October 5, 2017
By Ryan Porzl
For most of it's history, the King of the Ring tournament has been a tournament that either had legends win or was a stepping stone for future greatness with many legendary WWE careers being kicked off by winning the King of the Ring tournament. When people think of King of the Ring winners, they usually look at legends like Bret Hart, Owen Hart, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Edge, and Brock Lesnar as being among the best. However, not all King of the Ring winners are fondly remembered and one of them is King Mabel. Winning the tournament in 1995, Mabel not only won what many considered one of the worst King of the Ring tournaments on one of the worst pay-per-views of all time but many consider his win one of the worst in the tournament's history and is routinely considered one of, if not, the worst winner of all time. While it is true Mabel never came close the legendary status that many of the other winner did, Mabel also gets a bad rep and really isn't as horrible as many paint him out to be. Being a big King Mabel fan since the 90s, I feel it's time to defend him, debunk some of the talking points, and explain that while Mabel may not be the most obvious choice to win, it's really not as crazy as it seems but actually makes more sense then you think and while Mabel will never go down as one of the best King of the Ring winners, he's not the worst.
There wasn't many other options in 1995 and Mabel was arguably one of the best options. When you look at the roster in 1995, the WWF either had wrestlers who were already established and others shouldn't have got it for one reason or another. Remember, from 1994-2002, the King of the Ring was used to make a new star so given it to an established wrestler wouldn't make sense. Having said that, I want to immediately debunk the talking points or arguments from wrestling fans that have long said that either Shawn Michaels or The Undertaker should've won it or at least have asked why Mabel got it over them. The reason they didn't was the obvious which was they didn't need it and were well established as superstars. By the time June 25, 1995 came around, Michaels was a former two time Intercontinental Champion with a third title reign coming a month later, a former World Tag Team Champion with a second reign coming three months later, he won the 1995 Royal Rumble, and had challenged Diesel for the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania XI less than three months earlier. With all of that, why would anyone think Michaels needed or should've gotten the King of the Ring when he clearly was a star on the rise already? The Undertaker was already a former WWF Champion having held the title for six days in 1991 and already feuded with legends like The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts while having challenged for the WWF Championship at the 1994 Royal Rumble and main evented Survivor Series 1994 less than a year earlier so he too didn't need it.
Meanwhile, they weren't the only ones. Bret Hart already won the 1991 and 1993 KOTRs (though the WWF didn't acknowledge the pre-1993 KOTRs at the time) as well as all three championships twice each making him the first to do that, he was the 1994 Royal Rumble co-winner, and a former Wrestlemania main eventer. Owen Hart won the previous year, was in his first tag team title reign and had gotten a couple of WWF Championship matches the previous year against Bret including Summerslam 1994. Yokozuna was already a former two time WWF Champion, 1993 Royal Rumble winner, was in his first tag title reign, and a former Wrestlemania main eventer while beginning to struggle with weight issues. Jeff Jarrett was already into his third reign as Intercontinental Champion and previously challenged Diesel for the WWF Championship on a February edition of RAW. Razor Ramon was a former three time Intercontinental Champion and would miss the tournament anyway due to injured ribs after having qualified. The 1-2-3 Kid also missed the tournament due to a neck injury. King Kong Bundy was past his prime. Bam Bam Bigelow was in the main event of this show, coming off a Wrestlemania main event against Lawrence Taylor, and has just turned babyface when the company needed more established heels. Sid was a former Wrestlemania main eventer and feuding with Diesel for the WWF Championship at the time while main eventing the show. Savio Vega was just repackaged a month earlier having previously been Kwang. Kama was already in a feud with The Undertaker, lacked way too many things like ring skills and charisma, & could be considered somewhat damaged goods because the Papa Shango gimmick didn't work. The Roadie came in less than a year ago and was still Jarrett's sidekick. Bob Holly was a solid wrestler but had the lame "Spark Plugg" race car gimmick, was bland, and didn't have a lot going for him.
