text: king of the ring ( 1993 ) king of the ring ( 1993 ) was a professional wrestling pay - per - view ( ppv ) event produced by the world wrestling federation ( wwf ) . this was the first of ten king of the ring events that was produced as a pay - per - view . the event resulted from the wwf 's decision to make its annual king of the ring tournament into a televised event . it took place on june 13 , 1993 , at the nutter center in dayton , ohio . the card featured ten matches , which resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by the wwf . the central focus of this ppv event was the tournament itself . wrestlers gained entry into the tournament by participating in qualifying matches on wwf television programs , and the second , third and fourth rounds of the tournament were televised on the king of the ring ppv broadcast . bret hart won the tournament by defeating razor ramon , mr. perfect , and bam bam bigelow . he was attacked by jerry lawler during a coronation ceremony , which led to a feud that lasted more than two years . in addition to the tournament , the event featured yokozuna defeating hulk hogan for the wwf world heavyweight championship as well as shawn michaels retaining his belt in a match against crush for the wwf intercontinental championship . reviews of the event have been mainly positive . several reviewers have called bret hart 's matches the highlight of the ppv . the match for the intercontinental championship has received positive reviews , but the ending to the wwf world heavyweight championship match , which featured hulk hogan in his final ppv appearance in the wwf until 2002 , has been criticized . the event was attended by 6 , 500 fans — the lowest attendance of any king of the ring event . the ppv buyrate , however , was the highest of any king of the ring event until 1999 . the event has been released on vhs in north america and on vhs and dvd in the united kingdom . background the wwf had held several " king of the ring " tournaments in previous years , but it did not become a ppv event until 1993 . the 1993 event featured the king of the ring tournament as well as three other matches . in these matches , wrestlers were portrayed as villains or fan favorites and wrestled in matches that built upon pre - existing feuds and storylines . seven of the eight entrants in the quarter - final matches wrestled in a qualifying round prior to the ppv broadcast , while bret hart was entered without needing to qualify . lex luger was the first wrestler to qualify , as he defeated bob backlund in a match televised on the may 2 episode of wrestling challenge . six days later , razor ramon was added to the tournament after he defeated tito santana on wwf superstars . on may 9 , " hacksaw " jim duggan pinned papa shango on wrestling challenge to become the fourth entrant . the following night , bam bam bigelow qualified by defeating typhoon on a live episode of monday night raw . on the may 15 episode of wwf superstars , tatanka faced giant gonzalez in a qualifying match . gonzalez choked his opponent and was disqualified by referee bill alfonso - whom gonzalez attacked after the match ; as a result , tatanka advanced to the next round of the tournament . mr. perfect and doink the clown wrestled three qualifying matches against each other , before a decisive winner could be found to advance in the tournament . they first faced each other on the may 1 episode of wwf superstars , but the match was declared a draw when the time limit expired . their next match took place on the may 16 episode of wrestling challenge and again resulted in time - limit draw . on the may 24 episode of monday night raw , a third match between the two was ordered , this time with no time limit , and perfect pinned doink to advance to the seventh spot in the quarter - finals . in the final qualifying match , mr. hughes defeated kamala on the may 30 episode of wrestling challenge . at wrestlemania ix , bret hart dropped the wwf world heavyweight championship to yokozuna . at the conclusion of the match , mr. fuji , yokozuna 's manager , threw salt in hart 's eyes , enabling yokozuna to win the match . after the match , hulk hogan came to the ring to help hart . fuji challenged hogan to a match for the wwf world heavyweight championship , which took place immediately . fuji attempted to throw salt in hogan 's eyes , but hogan moved and the salt hit yokozuna instead . hogan quickly defeated him to become the new wwf world heavyweight champion . due to a real - life arrangement with wwf owner vince mcmahon , hogan was supposed to lose the title to bret hart , but he changed his mind and refused to lose to hart . he formed a compromise that allowed him to face yokozuna in a rematch at king of the ring 1993 . he did not want to be pinned cleanly , so he insisted on a storyline in which he would lose the belt due to outside interference . as a result of hart 's controversial loss , jack tunney , who played the on - screen role of wwf president , granted hart entry into the king of the ring tournament without requiring him to win a qualifying match . crush faced wwf intercontinental champion shawn michaels several times in early 1993 but was unable to win the title belt . the pair also faced each other in a qualifying match for the king of the ring tournament on the may 23 episode of wwf superstars . the match ended in a double countout , however , and both wrestlers were eliminated from the tournament . it was later announced that they would wrestle each other at king of the ring 1993 , with michaels 's championship on the line . the event also featured an eight - man tag team match that pitted the fan favorite team of the steiner brothers ( rick and scott steiner ) and the smoking gunns ( billy and bart gunn ) against the villain team of money inc . ( ted dibiase and irwin r. schyster ) and the headshrinkers ( samu and fatu ) . the steiners and the headshrinkers had faced each other at wrestlemania in a match won by the steiners . the steiners then