The 1996 King of the Ring was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the fourth annual King of the Ring event and hosted the finals of the 10th King of the Ring tournament for men. The event took place on June 23, 1996, from the Wisconsin Center Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The main event was a standard wrestling match for the WWF Championship. Shawn Michaels defeated British Bulldog to retain the title, with Mr. Perfect serving as the special guest enforcer. The undercard featured the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, which was won by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
Other matches on the undercard included a WWF Intercontinental Championship match between champion Goldust and challenger Ahmed Johnson, Mankind versus The Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior versus Jerry "The King" Lawler, and a WWF Tag Team Championship match between champions The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) and challengers The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn).
Austin's victory speech after winning the King of the Ring tournament gave rise to the "Austin 3:16" tag line, which would go on to become one of the most popular catchphrases in the history of professional wrestling, and the event has been cited by WWE as a precursor to the Attitude Era.
Production Background King of the Ring was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event held annually in June by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1993. The PPV was named after the King of the Ring tournament, a men's single-elimination tournament that was established in 1985 and held annually until 1991, except for 1990, with the winner crowned the "King of the Ring"; these early tournaments were held as special non-televised house shows. Unlike the non-televised events, the PPV did not feature all of the tournament's matches. Instead, several of the qualifying matches preceded the event with the final few matches then taking place at the pay-per-view. Other matches took place at the event as it was a traditional three-hour pay-per-view. The King of the Ring event became considered as one of the WWF's "Big Five" PPVs, along with the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, the company's five biggest annual shows of the year. The fourth King of the Ring PPV hosted the finals of the 10th tournament, and it was held on June 23, 1996 at the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Several weeks prior to King of the Ring, the contracts of Kevin "Diesel" Nash and Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall expired and the two men left the WWF to join the promotion's main competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW). After their final WWF match at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on May 19, Nash and Hall embraced their real-life friends Michael Hickenbottom (wrestling as Shawn Michaels) and Paul Levesque (wrestling as Hunter Hearst Helmsley). At the time, Michaels and Hall were portraying heroic characters and Nash and Levesque were portraying villainous characters; WWF management thus saw the incident as a major breach of kayfabe. However, as Nash and Hall had left the company, and Michaels was the WWF Champion and a huge box-office draw, punishment fell solely on Levesque. As a result, Levesque's anticipated "push" into the main event — which would have started with a King of the Ring tournament victory — was delayed.
Storylines King of the Ring featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Monday Night Raw—WWF's television program. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The pay-per-view event featured the annual King of the Ring single elimination bracket tournament. The qualification for the tournament started on the May 27, 1996, episode of Raw, with Ultimate Warrior wrestling the WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust to a double count-out and Vader defeating Ahmed Johnson. The qualification continued on the June 1 episode of Superstars as Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw defeated Henry Godwinn. On the June 3 edition of Raw, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jake "The Snake" Roberts qualified for the tournament by defeating Bob "Spark Plug" Holly and Hunter Hearst Helmsley, respectively. On the June 9 episode of Superstars, Savio Vega defeated Marty Jannetty in a qualification match. On the June 10 episode of Raw, the qualification for the tournament ended as "Wildman" Marc Mero defeated Skip and Owen Hart defeated Yokozuna. The first quarterfinal match of the tournament took place on the June 16 episode of Superstars, with Roberts defeating Bradshaw. On the June 17 episode of Raw, Austin defeated Vega and Mero defeated Hart in the remaining quarterfinal matches. Vader received a bye in the quarterfinals due to Warrior and Goldust's qualifying match resulting in a double count-out.
The main rivalry heading into the event was between Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog over the WWF Championship. At In Your House 8, Michaels defended the title against Bulldog in a match that resulted in a no contest as both men's shoulders were down on the mat. Although the referee Earl Hebner awarded Michaels the victory, Bulldog's wife Diana Smith, brother-in-law Hart and manager Jim Cornette handed Bulldog the belt. The on-screen WWF President Gorilla Monsoon declared the match a no contest. On the June 3 episode of Raw, Monsoon announced that Michaels would defend the title against Bulldog in a rematch at King of the Ring and allowed Camp Cornette to choose a special guest referee for the match. On the June 17 episode of Raw, Jim Cornette announced that Mr. Perfect would be the guest referee for the match.
