the game is starting. Open - did they add Rey with the belt before and I wasn't paying any attention? Orton's been minimizing.

Your hosts are Josh and Josh. Josh thought it'd be a great idea to look back at past KOTRs, so that's our theme this week.

Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow, 1993 King of the Ring Finals - joined in progress, as Bam Bam lifts Bret into an over the shoulder backbreaker, and is holding him up there. Your announcers are JR, Heenan and Savage. The ref is - I don't know, my lack of knowledge of pre-1996 referees is being horrible exposed this week. Bigelow keeping him up there for a while (which makes it an odd time to jump in), and Heenan takes the opportunity to accuse Stu Hart of being a quitter. JR feels differently. One arm drop. Two arm drop. Three - wait, no, both arms are up. Bret flipping backwards on to his feet, and a back suplex hurts both of them. Bigelow's the only one rolling around grabbing his head. Then again, he's also the first one to to his feet. Bigelow senton, Bret rolls out of the way! Bigelow is still the first one up. Bret tries to punch his way up, but Bigelow rakes the eyes. Corner whip, down goes Bret. JR says we're past 15 minutes. Back to the over the shoulder backbreaker. Bret turning and raking Bam Bam's face. He's turned it into a sleeper. Bam Bam's still moving, but he's starting to fade. A very slow fade, and he manages to toss Bret off. Bigelow still wobbly, and Bret moving - dropkick sends Bam Bam stomach first into the top rope, and Bret dumps him out. Bigelow getting up on the floor - pescado! Punches! Savage spells for us. Bret brings Bam Bam back in - middle rope clothesline one two no. Some how, we've morphed into ROH here, with an running conversation of shaking Bret's hand if he wins. Russian legsweep, middle rope, Bam Bam getting up, so he does a bulldog instead. Savage yells at Bret to cover him, but Bret's grabbing Bam Bam around, turning him from the ropes, and trying the Sharpshooter on Bigelow. Bigelow kicks him away before he can lock anything on. Bigelow up to his feet, Bret jumps on him, Bigelow catches him and tries to bearhug him, but Bret's biting and scratching his way free. Bret down to his feet, back suplex, but Bigelow shifts his weight and lands on top, one two NO. Bigelow can't believe that's not three. Announcers can not believe Bret's taken so much punishment and still kept going. Corner whip, Bigelow charges into a boot, Bret tries a victory roll, one two THREE. (5:43) Savage runs in the ring to hug Bret and probably shake his hand. I think that's Tony Garea ushering Bret out of the ring, but someone else comes over to hurry Bret a little more - were they running late? Bret joins Gene Okerland on the stage to get his King robe, scepter, and crown. Gene: "I proclaim ye, Bret 'the Hitman' Hart, the King of the Ring." No speech from Bret? That's where it ends.

Back in the studio with Josh, who segues by noting Hart was still in the finals again in 1994, but this time, it was Owen. 

Owen Hart vs Razor Ramon, 1994 King of the Ring finals - joined in progress, as Razor slams Owen down. Elbow drop. One two no. Your announcers are Monsoon, Savage, and Art Donovan, who I would not have guessed in a million years if I hadn't looked it up. Donovan is the one stunned at the weight differential between the two guys. Whip, Owen slides thru Razor's legs and slaps him in the a few times. Whip, Owen tries a dropkick, Razor stops short, catches the legs, and slingshots him into the corner. Razor pulls him out of the corner with an inside cradle one two no. Headlock takedown one no. Owen reverses it with a headscissors, Razor headstands into a back bridge (!) for two. Owen bridges up, turning it all the way into a backslide, but Razor won't go over, and Razor gets his own backslide one two no. Razor with another headlock takedown. Monsoon selling the cumulative effect of previous matches hard. Art: "You know what? I think this, uh, Razor's going to lose, and this other guy's going to win." Headlock, shot off, back with a shoulderblock. Razor off the ropes, into an Owen standing spin kick (I think.) What's he going to do? Owen grabs the legs, but stomps the midsection. Savage (randomly): "We have a sixty minute time limit here." Art (shocked): "How can they go that long?" At the pace they're going, it ain't going to be hard. European uppercut for Owen. Abdominal stretch, with Owen immediately grabbing the ropes. Monsoon thinks Owen's not big enough to get anything out of this hold. Owen lets go when checked, and the referee actually checks when Owen's not doing it, which is great. Owen's casually putting his arm on the ropes and can't be getting too much help from it. Razor eventually hiptosses out out of it, and the announcers are quiet as Owen punches back. Whip, Owen hiptoss blocked, Owen escapes with a flip, but Razor chokeslams him anyway one two no. Razor scoops him up, fallaway slam one two no. Suplex, Owen slips behind, and uses Bret's Russian legsweep. Owen says that's it. Moonsault? No, Razor knocks him down from behind. Back superplex! That's it. Crowd is into Razor. How's he going to do the Razor's Edge there, so close to the ropes? Oh, he not, Owen is just backdropping him out, all the way to the floor. Owen talking to the ref, something's up. Jim Neidhart is out, checking on Razor. Helping him up, and surprising him with a clothesline. Into the post, and thrown in. Savage and Monsoon can't believe it. Jim plays innocent as Owen goes all the way up. Top rope elbow drop one two three. (5:40) "I DID IT!" We flash ahead to Owen getting his crown, and that's that.