moved on to feud with money inc . , the wwf tag team champions . the gunns made their wwf debut in the spring of 1993 and faced the headshrinkers in a series of matches . the match was not a standard tag team match so the championship was not on the line . event before the live ppv broadcast began , a dark match took place between owen hart and papa shango . papa shango pinned hart to retain the uswa heavyweight championship , which was being defended in the wwf as part of a talent exchange program between the wwf and the united states wrestling association ( uswa ) . tournament matches in the first televised match of the event , bret hart fought razor ramon . hart got the early advantage , but ramon used his size advantage to control much of the match . he performed a fallaway slam and a running powerslam but was unable to pin hart . hart performed several of his signature moves , including a russian legsweep and an elbow drop from the second rope . ramon regained control of the match and attempted to execute a suplex from the top rope . hart landed on top of ramon , however , and pinned him to win the match . mr. hughes used his strength advantage to control the early stages of the following match against mr. perfect . after he missed a leg drop , perfect used the opportunity to perform a neckbreaker on hughes . hughes picked up the urn that he had stolen from the undertaker and hit perfect with it . as a result , hughes was disqualified and mr. perfect advanced to the next round . in the next match , " hacksaw " jim duggan faced bam bam bigelow . neither wrestler was able to gain an advantage until duggan was thrown into the corner of the ring . he suffered a storyline injury , which allowed bigelow to place duggan in a bear hug . duggan bit bigelow to escape from the hold . he executed a powerslam and attempted to perform his signature move , a charging clothesline . bigelow moved out of the way , however , and performed a diving headbutt on duggan to get the pinfall victory . tatanka gained the early advantage over lex luger in the next match . he performed a crossbody to knock luger down to the mat . luger elbowed tatanka to escape from a hold and then executed a chinlock on tatanka . tatanka came back by performing a knife - edge chop on luger . he attempted the same move from the top rope , but luger blocked him . luger performed a clothesline on tatanka to knock him down , but he was unable to pin him . the time limit expired , and both wrestlers were eliminated from the tournament . as a result , bigelow received a bye into the final round . the semi - final round of the tournament took place immediately after the first round , and mr. perfect gained the early advantage over bret hart . hart reversed the momentum of the match by applying a series of on perfect . perfect then performed a dropkick on hart and followed it up by pushing him off the edge of the ring into the steel barricade on the arena floor . perfect then performed another dropkick , but hart recovered and executed a superplex on perfect . hart wore down perfect 's leg with a figure four leglock and attempted to perform the sharpshooter , his finishing maneuver . perfect blocked the move and attempted to perform the , his finishing move , on hart . hart reversed this move , however , and both men were thrown out of the ring . when they returned to the ring , perfect tried to pin hart with a small package . hart reversed the move to get the pinfall victory and advance to the tournament final . other matches the wwf world heavyweight championship match came next , as hulk hogan defended his title against yokozuna . yokozuna controlled the beginning of the match until he ran at hogan in the corner but missed an avalanche splash . hogan tried twice to body slam yokozuna but could not pick him up . yokozuna performed a bear hug on hogan and tried to pin him after executing a belly to belly suplex . hogan kicked yokozuna in the face three times and knocked him down to the mat . he performed a leg drop , his signature move , on yokozuna but was unable to pin him . as hogan prepared to attempt to body slam yokozuna , manager harvey wippleman , disguised as a planted photographer , jumped up onto the edge of the ring . his camera exploded in hogan 's face , which allowed yokozuna to knock hogan down and perform a leg drop . yokozuna pinned hogan to regain the wwf world heavyweight championship and performed a banzai drop on hogan after the match . in the next match , the team of the steiner brothers ( rick and scott steiner ) and the smoking gunns ( billy and bart gunn ) faced the team of money inc . ( ted dibiase and irwin r. schyster ) and the headshrinkers ( samu and fatu ) . the match began with the steiners in control as they took turns attacking dibiase . fatu and bart gunn entered the match , and fatu and his teammates wore bart down while preventing him from tagging in a partner . billy gunn fought dibiase and controlled the match until dibiase performed the million dollar dream on billy . dibiase released the hold and gloated about his performance . this enabled billy gunn to surprise dibiase with a small package pinfall to win the match . after the match , the teams continued to fight until the steiners and gunns cleared their opponents from the ring . the following match featured shawn michaels defending his wwf intercontinental championship against crush . crush controlled the early portion of the match by performing several dropkicks on michaels , which he followed with a military press slam and a tilt - a - whirl backbreaker . michaels left the ring to recover and returned to attack crush 's head . michaels was unable to pin crush , however , and crush threw michaels out of the ring . two wrestlers dressed as doink the clown , with whom crush had been feuding , came to the ring to distract crush . michaels performed a superkick , his signature move , and pinned crush to retain the championship . tournament final the final match of the evening was between bret hart and bam