[1996-06-23-WWF-King of the Ring] Goldust vs Ahmed Johnson

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

We see the last few minutes, with Goldust trying mouth to mouth on Ahmed after a sleeper:

 

Owen: "He should pin him first, and ... uh ... then blow mouth to mouth into him."

 

Ahmed wins the IC title and seemed to be someone who might get over big at the time.

[Bob Morris]

Putting the I-C title on Ahmed was the right call, even if he did have trouble staying healthy and tended to work too stiff with other wrestlers. The fans were very much into his character.

 

Had it not been for the injuries and other issues, Ahmed might very well have been pushed to the WWF heavyweight title.

[El-P]

Ahmed was over like crazy. He had the look, the intensity. An Ultimate Warrior 2.0. He could have become big. Well that's what he became, as seen in his short WCW stint later, but that's not what I meant.

[Zenjo]

I'd forgotten how strongly they were pushing Ahmed for a couple of months in the Summer of '96. He had a great image and presence, but that was about it.

[fakeplastictrees]

I just finished watching KOTR 96 (amongst other things) and Ahmed nearly hurts himself legit about 2 times in this match. A ton of disgusting stuff from Dustin this match which lead to a satisfying end. In an interview Ahmed says that Goldust played a trick on him and really kissed him (Goldust not kissing his own hand as planned). Ahmed then claims that when he made his comeback Goldust didn't fight back for a reason. That statement has always been interesting to me because Ahmed is clearly breaking kayfabe but then merges right back into kayfabe to prove how 'macho' he is. Perhaps Goldust didn't 'fight back' because it was the final stretch of the match and he wasn't suppose to?

[PeteF3]

When was that interview? Are we sure that's what Ahmed actually said? With Ahmed you don't know if he's talking about the finish or giving a thesis on the deeper meanings of Finnegan's Wake or something.

 

Owen isn't impressed by Ahmed's victory, as he trenchantly points out that he was beaten and only revived by Goldust's mouth-to-mouth.

[soup23]

Ahmed was over but man does it feel a little disappointing with what has happened to Goldust in a few months. He was a character with such uniqueness and it feels like we are foregoing that at this junction for the next muscled up fanboy from Vince.

[Exposer]

Ahmed nearly wiping out the doormen in his entrance is one of the great wrestling gifs of all time. I enjoyed the opening minutes of this with Ahmed sending Goldust into a 360 bump off a clothesline then almost killing himself on a hands free dive to the floor. A few minutes later he tries to murder Goldy by throwing the stairs at his head. Goldust drops the stairs on Ahmed's back & works him over. The match stinks after that with Goldust sitting in holds & caressing Ahmed. The mind games stuff does lead to a hot finish which I thought was fun. The Pearl River Plunge is a great finisher. Cool moment backstage with Ahmed celebrating with champagne & the rest of the face locker room.

[tim]

Disappointed in Vince's reaction to the mouth-to-mouth compared to the RAW angle. Huge pop for Johnson's comeback was cool.