Brian Damage
At one time, the King of the Ring tournament was a staple of WWF pay per views. Winning the tourney was used to elevate a mid card talent into a main event attraction. It was that important. Stars like Owen Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Kurt Angle all won the crown to be elevated to another level. In recent years, WWE removed the show from its ppv or ple schedule, was no longer an annual event and lost a great deal of significance. Triple H and WWE seem to be changing that by revitalizing the tournament. Today, we will look at how King of the Ring became an event in the first place way back in 1985.
If the name Eddie Andelman doesn’t sound all too familiar, you are most likely not from the New England area of the United States. Andelman was/is a radio legend up in that area of the country. He mainly covered sports for well over 40 years for a number of radio stations all over the Boston area. Andelman was also a big wrestling fan, who often had wrestlers as guests on his programs. One of his best friends, was legendary wrestler/manager Captain Lou Albano. Andelman was also personal friends with both Vince McMahon Sr and his son Vince Jr. It was those close relationships, that set the wheels in motion for the aforementioned event.
Not only was Eddie Andelman a successful radio host, he was also a philanthropist, who worked with several children’s charities. It was through Andelman’s charitable work, that he approached Vince Jr about hosting an event to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. Andelman’s idea was to have a wrestling show to help raise money. According to the radio host, Vince was extremely generous and very willing to assist with putting on a show to raise money for charity. Through Andelman’s sports connections, he was able to convince the (owners of the New England Patriots) Sullivan family to loan out Sullivan Stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Together, McMahon and Andelman came up with the idea for a one night tournament called ‘The King of the Ring.’ While Eddie Andelman looked at this one night only event to generate money for cystic fibrosis, Vince saw it as a business opportunity to generate free publicity for his ever expanding wrestling empire in the World Wrestling Federation. Between all the local radio and television advertisements, the WWF got just that and then some.
The King of the Ring tournament took place on July 8th, 1985 in Sullivan Stadium and had an attendance of 23,000 fans. The 16 man single elimination tournament included such wrestlers as Tito Santana, the Spoiler, Les Thornton, Jim Brunzell, Don Muraco, the Iron Sheik, Terry Funk, Pedro Morales, B. Brian Blair, Ricky Steamboat, the Junkyard Dog, Steve Lombardi, Johnny V, Bob Orton Jr and Paul Orndorff. The main event was Hulk Hogan defending his WWF world title against Nikolai Volkoff.
Andelman claimed in an interview that both Don Muraco and the Iron Sheik threw fits, insisting that they win the King of the Ring. To appease both wrestlers, they were chosen to face each other in the finals…which was a rarity to see a heel versus a heel in the WWF in those days. Muraco won the inaugural non-televised King of the Ring tournament. The event was a success from a charitable standpoint, as King of the Ring garnered $100,000 for charity.
The success of the King of the Ring led them to do it a second time in the same venue in 1986 with Harley Race being victorious. Eddie Andelman said that that event also generated good money for charity and that led to Vince McMahon to try and make money off the event himself. He took the King of the Ring tournament to Providence, Rhode Island…without the help of Eddie Andelman and not for charity. Andelman held no ill will towards Vince McMahon to try and make money off the King of the Ring and understood it was all a business.
