King of the Ring (1985)

King of the Ring
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	July 8, 1985
City	Foxborough, Massachusetts
Venue	Sullivan Stadium
Attendance	23,000[1]
King of the Ring tournament chronology
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The 1985 King of the Ring was the inaugural King of the Ring professional wrestling tournament produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The tournament was held on July 8, 1985 at the Sullivan Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts as a special non-televised house show. The inaugural 1985 tournament was won by Don Muraco. In addition to the tournament, there was only one other match during the night. In this match Hulk Hogan pinned Nikolai Volkoff to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. The event drew 23,000 people of which 20,000 were paid.^[2]

Production

Background

In 1985, in an effort to boost attendance at their house shows, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) scheduled their July 8, 1985 event as a tournament called the King of the Ring. It was a single-elimination tournament in which the winner would be crowned the "King of the Ring." The inaugural tournament was held at the Sullivan Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts as a special non-televised house show.^[3][4]

Aftermath

A second tournament was scheduled for 1986, also as a non-televised house show, thus establishing the King of the Ring tournament as an annual event. The event continued to be held as a special non-televised house show up through 1989 and in 1991; a tournament was not held in 1990. A tournament was also not held in 1992, but it returned in 1993, this time as a pay-per-view (PPV) entitled King of the Ring. Only the final few matches of the tournament took place at the PPV with the first few tournament matches being held prior to the PPV. The PPV would continue until 2002, the same year that the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), after which, the tournament would only be periodically held across episodes of Raw and SmackDown, although the final match of the 2006 tournament took place at the Judgment Day PPV, while the semifinals and finals of the 2015 tournament aired as a WWE Network-exclusive event.^[3]

Results

No.	Results[1]	Stipulations
1	Jim Brunzell defeated The Spoiler	King of the Ring tournament first round match
2	Tito Santana defeated Terry Funk by disqualification	King of the Ring tournament first round match
3	The Iron Sheik defeated B. Brian Blair	King of the Ring tournament first round match
4	Ricky Steamboat defeated Greg Valentine	King of the Ring tournament first round match
5	Les Thornton defeated Steve Lombardi	King of the Ring tournament first round match
6	Don Muraco defeated Junkyard Dog	King of the Ring tournament first round match
7	Pedro Morales defeated Johnny V	King of the Ring tournament first round match
8	Paul Orndorff vs. Bob Orton, Jr. ended in a double disqualification	King of the Ring tournament first round match
9	Jim Brunzell defeated Tito Santana	King of the Ring tournament quarterfinal match
10	The Iron Sheik defeated Ricky Steamboat	King of the Ring tournament quarterfinal match
11	Don Muraco defeated Les Thornton	King of the Ring tournament quarterfinal match
12	The Iron Sheik defeated Jim Brunzell	King of the Ring tournament semifinal match
13	Don Muraco defeated Pedro Morales	King of the Ring tournament semifinal match
14	Don Muraco defeated The Iron Sheik	King of the Ring tournament final match
15	Hulk Hogan (c) defeated Nikolai Volkoff	Singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
(c)  – the champion(s) heading into the match

Tournament bracket

First Round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Don Muraco

PIN

Junkyard Dog

10:58

Don Muraco

PIN

Les Thornton

6:22

Les Thornton

PIN

Steve Lombardi

6:43

Don Muraco

PIN

Pedro Morales

14:52

Paul Orndorff

DDQ

Bob Orton, Jr.

15:06

BYE

Pedro Morales

Pedro Morales

PIN

Johnny V

1:06

Don Muraco

PIN

Iron Sheik

12:55

Tito Santana

DQ

Terry Funk

13:48

Tito Santana

Draw^1

Jim Brunzell

20:00

Jim Brunzell

PIN

The Spoiler

7:15

Jim Brunzell

7:43

Iron Sheik

PIN

Ricky Steamboat

PIN

Greg Valentine

19:59

Ricky Steamboat

10:55

Iron Sheik

PIN

The Iron Sheik

PIN

B. Brian Blair

8:06

1. ^ Tito Santana fought Jim Brunzell to a time limit draw; Brunzell then won a coin toss to determine who would continue in the tournament.

References

1. "WWF King Of The Ring 1985". Archived from the original on 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
2. "King of the Ring 85 - Foxboro, MA - Sullivan Stadium - July 8, 1985 (23,000; 20,000 paid)". The History of WWE. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
3. Beaston, Erik (August 18, 2019). "WWE King of the Ring: Everything You Need to Know About Historical Tournament". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
4. "WWF King of the Ring '85 at Sullivan Stadium wrestling results - Internet Wrestling Database". www.profightdb.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2019-10-08.