This Day In Wrestling History - June 23

Date: June 23, 1996 (18 years ago)

Feature: Steve Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring tournament and delivered his famous "Austin 3:16" promo that shot him into stardom. Austin's KOTR win was in the semi-main event slot. His eventual WrestleMania 14 opponent, Shawn Michaels, won the main event to retain the WWF Title...

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WWF KING OF THE RING PPV
June 23, 1996
Milwaukee, Wisc. at the Mecca
Live Attendance: 13,000 sellout
Report by Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

Owen Hart joined Vince McMahon and Jim Ross on commentary.

(1) "Stone Cold" Steve Austin pinned "Wildman" Marc Mero at 16:43 to advance to the King of the Ring finals. The entire match was good, with the final few minutes very, very good. (****)

(2) Jake Roberts beat Vader via DQ at 3:31 to advance to the KOTR finals. The finish of the match wasn't great, but did protect the DDT (and thus Roberts) and did protect Vader from doing a job. (1/2*)

Dok Hendrix interviewed The Smoking Gunns and Sunny. Sunny seemed confident she could distract Phineous. Billy Gunn wasn't smooth in speaking a few words. Before the match in the ring, he was better in saying to Phineous, "I've made Sunny feel like you'll never make her feel."

(3) The Smoking Gunns (mgd. by Sunny) beat The Godwinns at 9:57 to retain the WWF Tag Team Titles. During the match Owen talked about holding the tag titles and ripped on his partner at the time, Yokozuna. The Gunns attacked Phineous at the start. Phineous ripped off Billy's boot and went nuts trying to hit him with it. McMahon interviewed Cloudy (a friend of Candido's, Jimmy Shoulders, dressed up like a woman) in an inset interview. The Gunns dominated the bulk of the match. HOG hot-tagged PIG at the end, but after a four-way brawl, Bart KO'd PIG with his boot. Okay, but nothing special. (*1/4)

Dok interviewed Jim Cornette, Clarence Mason, and British Bulldog. Mason was no longer wearing a neckbrace. The use of Cornette has gotten a lot better since he took a prominent role in the booking department. Cornette said, "Ever since you've held that title you've been flying first class, but tonight you've got a one-way ticket on ValuJet." Mr. Perfect showed up in the background, revealing that he was sharing the locker room with the heels. He smiled at Cornette, giving a strong hint he was on their side.

(4) Ultimate Warrior pinned Jerry Lawler at 3:50. Needless to say, Lawler's intro mic work was better than the match, which was mere formula. Lawler attacked Warrior with a foreign object. Eventually Lawler piledrove Warrior, which Warrior didn't sell. Warrior then hit three quick clotheslines and a flying tackle for the pin. For what it was, it was fine. Effective use of both men given their strengths and limitations. (*)

(5) Mankind beat Undertaker at 18:15 with the Mandible Claw. A good match. Perhaps a few minutes longer than ideal given the content. (***1/4)

Dok interviewed Mr. Perfect. Michaels interrupted the interview and told Perfect he's worked too hard to have Perfect steal it from him with unfair officiating.

(6) Ahmed Johnson beat Goldust (w/Marlena) at 15:32 to capture the Intercontinental Title. Ahmed finished him off cleanly with a well-executed Pearl River Plunge. Marlena seemed unphased by the loss. The fans gave Ahmed a standing pop. The finish was clever in that Ahmed got a clean win, yet Goldust could have beat him earlier after the sleeper. In a nice touch, Ahmed celebrated with the fans at ringside. (***1/4)

Jim Ross interviewed Brian Pillman at ringside. Pillman asked him, "How's my extended family doing?" He then said he doesn't care about his family and ripped on the fans. "It's easy to see why Jeffrey Dahmer tried to consume this whole state from head to toe." He came across as unstable, although a bit forced. He said he was the brightest star in the world and looked forward to ascending to the top of the WWF. As Pillman returned to the back, he passed Austin on his way to the ring. Pillman gave him some encouraging words, and Austin just looked at him and walked past him. A nice touch, considering some fans will be wondering if there is still a storyline bond between those two since they teamed as the Hollywood Blondes a few years back.

(7) Steve Austin beat Jake Roberts at 4:45 to win King of the Ring. Austin dominated the match by working over Roberts's injured ribs. Austin taunted Roberts as Roberts clutched his ribs. Monsoon almost stopped the match, but Roberts asked to continue. Roberts made a brief comeback, but after a failed DDT set-up Austin put him away with the Stone Cold Stunner. Effectively played out as an angle. But (by design), not much athletically. (1/2*)

After the match, on the King of the Ring coronation set, Dok interviewed Austin. Austin gave a fantastic, cruel interview. He called Roberts "son" and said he just proved he doesn't have what it takes anymore. He talked about Roberts's Bible thumping not doing him any good. "Talk about John 3:16," Austin said. "Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass." Austin suggested Roberts go back to drinking to get back the courage he had in his prime. Austin then said all WWF superstars are on his list including Shawn Michaels. When fans gave him a hard time, he said "piss off" as an aside. A break-out interview for him. And they had Ted DiBiase doing his talking before?!

(8) Shawn Michaels pinned British Bulldog (mgd. by Jim Cornette) at 25:26 to retain the WWF Title. A great match with both men pacing it extremely well, with only brief (20-30 seconds) mat holds, but with the victim selling and fighting the hold the whole time. The storyline of neither man getting a long-term advantage over the other worked well as it led to one reversal or counter hold after another. (****3/4)

Afterward, Owen entered and he and Michaels had a nice exchange ending with Michaels figure-four leglocking Owen and rolling up Bulldog. Owen and Bulldog soon took over on Michaels. Ahmed ran to the ring to make the save. Vader then entered and attacked Ahmed. With Ahmed stunned, Vader went to moonsault Michaels, but Ultimate Warrior ran to the ring to a huge pop and knocked Vader off the top rope. Warrior, Michaels, and Ahmed cleared the ring of the heels and celebrated. The show closed with Monsoon announcing Michaels & Ahmed & Warrior vs. Vader & Owen & Bulldog would main event the July 21 In Your House. Monsoon, in a subtle comment aimed at WCW, concluded, "You want a war, we'll give you a war."

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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