Modern wrestling fans complaining about lackluster WWE events should thank their lucky stars that it’s not 1995. A notably weak year for the World Wrestling Federation, this pre-Attitude Era nadir produced the 1995 King of the Ring pay-per-view, an event that many fans consider to be the worst WWE PPV of all time.
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However, fans should always challenge their long-held notions when it comes to such superlatives. After all, there’s also the 1999 King of the Ring PPV, which also has its share of detractors. So let’s take a look at both iterations of King of the Ring and talk about just why these two shows are considered the worst ever.
10 1995: Awful Lineup
WWF’s 1995 was a low point for the company for reasons like poor creative decisions and a surprisingly weak roster, and you can see both of those factors at play in the 1995 King of the Ring tournament.
The PPV started with the Quarterfinals, which had stars The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Yokozuna all get knocked out of the tournament for various reasons -- respectively, pinned after interference, a time-limit draw, and a count-out. Many fans consider, of all things, The Roadie vs. Bob Holly as the highlight of the tournament and the entire show.
9 1999: Short Matches
The Attitude Era was not exactly known for putting on lengthy, competitive matches, which feels like the main reason to watch a pro wrestling tournament, and the 1999 King of the Ring PPV is no different.
Most of the actual tournament matches on this show are ridiculously short, including the less-than-six-minute tournament final between Billy Gunn and X-Pac and a Hardy Boyz/Edge and Christian match that goes less than five minutes.
8 1995: Fans Revolted
A bad wrestling show is even worse when the crowd audibly hates it, and WWF had the misfortune of holding a 1995 PPV in Philadelphia, a city where ECW was building a reputation for putting on crazy, entertaining shows with good wrestling to boot.
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As a result, the crowd trashed the Mabel/Savio Vega final, chanting “ECW” throughout the whole thing. You know you’ve messed up when the fans want to be watching a completely different promotion.
7 1999: Overshadowed by Non-Tournament Matches
The tournament itself is largely considered a bust, but fans generally enjoyed the non-tournament matches at King of the Ring 1999. While short, the aforementioned tag match had some of the sparks the two teams would bring to their TLC matches the following year, and there’s a decent Undertaker/Rock WWF Title match.
Meanwhile, the fun, storyline-based main event had Steve Austin taking on both Shane and Vince McMahon in a ladder match for control of the company.
6 1995: The Non-Tournament Matches
King of the Ring 1995 features two non-tournament matchups, and neither of them are exactly must-see. First, there’s the Jerry Lawler/Bret Hart “Kiss My Foot” match, which culminates two-years of feuding and incorporates WWE’s love for juvenile humor, as Lawler had spent the build of the match making his foot as disgusting as possible.
The main event here is also not the KOTR match but an extremely “house show” tag match between Bam Bam Bigelow and Diesel taking on Sycho Sid and Tatanka.
5 1999: The DX Breakup Angle
It seems that the 1999 King of the Ring tournament was meant to set up Billy Gunn as a future singles star the way that previous KOTRs did for Steve Austin and others. However, the big DX breakup angle was happening at the same time, with all the non-Triple H members of the group taking part in the tournament.
While a storyline being part of the tournament is cool, the prominence of his faction probably didn’t help Billy Gunn break away as a singles star.
4 1995: The Failed Savio Vega Underdog Push
The 1995 King of the Ring tournament had an unexpected underdog story on their hands when Razor Ramon sustained an injury after advancing to the Quarterfinals. Razor’s kayfabe childhood friend Savio Vega stepped up to take his place and became the surprise protagonist of the tournament.
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Vega managed to overcome Yokozuna and The Roadie on his way up the bracket, but couldn’t best Mabel in the finals, killing the sudden momentum the character had. Maybe Vince should have pushed Savio Vega instead.
3 1999: A Forgettable King of the Ring
When it comes to the value of the King of the Ring, the aftermath is important to consider. Mabel is not considered a quality wrestler, but at least his win helped facilitate a push. DX was breaking up, so Billy Gunn beating X-Pac in the finals seemed to suggest a big singles push for Gunn, but his biggest effort was losing a “Kiss My Ass” match -- much more extreme than a “Kiss My Foot” match -- against The Rock at SummerSlam.
It wasn’t long before Gunn would find himself reunited with Road Dogg and his singles push was forgotten.
2 1995: Mabel’s Main Event Push
With his King of the Ring tournament win, Mabel became crowned King Mabel, as many KOTR winners often have, and received a huge singles push that culminated with a reviled WWF Title match at SummerSlam 1995 where Mabel legitimately injured Diesel with a dangerously performed sitdown splash.
From there, Mabel got into a feud with The Undertaker where he legitimately broke ‘Taker’s face, which resulted in his eventual firing. He’d later return to the company as Viscera and Big Daddy V but was never a main eventer.
1 1999: This was During the Attitude Era
Say what you will about King of the Ring 1995, but it was at least a weak PPV in a weak era. King of the Ring 1999 happened during the Attitude Era, which makes it stand out a lot more given how much great stuff happened in late-1990s WWE.
The most memorable thing to happen in this PPV was the finish of the main event, and not in a good way -- a mysterious figure raised the briefcase in the ladder match so Steve Austin couldn’t reach it, and WWE never explicitly revealed who it was. So all fans got out of the event was a big unsolved mystery.
