100 Worst WWE Matches Ever - 34 - Mabel vs. Savio Vega
King of the Ring Final - King of the Ring 1995
The Summerslam 1995 main event is rightfully considered one of the worst main events in the history of WWE. It is a match that we will certainly be visiting shortly. However the writing should have been on the wall with this match and maybe WWE should have heeded the warning here. Anybody that has watched mid 90s WWE knows what a mess it could be. Outside of the obvious bright spots, the company struggled as did wrestling as a whole as fans deviated their interestes from the larger than life cartoonish characters of the 80s. WWE gave us a childish braindead product filled with bad wrestlers and bad matches (if they didn’t involve Michaels or a Hart at least). King of the Ring 1995 is perhaps the lowest point that the company ever hit in terms of creativity, and on-screen product. It has earned its reputation as one of the worst pay-per-views the company ever put on, rightfully so.
This match is a big reason for this. But first let’s discuss the tournament as a whole, which is famously a complete mess. One look at the lineup highlights the weak state of the mid 90s roster. Bob Holly, Kama, Mabel, The Roadie, Savio Vega, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Yokozuna. Not exactly a stellar lineup (made worse by the fact that competent wrestlers like Owen Hart, British Bulldog, and Jeff Jarrett didn’t make the main card at all). However if you could pick any wrestler here to have multiple matches, it’s an easy call, right? 1993 King of the Ring showed that a tournament could succeed simply by telling your best wrestler “go out and have three great matches”.
If you suggested Shawn Michaels as that man, you are mistaken.
WWE in their infinite wisdom, despite the fact that they fully intended to push Shawn Michaels as the next big babyface star, decided to have him wrestle just one match. The Undertaker also only got one match for the night, for what it’s worth.
In what can only be described as a brief mercy, Mabel only has to wrestle two matches despite reaching the final. That’s because Shawn Michaels and Kama wrestled to a 15 minute draw, giving Mabel a bye. Savio Vega wasn’t so lucky. Not only did he have to wrestle in a qualifying match before the show, but he had to then wrestle two full matches prior to the final. If you have ever yearned for a show with four Savio Vega matches, King of the Ring 1995 is the show for you. The Savio Vega gimmick had debuted the month prior and was already thrust into the King of the Ring finals. Vince McMahon hammers home the comparison between Savio Vega and Rocky Balboa multiple times in the finals. Rocky being an icon of Philadelphia where this match takes place.
The worst King of the Ring in history saved the worst for last, because this match is just sad. There’s a massive red flag when Mabel whips Savio to the corner early on. Mabel looks like he’s going to do the standard charge to the corner, but immediately realises he’s exhausted (bearing in mind this is 2 minutes into the match). Rather, Mabel walks very slowly to Savio and slaps on perhaps the longest bearhug in the history of wrestling. Not only is it long, but it is such a weak looking bearhug. He stands there bent over with his arse hanging out. Mabel has no interest in making any effort to make the move interesting - not even as much as a crank for extra pressure. He’s literally just standing there bent over for literally minutes without action. Savio doesn’t do anything either. He barely looks interested in selling, or showing any signs of a struggle outside of a few token punches to the back. For a man as large as he is, Mabel’s moves - especially his holds - look so weak. Have a look at how loose his chinlock is, which follows this excruciating bearhug spot. Don Hendrixs screams “All this excitement!” The rest of the match that isn’t a bearhug isn’t much better - not that there’s a lot of this match that isn’t a resthold. Mabel is immobile with awful offence, and Savio is in his fourth match of the night. He’s not an established wrestler, so generating sympathy is next to impossible especially on this night in front of this crowd.
Famously, the Philadelphia fans start chanting for “ECW” including straw hat guy who is sat in the front row. All this while Vince McMahon is sitting on commentary listening to the crowd’s protests. The wrestlers decide that there’s no reason to up the urgency or try to get the fans on side so the chants get louder.
Savio has his initials shaved into his hair, his name on the back of his shirt, and his initials on his trousers. Something tells me WWE really wanted us to remember who Savio was after this show. It’s clear WWE thought that the Rocky story was one that could translate to this tournament - give a newcomer a big spotlight and unlikely victories. However all that happened was the fans were tired of him by the end of the night. Mabel ends up hitting Savio Vega with the splash, and claims the title of the worst King of the Ring winner of all time. However we’ll save the commentary on Mabel’s ill fated main event push for the upcoming Summerslam match.
Thankfully we got this match over a Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker match. That would have sucked.
Up Next - Fuck it, we might as well get the rest of Mabel out the way.
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