The BEST Wrestling Moment Every Year (1989 - 2026)
34. 1993 | Regicide
The 1993 King Of The Ring pay-per-view is cherished to an almost profound level.
It was pitched perfectly to capture the imagination of the actual wrestling fan who didn’t need a big mainstream star to watch it. It was the most spiritual post-Hogan show imaginable despite Hogan wrestling on it. It was the show built for the hardcore fan who always preferred the Intercontinental title over the main event.
Bret Hart beat three great and very different wrestlers in one night in a masterfully threaded performance. It was the best possible apology for the dire events of WrestleMania 9. The best wrestler was literally crowned as the best wrestler in front of the remaining wrestling fans. During the first five minutes of Bret Hart Vs. Mr. Perfect, even Bobby Heenan at the commentary table basically started marking out, purring at how good the match was. This is wrestling, though. The happy times never last. You need the heat, and Jerry Lawler brought the Memphis strain as the penny dropped: Bret was crowned the King so that Lawler could express his fury at this “imposter”.
Lawler was scathing at the idea that Bret would now parade as the King. Bret’s response was a little bit lame in truth, when he said that Lawler was the Burger King and got the fans to chant it, but Lawler’s sneak attack beat-down was superb. Very violent by the standards of the time, his smashing of the various props added to the sense of chaos, and that hurling throne shot was diabolical.
The timing was also inspired, in that Bret had just wrestled for well over 45 minutes: the longest amount of time anybody had spent in a WWF ring on PPV. Lawler was a horrible old prick for doing it after such a herculean effort.