Watch WWE King of the Ring 1996 For Free

Perfect cast and a good story

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

1st Match: Marc Mero vs Stone Cold Steve Austin. A great start to the show, Mero keeps the crowd in his corner, while Austin has them gunning for him. Good face and heel work here, also Owen Hart is on commentary the whole show, wonder if that'll come into play later. Austin gets his lip busted pretty bad here, and had to actually get stitches immediately after the match. Great stuff here to start. Rating: 4/5 2nd Match: Jake Roberts vs Vader. The match is less than 5 minutes and has Vader get DQ'd so Roberts can move on in the tournament. Roberts was doing an underdog story with this tournament, and that can work, especially with a guy who had his fair share of demons, but the DQ ending to this is lazy. I realize there's no way Roberts could've beaten Vader 1-on-1, but the match is short and somewhat entertaining. There have been worse matches that are less than 5 minutes. After the match, Roberts gets his ribs destroyed by Vader in a beat down, don't worry, that'll come into play later. Rating: 3/5 3rd Match: The Godwinns vs The Smokin' Gunns, WWF Tag Team Championship. An alright tag team match, if anything it benefits from being 10 minutes long, but it has a constant pace, and the crowd's into it. Probably the weakest match of the night, but still very watchable. Rating: 3/5 4th Match: Jerry Lawler vs The Ultimate Warrior. This match is also less than 5 minutes, but watching Lawler lose is always fun. Apparently this would be Warrior's last WWF PPV appearance because he no-showed a bunch of house shows after this and then went to WCW for awhile. His run here was alright, a lot better than what Renegade did the year before, but it was more due to nostalgia than anything. Rating: 3/5 5th Match: The Undertaker vs Mankind. A pretty brutal match. Hard-hitting, there are chair shots, drops onto concrete, and this was just the beginning of their feud. Paul Bearer accidentally hits Taker with the urn, getting Foley the win, but I have a feeling there's more to come from this rivalry. Another great match on the show. Rating: 4/5 6th Match: Goldust vs Ahmed Johnson, WWF Intercontinental Championship. Another solid match, not as good as the one before it, but very good. Goldust is of course creepy as hell, and Johnson's reactions to him are great, but Ahmed as a whole is just fun to watch. Good back and forth action, and Johnson gets a clean win for his first title. Rating: 3.5/5 7th Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Jake Roberts. This is also less than 5 minutes, but they told a great story with it. A battered and beaten Jake Roberts vs the young and aggressive Steve Austin. Gorilla Monsoon almost calls the match off, but Roberts wants to continue, to try and win the big one, but Austin crushes that dream with a stunner. I might be hyping this match up more than it deserves, but I think it's booked really well storyline wise. After the match, Austin cuts the "Austin 3:16" promo, and gets shot to the moon. I also love how he doesn't take the crown, or sit on the chair, he wins, makes an awesome speech, and then leaves. Simple, effective, Austin. Rating: 4/5 8th Match: Shawn Michaels vs The British Bulldog, WWF Championship. A lot better than their match at last month's IYH. Their last match was an OK Bulldog match, this is a great Michaels match. Michaels get a lot more offense, and there are some great spots and close three-counts. The only problem the match has is the ending being overbooked like crazy, with two refs, and Owen pulling one of them out to stop the count, but the count continues, so it was pointless anyway. It's weird. But Michaels wins, and there's no double pin finish like last show, so it's not that big of a negative. A very good match to end the show. Rating: 4.5/5 Final Rating: 7 out of 10. While the show's mostly remembered for Austin 3:16, the rest of the show holds up really well. Every match here is at least watchable, and sometimes that's all you need for a great show.