There were three other options but even they had problems. Adam Bomb was one as he had a great look and was a very good big man while catching on with the fans. It also could've gotten Bomb a boost while gotten him into the Intercontinental Title picture and maybe bigger things later. However, Bomb wasn't happy at the time and left shortly after the King of the Ring. He was also a babyface when the company needed more heels and the problem was Bomb turned babyface around a year earlier so he couldn't switch back so soon. Another was The British Bulldog as the WWF likely knew they were going to break up The Allied Powers in two months and a King of the Ring win could set up his heel turn thinking he was carrying the team and better than this which is something he & Jim Cornette brought up after he turned. However, Bulldog was already established and didn't need it as he already was a former Intercontinental & World Tag Team Champion while having been runner up in the 1995 Royal Rumble & he won the IC Title only three years earlier in front of more than 80,000 fans at Old Wembley. Finally, there was Lex Luger who, despite being established, could've used the King of the Ring to rejuvenate his career which was hurt after he was passed up in favor of Bret Hart a year earlier at Wrestlemania X while his feud with Mr. Perfect was cancelled before it got going and his feuds with Crush & Tatanka didn't work out. However, Luger didn't have a contract at the time as his deal expired three months earlier and he & the WWF weren't able to come to terms on a new deal. The WWF couldn't give Luger a title or tournament until they could lock him up since they didn't need him to up and leave out of nowhere which as we know ultimately happened that September when he shockingly returned to WCW on the first Monday Nitro.
Regardless of what people may say, Mabel did have a lot of potential. For one thing, Mabel had a very unique look as a 6'8, 500 pound black guy with a big mohawk. Like it or not, a unique look can be helpful in wrestling and promotions, especially in 1995, wanted wrestlers who wouldn't stand out of the crowd and be someone that isn't a dime a dozen. Mabel was also a very underrated talker and had a great personality as he was capable of cutting a good villainous promo as seen during his King Mabel days while playing a good monster heel. On the other hand, he could be a fun loving or entertaining babyface as seen when he first came in as part of Men on a Mission and later on as "The World's Largest Love Machine" Viscera. Mabel was also one of the most underrated super heavyweights in wrestling history as he was able to move around the ring quite well for his size and was pretty agile while being able to pull of all sorts of moves including basement dropkicks, spinning heel kicks, jumping enzuigiris, Mr. Perfect's neck snap, somersault sentons, and would come off or get thrown off the second and top turnbuckles regularly. They weren't done as graceful as someone half his size, but for a 500 pound wrestler to pull off these moves is quite impressive. Mabel was also 24 in June 1995 which meant he had plenty of time to develop and you could make an argument that he hadn't reached his prime yet. Mabel's biggest weakness was he wasn't the best wrestler though to be fair, many super heavyweights aren't known for their technical wrestling skills. Legends like Andre The Giant, Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, Yokozuna, and even current names like Kane & The Big Show had far more duds than solid matches and many would say they rarely had a good match let alone a great one. Sure, there are a few big men like Vader & The Undertaker that had plenty of classic matches but they were the exception.
As I mentioned, they really needed fresh heel stars by the summer of 1995. In fact, if you look at the list of talent at that time, they didn't have many heels and the ones they had usually had some type of issue. Shawn Michaels and Bam Bam Bigelow just became babyfaces. King Kong Bundy, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Mr. Bob Backlund were past their primes. Owen Hart was in the middle of his Tag Team Title reign and already had many WWF Championship matches a year earlier. Yokozuna was in the middle of his Tag Team Title reign and struggling with weight issues as he was over 600 pounds by this point. Triple H had just come in and was brand new. Tatanka never caught on as a heel and some would argue his ring work declined. Goldust was just about to come in. Shane Douglas as Dean Douglas was about to come in but with a lame gimmick. IRS was on his way out. Meanwhile, Sid was feuding with Diesel but that feud would end after the July In Your House 2 Pay-Per-View while Kama's feud with The Undertaker would end after the August Summerslam 1995 Pay-Per-View which meant Diesel and Taker would need fresh rivals especially Diesel who needed someone to defend the WWF Championship against at Summerslam since that is the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year. Even worse is that Jarrett left in July. Having turned heel months before the King of the Ring and needing new heels, Mabel was definitely at the right place at the right time but his size did make things interesting since he was one of the few, if not, the only one on the roster who could not only match size with Diesel and the Undertaker but had a big weight advantage. While you could argue Mabel wasn't ready for the push he was getting, he (along with The British Bulldog who turned heel that August) added to the heel side.