Another predominant feud heading into the event was between The Undertaker and Mankind. On the April 1 episode of Raw, Mankind made his WWF debut and defeated Bob Holly. Later that night, Mankind attacked The Undertaker during his match with Justin Bradshaw. On the May 13 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon conducted an in-ring interview segment with The Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Mankind attacked The Undertaker, who was distracted by Goldust and his valet Marlena. At In Your House 8, Mankind helped Goldust in retaining the WWF Intercontinental Championship against The Undertaker in a Casket match. This led to a match between The Undertaker and Mankind at King of the Ring.
On the May 27 episode of Raw, Warrior wrestled the WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust to a double count-out in a King of the Ring qualifying match when Goldust tried to leave ringside and was attacked in the aisle by Warrior. After the match ended, Jerry "The King" Lawler tried to retrieve a director's chair for Goldust's valet Marlena, but Warrior grabbed the chair and destroyed it. Lawler had been critical of a comic book released by Warrior and made statements about how it would have been better if he did the artwork. On the June 10 episode of Raw, Lawler interviewed Warrior and apologized to him for costing him his qualifying match against Goldust and offered a portrait of Warrior as a present. Warrior rejected the apology and the present. Lawler attacked Warrior, leading to a match between the two at King of the Ring. In an interview on the DVD The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, Lawler was very unhappy with the setup of the incident, as Warrior unexpectedly arrived in the ring wearing a baseball cap to promote his comic book.The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior DVD
On the May 27 episode of Raw, Ahmed Johnson got into an altercation with Goldust in a backstage segment after losing a King of the Ring qualifying match to Vader. On the June 3 episode of Raw, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon announced that Goldust would defend the title against Johnson at King of the Ring.
At In Your House 8, The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) defeated The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. As a result of the Godwinns losing the titles, their valet Sunny became the manager of the Gunns. Due to the betrayal of Sunny, the Godwinns continued their rivalry with the Gunns, leading to a tag title match between the two teams at King of the Ring.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorVince McMahonJim RossOwen HartInterviewerDok HendrixRing announcerHoward FinkelRefereeTim WhiteMike ChiodaJack DoanEarl Hebner Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) wrestled The New Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Leif Cassidy) in a match that aired live on Free for All. Bodydonnas won when Skip pinned Cassidy after Bodydonnas' manager Cloudy kissed Cassidy.
Preliminary matches
As the event concluded, the semi-final round of the King of the Ring tournament started. The first semi-final match pitted Marc Mero against Stone Cold Steve Austin. During the match, Austin's mouth was badly injured. Mero whipped Austin through the ropes and then backdropped Austin. Austin attacked Mero with a Boot in the corner and tried to throw Mero out of the ring but Mero tossed Austin outside the ring. Mero delivered a Plancha to Austin causing Austin to bleed from his mouth. Mero returned to the ring and hit a Suicide Dive on Austin. Mero tried to pin Austin after a Missile Dropkick but got a near-fall. Austin regained his momentum and tried to pin Mero after a Hotshot but Mero kicked out of it. Austin followed by hitting Mero with a Stone Cold Stunner to win the match.
The next semi-final match was between Jake Roberts and Vader. Vader dominated Roberts with a Body Press and a Running Splash. Roberts booted Vader and hit a Swinging Knee Lift. Roberts tried to finish the match by attempting a DDT on Vader but Vader backed him into the corner and tried to hit a Short-arm Clothesline. Roberts countered and hit a Short-arm Clothesline of his own. Roberts ran through the ropes but Vader hit him with a Running Splash and tried to charge Roberts into the corner. Roberts avoided the charge and tried to hit a DDT on Vader, but Vader used the referee as a human shield to prevent himself from getting a DDT. As a result of using the referee, Vader was disqualified. Vader assaulted Roberts after the match and injured him by hitting a Vader Bomb.
In the next match, The Smoking Gunns defended the WWF Tag Team Championship against The Godwinns. The Gunns got the earlier advantage in the match when Billy distracted Phineas and Bart attacked Phineas from behind. However, Godwinns got advantage and dominated most part of the match. In the closing moments of the match, Bart hit a Boot to Phineas, allowing Billy to pin Phineas with a roll-up.
The fourth match was between Ultimate Warrior and Jerry Lawler. Lawler brought a scepter to the ring during his entrance. As Warrior was making his entrance, Lawler started attacking Warrior with the scepter and used many dirty tactics to weaken Warrior. Lawler tried to finish the match with a Piledriver, but Warrior did not sell and began dominating Lawler with a series of clotheslines. Warrior hit Lawler with a Running Shoulder Block and pinned him to win the match.