Episode #45 – King of the Ring 1996
In honor of the 15th anniversary of this card, we go in-depth on the night Stone Cold was born, Ahmed Johnson gets even more angry, the Ultimate Warrior, his comic book, an incredible Shawn Michaels main event, listener feedback from the Macho Man episode, and Dre explains why he hates Adam Copeland.
Hi guys,
Loved the pod. Excellent rant on Edge. I’m a lapsed, fair weather fan who only occasionally watches wrestling. I found a copy of Edge’s book at a bookstore’s closing down (no doubt the reason) sale here in Cape Town (i’m from the UK). Cost the equiv of $2. There are two redeeming qualities in the book. He defnitely wrote it himself because there isn’t another mong alive who could write such drivel. I forget the other one. I got about 10 pages in and swapped it for a second read of Hitman.
I thought it was funny that tonight i was raking through cupboards for odds and ends to take camping, just before I finished listening to the pod. Whilst searching, I tidied the shelf where i keep the few non work related books i’ve bought here. I neatly stacked a book called Wellington: the years of the sword and a dismal rugby autobiog and my wife’s copelandesque novels, but left one book unstacked at the back of the shelf. Hehe. Adam “you’ll spear yourself with a fucking harpoon before finishing this book” Copeland.
He was a godawful wrestler, I agree, but then why was he so big with the fans? Why didn’t Stu Hart tie him to one of the old cadillac’s in the front garden? Why was he so out of shape? Prince Albert had a better look. Why did no one get annoyed that he stole his only move from Goldberg? Why did he have a mental breakdown before executing said move? It would be wonderful to have a pod of edge’s worst matches, but i don’t want to get you into trouble. Would it be fair to say that he’d never have made it if he didn’t have that yearbook entry, the footage of him at WMVI(was it VI?) and wasn’t an uber mark?
I’d take one of your bumper stickers, but i don’t have a bumper. I do like the idea of sticking it on someone else car though 😀
Great comment, very funny. Welcome to the podcast.
I just thought of another reason why I hate Edge.
#12 – he stole the name of his three disc DVD from Motley Crue’s greatest hits album. “decade of decadence”
Dre, I also hate Edge. I don’t have any particular reason, other than that he does NOTHING for me as a wrestling fan. Never has. His in ring style isnt exciting. His promos arent cool. His hair looks like shit. Gosh, I hate him. I am sure as a human being though, he is an ok guy.
not sure about the human being thing. maybe, maybe not. his hair was awful though, and he always kept putting it behind his ears like a girl in junior high school.
I like your theory that Edge’s book closed down the bookstore. I’m sure you absolutely correct. I generally don’t buy wrestling books unless I find them at used book stores or bookstores going out of business – picked up the new Jericho book for like 90% off at a chain store going out of business. I need to re-read Bret’s book, as I missed a lot of details to get through the compelling narrative. I really can’t imagine another wrestling book as good as that one.
I am terrified by the idea of your wife’s “copelandesque” novels.
I really don’t understand why he was so big, though I’m not sure it’s fair to judge the tastes of the most recent generation of wrestling fans, as they really don’t have much to work with. Guys just don’t have the charisma they used to have.
Edge was only popular because he stuck around long enough. People tend to like things that they recognize. Repetition makes you feel comfortable. It’s like music. If you play the same song over and over, eventually it becomes catchy.
Hey buttholes, Leif Cassidy is a play on David Cassidy (from the Partridge Family), and Leif Garrett (the 70s teen idol). 😉
I remember an ep. of RAW when the New Rockers were wrestling, and Jerry Lawler comments, “these guys are dorks, McMahon”. And McMahon, still a face announcer, says, “uh yes, I suppose they are a bit on the uh.. dorky side”. I dunno know why, but Ive always found that moment hilarious!
Also, Canadians apparently DO celebrate Thanksgiving. On the Bret Hart DVD last year, it shows them all at THANKSGIVING DINNER from the early 90s!!
Loved KOTR 1996. I LOVED the Austin 316 speech at the end. I used to quote it daily, and still do when I feel like it. My absolute FAVORITE line was, “why dont you take your ass down the the liquor store and get a cheap bottle and Thunderbird, and regain some of that courage you had in your prime”. haha
That speech was SO great. I doubt Cena, Orton, Christian, Alberto Del Rio, or anyone in WWE now will EVER EVER EVER make a promo this damn good or memorable.
david cassidy was on the tip of my tongue when we we’re recording, but didn’t know leif garrett. we were alive in the 70s, but too young to be conscious of pop culture.
cm punk is the only guy i think who could pull off a promo this guy, but probably not even he could connect with the crowd like austin did in that moment.
