10 shocking moments from WWF (WWE) 1995

#3 Mabel wins King of the Ring

King Mabel

The King of the Ring PPV was a welcome addition to the WWF calendar that until 1993 had mainly relied on the so-called ‘big four’ shows of Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam and Survivor Series. It was also a good way to give the spotlight to an up and coming superstar who wasn’t quite at the level of the main event wrestlers. In 1993 we saw Bret Hart take the crown while a year later Owen followed in his brother’s footsteps, leading up to a Summerslam 94 main event between them.

So it was somewhat of a surprise to see Mabel, who had previously been a part of the less-than-serious ‘Men on a Mission’ tag team, become the 1995 King of the Ring. The man most of us now know as Viscera was not considered a good in-ring worker. In fact, numerous wrestlers had reservations about getting into the ring with him as he had built up a reputation of being reckless and inconsiderate of his opponent’s safety during matches.

Perhaps it was the sheer size of the man that attracted Vince to the idea of making him his top heel. McMahon clearly still had one foot in the past, where larger than life monsters would compete, in lieu of any real wrestling ability. Mabel’s King of the Ring victory earned him a Summerslam main event later in the year against the champion Diesel, in what is generally considered a poor event overall.

Any plans that Vince was harbouring to turn Mabel into a main event star were soon dashed as the realisation hit that the man couldn’t be trusted to carry the company going forward. That doesn’t take away from the fact that 1995 was, in many ways the year of King Mabel.