HHH was supposed to win the King of the Ring in 1996. To quote Tyson Kidd, FACT. As to why this didnt happen? Well, a little incident often referred to as the Madison Square Garden Curtain Call happened. At that point in 96, Hunter was a member of the backstage group known as The Kliq. The issue was two members of the group, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, were leaving the WWF for the greener pastures (in more ways than one) of Ted Turners WCW. Before Nash and Hall, then known as Diesel and Razor Ramon, respectively, left the company there was a live event in Madison Square Garden. Bad guy Hunter Heart Helmsley went up against babyface Razor, whilst the main event saw the villainous Diesel losing to good guy Shawn Michaels. After the Diesel/Michaels match, Razor came out to hug HBK. Then came HHH to the ring. The four competitors, Diesel, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon and HHH, would all embrace in the middle of the ring. At the time, this was deemed to have exposed the wrestling business as being a work and left WWF management seething. HHH was due to win that years King of the Ring event, only this was then shelved. The WWF needed to punish somebody for the MSG Curtain Call Shawn was the WWF Champion and so near-enough untouchable, and Nash and Hall had left the company. And so the fallout of that event landed at the door of Hunter. What followed for Helmsley was a hefty run of jobbing and a few Godwin sloppings. As for the King of the Ring, the 1996 crown would go to a bald headed chap by the name of Steve Austin you may have heard of him. HHH took his punishment like a man and would end up finally claiming the King of the Ring crown at the 1997 event.
Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics.
As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.