Another possible reason for Mabel's win and push was the fact he was black. Not to bring up the race card but pushing a black wrestler would've been good for the WWF at the time. It's been well documented that WWF/E has had racial accusations against them especially the way black wrestlers have come off even in 2017. In fact, with the exception of The Rock (who is also half samoan and mostly identifies as that), the WWE still has never had a black WWE Champion (they've had black World Heavyweight Champions and ECW Champions). The situation was worse in 1995 as the company only had a handful of black champions and even fewer that main evented a Pay-Per-View. Not counting celebrities or non wrestlers (Mr. T, Zeus, and Lawrence Taylor), Royal Rumble matches which consist of 30 participants, or Survivor Series elimination matches which consisted of eight to ten wrestlers (six in one match back in 1991), there was only one time in WWF history up to that point which featured a black wrestler in a main event especially a one-on-one main event which was Junkyard Dog who took on "Macho Man" Randy Savage in the finals of the Wrestling Classic tournament at the Wrestling Classic in 1985. Meanwhile, the only black champions WWE ever had was Bobo Brazil who held the original United States Title a couple of times in the 70s, "Soulman" Rocky Johnson (The Rock's father) & "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas held the WWF World Tag Team Championships in 1983, and Mabel & Mo as part of Men on a Mission in 1994 while never having had a black WWF Champion, a black Intercontinental Champion, a King of the Ring winner, or a Royal Rumble winner. By giving Mabel the King of the Ring and to push him, the WWF likely felt that could solve a lot of problems as they would have a black main eventer, a black King of the Ring winner, a black wrestler who could main event Pay-Per-Views as far as one-on-one or regular tag matches, and possibly could lead to their first black WWF Champion or Intercontinental Champion. While not all of that happened, some did and it broke some barriers while WWE could solve a potential PR problem.
As is well known, Mabel has consistently been considered one of, if not, the worst King of the Ring ever and while he won't go down as one of the best, he's definitely not the worst. First thing to prove my point, let's take a look as Mabel after he won the King of the Ring and it is true that he never became WWE Champion or a Wrestlemania main eventer like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Edge, and Brock Lesnar, he didn't do all that bad. For one thing, Mabel did get to main event Summerslam which is the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year where he challenged for the WWF Championship while having rivalries with Diesel and The Undertaker. He also made history in many ways as he became the first black King of the Ring winner, the second black wrestler to main event a WWF Pay-Per-View not counting Royal Rumble or Survivor Series elimination matches, he became the first black wrestler to main event a Summerslam (Zeus is an actor), he became the first black wrestler to challenge for the WWF Championship in a one-on-one match on Pay-Per-View (Virgil competed for the championship but it was vacant and it was the 30 Man Royal Rumble match in 1992). He also made history leading up to his King of the Ring win as he was booked to be the second man to defeat The Undertaker by pinfall on Pay-Per-View (Hulk Hogan was the first at This Tuesday In Texas) when he beat him at the King of the Ring event with the match being a quarterfinal match. Though his later runs never saw him do much outside the midcard, Mabel did continue to have his moments as he was briefly booked to win the WWF Hardcore Championship during the 15 minute Hardcore Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 2000, he was a Tag Team Championship contender in 2005 on the RAW brand teaming with Val Venis as part of V-Squared, was booked to win the pre Wrestlemania 22 Battle Royal (sort of a predecessor to the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal), he broke his own record for most wrestlers needed to eliminate a single wrestler in the Royal Rumble when eight wrestlers were needed to eliminate him in 2007 (he previously earned the record when it took seven in 1994) and briefly feuded with CM Punk for the ECW Championship. Mabel was also able to successfully parley his King of the Ring win outside the WWF as he enjoyed success with many promotions all over the world both national and independent. Shortly around his WWF departure, Mabel worked for the top Puerto Rican promotion WWC (World Wrestling Council) where he feuded with promoter, top star, and legend Carlos Colon over the top championship the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship