Way back in the mid-90's, business was down for the then-WWF. It wasn't just Pay-Per-View buyrates which were suffering, but house show attendances were flagging, TV ratings were suffering, and even merchandise sales were taking a stern blow. This was little to do with any rise in WCW - those folks in Atlanta had a lot of the same problems - it was more to do with the company having few bankable stars which interested fans. Shockingly, at the 1995 King Of The Ring, the creative team decreed that Mable was the man to wear the crown, even though he had been little more than a mid-card comedy wrestler beforehand. Top names such as The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were eliminated in the first round, leading to an incredibly dull event overall, capped off by the future-Viscera leaving as the number one contender for Diesel's WWF Title at Summerslam. Fans were less-than-enthused by the card for the King Of The Ring, and responded in kind by not buying the show. To put things into context, the 1993 edition of the event pulled in almost 100,000 buys more. Sure, that was the debut edition of the King Of The Ring concept on PPV, but business had almost been sliced in half in just two years.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
