SlyGuy21
1st Match: Marc Mero vs Stone Cold Steve Austin. A great start to the show, Mero keeps the crowd in his corner, while Austin has them gunning for him. Good face and heel work here, also Owen Hart is on commentary the whole show, wonder if that'll come into play later. Austin gets his lip busted pretty bad here, and had to actually get stitches immediately after the match. Great stuff here to start. Rating: 4/5 2nd Match: Jake Roberts vs Vader. The match is less than 5 minutes and has Vader get DQ'd so Roberts can move on in the tournament. Roberts was doing an underdog story with this tournament, and that can work, especially with a guy who had his fair share of demons, but the DQ ending to this is lazy. I realize there's no way Roberts could've beaten Vader 1-on-1, but the match is short and somewhat entertaining. There have been worse matches that are less than 5 minutes. After the match, Roberts gets his ribs destroyed by Vader in a beat down, don't worry, that'll come into play later. Rating: 3/5 3rd Match: The Godwinns vs The Smokin' Gunns, WWF Tag Team Championship. An alright tag team match, if anything it benefits from being 10 minutes long, but it has a constant pace, and the crowd's into it. Probably the weakest match of the night, but still very watchable. Rating: 3/5 4th Match: Jerry Lawler vs The Ultimate Warrior. This match is also less than 5 minutes, but watching Lawler lose is always fun. Apparently this would be Warrior's last WWF PPV appearance because he no-showed a bunch of house shows after this and then went to WCW for awhile. His run here was alright, a lot better than what Renegade did the year before, but it was more due to nostalgia than anything. Rating: 3/5 5th Match: The Undertaker vs Mankind. A pretty brutal match. Hard-hitting, there are chair shots, drops onto concrete, and this was just the beginning of their feud. Paul Bearer accidentally hits Taker with the urn, getting Foley the win, but I have a feeling there's more to come from this rivalry. Another great match on the show. Rating: 4/5 6th Match: Goldust vs Ahmed Johnson, WWF Intercontinental Championship. Another solid match, not as good as the one before it, but very good. Goldust is of course creepy as hell, and Johnson's reactions to him are great, but Ahmed as a whole is just fun to watch. Good back and forth action, and Johnson gets a clean win for his first title. Rating: 3.5/5 7th Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Jake Roberts. This is also less than 5 minutes, but they told a great story with it. A battered and beaten Jake Roberts vs the young and aggressive Steve Austin. Gorilla Monsoon almost calls the match off, but Roberts wants to continue, to try and win the big one, but Austin crushes that dream with a stunner. I might be hyping this match up more than it deserves, but I think it's booked really well storyline wise. After the match, Austin cuts the "Austin 3:16" promo, and gets shot to the moon. I also love how he doesn't take the crown, or sit on the chair, he wins, makes an awesome speech, and then leaves. Simple, effective, Austin. Rating: 4/5 8th Match: Shawn Michaels vs The British Bulldog, WWF Championship. A lot better than their match at last month's IYH. Their last match was an OK Bulldog match, this is a great Michaels match. Michaels get a lot more offense, and there are some great spots and close three-counts. The only problem the match has is the ending being overbooked like crazy, with two refs, and Owen pulling one of them out to stop the count, but the count continues, so it was pointless anyway. It's weird. But Michaels wins, and there's no double pin finish like last show, so it's not that big of a negative. A very good match to end the show. Rating: 4.5/5 Final Rating: 7 out of 10. While the show's mostly remembered for Austin 3:16, the rest of the show holds up really well. Every match here is at least watchable, and sometimes that's all you need for a great show.