which Mabel eventually won and held for a month before losing to another legend in Abdullah the Butcher. He then worked for USWA (United States Wrestling Association) where he was given the USWA Heavyweight Championship (the secondary title), competed in two tournaments for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (the top championship), and feuded with top wrestlers like Jerry Lawler and Brian Christopher. After his second run, he appeared in Memphis Wrestling where he was awarded the XWF Heavyweight Championship (the top title of Jimmy Hart's short lived and unsuccessful promotion the XWF) and had a reign with the Southern Heavyweight Championship which wasn't as presitigous as it once was but had a rich history going back to the 70s. After his last run, Mabel then wrestled in Japan for All Japan Pro Wrestling as Big Daddy Voodoo/Big Daddy where he was a member of top heel stable The Voodoo Murders. He teamed with leader TARU to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship while reuniting with Charlie Haas to challenge for the World Tag Team Championship and took part in the 2011 World's Strongest Tag Determination League teaming with top foreigner Joe Doering. He also participated in the European Wrestling Association's 2012 Catch Wrestling World Grand Prix where he was runner up. Overall, Mabel didn't set the world on fire in the WWE but he had a solid career.
So, if I don't think Mabel is the worst King of the Ring winner then who is? Well, there's plenty of choices out there and many would surprise you either because they may have had bigger WWE runs or just because you forgot they even won it in the first place. Ken Shamrock won the 1998 King of the Ring and while he did get runs with the Intercontinental and World Tag Team Championships with the Big Boss Man while briefly holding both at the same time, he never came close to the potential many thought he had. After coming in during 1997, the WWF clearly had high hopes of Shamrock being a future WWF Champion as he even got title shots against Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels all the while showing he did have huge potential. Unfortunately, it never happened as Shamrock then went rudderless by February 1999 after losing his titles (though he did receive a lot of title shots at live events and at Wrestlemania XV for the Intercontinental Title) and had forgettable feuds with The Undertaker, Steve Blackman, and Chris Jericho where he had the distinction of being Jericho's first rival before suffering an injury and leaving the WWF in September 1999, fifteen months after his win. Following his WWF departure, Shamrock largely left the business and has only had a handful of matches since then with his only highlight being apart of the first shows of NWA-TNA where he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but nothing came of it and he left after a month and a half shortly after losing the championship. Outside of that, Shamrock made one more appearance in 2004 while appearing in a few indy shows and Japan while having since returned to MMA and destroyed his legacy. While he did win the NWA Title, Shamrock could be considered worse giving the wasted potential as well as the fact he didn't do much after leaving the WWF.
An obvious pick is Billy Gunn who is usually top two along with Mabel for worst King of the Ring winner and it isn't surprising. Although Gunn did have a feud with The Rock after that as well as having a small singles run as "The One" Billy Gunn where he briefly held the Intercontinental Title, made it to the final four in the 2001 Royal Rumble, and briefly held the Hardcore Title, and won five more Tag Titles, Gunn could still be disappointing for many reasons. One being the fact that the King of the Ring was clearly supposed to kick start a singles run for Gunn which is something WWE had really wanted but it never caught on.. In fact, the WWE tried several times over the next few years to get Gunn established as a singles wrestler but it never worked. Outside of WWF, Gunn never did much outside of some success in the Maryland Championship Wrestling promotion but not much else. His TNA run amounted to nothing and his recent New Japan stuff has never resulted in a full time gig nor will it given his age although he did get an Intercontinental Championship shot and appeared in the New Japan Rumble. Say what you will but at least Mabel got a main event position at Summerslam following his King of the Ring win while Gunn was stuck in a co main event against The Rock which wouldn't be bad except for the fact that it was a "Kiss My Ass" match which resulted in him getting his face shoved up a fat woman's ass. Mabel also was pretty successful outside the WWE and was able to branch out as a singles wrestler while Gunn didn't achieve either.