Well, In Your HOuse 8: Beware of the Dog had left a few question unanswered going into King of the Ring. Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog had pinned each other simultaneously in their WWE title match. Here they would settle who was the better man and rightful champion.Also of significance was the separation from his former manager Ted DiBiase, of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin had qualified for the semi finals of the King of the Ring tournament and was seeking to make his mark at this tournament. Make his mark he certainly did.Another notable part of this show was that it featured the final ever appearance of the Ultimate Warrior on a WWE PPV. He was taking on Jerry Lawler.The night started off with our two King of the Ring semi finals. The first, a very long, unremarkable match, was won by Steve Austin over Marc Mero. Mero was not a great worker, but could be all right on occasion. This wasn't quite one of those. He would meet Jake Roberts in the final after Vader was disqualified in their semi final.This was followed by the latest entry in the rivalry between WWE Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy) and the Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) over the belts. This was about what you;d expect with some good moments, some bad and the Gunns won to retain their belts. Tag team wrestling was rather weak at this stage in the WWE.Next saw The Ultimate Warrior defeat Jerry Lawler in a short match. This was the Warrior's final run in the WWE and his final PPV match. His return had not really accomplished much.The next match saw the first chapter of what would turn out to be a memorable rivalry between Mankind and the Undertaker. Mankind had cost the Undertaker the Intercontinental Championship at the previous PPV, interfering in a casket match by hiding in the coffin. Taker sought revenge here, and didn't get it, Mankind winning by TKO in about twenty minutes. Best match of the night so far and one of the better matches from 1996, though it was destined to be eclipsed later on.Ahmed Johnson got his biggest moment in the WWE next as he defeated Goldust to win the Intercontinental Championship. This was not a great match.Next came one of the key moments in wrestling history as Stone Cold Steve Austin won the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Jake Roberts in a dreadful match and then cutting his famous promo "Austin 3:16 just kicked your ass!" Austin 3:16 would go on to to be the highest selling t-shirt in wrestling history. Though, as noted, that was the only good thing about this match.Next came the main event, a really good match that saw Shawn Michaels retain the WWE Championship, pinning the British Bulldog. This was the closest Bulldog would come to a world championship and ended his last run in the main event in the WWE. Jim Cornette, who between Bulldog and Vader was starting to get a pretty intimidating stable of monsters together, was at ringside and interfered a few times in this match.King of the Ring 1996 was an average PPV. The tournament matches were all bad. Taker/ Mankind was a good match, and Michaels/ Bulldog was a good blow off to their entertaining feud. It also kept the bad blood between Michaels and Cornette in order to set up the WWE's next big feud.

