match of the entire PPV. It was under 4 minutes, but possibly the best under 4 minute WWF/WWE match of all time. My kind of match – very fast paced with lots of arial stuff plus some good mat wrestling thrown in. They did a good job of building up drama and it actually seemed longer than it was because so much happened. This match was so great that these two wouldn’t meet again in a big match until 1998. Sigh.

Owen started this match with a dropkick on the Kid, who hadn’t even entered the ring yet, but unfortunately, since the WWF now has the wrestlers enter the ring in a darkened arena, with some fancy spotlights, you really couldn’t see that dropkick. A shame.


Next is the Tag Team Title Match: The Headshrinkers (c) (w/ Afa & Lou Albano) vs. Crush & Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette)

The Headshrinkers retain the title in a little over 9 minutes when Fatu superkicks Crush and covers for the pin. This match wasn’t necessarily great (some botches in there) but it was better than I expected. Lex Luger came out during the match and distracted Crush, which played a role in the outcome. In fact, they had the camera on Luger during that finishing superkick, so that you could barely see that finishing move. Not good, WWF. They kept mentioning that Crush cost Luger the win in the King of the Ring qualifying match but they never mention that Luger retaliated by doing the same thing to Crush. Luger had been feuding with Mr Perfect but then Perfect got injured so Crush is now the guy with the Luger feud.

The crowd started a “USA” chant in this match between two Samoans, vs. a Hawaiian and a “Japanese” guy. Annoying and ignorant.

There was one point in this match where Yoko came in an illegally leg dropped one of the Samoans and the ref pretended not to see it (since it should have been a DQ) but it was obvious to me that he did see it. Whoops. I guess that’s what they mean by a ref being out of position.


Next we get the KOTR Owen Hart vs. Razor Ramon.

I find it strange that the Piper-Lawler match goes on last rather than this. That really doesn’t make any sense to me. The final of the tournament should be main event, plus it would give the guys more time to rest. Really odd.

Anyway, Owen Hart wins the match, and the tournament, after Jim Neidhart came out when Razor had been backdropped onto the floor and gave Razor a couple of cheapshots while Owen had the ref distracted, then rolled him back into the ring so that Owen could just do a Randy Savage elbow drop off the top rope for the win. The match was good, but not great. Both guys were probably tired, so under the circumstances I can’t complain. The final was only about 6 and a half minutes, which is pretty short for a final match. Maybe that’s why this wasn’t the main event? More time to this match would have been nice.

So we see that Neidhart was actually an Owen guy all along and only helped Bret to make sure that Bret would retain the title so that Owen could win the title for him when Owen won the king of the ring. I liked the ending where Neidhart comes out, to the surprise of all, and attacks Razor and we finally see why he disappeared after Bret’ match. Pretty cool betrayal.

In the ceremony to crown Owen as the new King of the Ring, Owen was such an awesome jerk here. I loved the coronation, Also, Neidhart was by his side for this. Owen now wants to be known as the King of Harts. Cool.


The main event is “Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler.

I find it odd that this is the main event, but I guess they wanted to send the fans home happy. Whatever. I’d rather get sent home with a really good match. Anyway, these two have been feuding, with Lawler insulting Piper and also insulting the kids at the children’s hospital that Piper has been visiting. Piper has promised his winnings to that children’s hospital and Lawler says the kids will get nothing because Piper will lose. The odd thing about this feud is that it’s been done remotely. These guys have not met even once. Odd way to build up a feud. In a recent edition of the King’s Court, Lawler got a very skinny kid to wear a kilt and Piper tee shirt and impersonate Piper (and his Piper impersonation was spot on) then he made the kid kiss his feet and crawl out of the ring. He pretended that that was really Piper. Pipers rebuttal was that Lawler took advantage of and humiliated this poor kid and that he would find him and make amends. Sure enough, Piper comes out to this match accompanied by that kid, after Lawler came out first and grabbed the mic and insulted the crowd as well as Piper.

As far as the match itself, it was okay I guess. I mean frankly, it wasn’t all that great though these are two legends. It probably would have played better 10 or 15 years earlier. Anyway, it was mostly punches and kicks and the kid getting involved a bit and Lawler went after the kid several times and when Piper tried to save him Lawler took advantage. Piper had gotten the early advantage acting rathe heelish, throwing his kilt over Lawler then pummeling him before the bell, then shortly thereafter outside the ring he held Lawler so the kid could poke him in the eye. I’m not sure why that wasn’t a DQ nor do I know how those guys weren’t both counted out during that segment. I will say, Piper looked ripped here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in such good shape. Anyway, Piper wins the match (surprise surprise) when he knocked Lawler off the ropes then hit a belly to back suplex and covered for the win I n a sloppy looking finish.


Overall, though the booking here was quite good. I don’t know who the booker was for this, but good job overall. It thought it funny that they’re pushing this “New Generation” thing and even have a commercial mocking older wrestlers, yet their main event was two guys in their 40s/ Go figure.

Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good show overall. Bret/Diesel was really good, all of the Owen Hart matches were good, Razor and 1-2-3 Kid had good performances and I enjoyed Owen’s antics at the coronation ceremony. The main event wasn’t very good, and some of the tournament matches weren’t get good (especially IRS-Mabel) and many of the tournament matches were too short, but overall, a rather decent show.

I thought most of the bouts were solid, but your points are good ones.

Wonder who Rhodes’ opponent will be at the next PPV…

On King of the Ring ‘94, dbutler69 , I agree with most of your review.

It is one of my favourite WWF PPVs of that era (Art Donovan aside, who was as bad as Rob Bartlett on Monday Night Raw). I must admit, though, I wish some of the tournaments hadn’t been so dead set on babyface vs heel finals. I’d have been intrigued by seeing, say, Bam Bam Bigelow VS IRS here, or Owen Hart vs. Jeff Jarrett. But what we did get was good, although the running times were too short.

This isn’t the best Bret/Diesel match, but it was pretty good. At the time, I did wonder what Neidhart was up to. It was good to see him back, but when he came out during the Razor/Owen match, and perhaps I was naive, I expected he was out to help Razor and confront Owen.

The Owen victory was a good one, but imagine if Razor had won. Imagine him taking his toothpick out as he drank the royal goblet.

Oh, and I was also expecting Jerry Lawler to show up. After all, he did consider himself the true king.

I was thinking about how Lex Luger’s stock had plummeted after WM X. To not even make the card here was frustrating. And where was Doink? 

As a kid, I expected Tatanka to win, it felt like he needed a big victory after 2 years of service to the WWF.

The tag bout was intriguing, and at least fresh. It was also a rare occasion to see The Head Shrinkers as underdogs, which they rarely were.

Now, to the main event (which was okay, I guess): at the time, it felt like the most random main event the WWF could have come up with. Why? Why indeed. I mean, Piper hadn’t wrestled since WM VIII, and as far as I know, he had no prior history with Lawler. It honestly felt like someone at the WWF had come up with two random names and that is what we got. It made Boss Man/Bigelow at RR ‘93 look like a meticulously planned arc. Random doesn’t even begin to describe it!

I did read years ago that with Hogan/Flair planned for Bash at the Beach ‘94, which took place a month after this PPV, the WWF wanted to get a “legends match” in first. Is there any truth to that? It’s the most logical explanation anyone has ever come up with. Given the “New Generation” hype/advertising at the time, it just felt odd that neither the KOTR final, nor the Bret/Diesel bout, went on last. So while there was a wild and fun aspect to Piper/Lawler, it’s perhaps the one WWF bout where I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to learn just why it was booked.

If there is truth to the “legends idea” of beating Hogan/Flair, well it would still be silly. While some fans did enjoy the WWF and WCW (I was one of them!), not everything is a competition. Did the WWF doing a “legends bout” a month before WCW mean anything? Did it win them any accolades? Were there any bragging rights? I doubt it. I mean, Piper vs. Lawler was one thing, Hogan vs. Flair was another, I doubt Piper/Lawler had any WWF fans saying, “You know, I got my legends match, so I won’t buy the Hogan/Flair bout.”

It may just be a theory, but it’s the only one I’ve heard that makes some sort of sense.

Overall, I enjoyed this, even better than KOTR ‘93, if I’m honest. I’d say it’s one of the most solid and enjoyable PPVs of the New Generation Era.

If anyone has any insight into why Piper/Lawler was booked, please let us know!

I’d probably agree with all of that. Piper vs. Lawler in, say, 1984 would have been a very different match.

I wish he hadn’t wrestled in 2003. That bout he had against Mister America at Judgement Day 2003 was short but embarrassing. I’d even heard a rumour that Piper vs Orton - and I mean Bob, not Randy! - had been planned for a 2005 PPV. We all love nostalgia, but not sure how much nostalgic fun there’d have been in Piper vs. Bob Orton Jr. in 2005!

The 1996-1998 stuff could be fun in a certain sort of way, but, yes, he seemed done after ‘92.

I wish he had stayed with the WWF more, as much as I like his films in a cult way. Would have been great to see him at the inaugural Survivor Series or WrestleMania IV. Or a feud with Shawn Michaels (they had a match on TV, in early 1992, but it ended inconclusively).

It is bizarre how the mix scripted stuff and real life. I can’t take a journalist seriously when the first question might be “Congrats on your victory, how are you?” and the second question might be “How do you feel WWE has booked you?”

ps Kentucky Fried Rasslin was a column by Scott Bowden, at Kevin Smith's old Movie Poopshoot site, which morphed into its own website and podcast. Bowden grew up in Memphis and was friends with Brian Christopher and Kevin Lawler, Jerry's sons and they did a backyard wrestling thing. Bowden ended up working as a referee, then a manager in Memphis, in the latter days, claiming to be related to Florida football coach Bobbie Bowden and basically doing the rich kid manager gimmick, though everyone knew it was phony, even more than Cornette, in Louisville. Bowden passed away in 2020, at age 48, in Los Angeles. It was rather sad, as besides Cornette, he was the best insight into Memphis wrestling history.