Another one to consider is William Regal who won in 2008. First of all, it wouldn't be surprising if most people even forgot he won it in the first place. Second, WWE got pretty much nothing out of it. At least with Mabel, they were trying to make a new star and giving how young he was, he had plenty of years ahead of him. Regal was 40 which isn't the oldest but he had been wrestling since he was 15 so he had a lot of mileage. In retrospect and maybe even at the time, it seem to not come off as what the King of the Ring usually does which is build a new star or rejuvenate a career but rather it was giving him one last big moment. To make matters worse, Regal flunked a wellness test a month after winning and was suspended for two months. Ultimately, Regal only got a two month Intercontinental Championship reign where he beat Santino Marella in November 2008 and lost it to CM Punk in January 2009. After that, he went to ECW for their last year and got title shots but was also a mouthpiece to Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson. He then spent 2010-2013 winding down his career as he mostly worked live events until retiring and working in WWE's developmental promotions FCW and NXT. Also, the choice is even worse when you take into consideration that WWE had up and comers like Elijah Burke and Paul Burchill who had a lot of potential that could've benefited more.
One person that could be considered the worst is someone nobody would even consider but they should: Sheamus who won in 2010. Now this is a weird pick giving Sheamus has had a Hall of Fame career and been a former WWE Champion but he should be considered simply because he nor the WWE gained anything for it. Again, the King of the Ring tournament has been used to build a new star or rejuvenate a career but Sheamus was already a former two time WWE Champion while having feuded with John Cena & Triple H in HHH's final feud of his full time wrestling career so he wasn't being built up since he already was a star. Meanwhile, he'd been on the main roster for a year and a half so he wasn't there long enough for his career to have declined and thus needed it to be rejuvenated. When you think about it, you can't help but ask what was the point? Whether you like Mabel or you hate him, at least everybody knows what WWE was going for with him winning the King of the Ring in 95 which was to build a new star. With Sheamus, who knows what they were going for. Even worse is that there were plenty of better choices looking at the bracket. The promotion had big plans for Alberto Del Rio and likely knew he was going to win the 2011 Royal Rumble in January 2011 and would then challenge Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania XXVII (the 2010 King of the Ring was in November). Ezekiel Jackson was a former ECW Champion but won it on the last episode before the ECW brand ended so he didn't do much with it. Nevertheless, he had potential and a King of the Ring win would be good for him. Tyson Kidd had just broken away from The Hart Dynasty and turned heel so the King of the Ring would've been a great start for a potential singles run. Both Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase Jr. were both former tag team champions but were coming out of the Legacy stable so a King of the Ring win would've help either one kick start a singles career. There were also Jack Swagger and Drew McIntyre who held titles but also had huge potential, especially McIntyre.
Finally, we have Wade Barrett who won in 2015. Barrett also accomplished nothing as KOTR winner other than join the lame League of Nation stable. Aside from that, he didn't main event a major Pay-Per-View, challenge for the WWE Championship, or win a title. He then lasted a year before leaving in April 2016 and has since taken a break from wrestling. Again, I don't know what they were going for with Barrett as he already was a former five time Intercontinental Champion, NXT Season One Winner, and the original leader of Nexus so he was already established and it didn't rejuvenate or take his career to the next level.
While Mabel will never go down as one of the greatest King of the Ring winners and is more near the bottom of the rankings, he still gets a bad rep as he wasn't that much of a flop especially outside the WWE and he got to make history in some ways. While he wouldn't be the first choice for many to have won, I do hope this article showed that picking him wasn't as crazy as it sounds and there were arguably worse winners.
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