PS- a funny aside, the Stone Cold promo actually prompted me to try Thunderbird that summer on school break. I was at my friends older cousins house. She bought us a bottle of Thunderbird (we begged her… we thought if Jake the Snake drank it, that it would f*ckin rock). I have NEVER… NEVER in my life been sicker. I was face down in her azalea bushes puking my guts up. haha
Ha, I didn’t even know that Thunderbird was a real drink. I though it was a made up thing for the movies live Ovaltine.
Nah, Thunderbird is real.
Real nasty. Real strong. Real shit for real men.
Get hi-hi-high.
Really makes you feel so fine,
Really goes down so smooth,
Really puts you in the groove.
Have you heard? What’s the word?
It’s thunderbird.
-ZZ Top (Thunderbird)
And is Ovaltine not real? I had no idea! lol
Ovaltine is real, I buy the fortifed version for my little girls.
Since I’m here, you guys must do Starrcade 93. You would get a kick out of it, with Ric Flair hugging his kids and wife goodbye from his house before making his way to the arena DURING the PPV. It was held in Greensboro, NC. Freakin hilarious.
Send me a sticker and I promise to put it on my wife’s car. If you remember, she hates you guys.
Jeff, I seem to remember this.. Flair leaving the house during the PPV. Sort of reminds me of the intro to the 1993 Survivor Series where Lex Luger is sitting at home with his family, wearing some gay looking sweater, telling everyone to have a happy Thanksgiving and blah blah. And he tries to get his kid to speak to the camera and she wants nothing to do with it. Was that even his real family btw?
I watched part of Starrcade 93 and saw the Flair stuff…great stuff. I loved the stuff where he’s leaving the house and kissing his wife goodbye. I think someone watched Rocky while booking that show.
Drop us an email and we’ll see what we can do about those stickers. We’ll need photographic proof, though.
I don’t know who Rob Lighfeld is.
What I would give to go on the trip to visit every place that has a wrestling move named after it.
Although Marc Mero was on an episode of Thunder in the year 2000, he was probably paid for like a year of work.
You make a great point about “Stone Cold” and “Austin 3:16” not being born over night. Where was Steve Austin at SummerSlam a couple months after this show? Working the Free for All against Yokozuna. Bret Hart gets the credit for truly bringing out the Stone Cold character.
When I first heard that radio clip of Paul E. like 11 years ago, I thought it was sooooo awesome. Knowing now what I know about Vince having given money to ECW at that time period takes a little luster out of it.
I totally agree with you guys about Bruno Sammartino. He deserves respect for drawing all those fans though. If his ethnic background were different, he wouldn’t have drawn a dime.
Rob Liefeld is the worst comic book artist EVER.
I’ll talk to AAA (the auto company, not the lucha libre promotion) and see if they have a triptik for that tour.
It’s possible Mero is still on the Turner payroll.
I forgot that they were probably giving Heyman money then, but you’re right. Any idea what the exact time frame of that was?
Bruno sucks, but not nearly as much as Edge.
That Heyman phone call had to have been early ’97 while building to the Barely Legal PPV. That’s my not-so-educated guess.
Just wanted to drop in and let you know I really enjoyed the KOTR ’96 podcast (as I have basically everything you’ve put out thus far) and your rant on Edge!
But of course, I could tell you I did, but you wouldn’t laugh hysterically unless you saw it. We definetly need a gentlmens bet on this one. I am going to give your podcast a plug on HER Facebook, I send you the link. Dre sends the sticker, then I put the sticker on her car. The reward is I get to choose the event for discussion for episode 51. Is it a deal?
This podcast doesn’t support Edge. I’ll support this podcast because of the first sentence of this posting. 🙂
Hey guys just listened to your podcast on the 96 King of the Ring and I enjoyed the heck out of it I’m about ten minute from going to iTunes and getting the rest of them because I have a twelve hour trip to Pennsylvania coming up this weekend. What I wanted to tell you is what I have heard about the Faith No More Guy in the front row of almost every show in the nineties now this is all just hearsay and I have no idea of it is true or not but I seem to remember hearing Dave Sherer talk about this on 1wrestling.com back when he owned that. Anyway the guy’s name is Lenny and he apparently was some kind of millionaire who travelled to country in the mid to late nineties going to almost every wrestling show, Nitro, Raw, ECW, and PPV’s that he could get into. It was apparently his hobbie. to me he was as much an ECW original as Dreamer, and Sandman and that was one of the reasons that the WWE ECW folded first you can’t recapture that feeling again no matter what and it just wasn’t ECW WITH Straw Hat Guy, Hawaiian Shirt Guy, Faith No More Guy, and Sign Guy sitting in the front row every week. Anyway love the show keep up the good work and thank for your time.
Just came across your podcast and downloaded this episode first because I attended the show live right after my junior year of high school. I enjoyed reliving it through the podcast as my memories of this aren’t nearly as clear as those of SummerSlam ’94, probably since I didn’t have this one on official Coliseum Video. Anyway, I look forward to catching up on older episodes.