bam bigelow to determine the winner of the tournament . bigelow used his strength advantage to control the beginning of the match . he threw hart out of the ring and focused on injuring hart 's back . hart escaped from a bear hug and pushed bigelow into the steel rail at ringside . bigelow responded by pushing hart 's back into the ring post . luna vachon , bigelow 's valet , hit hart with a chair , which enabled bigelow to pin hart and be declared the winner . referee earl hebner came to the ring , however , and explained to joey marella , the referee for the match , what had happened . the match was ordered to continue , and bigelow continued to attack hart 's back . while bigelow was outside of the ring , hart performed a flying crossbody by jumping over the top rope and landing on bigelow . he attempted to perform the sharpshooter but was unable . as bigelow ran at hart in the corner of the ring , hart moved out of the way . he climbed onto bigelow 's shoulders and flipped bigelow forward to pin him with a victory roll . a coronation ceremony took place , in which hart was proclaimed king of the ring . jerry lawler interrupted the ceremony , however , and claimed to be the only king in the wwf . he had been using the nickname " the king " since defeating jackie fargo for the awa southern heavyweight championship in 1974 and did not want to share the title . lawler attacked hart and hit him with the scepter and throne that were being used for the ceremony . as the ppv went off the air , hart was lying on the floor , unable to fight back . aftermath for the remainder of the summer , hulk hogan resumed his feud with yokozuna on the international house show circuit . he then left the wwf and focused on his acting career . he starred in thunder in paradise , a weekly syndicated television show that ran from 1993 to 1994 . while filming the show , he was offered a contract with world championship wrestling ( wcw ) , the wwf 's main competitor . he joined wcw in summer 1994 and wrestled his first match at bash at the beach 1994 , where he defeated ric flair to win the wcw world heavyweight championship . he continued to wrestle for wcw until the summer of 2000 and did not return to the wwf until early 2002 . yokozuna held the wwf world heavyweight championship for over nine months before dropping the belt to bret hart . shawn michaels was stripped of the intercontinental championship in september 1993 , which set up a battle royal in which razor ramon became the next champion . the steiner brothers continued to feud with money inc. over the wwf tag team championship . they defeated dibiase and schyster the day after king of the ring to win the belts . they held them for two days before losing them to money inc . three days later , the steiners regained the belts , which they held for the remainder of the feud . jerry lawler feuded with bret hart for more than two years after king of the ring . they faced each other at summerslam 1993 to determine the true king of the wwf . lawler won the match and the title after hart was disqualified . they were supposed to wrestle against each other at survivor series 1993 in an elimination match , but lawler was unable to appear because he had been charged with rape and sodomy in real life . the accuser later admitted that she had falsified the charges . hart feuded with his brother owen throughout 1994 , so the feud with lawler lay dormant . lawler accused bret hart of being a racist in 1995 in order to create problems between hart and japanese wrestler hakushi . this re - ignited the feud between hart and lawler , and they faced each other at in your house 1 . hakushi interfered in the match , which enabled lawler to pin hart . this set up a " kiss my foot " match between hart and lawler at king of the ring 1995 . according to the stipulation , the loser would be forced to kiss the winner 's feet . lawler lost and brought in his dentist , isaac yankem , who soon debuted in the wwf . yankem wrestled hart at summerslam 1995 ; hart won the match by disqualification after yankem and lawler choked hart with the ring ropes . reception reviews for the event have been mainly positive . writing for online onslaught , columnist adam gutschmidt stated that the event is the best king of the ring show to watch . he called all three of bret hart 's matches " outstanding " but was not as impressed with any of the other matches on the card . he thought that the eight - man match served no real purpose , the match between luger and tatanka was poorly planned and executed , and that the wwf world heavyweight championship match was the worst on the card . also writing for online onslaught , rick also enjoyed bret hart 's matches . he thought that the match between tatanka and luger was a " good booking decision " and that the wrestlers performed well in the match . he also enjoyed the endings to the wwf world heavyweight championship match and the intercontinental championship match . the review from the other arena also praised bret hart 's matches , as well as the intercontinental championship match . the other matches were not rated as highly , although only the wwf world heavyweight championship match was said to be a bad match . the attendance for the event was 6 , 500 fans , who paid a total of $ 80 , 000 in admission . this is the lowest attendance figure for a king of the ring event . the attendance the following year was almost twice as large , as 12 , 000 fans attended king of the ring 1994 . the ppv buyrate was 1 . 1 , which was the highest buyrate in king of the ring history until the 1999 event . the event was released on vhs in north america by coliseum video on august 11 , 1993 . it has also been released on vhs in pal format in the united kingdom . packaged together with king of the ring 1994 , it was released on dvd in the united kingdom as part of the wwe tagged classics line on july 5 , 2004 . results tournament brackets the tournament took place between may 2 and june 13 , 1993 . the tournament brackets were :