We’re heading back Into the Vault for WWE King of the Ring ‘93. Sometimes when I do the reviews of tournaments, I know the tournament layout and who won—only to be sideswiped by a non-tournament match. This show has three of them and two of them are important but all three are necessary. Let’s get into WWE King of the Ring ‘93!
Skip These Matches
When it comes to a tournament, I hate to say “Skip these matches.” If the tournament is on one show, I usually go through them all even if I know all the matches aren’t worth the watch. In the case of KOTR ‘93, Perfect vs. Hughes and Bam Bam vs. Duggan can be skipped. Actually, you could just let them run in the background.
Also skippable is the 8-man tag bout. In the structure of the card, it’s necessary so that people aren’t burned out on tournament matches and title matches. I mean, looking at the card, this match comes after three matches that were either nearing 15 minutes or over 15.
You can skip this one or let it run in the background. You’re missing nothing from this one—even if the Headshrinkers and Steiners are cool teams. Also, you can skip HBK vs. Crush. Shawn Michaels had really come into his own by this point and really 90s HBK is my favorite. I don’t think anyone really wanted to see him defend the IC title against Crush.
If you’re a Crush fan—all 21 of you—watch this match. You’d enjoy it. If you’re indifferent towards Crush, skip this with authority. It wasn’t terrible but it was a RAW main event.
You Could Probably Skip These
Tatanka vs. Luger. I mean…it wasn’t a bad match at all but I didn’t need 15 minutes of Tatanka and Lex Luger. Both were on the rise in WWE at the time with Tatanka still in the middle of his undefeated streak and Lex being a big signing. Still, didn’t need 15 minutes of both and WWE didn’t want to give either that loss so we got a draw. Huh.
I try not to say “Skip the World title match” as well. Again, not dreadful but not essential. Yokozuna could move for his frame and did put in good matches. Hogan’s best is against giants and monsters. This was a good fit and if you enjoy both and like these kinds of Hogan bouts this was probably like peanut butter and chocolate for you.
Watch These Matches
All the Bret Hart matches? Watch them. I’m not saying this as a big Bret Hart fan but these are all very enjoyable clashes. Bret showed up and he showed up to wrestle damn it. All three matches are strong but Bret vs. Mr. Perfect is the prize. That’s what you really want to watch. The other good thing about Bret Hart taking King of the Ring is that we got that fun feud against Jerry Lawler going forward. Wonderful.
Verdict for WWE King of the Ring ‘93
Overall, this was a really good show. It was set up how a 90s card should’ve been set up for a tournament. You get your quarter-finals out the way, pad the middle with some non-tournament action, make sure at least one of them was worth watching, then get to what everyone wanted to see.
The booking here was accelerated by that time limit draw between Narcissus and The Native American. What a nickname for Tatanka. Seriously. That aside, it ended with a pretty good main event and final and had a great semi-final tournament bout. Check it out on the WWE Network if you’ve got a slow day or time to burn.
RATING: 7.5/10