Here are the matches . . .Semi final match - 'Wildman' Marc Mero v 'Stone cold' Steve Austin: A technical start turns into a fast pace as Mero gets the hurricanrana. They slow things down with arm wringers and I think Austin gets overzealous with his Lou Thesz press. Highlights include Mero's timed butt shot from the turnbuckle into Austin, a Mero somersault plunge to the outside followed by a dive through the ropes and a power bomb by Austin that ends up a stun gun on the ropes. It's the first time on PPV Austin hit's the Stone Cold Stunner for the pin-fall. Austin's mouth bleeds about three quarters of the way through the match. 7/10 Jake 'the Snake' Roberts v Vader: I never liked the idea of Roberts finding God as Roberts always danced with the devil even as a face. This match isn't much as most of it is Roberts bouncing off Vader in one way or another. Roberts lands the DDT but Vader grabs the ref getting disqualified. After the match, Vader gives Roberts one heck of a beating and has to go and get his ribs taped up. Not much wrestling-wise but it furthers the story that 41 year old Roberts (we will never be allowed to forget his age during the PPV) is an underdog and Vader is a complete monster. 2/10 Godwins v Smokin' Gunns for the tag titles: The only person of interest here is Sunny who probably never looked better. The Godwins come out with 'Hillbilly' Jim carrying goat kids (even though they are pig farmers). Most of the match is taken up by a beat down on Henry that seems to last forever. Eventually he makes the tag and, about half a minute later, comes out full of life to do a double-team Irish whip move showing poor ring psychology. In fact, after watching all that with Henry it is Phinneas who gets pinned via Bart's boot and the Gunns retain the titles. Watch in fast forward if need be. 4/10 Ultimate Warrior v Jerry 'The King' Lawler: Lawler spends more time insulting the fans as he walks to the ring than he does wrestling though he does have some great lines: "Is that your head or did your neck throw up?" "It's girls like you that turn me into people like Goldust." The fun stops when the wrestling gets underway as most of the match is spent watching the Warrior get choked out. Warrior no-sells Lawler's pile-driver and hits him with clotheslines and a shoulder-block for the pin - not even a gorilla press slam or a splash in sight. Both wrestlers' work-rate at this time was none existent and the Warrior would leave the WWF for good after this PPV. 1/10 Undertaker v Mankind: This is the PPV debut of the famous Mankind v Undertaker feud and it's a nice little taster of things to come. The match actually starts with Undertaker on the turnbuckle and lays the boom on Mankind from the start. The best parts of the match happen outside of the ring with moves involving Mankind whacking Undertaker's face while propped against the steel steps and Undertaker's stiff chair-shot to Mankind's head. The match ends when manager Paul Bearer accidentally hits Undertaker over the head with the urn allowing Mankind to slap on the mandible claw. 6/10 Ahmed Johnson and Goldust for the Intercontinental title: Ahmed looks strong as he smacks Goldust across the steps and then removes them to drop them on his back. Marlena looks absolutely bored with everything that is going on around her. Goldust works on Ahmed's back and then attempts to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation which makes Ahmed go crazy giving the spine buster and Pearl River Plunge to Goldust before the pin to become new Intercontinental champion. 5/10 Final - Jake 'The Snake' Roberts v 'Stone cold' Steve Austin: Austin goes after Jake's ribs like an animal and Jake sells his injuries in a very convincing way. Austin starts tearing open Jake's bandages and president Gorilla Monsoon comes down the ring to ask Jake if he wants to go on. Jake does but falls foul to the Stunner. Austin is King of the Ring 1996. 1/10Austin's famous interview at the end was good but not as ground-breaking as everybody makes it out to be. He says; "Talk about your Psalms, talk about your John 3:16, Austin 3:16 says I just kicked your ass." If he were the first to swear on WWF TV (Warrior used the same term just before King of the Ring which is played back on the PPV) and used that line to conclude his interview he would have made the whole thing more effective. Regardless, for the first time Austin ended with "and that's the bottom line 'cause Stone Cold said so".Shawn Michaels v British Bulldog for the World title (guest referee - Mr Perfect): Monsoon is well used in this PPV as he appears again to state that Mr Perfect is the outside referee as Earl Hebner is the inside referee. A great fast-paced match full of spots and nice reversals including a Michaels hurricanranna on the outside, Bulldog gorilla pressing Michaels to the outside, Michaels twirling crucifix for a 2 count, a Bulldog surfboard turning into a pin attempt and Michaels reversing a belly-to-back suplex for a cross body pinning position. The highlight is a Bulldog superplex which he actually lets go of! A great match that ends with Michaels hitting a poorly executed Sweet Chin Music for the pin. Brilliant action all the way through. 8/10 This event is pretty good mostly with a strong storyline running through it. It will be forever known for making 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.

SpoilersAlthough this PPV is mainly remembered for the birth of 3:16 it was actually quite a good event.The free for all match between the New Rockers and the Bodydonnas, although not shown in its entirety is an excellent opener.The first semi final king of the ring match between Steve Austin and Marc Mero is good, however the second, between Jake Roberts and Vader is disappointing with a lame ending.The final between Roberts and Austin is again a bit of a disappointment with respect to action but tells a good story and Austin's post match coronation is legendary with good reason. That promo would go on to generate millions of dollars of merchandise due two well known phrases first said during it, "Austin 3:16" and "cause Stone Cold said so".The other matches range from poor to superb. The Warrior-Lawler match is just a squash, whilst the Godwins-Gunns tag match is average. The Undertaker-Mankind match was very good and also the start of a great feud. The Goldust-Ahmed Johnson match pleasantly surprised me and the world title match between Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog is an undiscovered classic.Also worth noting is the good job Owen Hart does as a colour commentator.Overall well worth a look.