BobbyUK
Here are the matches . . .Semi final match - 'Wildman' Marc Mero v 'Stone cold' Steve Austin: A technical start turns into a fast pace as Mero gets the hurricanrana. They slow things down with arm wringers and I think Austin gets overzealous with his Lou Thesz press. Highlights include Mero's timed butt shot from the turnbuckle into Austin, a Mero somersault plunge to the outside followed by a dive through the ropes and a power bomb by Austin that ends up a stun gun on the ropes. It's the first time on PPV Austin hit's the Stone Cold Stunner for the pin-fall. Austin's mouth bleeds about three quarters of the way through the match. 7/10 Jake 'the Snake' Roberts v Vader: I never liked the idea of Roberts finding God as Roberts always danced with the devil even as a face. This match isn't much as most of it is Roberts bouncing off Vader in one way or another. Roberts lands the DDT but Vader grabs the ref getting disqualified. After the match, Vader gives Roberts one heck of a beating and has to go and get his ribs taped up. Not much wrestling-wise but it furthers the story that 41 year old Roberts (we will never be allowed to forget his age during the PPV) is an underdog and Vader is a complete monster. 2/10 Godwins v Smokin' Gunns for the tag titles: The only person of interest here is Sunny who probably never looked better. The Godwins come out with 'Hillbilly' Jim carrying goat kids (even though they are pig farmers). Most of the match is taken up by a beat down on Henry that seems to last forever. Eventually he makes the tag and, about half a minute later, comes out full of life to do a double-team Irish whip move showing poor ring psychology. In fact, after watching all that with Henry it is Phinneas who gets pinned via Bart's boot and the Gunns retain the titles. Watch in fast forward if need be. 4/10 Ultimate Warrior v Jerry 'The King' Lawler: Lawler spends more time insulting the fans as he walks to the ring than he does wrestling though he does have some great lines: "Is that your head or did your neck throw up?" "It's girls like you that turn me into people like Goldust." The fun stops when the wrestling gets underway as most of the match is spent watching the Warrior get choked out. Warrior no-sells Lawler's pile-driver and hits him with clotheslines and a shoulder-block for the pin - not even a gorilla press slam or a splash in sight. Both wrestlers' work-rate at this time was none existent and the Warrior would leave the WWF for good after this PPV. 1/10 Undertaker v Mankind: This is the PPV debut of the famous Mankind v Undertaker feud and it's a nice little taster of things to come. The match actually starts with Undertaker on the turnbuckle and lays the boom on Mankind from the start. The best parts of the match happen outside of the ring with moves involving Mankind whacking Undertaker's face while propped against the steel steps and Undertaker's stiff chair-shot to Mankind's head. The match ends when manager Paul Bearer accidentally hits Undertaker over the head with the urn allowing Mankind to slap on the mandible claw. 6/10 Ahmed Johnson and Goldust for the Intercontinental title: Ahmed looks strong as he smacks Goldust across the steps and then removes them to drop them on his back. Marlena looks absolutely bored with everything that is going on around her. Goldust works on Ahmed's back and then attempts to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation which makes Ahmed go crazy giving the spine buster and Pearl River Plunge to Goldust before the pin to become new Intercontinental champion. 5/10 Final - Jake 'The Snake' Roberts v 'Stone cold' Steve Austin: Austin goes after Jake's ribs like an animal and Jake sells his injuries in a very convincing way. Austin starts tearing open Jake's bandages and president Gorilla Monsoon comes down the ring to ask Jake if he wants to go on. Jake does but falls foul to the Stunner. Austin is King of the Ring 1996. 1/10Austin's famous interview at the end was good but not as ground-breaking as everybody makes it out to be. He says; "Talk about your Psalms, talk about your John 3:16, Austin 3:16 says I just kicked your ass." If he were the first to swear on WWF TV (Warrior used the same term just before King of the Ring which is played back on the PPV) and used that line to conclude his interview he would have made the whole thing more effective. Regardless, for the first time Austin ended with "and that's the bottom line 'cause Stone Cold said so".Shawn Michaels v British Bulldog for the World title (guest referee - Mr Perfect): Monsoon is well used in this PPV as he appears again to state that Mr Perfect is the outside referee as Earl Hebner is the inside referee. A great fast-paced match full of spots and nice reversals including a Michaels hurricanranna on the outside, Bulldog gorilla pressing Michaels to the outside, Michaels twirling crucifix for a 2 count, a Bulldog surfboard turning into a pin attempt and Michaels reversing a belly-to-back suplex for a cross body pinning position. The highlight is a Bulldog superplex which he actually lets go of! A great match that ends with Michaels hitting a poorly executed Sweet Chin Music for the pin. Brilliant action all the way through. 8/10 This event is pretty good mostly with a strong storyline running through it. It will be forever known for making 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.
Big Movie Fan
King of the Ring 1996 was a fairly good event but I felt that the undercard matches were great where as the tournament matches were pretty average.The tournament finalists were Marc Mero, Vader, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Steve Austin-the matches were nothing special and a couple of them were far too short to be good matches.The undercard was great. The Undertaker battled his foe Makind in a fantastic match (the Undertaker and Mankind had one of the best feuds of 1996). The Ultimate Warrior battered Jerry "The King" Lawler to a pulp in a short match. I thought the Ultimate Warrior was a fantastic character in the WWF.The main event pitted Shawn Michaels and the late British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. These two always had good chemistry in the ring and they assembled a fantastic match which was much better than their mediocre match the previous month at In Your House 8.All in all, a great event.