Josh says winning the KOTR takes a wrestler to a new level, but in 1996, the winner took everyone into a new era. I guess we're skipping 1995! 

Steve Austin vs Jake Roberts, 1996 King of the Ring Finals - joined in progress, as Austin is dropping an double axhandle on Jake Roberts, followed by a few mores. Your ref is Tim White. Jake's grabbing his bruised->worse ribs and pounding the mat, but he doesn't want the match stopped. Your announcers are the odd ball trio of JR, Vince, and Owen Hart. Austin telling Jake to get up, and when he won't, another axhandle to the midsection for him. How about a middle rope version. Still yelling at Jake to get up. Stomps. JR: "With all this going on, at least there's some celebration going on in the locker room, with Ahmed Johnson and [audio missing]". Huh. Middle rope axhandle to the ribs again. Austin yelling at whoever. Dropping the elbow to the back. Austin yelling at Jake to get up, and then kicking him in the ribs again. Slap to the face. Slap to the face. Kick to the ribs. Jake trying to fight back now, kicks and right hands. Austin winds up, and punches the rib. Kick to the ribs. I think I get the idea, but Austin is making sure by ripping off the rib tape and driving his forearm into the ribs. Rib tot he midsection. Gorilla Monsoon is now on the apron, and it would seem like he's going to stop this. What's the deal with the blurred sign? Monsoon and and trying to get Tim White's attention, but Tim White's trying to stop Steve Austin. White gets Austin to back off while Monsoon talks to Jake, who begs him not to stop the match. Owen very angry with this course of action by Monsoon - Jake doesn't want to stop, Austin wants to keep going, so what are they doing? Jake up to the feet, and using the distraction rally back with punches. Off the ropes, big right. Jake calling for the DDT - but Austin drives him back first into the corner, and gives him shoulder after shoulder to the midsection. Austin up to the middle rope to pose, and he gets a few cheers in with more boots. Dropping the hammer. Stunner. One two three. (4:22) So odd not to hear glass shatter at the start of Austin's music. Clip ahead to Austin at the throne with Dox Hendrix holding the microphone. "The first thing that I want done is to get that piece of crap out of my ring! [clip?] Because I've proved, son, without a shadow of a doubt, you ain't got what it takes anymore! You sit there and you thumb your Bible and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16, Austin 3:16 says 'I just whipped your ass!' [clip] And that's the bottom line because Stone Cold said so!" Fans boo, for the second we hear them.

Josh sets up our final match, "the beginning of the Game".

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) vs Mankind, 1997 King of the Ring Finals - We join with Hunter trying the pedigree, Mankind backdropping free, Hunter trying a sunset flip, and Mankind applying the Mandible claw. Your announcers are JR and Vince. It's be all over, except Chyna pulls Mankind out by his hair while the ref's looking elsewhere. Your ref is Mike Choida. Hunter pulls Mankind up to the middle rope, and gives him a reverse neckbreaker over the top rope. Mankind somehow crawls in, but collapses. Hunter pulls off part of Mankind's mask, and heads up? Huh. Mankind rallies up, and puts him in the Mandible Claw again. Hunter escapes with an eye poke, but Mankind's back on offense. Inverted atomic drop, clothesline, one two no. Mankind's mask is all the way off, and he sets up while Hunter pulls himself up near the ropes. Running clothesline takes them both out. Hunter pulls himself up with the guardrail, while Mankind climbs up to the apron. Diving back elbow! Hunter moves, and Mankind collides head first with the guardrail! There are reasons why Foley isn't wrestling any more, and this is one of them. Choida is yelling at Chyna again - did she pull him out of the way? He's ejecting her, but in the meantime, Hunter is throwing Mankind into the steps. Since he's in the area, Hunter cleans off the English announce desk. and sets up Mankind on it. Pedigree! The table sags and eventually collapses, but doesn't really break. Both men are down, and the announcers are off mic. Chyna did not get ejected -she's standing a distance away and watching. Hunter's rolled back in, and Mankind's getting up - he tries to throw chairs into the ring, but they don't quite make it. JR and Vince make it back onto mic. Mike is checking on Hunter as Mankind crawls in - and chyna cracks him over the back with a giant wrench - Vince says "steel scepter". Somehow, Mankind gets up on the apron, just enough for Hunter to knocks off with a running knee. Mankind flies to the floor again, knocking down a photographer in the process. Mankind brought in, as the crowd cheers for him, but he's out. Hunter pulls him in, and pins him with one hand - one two NO. Pedigree? Yes. One two three. (5:47) He doesn't use this classical music quite as much nowadays. Clip ahead to him receiving the robe, and the crown - which he uses to hammer Mankind some more. He pretty well destroyed it.

Josh says winning KOTR was the turning point for Triple H; who will follow in his footsteps this year? Josh recaps the tournament so far; this week's Mark Henry vs Lashley.

That's it.