[1994-06-16-WWF-King of the Ring] Owen Hart vs Razor Ramon

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

There are quite a few spots that aren't quite connecting in the opening minutes, and you can see that both of them are a little frustrated. I think they wanted to have a good match, but they didn't at all. The Neidhart turn got over though.

 

Ray Rougeau loves to speak to Bret at inappropriate moments!

[Gregor]

You've watched three full matches from this pay-per-view, and you haven't mentioned Art Donovan once. Give us something.

[Loss]

I know, I know. I got nothin'.

[Kevin Ridge]

Pettingill completely ignores Donavan is out there at this point. This moment is great with Owen following up his brother Bret by winning the King of the Ring. Too bad they weren’t able to deliver a high quality match in the finals. Anvil shows up and takes out Razor. Hart Attack! So Neidhart’s real purpose was to keep the title on Bret as he is firmly in Owen's corner now.

[Exposer]

The match wasn't very good but The Anvil has now joined up with Owen which pisses the crowd off. The angle was well down throughout the night I think but this match should have been better.

[soup23]

Hearing Art again made me seek out youtube and thankfully there is a twelve minute video of his greatness on this PPV. God only knows how frustrated Randy and Gorilla were at the end of the night. The story of the Anvil turn was actually really clever but the match here didn't deliver and was disappointing given it was one of Owen's showcase moments.

[flyonthewall2983]

Pretty sure you have the date wrong for this show.

[PeteF3]

Monsoon seriously picked Mabel to win this? That's crazy talk!

 

I forgot about the one thing they attempted to directly involve Art Donovan with, that he was supposed to be in Razor Ramon's corner (figuratively, I mean) the whole night. Also, incidentally, I'm missing all the talk and emphasis on round-by-round time limits from 1993. Knowing about Jim Ross' recent podcast comments that was surely his doing. There's not much chemistry between these two, and the match is a disappointment. I don't think it was ever in Razor to wrestle three times in a night. Naturally Gorilla completely shits all over the concept of Owen doing an abdominal stretch on Razor. Before the match even has a chance to go anywhere, Neidhart is out and it ends. Probably for the best, but I think they had something greater in mind for this match, but as much as I like the Neidhart turn Owen comes off as a real chump, since the whole match was a Razor shine sequence and a screw finish. Hart Attack after the match! Oh, I marked out for that.

 

Bret's shellshocked about Neidhart's actions. Jack Tunney is wheeled out for an increasingly rare live appearance for the coronation ceremony. Owen gives him the brush-off so that the only family member he can trust can crown him. Holy shit, a New Foundation reference! Didn't see that one coming.

 

I dunno, there's something strangely fascinating about this entire show. It's a very, very odd combination of horrible, chaotic production by a reeling, turbulent company...with some excellent wrestling and decent booking. With shit-tons of "New Generation" references, which ring almost as phony and desperate as Hulk Hogan's press conference. And yet, little nods to history like the Hart and New Foundations, and high-end matches like Kid/Owen, that are more for the devoted fan than the young audience they were obviously courting. Oh, and the disastrous main event that deserves mention. The production as a whole is very "off" but in a completely different way than next year's disaster. I'm very strangely compelled to check this show out in full on the Network sometime--it's one of the truly unique PPVs in company history. Perhaps only the D-Generation X PPV compares.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Owen Hart vs Razor Ramon - WWF King of the Ring 1994

 

On paper, this seems like it would be at least a good match. But it is not. It is very meandering at the beginning. There is no rhythm. They are just throwing stuff out there. Then Owen hits a spinwheel kick and his heat segment is short and weak (rope burn and ab stretch). Then Razor starts his comeback but there is no real fire. Super back suplex wakes the crowd up. Backdrops Razor out on Razor's edge attempt. Anvil attacks Razor revealing he was on Owen's side all along. Macho Man posits that Anvil wanted Bret to retain the title so Owen could win the title from Bret.

 

I just wanted to memorialize this somewhere, as we all know Lawler/Piper main evented this show. Gorilla Freakin Monsoon shouting out about the "New Generation being alive and well" while Roddy Frekaing Piper is making his entrance against Jerry Freakin Lawler was hilarious. The New Generation references were more annoying than Art asking how much everyone weighed.

[Kronos]

Hearing Art again made me seek out youtube and thankfully there is a twelve minute video of his greatness on this PPV. God only knows how frustrated Randy and Gorilla were at the end of the night. The story of the Anvil turn was actually really clever but the match here didn't deliver and was disappointing given it was one of Owen's showcase moments.

 

Art's dumb questions and Gorilla's no-selling of them all night was perhaps the Greatest. Thing. Ever.

 

Re this match: I just can't get behind Razor matches. I enjoyed pretty much the whole show - I watched it last night for the first time. But the Razor matches put me to sleep and were the weakest bit, so I am sorry he ended up in the finals and thus had to wrestle three times.