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Though the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) had held six King of the Ring tournaments before it, the King of the Ring tournament that took place on this date in WWF history (June 13, 1993) marked the first time the tournament was made into a stand alone pay-per-view (PPV) event.
This particular event is notable for a couple of reasons.
For starters, it marked the end of Hulk Hogan's long run on top in the WWF. He had returned from a long absence earlier in the year and politicked his way back to the title. At WrestleMania 9, Bret Hart dropped the belt to Yokozuna only to see Hogan appear and hit the ring to drop a leg and take the strap for himself.
The plan, then, was for Hogan to put Hart over big at SummerSlam in a veritable passing of the torch moment to a new generation of wrestlers. This being right around the infamous WWF steroid trials, that was going to happen with or without Hogan, but it would have had far more impact had the Hulkster decided to put Hart over at a major event.
Instead he refused, claiming Bret had heard wrong in a meeting with McMahon and he dropped the title to Yokozuna at King of the Ring instead, losing to his own leg drop finisher. By this time, Hulkamania was stale and he had worn out his welcome with the company. Not long after, he was out altogether.
As for Hart, he would become the only man to ever win King of the Ring twice, as he defeated Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect and Bam Bam Bigelow all during the same show. In fact, the combined length of Hart's matches on that PPV came in at somewhere around 47 minutes.
That's pretty damn impressive.
After being crowned, Hart was attacked by Jerry Lawler and they feuded over who was the rightful "King" of the WWF. Their feud would gain critical acclaim and lead right into Bret's next feud, a famous one with his brother, Owen. Eventually, he would get his title back by defeating Yokozuna at WrestleMania 10.
Watch Hogan lose to Yokozuna and Hart win the tournament: