10 Best Ever Wrestling Tournaments
8. WWE King Of The Ring 1994
It wouldn’t be right to have a list of great tournaments without mentioning WWE’s signature knockout competition. King of the Ring success often means a shortcut to megastardom, and from Steve Austin to Edge, the tournament has helped launch many an upper-midcarders career to the stratosphere. KOTR doesn’t always deliver, but the results are spectacular when it does, and 1994 was one of the best.
The tournament debuted in 1993, but the excitement was far greater the following year. Fans had watched the first King of the Ring, Bret Hart, go through the roof following his victory, and expected the ‘94 winner would receive the same treatment. It was Owen Hart who walked away with the crown in the end, and while we all know how his story panned-out, this was one of the biggest moments of his career.
Having defeated Doink the Clown in his first round match, Owen went into the KOTR ‘94 PPV knowing he’d have to win three more matches to seal the tournament. He defeated Tatanka first, then The 1-2-3 Kid in an excellent semi-final sprint, before meeting Razor Ramon in the final. Razor vs. Owen was a relatively short match at just over six minutes, but Owen pulled it off, and his monster push seemed certain.
Owen and Bret would soon embark on one of the greatest feuds in WWE history, but Owen never reached the same heights as his brother, and passed away as one of the greatest wrestlers to never hold the WWE Championship.